Lone Star Baby Scandal

by Lauren Canan

  She hoped she would never again see the pain Clay tried to hold inside. Or the fury. But some of it was still there. The hurt, the bitter embarrassment and pure rage that his ex-fiancée had caused. Sophie had to surmise that was the reason he still hadn’t dated very much since the accident.

  He was the most intelligent man she knew. He had a remarkable sense of humor that was slowly coming back. But it was his deep emerald-green eyes and the rare smiles on a face that still took her breath away even after the five years she’d been an employee. His hands, callused and powerful, could be gentle when he touched a woman, as if he were stroking a newborn foal. The spicy cologne mixed with his natural scent drew females like bees to a flower. Except Clay Everett was certainly no flower. He was hard, raw and pure male.

  The accident and subsequent changes he’d had to make in his life shortened his temper and did nothing to improve his attitude. If anything it gave him a dangerous edge, which ironically, to most women, was even more appealing. The same power that held a one-ton bull beneath him was still harnessed inside him; in the bedroom a woman knew it was there. And Sophie knew firsthand just how sexy the man could be after that night of too many cocktails and too many steamy looks at the masked charity event in May.

  The next morning, as the sun appeared over the distant hills, she had slipped from the room, dressed and headed for her car. It had taken all weekend to shake herself loose from the spell he’d cast, and even then her life would never be the same. She could feel it. But Monday morning when it was time to report to the Flying E for work, she’d done so with her head held high. She’d brushed past him straight into her office space with a brisk good-morning and refused to look straight into his eyes. That night had been a mistake and it would not be repeated. If he had any ideas to the contrary, the quicker he forgot them the better for all concerned.

  It was just too bad no one had given Clay the memo.

  Three

  Friday morning Sophie opened her eyes and focused on the clock on the nightstand next to her bed. Seven o’clock. She had the day off. The local weatherman had predicted beautiful weather and she knew exactly how she was going to spend the day. After tossing back the covers, she stood from the bed and quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Clay was in Dallas attending a meeting with some of his stockholders, so the day was her own. She had a chance to take a beautiful horse and roam over fifty thousand acres of Texas hill country just waiting to be explored. Since moving his office to the ranch and her own relocation to Royal, Texas, she had taken advantage of Clay’s generosity in allowing her to borrow one of his many horses and ride to her heart’s content.

  Foregoing her usual morning coffee and dry toast, she drove the six miles to the Lazy E Ranch. After pulling her car up next to the barn, she entered the main building and headed down the right-hand hallway. The smell of freshly cut alfalfa and sweet-corn molasses swirled around her on a gentle breeze. She heard Hopper nicker before she reached his stall.

  Clay had been surprised that first day he’d found her in the main barn. After she explained that she’d been raised with horses and really missed them, he had quickly assured her she was welcome to ride any horse at the ranch during her time off. It became addictive. She’d chosen a black-and-white paint named Hopper. He seemed as eager to leave his stall for an adventure as she was to leave the office. In no time she had checked his hooves, given him a quick brush and thrown a saddle on his back. After that first glorious day, Sophie never missed the chance to go riding.

  About the time she led him out of the barn toward the north gate, Clay’s voice hailed her. Surprised, she turned toward him.

  “Well, good morning,” she said, coming to a stop. “Did you cancel your meeting?’

  “Yeah. I have to go into Dallas next week anyway so I decided to meet with the stockholders then,” he explained. “It’s a beautiful day. Mind if I tag along?”

  Yes. “Of course not.” She tossed the reins over Hopper’s neck near the saddle and gave him a friendly pat. “So has the doctor given the okay for you to swing up into a saddle?”

  “I haven’t really asked for permission.”

  “And you’re doing it anyway.” It wasn’t so much a question as a statement.

  “I think I can still mount pretty good. I don’t expect to have any problems.”

  Ornery man. She refused to take the bait. She’d glanced once at his face. His eyes glistened and a shadow of a smile touched those succulent lips. It was the look of a shared secret he was daring her to tell. Their night together had been incredible but it absolutely would not happen again.

  Sophie watched as his long strides carried him toward the bank of stalls that housed some of the top quarter horses in the state. Clay’s limp was evident. The horses welcomed him with soft knickers; they watched Clay pass by with large brown eyes, their ears alert. The road to recovery had been long and she had to admire his tenacity, his determination to regain 100 percent dexterity. He had amazed the doctors whose predictions for his future were not so bright. She had firsthand knowledge of just how physically fit the man was, which was why his coming with her made her nervous. In the weeks after their night together, Sophie had used the increasingly busy days in the office as an excuse to prevent any mention of that night they’d shared. If Clay had picked up on what she was doing, he’d said nothing. He had never brought it up and neither had she. But this wasn’t the office. She owed it to him not to mention any business concerns and thereby allow him to escape the rat race for a few hours. But it also left her without the barrier to more personal conversation. She had no idea what she would say if he introduced mutual attraction into the conversation.

  Today with the cooler temperatures, Hopper was full of spunk and ready for an adventure. Clay returned with his choice of mount, a large chestnut gelding. When both horses were saddled and ready to go, they rode toward the main gate that opened onto the eastern pasture.

  It was an area much like where she’d grown up. The first time she’d saddled a horse and ridden out and away from the main homestead, she’d felt the stirring of homesickness for the first time in over a year. During her time off, she sat in the small house she was renting on the edge of town and wondered if she could ever dare to go home again.

  Normally, Sophie rode toward the west, following an old cattle trail through the mesquite trees, passing by the mirror-still waters of the natural lakes found in that area. In the direction they were headed this time, the terrain was more rocky, the path steadily uphill.

  “I thought I would check a fence as we go,” Clay told her. “The ranch hands keep repairing it only to have the wires go down again within a few days. Something’s going on that isn’t normal. I hope you don’t mind?”

  “Not at all. I’ve never ventured into that section of your ranch.”

  “The terrain is considerably more difficult to cross but once you reach the top, the view is amazing. It’s one of the reasons I bought this ranch.”

  They rode for a while in silence. Then he said, “Tell me how you came to be such a proficient rider. Where did you learn your basic horsemanship?”

  “At home,” she replied hesitantly. “My dad has a small dairy. We always had a horse or two around. My brother and I grew up riding every chance we got. Mom and Dad both love to ride. I guess I inherited it from them. There are not many things I’d rather be doing.”

  She saw his lips purse as though he was hiding a grin. “I agree. There’s nothing like a good ride.”

  “I wasn’t talking about bull riding.”

  “Neither was I.” Clay leaned down from his mount and opened another gate. He waited while she rode through then closed it behind them. Sophie rolled her eyes and shook her head at his try at an off-color remark.

  “How about you?” she asked. “Were you raised with horses, cattle and such?”

  It seeme
d silly to ask the question of a man with his history but while she knew and certainly appreciated his abilities as a cowboy in the arena, she knew little about his childhood. Before moving his office from a downtown high-rise to the ranch, they hadn’t really had the opportunity to talk as they did now.

  “Yep.” A slow grin lit his eyes. “I was put in a saddle when I was still wearing diapers. Being a cowboy was all I ever wanted to do until I hit my teens and discovered the opposite sex.”

  “You were sure good at it.”

  “I had my moments.” He glanced over at her, the lights in his eyes dancing wickedly. “I was a pretty fair cowboy, too.”

  Sophie groaned and shook her head. She’d walked right into that one. But the quiet laugh from Clay made it worth it. Since the accident he never laughed, rarely smiled.

  “In the years we’ve worked together, I don’t think you’ve told me anything about your life. Now I know you grew up on a farm. Tell me more.”

  The question about her past was not expected and Sophie felt tension run rampant.

  She hoped he would let the subject drop. Unknowingly he was causing her to remember the horror that had propelled her to run from her home and travel as far away as she could go. Not that those memories ever left, but packed down in the back of her mind they were easier to contend with. No one knew her here. No one had any reason to know her past. And she preferred to keep it that way.

  “There’s nothing much to tell. Typical small town. Friday-night football games. Blue-plate special every Wednesday at the only café in town. It rotated between stew and chicken-fried steak. Totally boring.”

  “What brought you to Texas?”

  And that was the question.

  She shrugged. “No special reason. Just wanted to live someplace new.”

  Clay opened his mouth to say something else then thought better of it. Sophie let out a silent sigh of relief. She hadn’t been prepared for his question. Next time she would be.

  The small sandy trail looped through the trees as they made their way to gradually higher terrain. As they rode along, the trees grew taller and the thick stands of oak were overshadowed by tall, majestic pines. At one point Clay stopped and pointed back in the direction they had just come. The view was phenomenal. Amid the distant pine trees, she spotted the core of the ranch; a large clearing marked the house and separate barn areas. In the distance, horses and cattle grazed on the thick oat grasses.

  “The stretch of fence is just over here,” Clay offered, nodding his head in that direction.

  Sophie followed him over another small rise and dismounted when Clay did. Sure enough a couple of the cables in the fence had come loose. One was lying on the ground. Without another word, Clay set out to mend the fence. It struck Sophie as odd watching Clayton Everett do menial labor. But then what else would she have expected from him? First and foremost he was a cowboy. He would always be a cowboy at heart. And a cowboy mended fences. She could only hope he didn’t do any further damage to the ligaments and sinews in his body. She bit her lip to keep from saying something to him about it. She had to stop being his mother and let go of the constant worry. Yes, he’d been through hell and back. But he was better.

  Looking around her, she spotted the blue of a small body of water in the distance, just below them to the left. “I’m going over to the lake,” Sophie told Clay.

  “Good. I’ll meet you there when I finish here. Stay on this side of it. The shoreline on the far side is very unstable.”

  “Will do.” Sophie mounted her Tobiano gelding and headed back down the trail. Within minutes she reached the clearing that opened up to the water. It was something out of a postcard: shimmering blue waters circled by red rocks with green sage grass filling in the distance between the rocks and the forest. She dismounted, leaving Hopper to graze while she scrambled to sit on a huge boulder overlooking the lake.

  Something in the water caught her eye. She looked harder and realized she was watching a small school of fish. They were feeding on something just below in the shade of the boulder. She wished she had a scrap of bread or corn to toss down and see if they would eat it. Maybe if she and Clay ever came back to this spot, she would remember to bring something.

  She realized what she’d just been thinking. She’d imagined them coming back together. This was a rare opportunity to go riding with Clay and share the beauty of the ranch. She might return here someday but she very much doubted if Clay would come with her.

  There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky and a slight breeze blew the hair from her face and teased the leaves on the trees. Suddenly she felt heavy hands on her shoulders. Clay sat down on the large rock, his legs bowing out around her while he moved to hold her close, his hands just beneath her breasts.

  “You pick good places to rest,” he said.

  “I was watching the fish. Can you see them?” She leaned forward, pointing.

  “They’re feeding off water-dwelling insects and minnows. I should have thought to bring a collapsible fishing rod. We could take home some trout for supper.”

  “Are they good to eat?”

  “Trout?” He sounded surprised. “You’ve never eaten trout?”

  “No.”

  “Oh, darlin’, we must expand your palate. I’m no damn connoisseur, but you gotta try trout cooked in butter and some spices. Maybe with a potato on the side. I like it best when it’s cooked over an open campfire.”

  “Maybe I’ll get to try it sometime.”

  “Maybe you will. Maybe I can cook it for you.”

  “You can cook?”

  “Damn straight I can cook. Nothing fancy but I can fill you up and provide good, hot nourishment.”

  “I would like that.”

  His body grew taught. “So would I.” He moved down to nuzzle the sensitive flesh of her neck. “Will you let me, Sophie?” He spoke softly against her ear, causing the goose bumps to race over her skin. “Will you let me fill you again?”

  Somehow their topic of discussion had changed from simply fishing to something much deeper and more raw. Sophie felt the heat in her lower region as it began to build and intensify.

  “I want you, Sophie. You know that.”

  The night they’d shared was completely wrong and should never have happened. While every cell in her body screamed for him, she would not make the same mistake twice. Suddenly Clay lay back on the huge rock and with an easy twist maneuvered her on top of him, face-to-face. Her forearms rested against his broad shoulders and she looked down into those emerald-green eyes. His body was at once hard and pliant, allowing her body to sink into the power of his.

  “Kiss me.” It was only a whispered request but she was so attuned to him she wouldn’t have missed his words if he was a mile away.

  “I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”

  “I think it’s a terrific idea.” One hand moved from around her lower back up to her head as he gently encouraged her lips to come closer to his.

  “Clay, I—” She opened her mouth but before words could form, he lifted his head and his lips found hers. They were hungry and he didn’t hesitate filling the cavern of her mouth with his tongue. It was everything she remembered and more. Without any doubt Clay was the sexiest man she had ever come into contact with. He was temptation run amok with an element of danger on the side.

  Her feelings for him had slowly come about in the months after the accident. But rather than pay heed and stay well away from him, she was drawn to him more than ever. The carefree, fun-loving bachelor, the love-’em-and-leave-’em guy, had been gone, replaced by a man of serious intent.

  Part of her wanted nothing more than to give him whatever he wanted; the other part, the smart side of her, wanted to run away as fast as she could. He had a ruthlessness she’d always known was there but felt secure knowing he kept it bottled ins
ide. Since the abandonment by his fiancée, he was no longer in control of the anger and merciless drive. It both drew her to him and pushed her away out of self-preservation.

  Only one thing was certain: this attraction to her boss was going to eventually cause a rift between them.

  She turned her face away, breaking off the kiss she wanted more than air in her lungs. She realized she was now lying on the huge boulder with Clay above her, her head held in his large hand, his erection pressing hard against the apex of her thighs. Of its own accord, before she could summon the strength to stop it, her body pressed against him. Hard. She heard him moan, deep and hungry, and the heat of desire exploded inside her, igniting every vein. He cupped her breasts, first one then the other. Unbuttoning her shirt, he pushed her bra aside and his lips and tongue teased the stiff peaks.

  Voices. Through the sex-filled haze, her brain picked up on the distant sound of voices.

  “Clay,” she whispered. “Clay, someone’s coming this way.”

  “Let ’em.”

  “No! Clay, stop. Please.” Her own voice was breathy. The last thing she wanted to do at that moment was to push him away. She was in rapture such as she’d known only one other time in her life: with Clay.

  Finally he heeded her words and sat up. He drew in several deep breaths of air then turned toward her, his voice deep and full of determination. “I want you, Sophie. I want you so bad it hurts. One time was nowhere near enough. Mark it down as a friendly warning. I will have you again.”

  Offering his hand, he pulled her to her feet. She quickly repositioned her bra and began to fasten the buttons of her blouse. Clay watched her with a gleam in his darkened eyes.