THE TROUBLEMAKER BRIDE

by Leanne Banks

  Jenna's face softened slightly. "David was divine. We discussed one of my cases and he agrees with my plans to ask for the maximum on a repeat DWI. I think he's gifted," Jenna continued. "I'm not kidding. He seemed as if he was listening to every single word. He was smiling and talking back to me."

  Maddie slid a quick, sly glance to Joshua. "Did he offer any other suggestions?"

  "No, but he's very discriminating. He yawned when I told him about my boss."

  "Everybody yawns when you talk about your boss," Maddie said. "I take it he's asleep right now?"

  "In my bedroom in the portable crib you brought."

  "Okay," Maddie said, walking toward the hallway. "Back in a minute."

  Jenna immediately turned to Joshua with an assessing glance. "So you're the man who helped deliver David?"

  Joshua nodded. "I did."

  "Maddie mentioned you run a horse farm. That can be a little risky, can't it?"

  "It can be, depending how you run your business," he said, wondering where she was heading with her questions.

  She casually gestured toward the sofa, but Joshua would swear she was weighing his every move. "And what about yours?" she asked.

  "Are you asking if I'm solvent?"

  She didn't miss a beat. "Not really, but that's an interesting question if you'd like to answer it."

  He sat down and began to get a hint of her courtroom tactics. "I'm solvent."

  Jenna nodded solemnly. "Maddie also mentioned you have a teenage son. Do you like children?"

  He shrugged. "I like kids, some more than others."

  She considered that, then folded her hands in front of her. "I suppose that's fair." She paused again, thinking. Her lips twitched. "Maddie has always had a—" she searched for the word "talent for—"

  "Unfortunate experiences with authority figures," Joshua finished for her. "Or trouble."

  "She's not a troublemaker," Jenna insisted, and Joshua liked her for defending Maddie. "She just gets caught. People closely associated with her develop a tolerance for—"

  "Messes," Joshua finished again.

  Jenna nodded. "Yes. Do you think of yourself as a flexible type of individual?"

  He could have been offended if he didn't understand the basis for her questions. "Flexible to a point. I've got my limits. But, Jenna, are you sure we don't need a couple of witnesses and a Bible for this discussion?"

  She struggled with a smile because she liked being in control, and he wasn't letting her. "I hope you're smarter than Clyde was. He didn't know what he had. Maddie's changed," Jenna continued. "She's not going to settle anymore."

  Settle for what? he wanted to ask, but Maddie breezed back into the room. And Joshua was left with a question that lingered.

  * * *

  Nine

  « ^ »

  "Sighing, swooning," Jenna Jean said as she, Maddie, and Emily sat by Emily's mother's swimming pool. "You're disgusting."

  "I know," Maddie agreed with a smile she knew was ridiculously huge. Nothing could dispel her great mood. "You ought to try a little sighing and swooning, yourself, Jenna Jean." Turning down the volume on the CD boom box, Maddie gave an exaggerated sigh and made a thumping motion with her hand over her heart. "Besides, I've got a good reason for it, and you've met him."

  "Told you she was loopy. He's better than Clyde, though, God rest his soul," Jenna Jean conceded.

  Emily rubbed in sunscreen and frowned at the clouds. "When do I get to meet him?"

  "I don't know. Joshua is out of town this weekend for some kind of Horse Breeder's Association meeting. Since you and Beau don't get to town very often…"

  Emily sipped her lemonade. "We'll have to plan something then. With their mutual interest in horses, I think Joshua and Beau would get along."

  Jenna Jean sat up and laughed. "Who would have thought our Emily would marry a cowboy?"

  "Well," Emily said with a sly expression, "if I couldn't be a cowboy, marrying one was the next best thing." She glanced at Maddie. "I remember being afraid Maddie would turn into a rock groupie."

  Maddie made a face. "I never liked the idea of being one of many. I wanted to be one, period. Maybe that's why Joshua has turned my head. He's different. He doesn't look at me and think 'temporary fling.' He's not that kind of man, and he wants me." He wants me. The notion still knocked her off-kilter.

  The whole subject made her nervous and excited, unable to sit still. She stood and began to pace. "He's too good to be true. It's like one of those 'find what's wrong with this picture' exercises we did when we were kids. I keep looking for reasons why it won't work, and he keeps eliminating them. He calls me regularly," she said in amazement, because it was a novel experience for her.

  Maddie shook her head and thought of David and how much she had changed over the last year. "I just don't want to mess up this time." For all her supposed swooning and sighing, she wrestled with an ever present fear. "I don't want to be foolish."

  "You won't," Jenna Jean said to her. "You've got your head on straight, and I think Joshua Blackwell knows he has found one in a million."

  "If he makes you happy, that's what matters," Emily said.

  "But if he treats you bad," Jenna Jean began, and stood.

  "We'll get him," Emily and Jenna Jean finished together.

  Jenna Jean smiled. "Now are you two going to be sun princesses all day or are you going to get wet? Last one in the pool is a rotten egg."

  * * *

  "Looks like a sky full of diamonds," Maddie said as she lay on the blanket with Joshua. They'd gone out to dinner, and since it was such a warm, clear night, he'd brought her up to his hill. She could feel his warm gaze on her.

  "Who has given you diamonds?"

  Maddie's heart jumped, but she laughed to cover it. "More likely cubic zirconia or Austrian crystal."

  "Did you miss the rocks?"

  He took her hand, and she looked at him. "Diamonds?" she asked, and he nodded. Maddie thought about it. "No," she said, "and yes."

  "Uh-huh," he said, looking at her as if she made no sense at all.

  Maddie propped herself up on her elbow. "In itself I know the dollar figure on a gift is unimportant. I think it's more the symbolism behind it—that somebody would think I'm that important." She searched his gaze. "Does that make any sense?"

  "I think so. What kind of presents did Clyde give you?"

  Maddie chuckled again. "You mean when he remembered."

  Joshua narrowed his eyes.

  Maddie had to think. Clyde had been forgetful. "He gave me a lot of CDs that he liked, several demo tapes, some silver earrings from Mexico." She laughed in recollection. "He brought me peanut brittle once, but he ended up eating it. I never did like peanut brittle," she mused, then looked at Joshua and tried to read his expression. "What are you thinking? Say it out loud."

  "Clyde sounds like he was a self-absorbed sonovabitch."

  Maddie nodded and smiled. "Yep, I guess he was."

  "Then why did you stay with him so long?"

  Maddie sighed, sat up and drew her legs to her chest. "I don't know. It was easier to stay with him than break it off. I think we were more of a habit for each other, and there was some security in that. People have all kinds of habits. Like you," she said, more than willing to turn the conversation away from herself.

  "Me?"

  "Sure. Why haven't you gotten involved with a woman for so many years?"

  He shrugged. "I've been busy."

  Maddie rolled her eyes. "Lame, lame, lame."

  He wrapped his hand around her wrist and pulled her against his chest in a swift, economical motion. "Who are you calling lame?" he asked, his eyes playfully warning, yet sexually intense.

  Maddie jutted out her chin. "You."

  "I've been busy."

  "You've been wearing blinders," Maddie told him, forcing herself to concentrate as he slid his hands up the sides of her breasts. "You've cut yourself off from the female gender."

  He shifted his pelv
is so that she could feel his hardness against her. "Maybe I just didn't come across anyone who tripped my trigger."

  She laughed breathlessly. "That's what you call it? Your trigger."

  "Yeah," he said, skimming his hands down to her hips. "So what are you gonna do about it?"

  It was one sexy, irresistible dare, and he made her want so much she felt like screaming. She shook her head and make a tsking sound. "I never would have thought you would be the type to go for this kind of outdoor activity."

  His eyes darkened dangerously. "Is that so?" He rolled over so that she was beneath him. "And what type am I?"

  Oops. Her stomach took a dip when he pressed his open mouth against her throat. "Type?" she repeated, hedging. She couldn't tell him what she'd really thought of him.

  "Yeah. You think I'm the kind who draws the shades, turns out the light and makes love in the bed in the dark."

  "Thought," she corrected. "What are you doing to my shorts?"

  "Helping," he murmured, "to educate you about what kind of man I am."

  The cool night air whispered over her skin, then his warm hands caressed her. Her heart raced, and she trembled. "I thought you'd already done that."

  "Oh, baby, I've just gotten started with you."

  A warning or a promise? An illicit thrill ran through her as he kissed her. He wasn't actually going to take her on this hill among the stars, was he? Maddie remembered the whipped cream and groaned.

  He slipped one of his hands up her shirt and rubbed her already stiff nipple. "I think it's about time I tripped your trigger," Joshua said as he began to make a slow, breathtaking journey down her body with his mouth.

  No one had ever made her feel this wanted. The feeling turned her to liquid. How did he do this to her? Fighting for a shred of sanity, Maddie joked, "Last time I looked, I didn't have a trigger."

  He swirled his tongue around her belly button, and she shuddered. "Then I'll make you see stars," he promised, lowering his mouth again, this time between her thighs to the aching, moist heart of her. "I'll make you see stars inside."

  Joshua's hands held her hips, and his tongue made magic. But it was his intimate words, his sounds of approval, need and, want that sent her over and over again. And even when Maddie closed her eyes, she saw stars.

  * * *

  When he took her home that night, Maddie felt very vulnerable to him. It scared her, because she felt as if she would do anything for him. That could be dangerous. Then she looked at him, though, and saw his solid strength stamped across his features, across his body. He was a kind man, she reminded herself. A good man, who wouldn't take advantage of her. She could trust him.

  Joshua came inside with her and talked with Ben for a few moments while she checked on David. Ben had taken care of David for the evening, insisting her son needed regular exposure to male influence, so he wouldn't end up thinking like a woman.

  At another time she would have argued with him, but tonight she was in a daze. When she walked downstairs, Ben was gone.

  "He needed to get to his job," Joshua said.

  Maddie nodded. "Bouncing at the bar. Well, my brother did a pretty good job. David's diaper isn't on backward or anything."

  Joshua chuckled, then pulled her to him. "You're an incredible woman, Maddie. I've never met anyone like you."

  "Is that good or bad?"

  "Good," he said. "Very good."

  Swallowing a lump in her throat, Maddie took her heart in her hand. "I feel the same way about you. I've never met a man like you, who makes me—"

  She looked into his eyes. "Makes me feel like this."

  And hope. And believe.

  "You're so honest and generous." He shook his head as if he couldn't believe she existed. "Most women want something back," he said. "Marriage or money. They want ownership. But you—" He cupped his hand under her jaw. "You understand. You don't have to have a man on a leash to know you've got him how it counts."

  An unsettling sensation fluttered in her stomach. "On a leash?"

  "Yeah. You're an incredibly rare woman," he told her, "because you don't have to have marriage."

  Oh, yes I do. I thought you knew that. She felt as if she were on an elevator and the cable had just been cut. She couldn't have said a word if she'd had one in her head. Joshua continued to talk, but she didn't hear him.

  She had been fooled again. Her stomach twisted violently. She had fooled herself again. Why had she been so stupid? Why had she thought he would see her differently than any other man? Just because he was solid and dependable? Just because he had helped deliver her baby, change a flat tire and relieved her that night David had been sick?

  God, she hurt. She'd never hurt like this for a man. With Clyde she'd never really trusted him enough to put her hope in the future. But she'd allowed herself to hope with Joshua. She had been so totally and incredibly foolish. He was just like other men, except in a different wrapping.

  He was still touching her, but she was so physically frozen she couldn't feel it. She watched his mouth form words. He lowered his head to hers as if he was going to kiss her and she flinched.

  He looked at her quizzically. "You okay?"

  She blinked away the fog and nodded. A lie.

  He kissed her lightly. "See you Wednesday."

  No. She meant to shake her head, but she moved it in a circle. The meals. Her mind raced. What would she do about the meals?

  "G'night, babe," he said, then walked out the door.

  As the door clicked shut, she whispered, "Goodbye, Joshua."

  She felt so stupid and angry she needed to break something. "I'm not going to cry," she told herself in a shaky voice. "I'm not going to cry."

  Staring down at her feet, she willed them to move and headed for the kitchen, still chanting, "I'm not going to cry."

  She opened the cupboard and pulled out a jelly glass and threw it hard into the sink. "He's not worth it."

  Such crazy dreams she'd had. So crazy she wouldn't even share them with anyone. She pulled out another jelly glass and looked at it.

  "My heart isn't broken."

  Liar.

  Her stomach twisted. Her throat was so tight her voice was hoarse. "It's only bruised," she insisted, and smashed the glass into the sink.

  She looked for another jelly glass, but paused, her mind flying in a million directions. "Why did I do this to myself?"

  She felt as if her chest was in a vise. Her eyes burned. "I'm not going to cry," she said around the huge lump in her throat. But her cheeks were wet from tears. Another lie. Maddie's shoulders sank. A deep, aching disappointment shuddered through her. Disappointment in herself and Joshua. No more lies, she thought, wiping her cheeks and letting the tears flow. She'd told herself too many.

  * * *

  Joshua looked at the chicken parmesan and frowned. The chicken was good, but he hadn't talked to Maddie in three days. He was beginning to wonder if she was avoiding him.

  "When did you say she came?" he asked Patrick again.

  Patrick swallowed a bite. "I'd just gotten home from school. She wasn't here but a minute." He took a gulp of milk. "Said she was in a big hurry." He stuffed half a roll in his mouth.

  Joshua felt doubt tugging at him. Doubt and disappointment. "Did she say anything else?"

  Patrick's eyebrows furrowed in concentration, and he shook his head. Then he stopped abruptly, his face clearing. "Oh, yeah."

  Joshua felt a trickle of relief and he rolled his shoulders. A message for him, he thought. An explanation about where she'd been. A promise to call.

  Patrick grinned and talked around a bite of chicken. "She said to put the Jell-O in the fridge."

  Joshua tried calling her twice a day for the next several days. If his schedule hadn't been so packed and he hadn't been working from dawn to dusk, he would have driven into town to see her. As it was, he barely had time to eat.

  Since he'd first made love to Maddie, he'd dreamed every night, all night. One of those crazy, inexplicable thi
ngs, he'd told himself. Probably related to hormones. Lately when he slept, he only had snatches of dreams. They didn't last the whole night. He couldn't explain the change. He sure as hell didn't have the time or energy to try.

  Lack of energy or time, however, didn't stop him from wondering what was going on with Maddie. By Wednesday he decided to devote the afternoon and evening to paperwork so he wouldn't miss her.

  He heard the buzz of her muffler long before she pulled in front of his house. At the sound of her cutting her engine, Joshua opened the door to offer his help, but she was already moving quickly toward his front porch. Her hair bounced with her movements. Her skirt swished against her legs. Her vitality was contagious. He noticed a Band-Aid on her ankle and wondered what she'd bumped into. At first glance she made his heart pound faster.

  At second glance when her gaze briefly met his and her step faltered as if she wasn't pleased to see him, he immediately knew something was wrong.

  "Hi. Sunny today, isn't it?" she said as she flitted past him. "I brought a meat 'n' potatoes meal tonight. Pepper steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green beans. Hope you and Patrick enjoy it. Speaking of Patrick, where is he?"

  Following her into the kitchen, Joshua frowned. "He stayed after school for a special computer class. Where have—"

  "Computer," Maddie repeated brightly. A little too brightly, he thought. "That's great. I bet he's good with computers."

  Joshua nodded. "Yes, but—"

  "I put the pudding in the fridge. Sorry I've gotta run, but I need to pick up Davey at the sitter," she said as she practically raced for the door. "It was nice seeing—"

  Just as she reached for the door, he stepped in front of her and blocked her. He felt like a stud trying to corral a jittery female. "What's going on?"

  She met his gaze again briefly, then glanced away and shrugged. "It's a busy day. I need to pick up Davey from the sitter."

  "Have you gotten my telephone messages?"

  She crossed her arms over her chest and took a deep breath. She seemed to be studying the toe of her shoe. "Yes."

  He wondered ironically where the chatterbox had gone. "Did you think about returning my calls?"