The Rancher Next Door

“Don’t you?”

He took a step toward her. “No. Katie, I don’t know what’s going on between us. Somehow you’ve managed to slip back inside of me, and even if I wanted to get rid of you, I couldn’t. I’m just so damn scared I’m going to do the wrong thing.”

Katie held her breath. Was she hearing him correctly? Did she matter to him even though she wasn’t pregnant?

It was her turn to move closer. She pressed her hands against his hard, masculine chest. “Jack?”

“I can’t say those things,” he told her. “You were right about all of it. I’m still hurting because you left. I did want there to be a baby.”

She couldn’t believe it. “Really? You swear?”

Instead of answering, he wrapped his arms around her and hauled her next to him. She went willingly, needing his touch, his heat and his nearness to make everything all right. She’d been so sure she’d blown everything-that she’d spoken the truth harshly and thoughtlessly, catering to her need to lash out. She shouldn’t have dumped on him that way. But it was all right, she thought hazily as his mouth claimed hers.

His lips swept over hers, then parted. She reacted in kind, admitting him, tasting him, knowing that no moment had ever been more right. They belonged together-and when they made love everything else could fade away.

Outside the small house the wind blew fiercely. She could hear the howling call, and in the distance, the answering grumble of thunder. A different kind of storm raged inside the cabin. Heat-like white lightning-flared between them. A wanting that made her legs tremble and her breath catch. Their kiss deepened, and then she was in his arms and he was carrying her toward the bedroom.

Clothes disappeared. Protection appeared. She found herself naked, on her back, in his bed. Once again his fingers trailed over her skin, teasing her breasts then moving between her legs. When he touched her there, she gasped.

“You’re already so wet,” he breathed as he bent low and kissed her mouth.

“I want you. Just you.”

His dark gazes brightened with an answering fire. He began to move around her most responsive spot, circling, exciting, making every muscle in her body tense and tighten until she had no choice but to fall under his spell and shudder into her release.

While the contractions still rippled through her, he plunged deep inside of her. His deep, slow thrusts brought her back to the brink. Before she could catch her breath, another spasm rippled through her. The frenzy of release went on until Jack shuddered and groaned, his body finally giving him what he desired.

As they clung to each other in the aftermath, the storm raged around them. Katie smiled, thinking that what she felt for him was as powerful as the strong winds rattling the windows. The clouds had moved in and covered the sun. The bright bolts of lightning were closer, the claps of thunder making the house shudder.

“It’s going to rain soon,” Jack said, kissing her forehead, then her nose and her cheeks. “You should get back to the main house.”

“I know. Shane isn’t usually frightened of storms, but this one is pretty big.” But she made no effort to move. It felt too good, too right, being in Jack’s arms. “At least with it raining all morning he was able to get his homework done. He had a big project for school.”

He stroked her hair. “How’s his Web site design coming?”

“Really well.” She smiled. “Apparently he has impressed his classmates.” She paused. “I’m actually starting to think I made the right decision to move back.”

“Did you ever doubt it?”

“Nearly every day. When things were going so badly with my father and Shane didn’t have any friends, I thought I’d made a huge mistake.”

He shifted so he was lying on his side, his head supported by his hand. Using his index finger, he traced the shape of her mouth. “I’m glad you came back.”

“Me, too.”

She paused. Feelings welled inside her. Things that she’d thought but had never said. She wasn’t sure if this was the time or if he even wanted to hear it right now, but she couldn’t stop herself.

“I love you,” she said softly. Once the words were out they sounded right.

Jack continued to stroke her face, but she felt the tension filling him. She tried to give him a reassuring smile. “Please don’t panic at the information. I’m not asking for action-I just wanted you to know.”

“Katie, I-”

“No. Don’t say anything.” She sat up and pulled the sheet up to cover herself. “I didn’t realize it when I first moved back home, but after a while I began to see that I never stopped loving you.”

“I want to believe you,” he said quietly.

He turned away, then stood and crossed to the window. The storm had moved closer while they’d been making love. Streaks of lightning lit the darkening sky, and howling wind made the trees bend. So far there was no rain, but black clouds threatened on the horizon.

She knew what he meant. That she’d said the words before and they’d had no meaning. Her throat tightened.

“This is different,” she said. “I’m different. I’ve grown up. We were both so young. You told me to go, and that was right for that time. But I’m back and I don’t want to go away again.”

Pain and desperation filled her. He had to give her-them-a chance.

“I meant what I said yesterday,” she continued. “You’re not going to get rid of me so easily this time. I plan to fight for you, for us.”

He closed his eyes, but that didn’t keep him from hearing. Love. She bared herself to him emotionally and physically. Could he do any less?

“I’m not who you think,” he said, still staring out the window. If he were any kind of a man he would face her, but he didn’t have the strength. He supposed he’d always been a coward where she was concerned.

“Of course you are. You’re the basis by which I’ve measured every other man in my life, and they’ve all come up short. Only you, Jack. Always you.”

He pressed his hand against the glass, then curled his fingers into a fist. “You don’t understand. You were right. About Melissa. About what you said about my marriage. I’m the one who ended it. She wanted us to be close. She wanted to crawl inside of me and be a part of my soul. I wouldn’t let her. I kept her far enough away that there wasn’t any danger. She tried everything to save our marriage, but it didn’t work because I wasn’t participating. In the end she walked away, but I forced her to go. Then later I got say that I was the one willing to hang on when she quit. I was so damn proud of that. Yet all the time it was me.”

He made himself to turn and look at Katie. She sat in the center of the mattress, naked, the sheet pulled up to cover her breasts. Her blond curls were mussed, her mouth still swollen from their kisses. She was all he’d ever wanted.

“I didn’t love her,” he said flatly. “I didn’t know it at the time, but that’s no excuse for what I did.” He felt all his inner ugliness rushing to the surface. “There’s more.”

“You don’t have to tell me this.”

He shook his head. “Maybe not, but you have to hear it.” He paused. “When I was twenty-two, I decided I was done. My brother Keith was in college, on a football scholarship. The same one I’d turned down four years before. The ranch was losing money. Ivy was in high school and driving me crazy. I couldn’t take a step without Wyatt dogging my heels asking me questions I couldn’t answer about things like satellite orbits and why the oceans are blue. I packed up my truck and left. I just drove away. Through town and up toward who knows where. I must have gone a hundred miles.”

Katie’s expression remained loving and concerned. He waited, but she didn’t seem especially disgusted or disappointed.

“You came back,” she said, making it a statement not a question.

“Yeah. About two in the morning I knew I couldn’t leave. I hadn’t even left a note. One member of the family had run out on them. I decided I couldn’t do it, too. So I turned around and came home.” He met her gaze. “But I wanted to run. That day and at least a dozen since. Sometimes I made it as far as the property line. Other times I didn’t get a single thing packed. But the point is I still want to go.”