style="font-size:15px;"> When Lexi made her reservation, she had requested a cabin rather than a room in the main lodge, preferring to be away from the central hub of activity. This was not a vacation as far as she was concerned. It was business—very serious business.
She registered, then went to her assigned cabin consisting of a large bedroom, a bathroom and a patio. The furnishings looked comfortable, accentuated by an attractive and tasteful decor. As advertised, there were no televisions, radios or telephones in the guests’ rooms although there was a comfortable lounge in the main building with a big-screen television.
As soon as she had unpacked and put her things away, she picked up the activities schedule. She glanced at it but put it back on the table without giving it too much thought. She would make her selections later, ensuring that she participated in all the activities led by Nick Clayton. Right now, however, she had more important things on her mind.
She had formulated a plan, actually several plans, on how she would handle the situation once she arrived at the ranch. She knew it was going to take every bit of intestinal fortitude she could muster to keep her longsuppressed feelings of resentment and her hidden agenda from showing. She tried to dismiss the fact that she now needed to add the necessity of ignoring a very primal attraction to an incredibly sexy and appealing man—a man whose touch and smile made her pulse race, a man about whom she could easily fantasize making passionate love all night long . . . and a man she knew was a no-good philanderer.
At least she thought she knew it. Even though she disliked the notion, she couldn’t stop thinking she’d need to confirm Mamie’s story before taking any action. Before she made her move, she’d have to scope out the situation, learn as much as she could about Nick Clayton and figure out what made him tick. A touch of sadness worked its way into her mind. Even though she loved her older sister, she could not turn a blind eye to Mamie’s history of twisting and exaggerating facts to suit her needs.
She could not imagine why Mamie would lie about something this important, but Lexi wanted to make sure everything had happened just as her sister said it had before she confronted Nick Clayton about his son. She didn’t want to make any mistakes that would allow him an avenue of escape, nor did she want to tip her hand too soon.
She took a steadying breath and shoved away the unsettled anxiety in her stomach. But try as she might, she could not dislodge the image that continued to tempt her stimulated senses and heated desires. There was something very special about Nick Clayton that had grabbed hold of her and refused to let go.
There was no doubt that he had made a definite impact on her, but it was one she feared could end up causing an emotional upheaval in her life. From the moment she’d laid eyes on this delicious cowboy, sensual desires had dominated her thoughts—desires tempered by a softer underscoring of emotion. A link of some sort had been forged, one as much emotional as physical. She didn’t understand it, but she instinctively knew it was true.
How could she possibly give her full attention to achieving her goal when the object of her quest kept heating her senses and turning her life upside down? She had never met anyone who had gotten under her skin the way he had. Her earlier errant thought about love at first sight came back to haunt her. She had only meant it as a joke—at least she had thought it was only a joke. Could there have been more truth to it than she realized?
Lexi’s brow furrowed in confusion as she tried to force her thoughts and feelings into some sort of sensible and rational mold—something that would remove them from the influence of her emotions. A little shiver of trepidation pricked at her consciousness. He would not be that easy to dismiss from her life on either a physical or an emotional level.
Nick Clayton had turned out to be a very disconcerting man. Finding out his secrets and digging into his psyche was going to be much more difficult than she’d originally thought.
Two
Nick entered the ranch’s business office and perched on the edge of his mother’s desk. “Well, what’s on the agenda for the rest of today?” He picked up the clipboard, giving the schedule a quick glance. “Any problems that I need to know about?”
Gloria Clayton looked up at her older son, emitted a little sigh of resignation and took the clipboard away from him. “Nothing out of the ordinary that can’t be handled as part of the daily routine by the people whose job it is.” She released the brake on her wheelchair and started across the room.
Nick jumped to his feet. “What do you need? I’ll get it for you.”
Gloria wheeled around to face him. “Nicky . . . I’ve been confined to this chair for a little over eight years now. I’ve adjusted to your father being gone and I’ve adjusted to not being able to walk more than a few steps unaided. I’m more than capable of getting whatever I need by myself.”
A moment of sorrow swept across her features and her words came out barely above a whisper. “One moment, a blink of an eye, and the entire world is turned upside down. Your father is dead, my legs are almost useless, and the drunk driver who ran the red light and crashed into our car walks away without a scratch.”
She looked up at her son, a gentle smile coming to her still-beautiful features. “And out of that terrible happening came a new beginning. A modest cattle ranch becomes a successful dude ranch. You and Danny stepped into your father’s shoes and did a terrific job of making the difficult transition and running the business.” The gentle smile turned to an amused chuckle. “Now, if I could just get you to stop trying to be all things to everyone and start thinking about yourself for a change.” A pensive look crossed her face. “There must be some kind of a middle ground between your serious approach to responsibility and Danny’s frivolous, good-time attitude.”
“Ah—Danny’s frivolous, good-time attitude.” He nervously shifted his weight and cleared his throat. “Well, maybe he’ll grow up one of these days.”
“He’s twenty-eight years old, Nicky. And you’re thirty. Neither of you are children anymore.”
Nick carefully sidestepped Gloria’s comments about what she had often referred to as his overinflated sense of responsibility, preferring to allow Danny to be the topic of conversation. “There is one thing Danny does that I’m happy to let him handle without any interference. He works real well with the kids. I . . . uh . . .” One of Nick’s very few chinks in his armor of confidence was now visible. “I haven’t a clue what to do with children. I sort of freeze up when I’m around them and am at a loss for something to say. I guess I just don’t know how to talk to kids.”
“Well, one of these days you’ll come face-to-face with the perfect woman and that will be the end of your objections. You’ll look up and there she’ll be. You’ll get married and have a family of your own. I remember when your father and I met. One look and we both knew that was it.” Gloria shot him a half teasing, half serious glance. “One of these days I’ll finally be a grandmother. I’m the only one of all my friends who doesn’t have any grandchildren.”
Nick chuckled nervously. “Now, Mom. There’s plenty of time for that.” He placed a loving kiss on her forehead and grinned at her. “You’re far too young to be a grandmother.”
He felt the tension building inside him. It was a conversation that always made him uneasy. He really had no interest in getting mamed. He had a business to run and too many people depended on him for their jobs, a responsibility that took most of his time and weighed heavily on his shoulders. There was no way he would be able to take on the additional commitment that marriage required. Besides, why tie himself down to only one woman when there were so many out
