couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him. He didn’t think he’d ever acted so irrationally with a woman before. The need to kiss her had just overwhelmed him, and he’d been helpless to resist the urge to pull her into his arms.
He called himself a thousand kinds of fool. And the foolishness had to stop. There was too much at stake for him to be acting irresponsibly. His daughter’s happiness was more important than his hormones.
But he couldn’t deny that that not-so-simple kiss had been a soul-rocking event, something of a shock to a man who thought spontaneous combustion was mere theory. Lord help him if he had been in a position to go any further. He doubted he would have come to his senses until he’d buried himself inside her and found release.
He’d meant what he’d said. He was never impulsive. Yet even now, while worrying that his daughter was giving him the fastest-forming ulcer in history, his mind would not let go of the image of making Leah lose control with him, driving her mindless with passion underneath him. She was so contained, so self-assured, he wanted to rock her as deeply as she’d rocked him. He wanted her primal...not sleek and oh-so-correct.
He shook his head sharply. Yes, he was attracted to Leah, but he’d just met her, for criminy’s sake. Of course, she’d thrown him off guard by not reacting to his “I’m the boss” speech as he’d expected, and there was nothing like surprise to intrigue a man. He’d been so sure she would disapprove of his motives. Not that approval or disapproval mattered, but she had empathized with him, and for the first time in months he felt a little less like bubblegum stuck to the bottom of a shoe.
Oh, he’d definitely seen the wheels beginning to turn in her beautiful head when the discussion had inevitably turned to the damned tuxedo issue, but he was sure he could hold his own with her. No amount of coaxing from Myra Jo had changed his mind, so he doubted the machinations of the curvaceous consultant would have any better effect.
He was sure of one thing, though—
The sound of a siren and bright strobe lights in his rearview mirror jerked him rudely to attention.
Without hesitation he pulled onto the shoulder and cut his engine while he rolled down the window. He was reaching for his wallet when he heard a vaguely familiar voice.
“All right, Bobby Ray, I clocked you at ninety-two. I’ve caught your—oh! Mr. Mackey!”
“Evenin’, Tim.”
Wade looked out the window at a boy he’d almost raised. Tim Anderson’s folks were some of his best friends, and Tim and Myra Jo had gone to school together since grade school. Then Myra Jo had gone off to college and Tim had gone to the Department of Public Safety academy. Wade had even attended the boy’s graduation.
“What are you doing in Bobby Ray’s Mustang, Mr. Mackey?”
Wade got out of the car and leaned back against the quarter panel. He rubbed the tension lines on his forehead. “It’s a long story, Tim.”
“Well, uh, did you know how fast you were going?”
“No, Tim, I’m afraid I didn’t. I was daydreaming a bit.”
“That’s dangerous at any speed, Mr. Mackey, but certainly at over ninety.”
“I know, son.”
“Well, if you’ll give me your word you’ll watch it the rest of the way home, I’ll let you go.”
“I appreciate it.”
Wade held his hand out to the young man, remembering the time when Tim had solemnly informed him that men didn’t hug. If he recalled correctly, Tim had been about seven.
He’d almost slid back into his seat when a thought occurred to him. Stepping back out, he called to Tim. “How’d you know this was Bobby Ray’s car?”
Tim’s laugh carried the few feet between the vehicles. “Bobby Ray and I used to drag out here in high school. I told him when I became a Trooper I was going to nail his butt someday. I thought I had my chance tonight.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, son.”
“No problem. You just slow down and drive more like a man your age should. You got that?”
Wade chuckled. “Yeah, I got it. And you’re gonna get it, too, as soon as I catch you out of uniform.”
“Now, Mr. Mackey, don’t make me haul you in for threatening an officer.”
“You know me, Tim. I don’t threaten. I promise.” Tim laughed again as he slipped inside his vehicle and turned off his strobes. Wade indulged in another chuckle as he pulled back onto the highway, determined to set aside his obsession with one particular lady. No matter how beautiful she was, he wasn’t going to get a ticket. Or worse.
“Drive like a man my age, my foot!” Wade snorted. “That pup thinks anyone over thirty is old, but I’ve got news for him.”
He might have edged past forty, but he was hardly over the hill. He had a long life ahead of him.
His smile faded. Long and alone, if the truth were told. Myra Jo was starting her new life, and he felt as if his had gone into limbo.
He used to know exactly who he was and what he had to do. He was a single father, a son and a rancher. He used to get up every day before the sun, knowing he had a family to support and more bills to pay than money to pay them with. Now his baby was leaving, he was starting to parent his parents and he had people running the ranch for him. He was supposed to be free to do the things he wanted, but running the ranch was what he wanted.
Did this mean he was in a midlife crisis? He’d always thought the midlife crisis thing was a bunch of hogwash people used to excuse their misbehavior.
Hell, he decided he wasn’t sure about anything anymore.
Except his inability to get his mind off one beautiful, elegant brunette.
Three
Leah checked her hair self-consciously before she left the sanctuary of her car. She’d spent the entire drive to Wade’s vacillating between congratulating herself on her casual attire and berating herself for obeying him. She’d picked her oldest and most faded pair of pleated jeans and had added a simple cotton top knotted over a peach-colored tank. Her only wish was that jeans did a better job of masking the few extra pounds giving her hips a roundness not exactly in style these days. She hadn’t cared what a man thought about her body in a long time, and it made her uncomfortable to acknowledge that she wanted Wade to think she was attractive.
During the time her mind wasn’t occupied with those thoughts, she had lectured herself not to make a fool of herself when she saw him again. She absolutely forbade her heart to flutter, her stomach to constrict and her pulse to race. He was just a man, for heaven’s sake, and the father of her client. The man who, incidentally, would be writing her a check.
The man who’d kissed her as though her lips tasted of honey.
The man whose touch had reminded her how very long it had been since she’d felt desired.
With a fortifying breath she gathered her purse and planner and headed toward
