bar. “Sam brings Bria here for dinner all the time. For that matter, the rest of your brothers bring their wives here, as well. We both know they wouldn’t dream of doing that if they thought they were placing the women in jeopardy.”
It was Jaron’s turn to laugh. “Do you honestly think that some dust-covered cowboy would have the guts to try putting the moves on one of my sisters-in-law with my brothers right there to knock them flat?”
Continuing to glare at him, she shook her head. “I’m not going to get into a debate with you about your antiquated idea that women need a man’s protection whenever they go out.” She started to brush past him to go back into the bar. “I’ve had a trying day, I’m tired and I need to make that phone call.”
“Not in there you’re not,” Jaron said, placing his hands on her slender shoulders to stop her.
“Jaron Lambert, I swear if you don’t—”
Before he could stop himself, he pulled her close and brought his mouth down on hers to silence her. But the moment he tasted her perfect coral lips, he lost every ounce of sense he’d ever possessed and gave in to years of temptation and denial.
Wrapping his arms around her, Jaron settled Mariah against him, and the feel of her breasts crushed to his chest, her body touching his from their shoulders to their knees, set a fire in his belly that he thought just might burn him to a crisp. Without a thought to the consequences, he traced the seam of her mouth with his tongue to coax her to open for him. When she did, he slipped inside to explore her inner recesses.
As he stroked and teased her, she grabbed the front of his jeans jacket with both hands for support as she sagged against him. That fueled the fire in his belly to a fever pitch, and his erection was not only inevitable—it caused him to feel light-headed from its intensity. Tightening his arms around her, he held her to him and he knew the second she felt the evidence of his need when she shivered and pressed herself even closer.
His heart stalled as another wave of heat flowed through his veins. He had wanted her for so damned long, if he didn’t put some distance between them, and real quick, he wasn’t sure he would be able to. But when he tried to ease away from the kiss, Mariah’s lips clung to his and he knew it was going to take every ounce of strength he could muster to move away from her.
Forcing himself to take a step back before she made him forget he was a gentleman, he took a deep breath. “What seems to be wrong with your car?”
“I...uh, I’m not sure,” she said, sounding as winded as he felt. “I heard a noise and a few minutes later I noticed the lights were dimming. By the time I parked it here, they went out completely and the engine died. When I turned the key to restart it, all it did was make a clicking sound.”
“It sounds as if you might have a bad battery or the alternator went out,” he said, thankful to focus on something besides the enticing woman standing next to him. It appeared that neither wanted to mention the kiss, and that was just fine with him. The less said about his lapse of judgment, the better.
“Is that expensive?” she asked, nibbling on her lower lip. She wasn’t trying to be provocative, but it was all he could do to keep from kissing her again.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ll have my men come and get your car in the morning and see what they can do. I’ve got a hired hand who can fix just about anything with four tires and a motor.”
“That’s great, but how am I supposed to get home tonight?” she asked, rubbing her temple with her fingertips as if she might be developing a headache. A sudden rumble of thunder followed by a flash of lightning in the distance caused her to groan. “Great! Just great. I still have ninety miles to drive before I get home, my car won’t run and now it’s going to start raining. Could this day get any better?”
“It’s been a rough one?” he asked, noticing the defeated expression on her pretty face.
She looked at him as though he might be one of the simplest souls she’d ever met. “Let me put it to you this way—I’ve definitely had a lot better.”
As he stood there staring at her, he waged an internal battle with himself. It was getting late and there weren’t a lot of choices. He was worn-out from working all day and she sounded as though she was exhausted from whatever had ruined hers. He could drive her down to Shady Grove, but he really wasn’t looking forward to making the hour-and-a-half drive back as tired as he was—not when he had a very comfortable, fully furnished six-bedroom ranch house ten miles away.
“Don’t worry about how you’re going to get home,” he said, glancing at his watch. “You can stay at my place tonight and drive back to Shady Grove in the morning after my men get your car fixed.”
“I don’t want to impose.” A sudden gust of wind had her impatiently brushing her long dark brown hair away from her face as she shivered from the February cold. “Could you drive me over to Sam and Bria’s?”
It would be the best for all concerned if he could take her to her sister and his brother’s ranch. Unfortunately, that option wasn’t on the table. “Sam and Bria left this morning to go down to Houston for a stock show.”
She looked uncertain for several seconds and he could tell she was trying to think of something—anything—else she could do. When her shoulders sagged in defeat, he knew she’d reached the same conclusion he had.
She sighed heavily. “It doesn’t look as though I have a choice, does it?”
He shook his head. “I’ve got five spare bedrooms and you can take your pick.”
“All right,” she finally agreed, opening her car door. She retrieved a short black leather jacket from the passenger seat and pulled it on, then used her remote to lock the car.
Neither spoke as they walked the short distance to his truck and he helped her into the passenger side of the cab. What could they say? He had let his guard down and given in to the temptation of kissing her. But it couldn’t happen again. Now that she was going to have to spend the night at his place because her car had broken down, another kiss like the one he’d given her a few minutes ago could very easily push him over the edge and cause him to lose what little sense he had left.
When Jaron walked around the front of the truck to slide into the driver’s seat, he stared straight ahead as he started the powerful engine. He still wanted her and he could only hope that he’d cool off on the ten-mile drive to the Wild Maverick Ranch, at least enough to get some sleep.
But as he steered the truck out of the parking lot and headed toward his ranch, he knew as surely as the sun would rise in the east tomorrow morning that wasn’t going to happen. Now that he had tasted her sweet lips and held her soft body against his, he wanted a whole lot more. And that was something he knew for certain he could never have.
Mariah deserved a man who could offer her a future free of the emotional and physical scars of the past. Unfortunately, he had both.
* * *
When Jaron drove his truck beneath the arched entrance sign of the Wild Maverick Ranch, Mariah’s heart skipped a beat. She still couldn’t believe that he’d kissed her, let alone that she was going to spend the night at his new ranch.
When she was eighteen, she’d had a crush on him and dreamed of nothing more than having him feel as enamored with her as she was with him. He’d known about
