his reply, she tried to calm her racing heart, tried to tell herself that the kiss was no big deal. Even though it was the biggest thing she could ever remember happening to her.
“I never meant for the kiss to go so far, Maura,” he said lowly. “That just seemed to happen.”
Turning her face back to his, she opened her eyes and felt a jolt to her senses as she gazed into his blue ones. He was probably the most sexual, sensual man she’d ever met and to say that his kiss had been potent would be an understatement. Her knees were still quivering.
Mortified, she said, “I was in on it, too, Quint. It’s just as much as my fault for letting it go on.” And on and on, she mentally added.
“Why should it be anyone’s fault? Why are you so bothered about this? It’s not like we committed a crime—or hurt anyone.”
She looked down at the ground while inside her emotions were tumbling, falling, rolling away at a speed too fast to allow her to catch up.
“That’s true.”
“And you did like it. As much as I liked it,” he pointed out.
“I can’t deny that,” she admitted.
“So? Why are you trying to race back to the house? To end our walk?”
He called this a walk? She shivered to think what a deliberate rendezvous would be.
Her gaze dropped to the toes of his brown boots. “I shouldn’t have to explain. But it looks as though I must.” Her eyes fluttered back up to his. “I’m not the type to—well, just be a diversion for a man. And we both know that’s all you want. A kiss, maybe two. Maybe you even want to have sex with me.”
“The thought did occur to me.”
Her nostrils flared at his flippant reply. “Well, it isn’t going to happen.”
Amusement dimpled his cheek long before a chuckle passed his lips. “That’s what you think.”
A mixture of annoyance and excitement rushed through her, pushing her heartbeat to an even higher rate. “And why? Why would you want a woman like me?”
Before he could answer, she twisted away from his grasp and began walking. By now it was growing dark and she could only think how easy it would be to fall into Quint’s arms, to let him show her, remind her that she was still a woman. A woman who’d not been made love to in a long, long time.
He snaked an arm around her waist and once again forced her to stop in her tracks and face him.
“What does that mean? A woman like you?”
He brought his palms up to her face and Maura felt her knees threaten to buckle as he rubbed his thumbs against her cheeks. She was getting glimpses of what he would be like as a lover and those indications were far too tempting for a wounded woman like her.
“Oh, Quint,” she said in a strained voice, “surely you can see what I’m talking about. For starters I’m six years older than you.”
He frowned. “What does that have to do with anything?”
Maura rolled her eyes. “There’s a gap between us.”
“We can fix that,” he drawled, then jerked her forward until the front of her body was brushing his. “See? No gap at all. In fact, I can tighten it even more.”
He was being a hopeless flirt. Almost playful. Something she didn’t think him capable of. Before this evening, the only Quint Cantrell she’d seen was a serious, work-driven man. She couldn’t imagine what had brought about this change in him. Surely not her.
“There are other kinds of gaps, Quint. You’re young and single.” She didn’t bother to add “rich, attractive and considered one of the biggest catches in Lincoln County.”
“You are, too.”
“I’m divorced,” she said thickly.
“That doesn’t make you contaminated.”
She couldn’t do anything but laugh and when a smile suddenly spread across his face, it made her feel good, better than she’d felt in a long, long while.
“See,” he said, “you were taking one little kiss way too seriously.”
The embrace that had gone on between them had been more than one little kiss. But he was right. The best thing she could do for both of them was to treat this whole thing in a casual way. The last thing he needed to know was that he’d shaken the very earth beneath her feet.
“You’re right. I suppose I have been making too much of it.”
The grin on his face deepened. “We still have a little twilight left. Let’s walk on to the stables,” he urged. “You don’t want to have to tell Gramps you couldn’t make it that far.”
That wouldn’t be nearly as embarrassing as returning to the house with red cheeks and swollen lips, she thought wryly. “All right. Let’s go on. But—”
When she broke off with uncertainty, he quickly finished, “Don’t worry, you’ve made it clear you’ve had enough kissing for tonight.”
He slipped his arm across the back of her waist and as he urged her on toward the ranch yard, Maura could only think she might have Quint completely fooled, but not herself. She’d not had nearly enough of his kisses. Or his company. And with each step she took by his side, she wondered if she was headed toward a very special place or the hell of another heartache.
A few days later, as the weekend approached, Maura was considering driving over to the Diamond D on Saturday. Her mother was still hounding her about having supper with her family and Maura knew that Fiona wouldn’t let up with her nagging until her eldest daughter showed up.
But on Friday evening Abe came in early from the ranch yard and spent the last waning hours of sunlight in his easy chair. The behavior was out of character and, though he insisted he felt fine, Maura suspected the man was dizzy but just didn’t want to admit it to her.
Deciding she needed to stay close, Maura crossed the family meal off her plans and promised herself to go another time, when Abe wasn’t behaving so peculiarly. But by Saturday afternoon, he appeared to be back to his normal self and raring to get back with the ranch hands.
Late that evening, sometime after dark, Abe was still out when she answered the phone and was vaguely surprised to hear Quint’s voice. Since Abe carried his own cell phone, his relatives usually called him directly on it rather than over the landline.
“Hi,” he said. “I was about to think you weren’t in the house.”
Just the sound of his voice caused her heart to trip over itself and she realized no man had ever made her feel so giddy and young.
“I was in the laundry room,” she explained. “Abe is still down at the ranch yard. Did you try his cell?”
