she remembered he said he had something to tell her. Her heart pounded. She looked at his left hand. No ring. But maybe that was about to change.
She touched his bare ring finger, then jerked her hand back. Idiot. She had no claims on him. Why did she think she had the right—
“I haven’t gotten married,” he said. “Guess you ruined me for anyone else.”
She couldn’t tell whether that was the truth or he was trying to lighten the moment with sarcasm. “Are you living with someone?”
His brows went up, but he answered, “Six ranch hands in a bunkhouse.”
“Are you sleeping with anyone?” Mortified, she shoved her face in her hands. “Forget that. Please. I don’t know why I asked.”
He seemed amused by her embarrassment. “Well, there’s a mouse who seems particularly fond of me.” He took the bandanna she tossed back at him and dried his face. “Why are you interested in my love life, Jen?”
“You said you wanted to talk to me. I figured...” She let the words trail. Really, what else could it be, except that he was seeing someone? She made a sound of helplessness. “I could really use a drink about now.”
He leaned behind the driver’s seat and grabbed a sack. “Your wish is my command,” he said, presenting her with the six-pack of beer he’d just bought, bowing slightly, the steering wheel keeping the gesture small.
It made her smile. “Thanks, but no thanks.”
He put away the bag. “Well, thanks for the walk down memory lane, anyway,” he said, glancing at her wet shirt.
Just having him look at her made her nipples go hard. She put an arm across her breasts, covering herself, but hiding wouldn’t do any good, and she knew it. He would remember what she looked like, the same as she remembered him. Nothing changed the fact that she’d given her virginity to him in a glorious moment, and in this very truck. He’d been patient and tender. They’d spent the summer after he’d graduated from college and she from high school meeting when they could in a private niche among the nearby grove of trees. One summer of stolen moments, of emotions taut and explosive—the thrill of a forbidden union, the shock of loving beyond understanding, at least on her part.
Now here they were, four years later, sitting in his truck, the rain creating a magic curtain around them, making it seem as if they were in a world of their own.
Memories assaulted her right and left. Her hands shook. She crossed her arms.
“Cold?” he asked.
She shook her head. “There’s just so much going on in my head, snapshots like they sometimes show on TV, images flashing so quickly you can hardly keep up with them.”
“Good or bad?”
“Mostly good. Some painful.” She touched her fingers to her lips as if he’d just kissed her.
“I know....” He cupped her face with his hand. He didn’t ask permission—maybe he could already see she was willing. He pulled her closer. She expected a gentle kiss, one of remembrance, maybe even a kind of friendship they might have after all this time.
But he groaned as he kissed her, not wasting time with finesse but devouring her, arousing her, reawakening and rekindling what had been. His lips were familiar...yet not. His large, rough, trembling hands roamed over her, unbuttoning her blouse and pants. He maneuvered, shifted and angled their bodies until they were both undressed and in the passenger seat, Jenny on top. She lowered herself onto him.
There was homecoming and welcome, and newness, too. She remembered everything about him—and nothing.
Finally she was draped over him, both of them struggling to breathe, and the rain stopped as quickly as it started. The windows were steamed up from their breath and body heat, but the shield of rain was gone.
She sat up and studied his face. What are you thinking? she wanted to ask, knowing she didn’t dare, not unless she wanted to know the answer. She didn’t. He’d made it clear in his years of silence that he wanted nothing from her anymore. Even before, he’d only wanted sex. Their families were rivals. Their union never was meant to be.
But then he dragged his fingers down her bare body. “Do you ever think—”
“Yes.” She kissed him to stop the rest of the question, then they went about getting presentable again. Her hands shook. He brushed them away and buttoned her blouse.
Then he passed her his phone. “I don’t have any chains in the truck or I’d try to pull you out of the ditch.”
She called her father. He would assess the situation before they decided whether they needed a tow truck.
“You probably shouldn’t be here when they arrive,” she said to Win.
“I imagine they would think I was just being neighborly. Anyway, if they have caller ID, they already know whose phone you used.”
She hadn’t thought of that.
He eyed her directly, as if waiting for more from her. “Well. That was an unexpected pleasure,” he said as he tucked her hair behind her ear then caressed her earlobe.
“Who would’ve thought that the next time I saw you, we’d make love,” she said. She started to climb out of the truck, but turned back to him. “Wait a minute. You said you wanted to talk to me.”
She saw hesitation in his eyes.
“Another time. Welcome home, Jen.”
He took off immediately. She watched his truck until she couldn’t see it anymore. She refused to give in to the tornado of emotions swirling through her. She also needed to pull herself together before her father arrived, especially if her all-seeing mother tagged along. Jenny had come home a day early, wanting to surprise them. She needed to seem happy and excited.
Except she was mostly confused. Win Morgan wasn’t just her first lover. They’d also been married—for a month.
That was some history they had. She had to keep that secret forever, along with the fact she’d loved him with all her heart, had told him so every day—even though she’d only been a diversion and a responsibility to him. And that part she didn’t want to think about. Even though she did. Every single day.
A line of pickups came up the road a little while later—her father and three of her brothers, all there to help.
She was home. It could only get better from here.
Chapter Two
Even though Jenny had seen most of her family a few days ago for her graduation ceremony, seeing them now, after being denied the loan and having crashed her car and made love with Win, brought tears to her eyes. No one questioned it, assuming she was just happy to be home. Which she was. And wasn’t.
Her mother cupped her face and looked into her eyes as the men pondered her car from every angle and the best way to extricate it.
“What’s wrong?” Dori Ryder asked, tipping back her straw cowboy
