It almost seemed a counterpart to the way Max’s touch sizzled on her skin. It had been a magical evening, but she knew it was drawing to a close. If only there was some way to keep it going all night.
“This is the most perfect Valentine’s Day I’ve ever had,” she told him simply.
“Good.” He dropped a kiss on her lips. “Not too ordinary?” he teased.
She shook her head. “Not a bit ordinary,” she said. Reaching up, she touched his face with the flat of her hand. “Oh, Max,” she began, feeling the need to express to him how she felt.
But she never got the chance. Before she could get another word out, C.J.’s voice was booming through the room.
“So this is what you’re up to, is it? I should have known.”
There she stood, hands on her hips, green eyes flashing angry fire.
“C.J.” Max started toward her. “What are you doing here?”
“Looking for you. What else? It’s Valentine’s Day. But I see you know that.” She glared at him. “Don’t you think you should have been with me? I’m the one you’re supposed to marry.”
Max stopped dead and stared at her coldly. “C.J., I haven’t made any sort of commitment to you and you know it.”
“It’s her, isn’t it?” she cried, pointing at Cari. “It’s because of her. You’ve fallen in love with her, haven’t you?” Swinging around, she faced Cari. “If it wasn’t for you, we could have this whole deal done by now.” She took a step toward Cari, shaking her head as though she were beseeching her. “Look, I’ve stood back and I’ve been tolerant. I knew he went for you, not me. That was okay. I figured, if he wants to have some fun on the side, let him. That doesn’t bother me at all. But I want the wedding ring on my finger, I want the marriage certificate in my hand. Then he can do whatever he wants.”
“C.J., you’re embarrassing yourself,” Max told her quietly, controlling his temper with obvious effort.
“Oh, yeah?” She tossed her flaming hair back and glared. “Well, get this, mister. This is it. No more Ms. Nice Guy. I want a wedding date and I want it now. Or you can forget about your mother getting back her beloved ranch.”
Max looked pained. “Go home, C.J. You weren’t invited here.”
Her face reddened in outrage. “Be careful, Max. My patience is not infinite.”
“Good. It shouldn’t be. And in that vein, let me explain more explicitly.” He stood before her, legs apart, arms at his sides. “I’m not going to marry you. Not ever. And if that means my mother will have to forgo having her ranch back, that is the price we will have to pay.”
C.J.’s head went back, but her glare didn’t dim.
He shook his head, exasperated with her. “But you know very well we aren’t in love with each other. And even more important, we don’t suit each other at all. We would both be miserable tied together by a wedding vow. Upon reflection, I’ve decided it would be a very bad move. So it’s out. Sorry.”
On a certain level, Cari felt sorry for the woman. She’d made her intentions clear from the beginning. It was too bad she hadn’t noticed earlier that her plans were just not panning out. Cari was watching the scene carefully and she saw the anger in C.J.’s face. Anger and frustration. But no pain, no sadness. This failure had touched her spirit, but not her heart. That relieved Cari somewhat.
Randy appeared out of nowhere and was helping to get C.J. out of the room, though she was still railing at Max.
Valentine’s Day was over. And just in time, Jamie woke up.
IT WAS a good hour later before they settled down and got Jamie back to sleep, in his bed this time. Cari was still trying to come to terms with what had happened. Max had pretty much rejected the plan to marry C.J. Did he mean it? And what did that mean for the prospects of getting his mother the ranch? She couldn’t help but worry.
Max was taciturn and restless, sitting on the couch not watching the television which played in the background. She knew he was thinking over the ramifications of what he’d just done. She slid onto the couch beside him and took his hand in hers.
“Max, you always say that you came to Dallas with two big goals in mind. Number one was to find your brother’s son and to find proof that he is Gino’s. And you’ve done that. You’ve saved Jamie’s life and you are going to have a beautiful baby who will carry on Gino’s memory and be a part of your family forever. You’re giving your mother a gift of love that can’t be equaled. Jamie will remind you and your family every day of what a wonderful brother you had.”
Max inclined his head, acknowledging everything she’d said as his fingers curled around hers. “You had a part in it all,” he mentioned, but she waved that away.
“Your second goal was to return the ownership of the family ranch to your mother because losing it had preyed on her mind for years and you thought it would make her happy to have control of it again, something to help heal the unhealable wound losing Gino had dealt her. This you haven’t achieved as yet.”
“True.”
Now came the hard part. “You know you could achieve it by marrying C.J.”
He nodded. “But that’s not going to happen.”
She frowned, shaking her head. “Then how are you going to get control of the ranch?”
He grimaced and shrugged. “I’ll find another way.”
That chilled her. What if desperation drove him to do something illegal, or even underhanded in some way? She knew that would eat away at him. She couldn’t let something like that happen. But what could she do? When it came right down to it, this was none of her business. Why was she even delving into it?
Because she wanted to help him. Because she was worried about him. Because…and this was the bottom line…she was in love with him.
Yes, it was true, and she had to admit it to herself. She’d fallen in love with the man she’d vowed to harden her heart to from the start. What a fool she was.
Turning, she looked at his handsome face, and some of her self-criticism faded. He was so gorgeous and so good and so lovable. How could she not fall for a man like this?
Especially now as he moved closer and he took her chin in his hand and he began to kiss her mouth with quick, hungry nips that made her gasp. Ordinarily she would pull away. Ordinarily she would protest. But he wasn’t marrying C.J. anymore. So she was going to give in to temptation for just a few minutes. It just felt so good.
His hands held her head on either side now, and his kisses were growing deeper and more urgent. Reaching up, she dug her fingers into his thick hair and arched her breasts against him. He was so very male and she was so very female and they were caught up in a dance as old as life. Every part of her body began to relax, and then to tingle with pleasure. She wanted his hands on her breasts, and his lips, too. She wanted to feel him crush her to the couch with his hard body.
