style="font-size:15px;"> Jared frowned at her. “I’m not getting married for the sake of my sister.”
“Get married for yourself. Hey, if you get proactive, you’ll have your choice of women. If Stephanie gets her way, you’re stuck with me.”
It obviously took Jared a stunned minute to realize Melissa was joking. But then he visibly relaxed.
“What about you?” he asked. “Would you get married to keep your siblings happy?”
Melissa coughed out a laugh. “I have five older brothers. Trust me, no husband in the world will be good enough.”
“Would they scare a guy off?”
Melissa smiled at that. “They range from six-one to six-four. All tough as nails. Adam’s a roofer, Ben and Caleb are framers, Dan’s an electrician and Eddy’s a pipe fitter.”
A calculating look came into Jared’s eyes. “You think they’d be interested in jobs with Ryder International?”
“I’m afraid they’re all gainfully employed.”
His eyes squinted down as he stared at her, and she braced herself for sarcasm about her own dismal career status. It was going to be hard not to defend herself from his criticism.
“Might be worth marrying you for the union connections alone.”
The words surprised a laugh out of her. She played along. “Plus, Stephanie would have a mother.” She played along. “Well, more like a sister, really. I’m only four or five years older than she is, you know.”
“Not a bad plan.” Jared nodded and pretended to give it serious consideration. “Stephanie’s pretty convinced the family would benefit from a few more females in the mix.”
“Smart girl,” said Melissa.
“Can’t argue with the logic,” Jared agreed. “It’s her methods that cause the trouble.”
As they spoke, Stephanie sailed over her final jump, completing a clean round.
“She really is good,” said Melissa.
“You don’t know the half of it.” Jared turned from the window.
He paused, and they came face-to-face, closer than she’d realized. Sunlight streamed in, highlighting his gorgeous eyes, his strong chin, his straight nose and the short shock of brown hair that curled across his forehead.
The force of his raw magnetism drew her in, arousing and frightening her at the same time. He was all man. He had power, looks and intelligence, and she suddenly felt inadequate. She wasn’t ready to work at his ranch or write an article about him. The phrase out of my league planted itself firmly in her brain.
For a second she let herself fear his reaction to the article. But then she banished the fear. It was her job to get the story, and she’d be far away from Montana by the time it ran in the Bizz.
The world outside darkened, and his eyes turned to midnight, sensuality radiating from their depths. The humidity jumped up, only to be overtaken by a freshening breeze.
There were shouts from outside as the wind swirled and a storm threatened. Doors banged, horses whinnied, and plastic tarps rattled against their ropes.
Meanwhile, gazes locked, Jared and Melissa didn’t move.
The wild clamor outside matched the cacophony inside her head. This attraction felt so right, but it was so incredibly wrong. Jared was her article subject, her employer, one of the most powerful entrepreneurs in Chicago. She had absolutely no business being attracted to him.
He reached out to brush a stray lock of hair from her temple. His touch was electric, arousing, light as a feather but shocking as a lightning bolt.
Thunder rumbled in the distance, and the first fat raindrops clattered on the roof.
“I’m going to kiss you,” he told her.
She drew a breath. “You think that’s a good idea?”
He moved slightly closer. “It’s not the smartest thing I’ve ever done.” He stroked his thumb along her jaw, tipped her chin. “But probably not the stupidest, either. Might not even make the top three.”
“What were they?” she asked.
“The stupidest things?”
She gave a slight nod.
“I don’t think I’ll be telling you that right now.”
“Maybe later?”
“I doubt it.” Done talking, he leaned in and pressed his warm lips to hers.
It was a gentle kiss, a tentative kiss. There was a wealth of respect and more than a couple of questions contained in the kiss.
She answered by softening her lips. One of her hands went to his shoulder, steadying herself, she lied. Truth was, she wanted to hang on, press closer, turn his inquiry into a genuine kiss.
He easily complied, stepping forward, parting his lips, one hand going to the small of her back, the other tunneling into the hair behind her ear. He tipped his head, deepened the kiss; she plastered herself flush against him, feeling the hard heat of his body, counterpoint to the wind and rain that rushed in through the open window.
Warning sirens clanged inside her head.
It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.
She was supposed to maintain a journalistic detachment. Plus, hadn’t she come up here to warn him about Stephanie? Not to flirt. Or worse, seduce. What on earth was she thinking?
He broke the kiss, but moved instantly into another. Melissa didn’t have time to decide if she was relieved or upset before she was dragged away on another tidal wave of desire.
The world disappeared—the horses, the people, the wind and rain. Nothing existed except Jared’s kiss, the rough texture of his hands, the heat of his hard body and the fresh, earthy, male scent that surrounded her and drew her into an alternative universe.
His thumb found the strip of skin between her tank top and blue jeans. He stroked up her spine, sending shivers of reaction skittering both ways. His hand slipped under her shirt, warm palm caressing the sensitized skin, working higher, closing in on the scrap of her bra.
His tongue touched hers, tentatively at first, but then bolder as she responded, opening to him, tipping her head to give him better access to her mouth. His hand caressed the back of her head. Her arms tightened around his neck. She went up on her toes, struggling to get closer.
A clap of thunder boomed through the sky, rumbling the building, lightning dancing in the clouds rapidly engulfed the ranch. The rain grew steady, blurring the world, cooling the air and clattering like a freight train against the cedar shakes above them.
Jared pulled her tighter still, leaving her in no doubt about the effect the kiss was having on him. It was having the same effect on her. It was wild, untamed,
