as long as Kimberly Barkley still existed on this earth. Kimberly was determined to destroy whatever bit of happiness came Alyssa’s way.
“This is the entrance to the ranch, Alyssa.”
Alyssa leaned forward and glanced out the windshield and side windows and caught her breath. What she saw all around her was spellbinding. Simply breathtaking. She had lived on a small ranch in Houston for the first thirteen years of her life and had loved it. Then one day, her mother had sent her away to live with her grandfather in the city. That was probably the one most decent thing her mother had ever done in her life.
“It’s beautiful, Clint. How big is it?” Everywhere she looked she saw ranges, fields and meadows. She couldn’t imagine waking up to this view every morning, every single day.
“If you include the reserve on the south ridge it’s over fifty thousand acres. Uncle Sid was a ladies’ man who never married and so he left the ranch to me, Cole and Casey.”
Alyssa nodded. She didn’t want to consider the possibility, didn’t want to imagine how it would feel for once to not have to worry about Kim dropping in just make her life a living hell. The truck, she noticed, had stopped, and she lifted a brow as she glanced over at Clint.
He smiled. “I want to show you something.”
He got out of the truck and she followed and he led her close to a cliff. “Look down there,” he said, pointing.
And she did. It was then that she saw his ranch, sitting down in the valley below. It was huge, a monstrosity of a house that was surrounded by several barns and other buildings. There was a corral full of horses and she could barely see the figures of men below who were working with the horses. “It’s absolutely stunning, Clint,” she said, turning to him. It was then that she became aware of just how close they were standing, of the heat his closeness had generated and how the darkening of his eyes was beginning to stir a caress across her flesh.
She moved to take a step back and his hand reached out to her waist, to assist her, or so it seemed. But his hand stayed there and his touch burned her skin through the thin material of her blouse. Her gaze left his eyes and moved to his lips, the one part of him that had always fascinated her. The fullness of them made her imagine just how they would feel on hers. She thought they would be soft to the touch at first, but they would become demanding and hungry as soon as they connected with hers.
She wasn’t a forward person, but one thing Gramps had always taught her was that sometimes, if it was something you really wanted, you just had to take the bull by the horns. Well, she intended to do just that.
He was bending his head toward her, or maybe she imagined that he was doing so. And just to be sure, she leaned forward and slid her hands over his chest. The first touch of his lips on hers sent pleasure points in her body on high alert and when she parted her lips on a sigh, he entered her mouth in one delicious sweep.
He tasted hot. He tasted like a man. And she settled into his kiss as if it was her right to do so. With their mouths locked together, their tongues tangled, stroked and slid everywhere. And then in a move she would have thought was impossible, he thrust his tongue deeper inside her mouth, causing her to instinctively latch on to it, suck it and stroke it some more. This was what you called total mouth concentration, the solicitation of participation and the promise of satisfaction. Everything was there in this kiss. And Clint Westmoreland was delivering in a way that made the quiet existence she had carved out for herself the last two years a waste of good time and energy.
The kiss was incredible, she thought, sinking deeper into it. She might have regrets later but now she needed this. Her entire body felt as if this was what she was supposed to be doing. And considering this was the first day she had seen him in over five years, the very thought of that was crazy and...
Clint abruptly broke off the kiss. He drew much-needed air into his lungs and fought the urgent pull in his loins. How had he let this happen? Where was that control he was famous for? Where was his will to deny anything he thought might threaten his livelihood?
He didn’t say anything to Alyssa. He just stood there and stared at her while trying to get the rampant beating of his heart under control. Trying to fight the sensations overtaking him. She had been kissing him as passionately as he had been kissing her. At first her lack of kissing experience had surprised him, but she was a quick study. The moment his tongue came into play, she’d allowed hers to do the same, and without any hesitation.
“Okay, Clint, what was all that about?” she asked in a quiet tone.
She was staring at him while licking her lips. The intimate gesture made his stomach clench. “I think,” he murmured, “that I should ask you the same thing. That wasn’t a kiss taken, Alyssa, but one that was shared.”
He waited for her to deny his words but she didn’t. Instead she turned away from him and glanced back down to look at his ranch house. And before she could ask he said, “I’ll promise to keep my desire under wraps for the next thirty days.”
For a moment she didn’t say anything, didn’t make a move to even acknowledge that he had spoken. And then she looked back at him and at that moment a wave of desire, more intense than anything he’d ever encountered, raced through him.
“Can you?” she asked softly.
Holding her gaze, he was having a hard time keeping up. “Can I what?”
“Bottle your desire for thirty days.” He watched as she inhaled deeply, drew herself up as if she was trying to take back control of the situation and he saw her eyes go from sensuous to serious. “I need to know before I make any decision about staying here with you.”
He frowned. Was she afraid of him? He covered the distance separating them and came to a stop in front of her. Forcing her to look up at him, become the main focus of her attention. “Let me explain one thing about me, Alyssa,” he said in a voice that he knew had her complete attention. “You don’t have anything to fear if you stay here, least of all me. You set the boundaries and I will abide by them. I don’t have a woman in my life right now, nor do I need one. What you see down there is my life. You are my wife in name only. I will remember that. I will respect that. But after the thirty days I expect you to go, just like I’m sure you’ll want to leave. I don’t have time for involvements. The only thing long-term in my life is this ranch and the running of it and the foundation. Those things are all I need. They are all I want.”
At his blunt words she asked, “Then why did you kiss me?”
Clint saw her eyes were flashing and knew she was beginning to take what he was saying personally. “The reason we kissed each other,” he said slowly, “is because of a number of things. Curiosity. Need. Desire. It was best that we took care of all three before we got to the ranch. Trust me, you won’t become an itch that I’ll be tempted to scratch.”
Alyssa frowned, not sure she liked the way he’d said that. Had he found her kiss so lacking that he’d not be tempted to do it again? Kim had always said when it came to men she presented no appeal, or that she wouldn’t recognize pleasure if it came up to her and bit her. Clint had certainly made a liar out of her cousin. Under his lips she had definitely recognized pleasure. She had actually drowned in it.
“Now,” he said, interrupting her thoughts. “Do you want to go down to the ranch with me or would you prefer that I take you back into town?”
She glared at him. “I haven’t made up my mind about anything.”
“I
