college, Caitlin?”
“To Texas University and then to Stanford. My degree is from Stanford. I had intended to go into law, but by my junior year I was earning a lot of money with photography, so I finished college and became a photographer. What about you, Jake?”
“Texas University, too, but years ahead of you. Then a master’s in business from Harvard. Then back to work here. Pretty simple and predictable.”
“Sure,” she said, smiling at him. “You told me what you don’t like, so what do you like, Jake?”
“Beautiful women, slow, hot kisses—”
She laughed, interrupting him. “That was not what I had in mind. Besides women, what do you like?”
He grinned. “Making money and doing business deals, watching the business grow, the usual. I swim, I play golf, play basketball with my friends, I ski, I like snow-covered mountains or tropical islands. I’m easy to please. Your turn.”
“I’m even easier to please. I like a riveting book, quiet winter nights, getting just the right picture, little children—”
“That sounds like marriage is looming.”
“Not at all. No man in my life, but I hope someday. Don’t you want to marry someday?”
“Yes, but not this year,” he said a little more forcefully than he had intended.
She laughed. “Okay, so you’re not ready. I think I can make the same promise safely. I will not marry this year,” she said, mimicking him and he had to smile and was relieved she made light of his comment.
The rain turned to a steady, moderate rain. Jake took her hand, aware of her smooth skin, the warmth and softness of her. “Let’s go in where it’s warmer. I’m glad we don’t have to get out in this,” he said.
She looked down at her clothes. “I just have what I’m wearing. If you can stand seeing me in the same thing in the morning, only more wrinkled, I’m happy to stay because water may be over some of the bridges, I’d guess.”
“Great.” He switched on lights in the living area. The fire had burned low and he added logs.
He put on music and took her hand, pulling her to her feet. “Come here, Caitlin, and let’s dance,” he said, drawing her to him on the polished oak floor in a space between area rugs.
She came into his arms easily, following his lead. He liked holding her, wanting her more with each hour that passed. Common sense still screamed to keep his distance to avoid entanglement of any kind with her, but it was a losing argument. It would be the ultimate irony to seduce Will’s half sister, except Will wouldn’t care because he obviously had no fondness or even polite consideration for Caitlin.
Jake tightened his arms around her and moved slowly with her. “This is good, Caitlin,” he said quietly, more to himself than her.
“Not wise, but it’s good,” she added, indicating that she must hold the same view of getting acquainted that he had.
“So you like to dance.”
“I love to dance and I’m glad you thought of this,” she said softly. They moved quietly, conversation ceasing and he was sorry when the music came to an end.
She looked up at him. He held her lightly in his embrace and he felt as if he were tumbling down into a sea of green, falling headlong without any hope of stopping. He had waited long enough.
Three
Caitlin’s heart drummed as she gazed into Jake Benton’s eyes. Her afternoon had turned her world topsy-turvy. All her life she had been given reasons to dislike the Bentons. Her grandmother had hated Jake’s father for things he had done to her son, Caitlin’s father, in the years the men were growing up. They had been thrown together at school as well as in town. Grandmother had disliked Jake because of complaints about him from Will.
During the past month, Caitlin herself had developed hostility toward Jake, which had increased swiftly when she found a stone wall of interference keeping her from contacting him.
He was important, busy, an oil millionaire, but he should have had a streak of common courtesy to at least take a phone call from someone from the neighboring ranch. While the bitterness between the families could have made him unreceptive, she suspected he was never even told that she was trying to contact him.
Growing up, she had disliked the Bentons because she had been taught to. Jake’s snubs had added fuel to the fires of contempt. The only way to get the property back from him was to communicate with him. When she had learned he was expected at the West Texas ranch, she had decided to confront him to force him to listen to her request.
He was being as stubborn as she had expected. What she hadn’t anticipated was the scalding chemistry the moment they were face-to-face. It was an intense attraction he felt as much as she did. He also probably hated it as much as she did. Except he had seduction in his eyes. She could imagine how much it would amuse him to seduce a Santerre, even one on the fringe of the family. Titus Santerre’s illegitimate child whom he only grudgingly acknowledged because his own mother adopted her.
The thoughts swirled briefly and then vanished. Caitlin’s gaze locked with Jake’s. His blue eyes held a blatant hunger. Her breathing altered while her temperature rose and her heart skipped. She tilted her face up, knowing she should step away and never kiss him, never open a Pandora’s box of problems.
The instant attraction had mushroomed with each hour. A kiss might send it soaring out of control. She had no intention of repeating her mother’s big mistake in life that had left Caitlin abandoned and hurt.
“Caitlin,” Jake said in a quiet, husky voice that conveyed desire and was an invitation to her.
How could she have this intense sexy reaction to him? A man she had disliked her entire life even though she had never known him or talked to him before? Get away from him, an inner feeling urged. He was over six feet of danger to her peace of mind. A kiss would only make things worse. There was no way a kiss would have positive results.
“No,” she whispered without moving an inch.
He slipped his hand behind her head, cupping her head lightly. “This is something we both want,” he whispered, his gaze lowering to her mouth. “I have since we were standing on the porch this afternoon.”
Her lips parted, tingled in anticipation. She was lost to his seductive ways and her own desire, the volatile chemistry between them, her own foolishness.
He leaned down, slowly, tantalizingly. His tongue stroked her lower lip and then he brushed her mouth with his own. Electricity streaked as swiftly as a bolt of lightning flashing outside. Her insides knotted while she slid an arm around his neck. She moved as if she were a puppet with someone else pulling the strings.
His arm tightened around her waist, drawing her more tightly against him.
His kiss scalded, teased. Lust burst in her, sending sparks through her being. She wanted him, needing to touch and kiss and make love. Yet the nagging knowledge that she was kissing a Benton persisted for minutes until his kiss demolished her concern.
Her sigh was consumed
