He quickly left the chair and took the paper plate and cup from her hands. “I'll do it for you.”
She waited on the porch while he carried the things over to a plastic trash barrel. When he returned, he took hold of her elbow and guided her out in the courtyard among his milling relatives.
For the next twenty minutes, Maureen met aunts, uncles, cousins and second cousins. Each one greeted her warmly and she was genuinely moved at their efforts to make her feel welcome. Yet it was Adam himself who touched her the most. Not necessarily by anything he said to her or even because his hand remained on her arm the whole time. She was struck by the enormous amount of love that shone in his eyes for his family.
“Where are we going now?” she asked as he urged her away from Rose and toward the courtyard gate.
“I told you we were going for a walk.”
The fact that he'd made a point of introducing her to his family had already surprised her. She figured he didn't care whether she knew his relatives or not. And now a walk? She cut him a skeptical glance. “I thought we just did.”
Adam laughed. “Thirty feet across the backyard is not what I call a walk.”
Outside the gate, the two of them passed a row of parked vehicles, then headed down the dirt lane leading away from the house.
“I don't understand the purpose of this,” Maureen went on. “Do I look as if I need to walk off a few pounds or something?”
Adam glanced down at her as they strolled along in the falling twilight. Even the loose blue blouse she was wearing couldn't hide the alluring curves of her figure.
“You don't look like you've gained weight, if that's what you want to hear,” Adam told her.
“What I want to hear is why we're on this little jaunt,” she retorted. From the moment he'd walked up to her on the porch, she'd been leery of his motives.
Maybe because she knew he had the power to hurt her.
“You've been avoiding me again. I thought we were going to be friends.”
She sighed as she glanced over at the tall pines lining the edge of the road. It was hard for Maureen to imagine he expected her to forgive and forget his cutting remarks.
“I tried to tell you I didn't think it would be possible for us to be friends.”
“And why do you think that is? Because you know each time I'm near you I want to touch you? Or that you want to touch me?”
With a loud gasp, she stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face him. “Are you crazy?” she asked hoarsely.
He nodded. “I've been pretty much crazy since the day I walked into my father's office and saw you there.”
So had Maureen, but she hadn't wanted to admit it. Even to herself.
“I don't know why you're telling me any of this. It won'tâ”
His hand clamped around her upper arm and he tugged her off the road and into a dark stand of pines. The heavy scent of them filled her nostrils as she tilted her head back to look up at him.
“Maybe it's because I'm tired of suffering in silence,” he said roughly. “Maybe it's because I'm taking back that stupid promise not to make love to you!”
Her mouth fell open and she spluttered, “You're
not
going to make love to me!”
His mouth twisted tauntingly as he searched her
shocked features. And then without warning, his hand cupped her chin and he lowered his mouth to hers.
Maureen could see what was coming, but her brain refused to do anything about it. As soon as his hand touched her face, she was lost, and everything inside her went still except for the wild beating of her heart.
The feel of his hard lips against hers was just as she remembered and the sweet familiarity melted the last bit of resistance inside her. With a reluctant groan deep in her throat, she slid her arms up and around his neck and arched her body into his. Adam's arms slipped around her waist and gathered her even more tightly against him.
Like a hungry man, he feasted on every contour of her lips until the growing heat inside him demanded more. His tongue delved into the warmth of her mouth and past the sharp edges of her teeth while his hands moved up her rib cage and cupped around both breasts.
Maureen knew it was crazy to let him touch her this way and even more insane to respond to it, but her senses were drugged with desire and for once she didn't want to fight it. She wanted to let herself feel like a woman. Be a woman.
“See what I mean?” he whispered roughly when he finally lifted his head and buried his face in the side of her neck. “You want me as much as I want you.”
A shudder of longing rippled down her spine and she clutched his shoulders even tighter as her knees grew weak. “That doesn't make it right,” she murmured.
His thumbs rubbed across the tips of her breasts
and she squeezed her eyes shut against the onslaught of sensations rushing over her.
“Why isn't it right?” he asked. “We're both adults. And single. Who are we hurting?”
“Each other,” she whispered.
He lifted his head, then his hands came up to frame her face as he looked into her eyes. “How can you say that, Maureen?”
She shook her head as a lump formed in her throat. Never had she wanted any man the way she wanted Adam. Yet she wasn't stupid. He wanted nothing to do with love or marriage. He was simply out for physical gratification.
“I don't know what you think of me, Adam. But I don't have affairs.”
Adam groaned. “I haven't asked you to have an affair.”
Doubt and confusion filled her eyes. “Then what are you asking from me, Adam? Love? Marriage?” Her low laugh was full of bitterness. “I'm not a fool, Adam. I know the sort of man you are.”
His nostrils flared. “What sort of man am I?”
“A playboy.”
His hands dropped from her face and clamped down on her shoulders. “I'm notâ”
“What's the point of trying to deny it?” she interrupted. “Even your family talks about your playing the field.”
“Okay,” he said, his voice hoarse with frustration. “Maybe I have been a bit of a playboy in the past. But tell me this, Maureen. Since you came here, have you seen me with a woman?”
After a moment's thought, she was forced to shake her head. “No. But it wouldn't matter if I had. I don't
have a connection or sole right to you! You wouldn't want me to have one!”
He groaned again as the sense of her words warred with the need in his body. Never had any woman left him so torn and confused, so crazy with need.
“But we do have a connection,” he argued. “You know it, and I know it.”
She groaned and turned her back to him. “If you're calling this a connection, then you're confused. What we shared a moment ago was lust. Nothing more.”
One of his hands meshed in her hair. The other curled around the warm flesh of her upper arm. “Is that what you think?” he murmured.
It wasn't. But she was trying hard to make herself believe it. The last thing she wanted to imagine was that she was falling in love with this man.
“Yes. And if you don'tâ”
She stopped as his hand propelled her back to him and she faced his searching green eyes. “I don't,” he whispered. “I'm not at all sure what I'm feeling for you, Maureen. I just know you make me crazy and I don't want us to be apart.”
He was treading on dangerous ground and Maureen was more than tempted to follow him. But the pain of the past kept rearing up inside her, begging her to listen to her head rather than her heart.
“This is getting us nowhere, Adam. You don't even know what you want from me,” she said, then her eyes narrowed as she searched his face. “Or maybe you do?”
He frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?”
She drew in a deep breath, then slowly released it. “That you know exactly what you want. You just don't want to come out and say it.”
“Say what?”
“That you want me to sleep with you.”
Her blunt answer knocked him sideways. His lips parted and all he could do was stare at her in the waning light.
“Well?” she prodded. “Am I wrong?”
“I told you I'm not asking you to have an affair,” he said crossly.
“No. You don't want anything that involved. A one-night fling is probably all you want.”
Pure frustration had him turning away from her and raking a hand through his hair. “You know I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to make love to you. I made that pretty obvious a moment ago, didn't I?”
Even though he wasn't looking at her, a hot blush stung her cheeks. “Yes, you did. And Iâwell, I wasn't exactly resisting, either. That's why we need to stay away from each other.”
He whirled back around and pinned her with dark eyes. “Why are you making this all so difficult?”
She swallowed as tears stung her throat. She wanted this man. Why couldn't she simply take what he was offering and enjoy the physical pleasure he could give her? she asked herself. As a woman, wasn't she entitled to that much?
Not when her heart would be involved
, a little voice inside her answered.
“Because I have to,” she answered in a choked voice, then before he could stop her, she hurried out of the pines and back to the narrow dirt road.
“Maureen! Damn it, wait!”
Desperate to get away from him now, Maureen ducked her head and began marching back in the direction
of the house. She'd taken four long strides when he caught her from behind.
The grip of his hands on her waist filled her with panic. Not because she was afraid of him, but of herself. She was terrified the reckless emotions roiling around inside her would finally win and she'd throw herself back in his arms. Beg him to make love to her.
“Don't run off like this,” he pleaded, his voice rough with anguish.
“I have to,” she whispered.
“Why? Why do you have to run from me? Was your husband so awful to you that you're afraid of men? Of me?”
She lifted her head but didn't look at him. Instead, she stared blankly at the mountains rising up in the distance as she remembered David's cold accusations, his total rejection. It had been easy for him to walk away from her and their marriage. So easy that she'd known he'd never really loved her.
When she spoke, her voice was hollow. “My husband didn't physically abuse me. If that's what you mean.”
“Then whatâ”
Her head twisted quickly around and she cut him a mocking glance over her shoulder. “Remember, Adam? We've all had demons in our past. Just like you, I prefer to keep mine locked up.”
His lips twisted to a thin, scornful line. “What do you want me to do? Pour out every blasted thing that's ever happened to me?”
Like a bolt of lightning, anger suddenly slashed through her. “I don't want you to do anything but
leave me alone!” She jerked loose from his grasp and began walking.
Adam was forced to follow. “I can't do that. I've already tried.”
“Then try harder!” she practically shouted.
They walked the remaining distance to the house in silence, but once there, Adam took her by the arm and urged her toward the front entrance. “I'm not finished talking to you,” he said when she shot him a questioning glance.
Dear heaven, hadn't he said enough, done too much already? she wondered wildly.
“Well, I'm finished,” she said as they entered the quiet living room. Apparently, the crowd of relatives was content to remain outside in the courtyard.
Ignoring her statement, he said, “I want to know when you're planning on moving.”
At least he'd asked her something she could answer easily. “The moving van with my things from Houston should be here tomorrow. So this will probably be my last night here at the ranch.”
He winced inwardly at the news, then quickly told himself he shouldn't let her leaving get to him. He'd be going to his own house soon anyway. But he knew his evenings weren't going to be the same without her around.
“I'll help you with your unpacking,” he told her suddenly.
She immediately shook her head. “That isn't necessary. The movers will unload the truck and later I can put things away at my own leisure.”
“You'll have boxes everywhere. You don't want to have to live in a big mess for several days,” he argued.
True, she could use his help, Maureen thought. But after what just happened between them, she'd be crazy to be alone with him again.