Chapter Nine
T
he evening was warm and lovely. All kinds of delicious foods were spread out on long, beautifully decorated tables and a live band was doing a great job on many of her favorite country-and-western songs, but Maureen really didn't know what she was doing here in the backyard of the Pardee ranch. The last thing she felt in the mood for was a party. Especially one celebrating twenty-five years of marriage. The whole thing mocked the fact that Maureen had barely managed to stay married a year.
But Adam's sister, Anna, had called her earlier in the day, insisting that Maureen come, and the woman had been so warm and insistent she hadn't been able to refuse her.
Now as she stood at the edge of the crowd of dancers, Maureen wished she'd listened to her first instinct and stayed home. She was out of place among these people. They were Adam's family. They would never be hers.
“I'm sorry Adam couldn't be here. You must be lost without him.”
Maureen glanced around to see Anna had come to stand beside her in the milling crowd. With raised brows, she studied the other woman. “I'm notâ”
Laughing softly, Anna waved away her words. “Oh, don't bother giving me a bunch of excuses. I can see how miserable you are. And since this is a very nice party, Adam has to be the reason for the dismal look on your face.”
Maureen didn't know whether to be annoyed or grateful for Anna's insight. “Actually, I was thinking I shouldn't be here.”
Smiling wryly, Anna shook her head. “I don't know why not. Mom and Justine went out of their way to make sure there were several single men here tonight.”
Maureen grimaced. Since she'd first arrived at the ranch tonight, she'd been bombarded with offers to dance. She'd given in and made several rounds on the concrete patio with a few of the men. Admittedly, all of them had been nice and polite, but she hadn't been affected by even one.
“Your mother and aunt wasted their time.” she told Anna. “I'm not interested.”
“So I can see. None of them is Adam”
Maureen's hand paused in midair as she lifted a glass of punch to her lips. Casting Anna a sidelong glance, she said, “I'm beginning to think you're more like your twin brother than I ever suspected.”
Anna tilted her head back and let out a tinkling laugh and Maureen wondered how it would feel to be a woman like her. Anna was loved utterly by a good, strong man. She had a large family who would always
be around to support her. And then there were the children she and Miguel would most surely have in the near future. Maureen couldn't imagine such happiness.
“Yes. I suppose we're more alike than regular siblings. We know each other well. That's why I'm glad he's found you.”
Maureen's eyes widened. “Anna, he hasn't
found
me! Not in the way you mean. Your brother and I simply work with each other.”
Anna's expression turned to knowing indulgence. “Like I said, I know my brother well. He's fallen for you, and I couldn't be happier about it.”
Before Maureen could correct her, Anna's pretty features turned solemn.
“You know, Maureen, for long years now, my brother has been very sad. Not on the outside where everyone can see, but in here.”
She tapped her chest, and Maureen's brow puckered with confusion. “He won't talk about his past. At least not to me.”
“Not to anybody.”
“From what I understand, he's gone through a long list of women,” Maureen. muttered.
Anna grimaced. “None of them meant anything to him. Heâ”
She stopped abruptly as Justine quickly approached the two of them. “Excuse me, Anna,” she said, “but Maureen is wanted on the telephone. It's Adam calling long distance.”
Maureen looked at the older woman with surprise. “Adam wants to talk to me?”
Justine nodded, and Anna cut Maureen a sly
glance. “I guess he couldn't wait until he got back to hear your voice,” she said smugly.
Maureen could have told her this was one time she didn't know her twin. “I'm sure it's business,” she murmured, then to Justine, “Where do I find the telephone?”
“Come along with me to the house and I'll show you.”
Maureen followed her through a back entrance to the house, then through a crowded living room.
“You can use the extension in the bedroom,” she told her as she motioned for Maureen to follow her down a long hallway. “I don't think you could hear over the noise in the living room and den.” Maureen trailed Justine into a darkened room, where Justine quickly switched on a bedside lamp and gestured toward the phone on the nightstand. “Go ahead. I'll hang up the receiver in the kitchen.”
Maureen thanked her, and after Justine had hurried out of the room, she nervously licked her lips and picked up the telephone. “Hello.”
“Maureen? What the hell took you so long?”
And this from a man who was supposed to love her? She gritted her teeth and tried not to bite back at him.
“I was outside,” she explained. “And the house is so full I had to come back here to the bedroom in order to hear.”
“I tried you at home. You said you didn't want to go to my aunt and uncle's party.”
She could hear resentment or something akin to it in his voice. Obviously, he didn't like having to work while she had the free time to attend social events, Maureen decided. “But you said you wanted me to
go. And anyway, Anna called and practically begged me and I couldn't refuse. Why are you calling?”
The direct question brought him to heel and Adam suddenly realized he'd been behaving like a jealous lover. He'd been away from Lincoln County for nearly five days now and all he'd been able to do was think about her. And miss her. At the moment, he was feeling raw all over.
“I'm not making any headway. The seismograph boys are sitting on their hands wasting time and money. I want you to get your things together and fly out and meet me here tomorrow.”
“Me!” she said with a gasp. Gripping the receiver even more tightly, she sank onto the side of the bed. “Why me? I'm a geologist, not a negotiator!”
“The old man doesn't trust me. He has the idea that we're out to ruin his land. You're the scientist. You can put his mind at ease.”
Maureen snorted. “I doubt he'd believe a scientist any more than he would a company man. But I suppose you're not going to leave me any choice in this matter, are you?”
She sounded none too happy, and Adam knew he hadn't handled this conversation the way he'd first intended. But as he waited for his aunt to bring Maureen to the phone, all sort of images had passed through his mind. Images of Maureen dancing in another man's arms hadn't exactly softened his mood.
“No.”
She let out a long breath as she pictured his strong, handsome face. She wanted to see him so badly it was indecent and even more frightening. “All right. I'll pack a few things tonight and catch the first available flight in the morning.”
“Don't wait on a flight! Charter one. You know which pilot our company uses. Call him tonight,” he ordered, then gave her the directions where to meet him once she got to Oklahoma.
“I'll be there as quickly as I can,” Maureen assured him. “Is that all?”
“No,” he said, then suddenly and unexpectedly his voice grew husky. “I miss you. Like hell.”
Maureen's eyes squeezed shut as a lump of emotion filled her throat. She hadn't seen him since the night he told her he loved her. The next morning, he'd left for Oklahoma and she'd had entirely too much time to go over every word, every touch, that had passed between them.
“Maureen? Do you... can you not even admit that you miss me?”
She swallowed and pressed her fingertips against her eyelids. “Of course I miss you,” she whispered in a choked voice. For the past five days and nights, she'd ached to feel his arms around her, to hear his voice and see his smile. But that didn't make it right or sensible.
The anguish in her voice stabbed Adam's heart and he knew the time until she was once again by his side would be a living hell.
“But you wished you didn't miss me. Am I right?” he asked bitterly.
“Adam, please, let's not get into this now.”
She expected him to argue, but he surprised her by asserting, “You're right. I can't say what I want to say without touching you or looking into your eyes.”
“Adam,” she responded with a groan, “Iâ”
“Don't say anything else,” he interrupted “We'll talk tomorrow after you get here.”
“All right,” she agreed as tears began to sting her eyes. “Good night.”
He didn't return her farewell and she was about to hang up when she heard his strained voice. “I love you, Maureen.”
Too choked to respond, she let the receiver fall back into its cradle, then dropping her face into her hands, she silently wept. She didn't know how long she sat there on the edge of the bed before she felt a slender arm come around the back of her shoulders.
“Maureen? Has something happened?”
She wiped her eyes and glanced up to see Anna's anxious face peering down at her. “Oh, Anna,” she whispered miserably, “I'm afraid...I love your brother.”
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From his seat in the pickup, Adam watched the black western sky boil like an angry witch's cauldron. Bolts of lightning stabbed the ground like the giant tines of a pitchfork. On the dashboard of his pickup, the radio crackled with static as the broadcaster urged people in Latimer County to be prepared to take cover from the oncoming storm.
Where in hell was she? Adam asked himself for the hundredth time. It would be totally dark soon and she should have been here more than three hours ago. This wasn't New Mexico, where electrical storms and deluges of rain were the most likely summer-weather threat This was Oklahoma, where deadly tornadoes could develop in an instant. And from the looks of the sky hanging over the mountaintops this evening, the atmosphere was ripe and ready for a twister.
Fear clawed at his insides as he once again reached for the phone on the seat beside him. Several hours
had passed since he'd contacted the airport in Oklahoma City. Her plane had landed late but safely, they'd told him. Since then, he'd dialed her cellular number countless times without getting any sort of connection. He could only assume the weather had knocked out a tower and the signal wasn't reaching a foot beyond the hood of his truck, much less over the range of mountains he was sitting in.
Cursing under his breath, he punched off the power to the phone and tossed the instrument back onto the seat. He should never have told Maureen to come, he thought miserably. If something happened to her driving on these mountain roads, he wouldn't want to live.
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Rain was hitting her windshield as if someone was sloshing great bucketfuls from the heavens above. With her hands gripping the wheel, Mauren leaned forward and tried to peer past the puny efforts of the wiper blades. On both sides of the highway, the treetops were bending and twisting first one way and then the other, while streaks of lightning lit up the wild sky around her.
Maureen knew she should probably pull over and wait for the rain to ease. But the one stop she'd already made had put her even further behind schedule. No doubt Adam was sitting in his own truck champing at the bit, waiting for her to show up at any moment She had to keep going on this lonely, deserted highway and hope her sense of direction hadn't failed her.
The moment Adam saw her headlights sweep across the wide, graveled turnoff, he clapped his hat
down on his head and jumped out into the pouring rain.
Maureen jammed on her brakes and he was inside the cab before she could kill the engine.
“Where in hell have you been, woman?” he shouted. “Do you realize I've been here for four hours?”
Rain was running off his hat in rivulets and soaking into the plush fabric of the bench seat. His shoulders were soaked and drops of water clung to his cheeks and lips. His green eyes were glazed and Maureen thought he looked like an angry storm all unto himself.
“I'm well aware that I'm late,” she said calmly.
“Late! This isn't what I call late! It'sâindecent! Do you have any idea what's been going through my mind? Iâ”
“Are you blind?” she interrupted hotly. His anger was like a rush of gasoline on her smoldering nerves. “In case you haven't noticed, there's been a bit of a storm out there. I couldn't exactly drive the normal speed limit. Or maybe you don't care if I break...” Her words trailed off as his gaze narrowed dangerously on the seat belt strap running between her breasts. “What's the matter? Adam, what are you doing?”