Texas Heroes: Volume 1 (9 page)

The man looked honestly horrified. “Oh, I never meant that you would—” His face went redder than the tomatoes beside her. He cleared his throat. “Actually, it’s just that I noticed—well, me and Sonny noticed that you sure seem to like this garden. Seems odd for a city girl.”

Maddie resisted a sigh of frustration. “It’s a treat to take food straight off the plant instead of the grocery shelves.”

“Well, my Velda’s got peach trees and I brought you some of her peaches, if you think you’d like them. But if you don’t, that’s all right.”

“Fresh peaches?” Maddie’s heart thumped.

“Picked this morning.”

“Oh, Jim, that’s wonderful!” Maddie hugged a fistful of beans to her breast. “I may faint from pleasure.”

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Aw, please don’t do that. I’d have to catch you and then Boone would get all mad and Velda would skin and gut me…it wouldn’t hardly be worth it.”

Maddie did laugh then. “Velda is your wife?”

“Thirty-four years.”

“That’s wonderful. How romantic.”

“Well, now.” He shuffled again. “Velda don’t think I’m very romantic.”

“Staying with the same woman for thirty-four years sounds pretty romantic to me, Jim. Especially since your voice tells me you love her.”

He reddened once more. “Well, I, uh—sure I do.” Then he glanced up, assessing. “You’re not like Helen at all.”

“Helen?”

“Boone’s wife.”

Maddie couldn’t contain her shock. “Boone has a wife?”

“She’s dead. Died a couple of years back.”

“I’m so sorry.” That explained the shadows. “Boone must have been devastated.”

Jim’s voice went flat. “He was. But she hated this place.”

Maddie frowned.

“She was a fancy woman, a city girl like you. But she never tried to like it. Between her and Sam, they made Boone’s life hell.”

“What happened to her?”

Jim’s eyes narrowed, his jaw hard. “She drowned.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. She was…” He looked distinctly uncomfortable. “It’s not really my story to tell, Maddie.”

She wished it were. “I understand. So that’s why Boone doesn’t like city girls? Because his wife was miserable here?”

Jim cut a glance over toward Boone. “Don’t get the wrong idea. There’s more to it than that. But I’ve already said too much.”

“That’s all right, Jim. And I don’t hold it against him. He came back home to find that a stranger has inherited the house that should be his. We’re both in an awkward position. A few more weeks, and then both of us can get back to our lives.”

“You wouldn’t consider staying?”

Maddie smiled gently. “It’s lovely here. Not like anything I’m used to, but it has its own charm. But my life is…different from this.”

“I imagine so. You sure brighten a place up, though.”

Maddie smiled, her heart warmed. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s said to me in a long time.”

His face grew serious. “Don’t think badly of Boone, Maddie. He’s had a hard go of it. Truth to tell, I’m not sure I would have ever come back, not after what he went through the last time he was here.” He glanced over at Boone and the colt. “But he belongs here. I never saw a man who could handle a horse better. This place needs him, and he needs to be here.”

Maddie smiled fondly. “Boone’s lucky to have a friend like you.”

“Well, now…” Jim shifted his hat in his hand. Maddie studied the line on his forehead where his tan ended. “I’ll just get those peaches for you and leave them with Vondell. Best get to work.” He settled his hat back on his head and turned to leave.

“Jim?”

Jim turned back.

“Thank you.”

“I’ll tell Velda.”

“Please do, but I’m thanking you for making me feel welcome.”

Once again, his face turned red and he ducked his head slightly. “You’re welcome. Stick around a while, Maddie. The place might grow on you.”

“I don’t think Boone would like that much.”

“Aw, hell—I mean heck, Maddie. Boone ain’t the only one around here. You spruce up the place real nicely, if you ask me.”

Maddie laughed, charmed to her toes. “Well, I’ll just keep sprucin’ then.”

He tipped his hat. “You do that, Maddie. You just do that.”

Maddie watched him go. This place might be short on amenities, but the people were a marvel. Plain, honest, simple people who said what they thought and didn’t play mind games.

Well…Boone wasn’t plain and he sure wasn’t simple, but she understood his reaction better now. He was wrong about her, but it didn’t matter. She didn’t have to see him much with Vondell as a buffer.

Maddie finished up quickly then headed into the house, already savoring her peaches. “Vondell? Did Jim—?”

Vondell turned, one hand clapped over her ear so she could hear the phone better. Her face was pinched and dead white. “All right,” she said into the receiver. “I’ll get there as soon as I can.” She hung up slowly.

“What is it? What’s the matter?”

“It’s my sister. She fell and broke her hip.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Maddie, I don’t like leaving you like this, but my sister has no one else. I have to go stay with her for a few weeks until she can get around on her own again.”

Maddie faltered a minute, but recovered quickly. “Of course you do. What can I do to help you?”

“Will you be all right here? You don’t have to cook or anything. Boone can get his own meals, I expect.”

Maddie walked over and gave the smaller woman a hug. “Don’t you worry about us, Vondell. I was about to ask you if I could cook tonight. I’m afraid my knife hand is itching to get back to work. I’ve never been much on sitting around.”

“Lordy, child, I hate to leave you here like this, with so much unsettled between you and Boone.”

Maddie hoped she sounded more convincing than she felt. “Vondell, it’s a very big house. Boone and I don’t need a chaperone, and I’ll do my best to see that we don’t need a referee. If we do, maybe Jim will do the honors.”

Vondell smiled faintly, but her brow furrowed again all too quickly. “My sister’s health hasn’t been good lately.”

Maddie put her arm around the older woman and ushered her down the hall to her room. “You just concentrate on your sister. If it will make you feel better, give me the phone number and I’ll promise to call you before I slam a frying pan into Boone’s thick head.”

Vondell laughed then, her old cackle. “Oh, child, I might ask you to wait so I could watch that.” She sobered. “You don’t have to be afraid of Boone, you know. He’s got a good heart. It’s just been abused.”

“I believe that. I’m truly not worried. Besides, he works all day outside and I’ll be in here. We’ll hardly see each other. We’ll do fine.”

Vondell turned back to her and studied her carefully. “I hope so. I surely hope so.”

“Believe it,” Maddie insisted. “Piece of cake.”

She resisted the urge to cross her fingers behind her back.

An hour later, Boone and Maddie stood on the porch, waving goodbye to Vondell. When her car disappeared from sight, Boone slapped his hat against his jeans leg. “Well, guess I’ll be getting back to work. Don’t worry about cooking for me, no matter what Vondell asked. I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time.”

“You’re not afraid to be alone with me, are you, Boone?” Maddie’s eyes glowed silver. He couldn’t decide if it was mischief or worry.

He studied her slowly. “No reason to be, is there?” But he knew there was. From where he stood, he could smell her, the rich, mysterious scent that wafted through his dreams all too often.

“I can’t waste any more time standing here.” He clapped his hat back on his head. “I’ve got work to do.”

Behind him, he heard Maddie’s exhaled frustration. He was being hard on her, but he had his reasons.

It was damn foolish, but somehow even knowing that Maddie’s bed lay only thirty feet or so from his every night, Vondell’s presence, even sleeping downstairs, had provided a barrier. Now Vondell was gone, and the nights would get a whole lot longer.

He wished he could forget the feel of Maddie’s body, wished he could banish the images that crowded in—Maddie smiling and laughing, carrying on with Vondell, teasing Jim. Checking on that calf every day like it was her pet dog, for Pete’s sake.

Maddie was sexy, there was no doubt about it. That voice seemed to crawl down his spine and settle deep into his gut every time he heard it. But it was Maddie’s spirit that was far more dangerous to him.

She breathed life into this old place, just as Sam had wanted, damn him. And in a few weeks, she would leave and take the sparkle with her. A fast round of hot sex would relieve some of the pressure for the moment, but it would only make things worse in the long run.

Boone already felt in his bones that if he ever got his hands on Maddie, once would never be enough.

And now their chaperone was gone. The hands left at night, too.

This house was big, all right.

But it would never be big enough for him to forget that Maddie was in it with him.

Chapter Five

B
oone stopped on the back porch for a minute, rolling his left shoulder and cursing the mare. Dancer got more fractious by the day. She was new since he’d last been on the ranch, but everything told him her labor wouldn’t be easy. He’d have to watch her closely.

It had been a long day. He’d slap a sandwich together and try not to miss Vondell’s cooking too much. All he needed was a shower, something in his belly, and several hours in the sack.

The minute he opened the kitchen door, something smelled so good Boone’s mouth started watering.

Then his gaze lit on Maddie, and he almost groaned out loud.

She looked right at home. And she looked good, damn it.

Her dark hair was piled haphazardly on her head, anchored by what looked like chopsticks that shimmied gently as she turned. “Hi. Ready to eat?” Maddie smiled.

“I told you not to cook for me.”

“No, you told me I didn’t
have
to cook for you. I miss cooking. Gotta keep my knife hand sharp.”

The sparkle in her eyes, the mischief in her grin, both drew him like a beacon.

As if ignoring her presence in the night ahead wasn’t already going to be tough enough.

He should get started ignoring her now—but man, did something smell good.

Her smile widened. “No radish roses, I promise.”

Boone couldn’t help his own grin. “Don’t tell me—tofu burgers instead.”

Maddie’s laugh started out pure and clear like a bell, then slid down the scale to low, sultry chuckle. For a moment, all Boone could do was stare. Escaping tendrils of her hair curled around a face flushed from the stove’s heat, and she had a smudge of flour on one cheek. She wore old cutoff jeans and another one of those damn too-short tops that exposed the smooth skin of her midriff. One of Vondell’s aprons was wrapped around that sweet patch of skin right now—but Boone knew it was there.

And his fingers wanted to touch it.

Badly.

Just one slow slide of fingertips across satin. It
would
be satin, he was sure of it.

“I’m happy to know you’re interested,” she said.

His body responded so fast that Boone almost got whiplash, jerking his head up. “You…are?” he croaked.