ALL HE DESIRES (Voluptuous Woman Series) (25 page)

Webb chuckled. “Now that you mentioned it, Moonshine started acting funny ever since Sarabelle arrived.”

“Who’s Sarabelle?”

Webb smiled. “She’s a docile mare Winston purchased for his wife so she can have an even-tempered horse to ride.”

Tyler nodded again. He remembered when he’d returned to work after visiting his cousin Blake and his wife Justice for a couple of weeks in Canada. One of his colleagues had mentioned that Mason Winston, the owner of the Triple Circle Ranch, had married Susan James. Susan’s deceased father-in-law, Matthew James, had been Tyler’s mentor for years and was instrumental in his decision to pursue a career in veterinary medicine.

“I heard Winston had gotten married,” Tyler decided to say.

Webb had to smile again. “Yeah, and it’s about time. Susan is a wonderful woman and just what Winston needs. Now he can stop being lonely and start enjoying life.”

Tyler glanced around. He knew that Winston had been a widower for over twenty years and that Susan James’ husband had died a few years back. “Where is Winston, by the way?”

“He’s still on his honeymoon. After the wedding he and Susan took off in one of those huge camper things and headed out west. They won’t be back for another three weeks.”

“So you’re the one running things while they’re gone?”

“More or less, but they left Susan’s daughter here since I’ll be away in Florida next week to check out some horses we’re contemplating buying.”

Tyler, who had been putting his supplies back in his medical bag, paused. He glanced up at Webb, surprised. “Susan’s daughter is here?”

“Yeah. Do you know her?”

Tyler slowly nodded. “Yes, I know her.”

Thoughts and feelings that Tyler hadn’t encountered for several years invaded his consciousness. Yes, he knew Megan James. The memory of their two year love affair suddenly flooded his mind. God, how he had loved her and how easily he had foolishly let her go. But at the time he had done what he thought was the right thing by heeding her parents’ and grandfather’s wishes to move aside and allow her to go after the future they’d always wanted her to have: a college education at Harvard. With a grandfather who’d been a highly respected doctor in veterinarian medicine and parents who possessed PhDs, it stood to reason that she would have such a high IQ and selected to be a part of an accelerated program to graduate from high school two years ahead of her peers. The last he’d heard she was a professor at some university in California. He’d also heard that like him, she was still single and hadn’t married. But that had been a couple of years or so ago when he had run into her mother at the county fair and he’d asked about her. He couldn’t help but wonder if Megan’s marital status had changed since then.

Tyler allowed his mind to wander back a bit. He doubted if he would ever forget the day he’d first set eyes on Megan. He had been seventeen, a long way from his present age of thirty-one, and had stopped by her grandfather’s ranch to apply for a job. She had been the one to open the door. And for a moment he had been more interested in the fifteen-year old Megan James than he had been in the job he’d come applying for. Months later, on her sixteenth birthday, he had kissed her for the first time, and even now he could remember the sweet taste of her innocent lips.

“Well, she’s the one you’ll need to talk to if you’re having ideas of getting Moonshine and Sarabelle together,” Webb said, interrupting Tyler’s wandering thoughts. “I don’t think Winston would care one way or the other but in his absence it will be Megan’s decision.”

Then after a brief pause he said. “You’ll get the chance to talk to Miss Megan. Here she comes now.”

Tyler glanced around and watched with a leveled steady gaze as the woman he once loved to distraction walked toward them. He blinked as a torrid sensation settled in his gut. Megan was no longer pencil thin but had spread out over the years and acquired a voluptuous figure with an abundance of curves that were in all the right places.

She walked like a woman who was comfortable with her full-figure and confident in her appearance, and he could easily see why. In his opinion she was looking mighty good in a pair of jeans and a pull-over top. Her hair was still long in length, almost reaching her shoulders. He remembered how often he had wanted to take a fistful of the glossy strands while holding her mouth hostage under his. But he’d never had been able to put all the passion he’d felt into their kiss for fear of losing control and not wanting to stop, and worse yet, wanting to carry things further like he had been tempted to do on her senior prom night.

A gust of July wind lifted her hair back away from her face and he saw more of her features. The Megan James he once knew had grown into a very beautiful woman and had a gorgeous voluptuous body to match. He bit back a groan and steeled himself when suddenly all the suppressed desire he had tried not to feel for her all those years ago took over his body.

He inhaled deeply wondering why he was suddenly swamp with such lusty feelings. Now he understood just what Moonshine must be going through. Sexual frustration, no matter what type of animal you were, was definitely one hell of a thing to deal with.

He frowned, wondering why his grandmother, Thelma Savoy, who had a reputation of keeping up with everything and everybody and knew what was and what was not happening in the Alexandria area, hadn’t told him something as important as this.

Why hadn’t anyone informed him that Megan James was back?

“Hello, Tyler, it’s good seeing you again after all these years,” Megan said, extending her hand in a greeting when she came to a stop in front of him.

Tyler returned the handshake. His response was slow in coming since any words he wanted to say died on his lips the moment their hands touched and his gaze locked with hers. Up close she was even more beautiful than he remembered. Had it actually been thirteen years since he had last seen her?

He drew a slow breath thinking that adulthood suited her. Her complexion of chestnut brown looked even smoother than it had been back then, and her dark eyes could still hold him spellbound. “Same here, Megan,” he said finally, hearing the deep, throaty sound of his voice as he spoke and wondering if she heard it as well.

He continued to stare at her, thinking they’d known each other too long for such a formal greeting when what he wanted to do was to pull her into his arms and kiss her, giving her one hell of a welcome back home greeting. But he knew he had lost his right the same night he had broken her heart by not showing her how much he had loved her and wanted her.

“So, what’s wrong with Moonshine?” she asked, breaking eye contact and turning away to glance over at the horse, and at the same time effectively derailing his memories of that particular night so long ago.

Tyler cleared his throat. Why did he find it hard to tell her there was nothing wrong with Moonshine that a good amount of mating with Sarabelle wouldn’t cure? He opened his mouth to answer her question but Webb, bless his soul, beat him to the punch and answered.

“There’s nothing wrong with Moonshine other than he has it bad for Sarabelle. It’s that time of year and he refuses to be denied.”

A smile touched Tyler’s lips when he saw a blush appear in Megan’s features. Her grandfather had been the area’s vet for years and being familiar with animals she knew exactly what Webb meant.

“Oh,” she said clearing her throat. “Then I guess we need to make sure his problem is taken care of,” she said softly. She then turned and met Tyler’s gaze once more after watching Webb lead Moonshine out of his stall, leaving her and Tyler alone. “How’s your family?” she then asked. “I saw some of them at Mom’s wedding last weekend.”

He lifted a brow and folded his arms across his chest. “Really? And just who did you see?” He was curious since no one had mentioned seeing her and just about everyone in his family had known how he’d felt about Megan years ago.

“I saw your grandmother Ms. Thelma, your cousin Tonya, as well as your cousins Ben, Nash and Morgan.” She smiled. “Tonya told me about her Internet sales lingerie company. I think it’s wonderful how well her business is doing and to think she finally snagged Bryan Manning. She’s been in love with him forever.”

He smiled. The family was proud of the success of Tonya’s business and yes she had loved his best friend Bryan Manning forever. Everyone was glad the two had finally gotten married.

“And I also heard that your cousin Blake married Bryan’s sister, Justice. Right?”

Megan’s words interrupted his thoughts. She had definitely heard a lot. He couldn’t help wondering if she had heard anything about him? Had she even inquired? He sighed deeply. He could understand Tonya not mentioning anything to him about seeing Megan since Tonya and Bryan had left to go out of town before he’d gotten back from Canada. And he could even overlook Ben, Nash and Morgan’s failure to inform him of anything since they happened to have gone out of town as well. But there was no excuse for his grandmother not mentioning it when he’d had dinner with her last night.

He blinked when he noticed Megan was staring at him with a lifted brow as if she was waiting for him to respond to something. He racked his brain trying to remember the question. He then remembered. “Yes,” he responded finally. “It was a double wedding with Blake marrying Justice that day as well. It was quite a feat for two Savoys to marry two Mannings. I think my grandmother cried through the entire ceremony.”

Megan grinned. “I can see Ms. Thelma doing that.”

Tyler tipped his head back and studied her. He had forgotten just how beautiful she was whenever she smiled. He felt the muscles knot in his stomach as he tried to remember the last time a woman had had such an affect on him. But then when it came to Megan James, she’d always been able to get next to him in ways he didn’t want to think about.

He watched as she glanced around as if trying to avoid eye contact with him, and wondered if she had picked up on the sudden tension in the air that surrounded them. It was the same tension that had begun creeping up as they’d gotten older; tension he had worked so hard to control and harness all those years ago. “Megan?”

She swung her gaze back to his and heat radiated from the top of his head all the way to the tip of his toes. He knew the intensity of it was probably making its way to the hard-packed dirt beneath his boots.

Their eyes held it seemed for the longest time and he suddenly felt his control slipping as he stared straight back at her the same way she was staring at him. Suddenly he began remembering that night thirteen years ago. Prom night. After taking her to the dance she hadn’t wanted to go back home, saying it was too early. She had wanted to go someplace and talk, find out everything about his first year away at college. He had let her talk him into getting a hotel room . . . just to talk.

He should have insisted on taking her home that night but he hadn’t wanted the evening to end any more than she had. It had been his first year away at college and he had missed her like hell, and if she wanted for them to go somewhere where they could talk privately, he hadn’t had a problem with it. But talking had been the last thing on either of their minds once they had entered the hotel room and closed the door behind them.

Alone and no longer under anyone’s watchful eyes, he had kissed her in a way he had always wanted to kiss her, filled with two years of wanting and need. The intensity of his desire for her as well as her desire for him had overwhelmed him, leaving him powerless to fight the temptation any longer, and they had quickly gone up in flames.

They had undressed and he had picked her up in his arms to take her to the bed when his sanity had quickly returned, and he’d been hit with the realization of what they were about to do and the enormous risk involved.

He’d suddenly remembered the promise he had made to her grandfather; a promise that no matter what, he would maintain control and never take his relationship with Megan to a sexual level. Her family had plans for her future, plans that didn’t include a teen pregnancy. Although he’d had condoms with him that night he still couldn’t take the chance.

So he had pulled back, gotten dressed and had silently helped her to redress and then had taken her home, refusing to answer her question as to why he had stopped. The next day he had made the decision to leave town early and return to college, and although they had exchanged a few letters after that – angry letters that she had written to let him know how hurt she’d been with the decision he’d made that night - this was the first time he had seen her since then.

In the distance they heard the sound of a dog barking and the spell was broken. He knew she had been thinking about that night just like he had. “How have you been, Megan?” he asked, clearing his throat.

“I’ve been fine, Tyler. What about you?”

“I’ve been fine, too.”

She nodded. “Granddad would be proud of you. He always said you would make a wonderful vet and from what I’ve heard you’re doing a fantastic job.”

He lifted a brow wondering who she had heard that from. His grandmother? One of his cousins? Winston? “Thanks. I love what I do. What about you? I understand you continued on with your education, got your doctorate and are now a college professor.”

She smiled. “Yes. I teach mathematics at Berkeley and love what I do, too, but I was looking forward to this break.”