Taste of Passion (Madaris Novels) (18 page)

“I gather as much. And just for the record, I like having you inside of me.” She then thought of something. “Protection?”

He smiled over at her. “Already in place.”

She chuckled softly. “Boy, aren’t you efficient.”

“I try to be.” A few moments later he said, “Did I tell how much I like your breasts?”

“Not with words, no. But your actions proved that point,” she said, remembering. The memory of what he’d done to them had quivers going through her body.

“Umm, but just to make sure,” he said, before reaching up and cupping a breast with his hand.

Her breath caught at his touch. “I’m not sure you want to do that, Luke.”

He met her gaze. “Why not? Are you tender?”

“No. Eager. I’m eager for you to put your mouth there.”

He smiled. “I like a woman who doesn’t mind letting me know what she wants.” And then he shifted slightly and captured a nipple in his mouth and tugged.

“Luke!”

Her entire body seemed to be melting and there was no way he couldn’t feel it. But he kept up what he was doing, performing all kinds of provocative acts to her breasts with his mouth. He then switched breasts and started the torture all over again.

“Now to put the icing on the cake,” he whispered moments later, when the lower part of his body began moving as he began thrusting back and forth into her. The man was tearing away at her senses, overloading her body with sharp sensations. His hands were on her, touching her, pressing her closer to him, keeping her in tune to the rhythm he had set. And when she felt him buck, she clamped down hard on him with her inner muscles.

“Mac!”

The sound of Luke calling out her name triggered a climax inside of her and then everything seemed to explode. His mouth left her breasts and moved to her neck and kissed her there and she knew he had left his mark. She moaned at the thought.

He kept thrusting inside of her, pushing them both toward another orgasm, and he took her mouth and relentlessly mated with it. And when another climax struck, she knew in her heart that the day Luke Madaris walked out of her door that he would be taking a huge chunk of her heart with him.

Hours later when dawn broke, Mackenzie woke up in her huge bed with Luke all but sprawled across her. She needed to get up and go to the bathroom and there was no way she could do so without waking him.

She glanced over at the clock. It was time for her to get dressed for work. She sighed deeply when she recalled that because of her and Luke’s activities last night, she’d never had the chance to check in with Theo, although she and Luke had managed, in between lovemaking sessions, to go back into the kitchen to collect their scattered clothes, clean off the table, and wash the dishes.

She was about to wake up Luke when there was a loud pounding on her front door.

“What the hell . . .” Luke woke up immediately and was already out of bed and sliding into his jeans.

“Mac, it’s Theo. I need to talk to you. It’s important.”

When Mackenzie heard the sound of Theo’s voice she quickly moved out of bed and slipped into Luke’s shirt. “That’s Theo. I wonder what’s going on.”

Luke reached the door but she was right on his heels. If Theo thought it strange that they both had come to the door wearing very little clothing, it didn’t show in his expression. “Theo, what is it?” Mackenzie asked, seeing the angry look in the man’s eyes.

“The cattle. The ones belonging to Jake Madaris. Someone has poisoned some of the herd.”

“Here, Mac. Drink this.”

Mackenzie stopped pacing and stood still long enough to look at Luke and the cup he held in his hand. “I don’t want any coffee.”

He met her eyes, saw the anger, and then said, “It’s not just coffee. It’s something a little stronger. Go ahead. You need it.”

She placed the cup to her lips and after taking a sip she glanced up at him over the rim of the cup. “Brandy?”

A slight smile touched his lips. “Yes.”

She took another sip before crossing the room to sit down on the sofa. He followed and sat down beside her and placed his arms around her shoulders.

“How could anyone do such a thing? I can’t believe someone would be that—that vile,” she said angrily.

He nodded, understanding just how she felt. The vet and sheriff had come and gone. The vet had confirmed the cattle had been poisoned and the only evidence the sheriff had come up was a set of tire tracks near the corral gate. All the men working at the ranch had been questioned and no one recalled hearing or seeing anything strange.

“I’m mad, Luke.”

He looked at her. “I know you are.”

She took another sip of coffee. “I won’t be satisfied until the police find the person responsible.”

“I won’t either,” he said, playing with a lock of her hair.

She took another sip. “You know who I think is responsible, don’t you?”

“Whitedyer?”

“Yes, and I won’t let them get away with it,” she said, trying to get up off the sofa. His arms around her shoulders held her in place.

“Relax. And you don’t have any proof.”

She pulled away from him and glared. “Fine. I’ll get proof and then I’ll put them out of business.”

She started to take another sip of coffee and then decided against it. “I forgot I need to get dressed for work,” she said, placing the cup on the table in front of her.

“No you don’t,” he said gently. “I called Samari and explained everything.”

Surprise lit Mackenzie’s eyes. “You did?”

“Yes, and she told me to tell you not to come in, that she and Peyton had everything under control and to call if you needed them for anything.”

Mackenzie met his gaze and for the first time since getting the news about the cattle, she smiled and Luke took a deep breath, not wanting to admit just what that smile did to him just then.

“Thanks for taking care of that—I
am
too upset to go into the office,” she said.

“Figured that you would be,” he said, picking up her unfinished cup of coffee and taking a sip. Then another one. “I have a suggestion,” he said, putting the cup down.

“What?”

“Let’s go into town and do something and—”

“No, Luke,” she said, shaking her head and standing. “I have too much to do here. Besides, I need to call your uncle Jake to tell him what happened.”

Luke came to his feet as well. “After you talk to Uncle Jake then you can tell me what you need me to do.”

She shook her head again. “You’re not completely well and—”

“No. I want to help, Mac. Let me. There has to be something I can do that’s not real strenuous.”

She evidently saw the determined look on his face and said, “All right. I’ll check with Theo. If nothing else we need to take the stock numbers of those cattle out of the system.”

She then walked across the room to look out the window and he followed her and pulled her into his arms to give her the hug that he knew she needed. Whoever was trying to get on her last nerve had gone too far. That was Madaris cattle and knowing Jake, he would be just as upset as Mac and wouldn’t be satisfied until the person responsible was arrested.

The man in the dark sedan seemed extremely pleased with the phone call he’d just gotten. Now it was time to report to the person who had hired him to take care of a few matters. He punched into his cell phone the numbers that were becoming familiar to him.

“Yes?”

“We’ve taken care of things for now. I believe it’s safe to say that we’ve gotten her attention.”

“Okay, Luke, what is going on out there that I need to know about?” Jake Madaris asked his nephew while standing at the window in his office and looking out. He had gotten a call from Mackenzie earlier and she didn’t have much to tell him other than the fact that six head of cattle had been poisoned.

“Not sure, Uncle Jake,” Luke was saying. “A couple of weeks ago someone broke into Mac’s office at work and ransacked the place real good, and now this. Mac thinks the two are connected and believes someone at the Whitedyer Corporation is trying to scare her off a case she’s handling.”

“And Mac’s sure nothing was taken from her office?”

“Yes, she checked everything thoroughly the next day. They didn’t even bother to take the cash box that was in one of Mac’s desk drawers, so it’s evident they weren’t trying to take anything of value. It was as if the person wanted
her to know the reason for the break-in was personal, and that’s what I don’t like about this whole damn thing.”

For the next ten minutes Luke told his uncle everything Mackenzie had told him about the case, including why she suspected Whitedyer.

“When it comes to land rights some companies get outright foolish,” Jake said. “I know Henry Whitedyer. He’s a Texan and we run in the same social circles on occasion. I don’t know him that well so I don’t know what he’s capable of doing, and I don’t want to accuse him of anything, but at the same time, I don’t want anyone messing with my cattle.”

“I understand.”

“I think I’ll send a few more of my men to keep an eye on things, at least until we get that first group of cattle to the market,” Jake said.

“That probably wouldn’t be such a bad idea.” Luke knew how astute Jake’s men were. They would be quick to notice anything suspicious. Besides, he wanted assurance that Mac would be protected whether he was there or not. Right now whoever was behind this seemed satisfied with just rattling things up for Mac by indulging in mischief. But Luke was determined that it wouldn’t go any further. He would tear apart anyone who tried to hurt Mac.

“While your men are here I want them to keep a close eye on things, Uncle Jake. I’m going to talk to Theo and make sure everyone stays alert in case whoever is behind this decides to turn his attention to Mac personally.

“That’s a good idea,” Jake said. “Has Ashton been apprised of what’s happened? I think he’d want to know,” Jake went on to ask.

“Not yet. He’s in Houston for the summer. I tried contacting him earlier but it seems Sir Drake is in town and Ashton, Trevor, and Drake left to spend a few hours on the gun range.” Trevor and Sir Drake—as he was fondly called by everyone—were friends of Ashton. The three had served in the Marines Special Forces together and were as close as
any blood brothers could be. And Luke knew Trevor well since he had been a close friend of the Madarises for as long as Luke could remember.

“Well, I plan to visit soon and I’ll let you know in advance as to exactly when. I promised Mom I would be coming to check on you anyway. I don’t think she’s taking Blade’s version of how well you’re doing at face value.”

Luke chuckled. “I’ll look forward to seeing you.”

Luke hung up the phone and went in search of Mackenzie. He found her at the kitchen table knee-deep in papers. The moment he walked into the kitchen he was assaulted with pleasant memories of what had happened in this very room yesterday.

Mackenzie glanced up and met his gaze and from the look in her eyes he knew she was remembering as well. “Hey,” she said, smiling over at him. “Margaret’s gone?”

“Yes, she left a half hour ago.” Mac had finally gotten to meet his physical therapist. Not surprisingly, she liked the woman.

“How did things go today?” she asked, pushing her papers aside.

“Pretty good. Margaret said I’m coming along nicely and she sees no reason for me not to be ready to compete in September if I continue at the rate I’m going.” As he slid into the chair across from her he suddenly realized that getting better meant moving on and leaving her behind. The thought of that bothered him for some reason.

“What you got here?” he asked, glancing at the papers she had spread out.

“Research papers on other eminent domain cases. I can’t believe how that law has shifted over the years.”

“In what way?”

“It’s amazing how many corporations have managed to take over land owned by private citizens. That was not the original intent of that law.”

Luke leaned back and listened to Mac explain the law in detail and why she was determined to make sure her client wasn’t taken advantage of. As he listened he couldn’t help
but be impressed with not only her vast knowledge of the law, but also with how dedicated she was to her client.

“This case is important, and now more than anything I can’t let Whitedyer think their scare tactics are working. I’ve gone over these papers a dozen times but I feel there’s something here that I’m missing. I only wish there was someone a little more familiar in this area, with whom I could run by some of my ideas before the hearing next week.”

“May I make a suggestion?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Why not give Clayton and Syneda a call? Although their specialty is family law, I know for a fact they’re well informed in other areas, even corporate law. Blade and Slade use them all the time. I’m sure they’ll be glad to answer any questions you might have.”

Hope shone in her eyes. “You think they will?”

“You’ll never know unless you ask,” he said, standing to take the cell phone out of his back pocket to hand to her. Luke knew that his cousin Clayton and his wife Syneda, a power couple if there ever was one, were fast becoming two of the most sought-after attorneys in Texas. “Go ahead and call them.”