Texas Heroes: Volume 1 (6 page)

“
Aaayyiii
, Boone.
She’s
the one Sam left the house to?” Sonny Chavez clucked his tongue. “
Muy bonita
.”

“You’re married. And she won’t be here long. She’s going to sell the house to me as soon as she’s satisfied Sam’s requirement.”

“Got under your skin, eh?”

“She’s a looker, all right. But not my type.”

“I haven’t seen you look at a woman like that since—”

Boone’s jaw tightened. “I’m not looking now.”

“You’ll play hell finding one like that around here. Where’d she come from?”

“The city.” Boone spat out the words.

“Which city?”

“It doesn’t matter. City women don’t stick out here. She’ll be gone soon.”

“But while she’s here…”

Boone shot him a glare. “Can it, Sonny. I’m not looking for a woman.” It had been a very long time, but no way. Not this woman.

“Hell, Boone, when you gonna get over a woman who—”

“Watch it, Sonny.”

“I’m sorry. But Helen was gone the moment she got here. You did everything you could. You turned yourself inside out, trying to please both her and your dad. It wasn’t your fault.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” He slid the lock closed on the trailer and pulled off his gloves. “I’m going to get a cup of coffee before I leave. See you this afternoon.”

Sonny just shook his head. “Helen was never going to be satisfied. It ever occur to you that maybe she wasn’t good enough for you? Maybe it wasn’t you who screwed up?”

“No. It didn’t. Period.” Boone turned and walked toward the house. Helen had been effervescent when they’d married and for many months after, until—

Until he’d turned her life upside down and taken her to live in a nowhere town with an old man who disliked her on sight.

And she’d never been the same again. She’d be alive today if he hadn’t dragged her halfway across the country out of a sense of duty to a man who didn’t care enough to let his sons know when he was dying.

Forget it, Boone. It’s an old subject
. He had put it to rest until
she
showed up.

She. The looker. Wearing that tiny scrap of lace struggling to cover curves Boone could still feel against his body.

Damn. Radish roses and scraps of lace. It was shaping up to be the longest thirty days of his life.

Boone pulled off his boots outside the kitchen door and stepped inside in his sock feet, headed for the coffeepot Vondell kept going all day—

And was blindsided by the curves he’d just been trying to banish from his brain.

Maddie stumbled, and he reached out to steady her, the thin silk kimono transmitting her body heat straight into his palms.

He jerked away. “Whoa—where’s the fire?”

Maddie’s gray eyes were velvet-soft and sleepy. All too easily, he could imagine that look under other circumstances. He quickly shifted his gaze away and downward.

Big mistake. The midnight blue kimono gapped at the cleavage, and lace clung to the curves he’d admired a few minutes before.

Only now, he wasn’t yards away. He was within inches. His fingers flexed, itching to touch, to see if what he remembered…

He cleared a throat gone suddenly dry. “Uh…I came to get coffee.”

“That’s where I was headed. I’ll pour you a cup,” she murmured in that low, throaty tone that detoured right past his brain into far more dangerous regions. She turned away and crossed the small space, standing on tiptoes to reach two mugs.

And there they were. Those long, long legs that had walked through his dreams more than once last night. The kimono wrapped hips that definitely belonged to a woman, the fabric barely brushing the tops of her thighs.

“—or sugar?” Red highlights shone from her dark hair when her head swung around.

Hell.
Get a grip, Boone
. Jaw tightening, he bit off the words. “Black. Just black. You don’t need to wait on me.”

Mug in hand, she crossed the floor, her full lips curving. “Oh, please. Don’t thank me so sweetly.” She was waking up now, her eyes shining with challenge. She handed him the mug.

“Thanks.” Boone sipped too quickly, scalding his tongue.

Maddie’s generous lips curved upward, drawing his attention like moth to a flame.

“Got, uh, work to do.” Before his wings incinerated, Boone headed for the door.

The hounds of hell nipped at his heels, disguised in the form of a sassy, sexy woman.

Twenty-nine days and counting.

Maddie leaned against the fence, watching the baby nuzzle its mother’s belly, rooting around to nurse. The mare kicked out one leg and shifted. Finally, the baby latched on, and the mare settled in.

Maddie smiled and laid her head against the railing, sighing out loud. How sweet.

The border collie pup that had followed her made a sound, and Maddie looked down to see him happily chewing her shoelace.

“You little rascal. What am I going to do with you? Isn’t your mother calling?” She reached down and lifted him up, nuzzling his head with her jaw while she scratched beneath his chin and he whimpered with pleasure. “Beggar.”

He caught a lock of her hair and began chewing on it. Maddie laughed, and he scrambled closer, his little claws tickling her neck. Maddie sat down, giggling, then rolled back on the grass and held him against her chest.

Boone observed her from the barn, wondering who this woman really was. This morning’s siren had morphed into something else altogether. Seeing her so unguarded, so much like a fresh-faced girl, did things to his insides, things he didn’t want to think about.

But he couldn’t help smiling as the pup scrambled across her chest and began rooting that wet nose at her neck. Maddie rolled on the ground, giggling like a ten-year-old girl. Then she scooped up the pup and hugged him hard.

Lucky pup.

Boone knew it was foolish even while he was walking toward her, but he just had to figure this woman out. Then he could write her off and forget her.

Maddie felt the shadow cross her body before she looked up, but somehow she’d already known it was Boone. Something about him seemed to tickle her antennae every time he was anywhere nearby.

She craned her head up. He looked ten feet tall. But he wasn’t frowning, so that was a nice change.

“Hi.”

“Hi,” he answered. “Devil bothering you?”

“Is that his name?”

Boone shrugged, then crouched at her side. The pup abandoned her in a heartbeat, rooting at Boone’s hand. “Seems to fit his sense of mischief.”

She had to agree. “It really does.” She couldn’t take her eyes away from those strong fingers, the wide palms. Envying the puppy who received the stroking. Remembering how those hands had felt in her all-too-brief encounter with Boone Gallagher’s potent physical charms.

Maybe we could just have a little fling while I’m here
.

Maddie shook her head roughly.
Good grief, Maddie. You’re insane
. Besides, she wasn’t the fling type.

“Why are you here, Maddie?”

Sigh. Back to that. “You know why.”

“How can you just leave your life and come down here for a month?”

Maddie wasn’t ready to discuss her failures with Robert, so she turned the tables. “How could you leave for so long?”

He stiffened. Probably didn’t like being on the receiving end. But she noticed that his hands stayed gentle on the puppy falling asleep against that broad chest.

Then he met her gaze, shadows in his eyes. “Long story. Nothing you’d want to hear.”

“Maybe I would.”

“And maybe I don’t want to talk about it.” His tone made it clear she was trespassing.

But something in Maddie wanted to dig past his secrets. Find out who this man was. “Where were you?”

Boone huffed out a breath. “Don’t give up easy, do you?” He shook his head, then stared out in the distance. “Serving my country at first, then…”

“I’m sorry.”

He stared at her. “Why?”

“Because…” She gestured around her. “You had to leave this.” Her gaze returned to his. “And because I think it hurt your heart.”

Boone wasn’t sure what unsettled him most. That she saw too close to a weary soul, or that she thought the ranch was a place to cherish. But he did know he didn’t like how she saw too much.

“Wouldn’t think this place would look like much to a woman like you.”

“It has its own beauty. A little light on the amenities, if you need bright lights and noise.”

“And you do, don’t you?” He watched her closely.

“Why do you think you know anything about me, Boone? And who are you to tell me what I like and don’t like?” Her chin jutted out and those gray eyes sparked.

Damn, he wanted to kiss away that stubborn line of her lips. But he was already sure it wouldn’t be enough to cure this growing fascination.

“Let’s just say I know only certain women can handle an isolated place like this, and you aren’t one of them. You don’t belong here, Maddie Collins. You’d never stick.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Good thing I’ve sworn off men like you for good. I don’t have to care what you think.”

“What do you mean, men like me?”

“Doesn’t feel too good, does it?” She cocked one eyebrow.

Boone couldn’t decide whether to laugh or argue. Sass and a sharp mind, a dangerous combination. And altogether too intriguing.

“Boone, come here—quick,” Sonny called out. “We’ve got a break in the fence line and cows out on the road.”

He handed the puppy back to Maddie and rose quickly. “Anybody ever say you got a mouth on you, Maddie Rose?”

Her gray eyes crackled with energy. “Why, thank you.” Her smile went wide and way too inviting.

Boone shook his head, but when he walked away, he was grinning.

Maddie crossed the front porch after her evening walk. Dinner—or supper, as they called it around here—had been strained, the silences outweighing the conversation. Vondell asked questions about Boone’s assessment of the ranch, about Maddie’s life, her gambit to have each of them speak to the other failing miserably. Boone had reverted to the man of few words, listening when Maddie spoke, responding to Vondell, but initiating no conversation himself.

Maddie herself had mostly sat uncharacteristically quiet, all too aware of the man sitting across the table. An enigma, he was, and one Maddie shouldn’t want to solve. Her curiosity had gotten her in hot water all too often in her life. Boone stirred it up again. Though he hid it well, a deep sadness peered from those shadowed blue eyes. Yet true affection shone from his gaze when he looked at Vondell. With the hands, he seemed relaxed. Only when she was around did he turn into a block of stone. This afternoon it had almost seemed like he was teasing her, but tonight the glowering stranger had returned.

Can you blame him, Maddie? You waltzed into this place and stole his home
.

No. She hadn’t stolen it. Sam Gallagher had given it away. Very soon Boone would have it back. As soon as she could possibly make it happen. This
vacation
had derailed on its very first day.

Yet the peace and quiet she had longed for was certainly abundant. Well, maybe not the peace, but definitely the quiet. It was almost eerie. Night sounds she didn’t recognize had kept her awake longer than she would have liked.

Maddie stepped onto the porch and turned around, struck anew by the vista. Gentle hills rolling on to the sunset, the only sounds the wind, the soft lowing of cattle, the excited barking of a dog. She drew in a deep breath, realizing how her heartbeat slowed in time with the rhythm of a place that still bore the look of its past. If she ignored the power lines, she could be looking at this country as it was a hundred years ago.

Too slow for her, that was for sure. She had a lot of life to live yet…if only she could figure out how she wanted to do it. But still… There was something about this place that made her curious. She couldn’t help trying to picture her father here, as boy and young man. Couldn’t help wondering about her grandmother… and those who had come before Rose. Sam’s letter had said that generations of Wheelers had fought weather and Indians and hard times to keep this place. Closing her eyes, Maddie searched inside herself for a sense of connection, but nothing answered.