The Birthday Fantasy (7 page)

After a few hours of awkward silence and baking in the sun, she and Tate had been rescued from the beach by a patrol boat
. Tate had paid for the lost motorboat and they went back to their cabin to get ready for dinner.

The meal had
been delicious, and she’d been hungry enough to ignore the stoic man across the table. Her new game plan was to get through the next two days and go back to Texas, talk to her father and beg forgiveness from the man with whom she wanted to spend the rest of her life.

“You’ve reached Robert Jefferson. Please leave a detailed message with your number and I’ll get back to you ASAP.”

Damn, she needed to hear his voice. After the beep, she cleared her throat, suddenly glad he hadn’t answered.

“Hi. Robbie, it’s me. I hope you haven’t been worried. Daddy sent me on a
surprise birthday trip and I’ll be home Monday. I can’t wait to see you. Call me at...” She rattled off Tate’s cell number, glad Robbie would have no idea it belonged to the man she’d once loved. “I forgot my cell. Talk to you soon.”

She
closed the cell and set it on the wide top of the railing. As she stared at the diamond on her finger, she remembered the day she’d met rich land developer Robert Jefferson. She’d attended a party with a girl friend from college and she’d introduced them. Robbie had been handsome and arrogant, but he was insistent and she eventually agreed to go out with him.

Three months later, he’d put that diamond on her finger.

Her father had been convinced at the time all he wanted was Raines Land because Robbie had made an offer for the ranch. She still didn’t believe it. Robbie loved her.

The phone rang, startling her. She looked at the number a
nd put the old flip phone against her ear. “Robbie?”

“Where are you? Your father refused to tell me.”

Not hello, but a demand. She looked out at the sliver-flecked lake. Robbie was good at demanding. “I’m visiting my relatives in Colorado.” Yeah, it was a lie, but she couldn’t tell him she was here with Tate. “How’s business going in Vegas?”

“You know I never talk about work.”

She knew that, too. “When are you coming home? I’ll be back in Texas on Monday.”

“It looks like I’ll be here for another week. I have to go. See you then.”

The dial tone was deafening in her ear. Not a single
I miss you
or
I love you
or
happy birthday
. She went into her room and set the phone on her bedside table. She’d give it back to Tate in the morning.

With a startling realization, she dropped to the edge of the bed.

Robbie had never once told her he loved her.

But she’d never said the words to him either.

****

“
Jamie?”

She
heard the sweet, clear voice, but it seemed so far away, dreamlike.

“Jamie?”

The voice belonged to a young woman--it was the voice she often heard in her head--and it seemed a little closer.

“
My sweet girl, wake up.”
The voice was more persistent and sounded near her ear.

“Who’s there?”
Jamie’s eyes flew open and she gasped.

S
ilhouetted by the bright moonlight shining through the open French door, stood a beautiful, young, dark haired woman at the foot of her bed.

“
Momma?” Jamie choked on the name.

“
Yes.” The specter seemed to float around the bed to stand beside Jamie.

“You’re a ghost?”
She sat bolt upright in her bed. Her heart pounded hard.

“
I’ve been looking out for you since you were a baby.”

“
What?” Jamie shook her head. She had to be dreaming. There was no other explanation.

“
Jamie, I don’t have much time, but I showed myself because I’m worried about you. You can’t go through with this marriage.”

“
Robbie’s a good man.” Jamie’s voice shook as she answered.

“
But he doesn’t love you. You don’t love him.” The ghost sat on the edge of the bed, causing Jamie to jump back. The specter didn’t seem to notice the alarm and instead laid a hand over Jamie’s trembling fingers where they rested at her side.

The touch was cool
and feathery, and Jamie was too stunned to move. “Love is overrated. Look what it got me. A broken heart. And Daddy? What did love get him? You died and he’s been lonely all of his life.”

Her mother’s ghost frowned and shook her head. “Do you really want to live a life without love?”

“I won’t get hurt that way.”

“But you’ll never be happy either. Tate
made a mistake, but he loves you and he makes you happy. As I always knew he would.”

“What do you mean by that?” Jamie was afraid she already knew. “Did you send him to the ranch?”

Tate had once told her he’d had a dream that brought him to Raines Land all those years ago.

Her mother smiled and touched Jamie’s face.
“I thought I loved another man, but when I met your father, I knew I’d never be happy without him. When he asked me to marry him, I did not hesitate. I gave up a career I loved and moved to Texas to be with him. He made me complete, and he made me extremely happy. If I have a regret, it is leaving him and you. But unlike in the life we lead, we have no choice in death.”

“Can you talk about it... Your death?
Are you in...heaven?” Jamie hoped her mother was happy in her afterlife.

Momma
shook her head. “That’s one rule I can’t break. I can’t talk about where or what I am. What is Tate to you?”

Jamie
didn’t even need to think about it. “He is my best friend, he’s always been there for me and I’ve tried to do the same for him.”

Jamie
looked up at the smiling, glowing, beautiful face of her mother. “What do you feel for him?”

“
I love him. I always have.” The words came out before she could stop them.

“What are you doing in here?” Momma smiled and leaned in. The kiss on Jamie’s forehead was like a fluttering of butterflies against the skin. “You turned into such a beautiful woman, Jamie. I love you.”

She stood and faded away.

Jamie’s heart sank and she leapt off the bed. “Momma, don’t go.”

In her head
, she heard the voice she always thought was her conscience.
“I will always be looking out for you.”

****

Tate couldn’t sleep. But sexual frustration and total confusion would do that to a man. After overhearing Jamie’s conversation with Jefferson through the open French doors of his room, he was more convinced than ever that she was making the biggest mistake of her life if she married that yahoo. He didn’t know what Jefferson’s game was, but Tate would bet it had everything to do with the ranch. And not because he wanted to raise black Angus cattle.

He
rolled over and yanked on the covers a little too hard. He sighed and tried to ignore his cold feet, but when a draft passed through the room causing that weird chill down his spine, he sat up and threw the bottom of the blanket over his feet. He lay down on the pillow, putting his hands behind his head. The memory of Jamie came rushing back. The passion of her kiss and the way she responded to his touch. Her silky skin, the taste of her, the scent of her…He closed his eyes to stop the thoughts, but then he didn’t want to, even if it was torture for him.

The door opened with a soft click.

Tate opened his eyes, but he had to be dreaming. Jamie walked toward him limned by the soft glow of the moonlight coming through the windows. Her strappy, low-cut nightgown clung to every curve as she moved. “Am I dreaming?”

Her soft laugh brought his
gaze back to her face. “I figured you hoped to see me actually wear this thing since you deliberately packed it. I don’t want to think about you going through my entire nightgown drawer to find it.” She put her knee on the edge of the bed.

Yeah, he’d found the sexy nightgown and hoped he’d get to see her wearing it.
“Jamie?”

“
Were you expecting someone else?” She leaned over him. Her tangy sweet scent surrounded him.

“What are you doing?”

“I don’t want to fight this anymore.” Her touch on the sides of his face was warm and soft as she smiled. She kissed him with a passion that took his breath away.

He wrapped her up and held on to her, afraid she’d disappear if he didn’t.
When she broke the kiss for air, she rested her forehead on his and met his gaze.

“
I love you, Tate.”

“Oh, God, I love you, too.” H
is heart raced with happiness and desire. Tossing off the covers, he flipped her under him and crushed her lips with a kiss meant to brand her. He tugged on the sexy nightgown, pulling it over her head.

Her naked skin slid over his and h
is desire screamed at him to make her his, but he wanted to savor every incredible inch of her.

****

Jamie gasped and arched into him as he lavished her breasts with his hot mouth. The roughness of his cheeks adding to the pleasure. She moaned and pulled at his hair, wanting him to kiss her. Instead, he shifted to kneel between her legs. As he placed fiery kisses down her belly, he pushed her thighs apart and touched her soft folds, pushing them apart.

Oh, yes, this what she wanted.

“Tate...” She fisted her hands in his hair, guiding him to her achy center. He licked and nibbled on the needy nub. She lifted off the bed as the burning coil tightened. He sucked in the delicate tissue, and she shattered into a million brilliant pieces under his tongue.

He brought her down, then
slid over her. She opened her eyes to meet his gaze and lifted a trembling hand to touch his cheek. His beard shadowed his face, black hair hung over his forehead and his passion-filled green eyes glittered with need. She had never seen a more handsome man. He bent to kiss her as he thrust into her. She gasped at the rightness of it and wrapped her legs and arms around him.

H
e rocked his hips, slowly sliding into her to the hilt and back out again. Unlike on the sex on the beach, this was slow and sweet and so damned good. He leaned over her and buried his face in her neck.

“Marry me, Jamie
.” He breathed in her ear.

“Yes!”

He pulled back and held her gaze as he began to move faster.

She clawed at his back and bucked against him
as the band of pleasure stretched thinner until it snapped.

Stilling above her, he t
hrew his head back and growled through gritted teeth, “Princess!”

****

They awoke several hours later entangled in the sheets and each other.

“
Wow.” Tate looked down at her auburn head on his bare chest. “I thought it was a dream.”

S
he propped herself up on her folded hands, resting her chin on them over his chest. Damn, she was gorgeous.

“
No, it wasn’t a dream. Neither was me saying yes to your proposal. So, there’s no backing out of it now, buddy.”

His heart slammed into his chest.
“What made you change your mind about me?”

Shrugging, she grinned.
“I had some sense talked into me.”

“Who? Did you call someone
other than Jefferson?”

“Nope.”
She straddled him and kissed him. “My mother seems to think you are perfect for me.”

“
Huh?” He had to have heard her wrong, but right now, he really didn’t care. She slid her hot, wet center over his raging hard-on.

She laughed at him.
“My mother’s ghost visited me last night. She helped me realize I’ve been a complete idiot. Soul mates can’t be denied.”

Jamie
kissed him again, and they both moaned as he easily slid into her. As she rocked her hips in a slow sultry rhythm, they were soon carried away again.

A few hours later, h
unger finally forced Tate to leave the bed.

Jamie crawled out after him. “I think I’ll draw a bath.”

“Sounds good. I’ll bring in whatever I find.”

“
The hunter has returned successful.”As he walked into his bathroom with a package of Oreo cookies and a bottle of red wine, Jamie bent over the large sunken tub filling with water. She was hot as hell wearing one of his shirts.

She
glanced over her shoulder at him and chuckled as she stood up, shaking the water from her hand. “You realize how silly you look with that grin plastered all over your face?”

He
set the cookies and wine on the marble edge of the tub, then took her into his arms. “What silly grin?”

She
threaded her hand into his hair. “The I’m-so-in-love-grin.”