Page 90 of The Honorable Texan
When he finished, he let out a harsh breath.So that was Meredith’s secret.No wonder her father drank.No wonder she was so reticent and quiet about her past.He smiled as he considered her true profession, and he was determined that Rey wasn’t going to know about it until disclosure was inevitable.Rey was too prone to conclusion-jumping and rushing to judgment.It was about time he had a set down, and Meredith was just the woman to give it to him.Meanwhile, he’d let Rey work on hanging himself.Obviously Meredith was enjoying her anonymity, and considering the high-poweredpressures of her daily job, it wasn’t surprising that she found mundane housekeeping a nice change.It wouldn’t hurt to let her enjoy the vacation from stress, without probing into her feelings.No doubt she still felt the grief, even after several months.
He touched the report with idle fingers, frowning as he recognized one of the names on it.Mike had been a Houston policeman.He was also a friend of Colter Banks, a Texas Ranger and cousin of the Harts, who worked out of the Houston ranger office.It really was a small world.He wanted to tell Meredith that he remembered Mike, but he didn’t want to blow her cover.He also didn’t want her to know that they’d been checking up on her.
He put the file into the filing cabinet, deliberately putting it under the wrong letter of the alphabet.If Rey asked, he’d just tell him that the agency was working on it but had other, more urgent cases to assign agents to first.
* * *
Meredith was alonein the house when Rey came in, late that night, from his business trip.Leo had gone to dinner at the Brewsters’ house again, presumably at the invitation of Janie’s father, to talk about a new breeding bull the Brewsters were trying to sell him.
She’d just started the dishwasher and was ready to turn the lights off in the kitchen when she heard Rey come in.
He paused in the kitchen doorway, a black Stetson slanted over one dark eye, wearing a grey vested suit that clung lovingly to the hard, muscular lines of his tall body.Meredith felt ragged by comparison in her jeans and red T-shirt, and barefoot.Her hair was disheveledbecause she’d been scrubbing the floor with a brush, and she wasn’t wearing makeup.She hadn’t expected to see either of the brothers before she went to bed.
Rey’s dark eyes went to her pretty feet and he smiled.“You don’t like shoes, do you?”
She grimaced.“No, and it’s not good to go without them.No arch support.”She studied his lean face.He had dark circles under his eyes.“Would you like some coffee and something to eat?”
“I would,” he said heavily.“They gave me peanuts on the plane,” he added with absolute disgust.
She chuckled.The sound was pleasant, and Rey was surprised at how it touched him to hear her laugh.
“I’ll make you a nice thick low-fat ham sandwich with sauce.”
“Thanks,” he said, sliding a chair out so that he could straddle it.He tossed his hat into the chair beside him and ran a hand through his thick dark hair.“Make the coffee first, Meredith.I’ve got paperwork that has to be done tonight before the accountant comes to do the books in the morning.”
“Can’t it wait?”she asked gently.“You look worn to a frazzle.You need an early night.”
His eyes searched hers intently.“I don’t need mothering,” he said, angered out of all proportion.
She flushed and turned away.She didn’t apologize or say another word, but her hands shook as she filled the coffeepot and started it brewing.
Rey cursed himself silently for snapping at her.It was unkind, especially after she’d volunteered to feed him.She’d been working hard, too, he could see the spotless floor and the brush and bucket she’d been using on it.She must have done it on her hands and knees.It was a big kitchen, too.He wasn’t the only one who was tired.
He got up from the chair and moved to stand just behind her.His lean hands caught her small waist and pulled her back against him.“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice deep and husky with sudden emotion.
Her cold fingers came to rest on his and her whole body went rigid as a flash of white-hot pleasure shot through it.She caught her breath.He heard it.His own body tautened and the hands around her waist suddenly grew possessive, rough, insistent, as they pulled her tight against him.
He could hear her breathing change.He could feel the faint tremor of her hands over his.Impulsively he bent his head and his mouth touched the side of her neck.
CHAPTER FIVE
Meredith knew herknees were shaking.She hoped she wasn’t going to fall on the floor at his feet with sheer excitement.It had been years since a man had made her feel such a rush of pleasure, and even then, it had been one-sided.She’d been crazy about a man who only saw her as a sort of unrelated sister.But even that wasn’t as powerful as what she was feeling with Rey Hart.
His mouth became insistent as it moved slowly up her neck.He began to turn her, in the silence that was suddenly alive with passion.His hard lips traveled to the hollow of her throat, where a tiny pulse hammered, and then up to her chin.His teeth nibbled her chin, moving on to her lower lip.He tugged it away from the top one and tasted it with his tongue.All the while, his lean, strong hands were sliding up and down at her waist, smoothing her body completely against him.
His teeth nipped at her top lip with a sensual approach that made her breath shiver in her throat.He was experienced, far more so than she was.For all her professional capability, in this way she was a novice, and it showed.
He noticed her lack of sensual response with absent curiosity.She was attracted to him, that was obvious, but it was as if she didn’t know what to do.
He guided her hands to his vest and flicked openbuttons while his lips teased around hers.She fumbled and he laughed softly, his nose rubbing against hers as he moved her hands and unfastened the buttons on his vest and shirt with deft efficiency.He coaxed her hands inside, against thick hair and hard, warm muscle, while his mouth began to bite at hers, tempting her lips to part.She was stiff, trying not to respond, but her body was hungry.
“Like this,” he whispered gently, teaching her mouth the lazy, sensual rhythm he wanted from it.“Taste my mouth, the way I’m tasting yours.Don’t fight what you’re feeling.”
She heard the words as if through a fog.She didn’t understand what he was saying, but her body obeyed him.She was in a sensual limbo, her hands flat against his chest, her head lifted, her eyes slitted and looking up into his as he began to increase the teasing pressure of his mouth.She followed his lips.She relaxed into the curve of his powerful body with a little shiver.
He devoured her mouth roughly, again and then again, tempting her until her mouth followed his, returning the arousing pressure.She could see the glitter grow in his narrow eyes, feel the grip of his lean hands as he pushed her hips against the sudden hardness of him.She gasped with embarrassment and then lost all sense of it as his mouth opened and pushed down hard against her parted lips, drowning her in passion.
It was like flying, she thought dazedly.He hesitated for an instant and her eyes opened, drowsy and curious.Her mouth was swollen, soft, tremulous.She looked at him with fascination, utterly helpless in his embrace.He felt an unfamiliar protectiveness toward her.It hadbeen years since he’d kissed an innocent.Meredith’s lack of experience was obvious.He was enjoying it.
