Page 26 of The Rancher's Secret Son

“If I do something you don’t like, tell me. Promise you will and I’ll promise you that I’ll try to work it out. How’s that?”

Nodding, she began to breathe deeply and get control.

When Nick’s gaze went to her mouth, her heart missed a beat. She didn’t want this reaction to him, but she couldn’t keep it from happening. Physically, she responded to every look, each touch. In too many ways, she liked being with Nick, and so far he was not pressuring her about Cody, but she expected that to come.

“This has been a good weekend,” he said, his voice lower than usual, as it always was when his thoughts turned to sex. “Thank you for it, Claire.” Leaning close, his hands on the arms of her chair, he brushed her lips lightly, an impersonal, casual kiss, but when his lips touched hers, the moment changed.

His arm tightened around her and he looked into her eyes. As she looked at his mouth, she couldn’t catch her breath. Even knowing it was folly that could only cause her trouble, she wanted his kiss. That brief contact of his lips on hers stirred desire, a longing for a kiss, for a bonding, maybe even reassurance.

“Claire,” he whispered, winding his fingers in her hair behind her head as he lifted her to his lap, drew her to him for a deep, passionate kiss. His arms tightened around her, pressing her against him, and she turned, slipping her arms around his shoulders, kissing him in return while longing enveloped her. How long had it been since she’d been kissed like this? How was she going to resist him?

She kissed him, wanting him, wanting the problems gone between them and wanting to make love, to get lost in passion once again.

Thought ceased as she spiraled away in his kiss, a kiss that made her hot and shaking with desire. She clung to him, wanting him to disappear and at the same time trying to bind him to her so he would never leave her.

He shifted, turning her to cradle her against his shoulder while she held him tightly.

Finally, through the haze of desire, that nagging voice of reason spoke up and she came to her senses. She realized how kissing him was going to have her tumbling into a bigger disaster. She did not want to fall in love with him again and set herself up for another heartbreak because Nick wasn’t going to change and he wouldn’t give up his ambitions or his career. Not for her or for Cody. As she thought of that, she shifted away from him and moved off his lap.

“This isn’t going to solve anything,” she whispered, standing to walk away from him.

She glanced back to find him staring at her with a shocked look that she couldn’t fathom. Had their kisses touched him on some emotional level? She doubted it and she didn’t want to be taken in by Nick’s smooth talk.

He was a politician, accustomed to charming people and getting what he wanted out of them. He expected to win their friendship and trust. She had been all through that and it had been heartbreak that she didn’t like to recall.

“Or it might solve everything,” he said gruffly, as he sat up and placed his elbows on his knees.

“I’m tied to a business here and my family. You’re tied to your career in Dallas, Austin and later in DC. That isn’t changing, Nick, and marriage won’t make any of it go away. Any personal relationship between us will complicate our lives as it did before.”

He stood and crossed the room to her. “Kisses are like dancing—sexy and great fun. No harm done.”

“And on that note, we’ll call it a night.”

“Sure,” he said, falling into step beside her as they went upstairs together and stopped at her door.

“I’m going to church in the morning,” she said, gazing into his blue eyes while knowing she should walk away. “Can I leave Cody with you? I’ll have his breakfast ready.”

“Absolutely. Leave him with me. Good night, Claire.”

“Night, Nick.”

She closed her door and ran her hand across her forehead. The day had been filled with ups and downs, moments when she forgot the circumstances and just had fun. There were moments in Nick’s arms when years fell away and for a few minutes she was with a sexy, desirable man who dazzled her.

But, like the flip of a coin, moments could reverse. There had been times that reminded her of the problems that loomed: dividing Cody’s time between them, remembering how she had felt when she had learned of his engagement and she was pregnant with his child, and the terrible breakup that had been the worst time of all.

She got ready for bed automatically, lost in her thoughts about Nick.

Unless she guarded her heart constantly, Nick was a threat to her happiness.

Then again...she glanced at the door, thinking about him in bed across the hall. Unwanted images came of lying in his arms when he was sprawled in bed, his virile male body so breathtaking. It was impossible to keep him out of her thoughts when she was sleeping only a hall away.

She couldn’t stay away from him. She couldn’t be with him. What was she to do? The time was coming when she’d have to make a choice.

She knew the wrong choice could blow her future happiness.

Seven

Sunday morning Claire heard Nick just before he stepped into the kitchen. Dressed in a dark brown knit shirt and chinos, he radiated vitality as he swept into the room. He had always commanded attention wherever he went and that hadn’t changed.

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