Tim offered his hand and pulled her to her feet. Im sorry. Im not sober enough to be reasonable or drunk enough not to care. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Its good to be home. Youre the one person I miss when I wander. He hugged harder. Youre the last person I should yell at.
She hugged him back. I miss my best friend also, she whispered.
He rubbed his chin against her hair. No ones hair feels or smells like yours. It smells like it looks, like sunshine on a spring day.
She laughed. Thats what you miss, my hair?
No. Thats not all. I miss laughing with you and talking like we used to. I think Ive told you every secret Ive ever had. How about we both get some sleep? Its almost daylight. Ill pick you up for dinner tonight. Well catch up.
Its a date. Id love to talk to you about my next book. Im thinking of doing nonfiction. The Ghosts of West Texas. A friend of mine tells me there are places around here where spirits walk the land on moonless nights.
He smiled. I cant wait to hear about it. He kissed her forehead. Get some sleep. Ill be back.
Or, he laughed, letting her know he was joking, we could sleep together and order takeout from bed.
Crossroads doesnt have takeout.
He nodded. And were not sleeping together.
Right. She almost added, been there, done that, but she didnt want to bring up the past. Shed almost lost her best friend when shed ended their short affair, if she could even call it that. Lauren wished they could both erase those few times when they were more than friends, less than lovers.
He turned and walked back the way hed come, mumbling something to himself. At the dock, he waved and called, See you later, alligator, the same way he had all those years ago when they were kids.
After a while, crocodile, she said so low she doubted he heard her. Lauren watched him, thinking her life would be so simple if she loved Tim as more than a friend.
Only she didnt.
Deciding it was too cold to stay out any longer, she walked toward the door that opened into her fathers study. Shed finish the night in her fathers recliner so shed be there when he came home.
Just before she stepped inside, a lone truck turned off the highway and rattled down the steep incline to the lake.
For a moment she watched, hoping it was Pop, knowing the headlights were too close together for it to be his cruiser.
Without moving, she watched Lucas park and climb out of the old pickup. The new sports car his mother said hed bought didnt seem like it would fit him. The Lucas she knew was always more like a cowboy. Hed ridden full-out through college and law school, as if running across open land. He was determined, headstrong, driven, but he wasnt the type who drove a sports car.
Or set a fire, she thought.
Lauren stepped into the light as he stormed up the steps.
When he was a few feet away, she could smell the scent of fire on his clothes. What happened?
He stopped suddenly and coughed as if clearing his lungs so he could breathe in clean air. Both hay barns on the Collinses place are gone. By the time I got there the firemen were just watching them go up and making sure the fire didnt spread. There was nothing anyone could do.
Lightning?
He shook his head. No one thinks so. The few cowboys packing up their gear didnt help, and the guys Reids new manager brought in didnt know where anything was. Someone might have saved them from a full burn when the fires first sparked, but no one stepped up. By the time the fire trucks got there, it was too late.
He dug his fingers through hair that had looked styled earlier but now was windblown and wild. It was like going to a midnight funeral. All the cowhands whod worked on the Bar W for years just stood and watched. Memories were burning and we all knew the ranch would never be the same. A final bonfire to the death of what had once been a great ranch.
She brushed his arm in comfort. Pop says if ranches arent careful they follow the rule of three. The first generation builds it, the second enjoys it and the third destroys it. A hundred years from birth to death.
Lucass rough hand covered hers. Maybe so, but the owners dont seem to realize how many lives are built around a ranch. I grew up there. The ranch was more than just where my dad worked, it was our home too.
Where was Reid tonight? She hated to think hed be dumb enough to set his own land on fire, but he might. Reid and his dad had been slicing off pieces of pastureland for a few years. Lucas might love the land, but Reid only cared about how much income it brought in.
Someone said they found him at his house, passed out drunk. He must have gone there right after I hit him. The housekeeper said he came in cussing and trashing his office. She said he guzzled down all the liquor he could find, yelling about how he hated the ranch. She claimed hed been in the headquarters all night.
Did you tell my pop you had a fight with Reid earlier?
I told him I took a swing at Reid, but it wasnt much of a fight.
The sheriff was at the first barn five minutes after I pulled up. The firemen had called him. Knowing your dad, he followed the first truck out. Lucas paced in front of her, pent-up energy still building from the excitement. Hes over at the main house talking, or trying to talk, to Reid now. I guess Reid had a right to set fire to his own property if the fire was set. Its not illegal unless you claim it on insurance. But if he does file a claim on something he did, or if someone else set the fire, your dad will be dealing with a crime. Hell know more after sunup.
Lauren relaxed. No one would probably ever know what or who started the fires, but in a few hours everyone in town would be guessing. Thanks for letting me know. I was about to put some coffee on. You want some?
No. I didnt come here to post a report. I came here for this. He closed the distance between them. His lips brushed her cheek before she had time to react.
Am I still welcome this close? he whispered. If not, youd better say so because I really need to kiss you.
She thought of saying always, but couldnt open her heart that far. She nodded slightly. One kiss for old times sake wouldnt matter. He was the lover she never had but would miss forever. The almost was was sometimes far more painful than the had been that died.
His kiss was hard, almost painful, but she made no effort to pull away. Lauren couldnt tell if this was a goodbye kiss or a hello kiss. Whatever it was, it was borne from need.
Slowly, like a man dying of thirst swallowing his first gulp, Lucas relaxed and the kiss softened, but his hold on her arms did not.
Im sorry, he whispered when he finally broke the kiss. I didnt mean to come on so strong. He wasnt letting go, not this time. His grip on her arms would probably leave bruises. I just had to do that.
For once in her life, Laurens logical mind stopped thinking and she simply reacted. Shed wanted a kiss like this...full-out passion, no hesitation, nothing held back...and shed wanted it from Lucas. Do it again, she ordered.
If her mind and body would have to endure withdrawal from him later, she might as well take a full hit now. Kiss me like it matters, Lucas.
And he did. Softer but with no less need.
She met his hunger. They were no longer children. Both knew what they wanted even if now wasnt the time or place. She felt it then, a need they shared. A longing that would always bind them and one kiss, a hundred kisses wouldnt quench the fire building between them.
He finally loosened his grip and let his hands slide down her arms until his fingers laced with hers. She leaned into him, absorbing his warmth. Feeling their bodies move against each other. Feeling his heart pound against hers.
When he broke the kiss, he smiled, kissed the top of her head and walked away.
Anger exploded in Lauren. She wasnt the shy little sixteen-year-old hed kissed once on her birthday or the freshman in college hed lost control with for a brief moment under a midnight sky.
Lucas. His name came out as almost a curse. You said you wanted to talk to me.
He was off the steps heading to his truck. I just wanted to hold you tonight. For a quiet woman you sure do say a lot with a kiss. Well have time for that later. His words carried on the predawn wind, a promise whispered.
Stay. Shed learned that later never came for Lucas.
I cant. I have to get to my dad and tell him whats going on. He grinned at her. Well get together later.
Dont bet on it. She stepped inside and slammed the door so hard everyone at the lake probably heard it. Hed walked away again. Just when she trusted him. Just when she wanted him. Hed put her last again. Never first. Never important.
In the silence of her fathers study she fought to keep from allowing a single tear to fall. I dont love you, Lucas Reyes. I never have and I never will. You cant walk back into my life and mix me up again. Shed been on this merry-go-round before and she wasnt getting on it again.
Without another word or a single tear, she stormed into her old room and slammed the door. The whole lake house seemed to rattle in protest.
The room looked the same as it had when shed left for college nine years ago. Organized. Plain. Solid. But shed changed. Shed shifted and morphed into a stranger, even to herself. I dont love him, she said to her reflection. I never have.
Tonight, lying apparently had become a habit.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE SUN SLICED through the cracks in the boards along the east wall of the barn, waking Dakota.
She groaned. Shed fallen asleep without making it back to the house and her bed, again. What an idiot. Last night Dakota told herself shed only work an hour. Just until the neighbor brought back her pickup.
But he hadnt returned in an hour and the gentle rain must have lulled her to sleep. Shed dreamed of houses. The kind she would design one day. Beautiful homes that blended in with the canyons scattered about this part of the country. Her father died young, trying to farm rocky, uneven terrain, but her goal for the land was different.
She dreamed of someday building a secluded community near Indigo Lake. A place for people who worked from their homes or were retired. She could almost picture the winding streets and trails for walking and horseback riding, crossing through large parks and natural landscape. A place where people could see the sun rise and set over nature.
Her mind was working, memorizing last nights plans like an artist tucks away sketches that would someday blend into a mural. She knew it was time to stop dreaming and get up, but her eyes refused to open. Just once she wished she could sleep a whole night or wake at dawn, then roll over and go back to dreaming.
But there was too much to do. If she planned to design homes instead of just trying to sell them, she had to study, and the only time she could study was at the end of the daywhen her job was over, when Maria had her supplies, when all was right on the farm, when Grandmother had been checked on.
At least, for once, she hadnt awakened cold. The wool blanket shed spread out just in case she needed a short nap had kept her warm. She didnt even remember climbing out of the chair and lying down, but shed slept soundly for once.
Something moved along her back. Sam, the fattest cat in Texas, must be keeping her warm. He thought he had to come out with her to the barn every night, as if he considered himself a guard cat.
Her eyes flew open. Sam might be long, but he didnt run the length of her body.
Dakota slowly rolled over and stared at her new neighbor, who was sleeping an inch away.
The Hamilton was back.
She sat up carefully. He was muddy from the top of his dark brown, curly hair to his leather boots laced with buckles. He had what must be a weeks worth of stubble along his square jaw and a bruise under his left eye. Probably given to him by the last stranger hed curled up with.
It occurred to her that he might be some kind of pervert. Sneaking up on people and curling beside them when they were dreaming. She wasnt sure that was a criminal offense, but it would definitely be a dangerous one.
She felt her clothes. All still buttoned. He hadnt come to rape her apparently, just sleep beside her. Which wasnt near as frightening she decided, so shed consider letting him live.
She smiled, thinking that he was downright cute in a baby dragon kind of way. Big, well built and younger than shed thought he might be last night when hed been standing in water and growling like a bear.
Maybe he was like a cold-blooded snake who only crawled into the barn for warmth.
Grandmothers stories about how mean the Hamiltons were came to mind. She said no one in the county crossed them for fear of being shot on a dark night. Wolf-gray eyes can see in the dark and they were all crack shots.
Grandmother would whisper that if you stole from their ranch, theyd find out and take back double. She even claimed she heard a rumor that the Hamilton men branded their women so they could never run off. That might explain why there were no pictures of Hamilton wives at the museum.
Dakota stared at the man beside her. His being cold-blooded and mean didnt seem out of the question, but he hadnt killed her, so she might give him the benefit of the doubt. Her mother told her once that Grandmothers stories grew darker every year, and longer than bindweed on a fence post.
As carefully as she could, Dakota moved away, covering him with the blanket shed been wrapped in all night. Picking up Sam, she silently left the barn. Maybe it would be better to let sleeping dogs lie. There was no telling what kind of mood hed wake up in.
Some guard cat you are, she whispered as she scratched Sams head.
The old cat didnt even have the sense to look guilty.
When she stepped in the shadowy kitchen, she wasnt surprised to hear Maria making breakfast. Routine was Marias clock. She lived by it and so did Dakota. The reason she always had to be home before dark was Marias clock. The same time to do meals, to deliver her products to the grocery, to go to church, were her sisters way of keeping in balance in her world of forever midnight.
Morning, Dakota managed as she walked past the kitchen on her way to the bathroom. I fell asleep in the barn again.
Maria held out a cup of coffee. I figured that. Ill have breakfast ready by the time you finish showering.
Dakota stopped as she took the cup. Better cook extra. That Hamilton who borrowed my truck is asleep in the barn.