His hands slid up the soft cotton shirt and cupped her breasts. Her knees went weak with the incredible, foreign sensation of a man’s hands, Jed’s hands, touching that part of her body. His fingers moved in an erotic massage, deliciously rough and intimate over the aroused peaks they found. “We both expected this. It’s time we made love, Thena.”
Thena groaned in despair and whipped around. She dropped the lariat and pushed him away with both hands, feeling reckless, her breath labored, her eyes gleaming with antagonism and frustration. He provoked her to primal sexual reactions; he wouldn’t quit flirting; he courted disaster and had dredged up all her old longings as well as her old sense of inadequacy.
“I am not interested in these adolescent games!” she said angrily.
He looked at her in absolute amazement and then frowned. “We’re not kids and this isn’t a game. I’m not tryin’ to take what I can get and then go my own way. When I said ‘make love,’ that’s what I meant. If you can’t see that I’m in love with you, then you’re not lookin’ very hard.”
“Jedidiah, you don’t really know me. Don’t bandy an important word such as love—”
His hand snapped out and captured her wrist. She found herself staring into his hurt, fierce gaze. “Don’t talk to me like I’m some kid who’s got his first crush, dammit. I never said ‘I love you’ to anyone before.”
“Well, don’t say it to me!” Her voice broke on the last word and she tugged her wrist away. Her chest ached with the conflict his announcement caused. Love. This rough-cut cowboy loved her … and it would be foolish to deny that she loved him too. But she wouldn’t let love become making love and ruin everything. Thena took several calming breaths. “I told you before, I don’t want anything to do with you or any other man.”
He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head in bewilderment. He couldn’t understand how she could deny the incredible attraction between them. Jed forced his voice to relax. “Hey, Miss Witch, if you really feel that way, why do you want me to stay here?”
“You’re not … not ready to leave. You still don’t understand why this island is worth preserving.”
“You know, I don’t take to bein’ forced to do things. This isn’t funny anymore. Now, look, I’ve been a good sport for the past few days. If my touch makes you so uncomfortable”—he paused, struggling not to sound as upset as he felt—“then I want you to get on the radio and—”
“Not until you agree to leave my island alone.”
“It ain’t your island!”
“We’re back where we started with this argument,” she said stiffly. “I’m going to the beach and paint for a while. Good-bye.” Thena turned on one heel and walked away, her back rigid. Jed watched her go, his confusion over her attitude growing into an anger that ate at his patience. Something had to give.
Seven
His growing restlessness over Thena’s strange behavior and a bad night’s sleep made tension coil inside Jed like a snake waiting to strike. He came downstairs barefoot, cursing the floppy white pants with their drawstring waist and the gaudy shirt that he hadn’t yet buttoned. He had to get off this island before Thena turned him into some sort of goofy-looking beachcomber who was too addled to keep his plans straight.
She wouldn’t let him leave, but she wouldn’t admit that she had motives for keeping him here other than the preservation of her island. He saw the sexual interest in her eyes, dammit; he read it in the languid, appealing way she moved when she was around him. On that count, at least, he knew she cared about him. Her aloofness was maddening, but the sadness that lay under it aroused the protective part of his nature. Her mystery could drive a man to total adoration and total insanity at the same time.
Last night they’d sat in rigid silence and watched a tape of an old Lassie movie. She cried quietly during the sad parts, which seemed to come about every five minutes. He decided that she was crying over a lot more than a collie dog, so he sat down on the floor beside her chair and offered her his quiet sympathy and devotion. That made her cry harder and abruptly go to her bedroom. She shut the door and never came back.
Jed stopped at the bottom of the stairs, his face set in stoical lines. He wasn’t stupid. She liked him, sure, but she wasn’t interested in lovin’ a simple horse wrangler.
Suddenly he heard the soft melody of her voice as it whispered out of her bedroom. “Appreciate,” he heard dimly. “Groceries … thanks, Grandmother. Good-bye.” He inched close to the open door and peeked in. Her back to him, Thena slipped something small out of her ham radio. Jed’s eyes narrowed as she brushed her long hair out of the way and fiddled with the buttons down the front of her old-fashioned white chemise. When she finished, her hands were empty. So that’s where she was hiding things.
“Gimme that radio part,” he ordered tersely. “Or hand over the boat key.”
She whirled around, her gray eyes wide with shock. “Get away from my door, you spy!”
He stepped inside the room, his hands clenched. “Give me the damn boat key.”
“You arrogant rooster. Rasputin! Godiva!”
“Oh, no, you don’t.” He slammed the bedroom door and strode over to the window that opened onto the porch. A dozen tiny wrens fluttered away from the birdseed on the sill as Jed jerked the bottom of the window down. He turned on Thena and advanced with measured, tensed steps. She retreated to the other side of her bed and glared at him through the gauze of white mosquito netting that flowed from the ceiling over it.
“Assault and battery,” she warned.
“Kidnappin’,” he reminded her. “We’ll be even. Give me the boat key.”
He’d taught her a few cowboy phrases, Now she used one. “Brand me and break me, but I’ll still bite.”
Unperturbed, he flung himself across the bed with a speed that caught her by surprise. Thena stumbled back, but he grabbed her by one arm. Off balance she was no match for his maneuver, and he pulled her roughly toward him. Thena collapsed on the bed in a heap of sheets and mosquito netting, hugged her free arm over her chest protectively, and curled up in a defensive ball against his thigh.
“Sacrebleu!” she yelled fiercely. “No!”
“I don’t like doin’ this,” he growled, as he wound his fingers into the back of her chemise. He emphasized every word in a last-chance, threatening tone as his grip tightened. “Give—me—the—boat—key.”
“When turtles fly!”
Everything happened with mind-boggling quickness, He ripped the chemise down the back from neckline to hem. Thena flailed wildly as she felt cool morning air on the length of her body. She’d never expected him to strip her. As usual, she wore no underwear.
“Jedidiah, don’t!”
“Give me that damn key or I’ll leave you buck nekkid!”
“No!” She pushed herself upright and tried to scramble away, both arms crossed over her chest. He grabbed the front hem of her chemise and Thena gasped as it tore up the middle all the way to her full breasts. Defeated, embarrassed, and furious, Thena flung the remnants of it, with the key and the radio part pinned to the bodice, at him.
“There!” she cried bitterly. “Take the boat key! Go back to the mainland, if that’s all you can think about doing! I’ll be glad to get rid of your provocative, primitive presence!”
Jed forgot the torn garment that lay in his lap. Thena, her breasts and face flushed, her legs curled under her, was a golden, naked wildcat with tangled brunette hair. The most infuriating, the most unattainable, and the most desirable woman he’d ever known sat not more than a foot away from him, making no attempt to cover herself, almost daring him to stare at what his violent behavior had accomplished.
He understood why when he noticed the glistening, fierce pride in her eyes, pride so unyielding that it wouldn’t let her give into the other emotions he saw—the vulnerability and embarrassment. She was a mesmerizing sight that stabbed at his heart and charged him with regret.
“Look at me!” she ordered, her who
le body trembling. “I won’t hide! I’m not beaten!” He watched her eyes fill with tears of pure frustration. “Why did you have to come to my island? Why didn’t you just sell it and send your developers instead! I could have fought them, but you … you don’t fight fairly.” Tears streaked her face as she glanced down at her nakedness. “Get out! Go away.”
“Hush, sssh,” he crooned suddenly. Jed grabbed a sheet and pulled it around her shoulders.
She was so surprised that her tears stopped. She sat as still as a statue as he covered her up, his expression making her ache with absurd sorrow for upsetting him. That didn’t make sense, she told herself. He’d upset her. She was getting confused. A strange current flowed from him, bewildering her with its mixture of desire, affection, and anguish.
“Come here, Miss Witch,” Jed said in a gruff, kind voice.
“You’ve gotten what you wanted. You don’t have to debase yourself with an apology.”
“God, woman, just because you know how to talk real well, you don’t have to talk all the time. Be quiet.”
He slid close to her on the bed and pulled her to him for a gentle hug. Thena made a strangled, bittersweet sound when his hand guided her head to his warm shoulder. After a tense moment she let it rest there. His shirt was askew, and her cheek tingled at the contact with his skin and hard, sheathed muscles.
“Ask me to stay in your bed, you proud little filly,” he told her, every word hoarse. “Tell me that some of the reasons you want me here don’t have anything to do with this island.”
Instead of answering, Thena did something she’d been wanting to do for days. The angry, reckless atmosphere jumbling her thoughts, she tilted her face up a little and kissed his cheek, letting her lips linger against the coarse skin and faint shadow of morning beard.
Jed groaned softly and twisted his head so that his mouth came down on hers. Startled, Thena went absolutely still as his lips tantalized and tugged, sending warmth throughout her body. She felt as if she were being drawn under by a tumultuous ocean wave, that sensations were overwhelming her with an elemental force as old as time. Eager to please, desperate to hide her lack of experience, she copied the response she’d seen actresses give in the old movies. She made her face impassive and didn’t move her mouth a fraction.
“Kiss me back,” Jed urged, his voice sad. “Please, kiss me back, Thena.”
Nervous and awkward, Thena tensed her mouth and ground it into Jed’s, hard. She wanted him to stay forever.
After a moment he pulled away, frowning. The dark distress in his eyes alarmed her. “All right, you don’t have to fake it,” he muttered. “If you don’t want to kiss me, don’t pretend. I’d get more response kissing a brick wall.”
“Do you … what do you want me to do?” she asked, as a rivulet of humiliation wound around her stomach.
“Just act like a woman who wants to love a man. Me.”
He didn’t understand that she wanted that more than anything. Thena felt a painful twist of undeniable truth. She just couldn’t make love to Jed, no matter how much she wanted to. It would be a disaster, a disappointment that would shame her and make him lose interest. Nate had predicted this failure, she thought dully. Attraction comes from an inner wellspring of sensuality, he’d told her often. Some people don’t have it. Her spring must be dry.
Desperate, Thena cleared her throat and gave Jed a firm look. She’d try one more time to show that she wanted to love him in body as well as spirit. “I’ll be happy to touch you.” She pointed to the front of his pants. “There.”
He nearly choked on frustration. “No, thanks. I had somethin’ a lot more important than a quick thrill in mind. And you know it.”
Her voice rose with anguish. “Jedidiah, I can’t satisfy you if you’re going to be choosy about what kind of thrill you’ll accept.”
He got up off the bed, taking the chemise with him. Jed unpinnned the boat key and threw the tattered material on the floor. His eyes glittered with anger. “I reckon this sounds pretty funny, comin’ from somebody like me … but I’m interested in love. You’re interested in sex.” Jed paused. “And you’re pretty damn odd about the whole business.”
Odd. Her hopes sank. Yes, she was odd and purely intellectual, and she shouldn’t try to be anything else. Thena pulled her sheet closer around her. Even though it was July, she felt cold. Cold and alone and ancient. “It was nice having you here,” she said in a low, polite voice. “Leave the boat at the Dundee municipal docks. I’ll have someone bring it back.”
“Is that all you can say to me?” he asked. Their eyes met. His were searching and hard. “Aren’t you willing to admit that there’s something damn fantastic and special between us? Won’t you warm up to me just a little?”
She looked at him very calmly. “You’re male, I’m female. That fact gave rise to some inevitable hormonal interplay. That sums up our relationship nicely. I’ll have someone bring the boat back,” Thena repeated. “You’d better go right away. My neighbor, Beneba, says a thunderstorm’s coming.” She paused. “I suppose I’ll see you in court, about the island.”
Jed looked at her in stunned silence. Then he shook his head. “I reckon you belong out here, all alone. It suits you.”
Thena couldn’t trust her voice to answer that cruel comment, so she simply nodded. He left the room. She stayed on the bed, listening wretchedly as he quickly gathered his things and walked out the front door without saying good-bye. And Thena, who had always loved being by herself, cried because now she could hardly stand the emptiness he left behind.
The August sun burned a round hole in the sky directly over Thena’s head. Its rays seeped through her wide-brimmed straw hat, making a kaleidoscope of shadows on her drawing pad and the hypnotizing masculine face coming to life under her pencil.
She dug her toes in the sand and shifted a little, the beach feeling scratchy even through her shorts. That was the only distraction she allowed in her pursuit of the perfect likeness of Jed. She tuned out the gulls crying overhead, the rushing sound of the waves licking the tide line, and the steady whisper of the ocean breeze.
She’d drawn dozens of pictures of the Wyoming cowboy who’d left her emotions in such disarray a month ago. Instead of fading with time, her mental images of him grew more detailed. She drew him on horseback; she drew him looking squinty-eyed and sexy like Clint Eastwood; she drew him naked, using her imagination to fill in the parts she’d never seen. She drew him, and she missed him more each time she finished.
The distant sound of Rasputin’s and Godiva’s ferocious barking made her leap up. Thena ran toward the warning, her heart hammering because it came from the west, where Sancia’s tiny old dock was located. She realized that she was going to spend the rest of her life hoping that Jed would come back.
Cendrillon and the dogs met her halfway to the dock. Thena tucked her drawing pad under one arm, then swung up on the mare’s back, and the four of them continued together. A few yards from the dock Thena stopped Cendrillon with a voice command. She removed the dark sunglasses she always wore on the beach and stared at the sleek cabin cruiser bellying up to her dock like a bloated whale.
Four clean-cut men, dressed in fashionable hiking clothes and carrying everything from backpacks to camera bags and rifles, tromped down the rickety dock toward her. Only Thena’s most curt commands kept Rasputin and Godiva from crouching for an attack.
“You must be the caretaker’s granddaughter,” called one of the men, a portly executive type who looked lost without his desk and secretary.
“This is a private island,” she said in a formal voice. “State your business.”
The man pulled a card from the vest pocket of his well-pressed khaki safari shirt. He started forward, was met by the dogs’ low growls, and stopped tentatively.
“I can’t have your animals endangering my group,” he informed her stiffly.
“I can’t have your group endangering my animals. “Who are you?”
“We’re fro
m Baylor-Michaels-Sutton. Developers.”
Disbelief and anger zinged through Thena’s veins. “Has the island been sold?”
“Not yet. We’re prospective buyers.” His eyes, under a ridiculous-looking golf hat, assessed Cendrillon. “Is this one of the wild horses that comes with the place?”
Horror sent a chill down Thena’s back. Had she wounded Jed’s ego so much that he’d take this kind of revenge? No, she trusted his goodness too much to believe he’d sell her horses, especially Cendrillon. “None of the horses come with ‘this place,’ ” she answered in a freezing voice.
“I’m afraid the owner’s attorney says everything is included except the caretaker’s house and five acres around it. Animal populations, the old Gregg mansion, everything. We hope you’ll show us around. We want to do a little hunting while we’re here.”
Thena winced at his last remark and gave Cendrillon a silent signal, and the mare began backing away. “Let me go to the house and put on my hiking shoes,” she called sweetly, “and I’ll be glad to play guide.”
“Terrific! We’ll look for a campsite.”
Smiling, nodding, Thena swung Cendrillon around and nudged her into a fast lope, the dogs racing alongside. Find a campsite, my unsuspecting little visitors, she thought grimly. Rest. You’ll need all your energy before I’m finished with you. Jed had sent them, and his betrayal spurred her to bitter action.
“Twenty-five,” Jed said lazily, leaning on the corral fence as he studied the prize-winning quarter horse mare. He wanted this horse badly, but as with most things he wanted, he knew how to appear nonchalant. “Yep. Let me have Miss Kitty Can Do for twenty-five thousand and I’ll pay whatever you want to board her until I find myself a ranch.”
Beyond the mare’s sleek body, the rolling green hills of the Circle Ten Ranch stretched toward snowy mountain peaks far in the distance. Beside Jed, Mac Bullock, owner of both Miss Kitty Can Do and the Circle Ten Ranch, sighed mightily.