His for the Taking

Ten



What was happening to her? What mysterious power did Cole have over her?

Maddie felt both wet and hot beneath Cole’s devouring gaze as she slowly peeled her jeans and panties down the length of her legs.

Sunlight poured through the thick canopy of leaves that surrounded them. The blaze lit up the soft scarlet blanket Cole had carelessly tossed onto the grass beside the icy green pool; the blaze lit her up, as well.

How could she so easily succumb to whatever wanton suggestion he tossed at her? How could she do this when Noah’s future hung in the balance? Had she no will of her own? Was he right about their marriage being the best thing for Noah? He was certainly right about her wanting him.

Quickly, Cole yanked off his own clothes and laid them on top of hers on a limestone rock. When he gathered her body in his arms, the exquisite shiver that went through her made her cling to him. His warm, rough hands slid down her shoulders and closed around her waist. Then he pulled her slowly down on the blanket and covered her with his powerful body so that his heat enveloped her.

Cole’s hands stroked her gently until she was so hungry for him she lifted her legs and urged him to take her. Her whole body was tense and aching for release, but he made her wait, made her beg in throaty, pleading purrs while he stroked and kissed her. Finally, when she felt as though she might explode, he smiled as he slid his body lower down her length so that he could bury his face against her sex. She cried out in pleasure when his tongue caressed and then dipped inside those secret lips.

“Take me,” she whispered. “Just take me.”

“Patience, my love,” he murmured.

Using his seeking mouth and velvet tongue as instruments of pleasure, he soon had her melting and yielding everything. Instead of feeling ravaged and abused, as she had for so many years, she felt cherished and adored.

“You are beautiful,” he whispered. “The most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. You smell good, too.”

She felt beautiful, vibrant and aglow.

With a slow, delicate rhythm he licked her, skimming across her velvety interior until she was a quivering mass of nerves ready to fly apart at the slightest flick of his tongue. Only when the pleasure was unbearable, only when she was burning up and on the brink of release, did he stop.

“Don’t!”

“Don’t what?” he murmured.

“Don’t stop.”

“Who’s stopping?”

Easing his body over hers, he thrust deeply inside her. Arching to meet that one forceful stroke, she came, crying out his name as a sudden gust of wind made the leaves above them swirl in an emerald-green blaze.

“Mine,” he growled fiercely. “You are mine.”

He crushed her to him even more tightly. Then driven by his own feverish urgency, he began to move inside her, faster and faster, and with such force that he stole her breath. Strange how after his sweetness, she didn’t mind his violence and passion. His breathing grew harsh and ragged, and he whispered wildly erotic things in her ear as he carried her to another explosion that was wild and glorious and satisfying on a soul-deep level.

Afterward, when he stared down at her, his green eyes were sensual and tender. Tears pricked against her lashes. How could she feel so safe in Cole’s arms?

He ran light fingertips over her breasts, causing her nipples to peak again. Sated with sensual bliss, she smiled up at him as she snuggled closer.

This isn’t reality, she told herself. I can’t seriously consider marrying him, especially since his proposal was only about sex and a desire to claim Noah legally. Austin, my job, Noah—they are my reality. Even if Cole were offering her the life she’d once dreamed of, experience had taught her she couldn’t count on him. Greg was steady…and real. He would be there for her. There was no disparity of wealth and social class dividing them. Cole was only a fantasy.

Still, it was nice to be steamy hot and erotically satisfied in Cole’s hard arms as a warm summer breeze brushed her body. It was nice running her hands through his hair while she stared past a haze of greenery at the brilliant cobalt-blue sky. She hadn’t felt this pleasantly sexy in years, and she probably never would again. But she knew all too well that sex could be a destructive force.

Later, she discovered he’d hidden her clothes and wouldn’t let her dress until she went skinny-dipping with him.

“I’m determined to make you live up to your scandalous reputation,” he teased.

As they swam in that crystal clear pool, the years seemed to fall away, as did the walls that had protected her heart. During the brief interlude when they splashed and cavorted in the stream, she felt young and carefree and completely happy—as she never had as a girl.

Years ago, some ancestral Coleman had nailed rungs onto the thick trunk of one of the tallest cypress trees. When Cole began to climb, her heart leaped into her throat.

Even though she begged him to come back down, he let out a war whoop and jumped, terrifying her until he hit the water and she knew he was safe. Laughing, he swam toward her from the deeper end to where she stood, her breasts floating above the surface of the water. Reaching for her, he stroked the curving sides of her breasts. The loverlike way he touched them and looked at them, as if he’d never seen anything so alluring, made her feel desirable beyond words.

She wished she could freeze time, but moments like this were as fleeting as the fragile bubbles that frothed below the dam. Smiling, she ran her hands down his body and circled his erection, which she eagerly guided into her own fluid interior, which was warmer and somehow wetter than the water.

She gasped when he circled her with his arms and pressed himself even more deeply inside her. They clung to each other tightly as he began to stroke in and out, faster and faster, until soon she felt she was glowing and pulsating with that all-too-familiar piercing yearning for release.

When she could breathe again, he kissed her brow and held her close. Not speaking, they floated side by side, staring up at the sun-bright clouds through the branches. Later, when they dressed, they walked to their favorite Indian mound and spent half an hour searching for arrowheads. Not that they found much more than a few broken bits of flint. Still, she enjoyed placing her finds in his palm so she could watch while he examined each one thoughtfully.

“Sassy gets here this afternoon,” she said as they sat together in his truck in Miss Jennie’s drive. “So this is goodbye, because I’ll be going back to Austin as soon as I pack.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“Maybe because I was afraid you’d start pressuring me again.”

He folded her slim hand in his much larger one. Turning it over, he brought her fingertips to his lips. “Will you tell Greg about us?”

She hesitated. “I need more time.”

“When I want something, I’m not a patient man.” He leaned across the seat and kissed her, hard. “Juan keeps calling me and texting me. I’ve got to leave for the rig in a few hours. If things go as I expect, I can pry myself loose in a week and drive to Austin.”

“Not a good idea.”

“No—you want to put this off forever.” He kissed the tip of her nose and the corners of her eyes and then drew her close against his body. “The quicker we resolve Noah’s future and ours, the better.”

Reaching across the cab, she brushed her fingertips along his jawline. “I can’t marry you.”

“That’s an unacceptable answer.”

* * *

A brisk knock sounded on his trailer door. Cole, who’d made no forward progress with Maddie since she’d left Yella a few days ago, had a headache from hell. Clamping his mobile phone against his ear, he stood and strode to the door.

The minute he pushed it open the incessant roar of his rig and its petroleum odors slammed him.

Juan handed him the latest printout and signaled that he needed to talk to him, too.

“Two minutes,” Cole promised as he shut the door. “When are you going to tell Greg about me?” Cole demanded of Maddie.

“The more I think about your proposal, the more I think we’re not right for each other. I have a life here that doesn’t include you,” Maddie whispered. “I don’t want anything to do with Yella or the past, and you’re a part of all that.”

“Noah’s my son. I won’t have another man playing father to him.”

“But I can’t do without him. We have our big annual fundraiser this week. Greg offered to sit with Noah that night. And Noah’s looking forward to having the evening with him, too.”

Cole gritted his teeth. He wasn’t getting anywhere over the phone.

After his long silence, she said, “So, how are things at the well?”

Since he had no interest in discussing work, it took him a minute to regroup. “Slow as hell. But there haven’t been any injuries, and it’s definitely going to produce.”

“That sounds really good.”

“We’ve had a few breakdowns. We’ve had to order parts—parts that had to be back-ordered. Nothing major, just the usual challenges. I need to bring this well in if I’m going to be able to get up to see you.”

“I told you. That’s not a good idea. The sooner we forget about what happened in Yella, the better.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Forget how great sleeping with her had been? Forget Noah?

He hated not being able to see her and touch her. Hell, he was hard just from talking to her. He needed to hold her and make love to her again—if he was to convince her they had to marry.

“I’m getting another call. I’ve gotta go,” she said.

“Greg?”

When she didn’t deny it, a nasty green emotion flared hotly inside him. After she hung up, the drilling site seemed desolate and his trailer dreary. Opening a can of tonic water so fast it spewed fizz all over him, he stomped outside to find Juan.

He was losing her. He had to bring this well in fast. Only then could he go to Austin and convince her they had to marry for Noah’s sake.

No, he didn’t like that she’d slept with him and then had sneaked downstairs searching for her letters. Nor was he happy about the fact that she would never have told him about Noah if he hadn’t beaten her to his office. After that stunt, he wouldn’t be normal not to consider that maybe there was some truth in what the folks in Yella thought about her.

If there was, that was all the more reason he had to make an honest woman out of her and claim Noah as his son. And even though he had his own doubts, he was willing to ignore them and go up against his family and anybody else who objected to their marriage.

Cole did not want his son growing up the way Adam had, deeply resenting that he was illegitimate. Whether Maddie admitted it or not, by giving Noah his name, he would assure his son of what Maddie claimed was most precious to her—the kind of respectability and sense of belonging that she’d never had.

The sooner he got to Austin and convinced her he was right, the better.