Cathy Thacker - Lone Star Valentine

Briefly, Lily looked as crushed as he had felt back then, when she had turned him down. As though her heart had been broken.

As usual, however, she bounced back fast.

With an angry sniff, she folded her arms in front of her and asserted, “Not that we ever had a chance to find out, since you went on to pursue everything in a skirt that came your way over the next three years. Thereby unwittingly proving my point that relationships forged in the maelstrom of professional school do not last.”

Acutely aware his serial dating had been a mistake, embarked on because he was still smarting from Lily’s rejection, and knew she would never do anything more than hold him at arm’s length, no matter what she said, Gannon shrugged.

“So sue me for not wanting to sit on the sidelines while you soldiered on bravely alone!” Gannon volleyed back. Because, true to her self-flagellating vow, Lily hadn’t dated anyone until the very last few weeks of her law school years.

Lily stuffed papers in her briefcase willy-nilly. “You always were an all-or-nothing kind of guy.”

His gaze swept over her, head to toe. Reminding him all over again what a lithe, beautiful body she had. How she was determined to let the satisfaction he could bring her go untested. “Whereas you live your life in all half measures,” he retorted just as stubbornly.

“You’re right. I do see the value in compromise.” Lily zipped her briefcase shut with quick, jerky motions. Hunted around for her purse.

Finally finding it, she flung it on her desk next to her briefcase, then defiantly marched toward him, chiding him all the way. “And if you’d grown up the way I had, as the fifth-born of six daughters, you, too, would be happy to get whatever you could—whenever you could—and never ever expect too much because...”

Recognizing another We Can’t Do This speech coming on, Gannon decided the time for treating her with kid gloves had passed. Lily was all woman. He was all man. And the attraction between them was tantalizingly real.

Wordlessly, he closed the remaining distance between them and took her in his arms. Flattened one palm over her spine and threaded his other hand through her hair.

Smiling at her gasp of surprise, he tilted her head up, lowered his mouth slowly and deliberately over hers.

“What are you doing?” Lily sputtered, her turquoise eyes flashing.

Just this once, Gannon decided to stop putting his own wants and needs aside. “Showing you exactly what you could expect if you ever let down your guard with me.”

Chapter Four

Lily saw the kiss coming. Knew she could have prevented it simply by flattening a hand over Gannon’s broad chest. But she didn’t push him away. Didn’t do anything to keep his head from lowering, ever so deliberately, to hers.

She had dreamed of this moment for years. Yearned for it. Been afraid of it. And the sensation of his lips and body pressed against hers was, she quickly found out, everything she had ever worried and wanted and dreamed it would be.

He was just so darn hard and warm and strong. All over. So tall. So comforting. So alluring.

He tasted good, too. Like mint and man. And desire.

And, oh, sweet heaven, she wanted him in that instant more than she had ever wanted anything or anyone in her life. Which was why she knew she had to end this now.

Hands against his chest, she pushed.

He lifted his head, as she knew he would.

If there was one thing Gannon was to the core, it was a Texas gentleman.

“See?” he teased, sifting a hand through her hair. “That wasn’t so bad, now, was it?”

Bad! It had been artful. Seductive. And enthralling. It was all she could do not to groan out loud. Lily gathered her wits and pushed the rest of the way away from him. “I never said I wasn’t attracted to you.”

He caught her about the waist and reeled her back to him. Ran a hand lovingly over her spine, eliciting new tingles of awareness everywhere he touched. “Good to hear,” he said gruffly, grinning at her prickly manner. “Because I never said that, either.” His hot gaze skimmed her face. “In fact, just the opposite is true.”

His stubborn words mirrored her own wistful feelings. Which was why she had to be practical. “And that’s exactly why we can’t take this any farther than we have.” His eyes narrowed in response, but Lily forged on. “My life is here. Yours is in Fort Worth. I have a son. You love living the bachelor life.” If that wasn’t enough to make them put on the brakes, she didn’t know what was!

Deep grooves formed on either side of his mouth, and he studied her grimly. “You have it all figured out, don’t you?”

Lily drew a bolstering breath. “I don’t want to get hurt again, Gannon. The biggest mistake of my life was starting something with someone who I was never destined to be with.”

The mention of her former lover was enough to throw a bucket of cold water on his desire. “Bode,” he said, letting her go.

Lily nodded sadly. Figuring she might as well tell him the truth about this, she looked him in the eye and admitted, “It wasn’t just you who had reservations from the get-go.” She pressed a thumb to her sternum. “I knew I wasn’t meant for him, any more than Bode was meant to be with me.”

A muscle worked in Gannon’s jaw. “Then why did you embark on a whirlwind affair with him?”

A hard question that deserved an honest answer. “The excitement of it all. I was at the end of my law school years. Thirty-two months of nonstop studying and stress, and the worry over whether or not I would pass the bar exam and/or get a job upon graduation.”

“Which you did,” Gannon reminded her.

“Yes, but at that time, I was so overwhelmed. It all seemed like an impossible quest.”

He stepped behind her and kneaded the tense muscles of her neck and shoulders. “You should have come to me.”

His touch was heaven. Lily melted into it. Closing her eyes, she reminded him softly, “You weren’t available. I think you were dating Melinda. Or was it Cassandra—or Marilyn then?”

He shrugged. “Can’t remember.”

Lily bit down on an oath. “Exactly.”

He stood there, patient and evidently ready to turn back the clock again. “Those relationships weren’t important to me.”

Lily moved off again, determined not to be another one in his long line of women. “Even more on point,” she said, exasperation coloring her low tone. “I have responsibilities now, Gannon.” She stepped behind her desk. “I can’t afford to get involved with the wrong guy for all the wrong reasons.”

He studied her, arms crossed over his broad chest. “So you’re offering me what exactly?”

She slayed him with her best don’t-mess-with-me look. “The same thing I was offering you before. A good enduring friendship— if you want it. And that’s all.”

* * *

GANNON WAS STILL thinking about what Lily had offered him, or rather not offered him, the next day, when a disreputable-looking pine-green pickup truck made its way up the lane and parked next to the stable. He smiled as Clint McCulloch, a childhood friend and next-door neighbor, got out and ambled toward him. At six foot four, Clint was an inch taller than Gannon, and athletically fit as ever. Like Gannon, Clint had dated a lot but never come anywhere close to settling down. A fact that frustrated the heck out of the available interested women in his path.

“Heard you were back.” Gannon extended a welcoming hand.

Clint shook hands firmly. “For good,” he said. “And since you’re here, too, at least temporarily, I’ve got a favor to ask.”

Gannon slipped bridles over the heads of the three horses remaining on the ranch. Attached reins. “Name it.”