Peggy Moreland - A Sparkle In The Cowboy's Eyes

“You’ll need to provide me with transportation, as I don’t own a car. I’m sure—”

John Lee’s eyes bugged out. “You don’t own a car?”

Merideth lifted a negligent shoulder. “In New York I never had need of one. The studio provided me with a chauffeured limousine.”

He could see her sliding into the back of a stretch limo and giving a driver orders in that snooty way of hers. The image suited her. But he figured he better let her know up front that she wasn’t in New York anymore where everyone danced to whatever tune she played. Or at the Double-Cross, where everyone spoiled her unmercifully.

“Well, sugar, I hate to tell you this,” he said sadly, “but there isn’t a limousine on the place. You’ll just have to use one of the farm trucks.”

Merideth crossed to him and patted his cheek, smiling sweetly. “Why, thank you, John Lee, for your generosity, but frankly I prefer the Porsche.”

Three

Scowling, John Lee trailed Merideth to the house loaded down with four shopping bags and a huge box containing, of all things, a life-size Raggedy Ann doll. He’d already made two trips, and it looked as if he’d be making at least two more before he’d transferred all Merideth’s purchases to the nursery.

The very thought made his knee throb in protest.

“Hurry up, John Lee,” Merideth called over her shoulder. “I want to get started on Cassie’s room as soon as possible.”

“Hurry up, John Lee,” he mocked, limping along behind her. “If you’re in such an all-fired hurry,” he grumped, “then why don’t you carry some of this crap?”

Merideth stopped and turned to look at him. “Because I have the baby.” Smiling sweetly, she pivoted and continued up the steps.

John Lee frowned at her back. “Why don’t I get to carry the baby?”

“Because that’s my job,” she reminded him. She opened the door, then shifted the sleeping Cassie to cradle her in her opposite arm so she could prop the door open with her hip. “Besides,” she added, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously, “carrying those little old bags should be a snap for someone as big and strong as you.”

With a snort, John Lee pushed past her. “Save your breath,” he muttered. “I know you too well to be suckered by your sweet talk.”

Merideth let the door close behind her. “You consider that sweet talk?” she teased, as she followed him. “Darling, you don’t even know what sweet talk is.”

“And I don’t want to know,” he grumbled. He picked his way through the minefield of suitcases Merideth had dumped in his bedroom earlier that morning, then squeezed through the door connecting the bedroom to his den. After dropping the packages to the floor, he flexed his fingers, trying to get the blood running through them again. “The rest of that stuff can wait.”

“But, John Lee—”

“No buts,” he warned, wagging a finger beneath her nose. “If you want the rest of it in here, you can haul it. I’m done.” Having had his say, he turned and stalked from the room.

Merideth smothered a laugh. “That’s what he thinks,” she whispered to the sleeping Cassie as she tucked her into her crib for the rest of her nap. She waited a moment, to make sure she’d settled, then tiptoed to the door and closed it softly behind her. When she turned, she found John Lee sprawled on his back on the king-size bed, his arms flung wide.

“Excuse me, but I think you’re on my bed.”

John Lee groaned. “Have a heart, Merideth. It was the closest one.”

Still high from the day of shopping, she sat down beside him. “What’s wrong, John Lee?” she teased, giving his cheek a playful pat. “Did we wear you out?”

He growled and batted her hand away.

Chuckling softly, she kicked off her shoes and leaned back, supporting herself with her elbows. Tipping her head to one side, she wiggled her toes and admired her nail polish. “You know,” she said thoughtfully, “shopping is a lot like sex.”

John Lee cracked open one eye to peer at her. “In what way?”

“Afterwards, a woman is energized and ready for more, while all a man wants to do is sleep.”

In spite of his weariness, John Lee chuckled. “I’ll agree on the shopping part, but as to sex...well, I’d have to say that depends on the man.”

“Oh, really?” she challenged, cocking her head to look at him. “And I suppose you’re the exception to the rule?”

Smiling smugly, he laced his fingers across his chest. “Sugar, where sex is involved, I’m the exception to every rule.”

She snorted. “Egotist.”

“No, I just know my strengths.” He rolled his head to the side and grinned up at her. “Want me to prove it?”

“Do you want me to break your nose?” she returned.

He chuckled. “And ruin this pretty face?”

Rolling her eyes, Merideth lay back, settling beside him, then groaned when her gaze met her reflection on the ceiling. “That is sick,” she said, frowning at the mirror above.

John Lee stifled a yawn. “What’s sick?”

“That!”

He opened his eyes and met her gaze in the mirror above them. They lay side by side, their shoulders almost touching.

“And that, too,” she added, pointing to the mirrored wall beside the bed.

His mouth curved in a teasing grin when her gaze met his again on the ceiling. “I don’t know. Personally, I kind of like ’em.”

“You would,” she grumbled. She snagged the comer of the pillow beneath his head, gave it a tug and plopped her head down on it. “This room looks like something straight out of a cathouse.”

“You ever been in a cathouse?”

Merideth squirmed, nudging him over, until she had the lion’s share of the pillow. “No, but I played a call girl once.”

“A call girl, huh?”

Comfortable now, she met his gaze in the mirror. “Yes, a call girl. A very expensive one, I might add.”

“Were you any good?”

She smiled smugly. “The best.”

Wide awake now, John Lee rolled to his side, propping an elbow on the mattress and his cheek on his palm as he looked at her. It wasn’t a stretch to imagine Merideth playing the part of a high-priced prostitute. With those pouty lips, that voluptuous figure and those sultry eyes, she would be a natural for the part.

A woman like her could drive a man wild...and did, he was sure.

Of course, she’d had years of practice to prepare for the part. Even as a teenager she’d been aware of her feminine wiles and had honed them to a razor-sharp edge on her unsuspecting male classmates. Fights were fought over her, bets made and lost as to who would win her heart. But even though she’d had her pick of the guys, he couldn’t remember her ever having a steady boyfriend. He supposed it was because she’d enjoyed all the attention too much to sacrifice it for the love of just one man.

Three years her senior, John Lee had never competed with the others for her attention. He’d never needed to. He’d had his hands full keeping all the girls who’d chased after him satisfied. But he’d been aware of her, just the same.

Any other woman undergoing as close a scrutiny as John Lee was giving her right now might have fidgeted and fussed, but not Merideth. She was way too sure of herself to squirm. She met his gaze squarely, confidently and maybe a bit cockily.

“The best, huh?” he said, eyeing her.

“The very best.”

“What was your specialty?”

She laughed at his question, that low sultry laugh of hers that crawled along a man’s nerves and tightened his groin.

“I wasn’t the star in some porno flick, if that’s what you’re thinking,” she told him. “It was daytime television. In fact, as I recall, there was actually only one scene with a john. Monique, the character I play, or rather played,” she amended, frowning as she remembered that the part was no longer hers. Marcus had stripped her of it, just before—She stanched the thought before it could fully form, not wanting to think about the past and all she’d lost. “Anyway,” she went on, “Monique had a dual personality that surfaced from time to time. She was the wife of a successful doctor, and her alter ego, Charise, was the prostitute. Unfortunately—”