Sara Orwig - Wild Western Nights

Gabe walked across the familiar porch, remembering all the times before when he’d taken the same walk to pick up Maddie. Now, when she swung open the door, his heart pounded just as it had six years ago. She wore a dark blue, knee-length, sleeveless dress with a scoop neckline that revealed gorgeous curves. Her blond hair was caught up high on her head and fell freely in back.

His mouth went dry and he thought again that she was far more beautiful now than she had been at twenty-one. “You look fantastic,” he said in a husky tone.

“Thank you. You look rather nice yourself,” she added, sounding polite. “I have my purse and I’m ready to go.”

Why hadn’t he visited her after she moved away? He had always remembered her bitterness when they had parted and he had worked at trying to forget her. Now memories of the good times bombarded him. He’d always liked being with her. She had been gorgeous since she turned eighteen. Now she was devastating.

He inhaled an exotic scent he could not identify.

“I want to hear about the years since I last saw you,” he said as he climbed into the car.

He listened while she talked about her job, her graduation from the university in Gainesville and settling in Miami where her grandparents lived. She barely mentioned her family, but he knew from past conversations that they were important to her.

“I’m still surprised to find you here. We should have kept in touch, Maddie.”

“We’re far apart, in years, in geographical areas, in lifestyles, in goals.”

“We have a friendship that can bridge all that, and we have this attraction between us. Now that you’re grown up, the years no longer matter.”

“Gabe, where are we going?” she asked, looking out the side window as he turned through the front gate. “This is your ranch.”

“Yep, it is. I thought I’d cook tonight. If I take you out anywhere in this county, or any of the surrounding ones, you’ll have other people welcoming you back all night and guys wanting to dance and talk. I don’t care to sit and watch.”

She laughed. “You can’t be jealous. And I know you’re never bored.”

“Maybe I can be.”

“Which? Bored or jealous?” she asked, drawing out the word jealous. When he glanced at her, she smiled.

“I would be green with jealousy,” he replied, flirting with her. “You’re here and I want you with me exclusively. Those other guys can wait for their chances to find you with a flat tire. I’m not sharing.”

She laughed, a merry sound he hadn’t heard in too long. “Don’t be ridiculous. You haven’t seen me at all for the past six years. You have no idea who I see or if half a dozen guys are in my life.”

“They aren’t. You told me so earlier today,” he said, grinning at her. “And for now, I know that I’m in your life and that’s that.”

“Still arrogant, Gabe.”

“You’re a gorgeous brown-eyed blonde who makes me weak in the knees. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

“I know better than to believe that ‘weak in the knees’ stuff.”

“All right. Maybe not weak in the knees. But my heart pounds and I can’t get my breath and my palms are sweaty—”

“Stop!” she exclaimed. “That’s laying it on too thick.”

“Or maybe I remember what great times we had together.”

“We did have those,” she replied with a wistful note in her voice.

“Yet I don’t hear one word about you wanting to be with me, or being glad I want you all to myself, or finding this evening exciting, or anything else I would like to hear.”

“I said all that when I was eighteen, nineteen and twenty,” she remarked drily.

“Not enough, you didn’t,” he said. His insides roiled. He had been kidding and flirting, but her reaction was having a surprisingly deep impact on him.

“It’s been too long, Maddie. Why didn’t you come see your grandfather?”

“There was no need. He came to Florida several times a year. He’d stay a month at a time, sometimes. The older he got the more often he came and the longer he stayed. Mom tried to get him to move there to be with all of us, but he wouldn’t leave Texas. Probably felt the same way about it that you do.”

“I should have called you.”

“I really figured you had moved on with your life. I moved on with mine.”

“You’re finally a grown woman and I don’t have to worry about going out with someone too young.”

“As if you ever worried about that,” she remarked. “It didn’t keep you from asking me out.”

“You were irresistible and you still are. I’m glad you’re here. You’re absolutely certain you don’t want to keep the ranch so you can come back sometimes?”

“Positive. You know my dream has always been to get away from it.”

“When you leave this time, you won’t be coming back, will you?”

“No. There’s no reason to return, and I wouldn’t have any place to stay.”

“I intend to give you a reason to want to return,” he stated. “Besides, darlin’, you can always bunk with me,” he drawled in a husky voice, holding her hand in his. Her skin was smooth, her hand warm and soft.

“Sure, I can.” She laughed, and he gave her a glance before quickly returning his attention to the ranch road. “Someday, Gabe, you might actually marry. I don’t believe a wife would welcome me with open arms.”

“I would,” he said.

“You’re still not ready to settle. Some things never change,” she said. “I’m sure you’re the fun loving, carefree guy you’ve always been.”

“You say that like you’re declaring I have measles. You might be surprised. Time changes people.” He looked down at her bare hand. “You haven’t settled either, Maddie.”

“More than you have,” she said, staring out the car window.

“It will surprise you to know that I’ve built my own home out here.”

“Now that I’ll be happy to see. So you don’t live with the family in the main house?”

“No. Jake and I bought Dad’s shares of the ranch. I’m building because I want my own place,” he said as they passed within sight of Jake’s house.

“I understand that. And with your money, you don’t have to worry about maintaining it or even doing your own cooking. Your dad lost interest in the ranch?”

“Dad bought a place on a lake in the Hill Country. The original house is now Jake’s.”

“Oh, my gosh! Is that your house?”

“Yes, it is,” Gabe said.

“It’s the size of a hotel,” she said as he wound up the front driveway. “And they’re still building,” she added, staring at his home. “This is never what I would have imagined for you.”

“That’s interesting. What did you expect to see?”

“Something much smaller, very rustic, very masculine. You have a beautiful, old-fashioned, warm looking mansion. An enormous mansion. You can’t possibly need all that space. You must be planning on marriage.”

“I’m older, Maddie. Maybe it’s time to settle down,” he said. She turned to him. He looked at her and then back at the road. “You’re shocked by my answer. A lot of space suits me and I’ll have what I want in the future. It gives me room. That’s one reason I love the ranch—open space. Cities feel crowded, closed in. Out here, there’s peace and quiet.”

“There’s that, all right. You can sit and watch the grass grow. Your mansion amazes me.”

“I’ll have what I want in it, a theater room, a gym, an office. I’ll show it to you.”

“I would never have guessed you wanted something as lavish as this. Especially out here on the ranch. Landscaping, fountains. I’m sure you have a swimming pool.”