Marisa had always been particularly close to her father’s sister, Rita. It had been Rita who Marisa had confided in when her world had fallen apart in college.
“How are you doing?” Marisa asked and gestured to the bandage on the side of Rita’s head. She and Jenna Rothchild had been kidnapped, and Rita had suffered a gunshot wound to the head. It had rendered her unconscious, and although she and Jenna had managed to get away neither of them had been able to identify the man responsible or why they had been kidnapped in the first place.
“I’m okay—a little headache now and then, but that’s all,” Rita replied. “You’re taking things slow with Patrick?”
“Absolutely. I want to marry once in my life. I’m not about to jump into anything too intense too fast.”
Rita smiled. “I think Patrick has other ideas. He seems quite smitten with you.”
At that moment he walked back into the kitchen and any further conversation with him as the topic halted.
After cleaning up the kitchen, the three of them moved into the living room where the conversation revolved around Las Vegas life, Patrick’s work and a new casino that had opened in town. Rita never discussed her work, but she was a charming hostess who kept the conversation flowing until Patrick and Marisa decided to call it a night.
It was just after nine when Patrick pulled up in front of the small house Marisa rented. “I like your aunt,” he said.
“She liked you, too,” Marisa replied.
“What’s not to like?” He flashed her a bright smile.
“I’d invite you in, but I really want to get a good night’s sleep before the morning,” she said as he parked the car.
“Am I going to see you at all over the next week?” he asked.
“Probably not,” Marisa admitted. “The first week in a new position is always pretty intense. But it’s just for a week, Patrick.” She opened the passenger door and got out.
Patrick got out of the car as well and fell into step next to her. He grabbed her hand in his as they walked to her front porch. “And what happens after the first week? What if you take the position for the next couple months? Does that mean I won’t be able to see you the whole time?”
She disentangled her hand from his to reach into her purse for her keys. “Not at all. If Jack Cortland and I agree that he needs my services for that long, then I always make sure I have most weekends off.”
She unlocked her door then turned back to face him. “Good night, Patrick.” She reached up and kissed him on his smooth cheek, but he quickly pulled her into his arms for a real kiss.
It was pleasant, but it didn’t curl her toes or weaken her knees. When the kiss ended he reluctantly released her. “Then I guess I’ll see you in a week or so?”
“I’ll call you and let you know how things are going,” she replied.
“You know I’ll be waiting for your calls,” he replied.
She watched as he walked back to his car. He was a man who could easily turn female heads. Tall and slim, with the dark features of his Hispanic heritage, he always dressed with an understated elegance and looked both handsome and successful.
Minutes later as she undressed in her bedroom she thought of that kiss and Patrick. Maybe one of the reasons she was attracted to Patrick was because there weren’t wild fireworks when they kissed, there wasn’t that sizzle that came from a simple touch and the breathlessness of a mere glance.
She’d experienced that crazy hot passion once in her life and never wanted it again. It had destroyed her life, and the thought of feeling that way again frightened her.
She pulled her red silk nightgown over her head, turned out the light and crawled into bed. Maybe real love was just that faint warmth that filled her when Patrick smiled at her or the quiet friendship they were building together.
She frowned as she thought of Jack Cortland. So what was it about him that had caused that sizzle inside her? Why did a man she had little respect for, given his past, fill her with a wild sense of anticipation at the very thought of seeing him again?
Jack worked until almost three in the morning cleaning the house. The boys had finally fallen asleep around eleven. He’d moved them into their bedroom, then had tackled the living room with a vengeance.
Toys went back into the boys’ room, dirty plates and cups carried back to the kitchen. He polished and washed and vacuumed until the room looked presentable. Then he went into the guest room that Marisa would call home and cleaned it as well.
It had needed to be done for the past couple months, but the days were so full with keeping the boys occupied and trying to oversee the work being done on the ranch. By the time the boys fell asleep at night Jack was comatose, and cleaning was the last thing on his mind.
He’d considered hiring more help but had put it off, hoping to get the boys better acclimated to him before bringing other people into their lives.
When he finally fell into bed he thought sleep would come quickly, but instead he found himself thinking of Marisa Perez.
He hadn’t expected her to be so sexy. Even though he’d known before he’d met her that she was twenty-seven years old, he’d expected a maternal type, someone who was overweight and not particularly attractive.
Marisa had been more than attractive. Her long, dark brown hair had sparkled with honey highlights and dark, sexy lashes fringed her large chocolate brown eyes. She had the bone structure of a model, but her body wasn’t model thin; rather, it was lush with curves in all the right places.
He’d eventually fallen asleep and dreamed of her…and in those dreams she’d been soft and yielding in his arms. Her kisses had stirred him like none had ever done.
He awoke at dawn and hurried into the shower, eager to get dressed and maybe choke down a cup of coffee before the boys awoke.
Betty wouldn’t arrive for another hour so he made the coffee, poured himself a cup and sat at the table, trying not to remember the dreams that had bordered on downright erotic.
He breathed in the peace and quiet of the morning and stared out the window where his herd of cattle grazed on whatever vegetation they could find in the hard, dry earth.
His father had raised cattle here, as had his father before him. Jack’s dad had wanted Jack to follow in his footsteps, to take over the ranch and continue producing quality cattle. He’d wanted Jack to live by the values they’d tried to teach him instead of the ones Jack had learned on his way to fame and fortune.
It would always grieve Jack that both his parents had died before he had returned here. Worse than that, he suspected that they had died brokenhearted by the bad choices their son had made in his life as a rock star.
He wouldn’t make the same mistakes now. He wanted his boys to grow up and be proud of him. He wanted to give them a solid foundation of love and good values. More than anything he wanted to be the man his parents had known that he could be.
By eight-thirty Jack looked forward to the arrival of Marisa. The boys had been fed their breakfast and were dressed in clean clothes.
The living room was still relatively clean, and the boys were playing quietly with their trucks in the middle of the floor.
Jack was grateful that he was going to get some parenting tips from Marisa, but he also recognized that his interest in her wasn’t solely that of a father needing help with his kids.
It had been a man’s interest that had kept him awake the night before, and it had been a shocking desire for her that had filled his dreams, reminding him that he’d been alone for a very long time.
At exactly