“My mother’s cousin, Margaret, asked for most of her grandmother’s keepsakes since I’m not a blood relative.”
“You are a part of that family, too. Your mother wanted you as her daughter. Did she will those things to you?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t want to argue about it. It was a rough time for all of us.”
He touched her cheek, telling himself he only wanted to give her comfort. But it was more than comfort; it was need. Her eyes were mesmerizing, drawing him deep into their depths. Silence surrounded them, except for the soft tapping of the rain against the windows.
“You were special to them.” He couldn’t stop what was going to happen. He leaned down and brushed a kiss across her mouth. When she sucked in a breath, he went back for another taste.
Jade knew she had no business letting Sloan get this close, but she couldn’t help herself as she allowed his mouth to capture hers. She couldn’t seem to deny him or the desire he stirred in her. When his hands drew her against his body, she was lost.
Her arms circled his neck and she opened her mouth to deepen the kiss. Sloan was just as eager when his tongue slid inside her mouth to taste her.
Suddenly Sloan’s phone rang, bringing her back to reality. She jumped back breaking his hold.
He cursed. “Bad timing. I need to get this.” He turned away as he opened his phone. “Hello.”
“Sloan, thank God.” His mother’s voice came over the line. “I’ve been trying to reach you.”
“Mom, what’s wrong?” He glanced at Jade, seeing her concern.
“Nothing, I’m fine. It’s you and Jade I’m worried about. When I couldn’t get you on your phone I was so worried you got caught in the storm.”
“It’s okay, Mom, we found cover. We’re at Otis’s place.”
He stole a glance at Jade’s thoroughly kissed mouth and felt another surge of desire. “We’ll be riding back as soon as the weather clears.”
“That’s just it, honey. You need to stay put because there are severe weather warnings out for the next few hours.”
The sound of the rain intensified at the same time he lost the connection. “Damn. The phone died.” He glanced out the front window where rain was sheeting off the porch roof.
“Well, it looks like we’re going to see how well old Otis built this place.”
CHAPTER SIX
OVER the next hour, Jade fretted as the wind howled and rain pounded the old house. The windows rattled under the stress, but held. They’d lost the electricity shortly after Louisa’s phone call, but there were candles and the light from the fire. Daylight was quickly fading away. And the storm hadn’t shown any signs of dying out.
She rubbed her arms in worry as she stole a glance at Sloan. He was kneeling in front of the hearth adding more wood to ward off the falling temperature.
Her gaze moved over his wide shoulders and broad back then down to his narrow waist. Lower still to the well-washed jeans that stretched over his muscular thighs and tight rear end. He lifted the log with ease, exhibiting the strength of his arms. The memory of being in those arms was very vivid in her mind. The feel and taste of his mouth, his body pressed to hers. A warm shiver rushed down her spine.
She groaned and looked away. She couldn’t let herself be attracted to him. There were far too many reasons to count. Besides, cowboys had never been her type, at least not before she met Sloan Merrick.
She never should have gone riding with him today, and the kiss was even crazier. When he discovered who she was, she’d probably be tossed off the property.
Ever since learning about her adoption, she’d felt lost. All her life she’d thought one thing, only to learn it had been a lie. Nothing could change the love she’d felt for her mother, but she wanted to know about her biological family. What she didn’t need was to get involved with Clay Merrick’s stepson. So she had to be sure that he knew that.
“How long are you going to ignore me?”
Jade looked at Sloan. “There isn’t anything to say.”
“You didn’t have any trouble talking earlier. Before I kissed you, and you kissed me back.”
“And we probably should leave it at that.”
“I agree with you there. You’re a beautiful woman, Jade, and hard to resist. It’s easy to kiss you, the problem is stopping.” He crossed the room. “But I’m going to do my damnedest, because I’m not a good bet. And I definitely don’t want anything permanent.”
Jade saw a flash of pain across his face. She could tell he was guarding himself, and her heart went out to him. “Who was she?”
He glared at her, then finally said, “Believe me, she isn’t worth our time.”
The rain pounded against the roof. “It looks like we have nothing but time,” she told him.
His gaze darkened and she had trouble not reacting.
“I’m a rancher, a cattleman,” he said with such conviction, she knew what it meant to him. “It’s what I’ve always wanted to be since the day I came to River’s End when my mother married Clay Merrick. Although for some people they feel you need to be something more. And then they set out to try to change you.”
“Why would they do that? You’ve found what you love to do in life.”
Sloan wanted to believe Jade’s sincerity, but he harbored too much bitterness. “The game is different when your father is a U.S. senator,” he began. “There’s the prestige and important connections that go along with the title. It draws the good and the bad.”
“I take it … this woman was one of the latter.”
He nodded. “That about sums it up. Crystal Erickson came to town and singled me out, telling me she wanted to meet me. We went out for a few months, and it didn’t work out. End of story.”
He wished it had been simple. Sloan shook his head, thinking about what a fool he’d been, remembering after they’d been dating awhile, he’d come home and found Crystal there. She was talking with his father.
Out of sight, Sloan had listened while she planned out his future. Her dream was for Sloan to follow after Clay. She’d even offered to help prep him to take over the seat in congress someday. She even assured the senator that she could convince his son to run for office. Sloan quickly realized that Crystal didn’t love him as much as the Merrick name.
Angry more than hurt, he broke it off with Crystal. She wasn’t happy and it didn’t take her long to get back at him.
“Even though I ended things between us, my family paid the ultimate price with their story and pictures plastered over the tabloids.”
“I’m sorry, Sloan.”
“There’s no need to be.” He shrugged. “It’s been over a long time.” He didn’t want to think about his mistakes. He just knew that he wasn’t about to have a repeat in the future.
His gaze locked with hers. This woman could make that damn difficult, make him forget every hard lesson he’d learned from the past.
He forced himself to walk to the window, fighting the pull to go back to her and convince her to do more than share a kiss. The rain sheeted off the window as lightning flashed across the sky, drawing a blanket of intimacy around them. He didn’t trust himself.
Sloan glanced over his shoulder to see Jade watching him. He had