The Maverick's Holiday Masquerade

He placed gentle kisses on her temple and at the corner of her eye, little echoes of the passion that had just obliterated all her thoughts. “You smell fantastic, by the way.”

It took her a second to remember what they’d been talking about before the kiss. “Not like a stable?”

“Like summer.”

“Your favorite.”

And then they were kissing again, hungry and intense. She wanted him with a desperation that threatened once more to make her shameless. He broke off the kiss but clutched her closer. His breath was harsh in her ear. “That was damned...”

“Scary?” she whispered.

“Powerful.”

She pulled back a little bit. All the emotions overwhelming her were reflected in his expression, too. It made her feel even closer to him, to the one person who was weathering this unpredictable storm with her.

“I think...” She didn’t have any clear thoughts, only feelings. Crazy, uninhibited feelings today, here in the town park. She looked up at him through her lashes, hoping to lighten the intensity. “I think we just found a great way to pursue happiness.”

His smile was brief. “I still have to leave tomorrow. The fact that I’m falling for the most beautiful girl in the world doesn’t change the fact that I have people depending on me.”

Falling for her. He was falling for her, and everything was right in the world—except that he had to leave tomorrow. She didn’t like it, but she understood it. The rodeo wasn’t so different from the theater in many ways.

“The show must go on,” she said.

“And on, and on. I get to enjoy the victories for about five seconds before the next challenge begins. But we still have tonight. How would you like to spend it?”

He had to ask?

She kissed him this time. He responded instantly, perfectly, opening his mouth to her demands, anchoring her to him with his hands. He kept the kiss from exploding into desperation this time, setting a slower pace, a more luxurious exploration. It was divine to kiss him, the sensation so perfect that it was like seeing a new color she’d never known existed or hearing a beautiful piece of music for the first time.

He broke off the kiss with a softly spoken damn.

“Ryan,” she begged.

“I know.” He tucked her securely against his chest. She breathed in the warm skin exposed at his throat. “I know.”

Where are you staying? Let’s leave the park now. The words wouldn’t come, too many years of that good-girl upbringing preventing her from saying what she wanted.

“I have to leave tomorrow,” he said, so quietly that she wondered if he was speaking to himself. “It would be...we should just...we shouldn’t.”

There was nothing else to say. A part of her wanted to plead childishly, Don’t you want to? Or more importantly, Don’t you want me?

She stayed silent, her cheek to his chest. He was older than she was and almost certainly more experienced, but she trusted herself to answer those questions. Yes, he wanted to. Yes, he wanted her. She could feel the muscle tension in his body. He was deliberately keeping himself under control. His breathing was steady only because he was requiring himself to breathe steadily.

He was being a true cowboy, one with all the courtesy and respect that a gentleman traditionally showed a lady. Hadn’t she vowed she’d settle for nothing less?

Frankly, she wished the universe hadn’t listened to her quite so thoroughly on that point. This man was hers, and they would be together sooner or later, and her body was certainly eager for sooner. With a sigh, she lifted her head and stepped back just a tiny bit, keeping her arms looped around his waist.

“I guess it’s too early for fireworks,” she said.

The corner of his mouth quirked in that hint of amusement she was coming to love. When the breeze blew her hair forward again, she tried to toss it back with a shake of her head, refusing to let go of Ryan.

He pushed her hair back for her and kept his hands on either side of her face. “I can hardly believe you’re real.”

“Wanna kiss me again to be sure?”

He laughed at that, a much needed break in the tension. “I know you’re real. Amazingly, incredibly real. But today hasn’t been. This isn’t my real life.” He let go of her face.

“But it could be. That’s what you came here to decide.”

He stepped back, and she let him go. Desire that could not be satisfied wasn’t a desirable state to be in. But then he turned away from her—and from the sunset, the mountains, everything. He braced his hands on the fence and looked down at the railing.

As if the man hadn’t already stirred up enough emotions in her, she now felt the tender tug of sympathy. There was some pain in the way he bowed his head as well as strength in the set of his jaw. It must be hard for a man’s career to be ending when most people were just hitting their strides. The rodeo was unforgiving, and Ryan seemed determined to choose his next step in a purely objective manner. But any man who knew horses and victory and defeat, any man who appreciated music and summer and family, must have a heart.

She hoped he’d listen to his.

“Should I leave my current life and start a new one in Rust Creek Falls? That’s the essential question. I can’t drop the commitments I’ve already made. Being impulsive would hurt too many people. Today was supposed to just be a first step. I only came to see the town and begin evaluating my options.”

“That’s perfectly logical.” She said it with a straight face, the way he had over dinner.

He glanced sideways at her. “You don’t think so?”

“I think you’ve already made up your mind. All this ponderous decision-making isn’t necessary, but if it makes you feel better, ponder away.”

Her attempts at humor were helping her regain some equilibrium, anyway. She turned around to lean back on the fence, resting her elbows on the top rail and hitching the heel of one boot on the bottom. She let her head drop back far enough so she could look up at the darkening sky.

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