A Willing Wife

“Thanks,” she said coldly, “but I don’t need your help. Cruz is helping.” Spinning, she walked away, forcing herself to leave at a normal speed so Dallas wouldn’t get any silly ideas about her being afraid of him. Not that he didn’t affect her, dammit. Even though she was angrier with him than she’d ever been with anyone, she felt her tingling reaction to his good looks and maleness.

Dallas ignored her frostily stated declaration of independence and stayed right behind her. Just outside the barn he asked, “Have you checked the equipment sheds?”

Maggie turned with blazing eyes, fully intending to give him yet another piece of her mind, when she heard Cruz shouting, “Maggie, I’ve got him! He was playing in a haystack behind one of the barns. He’s fine, and we’re going back to the house.”

She heaved a relieved sigh. Forgetting how much she despised Dallas, she said, “It looks as though keeping Travis on the ranch is a mistake. I have no idea why he started leaving the yard, but he keeps doing it, no matter how often I threaten, beg or cajole him.”

“Have you tried explaining the dangers he could run into on a ranch?” Dallas asked quietly, then quickly switched gears. “Maggie, you have to let me explain what happened earlier today.”

She was instantly angry again. “Have you forgotten I was there? What possible explanation could there be for your treating me like a tramp?”

Dallas groaned. “My God, I don’t think of you as a tramp.”

“Well, you certainly fooled me,” she snapped, and turned to leave.

Dallas rushed to keep stride with her. “Maggie, don’t go off like this. Talk to me, please. Everyone deserves a second chance, even a man who made a horse’s ass of himself.”

“We’re single-minded on that, at least,” she said with heavy sarcasm. She kept walking, and it irritated her that Dallas kept pace beside her. “Will you please stop following me? I’m not the least bit interested in anything you might have to say, and if I said what I’ve been thinking, your ears would get scorched black!”

“A red face and black ears,” Dallas said. “Paints a pretty picture, don’t you think?”

“Stop trying to be funny,” she snapped.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Maggie, just stop and talk to me for a minute. Please.”

“I will stop, just long enough to ask you why you even want to talk to me.”

He wiped his hands on the legs of his jeans. “I’m not sure I can explain it. What is it that happens when a man meets a woman and immediately knows that she’s special? It’s not something that a person chooses to happen—it just does.”

Maggie’s lip curled. “Yeah, I’m so special that it’s a wonder you didn’t offer me money for sex!”

“Oh, my God! Maggie, how can I make you understand that it wasn’t like that? For some stupid reason I thought you would, uh, appreciate honesty. I wanted you to like me so much that I…I…” Dallas wished the earth would just open up and swallow him whole. He had never in his life talked to a woman as he had to Maggie, but in defense of his apparently unforgivable faux pas, he had said nothing that wasn’t in his heart.

He looked so miserable that Maggie suddenly felt sorry for him. Wearily she said, “Just forget it happened, okay?”

“Can you forget it happened?” Dallas asked hopefully.

She walked away from him with one final comment. “The only answer I have for that question is, I’ll think about it.”

Three

Maggie greeted her mother when Rosita got home from work that evening, then watched Rosita suppress laughter over the huge hat on her small grandson’s head.

“Come here, you rascal, and talk to me,” Rosita said, sitting on a kitchen chair and pulling the boy onto her lap. “Now, tell your grandmother where you got that, uh, wonderful hat.”

“Dallas gave it to me, Grandma. Didn’t he, Mama?” Travis looked to his mother for confirmation. Rosita also looked at Maggie, only her eyes contained a suspect twinkle that made Maggie feel like squirming. She hastened to relate the only explanation that wouldn’t cause trouble between the Perezes and the Fortunes.

“He came by to see Travis,” she told her mother.

“And maybe to see you, too?” Rosita said with unabashed relish.

Travis slid from his grandmother’s lap. “I’m goin’ outside, Mama.”

Maggie instantly became all mother. “No, you are not going outside. I told you before that you will play inside the house until I can trust you not to leave the yard. Go and wash up for supper.”

“Aw, heck,” Travis groused as he left the kitchen dragging his feet.

“What was that all about?” Rosita asked.

“He left the yard again today. Cruz came by, and we both went looking for Travis. Cruz found him playing in a haystack behind one of the barns. Mama, I just don’t know what to do with my son. He will not obey me.”

“He obeys you most of the time, Maggie. He’s just so fascinated with the ranch. Try to see it through his eyes. He’s always lived in a city, and out here there are so many exciting things for a boy to explore.”

“There are also many dangers for a young child.”

“That’s true, but he has to learn, Maggie. Do you think I didn’t worry about you and Cruz and your sisters when you were growing up?”

“We were different, Mama. We were always ranch kids.”

Ruben came in and, as was his habit each evening, he kissed his wife’s cheek. To Maggie he said, “Something smells good in here.”

“It’s beef stew, Papa.”

Getting to her feet, Rosita said, “It’s so good of you to make supper, Maggie. And the house is so clean, and you even did the laundry. I don’t have to do a thing when I come home. You’re spoiling me.”

Maggie smiled but had pensive thoughts. Her mother was sixty years old and was still working as hard as a young woman. True, it didn’t seem to bother Rosita, Maggie had to admit. Other than one lovely white streak, Rosita’s hair was as black as it had always been, and her skin glowed from good health. She’d grown a bit plump over the years, true, but the beauty she had possessed in her youth was still visible, especially when she smiled.

“Wash up, Papa,” Maggie said. “Supper will be on the table in five minutes.”

“Bossy, just like your mama,” Ruben said, but he smiled at his daughter and went to do as she’d asked.

Rosita eyed her daughter. “So, Dallas Fortune came by today.”

Maggie winced. She should have realized what that oversize hat on her son’s head would do to Rosita’s curiosity. “We’ll talk after supper, Mama. Everyone’s hungry now.”

While the Perezes enjoyed their fine meal, Dallas heated a frozen dinner in the microwave. He could go to the main house and eat at his father’s table anytime he wished. He could also eat with the ranch hands, which he often did.

But tonight he felt that he wasn’t fit company for anyone. He’d made a fool of himself today with Maggie, and he couldn’t stop wondering what the devil had come over him. Scowling and brooding over it while he ate his chicken dinner, he tried to recapture the misguided logic that had made him think Maggie would respond to such a blunt overture.

Pushing his chair away from the table, he rubbed the back of his neck in almost painful agitation. His behavior was inexcusable, and so uncharacteristic of the man he really was that he wondered if he hadn’t temporarily lost the good sense he’d been born with.

Was there anything he could do to make amends? Since he’d already apologized more than once, another apology wasn’t apt to change her opinion of him.

But there had to be a way to prove his worth to her, he thought with a panicky sensation in his gut. If he could only make her understand how empty his life had been before meeting her again, and how hard she had hit him. If she would really listen to him just once without that derisive look in her eyes, then he might get through to her.

As hopeless as it all looked, Dallas remained certain of one thing. He was not going to give up on Maggie. He couldn’t.

In the comfortable dining room of the ranch’s main residence, Ryan Fortune and Lily Cassidy occupied one end of the long dining table. Tonight they were eating alone, a rare pleasure in the usually active household.

They were a handsome couple, so much in love that even if their hands weren’t touching, their gazes were. They were the same age, fifty-three, and each looked much younger. Ryan was a tall, muscular man with dark brown hair and eyes. His mother, Selena, had been an exquisitely beautiful woman of Mexican descent, and Ryan looked a great deal like her.

Lily’s ancestry was Apache and Spanish, and her exotic beauty only became more pronounced with time. She and Ryan had “dressed” for dinner, and her silky sea-green gown was both fashionable and becoming to her voluptuous figure.

“You’re very beautiful in that dress,” Ryan said.

Lily smiled indulgently. “You say the same thing when I’m wearing jeans and an old shirt.”

“Only because it’s true. My love, please let me make our engagement official with a public announcement.”

Lily’s beautiful smile faded. “We’ve discussed this many times. You’re still a married man. Please, let’s not cause gossip by putting the cart before the horse. When your divorce is final, then we’ll make our announcement. Please don’t be impatient, darling.”

Ryan sighed. “I’m tired of it all, Lily, and so must you be. Parker’s a good lawyer, and I’m confident he’s doing all he can. But Sophia is a dirty fighter, and I doubt if Parker ever came up against anyone like her before.”

“I know, my darling, I know….”

Maggie was tucking Travis in bed for the night, when he said, “I like Dallas, Mama. He’s nice.”

The hat Dallas had given the boy was on the nightstand next to the bed. Travis hadn’t even wanted to take it off for his bath and had insisted it go to bed with him. The only reason it wasn’t in bed with Travis was Maggie’s patient explanation that the hat could get crunched in the night.

Maggie sat on the bed to lean over and kiss her son good-night. “He likes me too, Mama. I can tell.”

An uneasiness crept into Maggie’s system. Even though Craig had rarely been around, and hadn’t been much of a father when he had shown up, Maggie wondered if Travis missed him. He’d been, after all, the only man in Travis’s life since the boy’s birth. Was Travis transferring his need for a father from Craig to Dallas?

That idea was so disturbing that Maggie found it difficult to behave normally. She couldn’t possibly have foreseen something like that happening on the ranch, but self-reassurance on that point offered little solace. Just how did a single mother turn a child off a man who had been nothing but kind to him?

Pulling herself together, Maggie quietly led her son through his prayers, then kissed his smooth, soft, little-boy cheek. “Good night, son. I love you very much.”

“Good night, Mama. I love you very much.”

It was their normal bedtime ritual, but when Maggie left Travis’s bedroom tonight she felt as though her heart had just been broken. Damn you, Craig, why couldn’t you have been the kind of father Travis deserves to have?

On her way to the kitchen, Maggie saw her mother coming out of her bedroom, wearing nightgown, robe and slippers. Rosita’s long hair had been released from the bun she trussed it into every morning, and she was carrying a hairbrush.

“Let’s sit in the living room,” Rosita whispered.

Nodding silently, Maggie followed her mother. Once there she spoke out loud. “Did Papa already go to bed?”

“He’s tired tonight.”

“You look tired, too, Mama. You don’t have to stay up on my account.”

“I’m not quite ready for bed.” Rosita smiled mischievously. “I want to hear all about Dallas’s visit today.”

Knowing there was no way to avoid this conversation, Maggie gave in gracefully. “Why don’t you sit in this chair so I can brush your hair the way I did when I was a little girl?”

“Oh, that would be nice.” Rosita sat on the straight-backed chair and handed the brush to her daughter. She murmured when Maggie began gently running the brush through her hair, “Hmm, that feels wonderful. Now, tell me about Dallas Fortune’s visit.”

Maggie knew she had to make this story simple. Rosita’s sharp mind would pick up on the slightest hint that something other than seeing Travis again had brought Dallas to this house today.

“He wasn’t here very long,” Maggie began in a deliberately neutral voice, as though Dallas just showing up unannounced was a common occurrence and meant nothing for her. “I heard his truck and looked out the window. He had already gotten out and was talking to Travis.”

“And that’s it? You and he didn’t talk?”

Lies had always gotten stuck in Maggie’s throat. Besides, there really was nothing wrong with her and Dallas saying a few words to each other. If only that was all that had happened!

“Well, yes, we did talk. After Travis hauled him around the yard to show off his toys, Dallas knocked on the door.”

Rosita became excited. “What did he say?”

“I believe it was something like, ‘Hello, Maggie.”’

Rosita twisted around to look at her daughter. “Are you being fresh with me?”

Maggie couldn’t help laughing. “No, Mama, I’m not being fresh. But that’s what he said.”

“That’s all he said?”

“He also asked how I was, and then he talked about what a great little kid Travis is.”

“This all took place on the porch? Didn’t it occur to you to invite him in?”

“It occurred to me,” Maggie admitted quietly. “I asked him in and offered lemonade. He drank a glass and left.”

“Well, you must have talked about something while he was drinking his lemonade!”

“I believe that was when he referred to Travis as a great little kid. I agreed, of course.”

“Hmm,” Rosita murmured thoughtfully. “He was probably thinking of the baby he lost. It’s so sad to lose a child. And poor Dallas lost his wife at the same time.” Rosita wiped away a tear and recovered her composure. “Did he say anything nice to you?”

“Like what, Mama?”

“Maggie, for heaven’s sake. Did he say you were pretty, or hint that he would like to see you again?”

“Mama, he came to see Travis,” Maggie hedged, glad that Rosita’s back was turned so she couldn’t see Maggie’s guilty face.

“That’s what he wanted you to believe,” Rosita said, and folded her arms across her bosom in a gesture that appeared smugly satisfied. “Now I know what is happening,” Rosita declared. “Dallas likes you. He’ll be back.”

“Mama! Don’t you dare play matchmaker with Dallas and me! I’m not the least bit interested in him!”

“Oh, hush,” Rosita said. “You couldn’t find a better man than Dallas Fortune, and don’t try to convince me that you wouldn’t like to marry again. It’s not natural for a young woman to live without a man. The same goes for Dallas, living all alone in that big house of his. You’re perfect for him, and I have a feeling that he knows it.”

Maggie groaned. “Now you’ve got us married? I don’t believe this.”

“Maybe you should believe it,” Rosita said serenely. “At the very least, you should give it some serious thought.” Rosita got up from the chair and took the brush from her daughter’s hand. “I think I’ll go to bed now. Good night, dear.”

Maggie had to forcibly beat back an impulse to blurt out the truth about Dallas’s visit today, just to see the shocked expression on her mother’s face. She paced the floor long after Rosita had retired, recalling with anger and humiliation Dallas’s insulting propositions one minute, and picturing the resulting ruckus should she ever relate the incident to her family the next.

Dallas might have her mother snowed, but Maggie knew what kind of man he really was, the big phoney! Walking around making everyone think he was still mourning his wife, and then coming on to Maggie with downright scandalous suggestions. Oh, yes, she was definitely on to Dallas Fortune.

It was later, after Maggie had gone to bed, that a feeling of melancholy settled upon her. She could have liked Dallas so much. Why had he ruined any chance they might have had of becoming more than acquaintances?

“Men!” Maggie muttered disgustedly. Rosita was right; Maggie would like to marry again. But was there one single man on earth who wasn’t a cad, a cheat or a liar? One man who truly liked and respected women?

She doubted it. If it weren’t for her parents’ long and happy marriage, she would also doubt that it was even possible for a man and woman to live together in harmony for any length of time.

Around ten the next morning Rosita phoned from the main house. “Maggie, Cruz and Savannah are coming to dinner tonight.”

“Oh, good,” Maggie exclaimed. “What should I fix for dinner? I’d like it to be something special.”

“Well, Cruz adores barbecued ribs. There are ribs in the freezer, and maybe you could make a nice potato salad.”

“Great. I’ll plan the meal around that.”

“Thank you, sweetie. See you this evening.”

“’Bye, Mama. Don’t work too hard.”

As she hung up the phone, Maggie moved the kitchen curtain aside to check on Travis. She had relented on yesterday’s decision about confining him to the house, because his sad little face under that huge hat had been more than she could bear. “But,” she’d told him firmly, “this is your last chance, son. If you leave the yard today without permission, you will remain in the house for at least a week.”

“I won’t be a bad boy, Mama, I promise.”

Maggie had hugged him. “You’re not a bad boy, sweetheart,” she’d said with a catch in her voice. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.” Then she had watched him joyously run for the door.

Holding the edge of the curtain in her hand, Maggie became so stunned that she nearly pulled it from the rod. Dallas was in the yard talking to Travis again! She wondered why she hadn’t heard a car pull up, and then she noticed a handsome black horse tethered to a post.

Groaning out loud, Maggie let the curtain fall back into place. What was wrong with that man? She’d done everything but physically attack him, and he still had the gall to drop in. What could she say that might penetrate his egotistical stubbornness?

Maggie angrily narrowed her eyes. Travis already liked Dallas and believed that Dallas liked him. There were more ways than one for her trusting little son to get hurt on the Fortune’s Double Crown Ranch. Dallas’s insincere attentions could cause more damage to Travis than any fall the boy might take. She had to put a stop to this before it got completely out of hand.

Detouring to the freezer just long enough to take out two packages of ribs to thaw for dinner, Maggie then hurried to the front door. Yanking it open, she found herself no more than a foot away from Dallas. His hand was up, and she knew that he’d been all set to knock on the door.

“Good morning,” he said as calmly as you please, as though people always opened doors before he knocked on them.

Maggie couldn’t be nice. “What do you want?” she asked in a cold, unfriendly voice.

Dallas’s heart sank, but he vowed again not to give up on Maggie. How could he, when she affected him so strongly? Even angry, she was so darned pretty that he wanted to stand there and stare at her.

Pretending that he hadn’t picked up on her foul mood, he smiled. “I’d like to take Travis for a ride.”

“And I suppose you told him the same thing and got him all excited about it,” Maggie said with scathing sarcasm.

“I wouldn’t do that, Maggie. I asked him to stay in the side yard while I talked to you. Since he’s never been on a horse before, I thought it might be best to get him used to being so far off the ground by having him first ride with me.”

Maggie almost shouted, “No!” but a sudden burst of very disturbing knowledge stopped her. She could be as protective of Travis as she wanted, but the damage—as far as Dallas went—had already been done, and could very well be irreversible. Was there any point now in stopping Travis from learning to ride a horse, just because Dallas would be his instructor?

A great weakness overtook Maggie. She loved riding herself, and it was only natural for a boy with Travis’s lively curiosity and imagination to be drawn to horses. She’d brought this on herself by bringing Travis to the ranch, even though she couldn’t possibly have predicted a relationship between her five-year-old son and one of the Fortune men.

“Well?” Dallas said quietly, awaiting her verdict.

Maggie didn’t want to say yes. She didn’t want Dallas to further encourage her son’s affection when she knew in her soul that Dallas was using Travis as an excuse to see her. Obviously Dallas hoped to wear down her objections to having an affair with him—she could see it in his eyes—and it wasn’t going to happen.

“I want you to understand something,” she said bluntly. “Your phoney friendship with my son is not going to undermine—”

“Phoney!” Dallas exclaimed heatedly, interrupting her. “Maggie, there is nothing phoney about my feelings for Travis!” Dallas looked off for a moment, then brought harder eyes back to her. “You’ve got me all wrong, Maggie. I caused it myself and I wish to hell it were possible to take back everything I said to you the first time I came here. Isn’t there some way we could start over?”

“Nothing leaps to mind,” Maggie drawled. “I really wish—” The hurt look in Dallas’s eyes didn’t halt her little speech, but the sight of Travis peeking around the corner of the house did. Had he been eavesdropping all along? she wondered uneasily. He should be scolded for listening to a grown-up conversation, but she’d laid down so many new rules since they’d come to the ranch that his little head was probably spinning from them. Eavesdropping was something that had never come up for discussion in Phoenix—there’d been no reason—but there was no question that their acute change in life-style at the ranch had demanded a great many new rules.

Regardless, Maggie suddenly felt sorry for her adorable little son. And guilty for denying him the pleasure of a ride on a horse, even if it was with Dallas. After all, she and Travis weren’t going to be here much longer, and once they left Travis would forget all about Dallas.

“All right,” she said in a much calmer voice. “You may take Travis for a ride.”

Dallas wondered what had changed her mind, but he wasn’t about to open that can of worms. “Thanks,” he said evenly. “And don’t worry about him. I’ll watch him like a hawk.”

“Please do.”

Dallas started to leave the porch, then stopped on the stairs to turn and look at her. “By the way, Rosita invited me to supper tonight. She said Cruz and Savannah would be here, and that you were making ribs. I’m looking forward to it.”

How could her mother do that to her? But even while the nerve-racking question formed in her mind, so did the answer. Rosita would like nothing better than to see her daughter married again, and it would never occur to Rosita that a Perez wasn’t good enough for a Fortune. If she knew what was really brewing in Dallas’s mind, she wouldn’t be so quick to play matchmaker, thought Maggie.

Silently, Maggie watched Dallas lift Travis up to the saddle on his horse’s back. Below his big hat, Travis’s little face was flushed and excited. Dallas mounted and nudged the horse into a walk.

“’Bye, Mama!” Travis yelled.

“Goodbye, sweetheart. You hang on tight!”

“I will, Mama.”

Feeling totally defeated, Maggie went inside. Dallas’s plans to eat with them tonight changed everything. Dinner was not going to be an enjoyable family affair.

Four

All afternoon, while cooking and preparing extra-special dishes because His Highness, Dallas Fortune would be eating at the Perez table that evening, Maggie fumed to herself. There was no way she could be anything but nice to Dallas in front of her family. She would have to smile at him, talk to him and generally act as though she was as pleased as Ruben and Rosita were to have him as a dinner guest.