He nodded and turned to finish preparing the meal.
After a breakfast of egg-and-bacon casserole and fruit, he turned on music as they cleared the table, and took her wrist. “Stop working and come dance with me,” he said, moving to a familiar lively rock number.
Unable to resist him, she danced with him, aware as she did that her robe gaped below her waist, revealing her legs all the way to her thighs.
Next a ballad came on and he drew her into his arms to slow dance. He was aroused, ready to make love again. His arms tightened around her and he shifted closer to kiss her. Dimly she was aware they had stopped dancing.
His hand trailed down between them to untie her robe while he continued kissing her. When she reached out to do the same, his belt was tightly knotted and she needed his help, but soon both robes were open. He shoved them aside, pulling her naked body against his.
Her soft moan was a mixture of pleasure and desire as he kissed her and picked her up to carry her back to bed.
It was almost two hours later when he held her close beside him in bed and rolled over to look at her. He wound his fingers in the long strands of her hair, toying with her locks.
“I know you have to go home soon,” he said. “I think it’s time we get to the reason behind this weekend and your incredible bid for me at the auction. You paid a mind-boggling sum to get my attention, so now you have it. What’s behind this? What did you want me to agree to do?”
Tony looked into her big eyes that were the color of blue crystal. His gaze went to her mouth and he wanted to kiss her again. He stifled the urge, difficult as it was. Their time together had beenfabulous, a dream, but it would end shortly and they would go back to their regular lives. How much would it change because of the auction? For a moment a memory flashed in his mind of the second and most direct encounter they had, when a big tree on her property fell during a storm in the night. It had fallen on his fence, taking it down and also smashing one of his trucks, which had stalled in the rainstorm.
One of the men had called to tell him. When he drove out to view the damage, she was already there with a crew working to cut up the fallen tree and haul it away. She held a chain saw and had a battered straw hat on her head with a long braid hanging over her shoulder. He’d known her all his life but rarely paid any attention to her. He knew she was two years younger than he was, but right then he thought she looked five years younger. The noise of chain saws was loud, the ground spongy from the rain when he stepped out of his truck.
Even though she had to pay for the damage because it was her tree, he’d tried to curb his anger that she hadn’t called him first. She saw him and walked over.
“My tree fell in the storm. Sorry about the damage. But I’m insured.”
“Did you call your agent?”
“No, I will. I want to get the fence up as soon as possible so I don’t lose any livestock.”
“Lindsay, that’s my fence and I’ll fix it. You should have called me. Your insurance should cover the damages when a tree falls on something, but only if you have notified your company. They would have sent someone out to see what happened, take pictures and write a report. Now the tree is back on your property, cut up as we speak, and I doubt if you can collect anything.”
She had looked surprised. “I haven’t had a tree fall on anything before. I’ll check with my insurance company, and I’ll pay you for the damage.”
“Stop cutting up the tree. I’m going to call and see if my adjustor wants to come out anyway.”
She’d frowned but agreed.
“And leave the fence alone. It’s my fence and I’ll get it replaced today.”
She had scowled at him. “Today?”
“This morning,” he said. “As soon as we can. If you have livestock grazing here, move them. Don’t let them in this pasture. That’s simple enough,” he said, wondering if she knew how to run that ranch of hers.
“I know that,” she snapped.
“Leave the fence to me. Stop cutting up and hauling away the tree. I’ll get someone out here to look this over,” he repeated, suspecting she was stubborn enough to keep cutting up the tree.
She had clamped her mouth closed as her blue eyes flashed. “Anything else you want to tell me to do?” she snapped, and his temper rose a notch.
“Probably a lot, but I’m not going to,” he answered evenly.
“Why was your truck parked right by my property?”
He had been annoyed by her question, though he tried to hang on to his temper. “It was on my property and we can park the truck wherever we want on this side of that fence. If you want to know, one of the men was headed back in the storm and checking to see if the fences were okay. He’d been driving through high water in several low places and the truck quit running here. Unfortunately, near your tree.”
She’d been silent a moment as if thinking about what he had said. “I know it was my tree on your truck. My word should be good enough for the insurance.”
Impatiently, he shook his head. “No, it’s not good enough. Next time, remember to call your adjustor before you do anything else. You may have a hard time collecting.”
He remembered her raising her chin defiantly and he’d wondered if she would argue, but then she looked around and seemed lost in thought until she turned back to him. “That isn’t a new truck. Get three estimates in Verity for the repairs and I’ll cover the lowest bidder’s charges.”