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“No reason.” He shrugged. His eyes traveled over the soft contours of her face. Savannah felt as if he were actually touching her. “Except that you left so quickly the last time we were together. When I woke, you were gone. I thought that perhaps it was something I’d said. Or done.”
His smile was so sensual that she struggled to keep her mind on the conversation.
Yes, it was something you’d done. You completely unraveled me, made me behave so that I didn’t even recognize myself. And then made me want more.
Savannah took a long sip before she spoke, her throat suddenly too parched to house dust.
“I had to get back.” She purposely looked past his head as she spoke. “I had papers to grade. It was the end of the semester—the end of the year,” she corrected, silently chastising herself for stumbling.
But while she’d always been very self-assured in her chosen professional life as an elementary school teacher, her personal one, especially since Reese had left, was another matter entirely. Even before Reese had broken her heart by breaking off their engagement, she had never been very experienced when it came to men.
That was probably why he’d strayed and ultimately left, she had come to realize. Because she wasn’t exciting enough to hold him. All he’d wanted, apparently, was a woman who was as empty of mind as she was well endowed of body.
But Savannah had always been praised more for her mind than her looks. She was not the type who instantly attracted men. That was part of the reason she’d been so flattered by Cruz and his attention. He could have had any woman—and there had been plenty at the party. Yet he’d singled her out.
She couldn’t help wondering why.
“Good.” Pleased, he nodded his head. “Then it wasn’t me. What about now?”
She didn’t understand. “Now?”
“Will you be leaving tomorrow?” He raised one eyebrow, as if he could see right through her excuse, right through her. “More papers to grade?”
Was he asking her because he wanted to be sure that she wouldn’t be around to become a problem? Or was he asking because he wanted to know whether she’d grown up a little, become a little more sophisticated?
Savannah couldn’t make up her mind which it was. Not when she was being so distracted by the look in his eyes, by the way his lips moved when he spoke. There was no doubt about it— Cruz Perez was raw sex and sensuality, served up on a section of delicious toast.
It was a crisp September afternoon. There was even a bit of a chill in the wind. Yet she felt so warm, as if the air around her were heated by his presence.
It took a moment, but she finally found her voice, and with it a little bit of conviction. “No, no papers to grade.”
“Oh. Right. It’s too early.” He looked at her knowingly. “You’re one of the nice teachers.”
“One of the nice teachers?” she echoed, not sure what he was driving at. Was he referring to some sort of exclusive club? Whatever it was, he’d called her nice, and she liked that. Liked thinking that he’d meant it. “What makes you say that?”
“Instinct,” he said, sounding sincere.
His mother was the “seer” around here, the one who had dreams she claimed came true. It was only so in about a third of the cases, although no one went out of their way to point the fact out to her. But even so, if there was a scrap of truth about her abilities, maybe they were passed on. Maybe he’d inherent a smattering of it himself. Because he was beginning to sense things about Savannah Clark, things that he found enticing and pleasing.
Casually, Cruz threaded his arm around her shoulders.
He had no way of knowing how intimate that felt to her, Savannah thought. Or maybe he did, and that was the whole point of it. She struggled not to enjoy the feeling as much as she did. Allowing herself to venture deeper into the trap really wouldn’t help anything in the long run.
But logic didn’t seem to be working for her today, she thought. Magic was. His magic.
“I always used to hate it when the teachers would give long assignments the first week of school,” he confided. “I couldn’t shake the feeling that they did it to get back at us because they had to return from their vacations and work again.”
Habit made her protective of her vocation. “That’s not true. It’s to get students back into a thinking mode after they’ve been playing all summer.” And Savannah didn’t have to ask to know that Cruz had been one of those students who had played the hardest and the longest.
“There’s nothing wrong with playing.” His mouth curved a little more deeply, drawing her in further still. “It can be hard work, too.”
Not for him, she thought. For him, it came naturally. Like breathing. Like kissing.
“Maybe you’re right.”
His face turned toward hers, Cruz lightly touched the outline of her pearl drop earring and sent it swaying ever so slightly.
“So,” he asked softly, “you like to stimulate your students?”
Her blood was beginning to roar through her veins, like Indy-500 stock cars revving up their engines. She had to concentrate on each word to get it out.
“Getting them to think for themselves is always a good thing.”
He smiled to himself, seeing the effect he was having on her. That it heightened his own excitement was a bonus in the bargain.
“And you are an expert on that?” he teased. “On thinking?”
Her knees felt like water. Which made her knees and her mind a perfect set.
Savannah licked her lips. “Not an expert, but—”
She stopped. Cruz was making her feel flustered, and he knew it. She could tell by the look in his eyes. Why couldn’t she resist him? Why couldn’t she be sophisticated like Vanessa or one of her other friends, and just exchange teasing phrases?
He moved slightly to stand in front of her, his brown eyes challenging her. “Tell me, Savannah, what am I thinking now?”
He’d never called her by her name before. It seemed to float to her on his tongue, making her feel even warmer than she already was. She was beginning to wish fervently that the bridesmaid dress had been sleeveless instead of having tight, long sleeves that ended a little over her wrists. She had a feeling even that wouldn’t help to cool her off.
After a moment, she found her breath. “That you’d like to dance with me.” It was a stab in the dark, and probably wrong, but it was the only thing that came to her.
The deep, lusty laugh enveloped her as Cruz obviously enjoyed her answer.
That was definitely not what had been on his mind. He was thinking of the way she’d looked, with only the moonlight sneaking into the stables. She’d looked soft and pliant, with the sheen of lovemaking still fresh on her firm, nude body and seeing her like that had made him want to make love to her all over again.
“All right,” he agreed amiably. “We can do that if you’d like.”
She’d been right. Dancing hadn’t been on his mind. But she was afraid to think what had been. Afraid to think because she might be right.
More afraid because she might be wrong—and disappointed.
Taking the glass from her hand, Cruz placed it on the first available flat surface, then gently took her into his arms.
She tried not to let the warmth of Cruz’s body seep into hers. She might as well have tried to breathe under water. It couldn’t be done.
Savannah felt like a princess, just like the first time they had danced.
“I looked for you, you know. The morning after,” he added when she looked up at him questioningly. “I was surprised that you had gone so quickly.”
She’d gone because the reality of what she had done had suddenly hit her with the force of a two-ton truck. She’d been embarrassed and somewhat ashamed, as well. And more than that, she’d been afraid that he would laugh at her, at how easily he’d been able to seduce her. She couldn’t have faced his laughter. Better to walk away with a lovely memory than to deal with aftermath and reality.
Except that now she had to.
She studied his face, looking for an answer, trying not to let herself be distracted. “Why would you look for me?”
“Why does any man look for a woman?”
She lifted one shoulder beneath her gown in a half shrug. “For a very long list of reasons,” she murmured evasively as he spun her around.
“Shorten it,” he whispered against her hair.
Urges began to grow, to multiply within her.
No, not this time, Savannah warned silently, trying hard to steel herself. She couldn’t allow herself to give in again.
No matter what she wanted, she had to maintain a barrier. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to stay here. And the Double Crown was her last hope. She’d been “released” from Pierce Academy after the principal had discovered she was pregnant. Out of sympathy and kindness, Vanessa had offered her a job and a place to stay at the ranch for as long as she wanted it.
Savannah had no other options. She absolutely refused to turn to either of her parents. They had already done enough for her by getting married in the first place to give her a name. For that, they’d each paid dearly and continually suffered one another’s company in a union that should never have been allowed to take place. She’d left home as soon as she was old enough, unable to stand the guilt of knowing she’d inadvertently ruined two people’s lives just by drawing breath.
It was a fate she was determined that she was never going to bequeath to her child.
Putting on her most carefree face, Savannah turned it up to him. “Is it your sworn duty to seduce every woman under the age of fifty?”
He saw the smile playing on her lips and realized she was teasing rather than being coy. With Savannah, there was a difference.
“Only the beautiful ones.”
“Oh, I see.” Beautiful. It was a word she’d never heard applied to herself, and she didn’t cleave to it now. “Then you’re just practicing on me.”
“Practicing?” For a second, Cruz didn’t understand, then he realized that perhaps she was being coy after all. “Querida, I don’t need practice. And you are the prize.”
She laughed shortly. She’d been an ugly duckling as a child, a fact that only added to her parents’ misery. Neither could believe that they had created such a plain child between them, when they were both regarded as extremely good-looking in their circles.
“I’m hardly that.”
He cocked his head, looking at her. “You don’t think you’re beautiful?”
The subject made her uncomfortable. She’d heard enough taunts as a child to instinctively brace herself for a punch line at her expense. “I don’t think about the way I look at all.”
“It’s a lie.” Cruz called her on it, looking amused. “Every woman thinks about how she looks—if she is exciting, if she makes a man’s head turn, his mouth water, his—”
Savannah was afraid to let him go any further. “I don’t.”
His eyes narrowed. “Then you are even more unique than I thought.”
He doesn’t think I’m unique—it’s a line, she told herself.
A line she wished with all her heart she could believe.
Becoming defensive, Savannah raised her chin ever so slightly.
“I’m not unique, I’m stable. Sensible.” She ticked off terms that she’d heard applied to herself over the course of her life.
Cruz made a face at the last word. “Sensible is for shoes.”
He made it sound as if it were a bad thing. She didn’t think so. Maybe it wasn’t a very exciting quality, but she was proud of being sensible—even though what she had done that night in the stable was as far from sensible as the earth was from the moon.
“Not if you work for a living.”
Savannah had struck a chord. Cruz looked at her thoughtfully for a long moment as they whirled around on the floor.
“Maybe you are at that. Sensible,” he added in case she’d lost the thread. “But you are still beautiful,” he insisted.
“It’s the dress.”
“You can put a beautiful gown on a warthog,” he pointed out. “But in the long run, you still have a very ugly animal in a dress.”
She laughed. “You’re very colorful.”
If the compliment pleased him, he gave no indication. “I read.”
The admission caught her interest, appealing to the teacher within her. “A lot?”
He shrugged, perhaps uncomfortable at the confession. “Whenever I get the chance.”
It wasn’t something he often admitted, but he read everything he could get his hands on, determined not to just work with his hands, but with his mind as well. He couldn’t afford to go to college, the way Ryan Fortune’s children had, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t continue learning.
He looked around at the others dancing around them. “I want to know as much as these hidalgos do. More.” That was the whole point of it. They took their education for granted, something that was handed to them. To him, knowledge was a special thing, even if he didn’t readily talk about it.
“Hidalgos?”
“It means—”
“I know what it means,” she interrupted, wanting to get at the heart of his feelings before he changed the subject. “Do you see them that way? The Fortunes?”
He began to laugh off his words, then stopped abruptly. Maybe the role of the smiling, easygoing cowboy was getting to him. God knows he was tired of it, of its confining web.
“There is no other way to see them. Some are kinder than others, to be sure, but all of them see themselves as above the people who work for them.” Chunks of memories crowd his mind. Memories that weren’t always pleasant. Memories that would probably surprise someone like Savannah Clark with her education and her upper crust private school. “When I was growing up, my mother took care of the Fortune children, and my sisters and I played with them. But their father made sure that none of us would ever forget that there was a line between us.” Bitterness infused his smile. “Master and servant.”
“But Vanessa’s not like that,” Savannah protested. She couldn’t picture Vanessa ever putting anyone in their so-called place. Especially not because of the whimsy of fate and financial circumstances. And Vanessa’s brother Dallas wasn’t like that, either. She knew that for a fact.
“No,” Cruz agreed. “She is not. But she is different from them.” He looked pointedly at Savannah. “And different from me.” After a small pause, a smile teased his mouth. “Come, this is far too serious a topic for a wedding, and you are here to have fun.”
But her eyes held his. “That doesn’t mean I can’t learn something.”
“Maybe we can both learn something,” he remarked playfully as he whirled her around the floor once more.
Savannah had the uneasy feeling that she’d just been put on notice.
Three
“Mind if I cut in?”
Cruz looked over his shoulder to see Dallas Fortune standing behind him on the dance floor.
It was on the tip of his tongue to say, yes, he did mind. Because it was, Cruz swallowed the words, a little disturbed that they should have been the ones to rise in response. After all, it wasn’t as if he had any claims on Savannah, or even wanted any. She had just aroused his interest—temporarily.
They’d spent the last few hours together, dancing and talking. He had to admit that he hadn’t realized just how much time he had spent in her company; it had passed so quickly. They had even discussed his plans for a ranch of his own, something he wasn’t in the habit of talking about with anyone outside the family. Even with his family, he remained guarded, using his words sparingly.
But talking to Savannah had been different. Easy. The plans, the dreams, had somehow just been coaxed out by the expression on her face, the light in her eyes.
He’d talked too much. It was high time for him to turn his attention elsewhere, Cruz decided. There were a great many other attractive single women at the party besides Savannah.
There was really no reason for him to stagnate here. No reason at all.
“Be my guest.” Cruz released Savannah’s hand from his and stepped away, giving Dallas a clear field.
His intention was to turn immediately away and seek out the first pretty, unattached woman he came across. But something held him where he was. He watched as Dallas slipped his hand around Savannah’s waist and drew her to him.
A strange, hot feeling rose quickly in Cruz’s chest. He waited for it to fall back down, to fizzle out.
When it didn’t on its own, Cruz banked it down, and was surprised at the effort it took. He didn’t know just what the hell was going on, but he wasn’t about to waste time mulling over it.
He looked around—everywhere but where Dallas and Savannah were dancing—searching for his next companion. Seeing a woman who he thought might provide him with a little diversion, Cruz lost no time crossing to her.
Looking in his direction, the woman smiled a warm invitation.
Cruz returned it. He was glad Dallas had come along to free him up when he did. Maybe Cruz had lost track of time there for a little while, but he was back on track now. It was way past time to change partners.
The song was slow, and Savannah let herself drift with it. The tingling sensation had disappeared. At least her body would have a chance to get back to normal, now that Cruz was no longer holding her.
She rested her head against Dallas’s shoulder. Vanessa’s older brother had always been kind to her, and she liked him. When she and Vanessa had attended college together and Dallas had come up for visits, he’d always made a point of treating her as if she were his sister, too. It had earned him a permanent soft spot in her heart.
“Are you having a good time?” His voice drifted into the contented haze forming around her.
Savannah didn’t bother lifting her head. “Very.” For perhaps the first time in three months, she mused. Since the last time she’d been here.
“I wanted to make sure you weren’t overwhelmed by everything.”
Savannah raised her head to look at him. “Overwhelmed?”
Dallas nodded. “We Fortunes have a habit of steamrollering over people—quite unintentionally. Vanessa tells me that you’ll be staying on at the ranch as a bookkeeper.”
How much did he know about that? Self-conscious, Savannah looked away, avoiding his eyes.
She saw Cruz dancing with another woman. Disappointment mushroomed through her even as she tried to subdue it. Cruz was free to do whatever he wanted, be with whomever he wanted. She had no claims on him. None, at any rate, that she was willing to make.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Vanessa didn’t talk you into it, did she?”
The question caught her attention, and Savannah looked at him, puzzled. “What do you mean?”
Dallas laughed softly. “Well, I know you’re a teacher at that private school. Pierce Academy, isn’t it?”
So he didn’t know that she’d been asked to leave. Relieved, Savannah nodded. This put an entirely different light on the conversation.
“I just wanted to be sure that Vanessa hadn’t twisted your arm to get you to agree to work on the ranch. I know she wasn’t happy that you were so far away.” He smiled at her. “She missed you a lot.”
It was nice to know that someone did. Savannah supposed it was the state she found herself in, but of late she’d felt part misfit, part outcast—and completely vulnerable.
“And I’ve missed her,” she confided. A smile bloomed as she looked up at him. He really did act like a big brother sometimes. She appreciated that the way only an only child could. “That’s very sweet of you, Dallas, worrying about me. But Vanessa didn’t talk me into anything. There have been…cutbacks at the school,” she said evasively. Right now, she didn’t really feel like admitting the truth. She’d have to deal with that soon enough if things worked out and she remained. “I just discovered that I was being let go a few hours before I flew out. Your sister was kind enough to offer me a position here. Luckily, I had some bookkeeping experience in college.”
One song ended and another, its tempo much quicker, began. Dallas gave no indication that he was about to retreat. Instead, his step quickened in time to the music as he swept her around the floor.
“Kind, nothing.” He laughed at the thought. “If you work at the Double Crown Ranch, I guarantee you’ll earn your pay. My father doesn’t let anyone coast along, not even his own kids. Especially his own kids,” Dallas amended. But there was no bitterness in his voice. “A little hard work never killed anyone, but I did want you to know what you were getting yourself into.”
“Information duly noted,” Savannah said, growing a little breathless. Dallas was far more taken with the execution of fancy footwork than Cruz, had been. With Cruz she’d been more aware of bodies moving than flying feet.
He looked down at her face. “In that case, may I be the first to welcome you aboard, Savannah. We’ll be seeing a lot of each other. I’ve had to temporarily move back into my father’s house while my roof damage is being repaired.”
The room began to spin just a little, and she held onto his arm as much for support as for form. “I’m sorry about your house, though it will be nice to spend some time with you. But don’t I have to get approved by your father, first before the bookkeeping job is officially mine?”
Dallas shook his head. “Just technically. Nothing more than rubber-stamping at this stage,” he assured her. “He trusts Vanessa’s judgment. We all do.”
“Then I guess I’m hired.” One huge weight off her shoulders, she thought. At least for the time being. The rest of the future was just going to have to take care of itself.
As the pace picked up again, Dallas glided her around another couple. “I guess you are.”
Savannah was smiling at Dallas. Now she was laughing at something he’d just said. Cruz found himself taking in every movement. The woman in his arms was vivacious and had eyes only for him, but he was oblivious to her and her blatant attempts to snare his interest.
His attention was on the couple across the floor. His grip on the woman’s hand tightened slightly as he watched Dallas bend his head and whisper something into Savannah’s ear. She laughed in response, the sound muted by the music. Cruz heard it in his head, anyway.
What the hell were they talking about?
Again he found that he had to bank down the strange, hot feelings that threatened to take control of him. He muttered an oath under his breath, turning his partner so that he could get a better view of Savannah and her companion.
“What’s the matter, darlin’?” the woman purred. “You look like your mind’s a million miles away.”
Cruz looked at his partner. The lopsided grin that followed covered a thousand transgressions. “Just thinking of you and the night ahead, Gia.”
The blonde snuggled against him, her sigh warm on his chest. “Tell me more.”
Watching Cruz and the blonde who hermetically adhered herself to his body, Savannah struggled not to let a new wave of sadness engulf her. For now, things were as good as they could get. Better than she’d hoped.
She was just going to have to content herself with that.
Savannah had no idea why she couldn’t.
Pride filled Rosita Perez’s ample bosom as she watched Vanessa dance on the arm of her new husband. It was the kind of pride a mother might feel on the day of her daughter’s wedding. The kind of pride Rosita had felt watching her own daughters when they were married.
Her body swaying ever so slightly in time with the music, Rosita continued watching from the sidelines. Vanessa Fortune might as well have been her daughter. She had helped raise the girl and her twin sister, Victoria, from the time both were babies. She’d stepped in on a full-time basis when the twins’ mother, Janine, had died, filling the huge gap as best she could so that the Fortune children would always know that there was someone around who cared for them.
Ryan Fortune did care, of course, she thought as she helped herself to a small canapé, but he was only a man, and men were inept when it came to showing their feelings for their children. And then, of course, he’d made the mistake of marrying that woman, Sophia. His second wife had gotten her hooks into him, and the children had become more Rosita’s than ever.