A Wife For A

Westmoreland

Brenda Jackson

Claiming His

Royal Heir

Jennifer Lewis

www.millsandboon.co.uk

A Wife For A

Westmoreland

Brenda Jackson

Praise for New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Brenda Jackson

“Brenda Jackson writes romance that sizzles and

characters you fall in love with.”

—New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Lori Foster

“Jackson’s trademark ability to weave multiple

characters and side stories together makes

shocking truths all the more exciting.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Jackson’s characters are wonderful, strong, colourful and hot enough to burn the pages.” —RT Book Reviews on Westmoreland’s Way

“The kind of sizzling, heart-tugging story Brenda Jackson is famous for.”

—RT Book Reviews on Spencer’s Forbidden Passion

“This is entertainment at its best.”

—RT Book Reviews on Star of His Heart

Dear Reader,

It’s hard to believe that A Wife for a Westmoreland is the nineteenth book in THE WESTMORELANDS series and the fourth book about the Denver Westmorelands. Time sure flies when you’re having fun, and I’ve really had a ball bringing you stories about such gorgeous men and women.

I knew Derringer Westmoreland was going to be a challenge when he appeared on the scene in Hot Westmoreland Nights. Besides being a man too handsome for his own good and a man used to playing the field, he’s ruggedly seductive and can talk the panties off any woman. He’s also a man who believes in getting whatever it is that he wants, no matter what it takes to get it, and he’s decided he wants Lucia Conyers. That would be all fine and dandy for Lucia, since she’s loved Derringer most of her life, but she wants him to want her for all the right reasons and refuses to settle for anything less. So what does this Westmoreland man have to do to get the woman he wants? I think you’re going to enjoy the results.

All the best,

Brenda Jackson

About the Author

BRENDA JACKSON is a die “heart” romantic who married her childhood sweetheart and still proudly wears the “going steady” ring he gave her when she was fifteen. Because she’s always believed in the power of love, Brenda’s stories always have happy endings. In her real-life love story, Brenda and her husband of thirty-eight years live in Jacksonville, Florida, and have two sons.

A New York Times bestselling author of more than seventy-five romance titles, Brenda is a recent retiree who now divides her time between family, writing and traveling with Gerald. You may write Brenda at PO Box 28267, Jacksonville, Florida 32226, USA, by e-mail at WriterBJackson@aol.com or visit her website at www.brendajackson.net.

One

Lucia Conyers’s heart was beating like crazy as she made a sharp turn around the curve while the wheels of her SUV barely gripped the road. She knew she should slow down, but couldn’t. The moment she’d heard that Derringer Westmoreland had been taken to the emergency room due to an injury he sustained after being thrown from a horse, a part of her had nearly died inside.

It didn’t matter that most of the time Derringer acted as though he didn’t know she existed or that he had a reputation in Denver as a ladies’ man—although she doubted the women he messed around with could really be classified as ladies. Derringer was one of Denver’s heartthrobs, a hottie if ever there was one.

But what did matter, although she wished otherwise, was that she loved him and would probably always love him. She’d tried falling out of love with him several times and just couldn’t do it.

Not even four years of attending a college in Florida had changed her feelings for him. The moment she had returned to Denver and he had walked into her father’s paint store to make a purchase, she’d almost passed out from a mixture of lust and love.

Surprisingly, he had remembered her. He’d welcomed her back to town and asked her about school. But he hadn’t asked her out, or offered to share a drink somewhere for old time’s sake. Instead, he had gathered up the merchandise he’d come to the store to buy and left.

Her obsession with him had started back in high school when she and his sister Megan had worked on a science project together. Lucia would never forget the day that Megan’s brother had come to pick them up from the library. She’d almost passed out when she first laid eyes on the handsome Derringer Westmoreland.

She thought she’d died and gone to heaven, and when they were introduced, he smiled at her, showing a pair of dimples that should be outlawed on anyone, especially a man. Her heart had melted then and there and hadn’t solidified since. That introduction had taken place a few months after her sixteenth birthday. Now she was twenty-nine and she still got goose bumps whenever she thought about that first meeting.

Ever since her best friend, Chloe, had married Derringer’s brother Ramsey, she saw more of Derringer, but nothing had changed. Whenever he saw her he was always nice to her. But she knew he really didn’t see her as a woman he would be interested in.

So why wasn’t she getting on with her life? Why was she risking it now by taking the roads to his place like a madwoman, needing to see for herself that he was still in one piece? When she’d gotten the news, she’d rushed to the hospital only to receive word from Chloe that he’d been released and was now recuperating at home.

He would probably wonder why she, of all people, was showing up at his place to check on him. She wouldn’t be surprised if some woman was already there waiting on him hand and foot. But at the moment it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but to make sure for herself that Derringer was okay. Even the threat of possible thunderstorms this evening hadn’t kept her away. She hated thunderstorms, and yet she had left her home to check on a man who barely knew she was alive.

It was a really stupid move, but she continued to speed down the road, deciding she would consider the foolishness of her actions later.

The loud sound of thunder blasting across the sky practically shook the house and awakened Derringer. He immediately felt a sharp pain slice through his body, the first since he’d taken his pain medication, which meant it was time to take more.

Wrenching at the pain, he slowly pulled himself up in bed, reached across the nightstand and grabbed the pills his sister Megan had laid out for him. She’d said not to take more before six, but a quick glance at his clock said that it was only four and he needed the relief now. He was aching all over and his head felt as if it had split in two. He felt sixty-three instead of a mere thirty-three.

He had been on Sugar Foot’s back less than three minutes when the mean-spirited animal had sent him flying. More than his ego had gotten bruised, and each and every time he breathed against what felt like broken ribs he was reminded of it.

Derringer eased back down onto the bed and laid flat on his back. He stared at the ceiling, waiting for the pain pills to kick in.

Derringer’s Dungeon.

Lucia slowed her truck when she came to the huge wooden marker in the road. Any other time she would have found it amusing that each of the Westmorelands had marked their property with such fanciful names. Already she had passed Jason’s Place, Zane’s Hideout, Canyon’s Bluff, Stern’s Stronghold, Riley’s Station and Ramsey’s Web. She’d heard when each Westmoreland reached the age of twenty-five they inherited a one-hundred-acre tract of land in this part of the state. That was why all the Westmorelands lived in proximity to each other.

She nervously gnawed on her bottom lip, finally thinking she might have made a mistake in coming here when she pulled into the yard and saw the huge two-story structure. This was her first time at Derringer’s Dungeon and from what she’d heard, most women only came by way of an invite.

So what was she doing here?

She brought her car to a stop and cut off the engine and just sat there a moment as reality set in. She had acted on impulse and of course on love, but the truth of the matter was that she had no business being here. Derringer was probably in bed resting. He might even be on medication. Would he be able to come to the door? If he did, he would probably look at her as if she had two heads for wanting to check on him. In his book they were acquaintances, not even friends.

She was about to back out and leave, when she noticed the rain had started to come down harder and a huge box that had been left on the steps of the porch was getting wet. The least she could do was to move it to an area on the porch where the rain couldn’t touch it.

Grabbing her umbrella out the backseat, she hurriedly got out of the truck and ran toward the porch to move the box closer to the door. She jumped at the sound of thunder and drew in a sharp breath when a bolt of lightning barely missed the top of her head.

Remembering what Chloe had once told her about how the Westmoreland men were notorious for not locking their doors, she tried the doorknob and saw what her best friend had said was true. The door was not locked.

Slowly opening the door, she stuck her head in and called out in a whisper in case he was downstairs sleeping on the sofa instead of upstairs. “Derringer?”

When he didn’t answer, she decided she might as well bring the box inside. The moment she entered the house, she glanced around, admiring his sister Gemma’s decorating skills. Derringer’s home was beautiful, and the floor-to-ceiling windows took full advantage of the mountain view. She was about to ease back out the door and lock it behind her when she heard a crash followed by a bump and then a loud curse.

Acting on instinct, she took the stairs two at a time and stumbled into several guest bedrooms before entering what had to be the master bedroom. It was decorated in a more masculine theme than all the others. She glanced around and then she saw him lying on the floor as if he’d fallen out of bed.

“Derringer!”

She raced over to him and knelt down beside him, trying to ignore the fact that the only clothing he had on was a pair of black briefs. “Derringer? Are you all right?” she asked, a degree of panic clearly in her voice. “Derringer?”

He slowly opened his eyes and she couldn’t stop the fluttering of her heart when she gazed down into the gorgeous dark depths. The first thing she noticed was they were glassy, as if he’d taken one drink too many … or probably one pill too many. She then took a deep breath when a slow smile touched the corners of his lips and those knock-a-girl-off-her-feet dimples appeared in his cheeks.

“Well, now, aren’t you a pretty thing,” he said in slurred speech. “What’s your name?”

“Puddin’ Tame,” she replied smartly. His actions confirmed he’d evidently taken one pill too many since he was acting as if he’d never seen her in his life.

“That’s a real nice name, sweetheart.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, cowboy. Would you like to explain why you’re down here and not up there?” She motioned toward his bed.

“That’s easy enough to answer. I went to the bathroom and when I got back, someone moved the bed and I missed it.”

She tried keeping the smile from her face. “You sure did miss it. Come on and hold on to me while I help you back into it.”

“Someone might move it again.”

“I doubt it,” she said, grinning, while thinking even when he was under the influence of medication, the deep, husky sound of his voice could do things to her. Make the nipples of her breasts strain against her damp shirt. “Come on, you have to be hurting something awful.”

He chuckled. “No, in fact I feel good. Good enough to try riding Sugar Foot again.”

She shook her head. “Not tonight you won’t. Come on, Derringer, let me help you up and get you back in bed.”

“I like it down here.”

“Sorry, pal, but you can’t stay down here. You either let me help you up or I’ll call one of your brothers to help you.”

Now it was he who shook his head. “I don’t want to see any of them again for a while. All they know how to say is, I told you so.”

“Well maybe next time you’ll listen to them. Come on.”

It took several attempts before she was able to help Derringer to his feet. It wasn’t easy to steer him to the bed, and she suddenly lost her balance and found herself tumbling backward onto his bed with him falling on top of her.

“I need you to shift your body a little to get off me, Derringer,” she said when she was able to catch her breath.

He flashed those sexy dimples again and spoke in a voice throaty with arousal. “Um, why? I like being on top of you, Puddin’. You feel good.”

She blinked and then realized the extent of her situation. She was in bed—Derringer’s bed—and he was sprawled on top of her. It didn’t take much to feel the bulge of his erection through his briefs that was connecting with the area between her legs. A slow burn began inching from that very spot and spreading all through her, entering her bloodstream and making her skin burn all over. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the nipples of her breasts, which were already straining, hardened like pebbles against his bandaged chest.

As if sensing her body’s reaction to their position, he lifted his face to stare down at her and the glassy eyes that snagged hers were so drenched with desire that her breath got caught in her throat. Something she’d never felt before, a pooling of heat, settled between her legs, wetting her panties, and she watched his nostrils flare in response to her scent.

The air between them was crackling more than the thunder and lightning outside, and his chest seemed to rise and fall with each and every beat of her heart.

Fearing her own rapid reaction to their predicament, she made an attempt to gently shove him off her, but found she was no match for his solid weight.

“Derringer …”

Instead of answering her, he reached up and cupped her face into his hands as if her mouth was water he needed to sip, and before she could turn her mouth away from his, with perfect aim, he lowered his mouth and began devouring hers.

Derringer figured he had to be dreaming, and if he was, then this was one delusion he didn’t care to ever wake up from. Feasting on Puddin’ Tame’s lips was the epitome of sensual pleasure. Molded perfectly, they were hot and moist. And the way he had plunged his tongue inside her mouth, devouring hers was the sort of fantasy wet dreams were made of.

Somewhere in the back of his lust-induced mind he remembered getting thrown off a horse; in that case, his body should be in pain. However, the only ache he was feeling was the one in his groin that signaled a need so great his body was all but trembling inside.

Who was this woman and where did she come from? Was he supposed to know her? Why was she enticing him to do things he shouldn’t do? A part of him felt that he wasn’t in his right mind, but then another part didn’t give a damn if he was in his wrong mind. The only thing he knew for sure was that he wanted her. He could eat her alive and wouldn’t mind testing that theory to see if he really could.

He shifted his body a little and brought her in the center of the bed with him. He lifted his mouth only slightly off hers to whisper huskily against her moist lips, “Damn, Puddin’, you feel good.”

And then his mouth was back on hers, sucking on her tongue as if he was a man who needed to taste her as much as he needed to breathe, and what was so shocking to him at that moment was that he was convinced that he did.

Lucia knew she had to put a stop to what she and Derringer were doing. He was delirious and didn’t even know who she was. But it was hard to stop him when her body was responding to everything he was doing to it. Her mouth had never been kissed like this before. No man had consumed her with so much pleasure for her not to think straight. Never had she known a woman could want a man with such magnitude as she wanted Derringer. She had always loved him, but now she wanted him with a need that had been foreign to her.

Until now.

“I want you, Puddin’ …”

She blinked as he slightly leaned up off her and the reality of the moment hit her. Although he was delusional, Lucia realized that the honorable part of Derringer would not force her into doing anything she didn’t want to do. Now was her chance to slide from beneath him and leave. Chances were, he wouldn’t even remember anything about tonight.

But something wouldn’t let her flee. It kept her rooted in place as she stared up at him, caught in a visual exchange that not only entrapped her sight but also her mind. A part of her knew this would be the one and only time she would have his attention like this. Sadly, it would be the one and only time he would want her. She pushed to the back of her mind that it had taken an overdose of pain medication to get him to this state.

If she didn’t love him so much, she probably would have been able to fight this sexual pull, but love combined with lust was a force she couldn’t fight, and a part of her truly didn’t want to. She would be thirty in ten months and as of yet, she hadn’t experienced how it would feel to be with a man. It was about time she did and it might as well be with the one and only man she’d ever loved.

She would take tonight into her soul, cradle it in her heart and keep it safe in the deep recesses of her brain. And when she saw him again she would have a secret he wouldn’t know about, although he would have been the main person responsible for making it happen.

Captured by his deep, dark gaze, she knew it was only a matter of minutes before he took her silence as consent. Now that she’d made up her mind about what she wanted to do, she didn’t want to wait even that long. And as more liquid heat coiled between her legs, she lifted her arms to wrap around his neck and tilted her mouth to his. The moment she did, pleasure between them exploded and plunged her into a mirage of sensations that she’d never even dreamed about.

He began kissing her senseless and in her lust-induced mind she was barely aware of him pulling her blouse over her head and removing her lace bra from her body. But she knew the exact moment he latched on to a nipple and eased it between heated lips and began sucking on it as though it was just for his enjoyment.

Waves of pleasures shot through every part of her as if she’d been hit with an atomic missile that detonated on impact. She caught his head between her hands to keep his mouth from going anywhere but on her. Several moans she hadn’t known she was capable of making eased from her lips and she couldn’t help but writhe the lower part of her body against him, needing to feel the hardness of his erection between her thighs.

As if he wanted more, she knew the moment his fingers eased up her skirt and tracked their way to the part of her that was burning more than any other part—her moist, hot center. He slid one hand beneath the edge of her panties and, as if his finger knew exactly what it was after, it slowly and diligently trekked toward her throbbing clitoris.

“Derringer!”

Her entire body began trembling and with all the intent of a man on a mission he began stroking her with fingers that should be outlawed right along with his dimples. Her womanly core was getting more attention than it had ever gotten before, and she could feel sensations building up inside her at such a rapid rate she was feeling dizzy.

“I want you,” he said in a low, guttural tone. And then he kissed her again in a deep, drugging exchange that had him sliding his tongue all over her mouth, tasting her as if doing so was his right. Just the thought made her powerless to do anything other than accept his seduction with profound pleasure.

She was so into the kiss that she hadn’t realized he had worked his briefs down his legs and had removed her panties, until she felt them flesh to flesh. His skin felt hot against hers and the iron-steel feel of his thighs resting over hers was penetrating through to every pore in her body.

And when he broke the kiss to ease his body over hers, she was so overcome with desire that she was rendered powerless to stop him.

He lowered his eyes to her breasts and smiled before his eyes slowly returned to her face and snagged her gaze. The look he gave her at that moment was so sexual that she was willing to convince herself that she was the only woman on earth he’d ever given it to. And she was just that far gone to believe it.

Then he leaned down and captured her mouth at the same time he thrust into her body. She couldn’t help but cry out from the pain and, as if he sensed what had happened and just what it meant, his body went completely still. He eased his mouth away from hers and glanced down at her while still deeply embedded within her. Not sure just what thoughts were going through his mind about her virginal state and not really wanting to know, she reached up and wrapped her arms around him. And when she began using her tongue to kiss him the way he’d done to her earlier, she felt his body tremble slightly before he began moving inside her. The first time he did so, she thought she would come apart, but as his body began thrusting into hers, smoldering heat from him was being transferred to her, building a fire she could not contain any longer.

He released her mouth long enough for her to call his name. “Derringer!”

He was devouring her in a way she’d never been devoured before and she couldn’t help but cry out as his tongue took over. The lower part of him was sending waves of pleasure crashing through her that had her sucking in sharp breaths.

She had heard—mainly from Chloe during one of their infamous girl chats—that making love to a man, especially one you loved, was a totally rewarding and satisfying experience. But no one told her that it could be so mind-consuming and pleasurable. Or that it could literally curl your toes. Maybe Chloe had told her these things and she hadn’t believed her. Well, now she believed. And with each hard plunge into her body, Derringer was making all the fantasies she’d ever had of him a reality.

He released her mouth to look down at her while he kept making love to her, riding her the way he rode those horses he tamed. He was good. And he was also greedy. To keep up with him, she kept grinding her hips against his as sensations within her intensified to a degree that she knew she couldn’t handle much longer. She cried out again and again as sensations continued to spiral through her.

And then something happened that had never happened to her before and she knew what it was the moment she felt it. He drove deeper and deeper into her, riding her right into a climax of monumental proportions. He lifted his head and met her gaze and the dark orbs gazing at her pushed her even more over the edge.

And when he whispered the name Puddin’, thinking it was hers, she accepted it because it had sounded so good coming from him, and it was all she needed to hear to push her into her very first orgasm.

“Derringer!”

He lowered his head again and his tongue slid easily inside her mouth. She continued to grind against him, accepting everything he was giving. Moments later, after breaking off the kiss, he threw his head back and whispered the name again in a deep guttural tone, and he continued to stroke her into sweet oblivion.

Lucia slowly opened her eyes while wondering just how long she’d slept. The last thing she remembered was dropping her head onto the pillow. She’d been weak, spent and totally and thoroughly satisfied after making love to the sexiest man to walk the face of the earth.

He was no longer on top of her, but was asleep beside her. She missed the weight of him pressing down on her. She missed how his heart felt beating against hers, but most of all she missed the feel of him being inside her.

Remnants of ecstasy were still trickling through her when she thought of what they’d done and all they’d shared. Being gripped in the throes of orgasm after orgasm for several long moments was enough to blow anybody’s mind and it had certainly done a job on her. And the way he had looked down at her—during those times he wasn’t kissing her—had sent exquisite sensation after exquisite sensation spiraling through her. Even with the bandages covering his chest and parts of his back, she had felt him—the hardness of his shoulders and the way the muscles in his back had flexed beneath her fingertips.

There was no way she could or would forget tonight. It would always be ingrained in her memory despite the fact that she knew he probably would not remember a single thing. That thought bothered her and she fought back the tears that threatened her eyes. They should be tears of joy and not of sorrow, she thought. She had loved him for so long, but at least she had these memories to cherish.

The rain had stopped and all was quiet except the even, restful sound of Derringer’s breathing. Day was breaking and she had to leave. The sooner she did so the better. She could just imagine what he would think if he woke and found her there in bed with him. Whatever words he might say would destroy the beautiful memories of the night she intended to keep.

And her guess was that someone—any one of his brothers, sisters or cousins—might show up any minute to check up on him. They, too, would be shocked as heck to find her there.

She slowly eased out of bed, trying not to wake him, and glanced around for her clothes. She found all the items she needed except for her panties. He had taken them off her while she was in bed, so chances were they were somewhere under the covers.

She slowly lifted the covers and saw the pair of pink panties were trapped beneath his leg. It would be easy enough to wake him and ask him to move his leg so she could get them, but there was no way she could do such a thing. She stood there a moment, hoping he would stir just a little so she could pull them free.

Lucia nervously gnawed on her bottom lip, knowing she couldn’t just stand there forever, so she quietly began getting dressed. And only when the sun began peeking over the horizon did she accepted that she had to leave quickly … without her panties.

Glancing around the room to make sure that was the only thing she would be leaving behind, she slowly tiptoed out of the room, but not before glancing over her shoulder one last time to look at Derringer. So this was how he looked in the early mornings. With his shadowed face showing an unshaven chin while lying on the pillow, he looked even more handsome than he’d been last night.

He would probably wonder whose panties were left in his bed, but then he might not. He bedded so many women that it wouldn’t matter that one had left a pair of their panties behind. To him it might not be any big deal. Probably wouldn’t be.

Moments later while driving away, she glanced back in her rearview mirror at Derringer’s home, remembering all that had taken place during the night in his bedroom. She was no longer a virgin. She had given him something she had never given another man, and the only sad part was that he would never, ever know it.

Two

Some woman had been in his bed.

The potent scent of sex brought Derringer awake, and he lifted his lids then closed them when the sunlight coming through his bedroom window nearly blinded him. He shifted his body and then flinched when pain shot up one of his legs at the same time his chest began aching.

He slowly lifted his head from the pillow, thinking he needed to take some more pain pills, and dropped it back down when he remembered he might have taken one too many last night. Megan would clobber him for taking more than he should have, but at least he’d slept through the night.

Or had he?

He sniffed the air and the scent of a woman’s perfume and of sex was still prevalent in his nostrils. Why? And why were clips of making love to a woman in this very bed going through his brain? It was the best dream he’d had in years. Usually a dream of making love to a woman couldn’t touch the reality, but with the one he’d had last night, he would beg to differ. He could understand dreaming about making love to a woman because it had been a while for him. Getting the horse business off the ground with his brother Zane, his cousin Jason and their newfound relatives, those Westmorelands living in Georgia, Montana and Texas, had taken up a lot of his time lately. But his dream had felt so real. That was one hell of an illusion.

Nevertheless, he thought, stretching his body then wishing he hadn’t when he felt another pain, it had been well worth the experience.

He reached down to rub his aching thigh, when his hand came in contact with a lacy piece of material. He brought up his hand and blinked when he saw the pair of lace bikini panties that carried the feminine scent he had awakened to.

Pulling himself up in bed, he studied the underthings he held in his hand. Whose were they? Where had they come from? He sniffed the air. The feminine scent was not only in the panties but all over his bed as well. And the indention on the pillow beside him clearly indicated another head had been there.

Monumental panic set in. Who the hell had he made love to last night? Since now there was no doubt in his mind he’d made love to someone. All that pleasure hadn’t been a figment of his imagination, but the real thing. But who had been the woman?

He closed his eyes and tried to come up with a face and couldn’t. It had to have been someone he knew; otherwise, who would have come to his house and gotten into his bed? He had messed around with some pretty brazen women in his lifetime, but none would have dared.

Hell, evidently one had.

He opened his eyes and stared at the wall, trying to recall everything he could about yesterday and last night. He remembered the fall off Sugar Foot’s back; there was no way he could forget that. He even remembered Zane and Jason rushing him to the emergency room and how he’d gotten bandaged up and then sent home.

He definitely recalled how his brother and cousin kept saying over and over, “We told you so.” He remembered that after he’d gotten into bed, Megan had stopped by on her way to the hospital where she worked as an anesthesiologist.

He recalled when she’d given him his pain medicine with instructions of when to take it. The pain had come back sometime after dark and he’d taken some of the pills.

Hell, how much of the stuff had he taken? He distinctly recalled the E.R. physician’s warning that the painkillers were pretty potent stuff and had to be taken when instructed. So much for that.

Okay, so he had taken more pain medicine than he was supposed to. But still, what gave some woman the right to enter his home and take advantage of him? He thought of several women who it could have been; anyone who might have heard about his fall and decided to come over and play nursemaid. Only Ashira would have been bold enough to do that. Had he slept with her last night? Hell, he sure hoped not. She might try to pull something and he wasn’t in the market of being any baby’s daddy any time soon. Besides, what he’d shared with his mystery woman had been different from anything he’d ever shared with Ashira. It had been more profound with one hell of a lasting effect.

He then remembered something vital. The woman he’d slept with had been a virgin—although it was hard to believe he could remember that, he did. And it was pretty far-fetched to think there were still any of them around in this day and time. But there was no way in hell he could have imagined her innocent state even with a mind fuzzy with painkillers. And he knew for certain the woman could not have been Ashira since she didn’t have a virginal bone in her body. Besides, he had a steadfast rule to leave innocents alone.

Derringer sighed deeply and wished, for his peace of mind, that he could remember more in-depth details about last night, including the face of the woman whose virginity he had taken. The thought of that made him cringe inside because he knew for certain he hadn’t used a condom. Was last night a setup and the result would be a baby just waiting to be born nine months from now?

The thought of any woman taking advantage of him that way—or any way—made his blood boil. And anger began filling him to a degree he hadn’t known was possible. If the woman thought she had gotten the best of him she had another thought coming. She had not only trespassed on his private property, but she had invaded his privacy and taken advantage of him when he’d been in a weakened, incoherent state.

If he had to turn over every stone in Denver, he would find out the identity of the woman who’d had the nerve to pull one over on him. And when he found her, he would definitely make her pay for her little stunt.

“Lucia, are you all right?”

It was noon and Lucia was sitting behind the desk of her office at the Denver branch of Simply Irresistible, the magazine designed for today’s up-and-coming woman.

The magazine, Chloe’s brainchild, had started out as a regional publication in the Southeast a few years ago. When Chloe had made the decision to expand to the West and open a Denver office, she had hired Lucia to manage the Denver office.

Lucia loved her job as managing editor. Chloe was editor in chief, but since her baby—a beautiful little girl named Susan—was born six months ago, Chloe spent most of her time at home taking care of her husband and daughter. Lucia had earned a business-management degree in college, but when Chloe had gotten pregnant she had encouraged Lucia to go back to school and get a master’s degree in mass communications to further her career at Simply Irresistible. Lucia only needed a few more classes to complete that degree.

Lucia figured it would only be a matter of time before Chloe and Ramsey decided they would want another baby, and the running of Simply Irresistible’s Denver office would eventually fall in her lap.

“Lucia!”

She jumped when Chloe said her name with a little more force, getting her attention. “What? You scared me.”

Chloe couldn’t help but smile. It had been a long time since she’d seen her best friend so preoccupied. “I was asking you a question.”

Lucia scrunched up her face. “You were?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, what was your question?”

Chloe shook her head, smiling. “I asked if you were all right. You seem preoccupied about something and I want to know what. Things are looking good here. We doubled our print run for April’s issue since the president is on the cover, so that shouldn’t cause you any concern. What’s going on with you?”

Lucia nibbled on her bottom lip. She needed to tell someone about what happened last night and since Chloe was her best friend, she would be the logical person. However, there was a problem with that. Chloe was married to Ramsey, who was Derringer’s oldest brother. There was no doubt in Lucia’s mind Chloe would keep her mouth closed about anything if she asked her to, but still …

“Okay, Lucia, I’m only going to ask you one more time. What’s wrong with you? You’ve been acting spaced out since I got here, and I doubt you were listening to anything Barbara was saying during the production meeting. So what’s going on with you?”

Lucia breathed in deeply. “It’s Derringer.”

Frowning, Chloe stared. “What about Derringer? Ramsey called and checked on him this morning and he was doing fine. All he needed was a dose of pain medication and a good night’s sleep.”

“I’m sure he got the dose of pain medication, but I don’t know about the good night’s sleep,” Lucia said drily, before taking a long sip of cappuccino.

“And why don’t you think he got a good night’s sleep?”

Lucia shrugged, started to feign total ignorance to Chloe’s question and then decided to come clean. She looked up and met her friend’s curious gaze.

“Because I spent the night with him and I know for certain we barely slept at all.”

She could tell from the look that suddenly appeared on Chloe’s face that she had shocked her friend witless. Now that she had confessed her sins, she was hoping they could move on and talk about something else, but she should know better than to think that.

“You and Derringer finally got together?” Chloe asked. The shocked expression had been replaced by a smile.

“Depends on what you mean by got together. I’m no longer a virgin, if that’s what you mean,” Lucia said evenly. “But he was so over the top on painkillers he probably doesn’t remember a thing.”

The smile dropped from Chloe’s lips. “You think so?”

“I know so. He looked right in my face and asked me for my name.”

She took the next ten minutes and told Chloe everything, including the part about the panties she had left behind. “So that’s the end of it,” Lucia finished her tale by saying.

Chloe shook her head. “I really don’t think so for two reasons, Lucia. First, you’re in love with Derringer and have been for a very long time. I don’t see that coming to an end any time soon. In fact, now that the two of you have been intimate, you’re going to see him in a whole new light. Whenever you run into him, your hunger for him will automatically kick in.”

Chloe’s expression became even more serious when she said, “And you better hope Derringer doesn’t find your panties. If he does find them and can’t remember the woman he took them off of, he will do everything in his power to track her down.”

Lucia preferred not hearing that. She gripped the handle of her cup tightly in her hand. Turning away to look out the window to view downtown Denver, she drew in a deep ragged breath before taking a sip of her coffee. She hoped Chloe was wrong. The last thing she needed was to worry about that happening.

“With his reputation with women it will be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“Possibly. But what happens if he finds that needle?”

Lucia didn’t want to think about that. She had loved Derringer secretly for so long, she wasn’t sure she wanted that to change, especially when he didn’t love her back.

“Lucia?”

She turned and looked at Chloe. There was a serious expression on her best friend’s face. “I don’t know what will happen. I don’t want to think that far. I want to believe he won’t remember and let it go.”

A few moments passed. “What I said earlier was true. Whenever you see Derringer, you’re going to want him,” Chloe said softly.

She shrugged. “I’ve always wanted him, Clo.”

“Now it will be doubly so.”

Lucia opened her mouth to deny Chloe’s words and decided not to waste her time because she knew Chloe was probably right. She had thought about him all that day, barely getting any work done. She kept playing over and over in her mind just what the two of them had done together. “I will fight it,” she finally said.

Chloe bristled at her words. “It won’t be that simple.”

She could believe that. Nothing regarding Derringer had ever been simple for her. “Then what do you suggest I do?” Lucia said with resignation in her voice.

“Come out of hiding once and for all and go after him.”

She wasn’t surprised Chloe would advise her to do something like that. Her best friend was the daring one. She never hesitated in going after anything she wanted and she’d always envied Chloe for being so bold and brave.

Chloe must have seen the wistful look in her eyes and kept pushing. “Go after him, Lucia. Go ahead and take Derringer on. After last night, don’t you think it’s about time you did?”

A week later, Jason Westmoreland glanced over at his cousin and grinned. “Was that supposed to be a trick question or something?”

Derringer shook his head as he eased back in the chair. He’d done nothing over the past few days but stay on his pain medication and get plenty of sleep. Each time he awoke he would reach under his pillow and pull out the panties he had placed there just to make sure he hadn’t dreamed the whole thing. They proved that he hadn’t. And the name Puddin’ Tame, the alias the woman had given him, kept going through his mind.

This morning he woke feeling a whole lot better and decided to lay off the pills. He hoped clearing his head would trigger something in his memory about what happened a week ago. So far it hadn’t.

Jason had dropped by to check on him and the two were sharing early-morning coffee at the kitchen table. “No, it’s not a trick question. I figured I’d ask you first before moving on to Riley, Zane, Canyon and Stern. Afterward, I’ll compare everybody’s answers.”

Jason inclined his head with the barest hint of a nod. “Okay, I’ll give your question a shot, so go ahead and repeat it to make sure I heard you right.”

Derringer rolled his eyes and then leaned closer to the table. His expression was serious. “What can you tell about a woman from the panties she wears, both style and color?”

Jason rubbed his chin a moment. “I would have to say nothing in particular unless they are white, granny-style ones.”

“They aren’t.” He hadn’t told Jason why he was asking, and Jason, the easygoing Westmoreland, wouldn’t ask … There was no doubt in Derringer’s mind that everyone else would.

“Then I really don’t know,” Jason said, taking a sip of his coffee. “I think some pieces of clothing are supposed to convey messages about people. I picked white because it usually means innocence. But then again, Fannie Nelson had on a pair of low-riding jeans one day that showed her white panties, and she is a long way from being innocent.”

“Aren’t you curious as to why I want to know?”

“Yes, I’m curious, but not enough to ask. I figure you have your reasons and I don’t want to come close to thinking what they might be.”

Derringer nodded, understanding why Jason felt that way. His cousin knew his history with women. And what Jason said was true. He had his reasons, all right.

“So what do you plan to do today now that you’ve returned to the world of the living? I heard the E.R. doc tell you to take it easy for at least a week or so to recuperate, so you’re still under restrictions,” Jason reminded him.

“Yes, but I’m not restricted from driving. I’m going to hang around here and take it easy for a few more days before venturing out anywhere.”

“I’m glad you’re following the doc’s advice. Although things could have been worse, that was still a nasty fall you took. And as far as your question regarding women’s undergarments, I suggest you talk to Zane when he gets back from Boulder.” Jason chuckled and then added, “And be prepared to take notes.”

Two days later Derringer left home for the first time since his accident and drove to Zane’s Hideout. He was glad to see his brother’s truck parked in the yard, which meant he was back. Jason was right. He should have been prepared to take notes. Zane, who was only fourteen months older but a heck of a lot wiser where women were concerned, had no qualms about telling him what he wanted to know.

According to Zane, the color and style of a woman’s panties said a lot about her. Sexually liberated women wore thongs or barely-there panties, all colors except white, and they rarely wore pastel colors. Most of them preferred black.

Zane further went on to say that women who liked to tease men wore black lace. Women who preferred lace to any other design were women who liked to look and feel pretty. And bikini panties weren’t as popular these days as thongs and hipsters, so a woman still wearing bikini panties weren’t as sexually liberated as others.

Derringer smiled when Zane, with a serious look on his face, advised him to steer clear of women who wore granny panties. Zane furthermore claimed that women who wore red panties gave the best blow jobs. Those with yellow panties the majority of the time weren’t afraid to try anything and were pretty good with a pair of handcuffs. Blue panties–wearing women were loyal to a fault—although they had a tendency to get possessive sometimes, and those who preferred wearing green were only after your money, so the use of double condoms was in order.

It had taken his brother almost an hour to make it to pink panties and, according to the Laws of Zane, women who wear pink panties were the ones you needed to stay away from because they had the word marriage written all over them, blasting like neon lights. They were a cross between innocent and a woman with an inner hunger for getting laid. But in the end she would still want a wedding ring on her finger.

“Okay, now that you’ve taken up more than an hour of my time, how about telling me why you’re so interested in a woman’s panties,” Zane said, eyeing him curiously.

For a moment Derringer considered not telling his brother anything, but then thought better of it. He, his five brothers and all his cousins were close, but there was a special bond between him, Zane and Jason. Besides, it was evident that Zane knew a lot more about women than he did, so maybe his brother could give him some sound advice about how to handle what had occurred that night, just in case he had been set up.

“Some woman came over to my place the night I was injured and let herself in. I can’t remember who she was, but I do remember making love to her.”

Zane stared at him intently for a moment. “Are you absolutely sure you made love to her and didn’t imagine the whole thing? When we took you home from the hospital—right before I had to take off for the airport—you were pretty high on those pain meds. Megan figured that you would probably sleep through most of the night, although she set out more medicine for you to take later.”

Derringer shook his head. “Yeah, I was pretty drugged up, but I remember making love to her, Zane. And to prove I didn’t dream the whole thing, I found her panties in bed with me the next morning.” What he decided not to say was that as far as he was concerned, it had been the best lovemaking he’d ever experienced with a woman.

Zane drew in a deep breath and then said on a heavy sigh. “You better hope it wasn’t Ashira. Hell, man, if you didn’t use a condom she would love to claim you’re her new baby’s daddy.”

Derringer rubbed the ache that had suddenly crept into his temples at the thought. “It wasn’t Ashira, trust me. This woman left one hell of an impression. I’ve never experienced lovemaking like it before. It was off the charts. Besides, Ashira called a few days after hearing about the accident. She left town to go visit her sick grandmother in Dakota the day before the accident and won’t be back for a few weeks.”

“You do know there’s a way for you to find out the identity of your uninvited visitor, don’t you?” Zane asked.

Derringer glanced over at him. “How?”

“Did you forget about the video cameras we had installed on your property to protect the horses, the week before your fall? Anyone pulling into your yard would be captured on film if they got as far as your front porch.”

Derringer blinked when he remembered the video camera and wondered why he hadn’t recalled it sooner. He got up from Zane’s table and swiftly strode to the door. “I need to get home and check out that tape,” he said without looking back.

“What happens when you find out who she is?” Zane called out.

He slowed to a stop and glanced over his shoulder. “Whoever she is, she will be sorry.” He then turned and continued walking.

He meant what he said. Thanks to Zane, the mystery might have been solved. But once Derringer discovered the woman’s identity, her nightmare for what she’d done would just be beginning, he thought, getting into his truck and driving away. He had a feeling his nightmare would continue until he found her—their night together had been so good, it haunted his dreams.

He made it back to Derringer’s Dungeon in record time, and once inside his house he immediately went to his office to log on to his computer. The technician who had installed the video camera had told him he had access to the film from any computer anywhere with his IP address. This would be the first time he had reason to view the footage since the cameras had been installed.

A year ago his Westmoreland cousins from Montana had expanded their very successful horse-breeding and training business and had invited him, Jason and Zane to join as partners. Since all three were fine horsemen—although you couldn’t prove how good he was, considering what had happened on Monday—they had jumped at the chance to be included. In anticipation of the horses that would be arriving, they had decided to install cameras on all three of their properties to make sure horse thieves, which were known to pop up every so often in these parts, didn’t get any ideas about stealing from a Westmoreland.

Derringer hauled in a deep breath when the computer came to life and he typed in the code to get him to the video-camera channel and almost held his breath as he searched for the date he wanted. He then sat there, with his gaze glued to the computer screen, and waited with bated breath for something to show up.

It seemed it took forever before the lights of a vehicle came into view. The time indicated it wasn’t early afternoon, not quite dark, but there had been a thunderstorm brewing. He then recalled it had been raining something awful with thunder and lightning flashing all around. At one point the intensity of it had awakened him.

He squinted at the image, trying to make out the truck that turned into his yard in the torrential rain. It seemed the weather worsened and rain started to pour down on the earth the moment the vehicle pulled into his yard.

It took only a second to recall whose SUV was in focus and he could only lean back in his chair, not believing what he was seeing. The woman who got out of her truck, battling the weather before tackling the huge box on his porch by dragging it inside his place was none other than Lucia Conyers.

He shook his head trying to make heads or tails of what he was seeing. Okay, he had it now. He figured, for whatever reason, Lucia had come by—probably as a favor to Chloe—to check on him and had been kind enough to bring the box inside the house, out of the rain.

He sat there watching the computer screen, expecting her to come back out at any minute and then get in her truck and pull off. He figured once she left, another vehicle would drive up, and the occupant of that car would be the woman he’d slept with. But as he sat there for another twenty minutes or so viewing the screen, Lucia never came back out.

Lucia Conyers was his Puddin’ Tame?

Derringer shook his head, thinking that there was no way. He then decided to fast-forward the tape to five o’clock the next morning. His eyes narrowed suspiciously when a few minutes later he watched his front door open and Lucia ease out of it as if she was sneaking away from the scene of some crime. And she was wearing the same clothes she had on when she’d first arrived the night before. It was obvious she had dressed hurriedly and was moving rather quickly toward her SUV.

Damn. He couldn’t believe it. He wouldn’t believe it if he wasn’t seeing it for himself. She was the one woman he would never have suspected, not in a million years. But from the evidence he’d gotten off his video camera, Lucia was the woman he had slept with. Lucia, his sister-in-law’s best friend. Lucia was innocent—at least his assumption of that had been right. His mystery lover had been Lucia, the woman who would shy away from him and act skittish whenever he came around her.

Last month he recalled hearing Chloe and his sisters tease her about this being the last year of her twenties and challenge her to write a list of everything she wanted to do before hitting the big three-oh. He couldn’t help wondering if she had added something outlandish like getting pregnant before her biological clock stopped ticking or ridding herself of her virginity.

Anger filled him, seeped through every pore in his body. Lucia Conyers had a hell of a lot of explaining to do. She better have a good reason for getting into bed with him that night two weeks ago.

He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and punched in the number to his sister-in-law’s magazine.

“Simply Irresistible, may I help you?”

“Yes, I’d like to speak to Lucia Conyers, please,” he said, trying to control his anger.

“Sorry, but Ms. Conyers just stepped out for lunch.”

“Did she say where she was going?” he asked.

The receptionist paused and then asked. “Who may I ask is calling?”

“This is Mr. Westmoreland.”

“Oh, Mr. Westmoreland, how are you? Your wife and baby were here a couple of days ago, and your daughter looks just like you.”

Derringer shook his head. Evidently the woman thought he was Ramsey, which was okay with him if he could get the information he wanted out of her.

“I take that as a compliment. Did Lucia say where she was going for lunch?”

“Yes, sir. She’s dining at McKay’s today.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, sir.”

Derringer hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair as an idea formed in his mind. He wouldn’t let her know he had found out the truth about her visit. He would let her assume that she had gotten away with it and that he didn’t have a clue that she was the woman who’d taken advantage of him that night.

And then when she least expected it, he would play his hand.

Three

Something, Lucia wasn’t sure exactly what, made her glance over her menu and look straight into the eyes of Derringer Westmoreland. She went completely still as he moved in fluid precision toward her, with an unreadable expression on his face.

Staring at him, taking him all in, all six-three of him, while broad shoulders flexed beneath a blue Western shirt, and a pair of jeans clung to him like a second layer of skin and showed the iron muscles in his thighs. And then there was his face, too handsome for words, with his medium-brown skin tone, dark coffee-colored eyes and firm and luscious-looking lips.

For the moment she couldn’t move; she was transfixed. A part of her wanted to get up quickly and run in another direction, but she felt glued to the chair. But that didn’t stop liquid heat from pooling between her thighs when her gaze locked onto his face and she looked at the same features she had seen almost two weeks ago in his bed.

Why was he here and approaching her table? Had he found her panties and figured out she was the woman who had left them behind? She swallowed, thinking there was no way he could have discovered her identity, but then she asked herself why else would he seek her out?

He finally came to a stop at her table and she nervously moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. She could swear his gaze was following her every movement. She swallowed again, thinking she had to be imagining things, and opened her mouth to speak. “Derringer? What are you doing here? Chloe mentioned you had taken a nasty fall a couple of weeks ago.”

“Yes, but a man has to eat sometime. I was told McKay’s serves the best potpie on Thursdays for lunch and there’s always a huge crowd. I saw you sitting over here alone and thought the least we can do is help the place out,” he said.

She was trying hard to follow him and not focus on the way his Adam’s apple moved with every word he said, as if it was on some sensuous beat. She lifted a brow. “Help the place out in what way?”

He gave her a smooth smile. “Freeing up a table by us sharing one.”

Lucia was trying really hard not to show any emotion—especially utter astonishment and disbelief—as well as not to let the menu she was holding fall to the floor. Had he just suggested that they share a table during lunch? Breathe the same air?

She was tempted to pick up the glass filled with ice water and drink the whole thing in one gulp. Instead, she drew in a deep breath to stop her heart from pounding so hard in her chest. How could spending only one night in his bed cause her to want to let go of her sensibilities and play out these newfound urges at the sight of him?

Of course, there was no way she would do something like that. In fact, a part of her was shaking inside at the thought he wanted to join her for lunch. She quickly wondered how Chloe would handle the situation if she was in her place. The answer came easy, but then she wasn’t Chloe. However, she had to keep her cool and respond with the confidence Chloe possessed. The confidence that she lacked.

Lucia forced a smile to her lips. “I think that’s a good idea, Derringer.”

His lips eased into a smile right before her eyes. “Glad you agree,” he said, taking the chair across from her.

She forced herself to breathe and belatedly realized just what she’d done. She had agreed to let him sit at her table. What on earth would they have to talk about? What if she let something slip and said something really stupid like, “Oh, by the way, when can I drop by and get the panties I left behind the other night?”

She sighed heavily. For all she knew, he might have figured things out already. Seriously, why else would he give a royal flip whether or not McKay’s was crowded for lunch? That in itself was suspect because he’d never sought out her attention before.

She glanced over at him and he smiled at her, flashing those same dimples that he’d flashed that night she almost melted in her chair. He looked the same, only thing was that his eyes no longer had a hungover look. Today his gaze was as clear as glass.

The waitress saved them from talking when she walked up to take both their lunch orders. When she left, Lucia wished she had a mirror to see how she looked. She would die if she didn’t at least look halfway decent. Absently, she ran a finger through her hair and pressed her lips together. She was grateful to feel her lipstick still in place, although she was tempted to get the tube of lipstick from her purse and apply a fresh coat.

“I understand you’re back in school.”

She was watching his mouth and his lips moved. She realized he’d said something. “Excuse me?”

He smiled again. “I said I heard you were back in school.”

“Yes, I am. How did you know?”

“Chloe mentioned it.”

“Oh.” She wondered why Chloe would mention such a thing unless he’d asked about her. Had he? She shook her head, finding the idea unlikely. Her name must have popped up for conversational purposes and nothing more than that. If there had been anything more, Chloe definitely would have told her.

“Yes, I’m back at school taking night classes to get my master’s degree in mass communications.” Then, without missing a beat, she said, “You seem to be doing well from your fall.” No sooner had the words left her mouth than she wished she could take them back. Why on earth would she bring up anything relating to that day?

“Yes, but I’m doing better now. I’ve been taking it easy for the past week or so and sleeping most of the time. It helped. I feel in pretty good shape now.”

She didn’t know how to tell him that as far as she was concerned, he’d been in pretty good shape that night as well. His movements hadn’t been hindered in any way. The thought of all he’d done to her sent heat soaring all through her body.

“So, what else have you been up to lately?”

Lucia felt her heart give a loud thump in her chest and wondered if he’d heard it. Dragging her gaze from her silverware, she thought that she could remember in vivid detail just what she’d been up to lately with him. Sitting across from her was the man who’d taken her virginity. The man who’d introduced her to the kind of pleasure she’d only read about in romance novels, and the man whom she’d loved forever. And knowing he probably had no idea of any of those things was the epitome of insane. But somehow she would fake it and come off looking like the most poised person that ever existed.

“Not a whole lot,” she heard herself saying. “School and the magazine keep me pretty busy, but because I enjoy doing both I won’t complain. What about you?” His gaze seemed to linger on her lips.

He chuckled. “Other than making a fool of myself with Sugar Foot, I haven’t been up to a whole lot either.”

She inclined her head. “What on earth would entice you to ride that horse? I think everyone has heard how mean he is.”

He chuckled and the sound was a low, sexy rumble that made goose bumps form on her arms. “Ego. I figured if Casey could do it then so could I.”

She knew his cousin Casey and her husband, along with his cousin Durango and his wife, Savannah, had come visiting a few weekends ago. She’d heard everyone had been amazed at the ease with which Casey had gotten on Sugar Foot’s back and held on even when the horse had been determined to get her off.

“I’m a pretty good horseman,” Derringer said, breaking into her thoughts. “Although I’d be the first to admit I wasn’t personally trained by the renowned and legendary Sid Roberts like Casey and her brothers while growing up.”

Lucia nodded. His cousins Casey, Cole and Clint were triplets, and she had heard that they had lived with Roberts, their maternal uncle, while growing up. “We can all learn from the mistakes we make,” she said, taking a sip of her water to cool off.

“Yes, we sure can.”

Deciding she needed to escape, if only for a short moment, Lucia stood. “Would you excuse me for a moment? I need to go to the ladies’ room.”

“Sure, no problem,” he said, standing.

Lucia drew in a deep breath, wishing she was walking out the restaurant door with no intention of returning and not just escaping to the ladies’ room. And as she continued walking, she could actually feel Derringer staring at her back.

Derringer watched Lucia leave, thinking she looked downright sexy in her below-the-knee skirt and light blue pullover sweater. And then he couldn’t help but admire her small waistline and the flare of her hips in the skirt as she walked. Standing about five-seven, she had a pair of nice-looking black leather boots on her feet, but he could recall just what a nice pair of legs she had and remembered how those legs had felt wrapped around him the night they’d made love.

He would be the first to admit that he’d always thought Lucia was pretty, with her smooth brown skin and lustrous shoulder-length black hair that she usually wore pulled back in a ponytail. Then there were her hazel eyes, high cheekbones, cute chin and slim nose. And he couldn’t forget her luscious-looking mouth, one that could probably do a lot of wicked things to a man.

He leaned back in his chair remembering how years ago when she’d been about eighteen—about to leave home for college—and he had been in the process of moving back home from university, she had caught his eye. In memory of his parents and his aunt and uncle, who’d died together in a plane crash while he was in high school, the Westmorelands held a charity ball every year to raise money for the Westmoreland Foundation, which had been founded to aid various community causes. Lucia had attended the ball that year with her parents.

He had been standing by the punch bowl when she had arrived, and the sight of her in the dress she’d been wearing that night had rendered him breathless. He hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her all evening. Evidently others had noticed his interest, and one of those had been her father, Dusty Conyers.

Later that same night the older man had pulled him aside and warned him away from his daughter. He let Derringer know in no uncertain terms that he would not tolerate a Westmoreland sniffing behind his daughter, creating the kind of trouble that Carl Newsome was having with Derringer’s cousin Bane.

Bane had had the hots for Crystal Newsome since junior high school, and since Bane had a penchant for getting into trouble, Newsome hadn’t wanted him anywhere near his daughter. Unfortunately, Crystal had other ideas and had been just as hot for Bane as he’d been for her, and Crystal and Bane managed to get into all kinds of naughty trouble together. Once, they’d even tried their hand at eloping before Carl Newsome had found his daughter and shipped her off to heaven knows where. A brokenhearted Bane had decided to take charge of his life by going into the Navy.

Derringer knew that although he didn’t have Bane’s badass reputation, he was still a Westmoreland, and a lot of mamas and daddies were dead set on protecting their daughters from what they thought was a Westmoreland heartbreak just waiting to happen. A part of him couldn’t fault Dusty Conyers for being one of them; especially since Derringer had made it known far and wide that he had no plans to settle down with any one woman. A wife was the last thing on his mind then as well as now. Making a success of the horse-training business he’d just started was his top priority.

“I’m back.”

He glanced up and stood for her to sit and thought that Lucia was even more beautiful up close. She had a nervous habit of licking her lips with her tongue. He would do just about anything to replace her tongue with his the next time she did it. And he also liked the sound of her voice. She spoke in a quiet yet sexy tone that did things to his insides, and he decided to keep her talking every chance he got.

“Tell me about the classes you’re taking at the university and why you decided to go back and get your master’s degree.”

She lifted a brow and then her lips curved into one of her smiles again. Evidently, he’d hit on a subject she liked talking about. “Although Chloe hasn’t made any announcements about anything, I can see her spending less and less time with Simply Irresistible. Whenever she does come into the office she has the baby with her, and it’s obvious that she prefers being home with Susan and Ramsey.”

He nodded, thinking he’d had that same impression as well. Whenever he paid Ramsey and Chloe a visit, they appeared to be a content and very happy couple who thoroughly enjoyed being parents. He’d heard from his other brothers that already Ramsey and Chloe were thinking about having another child.

“And I want to be prepared if she decides to take a leave of absence for a while,” Lucia continued. “She and I talked about it, and because my bachelor’s degree was in business, we thought it would be a good idea for me to get a degree in communications as well.”

The waitress chose that moment to return with their food, and once the plates had been placed in front of them, she left.

“I understand Gemma is adjusting to life in Australia.”

He couldn’t help but smile. Although he missed his sister, it seemed from all the phone calls they got that she was adjusting to life in Australia. He’d known Callum, the man who used to be the manager of Ramsey’s sheep farm, had loved Gemma for a while, even if his sister had been clueless. He’d always known Callum’s feelings for Gemma had been the real thing and not for the sole purpose of getting her into bed. He’d wholeheartedly approved of Gemma and Callum’s relationship.

“Yes, I talked to her a few days ago. She and Callum are planning to come home for the Westmoreland Charity Ball at the end of the month.” He wondered if she planned to go and if so, if she already had a date.

“Are you dating anyone seriously?” he decided to ask and set his plan into motion.

She looked over at him after popping a strawberry into her luscious mouth, chewed on it a moment, and then she swallowed it before replying. “The only dates I have these days are with my schoolbooks.”

“Um, what a pity, that doesn’t sound like a lot of fun. How about a movie this weekend?”

She cocked a surprised eyebrow. “A movie?”

He could tell his suggestion had surprised her. “Yes, a movie. Evidently, you’re not spending enough time having fun, and everyone needs to let loose now and then. There’s a new Tyler Perry movie coming out this weekend that I want to see. Would you like to go with me?”

Lucia’s heart began pounding in her chest as she quickly reached the conclusion that Derringer had to have figured out that she was the woman who’d brazenly shared his bed. What other reason could he have for asking her out? Why the sudden interest in her when he’d never shown any before?

Their eyes held for what seemed like several electrifying moments before she finally broke eye contact with him. But what if he didn’t know, and asking her out was merely a coincidence? There was only one way to find out. She glanced back over at him and saw he was still staring at her with that unreadable expression of his. “Why do you want to take me out, Derringer?”

He gave her a smooth smile. “I told you. You’re spending too much time studying and working and need to have a little fun.”

She still wasn’t buying it. “We’ve known each other for years. Yet you’ve never asked me out before. In fact, you’ve never shown any interest.”

He chuckled. “It wasn’t that I didn’t want to show an interest, Lucia, but I love my life and all my body parts.”

She raised a brow and paused with the fork halfway to her mouth. “What do you mean?”

He took a sip of his iced tea and then his mouth curved ruefully. “I was warned away from you early on and took the warning seriously.”

She nearly dropped the fork from her hand and had to tighten her grip to place it back down. “What do you mean you were warned away from me?” That was impossible. She’d never had a boyfriend jealous enough to do such a thing.

A grin flashed across his face. “Your dad knows how to scare a man off, trust me.”

Her head began spinning at the same time her heart slammed hard against her rib cage. “My dad warned you away from me?”

He smiled. “Yes, and I took him seriously. It was the summer you were about to leave for college. You were eighteen and I was twenty-two and returning home from university. You attended the Westmoreland Charity Ball with your parents before you left. He saw me checking you out, probably thought my interest wasn’t honorable, and pulled me aside and told me to keep my eyes to myself or else …”

Lucia swallowed. She knew her dad. His bark was worse than his bite, but most people didn’t know that. “Or else what?”

“Or else my eyes, along with another body part I’d rather not mention, would get pulled from their sockets. The last thing he would put up with was a Westmoreland dating his daughter.”

Lucia didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She could see her father making a threat like that because he was overprotective of her. But she doubted Derringer knew how much his words thrilled her. He had been checking her out when she was eighteen?

She nervously moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue and couldn’t help noticing the movement of his gaze to her mouth. Her skin began burning at the thought that he had been attracted to her even when she hadn’t had a clue. But still …

“Aw, come on, Derringer, that was more than ten years ago,” she said in a teasing tone.

“Yes, but you probably don’t recall a few years ago I dropped by the paint store to make a purchase and you were working behind the counter and waited on me.”

Oh, she definitely remembered that day, and three years later hadn’t been able to forget it. But of course she couldn’t tell him that. “That was a long time ago, but I think I remember that day. You needed a can of paint thinner.” She could probably tell him what brand it was and exactly how much he’d paid for it.

“Yes, well, I had planned to ask you out then, but Mr. Conyers gave me a look that reminded me of the conversation we’d had years before and that his opinion of me pursuing you hadn’t changed.”

She couldn’t help but laugh and it felt good. He had actually wanted to talk to her then, too. “I can’t believe you were afraid of Dad.”

“Believe it, sweetheart. He can give you a look that lets you know he means business. And it didn’t help that he and Bane had had a run-in a few years before when Bane swiped a can of paint on display in front of the store and used it to paint some not-so-nice graffiti all over the front of Mr. Milner’s feed store and signed off by saying it was a present from your father.”

Lucia wiped tears of laughter from her eyes. “I was away at college, but I heard about that. Mom wrote and told me all the details. You’re right, Dad was upset and so was Mr. Milner. Your cousin Bane had a reputation for getting into all kinds of trouble. How are things going with him and the Navy?”

“He’s doing fine at the Naval Academy. It’s hard to believe he’s been gone for almost two years already, but he has.”

“And he hasn’t been back since he left?”

Derringer shook his head sadly. “No, not even once. He refuses to come back knowing Crystal isn’t here, and he’s still angry that he doesn’t know where she is. The Newsomes made sure of that before they moved away. We are hoping he’ll eventually forget her and move on, but so far he hasn’t.”

In a way, she knew how Bane felt. She hadn’t looked forward to returning to Denver either, knowing she was still harboring feelings for Derringer. It was hard running into him while he was dating other girls and wishing they were her. And now to find out they could have been her. Her father had no idea what he’d done and the sad thing was that she couldn’t get mad at him. Bane hadn’t been the only Westmoreland with a reputation that had made it hard on the other family members. Derringer’s younger brothers—the twins, Adrian and Aidan—as well as his baby sister Bailey had been Bane’s sidekicks and had gotten into just as much trouble.

Needless to say, it had gotten to the point everyone in town would get up in arms when they saw any Westmoreland headed their way. But she had heard her father say more than once lately that considering everything, he thought Dillon and Ramsey had done a pretty good job in raising their siblings and in keeping the family together, and that he actually admired them for it. She knew that several people in town did. All the Westmorelands were college-educated and in some sort of business for themselves or holding prestigious jobs. And together they were the wealthiest family in the county and the largest landowners. People no longer feared them, they highly respected them.

“Just look how things turned out, Derringer,” she heard herself say. “The twins are at Harvard. Bailey will be finishing up her studies at the university here in a year, and Bane is in the hands of Uncle Sam. Ramsey mentioned that Bane wants to become a Navy SEAL. In that case, he has to learn discipline, among other things.”

Derringer chuckled. “For Bane, even with Uncle Sam, that won’t be easy to do.” He picked up his glass to take a sip of his iced tea. “So do we have a date for Saturday night or what?”

A date with Derringer Westmoreland …

She couldn’t stop herself from feeling all giddy inside. She almost trembled at the thought. But at the same time she knew she had to be realistic. He would take her out on Saturday night and probably some other girl on Sunday. He’d asked her out to the movies, not a trip to Vegas to get married.

She would take the date for what it was and not put too much stock in it. She hadn’t been born yesterday and she knew Derringer’s reputation around town. He dated a lot, but let it be known that he didn’t like women who clung or got too possessive.

Still, she couldn’t help but smile at the thought that he was attracted to her and had been since she was eighteen. Didn’t that account for something? She decided that it did.

“Yes, I’d love to go to the movies with you Saturday night, Derringer.”

Four

Derringer frowned the moment he pulled into his yard and saw his sister Bailey’s car parked there. The last thing he needed was for her to drop by to play nursemaid again. Megan was bad enough, but his baby sister Bailey was worse. She had only been seven when their parents had gotten killed. Now at twenty-two, she attended college full-time, and when she didn’t have her nose stuck in some book it was stuck in her five brothers’ personal affairs. She liked making it her business to know anything and everything about their comings and goings. Now that Ramsey was married, she’d given him some slack, but she hadn’t let up with him, Zane and the twins.

He wondered how long she’d been there waiting on him and figured she probably wouldn’t like the fact that he hadn’t been home and had driven into town. Since she wasn’t out on the porch, that meant she had let herself inside, which wouldn’t be a hard thing to do since he never locked his doors. His sister flung open the door the moment his foot touched the step. The look on her face let him know he was in trouble. She was there when the doctor restricted him from doing almost anything, other than breathing and eating, for two weeks.

“Just where have you been, Derringer Westmoreland, in your condition?”

He walked past her to put his hat on the rack. “And what condition is that, Bailey?”

“You’re injured.”

“Yes, but I’m not dead.”

He regretted the words the moment they left his mouth when he saw the expression that suddenly appeared on her face. He and his brothers knew the real reason Bailey was so overprotective of them was that she was afraid of losing them the way she’d lost their parents.

But he could admit to having the same fears, and if he were to analyze things further, he would probably conclude that Zane had them as well. All of them had been close to their parents, aunt and uncle. Everyone had taken their deaths hard. The way Derringer had managed to move on, and not look back, was by not getting too attached to anyone. He had his cousins and his siblings. He loved them, and they were all he needed. If he were to fall in love, give his heart to a woman, and then something were to happen to her—there was no telling how he’d handle it, or even if he could. He liked things just the way they were. And, for that reason, he doubted he would ever marry.

He crossed the room and placed a hand on her shoulder when he saw her trembling. “Hey, come on, Bail, it wasn’t that bad. You were there at the hospital and heard what Dr. Epps said. It’s been almost two weeks now and I’m fine.”

“But I also heard him say that it could have been worse, Derringer.”

“But it wasn’t. Look, unless you came to cook for me or do my laundry, you can visit some other time. I’m going to take a nap.”

He saw the sad look on her face turn mutinous and knew his ploy had worked. She didn’t like it when he bossed her around or came across as if she was at his beck and call. “Cook your own damn meals and do your own laundry, or get one of those silly girls who fawn all over you to do it.”

“Whatever. And watch your mouth, Bailey, or I’ll think you’re slipping back to your old ways and I’ll have to wash your mouth out with soap.”

She grabbed the remote off the table, dropped down on the sofa and began watching television, ignoring him. He glanced at his watch and fought to hide his smile. “So, how long are you staying?” he asked. Because she hadn’t yet inherited her one hundred acres, she had a tendency to spend time at any of their places. Most of the time she stayed with Megan, which suited all her brothers just fine because Bailey had a tendency to drop in unannounced at the most inconvenient times.

Like now.

She didn’t even look over at him when she finally answered his question. “I’m staying until I’m ready to leave. You have a problem with it?”

“No.”

“Good,” she said, using the remote to flip to another channel. “Now go take your nap and I hope when you wake up you’re in a lot better mood.”

He chuckled as he leaned down and planted a brotherly kiss on her forehead. “Thanks for worrying about me so much, kid,” he said softly.

“If me, Megan and Gemma don’t do it, who will? All those silly girls you mess around with are only after your money.”

He lifted a brow in mock surprise. “You think so?”

She glanced up at him and rolled her eyes. “If you don’t know the truth about them then you’re in real trouble, Derringer.”

Derringer chuckled again thinking yes, he knew the truth about them … especially one in particular. Lucia Conyers. He didn’t think of her as one of those “silly girls” and knew Bailey wouldn’t either. He would be taking Lucia to the movies Saturday night. He intended to return her panties to her then. He looked forward to the moment her mouth fell open and she realized he knew what she’d done and had known all this time. He couldn’t wait to see what excuse she would come up with for what she had done.

Before heading up the stairs, he decided to feel his sister out about something. “I ran into Lucia Conyers a few moments ago at McKay’s.”

Bailey didn’t take her gaze off the television and for a moment he thought that possibly she hadn’t heard him, but then she responded. “And?”

He smiled. “And we shared a table since McKay’s was crowded.” He paused a moment. “She’s pretty. I never realized just how pretty she is.” The latter he knew wasn’t true, because he’d always known how pretty she was.

He watched as Bailey slowly turned toward him with a frown on her face. “I hope you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking.”

He smiled. “Oh, I don’t know. What do you think I’m thinking?”

“That you plan to hit on Lucia.”

He grinned. “If by ‘hit on her’ you mean ask her out, I’ve already done so. We have a date to go to the movies this Saturday night.”

Bailey’s eyes widened. “Are you crazy? That’s Chloe’s best friend.”

Now it was his turn. “And?”

“And everybody around these parts knows how most of the single male Westmorelands operate. You’re used to those silly girls and wouldn’t know how to appreciate a woman with sense like Lucia.”

“You don’t think so?”

“I know so and if you end up doing something stupid like hurting her, Chloe would never forgive you for it.”

He shrugged at the thought. Chances were, Chloe had no idea what her best friend had pulled that night. And as far as what Bailey said about Lucia’s having sense, he didn’t doubt that, which made him uneasy about just what she would gain from tumbling into bed with him.

“Lucia is an adult. She can handle me,” he said. He wouldn’t break it down and tell her that Lucia had handled him and had done a real good job doing so. He got a hard-on every time he thought about that night.

“I’m still warning you, Derringer. And besides being Chloe’s best friend, Megan, Gemma and I like her as well.”

He cocked an amused brow. “I guess that means a lot. The three of you never like any of the girls I date. I’ll have to keep that in mind.”

Without giving his kid sister time to say anything else, he quickly moved up the stairs for his nap.

Lucia couldn’t wait to get back to her office to give Chloe a call and tell her about her date on Saturday night with Derringer.

“I’m happy for you,” Chloe said with a smile in her voice that Lucia heard. “Falling off that horse must have knocked some sense into him. At least you know why he never approached you before. I can see your dad warning him off. I heard the Westmorelands had quite a reputation back in the day.”

Lucia nodded. “And you think I did the right thing in agreeing to go out with him?”

“Come on, Lucia, don’t you dare ask me that. You’ve loved the guy forever. You’ve even gone so far as to sleep with him.”

She drew in a deep, ragged breath. “But he doesn’t know that. At least I don’t think he does.”

“You honestly think he doesn’t know?”

“I assumed he did and that was the only reason he wanted to share my table.”

She heard Chloe bristle at that assumption. “Why do you continue to think you’re no match for Derringer when you’re classier than all those other women he messes around with?”

“But that’s just it, Chloe. I’m not the kind of woman he prefers, the kind he has a history of dating. I can’t hold a candle to someone like Ashira Lattimore. And everyone knows she has been vying for his attention for years.”

“I’ve met her and she’s spoiled, self-centered, possessive and clingy. Definitely not wife material.”

“Wife material?” Lucia laughed. “A wife is the furthest thing from Derringer’s mind. You know that as well as I do.”

“Yes, but I’m sure a lot of people said the same thing about Ramsey before I arrived on the scene. So that means a man’s mind can change with the right woman. All you have to do is convince Derringer you’re the right woman.”

Lucia cringed at the thought of trying to do that. She wouldn’t even know where to begin. “That’s easy for you to say and do, Chloe. You’ve always been sure of yourself in everything you did.”

“In that case, maybe you ought to try it for yourself. Just think, Lucia. Evidently Derringer is on your hook and now you have the chance to reel him right on in. You know how I feel about missed opportunities. How would things have turned out had I accepted Ramsey’s refusal to be on the cover of my magazine? I saw what I wanted and decided to go after it. I think you should use that same approach.”

“I don’t know,” Lucia said on a heavy sigh. This wasn’t the first time Chloe had made that suggestion. A part of her knew her friend was right, but what she was suggesting was easier said than done. At least for her it was.

“Think about it. Saturday is only two days away and if I were you, when Derringer arrived at my place to pick me up I’d make sure he would take one look at me and know he would enjoy every minute of his time in my presence. Now’s your chance, Lucia. Don’t let it go by without taking advantage of it.”

A few moments later, after hanging up the phone with Chloe, indecisiveness weighed heavy in her chest. More than anything she would love to pique Derringer’s interest, but what if she failed in her efforts to do so? What if she couldn’t get the one man she loved to want to love her back? Was there a possibility that she was wrong about the type of women Derringer actually preferred?

One thing Chloe had said was true. No one would have figured that Ramsey Westmoreland would have fallen for any woman. The man had been set in his ways for years and the last woman he’d attempted to marry had announced she was pregnant from another man in the middle of the wedding. Yet, he had fallen in love with Chloe, whether he had wanted to or not. So maybe there was hope for all those other single Westmorelands; but especially for Derringer.

“I’ve heard you’re interested in women’s undergarments these days, Derringer. Is there a reason why?”

Derringer slowly turned away from the pool table with a cue stick in his hand to gaze at each man in the dimly lit room inside his basement. Now that he knew who his late-night visitor had been, he wouldn’t tell anyone, not even Zane, her identity.

“No reason,” he answered his cousin Canyon who was four years younger.

Canyon smiled. “Well, you never got around to asking me anything, but just so you know, the women I date don’t wear underwear.”

Derringer shook his head and chuckled. He didn’t find that hard to believe. He studied the other men who had gone back to sipping their beers while waiting their turn at shooting pool—his brother Zane and his cousins Jason, Riley, Canyon and Stern. They were as close as brothers. Zane knew more than the others about the situation with him and the underwear, but Derringer was confident his brother wouldn’t say anything.

“So, what’s this I hear about you going on a date with Lucia? I thought old man Conyers pretty much scared you off her years ago,” Jason said, chuckling.

Derringer couldn’t help but smile. “He did, but like you said, it was years ago. Lucia isn’t a kid anymore. She’s an adult and old enough to make her own decisions about who she wants to date.”

“True, but she’s not your type and you know it,” Riley piped in.

Derringer lifted a brow. That was the same thing Bailey had alluded to earlier that day. “And what, supposedly, is my type?”

“Women who wear black panties,” Canyon said, chuckling.

“Or no panties at all,” Riley added, laughing.

“Hmm, for all you all know, my taste in women might have changed,” he said, turning back to the pool table.

Zane snorted. “Since when? Since you got thrown off Sugar Foot’s back and hit your head?”

Derringer frowned as he turned back around. “I didn’t hit my head.”

“Makes us wonder,” Riley said. “First you’re going around asking about women’s underwear and now you’re taking Lucia Conyers out on a date. You better treat her right or Chloe will come gunning for you.”

“Hell, we’ll all come gunning for you,” Zane said, taking a sip of his beer. “We like her.”

Derringer turned back to the pool table and proceeded to chalk his stick. At the moment, he didn’t give a royal flip how his family felt about Lucia. He still planned to deal with her in his own way and if they didn’t like the outcome that was too bad.

Five

By the time seven o’clock came around on Saturday night, Lucia was almost a nervous wreck. She had pulled her father aside that week to verify what Derringer had told her. With a sheepish grin on his face, Dusty Conyers hadn’t denied a thing, and had laughingly agreed he had intentionally put the fear of God in Derringer. He didn’t regret doing so and was glad it had worked.

He did agree that now she was old enough to handle her own business and wouldn’t butt in again. She had ended up giving him a kiss on his bald head after telling him how much she loved him, and that he was the best dad in the whole wide world.

His confirmation meant that what Derringer had said the other day was true. He had shown interest in her years ago, but her father had discouraged him. Although she knew she would always wonder how things might have gone if her father hadn’t intervened, she was a firm believer that things happened for a reason. Besides, at eighteen she doubted she would have been able to handle the likes of Derringer Westmoreland and was even doubtful she could have at twenty-two. She wasn’t even confident she had the ability to handle him now, but was determined to try. She was convinced there was a reason she had shared his bed that night.

She just wished she had a clue what that reason was.

She was grateful that one didn’t have anything to do with the other. The reason he had asked her out had nothing to do with them sleeping together and she felt good about that. She had played the details of their night together over and over in her mind so many times that she knew practically every single movement by heart.

All week she had found herself going to bed but unable to sleep until she replayed in her mind every sensation she’d felt that night. It didn’t take much to remember how it felt to grip his iron-steel shoulders beneath her fingers while he thrust in and out of her. The thought of making love with a man like Derringer sent sensuous chills up her spine.

She knew the exact moment Derringer pulled into her driveway. From the smooth hum of the engine she could tell he was driving his two-seater sports car instead of his truck. That meant the car’s interior would be that much cozier. The thought of being in such proximity to Derringer stirred all kinds of feelings inside.

She had spoken to Chloe earlier and her best friend had said the Westmorelands were torn as to whether or not her dating Derringer was a good idea, considering his history with women. Bottom line was that no one wanted to see her get hurt. But what they didn’t know was that she had loved Derringer so long that to her tonight was really a dream come true. And if he never asked her out again that would be fine because she would always have memories of tonight to add to those she had of that Monday night. Not that she expected things would get as heated tonight as they had in his bedroom, mind you. But she couldn’t wait to see what was in store for her tonight. Just knowing she was Derringer’s date made her feel good inside, and knowing he had no ulterior motive in taking her out made it that much more special.

Derringer smiled when he pulled into Lucia’s driveway, thinking her house was the brightest on the block with floodlights in every corner, the porch light on and a light pole shining in the front of the yard. He thought it was a real nice neighborhood with beautiful trees on both sides of the street and the silhouette of mountains in the background. But he felt crowded. One of the pitfalls of being a Westmoreland was that because each of them owned a hundred acres of land, living anywhere else would seem restrictive and too confining.

As he walked up to the porch, he felt as if he was under the bright lights and wouldn’t be surprised if some of her neighbors were watching him. In fact, he was certain he saw the front curtain move in the house across the street. He chuckled, thinking if she could deal with her nosy neighbors then he certainly could.

Besides, he had enough on his plate dealing with his own nosy relatives. Maybe it had been a bad idea to mention his date to Bailey. She hadn’t wasted time spreading the word. He’d gotten a number of calls warning him he had best behave tonight—whatever that meant. And yet, the one call he’d expected, the one from Chloe, had never come. That made him wonder if she knew a lot more than he thought she did.

He glanced at his watch before ringing Lucia’s doorbell. It was seven-thirty exactly. He’d made good time and since he’d already reserved tickets online, they wouldn’t have to stand in line at the theater. He had thought of everything, including when would be the best time to drop the bomb on her about that night. He had decided that they would enjoy the movie first before dealing with any unpleasantness.

He heard the lock turn on her door and then seconds later she was standing there, illuminated in the doorway. He blinked in surprise when he gazed down at her. She looked different. She’d always been a pretty girl, but tonight she looked absolutely stunning.

Gone was the ponytail. Instead, her hair was curled and fell in feathered waves to her shoulders. And she had done something with her eyes that made them look more striking and the entire look somehow showcased her dazzling sophistication.

And then there was the outfit she was wearing. Not too daring, but enough to keep him on the edge all evening. Her sweater dress was a plum color and she had black suede boots on her feet. She wasn’t overly dressed for the movie and he thought her attire was perfect … and it fit her just that way, emphasizing her small waist, and falling above the knees, it definitely showed off a beautiful pair of thighs encased in tights.

A second passed and then several before he was able to open his mouth to speak, and from the smile that touched her lips she was well aware of the effect she was having on him. He couldn’t help but smile back. She had definitely pulled one over on him. Gone was just the “pretty” Lucia and in her place stood a creature so gorgeous that she took his breath away.

“Derringer.”

He exhaled an even breath. At least he tried to. “Lucia.”

“I just need to get my jacket. Would you like to come in for a second?” she asked.

He felt another smile pull at his lips. She was inviting him in. “Sure.”

When he brushed by her, he almost buckled to his knees when he took a whiff of her perfume. It was the same scent he had awakened to that Tuesday morning. The same scent that was all in his head. She was the one woman who had him sleeping each night with her panties under his pillow. He took in a deep breath to pull more of the fragrance into his nostrils. There was just something potent about the scent of a woman.

“Would you like a drink before we leave?”

“No, but thanks for the offer,” he said, glancing around her living room.

“It won’t take but a minute to grab my jacket.”

“Take your time,” he said, watching as she walked away, appreciating her movements in the dress, especially how it fit her from behind. He forced his gaze away from her when she entered her bedroom and continued his study of her house, thinking it was small but just the right size for her. And it was tidy, not a single thing out of place, even the magazines on the table seemed to lie in a perfect position. He liked her fireplace and could imagine how it would look with a fire blazing in it. He could imagine her on the floor, stretched out in front of it on one of those days that was cold, snowy and dreary outside.

On the drive over, he did notice that this particular subdivision was centrally located to just about everything; shopping, fast-food places, grocery stores and a dry cleaner. That had to be pretty advantageous to her. He rolled his eyes wondering why the heck he cared if it was or not.

“I’m ready now, Derringer.”

He turned and glanced back at her. She was standing beside a floor lamp and the lighting totally captured her beauty. For a moment he just stood there and stared, unable to tear his gaze away from her. What the hell was wrong with him? He knew the answer when he felt blood rush straight to his groin. It would be so easy for him to suggest that they forget about the movie and hang here instead. But he knew he couldn’t do that.

However, there was something he could do, something he definitely felt compelled to do at that moment. He slowly moved toward her with his heart pounding hard in his chest with every step he took. And when he stood directly in front of her, he said the only words he could say at that moment. Words he knew were totally true. “You look simply beautiful tonight, Lucia.”

Lucia didn’t know what to say. His compliment caused soothing warmth to spread all through her. In the back of her mind something warned her that the man was smooth, sophisticated and experienced. Like most men, he would say just about anything to score. But at that moment she didn’t care. The compliment had come from Derringer Westmoreland and to her that meant everything.

“Thank you, Derringer.”

He lowered his head a little, bent low to murmur in her ear, “You’re so very welcome.”

He kept his head lowered to that angle and she knew without a shadow of a doubt that he intended to kiss her. And that knowledge caused several heated anticipatory sensations to flow from the toes of her feet to the crown of her head.

“Lucia?”

The throaty tone of his voice seemed to stroke everything within her and was doing so effortlessly.

“Yes?”

He lifted his hand to cradle her chin and tilt her face up to his. Her pulse rate increased when a slow smile touched his lips the moment their eyes connected. “I need to kiss you.” And before she could draw her next breath, he lowered his mouth to hers.

He had kissed her that night numerous times in the throes of passion, but she immediately thought this kiss was different. The passion was still there, but unlike before it wasn’t flaming out of control. What he was doing was slowly and deliberately robbing her senses of any and all control.

His tongue eased between her lips on a breathless moan and he seemed in no hurry to do anything but stand there, feed on every angle of her mouth, every nook and cranny. His kiss burned her in its wake, sharing its heat. He tasted like the peppermint candy he’d obviously been sucking on earlier.

But now he was sucking on her—her tongue at least; and he wasn’t letting up as he probed deeply, gently but thoroughly, plunging her into an oasis of sensations as his tongue continued to sweep over her mouth.

She felt something roll around in her belly at the same time he moved his body closer, and automatically the cradle of her thighs nestled the hard erection pressing against her, causing an ache that was so engaging she couldn’t do anything but moan.

This was the sort of kiss most men left a girl with after a date and not before the start of their evening. But evidently no one told that to Derringer and he was showing her there was no particular order in the way he did things. He made his own rules, set his own parameters. Now she knew why he was so high in demand with women, and why fathers warned him not to pursue their daughters. And why heat could resonate off his body like nobody’s business.

But tonight he was making it her business.

He shifted the intensity of the kiss without warning and the hands that were already wrapped around her waist tightened in a possessive grip. The probing of his tongue deepened and she could only stand there and continue to moan while her pulse throbbed erratically in her throat. Her hips moved instinctively against his and the heat that spread lower all through her belly didn’t slow down any.

There was no telling how long they would have stood there, going at each other’s mouths, if she hadn’t pulled back for air. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, licking her lips and and tasting him on her tongue. The pleasure she felt just being kissed by him was almost unbearable. She slowly opened her eyes to calm the turbulent emotions inside her.

For the second time that night, his hand lifted to capture her chin, lifting her face to meet his gaze. The look in his eyes was dark, intense, sexually hungry. At that moment, he looked as rugged as the landscape in which he lived. Westmoreland country. She never realized until now just how much that had defined him. She continued to hold his gaze. Mesmerized. Falling deeper and deeper in love.

“You, Lucia Conyers, are more than I bargained for,” he said in a deep, husky tone that sounded intimate and overwhelming at the same time.

She chuckled unevenly while wondering if this was how a kiss could easily get out of hand. Was this how a couple could take a kiss to another level without realizing they’d done so until it was too late to do anything about it?

“Is being more than you bargained for a good thing or a bad thing, Derringer?” she asked him.

He laughed softly at her question and released her chin, but not before lowering his head and brushing his lips across hers. “I’ll let you decide that later,” he whispered hotly against her lips. “Come on. Let’s get out of here while we can.”

Tonight was not going the way he’d planned, Derringer thought. Even the smell of popcorn couldn’t get rid of her scent. His nostrils were inflamed with it. This was their first date and he had fully intended for it to be their last.

But …

And there was a but in there someplace. For him there were probably several and each of them were messing with his mind. Making him not want to end their evening together. Or to spoil just how good things were going between them.

After the movie he suggested they go to Torie’s for coffee. She was everything a man could appreciate in a date, while at the same time not fully what a man expected—but in a positive way. She had the ability to ease into a conversation that wasn’t just about her. And as he maneuvered his sports car through downtown Denver, he quickly reached the conclusion that he liked the sound of her voice and in the close confines of the car, her scent continued to overtake his senses.

Derringer couldn’t help but wonder if there was something with this “scent of a woman” theory that men often talked about behind closed doors and in dimly lit, whiskey-laden poolrooms. Over his lifetime he had encountered a lot of women who smelled good, but the one sitting next to him right now, whose eyes were closed as she took in the sound of John Legend on his CD player, not only smelled good but was good to smell. And he decided then and there that there was a difference. He chuckled and shook his head at his conclusion.

“Um, what’s so funny?” she asked, opening her eyes and turning her head to glance over at him.

“I was just thinking about the movie,” he lied, knowing there was no way he would tell her what really had amused him.

She laughed lazily. “It was good, wasn’t it?”

When the car slowed in traffic, he gave her a sidelong glance. “Yes, it was. Are you comfortable?”

“Yes. And thanks. This car is nice.”

“Glad you like it.” He was certain his smile flashed in the dimly lit interior. He appreciated any woman who liked his car. A number of his former dates had complained that although his car was sleek and fast, it was not roomy enough.

“Can you believe they are expecting snow next weekend?”

He chuckled. “Hey, this is Denver. Snowstorms are always expected.” They passed a moment in silence. “Did you enjoy living in Florida those four years?”

She nodded. “Immensely.”

“Then why did you return to Denver?”

She didn’t answer right away. “Because I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else,” she said finally.

He nodded, understanding completely. Although he had enjoyed living in Phoenix while attending college, he never could wait to return home … to see her again. He hadn’t been back a week when Ramsey had sent him into town to pick up a can of paint thinner and he’d seen her again.

At first he’d been taken aback, nearly not recognizing her. She had gone from the gangly young girl to a twentysomething-year-old woman who had grown into a beauty that he had noticed right away. It was a good thing her father had been on guard and had intervened again, because there was no telling where his lustful mind would have led him that day. She had gotten spared from being added to the list as one of Derringer’s Pleasers. When he’d returned home it seemed women had come out of the woodwork vying for his attention.

They soon arrived at Torie’s, an upscale coffee shop that was known for its signature award-winning coffee and desserts. He helped her out of his sports car, very much aware of the looks they were getting. But now, unlike the other times, he wasn’t so sure the focus was on his specially-designed Danish car and not on the woman he was helping out of it. For the first time since he could remember, he relinquished the car to the valet without giving the young man a warning look and strict instructions to be careful on how his prize was handled.

“Mr. Westmoreland, it’s nice to see you,” the maître d’ greeted when they entered the coffee shop.

“Thanks, Pierre. And I’d like a private table in the back.”

“Most certainly.”

He cupped Lucia’s arm as they were led to a table that overlooked the mountains and a lake. The fire that was blazing in the fireplace added the finishing touch. A romantic setting that for even someone like him—a man who probably didn’t have a romantic bone in his body until it suited him—was clearly defined. “We can have just coffee if you like, but their strawberry cheesecake is good,” he said, smiling when they were seated.

Lucia chuckled. “I’m going to take your word for it and try some.”

The waiter came to take their drink order. She ordered a glass of wine and when he ordered only a club soda she glanced over at him curiously. “I’m driving, remember? And I’m still on medication,” he said by way of explanation. “And the doctor was adamant about me not consuming alcohol while I’m taking them.”

She nodded. “Are you still in pain?”

A rueful smile touched his lips. “Not unless I move too fast. Otherwise, I’m doing fine.”

“I guess you won’t be getting on Sugar Foot’s back again any time soon.”

“What makes you say that? In fact, I plan to try him again tomorrow.”

Her look of horror and disbelief was priceless, he thought, and he chuckled as he reached across the table to engulf her hand in his. “Hey, I was just kidding.”

She frowned over at him. “I hope so, Derringer, and I certainly hope you’ve learned your lesson about taking unnecessary risks.”

He laughed. “Trust me, I have,” he said, although he knew she was a risk and he had a feeling spending too much time with her wasn’t a good thing. It was then that he realized he was still holding her hand, and with supreme effort he released it.

He should know better than to get too attached to a woman like Lucia. She was the kind of woman a man could become attached to before he knew it. His attraction to her seemed too natural, but way too binding. She was a woman who seemed to be created just for the purpose of making a man want her in ways he had never wanted a woman before. And that wasn’t good.

After their initial drinks, they ordered coffee and then shared a slice of strawberry cheesecake, and while they sat there she had his undivided attention. They conversed about a number of topics. More than once he caught his gaze roaming across her face, studying her features and appreciating her beauty. Whether she knew it or not, her facial bone structure was superb and any man would definitely find her attractive. But he knew there was more to her than just her outside beauty. She was beautiful on the inside as well. Derringer listened as she told him about a number of charities and worthwhile events she supported, and he was impressed.

A couple of hours later while driving her back home, he couldn’t help but reflect on how the evening had gone. Certainly not the way he had planned. When the car came to a traffic light, he glanced over at her. Not surprisingly, she had fallen asleep. He thought about all the things he wanted to do to her when he got her back to her place, and knew the only thing he should do was walk her to her door and then leave. Something was going on with him that he didn’t understand and he was smart enough to know when to back off.

That thought was still on his mind when he walked her to the door later. For some reason, he was being pulled in another direction and frankly he didn’t like it. Her kiss alone had shot his brain cells to hell and back and knocked his carefully constructed plans to teach her a lesson to the wind. Even now the taste from her kiss was lingering in his mouth.

“Thanks again for such a wonderful evening, Derringer. I had a great time.”

He’d had a great time, too. “You’re welcome.” He forced his lips closed to stop from asking her out again. He simply refused to do that. “Well, I guess I’ll be going now,” he said, trying to get his feet to step back and trying to figure out why they wouldn’t budge.

“Would you like to come inside for more coffee?”

He shook his head. “Thanks, but I don’t think my stomach can hold much more. Besides, my restrictions are over and I can return to work soon. I’ll be helping Zane and Jason with the horses in the morning. I need to get home and get to bed.”

“All right.”

He made a move to leave but couldn’t. Instead, his gaze settled on the face staring at him and he felt something pull at his gut. “Good night, Lucia,” he whispered, just seconds before leaning down and brushing a kiss across her lips.

“Good night, Derringer.”

He straightened and watched as she let herself inside the house. When the door clicked locked behind her, he turned to move down the walkway toward his car. He opened the door and slid inside. He needed to go home and think about things, regroup and revamp. And he had to figure out what there was about Lucia Conyers that got to him on a level he wasn’t used to.

Six

Zane stopped saddling his horse long enough to glance over at his brother. “What’s going on with you, Derringer? Last week you were inquiring about women’s panties and now this week you want to know about a woman’s scent. Didn’t you get that mystery solved by viewing the tape on that video camera?”

Derringer rubbed his hand down his face. He should have known better than to come to Zane, but the bottom line was his brother knew more about women than he did and right now he needed answers. After he got them he’d be able to figure out what was going on with him when it came to Lucia. It had been almost a week after their date to the movies and he still didn’t have a clue. And he had yet to confront her about being his late-night visitor.

He glanced over at Zane across the horse’s back. “There’s nothing going on with me. Just answer the damn question.”

Zane chuckled. “Getting kind of testy, aren’t you? And how did your date go with Lucia Saturday night? I haven’t heard you say.”

“And I’m not going to say either, other than we had a nice time.”

“For your sake I think that’s all you better say or Chloe, Megan and Bailey will be coming down on you pretty hard. You might get a reprieve from Gemma since she’s out of the country, but I wouldn’t count on it if I were you, because she’s coming home later this month for the charity ball.”

Derringer grunted. The women in his family ought to stay out of his business and he would tell them so if the topic of Lucia ever came up with any of them again. So far, he’d been lying low this week, and when he had dropped by to see Ramsey, Chloe and baby Susan, the topic of Lucia hadn’t come up. He could inwardly admit the reason he’d made himself scarce was his fear of running into her at Ramsey’s. It was unheard of for Derringer Westmoreland to avoid any woman.

“So, will you answer my question?”

Zane crossed his arms over his chest. “Only after you answer mine. Did you or did you not watch that video footage?”

He glared over at his brother. “Yes, I watched it.”

“And?”

“And I’d rather not discuss it.”

A smirk appeared on Zane’s face. “I bet you’ll be glad to discuss it if you get hit with a paternity suit nine months from now.”

Zane’s words hit Derringer below the belt with a reminder that Lucia could be pregnant with his child. They’d had unprotected sex that night. She had to know that as well. Was she not worried about that possibility? He met his brother’s intense gaze. “I’ll handle it if that were to happen, now answer the question.”

Zane smiled. “You’re going to have to repeat it. My attention span isn’t what it used to be these days.”

Like hell it’s not, Derringer thought. He knew Zane was trying to get a rise out of him and he didn’t like it, but since he needed answers he would overlook his brother’s bad attitude for now. “I want to know about the scent of a woman.”

Zane smiled as he leaned back against the corral post. “Um, that’s an easy one. Every woman has her own unique scent and if a man is attentive enough he’s able to tell them apart by it. Some men will know their woman’s location in a room before setting eyes on her just from her scent alone.”

Derringer pulled in a deep breath. He knew all that already. He tilted his Stetson back off his head. “What I want to know is the effect that scent can have on a man.”

Zane chuckled. “Well, I know for a fact that a woman’s natural scent is a total turn-on for most men. It’s all in the pheromones. Remember that doctor I dated last year?”

Derringer nodded. “Yes, what about her?”

“Man, her scent used to drive me crazy, and she damn well knew it. But it didn’t bother me one bit when she took that job in Atlanta and moved away,” Zane said.

Derringer decided not to remind Zane of the bad mood he’d been in for months after the woman left. “Every woman has her unique scent, but many douse it with cologne,” Zane continued. “Then every woman that wears that cologne practically smells the same. But when you make love to a woman, her natural scent will override everything.”

Zane paused a minute and then said, “And the effect it can have on a man depends on what degree of an attractant her scent can be. A woman’s scent alone can render him powerless.”

Derringer lifted his brow. “Powerless?”

“Yes, the scent of a woman is highly potent and sexually stimulating. And some men have discovered their own male senses can detect the woman who was meant to be their mate just from her scent. Animals rely on scent for that purpose all the time, and although some people might differ with that theory, there are some who believes it’s true for humans as well. So if the scent of some woman is getting to you, that might be your cue she’s your mate.”

Derringer studied his brother’s gaze, not sure if Zane was handing him a bunch of bull or not. The thought of his future being shared with a woman because of her scent didn’t make much sense, but he’d watched enough shows on Animal Kingdom to know that was basically true with animals. Was man different from other animals?

“Some woman’s scent has gotten to you,” Zane taunted.

He didn’t answer. Instead, he looked away for a second, wondering about that same thing. When he looked back at Zane moments later, his brother was grinning.

“What the hell do you find amusing?”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

Derringer frowned. Zane was right; he didn’t want to know.

“And you haven’t heard from Derringer since your date Saturday night?”

A lump formed in Lucia’s throat with Chloe’s question. It was Friday night, late afternoon, and she sat curled on her sofa. Although she really hadn’t expected Derringer to seek her out again, the notion that he didn’t still bothered her, especially because she thought they’d had such a good time. At least she knew for a fact she had, and he’d seemed to enjoy himself as well. But she figured when you were Derringer Westmoreland, you could have a different girl every day.

When he had brought her home Saturday night, she had expected him to accept her invitation to come inside for coffee, although she would be the first to admit they had drunk plenty of the stuff at Torie’s. He had declined her offer and given her a chaste kiss on the lips then left.

“No, I haven’t heard anything, but that’s okay. I was able to write in my diary that I had a date with him and that’s good.”

“One date isn’t good when there can be others, Lu. You do know that women don’t have to wait for the man to call for a date, we have that right as well.”

Yes, but Lucia knew she couldn’t be that forward with a man. “I know, but—”

There was a knock at her door. “Someone’s at the door, Chloe. It’s probably Mrs. Noel from across the street. She bakes on Fridays and uses me as her guinea pig, but I have no complaints. I’ll call you back later.”

When the knock sounded again, she called out after hanging up the phone. “I’m coming.”

She eased off the sofa and headed to the door, thinking she would chow down on Mrs. Noel’s sweets and get her romance groove on by watching a romantic movie on Lifetime. If you couldn’t have the real thing in your life then she figured a movie was second best.

She nearly choked when she glanced out her peephole. Her caller wasn’t her neighbor. It was Derringer. She suddenly felt hot when she realized he was staring at the peephole in the door as if he knew she was watching him. She closed her eyes trying to slow down the beating of her heart. He was the last person she expected to see tonight. In fact, she’d figured he wouldn’t appear on her doorstep any time soon, or ever again. She assumed they would get back into the routine of running into each other whenever she visited Chloe, Ramsey and the baby.

Forcing her brain cells to stop scrambling, she turned the doorknob to open the door and there he stood in a pair of jeans, a sweater, a leather jacket and boots. He looked good, but then he always did. He was leaning against a post on her porch with his hands in his pockets.

She cleared her throat. “Derringer, what are you doing here?”

He held her gaze. “I know I should have called first.”

She stopped herself from saying that he could appear on her doorstep anytime. The last thing a woman should do is let a man assume she was pining for him … even if she was. “Yes, you should have called first. Is anything wrong?”

“No, I just needed to see you.”

She tried to ignore how low his voice had dropped and how he was looking at her. Instead, she tried to focus on what he’d said. He just needed to see her.

Yeah, right. She thought he could really do better than that, especially since he hadn’t done so much as picked up a phone to call her since their date on Saturday night. Was she to believe needing to see her had brought him to her door? She wondered if his date tonight had canceled and she had been his backup plan. Curious about that possibility, she decided to ask him.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she said. “Um, let me guess, your date stood you up and I was next on the list.” After saying the words, she realized her mistake. First, she doubted very seriously that any woman stood him up and she really thought a lot of herself to even assume she was on any list he had.

He tilted his head as if he needed to see her more clearly. “Is that what you think?”

She shook her head. “To be honest with you, Derringer, I really don’t know what to think.”

He made a slow move and inched closer to her face. He then leaned over and whispered against her ear. “Invite me in and I promise you won’t be thinking at all.”

And that was what she was afraid of.

She drew in a deep breath, thinking she would be able to handle him. She opened the door and stepped back, hoping at that moment that she could.

What the hell am I doing here? Derringer wondered as he brushed by her. He had caught a whiff of her scent the moment she had opened the door, and as always it was playing hard on his senses.

He turned when he heard her close the door behind him and his gaze studied her. For some reason he didn’t have the strength or inclination to tear his eyes away from her. What was wrong with him? When had he ever let a woman affect him this way? She was standing there leaning back against the door in her bare feet and a pair of leggings and a T-shirt. Her hair was back in that signature ponytail. She looked comfortable. She looked sexy. Damn, she looked good enough to eat.

He cleared his throat. “What are your plans for tonight?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t have any. I was just going to watch a movie on Lifetime.”

He was familiar with that channel, the one that was supposed to be for women that showed romance movies 24/7. His sisters used to be glued to their television sets, and in Bailey’s case, sometimes to his.

“How would you like to go roller skating?”

The glow from a table lamp captured the expression of surprise on her face. “You want us to go out again?”

He noted that there was a degree of shock in her voice. There was a note of wariness as well.

“Yes, I know I should have called first, and I am sorry about that. And just to set the record straight, when I left home I didn’t have a date. I didn’t have any plans for tonight. I got in my car and I ended up here. What I said earlier was true. I needed to see you.”

Serious doubt was etched in her features. “Why, Derringer? Why did you need to see me?”

It should be so easy to use this moment and come clean and say because I know who you are. I know you are the woman to whom I made love in what should have been a weak and crazy moment, but it ended up being the one time I slept with a woman that I remember the most. That no matter what I do or where I go, your scent is right there with me. You are responsible for the lust that rages through my body every time I think of you, whenever I see you. Even now there is a throbbing in my groin that you’re causing and I want more than anything to make love to you again.

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