Page 10 of The Forbidden Texan
Make friends with them...
Thane’s words echoed in his head. Friends, he repeated to himself. Seducing Emily was not what his friend had had in mind.
He could do that. He knew how to control his libido. He knew how to control a lot of things, so why had he lost it with a plain-Jane employee who really didn’t want to be with him? Who was all wrong for him.
He knew that much about her, just by knowing her family. They were family people. Not multiple-marriage people like his family. She didn’t approve of him. What shook him so badly, though, was that in spite of all these reasons, his kiss with Emily had been the best of his life—and that was a real shock because he had kissed some very kissable women. Dazzling, sexy beauties by any man’s standards. He had thought he’d experienced kisses as sexy as possible. But he had been wrong.
“Dammit,” he said aloud, looking around him. For an instant he had forgotten where he was and what he was doing, so lost was he in memories of Emily’s kiss. One more thing that no other woman had ever done.
He turned onto her drive and walked to her door to ring the bell. Instantly, the door swung open and his heart thudded. She wore a black dress and while it didn’t cling tightly to her figure, it fit close enough to reveal her tiny waist and curves that he could remember holding tightly against him that afternoon. She was attractive and she had a perfect figure, with those enticing soft curves. In a glance, he noticed everything about her, from her black pumps with high heels to her blond hair falling around her face. It looked soft and silky, curling slightly on her shoulders, and she would turn heads tonight. He felt as if he were sinking into quicksand. He didn’t want to be attracted to her. The woman he faced now—instead of being an employee and a business acquaintance—had become the sexiest, most desirable woman he had ever known simply because they’d kissed. Only, there wasn’t one simple thing about that sizzling kiss.
“Ready to go?” he asked.
“Yes, I am.” She stepped out and he heard the door lock when she closed it. He was glad she hadn’t invited him inside.
“I’ve heard back from my friend about cleaning and she can have three crews on your ranch on Wednesday. How’s that?” she asked as they strolled to his car.
“Excellent. I’ll let Rum know and he can let them inside.”
Jake held the car door for her and she slid onto the passenger seat. When she climbed in and sat down, her short skirt revealed more of her legs, gorgeous long legs that stirred desire even as he knew his response was not good news.
When he slid behind the wheel, he was acutely aware of her beside him.
“Is there a guy in your life who might not want you working on the Long L?” he asked her.
“Oh, yes, three of them,” she replied and he gave her a startled glance. “My brothers, Doug, Lucas and Will,” she answered, smiling. “Will is younger and he won’t feel as strongly as Doug and Lucas. I’ll deal with them. Otherwise, there’s no other guy to care.”
“You act as if that’s an impossibility,” he said, smiling at her.
“Not impossible, but there’s no one. My family is close and we’re together a lot, which is intimidating to some guys.”
“I can see that. Well, my family is scattered to hell and gone. We don’t get together and some of them don’t even speak to each other. That’s more my mom’s generation and her exes’.”
“This dinner is nice of you, but in hindsight, we probably should have grabbed a burger somewhere away from Dallas. I can’t imagine we won’t encounter someone who will be shocked to see us together. My brothers are all over the place. I’m always running into them.”
“By Sunday, your family will know we’re going to work together so it really won’t matter if they find out tonight. I think this is part of what Thane wanted—for the Ralstons and the Kincaids to know we’re working together and that we can get along.”
“You seem to know my family, but I don’t know yours. Don’t you have a sister who is a popular country singer?”
“Yes, a half sister. My mother has had four husbands. Brent Ralston was the first and they had two sons and a daughter. They had my older brothers Grayson and Clay. Grayson has had two wives and is currently divorced. He has two kids by his first wife, one by the second wife. Clay is also divorced. He has one child. Next, I have a sister, Eva Ralston, who is two years older than I am. She’s divorced and lives in Chicago and has no kids. My brothers have discouraged marriage for Eva and me. They are very much against it after their bitter divorces. So you can see we’re not good marriage material.”
“Your family and my family are poles apart. We’re together constantly. My sister, Andrea, and her husband, James, are very happily married with two cute kids. Doug and Lydia are happily married and so are my folks.”
“My dad was the second husband, another Ralston. Dwight was a cousin of the first Ralston husband, which caused rifts among some of the clan. You can imagine our family reunions are interesting. A whole different world from you and your family.” He shrugged. “That was my mom’s shortest marriage. Dwight Ralston and Mom divorced when I was just a year old. He lives in Houston and I barely know him. After he was gone, then came two more stepdads.
“With Salvo Giancola—we called him ‘Papa Sal’—my mother had a boy, Ray, and then a girl, Gina. Gina is the country singer. Papa Sal tried to be a good dad, but he liked the ladies and my mom divorced him. When he left, Ray went with him and Gina stayed with Mom. The fourth and current husband is Harry Willingham and I finished growing up with Harry as a dad, but he wasn’t interested in kids.”
“I’m still amazed your mother married two Ralston men,” she said.
“My family surprises a lot of people.”
“We’re a traditional family,” she said, and he could feel her gaze on him as he drove. “We’re close and Mom and Dad have been married thirty-six years. We’re together every weekend. My family gathers at our parents’ house on Sunday evenings for dinner and several times a year we have big family get-togethers with all the local Kincaids invited.”
“The fights would be on if we had big get-togethers like that. Mom had some bitter divorces and with two Ralston husbands it’s touchy. That’s part of why I don’t want to marry and I don’t want a family.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said, sounding so sad he had to smile.
“Don’t be. It’s my choice. I don’t want a life like my mom or my dad and stepdads. I’m not close with my real dad at all.”
