Page 43 of The Playboy Meets His Match
“Yeah, it is,” he said in a husky voice. “I was thinking about you, us, home together. That’s where I want to be.”
She drew a deep breath and last shred of her appetite fled. “Someday I’ll have to tell you no, but it isn’t going to be tonight.”
“I don’t ever want to hear no from you,” he said solemnly.
“We won’t argue that one now,” she said. “This night is special.”
He picked up her hand and brushed a kiss across her knuckles. “It’s damn special. Ready to go home or do you want to finish your steak?”
“I’m ready, Jason,” she said in a sultry voice, and his eyes darkened as they did in moments of passion.
He motioned to the waiter and in minutes they were in Jason’s car, headed down Main and out of town. She saw Jason adjust the rearview mirror and watch it often.
“What are you looking at?”
“Traffic. We’ve picked up a tail. Why don’t you get down.”
Chilled to think they might be in danger, she slid low in the seat, loosening her seat belt.
“Don’t take that seat belt off. We may be in for a bumpy ride. You hang on, because I’m going to do a turn in just a minute.”
“Are you certain we’re being followed?”
“Yep. I am.”
Suddenly he jammed the brakes, spun the car in a U-turn on Main Street and sped back the way they had come. Merry half slid off the seat and scrambled to get back up.
“Dammit,” Jason snapped.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, sitting up to see what was happening.
“He’s gone. Whoever it was moved quickly. When I turned, he shot across the street into an alley.” Jason whipped down Main, spun around a corner and raced down the next street.
“You may hear sirens in a minute. You’re more than over the speed limit,” she said. “That wild turn you made in traffic on Main should have brought the law.”
“He’s gone,” Jason said and hit the steering wheel with his palm. “Damn. I wanted to see who it was.”
“We’re safe and now we’re not being followed,” she said, resting her hand on Jason’s thigh. The moment she touched him, she tingled with awareness that drove all thoughts of danger away. Jason looked around at her and drew a deep breath.
“We’re going home,” he said roughly.
They drove out of town on back roads, and, as town lights faded and darkness enveloped them, Jason drove swiftly. He held Merry’s hand on his thigh. He wanted to stop, pull her into his arms and make love to her here, now, in the car. But he knew they would be safer to wait until they reached the ranch where alarms and guards would be a protection.
He listened while she talked, but his thoughts were only half on what she was telling him. He was thinking about being followed, and then his thoughts shifted to their discussion of the Cattleman’s Club ball and the remarks on marriage. He’d told her that he wasn’t the marrying kind. But was that really the truth?
Was he in love with Merry Silver? He knew he needed to sort through his own feelings, but he had never before been this way about a woman. Never wanted one with a need that was insatiable, a craving that was impossible to fully satisfy.
He thought about meeting and talking to the Blacks. Aaron looked happier than he had ever before in his life and Jason had known Aaron Black since childhood. Hell, all his married friends looked happier. And Pamela Black looked radiant. Jason had known Pamela merely as an acquaintance, but he had always thought her rather plain. She didn’t look plain now. Radiant was the best description of her. And Merry tonight in her black dress had stolen his breath away. She was gorgeous, alluring, sexy. He thought about his past doubts and fears of commitment; they seemed to be melting like fog in summer sunshine.
Would Merry ever walk out on her family?
The question seemed absurd. No matter how tough the situation, he didn’t think she would walk out on a commitment or responsibility. Look at her taking off work to take a little revenge on the man who’d hurt her sister so badly.
He had spent a lifetime swearing he would never marry. How could he throw over years of solid conviction after just a few days of knowing someone? Merry had turned his life upside down, stolen his heart, stormed his senses. He liked everything about her, which was crazy because he hadn’t liked a lot of things about her when he met her. She was fiery, impetuous, impulsive, feisty. Not his type of woman.
Keep telling yourself that, he thought. But that wasn’t what his heart and mind and soul were shouting inside him. He wanted her, needed her, loved her. There it was. He was in love with a woman—deeply, truly in love for the first time, in spite of his playboy reputation and the many previous women in his life. None of those affairs had been serious. Not one.
He looked at Merry, who sat serenely gazing out the window at the dark Texas countryside that was nothing but flat land and mesquite trees. How could she have become so damned necessary to him? So special. He was in love. He wanted to reach across the car seat, pull her beside him and kiss her.
