Home to Hope Mountain (Harlequin Superromance) (23 page)

“Stand up,” he said huskily, lifting her hands as he rose.

She pushed her dress over her hips and stepped out of it, leaving her wearing nothing but her panties and high heels. Adam dropped his pants and peeled off his underwear. His erection jutted high, setting her pulse racing and making her instantly hot and wet. His gaze lingered on her breasts and the junction between her thighs.

“You’re incredible.” He lowered himself to his knees, kissing and licking his way down her breasts, her belly, to her thighs. His hands touched her breasts, her butt and slid between her legs to stroke her through the thin, moist silk of her panties before pulling them down.

She gripped his shoulders as her eyes slitted and lost focus. He kissed and licked and sucked his way back up, pushing her legs apart a little to nip at the sensitive inside of her thighs.

He paused to lick between her legs. “Do you like that?”

She clutched his head in her hands. She would come in seconds if he kept that up. “Yes,” she moaned. “But right now I need you inside me. Please.”

Adam lowered her onto the bed and left her a moment while he found a condom and put it on. Then his warm weight slid over her. He was so hot and she was so needy, tingling and pulsing and aching. Her legs parted of their own accord and she moaned again as he pushed a little way in, then paused, hard and hot and throbbing.

He bent his head and took a nipple into his mouth, swirling the peak with his tongue, sucking and withdrawing. “Tell me what you like. I want to know so I can do it to you over and over.”

She wanted him inside her, pushing hard. But she also loved the stoking of the flames. “Talking. That’s what I like. Talk dirty to me.”

He pulled back, a grin on his face. “You little minx, really?”

She nodded, twisting a lock of hair as she tried to assess his reaction. Leif had just laughed at her and joked about mucking out stalls. That was his idea of dirty talk.

Adam leaned down and whispered in her ear, his breath hot and shivery. “I’m going to push inside you with my big hard cock until you sigh and moan and cry out and beg me to let you come. You’re hot and wet and I love the feel of you so tight and hot around me.”

Oh, dear God.
“That’s it,” Hayley moaned. “More.”

Adam whispered a stream of naughty nothings in her ear as he slowly pushed inside her, stretching and filling her. And then just as slowly pulled out. He did it again, driving her mad with his words and his hands and his body. He was erotically eloquent, not missing a beat as he filled her ears with sweet, sexy talk, torturing and teasing her with his body, until she was taut as a bowstring, ready to scream with tension.

“Stop, Adam, I can’t take any more,” she panted.

His eyes sparking, his face alight, he paused, halfway in, pulsing and hot. “But we’ve only just got started.”

“You’re very bad,” she told him sternly, trying not to break into a grin of delight. Sex had never been fun or whimsical or hot...ever.

“I know. And you love it.” A wicked grin stretched across his impossibly handsome face.

“Take me
now.
” She lifted her hips and, with both hands on his butt, pulled him home, hard. Her eyes shut on a long wave of pleasure as he filled the hollows inside her, places that hadn’t been filled in far too long, stretching her and completing her.

He began to move, long, firm thrusts stroking in and out, stoking her to fever pitch. She matched his rhythm, wrapping her legs around his hips and pushing back. Candlelight flickered over his skin, casting shadows on his muscles and the hollows of his cheeks. Now he spoke to her in low tones, holding her gaze as he whispered intimate phrases, making her feel beautiful and desirable.

Her eyes filled and she couldn’t speak, lost in Adam’s beautiful, dark eyes as they both moved together, making small adjustments here and there to find the sweet spot. Holding back, then surging forward, higher and higher until finally she gasped and broke open. The sun poured out of her, and the river streamed through her as shards of green and gold and blue danced across her eyelids....

Adam’s muscles tightened beneath her fingers as he pumped harder, looking for his own release. She clung, tightening around him. Slick with sweat and heat, he came, too, with a shuddering cry. Then he lowered himself onto her and she wrapped her arms and legs around him, blissed out, listening to his breath slow in her ear and his heartbeat gradually return to normal.

They lay there as the seconds stretched into minutes, and she savored a sleepy sense of well-being. If she were a cat she’d be purring like a train engine.

With Leif she’d had orgasms, pretty good ones, but this was beyond anything she’d experienced before. Adam was a sexy, considerate lover who’d excited her and satisfied her. Her heart was full of awe for everything he’d made her feel. It was huge, almost too big for her to comprehend. Was this love? If it was, then she’d never been in love before. What she’d felt for Leif paled by comparison, like thinking she’d been looking at the sun, then finding out all along it had been a lightbulb.

How stunted her life had been until now. But how wonderful that she’d found Adam before it was too late. Forget what she’d told herself about being fine with him leaving and that having him for a short time would be better than nothing. She couldn’t give him up now.

He stirred and eased off her slightly, keeping an arm and one leg over her. She nuzzled his neck and worked her way around to his mouth to claim a kiss. “You are awesome.”

“You are.” He kissed her lazily, stroking her damp hair away from her temples. “When I get my energy back I’ll grab the chocolate and strawberries.”

“Allow me.” She rolled off the bed and brought back the platter of delicacies along with the bottle of champagne. Raising her glass again to his, she said, “To a night of debauchery and pleasure.”

Adam fed her a strawberry and then a piece of dark chocolate, making her eat them at the same time and chuckling when she moaned with pleasure. “You keep surprising me. Here I thought butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth and you turn out to be a wanton.”

“I am not. And no one from this century says
wanton.
” But when had she ever sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed after mind-blowing sex, stark naked, drinking champagne and eating strawberries? She giggled just to think of how far she and Adam had come since he’d driven onto her property all stern and demanding and she’d been prickly and intent on pushing him away. She’d had no idea then that a short month later she would be contemplating a future with this man.

He traced a finger down her bare instep and around to her sole, tickling her. “There’s something I have to tell you.”

“Oh?” She smiled and popped another piece of chocolate in her mouth. “What is it?”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

A
DAM
FELT
UNACCOUNTABLY
nervous telling Hayley about Lorraine’s offer. His plan made sense in so many ways. It was logical and neat. It might not be immediate or romantic, but the important thing was that he thought it would work. With Diane he’d tried bending to her whims to make their marriage last, but he’d only succeeded in hastening the end.

“I mentioned Lorraine made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.” He paused. Hayley nodded, watching him intently, the half-eaten strawberry forgotten in her fingers. “It was better than I’d expected or hoped for.”

“You told me you made partner. I know I wasn’t very supportive earlier, but I really do think it’s wonderful.” Hayley leaned over and hugged him. “Congratulations.”

“It’s better than partner. I’m to head up a brand-new office in Shanghai. More projects are in the offing. We’ll be very busy over there for the foreseeable future.”

“Shanghai.” Hayley blinked, her smile fading.

“It doesn’t mean the end of us, far from it,” he hastened to assure her. “I’ll have to put in the hard yards at first. I figure a year or two.”

“You mean you’re going to live over there?”

“Yes, but I’ll be back and forth. When I’m here, I’ll be here with you.” He searched her face. “If you want me.”

Hayley’s troubled gaze fixed on the strawberry in her hand as if just now seeing it. She set it aside unfinished on the plate. Then she wrapped the sheet around her, pulling her knees up to her chin. “Shanghai is far, far away. Most of the time you’d be gone.”

“It’s only until I get the office established and running well. Then I’ll ask Lorraine for a transfer back to Melbourne and we can take it from there.”

“What if she doesn’t let you transfer back?”

“Then I’ll... I’ll quit and start my own company.”

“You could do that now.”

“I’ve worked toward this opportunity for ten years. I can’t throw it away.”

“No,” she said slowly. “I can see that. What about Summer?”

“I hope she’ll come with me, but if she chooses to stay with her mother I’ll make sure she has a place to keep Jewel.” He leaned forward to touch Hayley’s knee under the wads of cotton sheet. “
You
could come with me. I would’ve asked you first thing if I thought there was a chance you would say yes.”

Hayley’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. “So you’re only asking me now because you think I’ll say no?”

“No.” He sat back. This wasn’t going at all the way he’d hoped. His plan had made total sense yesterday. It still did. Maybe it was because he didn’t have a plan B. “I’m not explaining properly. This will be good for us as a couple. I’ll make a lot of money and I can help you build your equestrian center.”

“That’s too grand a name for it,” she said, shaking her head. “I just want to help people and work with horses. I don’t want your money, Adam. I want you.”

“And I want you,” he said, increasingly frustrated. Why wasn’t she getting it? “I’ll come back every few weeks for a couple of days. When you have a slow period you could visit me. I’m sure you could find someone to look after your horses now and then. It’s not ideal, I grant you, but it can work if we want it to.”

She stared at him, her expression sober and thoughtful. Not joyful and excited as he’d hoped.

“We can email and talk on the phone, spend time together, get to know each other properly,” he went on. “I made a mistake the first time around by jumping into marriage quickly. I don’t want to do that again.”

“Who said anything about marriage?”

“Well, I just assumed—”

“And if you think hooking up with me could be a mistake, why do you want to bother?”

“You’re taking everything I say out of context.” It was like she was deliberately misunderstanding him. “We came together through a rather unique set of circumstances, Hayley. What if the only reason we fell for each other is because of Leif and Diane? This is the first relationship for both of us after our long-term marriages broke down. You have the additional issue of your husband dying. It’s a lot of emotional baggage.”

Hayley pleated the sheet against her leg. “And we’re dealing with it.”

“I don’t want to get you on the rebound only to lose you when you fully come into your own again. We have a common bond and understanding because our partners had an affair, but as individuals we come from quite different backgrounds.”

Her head shot up. “Values matter, not background. Or at least that’s what I always thought. Things like family and fidelity and working hard.”

“Yes, and we have all those things in common, including passion. It’s because you have a passion for what you do and a determination to pursue your goals that I know you’ll understand why I have to accept Lorraine’s offer.”

“And our passions are taking us down separate paths.”

“Temporarily,” he stressed. “Taking this job will secure our future. I’m doing it for us. For you.”

“No, don’t say that. You’re doing it because you’re ambitious, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Everything you say makes logical sense.”

“Well, then?”

She just stared at him sadly and shook her head.

That was it? She was turning him down? A few minutes ago they’d been making love, welded together as if they were one soul in a single body. Now she seemed distant and separate and he felt more alone than when Diane had left him.

“What are you thinking?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I need time to process things.”

Downstairs, the back door slammed open.

“Dad! Dad!” Summer’s terrified voice screamed through the house. “Come quick! The barn’s on fire!”

* * *

F
IRE
. S
ENSE
MEMORIES
flooded Hayley. Orange sky. Black smoke. The water around her boiling with snakes. Choking on acrid fumes. Choking and spluttering, gasping for air.

“Hayley, are you all right?” Adam had his shirt on and was pulling on his pants.

She fought her panic and forced herself into action. Blaze and Jewel were in the box stall.
Off the bed. Don’t think. Just move.

“Call emergency services,” she said and ran back to her own room, putting on a long-sleeved shirt and heavy pants. She ran downstairs to find Adam stabbing at his phone.

“Fire at Lot 68, Timbertop, on the Hope Mountain Road, ten miles west of town,” he said. “The barn is burning. Hurry.”

Hayley dragged on her boots and a jacket, pulled a beanie over her hair and ran outside. The cracks between the boards on the left side of the barn glowed orange. Summer and Zoe huddled together in the yard, not knowing what to do.

“Girls, fill every bucket you can find,” Hayley said on the run. “If you have burlap bags lying around, oat bags, find them. Adam, get the hose by the garage.”

A high-pitched whinny pierced her brain and sent terror into her heart. She opened the barn door a crack and slid through. Blaze and Jewel were moving restlessly around the box stall. Flames shot from the loose bales of hay stacked near the tack room, licked along the wooden wall and ignited scraps of hay strewn over the wooden floor.

Blaze whinnied and pawed the floor, her eyes white-rimmed and wild. Jewel’s nostrils flared in and out, her small head high as she trotted close to her mother’s side. The door to the paddock had been shut, mostly likely by Summer wanting to keep Jewel close while she and Zoe spent the night.

Hayley pulled her shirt over her nose against the smoke and heat and slipped into the stall, dodging the terrified horses. Fumbling with the latch, she dragged the bolt across and pushed open the gate. Blaze surged past her, into the paddock and Jewel followed. The mare and her foal galloped across the field.

Hayley went back inside, shutting the door behind her. She grabbed the half-f basin out of Blaze’s stall and threw the water on the flames. The door opened. Summer staggered in with two sloshing buckets. Hayley emptied them on the fire and grabbed the burlap bags from Zoe.

“More,” she said throwing Summer the buckets. “Zoe, help Summer. Find anything you can carry water in.” As they ran out, Hayley began to beat at the burning straw littering the floor with the burlap.

Adam appeared with the hose. “Where do you want this?”

“Wet down the walls around the fire,” Hayley called above the crackling of the flames. She ran back to the door to intercept Summer, who held another full bucket. “Keep them coming, fast as you can.”

Adam handed the hose to Zoe with instructions and ran out again. Hayley had no time to wonder where he was going. The bales were fully ablaze and the wall behind them had caught. Smoke billowed through the barn, thick and black. She threw a bucket of water and retreated, coughing and spluttering.

Summer kept the buckets coming and Hayley carried them to the flames in an increasingly vain attempt to douse the fire. Panic tugged at her, and she fought the urge to drop the bucket and run for the dam. Or get in her truck and drive down off the mountain.

“My iPod!” Summer suddenly shrieked and ran for the ladder to the hayloft where she and Zoe had arranged their sleeping bags for the night.

“No, Summer.” Hayley grabbed the girl by the back of her jacket. “Embers might have flown into the hay and could be smoldering. It’s not safe.”

Summer struggled to get away, pulling with all her strength toward the ladder. “It’s got all my school stuff on it and my diary and everything.”

Hayley took the girl by the shoulders and brought her face right down to Summer’s. “You need to help fight this fire or the whole barn will burn. Understand?”

Two tears rolled down Summer’s cheeks. “My backpack is up there, too, with stuff from the doctor.”

A siren could be heard coming closer. Thank God. They just had to hang on a little longer. “What stuff from the doctor? You can get more pamphlets.”

“Not pamphlets,” Summer shouted. “Birth control pills.”

“What!?” Adam had returned with a large fire extinguisher.

Hayley directed Summer toward him. “Take her out of here.”

While Adam led Summer, protesting, from the barn, Hayley hoisted the heavy canister, primed it to pump and sprayed the flames with retardant foam. She was fighting a losing battle and nearing the end of the canister when the fire truck rumbled into the yard, siren wailing, lights whirring. Four men and one woman poured out of the truck, donning their breathing apparatus. They took over, carrying one big hose inside while using the other to wet down the outside, spraying high up on the roof.

Hayley found Zoe outside on the grass, well away from the barn. Adam and Summer were nowhere to be seen. Probably in the house. She cast an uneasy glance toward the lit interior.

Birth control pills. Oh, boy. She hadn’t seen that coming.

“How are you doing?” she said to Zoe. “You look like you could use a drink of water. Come on inside.”

Zoe’s oval face was smudged with smoke and her brown hair was falling out of its ponytail. “Are the horses okay?”

“They’re fine.” Hayley barely had the energy to speak. Summer hadn’t told her about the pills. Did that mean she was planning to sleep with Steve again? She felt hurt and somehow used.

Hayley went inside, put on the kettle and got orange juice for herself and Zoe. Adam and Summer must have gone upstairs. Should she go up and try to mediate, or was this a golden opportunity for Adam and Summer to finally talk things out?

“Summer’s dad is really mad, isn’t he?” Zoe said, seated at the breakfast bar. “He practically dragged her into the house. But it’s my fault. You’ve got to tell him.”

“What do you mean? Were they your pills?”

“Huh, what pills? The fire was my fault. Summer shouldn’t get in trouble.”

“How did it start?”

Tears squeezed between the lashes of Zoe’s closed eyes. “I smoked a cigarette. I must not have put it out properly.”

“Smoking in a barn filled with hay! How irresponsible could you be?” Hayley blurted. “It’s lucky no one was hurt.”

Zoe sobbed openly. “I’m sorry.”

Oh, God.
Hayley went and put an arm around her. “Don’t cry, it’s all right. Was Summer smoking, too?”

“I offered her one but she wouldn’t take it.”

Adam came downstairs, his footsteps heavy on the carpeted steps. Hayley had never seen him look so grave or so angry. “Summer’s in her room. Zoe, you can go up. But I want you girls to go to sleep. The party’s over.”

“It’s my fault, Mr. Banks.” Zoe tearfully retold her tale. “I’m so sorry. Are you going to call my parents?”

“Not tonight. Clean up and go to bed. I’ve set up a mattress in Summer’s room. In the morning we’ll assess the damage.”

“Okay,” Zoe said meekly and scuttled past him to run upstairs.

“I’m going to speak to the firefighters,” Adam said without looking directly at Hayley. “We’ll talk later.”

Hayley followed him out. As Adam went over to the fire truck, where the firefighters were putting away their equipment, she took a flashlight and checked the barn for damage. The tack room, the floor and the wall were charred and smelled strongly of smoke. She peered inside the tack room. One of her saddles was ruined, but the rest seemed okay. She went through the box stall. The front was a bit charred, but it and the fence connected to the barn were intact.

She raised the flashlight across the dark paddock. The beam of light bobbed around until it lit the cluster of horses. She counted heads. All present. Breathing a sigh of relief, she went back to the yard.

The firefighters’ faces were rimmed with soot and they’d discarded their heavy jackets even though the spring night was cool. Without their helmets and breathing apparatuses Hayley recognized most of them.

The captain, Don, a fit fifty-year-old with a shaved head, nodded at Hayley in greeting, then carried on with his report to Adam. “The loft didn’t catch alight, but the west half of the lower part of the barn is pretty badly burned. Any idea how it happened?”

“The girls were sleeping in there. I gather they were smoking,” Adam said.

Don shook his head. “Young idiots. We soaked the place but keep an eye on it for smoldering hay.”