This Calder Sky (Calder Saga 3)

Chase was already at the fence line when she finally rode up the next morning. She had silently debated with herself for almost an hour trying to decide if she would meet him or not. In the end, she came because she had to find out if Culley was right about Chase.

Dismounting, Chase slipped between the barbed-wire strands of the fence to catch her horse’s bridle when she stopped it. Her gaze moved warily over his lazy smile of greeting without being able to judge anything from it.

“You’re late.” He moved to the saddle, reaching up to span her slim waist with his hands and lift her down. “I was beginning to think you couldn’t make it.”

“I was trying to make up my mind whether I should come or not,” Maggie replied honestly.

Her feet were on the ground, but he continued to let his hands rest on her waist. He felt her stiffness and was impatient with it. He had subconsciously been anticipating the melting softness of her. Bending his head, Chase sought to establish his dominion over her lips. There was a corresponding pressure to his kiss, but it was cool. He lifted his head to look at her, but her unwavering gaze was studying him, measuring him.

“I’m glad you came,” he stated.

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to talk to you,” Chase replied and tried to smile away her seriousness.

Her hands pushed at his arms to casually remove them from her waist so she could drift away from him. “I know that’s what you said you wanted.” Her voice seemed to imply that he meant something different. Chase followed her and she turned to confront him with her suspicions. “Culley says the only reason you want to see me is to have sex.”

For an instant, Chase was stunned by her bluntness before amusement took hold. “Are you always so frank?”

“Is it true?” she persisted. “Is that the reason you want to see me?”

The stubbornness in her expression told him that she meant to have a straight answer. He opened his mouth to assure her that he had decided she was too young and inexperienced, and his seduction of her the last time was a mistake he didn’t intend to repeat. But looking into her eyes, Chase realized he was only kidding himself. Given the chance, he’d make love to her again. That particular threshold had been crossed once and would be recrossed anytime the opportunity presented itself. There was no going back to an innocent, hand-holding relationship. The knowledge didn’t please him and he tried to avoid acknowledging it.

“I don’t know how often the Triple C could afford it, if it costs fifty head of cattle every time I do,” he jested.

Anger flashed in her eyes before she turned away. “That isn’t funny.”

He watched her take a step away and sighed, “No, it isn’t. But there isn’t a simple answer to your question, either.” She gave him a sidelong look, which he held. “I’d be lying if I said I would never want to make love to you again, because I would. But sex isn’t the only reason. If it was only physical satisfaction I wanted, I could get that from Jake’s girls. So it has to mean I want your company, too. I guess the truth is that I’m a little fascinated by you.”

“Why?” But there was less demand in the question.

Chase shook his head because he didn’t know. “Maybe because you are so honest and direct about what you think and what you want. Most women try to pretend. You haven’t learned how yet.”

“Is that bad?” She cocked her head to the side.

“No.” He smiled easily. “It makes you special.”

There was a profound truth to that statement that Chase was only just beginning to realize. There was satisfaction in possessing her body, but he wanted her more than that. This meeting was a test. If he tried to make love to her today, he’d lose her. But he knew, also, that if he didn’t have her this time, he would the next and the next. And she would come to him as willingly as she had the first time. Knowing that, Chase could wait.

“Both your father and your brother must have warned you about seeing me,” he guessed and challenged her to make her reasons clear. “So why did you meet me?”

“Because I wanted to.” The lift of her shoulders was an expressive statement of her independence, but she let her gaze swing away from him.

“Why?” It was his turn to persist.

“Maybe”—she glanced back at him, a gleam dancing in her eyes—“because you aren’t at all like what I expected a Calder to be.”

“What did you expect me to be like?”

“I suppose I thought you’d be pompous and arrogant,” she admitted a little self-consciously. “Heartless, too, I guess. But … you’re nice.”

Chase tried to hold back a smile, the corners of his mouth deepening with the effort. “A lot of people expect us to have horns and a tail. They tend to be amazed when they discover we’re made of flesh and blood like everyone else.”

Maggie laughed, a clear, pure sound. “Hardly like everyone else. Everyone else doesn’t own as much land as you do … or cattle, or horses, or anything else.”

“But we all have the same needs,” Chase insisted and held out his hand to her, “even if it’s something as simple as someone to walk with.”

She looked at him and smiled, then placed her hand in his. The sun was bright and the sky was clear. Out in the deep grasses, a meadowlark san