Twin Temptation

Maddie stared as he threw back the covers and got out of bed. For the first time, she got a good look at what she’d explored with her hands during the night—the broad shoulders, the strongly muscled back, the bronze skin that ended with a clearly defined tan line at his waist.

And his butt. There were muscles there too. She remembered exactly what they’d felt like beneath her palms, tensing and then relaxing as he’d moved inside her. When he turned, Maddie’s throat went dry as fresh need thrummed through her.

“My jeans…ah, there they are.” He leaned down to scoop them up. “But these are yours, I believe.” He laid her panties on the foot of the bed.

She ignored the panties and focused her gaze on his. He knew exactly what effect he was having on her. Damn him.

Still smiling, he took another step toward her, extending his free hand. “I’m Jase Campbell, by the way. I’m Jordan’s roommate. And your name is…?”

“I’m Maddie Farrell.” She sent him a thin smile as she shook his hand. The instant he relaxed his grip, she hooked her foot behind his right ankle, then used both hands to shove hard against his chest. His butt hit the floor with a very satisfactory thud. There, she thought. Enjoy that.

He grinned up at her. “Nice move, Maddie Farrell.”

She snatched her panties off the bed. “I believe you said something about your mother raising a gentleman.”

He winced a little. “So I did.” He stretched out a hand. “You wouldn’t want to give me a hand, would you?”

“Do I look as though I have stupid branded on my forehead?”

“No. But it was worth a try.” He rose in one graceful movement, but she noticed that he took his time walking to the bedroom door. When he reached it, he turned back. “I’ll make us some coffee, Maddie Farrell. Then we’ll talk.”

For a full thirty seconds after he’d disappeared from view, Maddie didn’t move. Because she wanted to run after him? What in the world was wrong with her? The man thought this whole situation had a humorous side to it. Maybe—in a hundred years—she could agree with him.

Biting back a groan, she sank onto the bed. Maybe if she burrowed under the covers, she’d wake up and discover that it was all a dream.

But it wasn’t. In a few moments she was going to have to join him for coffee and answer his questions. Besides, she wasn’t the kind of person who ran from problems. On a ranch you just couldn’t do that.

You grew up around men. You know how to handle them.

All she needed was a plan.

4

JASE LEANED his hip against the counter and sipped coffee. He could hear the shower still running in the bathroom, so he had a few more minutes to figure out what in the hell he was going to do. Usually, he wasn’t at such a loss. But the night he’d just spent with the woman who called herself Maddie Farrell had been unprecedented. She’d scrambled his brain.

And she was going to be a problem for him.For the first few minutes after he’d left her in the bedroom, he’d struggled hard against the urge to forget about the questions he had and just walk back in there, toss her onto the bed and make love to her again. Instead, he’d run water in the sink and splashed it on his face. He might not be a gentle lover, but caveman tactics weren’t his style.

Then again, no other woman had ever shoved him onto his ass. His lips twitched at the memory, then he sipped more coffee. He’d told her the truth about his mother. His father, a career army man, had died when he was ten. D.C. had been nine and their sister Darcy had been six. Their mother had gotten a teaching job in Baltimore and had proceeded to raise her children the way she managed her classes—with a firm hand.

Problem was, he didn’t want to be a gentleman with Maddie. If he did make a move on her, she wouldn’t resist. Just in those few moments that they’d lain together in his bed after they’d awakened, he’d sensed she was as reluctant as he to pull away. And she was just as curious as he was about what it would be like to make love while they were both fully awake. That made the temptation almost irresistible.

If he joined her in that shower now, they could both find out. In a matter of seconds—perhaps ten to get into the bathroom and another five to strip out of his jeans—he could step under the spray and…

With an oath, Jase set his mug down, then gripped the edge of the counter with both hands. Being this enthralled by a woman just wasn’t like him. He couldn’t deny that he had a reckless streak. He and D.C. had gotten into more than their fair share of trouble in their teenage years. According to his mother, they were responsible for turning her hair prematurely gray. But college with a major in business and four years in the navy, two in special ops, had pretty much drummed recklessness out of his system.

As he glanced down the hall at the closed shower door, guilt moved through him. Hadn’t he already taken enough advantage of her? Sure, he’d been exhausted, sleep-deprived, but the bottom line was that he’d allowed himself to be lulled into making love to a woman he’d found in his bed. He should have fought harder against the dream she’d enveloped him in. Making love to her had been a mistake. A big one.

And he shouldn’t have to be fighting so damn hard against the desire to repeat the experience. If she was telling the truth, she was his best friend’s sister.

Jase refilled his mug and took a long swallow. Time to step back, look at the big picture and come up with a plan. That was what had saved his life several times during his special-ops missions in the navy.

He should be focusing on what she was doing here, not joining her in that shower. And what in the hell was Jordan doing on a ranch in Santa Fe? He nearly grinned at the thought. Talk about a fish out of water. From the time he’d first met her, Jordan had been a city girl right down to her weekly manicure and pedicure.

While he’d waited for the coffee to brew, he’d tried to contact Jordan on her cell to check out the twin story, but she wasn’t picking up. Then he’d typed Maddie Farrell into his laptop.

Madison Farrell was a Southwestern jewelry designer in Santa Fe. In addition to her photo, her Web site featured images of finely carved silver pins, belt buckles and rings, all with a clearly Southwestern flair. When he’d searched Santa Fe’s newspaper, The New Mexican, he’d found an article praising the intricacy and modern artistry of her designs. Like mother, like daughter, he’d thought. He’d also come across an obituary for a local rancher, Mike Farrell, who’d died a year ago and had been survived by his only daughter, Madison.

So, she was evidently who she said she was, and she looked enough like Jordan to be her twin—but he still had questions—a lot of them.

And until he got some answers, he was going to put any plans for taking Maddie Farrell back to his bed on hold.

MADDIE TURNED a complete circle in the shower and let the hot water sluice over her. Her body ached in places it had never ached before, places where Jase Campbell had touched her. And it felt wonderful.

With a sigh she rested her head against the shower wall. She had to think—and not about Jase. What had happened between them in that bed of his during the night had been crazy. Wonderful. Amazing. But it had been a mistake. And mistakes were for learning, not for repeating.Waking up beside him had distracted her. Big-time. He didn’t even know about Eva’s death. Jordan hadn’t been able to reach him.

Pouring shampoo into her palms, she lathered her hair lavishly, then rinsed it, wishing she could wash the man right out just as easily as soap. It might not be that simple, but she was going to try. She had to be practical, use some common sense. And get herself back on track.

After all, she only had three weeks to walk around in Jordan’s shoes, and she had a lot to do. It hadn’t been just to please her sister and fulfill the terms of the will that she’d come to New York, she reminded herself. Before she went back to Santa Fe, she intended to find out everything she could about Eva Ware. If Jordan was right and Eva had been truly interested in a daughter who designed jewelry, why had she waited so long to act on that interest? Too long.

Each time she thought about the fact that she’d never really get to meet or talk with Eva, a little band of pain tightened around her heart.

If she could, she was going to find out why she and Jordan had been separated. The key was there. She was sure of it. Though she hadn’t mentioned it to her sister, she had a theory that Eva might have confided in someone that she’d had twins. She’d bet that Cash’s father had known. But he’d passed on a year before her own father had.

Getting the answers to her questions and getting to know as much as she could about Eva Ware—those had to be her priorities.

Twisting off the faucets, she stepped out of the shower and wrapped her hair in a towel. Then she swiped the steam off the mirror over the sink and faced her image.

“You have too much on your plate right now to fit Jase Campbell in.”

And wasn’t it possible that Jase felt the same way about her? After all, he’d been out of the country for over three weeks. He must have a lot to catch up on at his office.

Bending over, Maddie began to towel-dry her hair. The more she thought about it, the more convinced she became that she might have hit on the key to extricate them both from an…awkward situation.