Pure Temptation Read online

  He was probably a fool for not taking her up on her suggestion and making love to her all night long. The thought of doing that made him ache. Now he had to wait three days for the chance. No matter that he’d been waiting all his life.

  Wait a minute. Waiting all his life? Where had that come from? It couldn’t be true. Surely Tess didn’t have anything to do with his fruitless search for a wife. He just hadn’t found the right woman yet. Oh, God. Maybe he had.

  On impulse he swung into the Ore Cart Bar’s parking lot and climbed out of the truck.

  Suddenly a cold beer and a game of darts sounded like an excellent idea. He was still a young carefree bachelor. Bachelors were free to stop in for a beer whenever they wanted to, and he cherished that freedom.

  Maybe tonight he sort of wished he could go back over to Tess’s house instead of stopping for a beer, but that was only natural, considering how new the situation was. But the novelty would wear off with Tess, the way it had with all the rest.

  That’s what you think, taunted a voice that sounded a lot like Tess when she was bound to prove herself right and him wrong. Over the years she’d infuriated him, made him laugh until he could barely stand, and worried him sick. But she’d never bored him. Mac walked into the bar, hoping a beer would silence that know-it-all voice that told him he’d started something that he had no idea how to finish.

  The bar was fairly well deserted on this weeknight, but it had one patron that made Mac consider ducking back out the door. Unfortunately Dozer Blakely saw him before he got the chance.

  “Hey, Big Mac!” he called from his bar stool. “Come on over and let me buy you a cold one.”

  Mac walked toward the row of stools and glanced around. “Where’s Cindy?”

  “At home.” Dozer shoved a wayward lock of red hair off his forehead with a beefy hand. “Waitin’ for me to cool off. Hey, Dutch, set the man up with his favorite brand, okay?”

  “Will do,” the bald bartender said. “How’re you doing, Mac?”

  “Can’t complain.” Mac sat down next to Dozer, but he would have liked to put more space between them. He could still smell Tess’s perfume on his clothes, and he was afraid Dozer might recognize it. “Listen, should you be fighting with Cindy, her being P.G. and all?”

  Dozer smiled. “When we fight, I’m the only one who gets upset. Cindy’s cool as a cucumber.” His blue eyes twinkled. “Hot date tonight?”

  This would be tricky, Mac decided. “Why do you ask?”

  “Oh, you look a little mussed up. I figured you might have been out parking.”

  “Could be.”

  Dozer smiled and took a sip of beer. “So, did you take that dunking last night to heart and decide to make up with Jenny?”

  “Uh, no.” Mac grabbed the beer Dutch scooted in front of him and took a big swallow.

  “Babs?”

  “Nope.”

  “Somebody new?”

  “You could say that.”

  “But you’re not talking, are you, Big Mac?”

  Mac grabbed the opening. “No, Dozer, I’m not. I don’t want you guys riding herd on me with this one, pestering me as to when we’re going to tie the knot.” He glanced at the hefty redhead and decided to go on the offensive. “And speaking of the knot, you’re a sorry poster boy for the institution of marriage, sitting down here at the Ore Cart nursing a beer while your wife sits at home.”

  “I’m only doing what she told me.” Dozer shook his head. “She’s something else. I fly off the handle, just itching for a fight, and she won’t fight. She tells me to go grab a beer and come back when I have something nice to say. In the meantime, she works on her cross-stitch, calm as you please.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I usually sneak back and peek in the window to see if she’s pacing the floor or banging things around, at least. You know, upset because I left the house. The hell of it is, she’s not. So I come down here, drink my beer, and go home. She takes me back like nothing happened, and that’s the end of that.”

  “What was the fight about? Or I should say, the fight she refused to have with you.”

  “Damned if I can remember.” Dozer grinned sheepishly. “Knowing me, it was probably over something dumb. I tell you, I picked the right one when I hooked up with Cindy. Any other woman would have divorced me by now, with my short fuse. But Cindy knows it’s just a passing thing, and she sends me off until I get over it. I love that woman something fierce.”

  “I’m glad for you.” Mac picked up his glass again. “Here’s to you and Cindy, and your diamond anniversary.”

  Dozer raised his glass in Mac’s direction. “I’ll drink to that.” He took a long swallow, draining the glass before he set it down.

  “Another beer, Dozer?” Dutch called.

  “Nope. One’s all I need, thanks.” He turned to Mac. “Of course, if she ever threw me out for good, I’d drink the place dry.”

  “Sure.”

  “I’ve been meaning to tell you something, Mac.”

  “What’s that?”

  Dozer fished for his wallet and pulled out some money. “All kidding aside about Babs and Jenny, I can see why you didn’t end up with them. They’re both nice and all, and Jenny’s built real sweet.” He jiggled his cupped hands out in front of his chest. “Real sweet.”

  Mac didn’t want to think about women’s breasts, either. “And your point is?”

  “You’re a smart guy. You need somebody with brains. Babs and Jenny could never have kept up with you. You’d have been bored in a month or two.”

  “So I figured.”

  “Well, good. So, is this new girl smart?”

  “Yeah, she’s smart.”

  Dozer nodded. “Did you score yet?”

  Mac winced. The type of evening he had planned for Tess didn’t even begin to fit the definition of “scoring.” He tried to imagine Dozer’s response if he knew they were talking about his sister.

  “Guess not,” Dozer said, undisturbed by Mac’s reaction. “Otherwise you would’ve grinned when I asked that.” He laid his money on the counter and slapped Mac on the back. “Well, good luck with her, buddy. You deserve to find yourself a real nice lady. Maybe this is the one.”

  “Maybe.” Not. As Dozer headed home to Cindy, Mac sipped his beer, determined to think of something else besides Tess lying alone in her bed. He even carried on a conversation with Dutch about the Arizona Cardinals’ chances this year. When the beer glass was empty he added another bill to what Dozer had left and walked out into the warm night thinking how great it was to be a free man. He drove home with the windows down, a song on the radio…and Tess on his mind.

  THE EVAPORATIVE COOLER had reduced the heat in Tess’s little bungalow by the time she walked inside that night, but the place was still plenty warm. She closed the front door and with a sense of deep regret, listened to Mac’s truck drive away. If only he still carried condoms in his wallet, then he could have stayed.

  To make matters worse, he hadn’t even kissed her goodbye. She understood why—nosy neighbors might have seen them and passed the word. She could spend all the time she wanted in Mac’s company without arousing any suspicions, but one public minute in his arms would start every tongue in town wagging.

  This particular business they had between them had to be kept private. She could still hardly believe he’d offered to take care of her problem himself. He was running a big risk that could potentially ruin his relationship with her brothers. And because she appreciated that so much, she intended to protect him as best she could. So she kept their goodbyes on the porch deliberately nonchalant.

  But once she was inside the door and he was truly gone, she ran her hands over her breasts and closed her eyes, lost in remembering. Then she lifted her arms over her head and turned slowly in a circle, executing a subtle dance of celebration. By touching her and arousing her the way he had, Mac had given her a completely new sense of her body.

  In the carefree days before pub
erty, she’d run and played with Mac and her brothers with no thought to the fact that she was a girl and they were boys. Then the changes had begun, and for the most part, she’d thought of them as a nuisance. As she developed, her body seemed to get in her way more than it helped her enjoy life. But now…now she understood what all those changes had been for. For this. Laughing in delight, she flung her arms out and whirled until she grew dizzy.

  Feeling slightly drunk with the wonder of it all, she wandered into her bedroom, shedding her clothes as she went. She kicked off her sandals and padded barefoot into the bathroom, where she turned on the shower, adjusting the temperature until it mimicked the warmth of a lover’s caress. She craved bodily sensation in a way she could never have admitted to anyone, least of all Mac.

  She stepped under the spray, letting it beat down on her. Then she flung back her head and lifted her breasts to the coursing water. Her nipples tightened and she touched them gently, reawakening the memory of Mac’s loving.

  Then she slid both hands down her water-slicked body to the juncture of her thighs, where she throbbed for him still. Her erotic books had been very clear—she didn’t need Mac or any man to give her the kind of release she’d found tonight. She could take charge of her own pleasure.

  And maybe someday she’d follow that advice, she thought, skimming her hands back up over her rib cage to cup her breasts once again. But tonight she wanted to savor the remembered sensation of his hands caressing her, coaxing her to enjoy the wonders of her body. Perhaps she was being silly, but it seemed to her that to work the miracle herself at this moment would dilute that precious memory.

  She turned off the shower and toweled dry, paying careful attention to the task. Her body was no longer exclusively her domain, and the thought made her shiver with delight. She smoothed lotion over every inch of skin she could reach, taking her time, anointing herself as if she expected Mac to return.

  He probably would not. He was, as she knew from years of experience, a man of his word. Once he’d decided that her initiation should proceed a certain way, he would follow through on that decision, ignoring his own needs, and even her arguments to the contrary. She wouldn’t see him again until three days from now, at eight o’clock on the dot.

  And perhaps he was right about this, she thought as she rubbed the scented lotion over her body. Perhaps there should be some ceremony and ritual to what they were about to do. She had three days to prepare. Three days to find tempting lingerie and turn her room into a lover’s bower. Setting down the lotion, she returned to her bedroom and surveyed the situation. Most of it would have to change.

  Grabbing a yellow legal pad and a pen from her desk drawer, she sprawled naked on her bed and began making a list.

  8

  THE NEXT AFTERNOON as Tess pulled packages from the car after her shopping trip to Phoenix, her neighbor, Hazel Nedbetter, came hurrying over with a florist’s vase full of daisies. Tess quickly shoved the Naughty But Nice lingerie box under the front seat.

  “I took these into my house so they wouldn’t wilt on your front porch,” Hazel said.

  “Why, thank you, Hazel.” Tess took the vase and stared at the cheerful bouquet of white and gold daisies, exactly like the ones on her dress. They could only have come from one person.

  “It isn’t even from the Copperville Flower Shoppe. The van was from some big florist in Phoenix. Can you imagine? The delivery fee must have been huge!”

  “Probably was.” At least Mac had taken some precautions, Tess thought. If he’d ordered from the local flower shop, the news would have spread by now. She was thrilled that he’d sent a bouquet, but she didn’t know how in hell she’d explain it to Hazel. And Hazel would need an explanation. The more mysterious Tess was, the more Hazel would speculate and the wilder the gossip would become.

  The sun beat down on them, and Tess needed to buy some time to think of what she’d say. “It must be three hundred degrees out here. Let’s go into the shade,” she said, starting toward her front porch. Doggone Mac, anyway. He’d put her in a precarious spot, but his reckless gesture made her smile. She could just hear him—I wanted to send you flowers. I figured you’re a smart girl. You’ll think of something to tell the neighbors.

  Setting the vase on the porch rail, she turned to Hazel and used the first explanation she could think of. “I’ll bet they’re from my new principal in New York.”

  “Really? How fancy! I don’t think Mr. Grimes ever sends flowers to the people he hires at Copperville High. They must do things differently back East.” Hazel eyed the small white envelope secured in the arrangement with a plastic holder. Clearly she wanted Tess to take the envelope out and open it to prove that the flowers were indeed from Tess’s new principal, as she’d speculated.

  The envelope wasn’t sealed shut, so Hazel could have looked at the card, but Tess didn’t think she had. Still, it was possible, so Tess decided to go for broke.

  She could pull this off, although Mac had given her quite a challenge. He knew good and well that the neighbors would notice flowers arriving at her doorstep and he was probably sitting in Flagstaff chuckling as he imagined her predicament. Even if she’d been home, the delivery van would have attracted attention. Most of her neighbors in this older section of Copperville were retired and had plenty of time to observe the activities surrounding them.

  Determined to convince Hazel, Tess boldly plucked the envelope from the plastic holder. “Let’s just see if I’m right.” She opened the envelope, figuring whatever Mac had said, she’d tell Hazel it was indeed from her principal.

  As it turned out, Mac had come to her aid. The cryptic card read Wishing you the best as you explore new worlds—M. Tess knew exactly what new worlds he was talking about, and they all involved the bed she was about to redecorate. But Hazel wouldn’t realize that.

  “Yep, it’s from my principal, all right,” Tess said. She repeated the greeting for Hazel and on impulse decided she could even nail her story down a little tighter. “My principal’s name is Emma Kirkwood, but most people call her Em, or they use the initial M for short. See?” She turned the card around for Hazel’s inspection. Tess had no idea if anyone called Emma Kirkwood Em, let alone abbreviated the nickname to an initial, but the chances of Emma appearing in Copperville were remote.

  Hazel adjusted her bifocals and peered at the card. “Sure enough.” She glanced at Tess. “That’s real nice, sending you a bouquet like that. Although I would have thought maybe roses or carnations would be more likely than daisies.”

  “M likes daisies.”

  Hazel nodded. “Been shopping?”

  With the change of topic, Tess knew she was home free. The daisies were explained. “Yes. Picked up some things for the trip.” And it would be some trip, considering the supplies she’d found today. She thought Mac would be pleased. Maybe more than pleased. She wanted him to salivate, actually.

  “When does Lionel plan on putting up a For Rent sign in front of your house?” Hazel asked.

  “Not until next month, I think. Don’t worry, Hazel. Lionel is very particular who he rents this place to. You’ll get good neighbors.”

  “I suppose, but I’ll miss you, anyway.”

  “I’ll miss you, too, Hazel.” Tess lifted the hair off the back of her neck. Even the shade of her porch was darned warm, but if she invited Hazel in she might be there for another hour. She was a dear lady, and another time Tess might not have minded visiting with her, but at the moment she was eager to get her purchases inside before someone else showed up and noticed the lingerie box or the satin sheets.

  “Your poor mother’s going to cry her eyes out when you go.”

  “I know. I’ll probably cry, too. But I have to spread my wings, Hazel. My brothers all got to be football heroes. This is a chance for me to shine.”

  “Oh, yes, your brothers. They might act like they don’t care about such things, but they’re going to hate having you so far away. And then there’s Mac MacDougal. That boy’s g
oing to miss you something terrible. I noticed you two were out last night. I was surprised at that, because Mabel Bellweather told me you were feeling sick when you were at the Nugget for dinner.”

  Tess began to wonder if she and Mac had any chance of keeping their secret, after all. Copperville was a hotbed of gossip. “I was feeling sick, but after I left the restaurant I started feeling better, so we took a long drive. He, um, wanted to discuss the breeding program he and his father are starting. They’re going to look at a few studs during that big horse show in Flagstaff this weekend. You did know they’re in Flagstaff?”

  Hazel nodded. “I heard. Nora’s at one of her antique shows up there.”

  “Right.” Tess decided she needed to prepare Hazel for Mac’s next move. “I made Mac promise to come over when he gets home and tell me all about the trip,” she said. “So you’ll likely see his truck here after they get home.”

  “Now, see there?” Hazel wagged her finger at Tess. “You two have always been close like that, sharing your news. Who’s he going to tell about his goings-on when you’re in New York City?”

  Tess hadn’t wanted to face that, herself. “I guess we’ll have to use the phone. Well, Hazel, I’d better let you get to your dinner preparations.”

  “Guess so.” Hazel seemed reluctant to take the hint. “How was Phoenix?”

  “Hot,” Tess said.

  “I’ll bet. These nights have been so warm I can barely sleep.”

  Which means Mac and I had better close the blinds good and tight, Tess thought. “I know what you mean,” she said. “Well, see you later, Hazel. And thanks again for preserving my bouquet.”

  “You’re welcome. Enjoy it.” Hazel headed back over the path worn in the grass between the two houses.

  Tess picked up the flowers and went inside. The phone rang the minute she set the vase on her coffee table. She walked over to the little telephone table next to the sofa and picked up the cordless receiver. “Hello?”