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She was breathing hard, her body twisting and straining. He held her hips and loved her, not stopping until she heaved upward and cried out as the waves of completion overtook her.
She felt drained, more exhausted than before. She lay limply as he knelt between her legs and tore at his clothes, throwing them aside. She could barely open her eyes as he positioned himself and then invaded her with a slow, heavy thrust that carried him into her to the hilt. As always, she was faintly startled by the overwhelming sense of fullness as she adjusted to him.
His full weight was on her, crushing her downward. There was nothing gentlemanly about him now, only the need to enter her as deeply as possible, to carry the embrace to the fullest so that there was no part of her that didn’t feel his possession. His lovemaking was often dominant, but she could usually meet it with her own strength. She couldn’t now; there was a savagery in him that had to be appeased, a hunger that had to be fed. Even though he restrained himself so that he never hurt her, she was helpless to do anything but lie there and accept him, and feel her passion rising within her again with a beating rhythm.
He paused when his tension reached the critical level, not wanting it to end just yet. His green eyes glittered as he framed her face in his hands and measured the strength of her arousal.
He brushed his mouth against her ear. “Did you know that a man normally has…”
She listened to the words rustling in her ear, her hands tightening on his back as she struggled for control. Though she loved their trivia game, she wasn’t in the mood for it now. Finally she gasped, “I wonder why there are so many, when one will do.”
In his best big-bad-wolf voice, admittedly ragge
d, he said, “The better to get you pregnant, my dear,” and he began moving again, hard and fast. And, sometime within the next hour, he did.
CHAPTER TEN
REESE WENT OVER the figures again, but the totals didn’t change. He got to his feet and looked out the window, his hands knotted into fists and his jaw set. All those years of work. All those damn years of work, for nothing.
He had done everything he could think of, cut down on every expense until there was nothing left that could be cut, and still those figures spelled it out in black and white: he had lost. The January blizzard that had killed half of his herd had pushed him so far under that the bank couldn’t carry him any longer. He couldn’t make the mortgage, and there would be no more extensions.
He had three options: one, he could let the bank foreclose, and they would lose everything; two, he could file chapter eleven bankruptcy and keep the ranch but ruin his credit; and three, he could accept Robert’s offer to be an investor. He smiled grimly. Number three was an option only if Robert’s offer was still open, considering that he had made it when the ranch was profitable and now it was going under fast.
He had been so close to making it. He thought that was what made the final defeat so bitter, that he had been close enough to see the end of debt. What April had started almost eight years before was finally coming to fruition: the destruction of his ranch. Who knew what her reasoning had been? Maybe she had done it because he had loved the ranch so much, more than he had ever even thought he loved her. It was his lifeblood, and he was losing it, unless Robert Cannon still wanted to invest. Reese went over the options again, but Robert was his only chance, and a slim one at that, because when Robert saw the figures he would have to be a hell of a gambler to go through with the deal. Reese didn’t hold out much hope, but he would make the effort, because he couldn’t do otherwise. He didn’t have just himself to consider now; he had Madelyn, and he would do what he could to keep her home for her. She hadn’t married him expecting bankruptcy or foreclosure.
It was March; snow was still on the ground, but the throbbing promise of spring was in the air. In another week or so buds would begin to swell on the trees and bushes; the land was alive, but the taste of ashes was in his mouth, because this might be the last spring he would ever see on his ranch.
He could hear Maddie in the kitchen, humming along with the radio as she gathered the ingredients for baking a cake. She’d gotten good at baking, so good that his mouth began watering every time those warm smells drifted his way. She was happy here. He hadn’t married her expecting anything more than a work partner, but instead he’d gotten a warm, intelligent, amusing and sexy woman who loved him. She never seemed embarrassed about it, never tried to pressure him into giving her more than he could; she simply loved him and didn’t try to hide it.
He didn’t know how he would tell her, but she had a right to know.
She was licking cake batter from a wooden spoon when he walked in, and she gave him a wink as she held the spoon out. “Wanna lick?”
The batter was on her fingers, too. He started at her fingers and worked his way up the handle of the spoon, his tongue scooping up the sweet batter. When the spoon was clean he turned to her fingers to make certain he’d gotten it all. “Any more?”
She produced the bowl and swiped her finger around the edge, then popped it in her mouth laden with batter. “Your turn.”
They cleaned the bowl like two children. That was probably Maddie’s most endearing trait, the ease with which she found enjoyment in life, and she had taught him how to have fun again. It was just simple things, like their trivia game or licking a bowl, but he had lost the knack for having fun until she had entered his life and taken over.
He hated having to tell her that they might lose their home. A man was supposed to take care of his wife. Maybe that was old-fashioned and chauvinistic, but that was the way he felt. It ate at his pride like acid not to be able to provide for her.
He sighed and put his hands on her waist, his face grim. “We have to talk.”
She eyed him cautiously. “I’ve never liked conversations that begin with that phrase.”
“You won’t like this one, either. It’s serious.”
She searched his face, her eyes becoming somber as she read his expression. “What is it?”
“When we lost half the herd, it put us under. I can’t make the mortgage.” That was it in a nutshell, as succinct and bald as he could make it.
“Can we get an extension—”
“No. If I had the full herd as collateral, then it would be possible, but I don’t have enough beef on the hoof to cover the outstanding debt.”
“Robert said you have the best head for business he’s ever seen. What do we have to do, and what can we do?”
He outlined the three things that could happen, and she listened to him with an intent expression. When he had finished she asked, “Why don’t you think Robert’s offer would still stand?”
