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As of this week, Madison had her law practice up and running, she’d moved into her new apartment, and even had her first client besides him. Everything was falling into place for her and he was glad. He’d even helped her move her furniture into her new place and liked the fact she could walk back and forth to her office.
And the way she’d handled her father and stepmother had impressed him. Sure, having her father call asking for money after not seeing her for ten years had hurt her, but her stepmother had just angered her. Not to mention he wanted to call on them and tell the bastard to never call her again, but that wasn’t his right.
Yet, the urge to protect Madison overwhelmed him.
He felt guilty because he had never thought about people calling her and asking her for his money. And yet she had his back. She’d turned them down so fast, the telephone line was still probably crackling from her hitting the disconnect button.
The wind outside howled and he wondered if they should go tonight. They were predicting sleet later and they would need to keep an eye on the weather to make certain they got home before the ice storm arrived.
Of course, Texas weathermen had predicted the worst before, and they hadn’t even received a drop. But you didn’t want to have to slip and slide home either.
Tonight’s shindig was in Fort Worth which was an hour away. He’d thought about hiring a limo driver but decided it would be better if he took his truck. That way, they could leave whenever they were ready. Plus, he had four-wheel drive if the weather did get dicey.
Waiting for her in the living room, he stood with his heavy coat and gloves. It was already colder than a witch in Montana and they were used to the cold weather.
His brothers told him they had moved the cattle to the closest pasture and had put out plenty of hay and water with more available first thing in the morning.
The pipes outside of the house were covered. They were as prepared as they could be if they did receive this ice storm. But most of the time, the jet stream flowed farther to the east and not so much south.
She walked into the room and his eyes widened at the sight of her in a blue gown that made her light blue-gray eyes sparkle. The gown fit her curves and hers were all in the right place.
Damn, the woman was gorgeous and he wondered why he’d never considered dating her before now.
“If you get any prettier, I’m going to have to hire you bodyguards,” he said.
She smiled. “You are such a flatterer. Keep saying such nice things, but it’s not going to get you anywhere.”
That was the problem; he wanted more. A lot more, but there was this no-marriage thing standing between them. And he was as much to blame as she was.
After hearing about her father and listening to the conversation with her stepmom, he understood her feelings about matrimony. Yet what they had felt real. It was comfortable in some ways with a dash of fire sparking between them.
“Are you ready?”
“You both be careful,” her mother said. “The weather is supposed to turn nasty.”
“We’ll be back early if it starts sleeting,” he said. Not really wanting this night to be short because this was the end.
As much as he hated it, he didn’t think she would take a chance on them dating for real.
Tonight, she was taking her big coat and he helped her slip into the long fur-lined jacket. It would be warmer than the shawl she normally wore.
“Goodnight,” her mother called and Madison took his hand in hers.
They walked out to the truck without saying a word and he helped her up.
“I thought about hiring a limo tonight, but decided we’d have better luck in the truck, especially if we decided to leave early.”
Turning to her, he pulled the gift he’d bought her on a whim out of his pocket.
“I got you this,” he said, handing her the small, wrapped box.
Her eyes widened. “Why?”
“Because I wanted to,” he said, wanting something for her to remember him by.
She peeled the paper away and opened the box that contained a tennis bracelet encircled in diamonds. Yes, he’d spent some money on it, but she was worth every penny.
“No, Adrian. I can’t accept this.”
