Twin Seduction

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The storm was finally tapering off when Cash Landry turned onto the highway. The sky was pitch black, and the rain was still pouring down in sheets. Visibility was poor, but about an hour ago, the electrical fireworks had moved on to the east.

The problem was that parts of the road could be flooded, and there wasn’t much chance of seeing that in advance. Bottom line, it was not the best time to be driving, but he had to check on Maddie. Mac McAuliffe, her foreman, lived several miles away with this family, so for the last year since Mike had died, Maddie had lived alone on the ranch.

Cash didn’t like it. He liked it even less when he was out of touch with her as he’d been for the last ten days. His parents and then his father had been close friends with Mike Farrell, and he and Maddie had grown up together. At three years her senior, he’d early on taken on the role of looking after her. In his absence, he’d had his retired foreman, Sweeney, check on her daily when he came to feed the horses and check on the stock. When Sweeney had told him that he hadn’t actually seen Maddie today, Cash had only delayed long enough to shower the dust of the drive away before climbing into his pick up and heading for the Farrell Ranch.

Truth told, he was worried about her. Her ranch had been plagued by vandalism for the past few months, and the incidents had been increasing in frequency and severity. At first, he’d blamed the occasional cut fences on the Trainer twins. One of them—Joey—had an obvious crush on Maddie, and Cash figured he was making a bid for attention. He’d had a heart to heart with the boy. He’d explained that time was money on a ranch and that Maddie couldn’t afford to lose manpower rounding up straying cattle and repairing fences.

The next time a fence was cut Joey Trainer had vehemently denied having anything to do with it. Cash had believed him. And since then, there’d been other kinds of occurrences. Most recently, her horse Brutus had gotten ill. The vet had discovered that some of the hay had been dosed. Since then, Cash had told Sweeney to bring over hay from the Landry ranch.

The most recent cut fence had allowed about a hundred head of her cattle to stray, and he’d hadn’t had time to round them all up before he had to drive their combined herds to market.

Pressing his foot on the brake, Cash turned onto the drive that led to the Farrell Ranch. When he hit the first rut and heard the water splash up into the under carriage of his pick up, he slowed. The driving would be tricky from now on.

What had bothered Cash most was that whoever had poisoned the hay had been close to the house. Too close. Since then he’d taken to sleeping in the guest room a couple of times a week. It wasn’t the perfect solution, but he was hoping that it would give whoever was behind the incidents pause.

Cash had his suspicions about who might be causing Maddie problems. Top of the list was Daniel Pearson, a real estate agent who’d been after her to let him put her ranch on the market for the past six months. Cash knew that Maddie didn’t want to sell the ranch, but Pearson had been persistent, and he might believe that she would cave under pressure.

He’d checked and no other ranchers in the area were experiencing any problems. Only Maddie Farrell. Hitting another rut, Cash slowed his progress to a crawl. Ten days riding the open range had given him some time to think, and he’d come up with what might just be a solution to the problem, or at least a way to get Pearson to back off.

He and Maddie could get engaged.

He had to admit that when the idea had first come to him, it had given him pause. More than that, it had given him a good sized jolt. An engagement to Maddie hadn’t been on his immediate agenda. It wasn’t even in his five year plan. He liked his life just the way it was. The single life suited him to a T. And he was pretty sure Maddie was happy with hers.

But it wouldn’t be for real. Just a ruse until the incidents either stopped or he got some hard evidence about who was behind them.

Oh, his father and Maddie’s had shared a lifelong dream of having the two of them marry and unite the two ranches. But it wasn’t a plan that he and Maddie had bought into. Their relationship, even during their teens when his system had been hormone-driven, had never taken that turn into intimacy. Perhaps because he’d always thought of her as his kid sister and best friend.
But a fake engagement between the two of them wouldn’t surprise their neighbors in the least. Most of them would think that Mike Farrell and Jesse Landry had been right after all. It shouldn’t be hard to talk Maddie into it. He’d just lay out the logic of it and then give her a little push. Over the years, he’d learned that sometimes Maddie had to be pushed. Especially, since she’d become so focused on her jewelry design business.

Cash frowned as the dark outline of the ranch house came into view. The flood lights that normally lit up the stables and the house were off. And he couldn’t see any other sign of a light coming from the house. The place must have lost power during the storm.
Chances were she was asleep. The last thing he wanted was to wake her up. But the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to talk to Maddie about the engagement thing tonight and get it settled.

Cash parked in front of the house. That was when he caught a glimmer of light. Some of his tension eased. She’d probably lit a candle. From the time she was a child, electrical storms had frightened her to death.

Not wanting to wake her if she was asleep, Cash didn’t bother knocking. Instead, he looked for the key under the terra cotta pot. When he didn’t find it there, he frowned and some of his tension returned. He should have told her to find a better place.

His frown deepened when he tried the door and found it unlocked. He’d have to have a word with her about that too. He saw her the moment he stepped into the living room and felt a surge of relief. She was stretched out on the sofa, one arm flung over her head. The fat white candle burning on the coffee table allowed him to see the half empty plate of cheese and grapes and the opened bottle of wine.

His lips curved. She’d probably decided to weather the storm with a little help from a good Chardonnay. It was only as he drew closer that he sensed there was something different about her.

What was it?

Puzzled, he studied her more closely in the flickering candle light. Perhaps it was the clothes—or the lack of them. Her robe had fallen open. Beneath it, she wore a silk and lace tank top that skimmed the tops of her breasts. The matching panties left long, slender legs and narrow ankles bare. Then he saw it. Her toe nails were painted. A sexy shade of red.

Awareness and heat rippled through him. Cash frowned and glanced at the hand that she’d flung over her head. Her fingernails were painted too—in the same sexy color. This time the heat was sharper, and an image planted itself in his mind of that hand moving over his bare skin.

He shook his head to clear it. This was Maddie. What was the matter with him? Narrowing his eyes, he let them drift over her again. This time he noted her hair. That was different too. She’d cut it. The long braid she’d worn ever since he could remember was gone. Spread out as they were on the leather cushion, the honey colored strands of her hair looked as if some man had just run his hand through them.

When he realized that he wanted to run his hands through them, he fisted them at his sides. What in the world had happened while he was away? Had she had some kind of a makeover? That was the only thing that made any sense to him.

Much harder to explain was the way his body was reacting to her. Why would painted nails and a change of hairdo affect him this way? When he’d finally dragged his gaze from her hair, it had frozen on her breasts. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and so he could see the nipples beneath the thin swatch of silk that covered them.
Heat didn’t ripple this time. It punched through him as if he’d stepped from an icily air conditioned room into the blazing New Mexico sun. His knees nearly buckled.

What in hell had happened to him on that cattle drive? He was still the same man he’d been when he’d left. Wasn’t he? But something had changed. What was it? He couldn’t remember responding to any woman with this kind of intensity. And he hadn’t even touched her.

He wasn’t going to either. He’d come over here to see that she was safe. And she was. So he was going to pick her up and carry her into her bed. Then he was going to bed down himself in the guestroom.

Still, Cash hesitated for a moment, wishing he had more of a handle on what was going on. Finally he moved toward her and lifted her up off the couch.

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