covered her to midthigh. She then pulled her hair out from under the band of the garment and gathered it into a messy knot on top of her head, and he thought that he’d never seen anyone so naturally beautiful, so effortlessly sexy.
“I’m going to make coffee. Do you have time for a cup?”
Daniel glanced at his watch and nodded. “Yeah, I do. Thanks.”
He watched Alex leave the room, her hips swaying seductively as she did so. She’d been pretty as a teenager but she was spectacular as a grown woman. Blue eyes the color of the summer sky, high cheekbones and that luscious, made-to-kiss mouth. Yards and yards of fragrant, wavy hair. And... God, that body...lean and slender, finely boned but with curves and dips and flares that made his mouth water.
At eighteen he’d thought he’d loved her, but now, ten years later, he knew that he’d been blinded by lust, had confused love with desire. He didn’t believe in romantic love and Daniel sometimes wondered if he ever, deep down, really had. God knew he hadn’t been exposed to any marital, or even family, harmony growing up.
He was the unwanted son of Rose’s daughter, who had also been raised in a tense household. There had been little love between Rose and his maternal grandfather, and his mother, Stephanie, wasn’t able to love anyone but herself. He’d been the unwanted result of one of Stephanie’s many bad decisions when it came to men.
Daniel had no idea who his father was and one of Stephanie’s favorite games had been to play “Who’s Your Daddy?” She’d thrown out names to tease, later telling him that she’d made up names and occupations to amuse herself. It was cold comfort that Stephanie had also played Rose like a fiddle, using him as her bow.
Thanks to his dysfunctional childhood, he was cynical about love. But he did believe in family, in loyalty, in hard work and respect—Rose had shown him the value of those traits, in both word and deed. She’d never lied to him, not even during those worst times, when Stephanie was crazier than a wet hen.
So when his grandmother expressed her reservations about his teenage romance with Alex, calmly pointing out that he’d be throwing away his future at the ranch to follow a girl he thought he might love, he’d eventually listened to her advice. And why wouldn’t he? She was the one stable adult in his life, the only person he’d ever felt was looking after his best interests.
And yeah, after emotionally and physically divorcing himself from his mother, he vowed that he’d never let anyone emotionally blackmail him again.
Shaking off his disturbing thoughts, Daniel stood up, strode to the small bathroom next to the only bedroom and used the facilities. He returned to the master suite, smiling as he remembered how surprised he’d been when he’d first laid eyes on this renovated tree house.
Gone was the rickety structure from before. Now a sleek, beautifully designed house rested in the massive cypress trees overlooking the river that meandered its way through both The Silver C and the Lone Wolf ranches. Instead of a one-room platform, the tree house consisted of a master bedroom, a sleeping loft above the main living space, this tiny bathroom and a small kitchenette. The abundance of windows and a sliding glass wall allowed for amazing views of the river and Lone Wolf land. He wished he could lie on the sprawling deck, beer in his hand, Stetson over his face, soaking up some winter rays. But there was work to do, and the needs of The Silver C Ranch always came first.
Hearing Alex walking up the stairs to the bedroom, he stepped into his jeans and pulled on his shirt, then his fleece-lined leather jacket. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he reached for his socks and boots, lifting his head as Alex appeared in the doorway. He took the cup of coffee she held out—hot and black—and sipped gratefully. Another three of these and he might feel vaguely human.
She sat down on the bed next to him, scooted backward and crossed her legs. “Dan...”
There was something odd in the way she said his name, so he whipped his head around to look at her, his eyes narrowing at the frown pulling her arched eyebrows together. “Yeah?”
Alex cradled her mug in both hands and he saw the tremble in her fingers, the way the rim of the cup vibrated. Oh crap, this wasn’t good. He removed the cup from her fingers, placed it on the wooden bedside table and turned back to face her. “What’s wrong, Lex?”
“Has Rose been giving you grief about me?”
He really didn’t want to have this conversation now, didn’t have the time for it. “Yeah. She asked me whether we were seeing each other, told me that she wouldn’t be happy if I was.”
Alex sighed. “I got a similar lecture from Gus, telling me how it would break his heart if he found out we were together.” Alex looked miserable and Daniel could relate. Neither of them liked disappointing their grandparents.
“Gus is trying to set me up with guys who are taking part in the bachelor auction.”
“That damned auction,” Daniel growled, the thought of being sold like a steer raising his blood pressure. Then, to add insult to injury, he would have to pay for the date with the woman who’d paid to spend time with him. Why couldn’t he just write a check to cover the costs of the date? Hell, he’d double, even triple, the amount if he could get out of going on a stupid date with someone not of his choosing.
“That damned auction is going to raise an awesome amount of money for the Pancreatic Cancer Foundation.” Daniel saw the blue fire in Alex’s eyes and reminded himself that the charity auction was her pet project. Her beloved grandmother Sarah had died from the disease, and as it was a cause that was near and dear to her heart, Lex had committed herself to raising funds to find a cure.
“I’ll be glad when it’s over,” Alex said. “A few more sleeps and counting. Roll on Saturday and then Gus can stop throwing me into the arms of any man with a pulse.”
The thought of Alexis being in another man’s arms was enough to have him grinding his teeth together. Daniel reminded himself that he had no right to feel jealous, but the enamel still flew off his teeth. Reaching across him to pick up her cup of coffee, her hair brushed his face and he inhaled her lavender-and-wildflower scent. He immediately felt himself grow hard, and as much as it pained him, he told himself to stand down.
“If I don’t leave soon, Lex, I’m going to be late. What’s on your mind?”
Alex sipped, sighed and sipped again, before finally getting to the point. “I...um...think we should put this on hold, at least for a while.”
“This meaning us?”
Alex nodded. “I’ve got a lot on my mind, so much to do, and while this has been fun, it’s taking time and energy I don’t currently have.”
Daniel felt the prick—hell, stab!—of dismay and pushed the pain away. Sure, he hadn’t expected this to last forever, but damn, he and Lex were good together. They enjoyed each other, knew exactly how to make each other writhe and squirm and scream. It would be a good long while, Daniel admitted, before he could even think about sleeping with someone else.
Because Alexis—warm and wonderful—was truly one of a kind.
Alex looked like she was waiting for an answer, so he shrugged and uttered the only word he could wrap his tongue around. “Okay.”
Disappointment flashed in her eyes. At his one-syllable answer or because he wasn’t arguing for them to carry on?
“I’d also like to tell our grandparents that we are wise to them trying to set us up with other people, that they can’t interfere in our love lives,” Alex stated, her voice determined.
“You want to tackle them together? In the same room?” Daniel heard the skepticism in his voice. “Would Royal survive the fallout?”
“I think it would have more impact,” Alex stubbornly replied.
“They’ve avoided each other for five decades, Lex. You’re not going to get them in the same room, at the same time.” This feud was exhausting but it