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He couldn’t imagine why he hadn’t remembered her breasts. He could see why a man might stare. Had they been that large six years ago? They must have been, or close to it, because he had joked with her about them a lot, he remembered. And she had laughed in response, that effervescent, sparkling laugh.
He realized he hadn’t heard her laugh once since he had arrived. She had smiled, but her eyes had never joined her mouth. A sadness lingered, memories of more than uncatchable balls. More like forfeited games.
“Who was that on the phone?” he asked.
“Mrs. Templeton. Her eight-year-old son, Brad, is supposed to be a camper during the first two-week session, but he was having second thoughts about coming.”
“Why?”
“She’s not really sure. He was excited at first when his parents suggested the camp. She wanted me to talk to him.”
“Were you able to change his mind?”
Her lips curved. “Brad’s an avid football fan. I mentioned you were here—”
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Mac said brusquely.
She looked as if he’d kicked her in the stomach. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t think you’d mind. You always seemed to like spending time with the kids.”
He made a face. “It isn’t that I mind spending time with them. It’s just—” He didn’t want them to see him hobbling around with a cane. He didn’t want them feeling sorry for him. He didn’t want to be asked a lot of questions for which he had no answers.
He would know in the next few weeks whether his leg was going to stand up to the rigors of running. He wanted time by himself to deal with his disappointment—if that was what it turned out to be. He wanted to be able to rage against fate without worrying about some sick kid’s feelings.
“I’m sorry, Mac,” Jewel said, reaching out to lay her hand on his forearm.
The hairs on his arms prickled at her touch, and his body responded in a way that both surprised and disturbed him. He resisted the urge to jerk his hand away. That would only hurt her again.
This is Jewel. My friend. There’s nothing sexual intended by her touch.
Jewel might be his friend, but his body also recognized her as female. This sort of thing—unwanted arousal—had happened once or twice when they were teenagers, and she had touched him at an odd moment when he wasn’t expecting it, but he had always attributed those incidents to randy teenage hormones. That excuse wouldn’t work now.
All right, so she was an attractive woman.
That excuse wouldn’t work either. Jewel wasn’t pretty. Never had been. Her nose was straight and small, her chin was square, her mouth was a bit too big and her eyes were Mississippi-mud brown. Ordinary features all. She did have an extraordinary body. Her long legs, small waist and ample breasts were the stuff of male dreams. But Mac was offended on Jewel’s behalf to think that any man could want her because of her body and not because of who she was inside.
So, it’s her mind you find attractive?
As a teenager, he had liked her sense of humor, her enthusiasm for life and her willingness to reach out to others. He hadn’t seen much of the first two traits this time around, and he wasn’t sure whether it was a continued willingness to reach out to others that had made her return to Camp LittleHawk or, as he suspected, a desire to retreat from the world.
Mac had no explanation for his response to Jewel except that he had been celibate for too long. What had happened when Jewel touched him was merely the healthy response of a male animal to a female of the species. The problem would be solved when he found himself a woman and satisfied the simple physiological need that had been too long denied. Which meant he had better make a trip into town sometime soon and find a willing woman.
“Do you want me to call the Templetons back and tell them your plans have changed and you won’t be here, after all?” Jewel asked.
He shook his head. “I guess it won’t hurt me to be nice to one little boy.”
“If you’d rather not—”
“I said I would.” He slid his leg off his knee and reached for his cane. “It’s not that big a deal, Jewel.”
She rose and reached for his arm to help him up.
He jerked away. “I’m not an invalid. I wish you’d stop trying to help me.”
He saw the hurt look on her face, but that was better than having her know the sharp sexual response her touch had provoked. That would ruin everything. Better to have her think he was in a lousy mood than find out that he wanted to suck on her breasts or put his hand between her legs and seek the damp heat there.
“I’m going in to town today,” he said, realizing he’d better get away for a while and cool down.
“Perfect! I need some things from the hardware store. Could you give me a lift?”
Thank God she wasn’t looking at him, or she would have known something was wrong. He opened his mouth to refuse and said, “Sure. Why not? Give me a chance to change into a shirt and jeans and some boots first.”
She gave him a blazing smile that made his groin pull up tight. Hell. He’d better find himself a woman. And soon.
NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, JEWEL THOUGHT. Mac had been acting strange all day. Every errand he had run had taken him to the opposite end of town from her. Although they had made plans to meet for lunch at the Stanton Hotel Café, he hadn’t arrived until she was nearly finished eating. She was sitting on one of the 1950’s chrome seats at the lunch counter when he finally showed up, grabbed a cup of coffee, said he wasn’t hungry, remembered something else he had to do in town and took off again.
If Jewel hadn’t known better, she would have said he didn’t want to be anywhere near her. But that was silly. They were best friends.
They had agreed to meet in the parking lot near the bank at four o’clock where Mac had parked his extended cab Chevy pickup and head back to Hawk’s Pride. Jewel was sitting on the fender of the truck when Mac finally returned.
“You could have sat inside,” he said. “It wasn’t locked.”
“It was too hot with the windows rolled up, and I needed a key to get them down,” she said, lifting the hair at her nape to catch the late afternoon breeze. She heard him suck in a breath and had turned in his direction when a female voice distracted them both.
“Peter? Is that you?”
Jewel rose and turned at the same time as Mac to find a red-headed, green-eyed woman standing beside the bed of the pickup.
“Eve?” Mac replied in tones of astonishment that rivaled the woman’s.
She ran toward him, and Jewel watched in awe as Mac dropped his cane to surround the woman with his arms. Jewel hurried to pick it up, certain Mac would lose his balance and need it at any moment.
Only he didn’t.
Either he was stronger on his feet than he had been two days ago, or the petite redhead was stronger than she looked.
“Peter. Peter,” the woman said, her gaze searching his face.
“Eve. I can’t believe it’s you!” he replied, his eyes searching her face with equal delight.
He suddenly looked around for Jewel and reached out a hand to draw her closer. “Jewel, this is Evelyn Latham. Eve and I dated for a while in college. She’s the only person I ever let get away with calling me Peter.”
Eve simpered. “It’s because you have such a big—”
“Yeah,” Mac cut her off. “Eve, this is my friend, Jewel Whitelaw. I’m spending some time at her parents’ ranch.”
Jewel saw Eve take one look at her plain face and her unshapely clothes and dismiss her as no competition.
Eve then gave Mac a quick, but thorough, once-over. “You look purrrfectly fit to me.”
Jewel cringed at the way the woman drew out the word with her Texas accent. Eve obviously appreciated Mac’s assets—one of which she had apparently seen up close and personal—and the sexual invitation she extended was clear, at least to Jewel.
Mac must have heard it, too. “What are you doing with yourself these days, Eve? I haven’t seen you since…when was it?”
“Graduation day from UT, two years ago.”
He looked for a ring on her left hand, but didn’t find one. “I thought you were going to marry Joe Bob Struthers.”
“I only told you that because I was mad at you for dumping me after only three dates…just when we were getting to know each other so well.”
He’s probably slept with her, Jewel thought. She couldn’t fault Mac’s taste. The woman was gorgeous. She wore a clingy green St. John knit dress, with a fashionable gold chain draped across her flat stomach.
Mac gave Eve a look that suggested he would be happy to pick up where they had left off. “So you’re not a married woman?”
“I’m free as a bird,” Eve confirmed.
“I thought you were a Dallas girl, born and bred. What are you doing out here in the far reaches of northwest Texas?” Mac asked.
“My dad bought the bank here in town. I’ve been the assistant manager for the past year.”
“I never expected any less of you,” Mac said, “graduating the way you did at the top of the class.”
Pretty and smart. That was a lethal combination, Jewel thought. Not that Jewel was competing in any way with Evelyn Latham for Mac’s affection. She and Mac were just friends. But she couldn’t help thinking that if Mac got involved with Eve, she would see a whole lot less of him, and she did enjoy his company.
“What are you doing here?” Eve asked Mac in return. “Aren’t you supposed to be off playing football, or something like that?”
Jewel couldn’t believe the woman had dated Mac but had no idea when the football season began and ended.
“It’s the off-season,” Mac said with an indulgent smile. For the first time it must have occurred to him that he didn’t have his cane. He looked around for it, and Jewel handed it to him. He took it and leaned on it. “I’m here visiting friends and recuperating from a football injury.”
“You were hurt?” Eve asked.
Jewel rolled her eyes. Mac gave her a nudge with his hip, and she straightened up.
“You could say that,” Mac said. “I guess you didn’t hear about it.”
Eve turned her mouth down in a delightful moue. “As you very well know I never cared much for football, only for the way you looked in those tight pants.”
The sexual innuendo was even more blatant this time, and Jewel felt uncomfortable standing there listening to it. “Sorry we can’t stay,” she said. “Mac was just giving me ride home.”
The pout that appeared on Eve’s face would have looked right at home on a three-year-old. “Oh, Mac. I was hoping you’d have dinner with me.”
“I still can,” Mac said. “I’ll take Jewel home and come back. What time and where?”
“How about eight o’clock? My house.” She gave Mac an address in the newest condominium complex in town.
Mac grinned. “I’ll be there.”
“Don’t dress up,” Eve purred. “I want you to be comfortable.”
“You got it,” Mac said.
With Jewel standing right there, Eve went up on tiptoe and gave Mac a kiss right on the mouth. Jewel noticed Mac’s arm went around her waist quick enough to draw her close, so the kiss wasn’t unwelcome. It went on a long time, and from the way their mouths shifted, their tongues were involved.
Jewel stood frozen, unable to move. At last the kiss broke, and Mac shot her a quick, embarrassed look. It was too little, too late. He should have thought of her feelings before he practically made love to another woman right in front of her.
Only it shouldn’t have mattered if he kissed somebody else. They were only friends.
“See you at eight,” Mac said as he backed away from Eve.
“I’ll be waiting,” Eve said in a sultry voice.
Mac went around to his side of the truck without stopping to open Jewel’s door. Not that she needed her door opened for her. She got in and sat near the edge of the seat, opening the window as soon as Mac started the truck and sticking her elbow out.
“Sorry about that,” he said after a few minutes. “I shouldn’t have embarrassed you like that.”
“I wasn’t embarrassed,” Jewel said. “Kiss all the girls you want. It doesn’t make any difference to me.”
“All right. If that’s the way you feel. Just so you don’t worry, I may not be back tonight.”
“Thanks for telling me,” Jewel said. “I won’t wait up for you.”
She really didn’t care. He was just a friend. He’d had another girlfriend most of the time she had known him. This was no different. Except, the whole time she had watched Mac kissing Eve the most stunning thought had been running through her head.
I wish it were me.
CHAPTER FOUR
MAC WENT TO EVELYN LATHAM’S HOUSE with one purpose in mind: to get laid. Eve opened the door wearing a clingy red velour jumpsuit that sent a wake-up call to his body. He was sure all it would take was one kiss to get the old machinery back into action. So he pulled her into his arms and kissed her and…nothing. Not a damned thing happened.
He worried about the situation all through supper and all through the glass of merlot they enjoyed by the fire he started for her in the stone fireplace. When they ended up entwined on the couch, he willed his body to react to the feel of her lips against his, to the feel of her body beneath his hands. He felt the sweat pop out on his forehead. But…nothing.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. Just because he hadn’t made love with a woman didn’t mean that he didn’t want to. He wanted to, all right. His damned body just wasn’t cooperating! He made up some excuse for why he couldn’t stay—his aching leg had come in handy for once—and bolted.
He drove around for two hours wondering if he was going to spend the rest of his life a virgin. What the hell had gone wrong? He hadn’t been able to figure it out but had finally conceded that driving around all night wasn’t going to give him any answers.
Then he remembered he had told Jewel he would probably be out all night. What was she going to think if he came back early?
That you don’t take your time.
Yeah. Probably she’d just think he’d gotten his fill of Eve already. He couldn’t imagine getting his fill of Jewel in bed. The thought of touching her skin, the feel of her hair against his body, the smell of her.
His body stirred in response.
It’s too late, buddy. You already missed the party. You have to do that when there’s a flesh-and-blood woman around.
And when it was some other woman besides Jewel. It wasn’t going to do him any good getting aroused by thoughts of her, because she was the last person he could have sex with.
Hell, his leg was killing him. He had some exercises he was supposed to do at night that he hadn’t done to relax the muscles. He needed to lay his leg flat in bed. He needed…he needed to know he could function as a man. The situation with Eve had been disturbing because it had never happened to him before. What if something was wrong with him? What if all those operations had done something to his libido?
