Juliet urged Chigger into a short lope and found Matt and Gracia waiting for her over the next hill. Once she reached them, they continued west for another half hour or more through an area where the land was dotted thick with mesquite and shaded here and there with large live oaks. The grass grew taller and herds of Brahman could be seen grazing around huge clumps of prickly pear and wesatch.
Gracia had been quieter on this leg of the journey, but from Juliet’s observations, she didn’t appear to be sad or pouting. Apparently Matt hadn’t given his daughter much of a scolding and Juliet was relieved. In fact, the girl seemed bubbly and Juliet figured just having her father out with her like this was enough to make her happy.
A half hour later, they reached the San Antonio. The sandy banks were steep, the water below deep and clipping along with a steady current. Since Gracia wanted to wade, Matt decided the three of them would have to ride north to a spot where sand deposits kept the water at a shallower depth.
It took another fifteen minutes before they arrived at a deep bend in the river where a sandbar narrowed the waterway. The bank was shaded with tall willows, wispy salt cedar and thorny mesquite. They chose a spot beneath one of the willows to spread their lunch and Matt tied their mounts nearby.
From their saddlebags, Juliet and Gracia pulled out the lunch fixings and a thin tablecloth to stretch across the sparse clumps of grass. While they worked to ready the meal, the teenager chattered nonstop and from where Matt stood a few steps away, he didn’t miss the happiness on his daughter’s face. When she was around Juliet, she was like a different girl. But then he had to admit that being around the woman made him a different man.
Seeing her again this morning had been like a rock lifting from his heart. He wanted to hum. He wanted to lift his face toward the blue sky and smile. It was a crazy reaction, he realized. But the feelings she induced in him were too pleasant to want to squash.
For their lunch, Juan had made huge sandwiches of smoked pork jammed between slices of homemade German bread. Along with the sandwiches, there were potato chips, baked beans and all sorts of condiments. To follow up with dessert, the old man had packed individual containers of dewberry cobbler. The crust was dusted with coarse ground sugar and though Juliet was certain she couldn’t hold another bite, she couldn’t resist the sweet concoction.
“Mmm. This is absolutely delicious,” she mouthed between bites of the cobbler. “Do you have a cook that made this at your house or does the woman up at the Saddler house cook for you, too?”
“Cook strictly works for Aunt Geraldine, although lots of times she makes enough things to spread around the ranch,” Matt explained. “We have a personal cook at our house, too. His name is Juan.”
“And Juan knows how to make everything good,” Gracia added. “But he always says he’s not a cook, he’s just a cowboy.”
“Well, when we get back to the ranch, I’ll make a point of telling him how delicious everything was,” Juliet remarked, then glanced at Matt, who was lounging on the ground a short space away from her. “Did the man work as a cowboy? Or has he always been your cook?”
Matt shook his head. “No, Juan has been a cowboy all his life. But he hurt his hip last year and had to have the joint replaced. Thankfully, when I offered him the cooking job, he honestly did know how to throw a meal together.”
Juliet laughed with disbelief. “You mean you hired him as cook and didn’t know whether he could actually do the job?”
He shrugged. “I thought it would be easier on him.”
So the man had more of a heart than she’d expected. The idea tugged on her like an invisible string, pulling her closer and closer to him.
Glancing over at him, she caught his gaze with hers. “That was very generous of you.”
A semblance of a smile curved his lips, but he didn’t say anything.
At the opposite end of the blanket, Gracia tossed her father a proud smile. “Daddy likes to help people. He treats everybody on the ranch like family. Unless they don’t follow his orders. Then he yells.”
Juliet laughed and Matt’s faint smile deepened for a brief moment. The relaxed change in his expression caused Juliet’s gaze to linger and the sight of him reclined upon the grassy ground, his muscled torso propped upon one elbow was sexy enough to send a ribbon of heat curling through her stomach.
Clearing her throat, she swallowed the last of the cobbler and placed the container out of the way. “Speaking of helping people,” she commented, “your cousin Nicci has really helped me.”
His brows peaked with curiosity. “Nicci? You know her?”
“I met her at Gracia’s birthday party and I’ve talked to her since—about a friend of mine who works as a waitress at the Cattle Call. She’s a single mother and can’t afford medical care for her little girl. Nicci has agreed to be their doctor for only what my friend can afford.”
“Are they poor?” Gracia asked with the frankness of a young person.
“Gracia! That’s not a nice question,” Matt corrected the teenager.
“Being poor isn’t a nice situation, either,” Juliet told him. “But I have a feeling that Angie won’t always be down like this. She’s going to college at night and working hard to do better.”
“Well, Nicci’s heart is as big as this ranch,” Matt said. “If the clinic where she worked would allow it, she’d work for nothing. In fact, several times in the past she’s traveled to third world countries and doctored needy people. I can tell you that she’ll take good care of your friend and her child and they won’t have to worry about paying for medicine. She has a way of doling out samples to the neediest.”
Juliet knew he was speaking the truth of his cousin and from what she could gather, when it came to people needing help, Matt was just as generous. Yet Gilbert wanted her to do a malicious story about lust and greed regarding these people. The man was sadistic and if Matt knew what the newspaper editor had in mind, he’d probably want to choke the man, then turn on Juliet. But she wasn’t going to tell him about Gilbert’s plans. At least, not until she could decide how to best handle the situation.
After rubbing her palms uneasily against her thighs, Juliet reached for a stack of dirty napkins while trying to push the problem with Gilbert out of her mind. “Well, I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to show your cousin my gratitude. I realize she’s probably bombarded with sad luck stories all the time. I’m just grateful she listened to mine.”
At the opposite end of the makeshift table, Gracia popped the last of her sandwich into her mouth and jumped to her feet.
“I’m finished eating so I’m going wading. Want to come with me, Juliet?”
Juliet glanced up at the girl. “You go on. I’ll be along in a few minutes after I put away the lunch things.”
Gracia frowned with uncertainty. “Are you sure? I can help you.”
Waving her on, Juliet said, “No. There are only a few things. I’m going to sip a bit of your father’s coffee, then I’ll come down to the water.”
The girl glanced from Juliet to her father and back again as though she liked the image of the two of them sitting fairly close together.
“Okay,” she said breezily. “I’ll be down below.”
“Don’t wander into the deep water,” Matt spoke up. “And watch for rattlers.”
“I will, Daddy. You just have a nice conversation with Juliet.”
Before the teenager turned to climb down the riverbank, Juliet was certain she’d seen a calculating glint in her brown eyes. But that wasn’t surprising. The very first time she’d seen Gracia sitting out on the lawn at the big ranch house, she’d expressed her wishes for a mother. Juliet supposed she should point out to the teenager that she was wasting her time in trying to be a matchmaker for her father. But the girl was too happy for Juliet to spoil her day in such a way.
Once Gracia was out of sight, Matt reached for the thermos of coffee sitting near him and passed it over to Juliet.
After thanking him, she poured a small amount into a foam cup and sipped the rich liquid. “Want some?” she asked.
He shook his head and she smiled at him.
“So how are you enjoying this picnic? Bet you’re lying there wishing you were back at the ranch helping your brother in the horse pen.”
“Actually, I wasn’t thinking anything of the sort. The day is beautiful. And it’s not often that I get to see parts of the ranch in such a leisurely way.” He glanced around him, then back to her. “I was just thinking that this was how my grandparents and great-grandparents must have seen this land when they first arrived here in south Texas. Just raw and wild and nothing on it, but mesquite and cactus, snakes and coyotes. If I’d lived back then I doubt I’d have had the fortitude or vision that they had to build the Sandbur.”
Absently, she twisted the cup in her hand as her gaze searched his face. He’d taken his hat off before they’d started to eat and now the gentle breeze that fluttered the leaves above them teased his crow-black hair and splayed thick strands of it against his forehead.
The fringe of shiny locks softened his features and mentally lured Juliet toward him. With her eyes fixed on his lips, she said, “It must be nice to have such heritage. I only knew about my grandparents on my mother’s side. The rest of my family—I don’t have any idea about them. My father couldn’t have cared less about his folks or his past and my mother was adopted. I guess some families are just bound together from the start and some aren’t.”
He pushed himself up to a sitting position and Juliet’s insides quivered as his face ended up only inches away from hers.
“Even bound families have their problems, Juliet. The Sanchezes and the Saddlers have both had their share of problems and worries and heartaches.”
She thought of Matt’s wife and father, his sister’s broken heart and sighed. “Yes, I suppose so.”
Suddenly his green eyes softened and he reached up and cupped his hand alongside her face. “Do you know how it made me feel to see you this morning?”
Her heart went still, then leaped into a gallop. “No,” she whispered.
His fingers moved ever so slightly against her cheek. “It made me happy, Juliet. Very happy.”
Doubt pulled her brows together. “That doesn’t sound like the Matt Sanchez I know.”
“It isn’t like him,” he said slowly. “You do things to me, woman. Things I don’t understand.”
With every word he spoke, his face grew nearer until his lips were only a scant fraction away from hers. Juliet was frozen with anticipation, afraid to breathe or move or speak in fear that she would break the electric connection between them.
“I told myself I didn’t want to invite you here today,” he murmured. “I told myself I was only doing it for Gracia. But the moment I saw you I knew I’d been lying to myself. I wanted to see you again because I can’t forget how you felt against me. I can’t forget how much—I want you.”
The last words were whispered against her lips and his warm breath was like a ray of sun coaxing the petals of a flower to unfurl. Her lips parted; her eyes closed and then she felt his kiss sweetly searching, tasting and urging her closer.
Her hands closed over the tops of his shoulders and the warmth of his flesh prompted her fingers to flex against his hard muscles.
For days she’d thought of nothing but this and struggled to deal with the fact that she would never experience being in his arms again. But now here she was and erotic sensations were bombarding her from all directions.
Her mouth opened and the tip of his tongue teased her teeth and her bottom lip, before he finally pulled back and rested his forehead against hers.
“If Gracia wasn’t with us you’d be on this blanket and I’d be making love to you.”
His frank words shocked her and her breath drew in sharply as she eased slightly back from him to search his face. “Matt—you—you said you didn’t want anything like this between us. What—”
His hands reached up and framed the confusion on her face. “I know I’ve said lots of things to you, Juliet. And at the time I thought I meant them. But since then I’ve had second thoughts about you and me. About us. Maybe the two of us spending time together wouldn’t really be all that dangerous.”
Dangerous. The word seemed to fit the explosive nature of their relationship. Yet she wanted to believe as he did that the two of them could be together without either of them getting hurt.
She drew in a bracing breath while realizing her heart was hammering like a runaway engine. “Is that what you want, Matt? For us to spend time together?”
A crooked grin twisted his lips as he drew her face back to his. “What does this feel like?”
He began kissing her again, deeper this time and Juliet was about to curl her arms around his neck when Gracia’s voice floated up to them.
“Juliet!” she yelled. “C’mon! The water is warm! It feels wonderful!”
Matt broke the kiss just as Juliet was about to jerk back from him. She looked at him in dazed wonder and a wry smile spread across his face.
“My child has great timing. You’d better go or she’ll be up here trying to drag you down.”
“Yes. I’d better go,” she murmured and quickly rose to her feet. “What are you going to do?”
His eyes lazily swept up and down the length of her. “Don’t worry about me. I have plenty to sit here and think about.”
Three days later, Juliet was sitting at her desk, attempting to work while half her thoughts were on Matt, where they’d been ever since the day of the picnic. His change in attitude toward her had left her in a dazed sort of trance and she continued to wonder what had happened with the man. But did his motives even matter? In the end, all that should matter to her was that he finally seemed to trust her and he actually wanted to be with her. For a man like him that was like changing the moon into the sun, and she shouldn’t be looking into the miracle that deeply. Some things just couldn’t be explained.
A knock sounded on the open door to her office and Juliet glanced up to see Gilbert’s wiry little self stepping toward her desk. The sight of the man sent her spirits plummeting.
“Madsen, I was just going over those photos you shot at the courthouse square. They’re good, but I want another one with the workers on the scaffold, not standing down below it. They look lazy and the contractor isn’t going to like seeing it in the newspaper and neither are the taxpayers.”
If Juliet remembered correctly, the time she’d shot the photos of the restorative work being done on the courthouse, the men had been on the ground digging some sort of footing, not standing around. But she wasn’t going to argue with Gilbert. It would be easy enough to walk the two blocks to the courthouse and snap more pictures.
“No problem. I’ll do it this afternoon,” she assured him.
Nodding curtly, he glanced pointedly at her desk. “I’ve been expecting an update from you on the Ketchum story. How far have you gotten with it?”
No further than she had two weeks ago, Juliet wanted to tell him. Instead, she tried to think of a good stall. “Uh—I’ve been meaning to stop by your office and let you know I’m still doing research.”
The constant frown on Gilbert’s face turned into an all-out scowl. “Research! Madsen, I talked to you about this project two weeks ago. There couldn’t be that much research!”
Laying down her pen, Juliet folded her hands atop her desk and gave him her full attention. “I hadn’t expected there to be,” she said. “But once I got to digging through the archives, I discovered there’ve been numerous articles done on the couple and the ranch. I need to assimilate all of them before I can do the piece any justice.”
Moving to the corner of her desk, he jabbed his forefinger on a bare spot of the wood. “You’ve had time, Madsen. I want to see the piece finished by next week.”
Images of Matt and Gracia floated through Juliet’s mind and her stomach felt as though poisonous snakes were swimming in the pit of it and one wrong move could cause her to be fatally bitten.
“I can’t do that,” she said carefully. “I need more time.”
Raking a hand over his balding head, he lowered a glare at her. “I’m getting the feeling that you’re stalling, Madsen. Am I wrong?”
The meek approach had never been Juliet’s style and she wasn’t about to cower to Gilbert, even if he was her boss. She had personal principles that no one could make her toss aside.
“I’m just trying to get the full picture here, sir. I don’t want my name attached to a piece that isn’t fair and factual.”
He snorted. “This isn’t the New York Times or even the Houston Chronicle, Madsen,” he said sarcastically. “So what if you dramatize a little? No one around here is going to question or investigate us.”
Her jaw dropped as she stared at him in disbelief. “Your father was known for running an ethical newspaper, Mr. Gilbert. I was under the impression that the Fannin Review was still an honored establishment in this town. Do you want that to change?”
Another snort erupted from the editor. “Honor. Principles. Since when did those two things sell newspapers? And what good will ethics do us, if we can’t afford to keep the doors open on this place?”
Juliet was quite sure the newspaper was doing fine as far as financial security, which made Gilbert’s attitude even worse.
“I don’t know about you, Mr. Gilbert, but I’d never be willing to compromise my ethics for bigger sales. I have a higher value of myself than that.”
The image of his scowling face reminded Juliet of a skinny bulldog, all wrinkles and teeth, but not enough inner strength to win the fight. At least, not with her, she thought grimly.
“That wouldn’t be so easy for you to say if you were sitting behind my desk, young lady.” Then with a dismissive swat of his arm, he added, “Just give me something on the Ketchums, Madsen. And make it good.”
Something good. The two words caused Juliet’s mind to suddenly spin with an idea that should have already come to her before now. She could definitely handle a story with a positive element behind it. But would Gilbert? It was a chance she had to take.
Nodding with total concession, she said, “All right, Mr. Gilbert, I’ll do my best to have the piece written by the end of next week. And I promise to make it something readers will enjoy.”
Thankfully, the man looked somewhat mollified at her announcement and started toward the door. “This is it, Madsen. I expect it to be on my desk by the end of next week or there’s going to be serious issues as to whether you keep this job.”
Juliet bit down on her tongue to keep from flinging several curse words at the man. But as he exited the room, she silently flung her opinion of him at his back.
She was rubbing her fingertips against her forehead and still trying to compose her anger when the phone on her desk rang.
Relieved at the interruption, she reached for the receiver.
“Madsen here.”
“Juliet?”
The sound of Matt’s voice brought her to instant attention and she bolted straight up in the desk chair. Thank goodness Gilbert had just left the room, otherwise the conversation could have been worse than awkward.
“Yes. Yes, it’s me.”
“You sound surprised to hear from me,” he said with a bit of humor.
“I am. A little.” The other evening, when she’d finally left the Sandbur after the picnic, the two of them had parted warmly. In fact, once Gracia had disappeared into the house, her and Matt’s goodbye had been a heated kiss exchanged at the door of her car. Even so, she hadn’t expected to hear from him this soon.
“Well, I don’t mean to interrupt your work. I just called to ask you to dinner tonight. Are you free?”
Dinner with Matt? Juliet was well aware that the picnic invitation had initially been for Gracia’s sake. But this was something different, something very personal, and the whole idea made her tremble. If she wanted to be a practical, safe woman, she wouldn’t think twice. She’d gently decline with some sort of excuse. But wise or not, that wasn’t what she wanted to do. Spending time with the man had turned into a craving.
“Juliet? Are you still with me?”
His voice jolted her out of her whirling thoughts and she stammered, “Er—yes—I’m here. I was just trying to remember if I had any obligations after work this evening. I don’t think I do.”
“Does that mean yes?”
Closing her eyes, she pushed her long hair off her forehead and drew in a bracing breath before she made the leap. “Yes. It means yes.”
She heard a faint sigh on his end of the line and wondered wildly if he’d actually expected her to say no. Didn’t the man know she was falling for him in the worst kind of way?
“Good. I’ll pick you up about seven. Give me your address.”
Her eyes popped open. “You mean we’re not eating at the ranch?”
He chuckled. “No. But if you want to, I can arrange it. I just thought you’d like to eat something other than ranch grub tonight.”
And maybe he wanted the two of them to be alone, without Gracia or Cordero, or anyone else on the ranch around to interrupt them. The idea sent tingles of anticipation down Juliet’s spine and she realized she was moving toward dangerous water, but it was too late to do anything about saving herself. She was too weak to fight the undertow.
“All right. I’ll be ready,” she said, then gave him the directions to get to her house.
After they’d exchanged goodbyes and she’d hung up the phone, Juliet fell weakly back in her chair and exhaled a heavy breath.
For long moments she stared unseeingly at the work on her desk, until her gaze finally settled on her empty ring finger. Once a diamond had sparkled there, given to her by a man who had showered her with attention and so-called love. She’d believed she and Michael had a future. She’d planned on it, worked toward it. But then everything had come tumbling down like a mud hut in a rainstorm and her loss had left her feeling just like that—homeless.
Since then, when it came to men, she’d sworn to live a more careful life. She’d promised herself to never fall in love with a man who only wanted to use her. Is that what she was doing now, she asked herself, falling in love with Matt, a man who’d already told her he didn’t want a woman in his future?
She couldn’t answer that now. Not when all she could think about was being back in Matt Sanchez’s arms.