His for the Taking - By Ann Major Page 0,23

Greg and have nothing more to do with Cole.

But that was a difficult plan when Cole made her feel so alive.

Six

Since her heart was in shreds just from spending a pleasant evening with Cole, she wished she could forget her letters and demand that he drive her home. But when Cole turned on the lights in the barn and neither Joe nor a groom appeared, the smell of hay and the soft nickering of the horses seduced her into offering to help him put both horses to bed.

Together they removed the saddles and bridles and carried them to the tack room. Together they hosed down the horses, rubbing their long, narrow faces with big puffy sponges, squeezing the sponges repeatedly so that the water ran down their great bodies and legs and gurgled in the drain.

“I’ve missed working with horses,” she said. “Horses don’t lie to you, so they don’t break your heart as often as people do.”

His eyes studied her face for a long moment. He’d hurt her, made her feel cheap and unimportant to him. Maybe he hadn’t done it deliberately, but he’d hurt her just the same. For six long years she’d carried those scars.

“I’m sorry you had such a rough start in life. But you’ve certainly risen above it.”

She smiled warily as he turned back to Lily, but the work was a pleasant distraction, causing her to relax in Cole’s company. All sensual tension vanished. She simply enjoyed being with him and his horses. Soon they were laughing and talking easily.

“Would you like a cup of coffee before I drive you home?” he asked after he secured Raider in his stall.

She wondered if he was merely being polite, but his gaze was so intense, she couldn’t resist.

“I’d love one,” she lied, even though she never drank the bitter stuff.

Side by side they walked down the road to his house in the moonlight, each so wrapped up in their lighthearted banter they failed to see the Lincoln parked in the shadows of the huge live oak beside his house. He opened the front door as they were laughing at a joke he’d made.

“John, is that you—at last?” His mother’s biting tone cut Maddie to the quick.

“Mother?”

“I was beginning to wonder if you’d ever come home.”

“You should have called before coming if you don’t like being inconvenienced.”

“I did call. Your phone was off, or you didn’t bother to answer.”

Black silk rustled as his tall, elegantly slim mother stood up. Her flawless features held no warmth. She kept her thin nose high and angled away from Maddie.

“You should have let me know you were coming home, dear,” she said. “I would have had Angelica make dinner.”

“I had other plans. You remember Maddie Gray, don’t you?”

His mother’s lips pursed as her icy stare flicked briefly to Maddie. “Vaguely,” she lied in a voice that made Maddie feel small.

“Hello,” Maddie said.

His mother’s nose arched higher. “I’d prefer to talk to my son in private.”

Feeling like a child unjustly put into time-out, Maddie nodded. Her first impulse was to leave, but she couldn’t since Cole had driven her here. Then she remembered her letters. Maybe this was the perfect opportunity to search for them. “Cole, why don’t I wait in your office?” Maddie said.

“Because the den is larger and much more comfortable,” he replied.

“I’ll be just fine in there. You and your mother should take the den.” Before he could object, she hurried toward his office.

He followed her. “Why did you have to choose the messiest room in the house?” he whispered as she sank down in his big leather desk chair.

“Cole!” his mother snapped. “I said I’ve been waiting for over an hour!”

At his mother’s command he frowned. “There are a few magazines on the desk. I won’t be long,” he said gently to Maddie.

When he closed the door, Maddie faced his messy desk. She wasn’t happy that his mother despised her, but she refused to dwell on something she couldn’t change. This might be her only chance to search for her letters.

Knowing that she probably didn’t have much time, she leaned down and tugged at the bottom drawer. Just as she’d suspected, it was locked.

“Okay—so, I’ll look through the top drawers first!” she whispered.

While she riffled through the other drawers, which was slow going because they were stuffed with so many papers, she heard raised voices.

Not wishing to eavesdrop, but not being able to stop herself, Maddie’s ears pricked to attention even as she continued her rummaging.

“I know you’ve been