His for the Taking - By Ann Major Page 0,41
nose and the corners of her eyes and then drew her close against his body. “The quicker we resolve Noah’s future and ours, the better.”
Reaching across the cab, she brushed her fingertips along his jawline. “I can’t marry you.”
“That’s an unacceptable answer.”
* * *
A brisk knock sounded on his trailer door. Cole, who’d made no forward progress with Maddie since she’d left Yella a few days ago, had a headache from hell. Clamping his mobile phone against his ear, he stood and strode to the door.
The minute he pushed it open the incessant roar of his rig and its petroleum odors slammed him.
Juan handed him the latest printout and signaled that he needed to talk to him, too.
“Two minutes,” Cole promised as he shut the door. “When are you going to tell Greg about me?” Cole demanded of Maddie.
“The more I think about your proposal, the more I think we’re not right for each other. I have a life here that doesn’t include you,” Maddie whispered. “I don’t want anything to do with Yella or the past, and you’re a part of all that.”
“Noah’s my son. I won’t have another man playing father to him.”
“But I can’t do without him. We have our big annual fundraiser this week. Greg offered to sit with Noah that night. And Noah’s looking forward to having the evening with him, too.”
Cole gritted his teeth. He wasn’t getting anywhere over the phone.
After his long silence, she said, “So, how are things at the well?”
Since he had no interest in discussing work, it took him a minute to regroup. “Slow as hell. But there haven’t been any injuries, and it’s definitely going to produce.”
“That sounds really good.”
“We’ve had a few breakdowns. We’ve had to order parts—parts that had to be back-ordered. Nothing major, just the usual challenges. I need to bring this well in if I’m going to be able to get up to see you.”
“I told you. That’s not a good idea. The sooner we forget about what happened in Yella, the better.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Forget how great sleeping with her had been? Forget Noah?
He hated not being able to see her and touch her. Hell, he was hard just from talking to her. He needed to hold her and make love to her again—if he was to convince her they had to marry.
“I’m getting another call. I’ve gotta go,” she said.
“Greg?”
When she didn’t deny it, a nasty green emotion flared hotly inside him. After she hung up, the drilling site seemed desolate and his trailer dreary. Opening a can of tonic water so fast it spewed fizz all over him, he stomped outside to find Juan.
He was losing her. He had to bring this well in fast. Only then could he go to Austin and convince her they had to marry for Noah’s sake.
No, he didn’t like that she’d slept with him and then had sneaked downstairs searching for her letters. Nor was he happy about the fact that she would never have told him about Noah if he hadn’t beaten her to his office. After that stunt, he wouldn’t be normal not to consider that maybe there was some truth in what the folks in Yella thought about her.
If there was, that was all the more reason he had to make an honest woman out of her and claim Noah as his son. And even though he had his own doubts, he was willing to ignore them and go up against his family and anybody else who objected to their marriage.
Cole did not want his son growing up the way Adam had, deeply resenting that he was illegitimate. Whether Maddie admitted it or not, by giving Noah his name, he would assure his son of what Maddie claimed was most precious to her—the kind of respectability and sense of belonging that she’d never had.
The sooner he got to Austin and convinced her he was right, the better.
Eleven
His eyes narrowing on the numbers of each house, Cole tensed as he drove up Maddie’s shady street for the second time. Her East Austin neighborhood was working-class but decent. Two little girls wearing helmets, big T-shirts and pigtails rode their bikes on the sidewalk. A couple of boys about Noah’s age threw a football back and forth to each other.
At least there were kids for Noah to play with.
Probably Cole should have called before coming, but he’d been too rushed. He wasn’t happy about having left Juan in charge of the well again,