One Summer At The Ranch: The Wyoming Cowboy / A Family for the Rugged Rancher / The Man Who Had Everything

“Isn’t it?”

The waiter brought their meal and a basket of freshly baked croissants. Maurice didn’t usually serve these with dinner, but he knew how much Carson loved them.

“You have to try one of these. They literally melt in your mouth. I’ve eaten a dozen of them in one sitting before.”

She took a bite. “I believe you.”

While they ate their meal, he saw the dance band assemble across the room. A man in a turtleneck and jacket took over the mic. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said in heavily accented French. “I’ve been told we have a very special guest in the restaurant tonight. Monsieur Lundgren, it is up to you to choose our first number before the dancing starts.”

Carson chuckled. Trust Maurice to pull this. He glanced at Tracy, whose smile haunted him. “Go on. I’m curious to know what you pick.”

“How about, ‘Yesterday When I Was Young’?”

Many people in the restaurant clapped because they knew the song, too. Once the man started to sing, Carson’s eyes slid to Tracy’s. Their eyes didn’t leave each other until the singing was over.

“I first heard that song before I was sent to the hospital,” he told her. “Remember the opening lines about being young and the taste of life sweet on the tongue, of treating life as if it were a foolish game?” She nodded. “All of it burned through me like a red-hot poker. That’s what I’d done, and now that time was gone.

“I looked back at my own life, knowing I could never return to those times. I felt older than my grandfather who’d passed away. Opportunities had been missed. Too late I learned that the now of life is the essence.”

Her eyes filled and she reached across the table to squeeze his hand gently.

“Let’s dance.” Carson stood, and reached for her to join him.

They gravitated to each other on the dance floor. When he pulled her into his arms she whispered, “You’re still young, Carson.”

He drew her tighter against him without saying anything. They danced every dance. He forgot the time, the place. Carson needed the warmth of her lissome body. With each movement he inhaled her sweet fragrance and felt every breath she took.

“I need to be alone with you, Tracy. Let’s get out of here.” He felt a tremor shake her body as he led her back to the table. Once he’d left some bills, he ushered her out of the restaurant to the car.

A few residue clouds obscured the moon. Except for his coughing, they drove back to the ranch in silence. It was after eleven, but there was no way this evening was over. Maybe she wouldn’t like it, but he pulled around to the rear of the ranch house and shut off the engine.

“This is my home. I’d like you to see how I live. I want you to come in and be with me for a while. If that doesn’t—”

“It’s what I’d like, too,” she broke in. He sensed she wanted to be with him. What surprised him was how forthright she was. That’s the way the whole night had gone.

He got out and went around to help her from the car. “The guys live upstairs. I have the back of the house to myself.”

They walked down the hall to his bedroom, where Buck had done some remodeling for him. His grandfather’s former room had been turned into a suite with its own sitting room and bathroom, but Carson wasn’t thinking about that right now. He started to help her off with her jacket, but the moment he touched her, he couldn’t help kissing the side of her neck.

“So help me, I promised myself I wouldn’t do this, but I don’t seem to have any control when I get close to you.”

She twisted around until she faced him. That beautiful face. “Neither do I.”

“Tracy—”

Carson lowered his head and covered her mouth with his own, exultant that at last he was tasting her. The singing line of her mouth had been tempting him for days. By some miracle she was kissing him back and she went on giving kiss after kiss. Like their dancing, they couldn’t stop. It felt too wonderful to love this way.

He’d been empty for too many years. He wanted to go slow, but he didn’t know how. She wasn’t helping him. This merging of lips and bodies was so powerful, their desire for each other took on a life of its own. Carson didn’t remember picking her up and carrying her to the bed. But there she was, lying on the mattress, looking up at him with a longing he could hardly credit was for him.

After crushing her mouth once more, he lifted his head, but he was out of breath. “I brought you here to...to do this...and to talk.”

“I know,” she half moaned. “That’s why I came. We have to talk.”

“How are we supposed to do that now? Do you have any idea how much I want to make love to you?”

“That makes two of us.” Her voice trembled. “Don’t hate me too much if I confess that I wanted you to kiss me to see if what I was feeling was real.”

“You mean I was an experiment.”

“Yes. But so was I to you—be honest about that.” Her eyes beseeched him to understand. “After Tony, I—”

“You don’t need to explain anything to me,” he cut in. “I’ve been wondering about that, too, but no longer. It’s real, all right.” He buried his face in her fragrant hair.