He kissed her neck, burying his face there, and squeezed her breast.

"Just like this," he whispered. "Only without the clothes."

"Yes," she whispered. She lifted her head and caught sight of them in the mirror, met his eyes there, saw the fire in them.

He closed his eyes suddenly and then he straightened, drawing her upright, too. Kissing her neck again, he whispered, "It wouldn't be right. Our first time is not going to be in the restroom of a saloon. It's not going to be anywhere until you're ready. But I want you, Kara. I get the feeling you've been having trouble swallowing that idea for some reason." He rubbed against her from behind, and she felt how hard he was, how aroused. "Do you believe it now?"

"I do."

"Good." He turned her in his arms and kissed her again, his tongue doing insane things to the inside of her mouth. "When you're ready. Not before," he promised. "I'll never push you, Kara."

God help me, she thought. I'm ready now.

Then he released her as if reluctant to do so. "I should go. I have things to do before tonight. You won't forget our date, will you? I was talking with Mel and Alex, and they agreed to sit with Tyler."

"Are you sure you want to leave him?"

He nodded. "There are enough Brands in this town to guard Fort Knox. And I trust your family, Kara. Almost as much as I trust you." He shook his head slowly. "Do you have any idea how amazing that is?"

"I think so," she whispered. And she thought it really was a good thing that they would have time alone together tonight, because she was going to go up in flames if she didn't make love with this man soon. Maybe tonight, she thought. Dear Lord, she'd never been so nervous.

"Splash some cold water on your face, beautiful. Your family will lynch me if they see you looking like you've just been ravished."

She smiled. "Okay."

"I'm going. Taking Ty back to the house. See you later?"

"Soon," she said.

"Not soon enough."

He leaned close and kissed her gently, then he turned and left the room.

Chapter 10.

He put Tyler in the truck and drove back to the house-her house, where she was kind enough to let him stay free of charge while he did his best to seduce her, deceive her and use her for his own ends.

Sighing deeply, Jim told himself he was not a complete bastard. He intended to marry her. Hell, he intended to do his best to make her happy for the rest of her life.

Okay, not the rest of her life. The next fifteen years or so. Just until Tyler grew up. Still, that was a lot to offer, right?

Wrong, idiot. It might be a lot to offer if she knew that was all she was being offered. But what you're offering is a lot more. You're making her believe in a big fat lie.

Why the hell did she have to be so damn good? It made it tough not to feel guilty. Pretending to love her, pretending to want her so badly he could barely keep his hands to himself...

He glanced down at the bulge in his jeans and shifted in his seat. Okay, so maybe the wanting part wasn't quite make-believe. But he was human and she was gorgeous. And good. And yeah, it was a shame to play such a nice, decent girl the way he was playing her. And yet if she wasn't a nice, decent girl, he wouldn't want her, anyway. She wouldn't be good enough to be a mother to his son, and that was what this was all about.

So he had to play her. Sweep her off her feet, convince her he had fallen madly in love. He thought he'd accomplished a major part of that. Clearly she wanted him. Wanted him badly. He'd been amazed at the instant and powerful responses he'd managed to elicit in her. She got hot fast when he touched her. A fine sheen of sweat broke out on her smooth skin, and her heart pattered rapid-fire against her chest. Her nipples swelled and hardened when he touched her breasts, and her breathing patterns turned short and shallow, and her eyes...

Hell, he had to break this train of thought and break it now. He was having enough trouble focusing without...

She was a virgin. She'd never been with another man. He would be the first, the one to teach her, to lead her through her first experiences in lovemaking. To show her how good it could be...to help her discover what she liked, what she didn't.

He wondered what her limits would be. Would she be adventurous? He had the feeling she wouldn't say no to anything he asked her to try. He had the feeling she'd be so damned eager to please him in bed that nothing would be out of bounds. And yet he knew he would have to be careful, gentle, take it slow. Because he didn't want to hurt her or frighten her or...

Damn, he was doing it again.

He pulled into the driveway of the house and shut off the engine, then carried Ty straight to the backyard and got to work on the fence. He needed physical labor and lots of it.

By the time they finished inventory, Kara was wrung out, coated in a layer of sweat and dust and certain she looked horrendous.

"Good grief," she said, "I don't even want to pass close to Jimmy and Tyler looking like this." She sniffed herself. "Do I smell?"

"You can always come home and shower there, daughter," Vidalia said as she pulled the bar's door shut and turned the lock. Then she hung a sign on the hook, eye level on the door. It read Closed for Inventory.

"Maybe I will."

"Up to you. You want to be deceptive, that's your call."

"Deceptive?" Kara shot a look at her mother, then sought help from Selene. Alex and Mel had already gone home-they'd be using Mel's old bedroom while they were here in town. Maya had taken the twins and gone home, as well. They'd been cranky and tired and needed a nap.

Only Selene and Vidalia and Kara remained. And Selene's helpless shrug was no help at all.

"In case you haven't seen it for yourself, Kara Brand, that man is falling fast and hard. It's not fair that he never sees you with dirt under your nails until it's too late."

Kara rolled her eyes. "You think it might put the brakes on him a little?"

"Nope. He's got the bit in his teeth, that one. Still, it might make you a little more sure of him if he likes you just as much dirty and tired as he does bright-eyed and fresh-faced."

"What makes you think I'm not sure of him?"

Her mother just looked at her as if she had said something utterly stupid.

"I swear, Mom," Selene said. "Sometimes I think you're as psychic as I am."

"Psychic schmychic. I know my daughters. If that's not doubt I see in her eyes, then it's the best imitation I've ever seen. So what is it, Kara? You think he's just playing games?"

"No. I think he's dead serious. I'm just not convinced it's for the reasons he wants me to believe."

"Such as?" her mother asked. She'd walked with Kara to her car, stood there now waiting while Kara unlocked it.

Kara shrugged. In her mind she heard her doubts, but she wouldn't voice them now to her mother. "Never mind, Mom. It's just that I'm not used to this kind of attention."

"High time you got used to it, child. And don't go thinking you have to settle for the first man bright enough to pay you any either. There will be others."

Not for me.

The thought whispered through her mind so firmly it startled her. She gasped at the power of it, the trueness of it. It resonated with such validity that she didn't doubt for one moment that it was absolutely correct. And it was a revelation for which she'd been unprepared.

"I'd better go."

"Coming to the house to shower?"

"Nah. I have a house of my own now. I'll use it."

She got into the car and drove. It was only five minutes to her home, and when she pulled into the driveway and got out of the car, she heard the sound of a hammer falling repeatedly, coming from the backyard. Wade's pickup was parked along the roadside, so she knew he was out there helping. The sounds of work never stopped as she walked to the front door of the house and went in. She moved past the living room, into the big playroom with the huge doors, and looked outside. Wade was out there. So was Jimmy.

Jimmy.

It wasn't a cold day. The temperature hovered around fifty-nine and the sun was beaming down from the western horizon. It would get a lot cooler once it set, but right now it was warm enough that Jimmy had stripped down to a tank-style undershirt and his jeans. His skin was coated in a fine sheen and she watched for a few minutes as he swung a hammer.

Then she glanced at the clock and raced upstairs. Twenty minutes later she was clean, dressed in fresh clothes, sporting a still-damp ponytail and stirring a pitcher of iced tea. She poured two tall glasses full and carried them out the back door and into the yard.

When he heard the creak of the door, Jimmy turned from his work, met her eyes and smiled. "You're back."

"Uh-huh. You've been busy." She crossed the backyard, handed him the iced tea and forced her eyes to leave his long enough to look at the fence that surrounded the backyard. "It looks great."

"Just about done," he said. He put the glass to his lips and drank, tipped his head back to drain the glass. His neck was corded and moist, and his Adam's apple moved with every swallow. She thought about putting her fingers there. Or her lips. He lowered the glass and caught her looking. His eyes held hers, dark and intense.

Wade cleared his throat and she turned. "That for me?" he asked, nodding toward the glass she still held.

"Oh. Sorry, Wade. Here." She handed it to him and then felt someone tugging on her blouse.

Tyler stood there smiling up at her. "I helped," he said. "It's a cool fence, isn't it, Kara?"

"It's a beautiful fence, Tyler. You did a great job."

He beamed, clearly proud. Jim patted his shoulder. "I don't know that we could have got it done without him. You, Wade?"

"No way. We'd have been another two days at least."

Tyler lifted his chin.

"I would have brought you a drink, too, Tyler," Kara said. "But I only had two hands. You want to come inside and get one?"

He looked up at his father.

Jim said, "Go ahead, Ty. I've just got one more board to put up and we're done anyway. I'll be right behind you."

"Okay." Tyler took up his crutches and walked beside Kara back into the house.

She felt Jim's eyes on her all the way inside, then she heard him say to Wade, "Let's get this last board nailed on, pal. I've got things I'd rather be doing."

A little shiver whispered up her spine, and she wondered what surprises the night would hold.

An hour later she and Tyler were watching cartoons and waiting for his macaroni-and-cheese dinner to get done, when Jim came down the stairs with one towel anchored around his hips and another draped over his shoulders.

She sat there on the sofa, her eyes trapped, caught as if his skin were flypaper. His chest-God, it was perfect. He had the skin of a calendar model, smooth and tanned and hairless, molded taut over firm muscle. No flab. There was something so incredibly sexy about his belly-something that made her own tighten up.

Finally she lifted her eyes to meet his again and found them on her, watching her, completely aware of her perusal and probably of every reaction happening inside her, too. He seemed to see right through her. And he didn't look smug or amused. He looked turned on.

She drew a breath, looked away.

"Kara's making my favorite," Tyler called. "Macaroni and cheese!"

"Cool. How about if I finish that for you, pal, so Kara can get ready?"

"I thought she was ready."

She arched her brows, met his eyes again. "So did I."

He smiled then, as if he knew something she didn't. "I left something for you. In your room upstairs."

"Jimmy, you didn't have to-"

"Go on, check it out. And take your time, Kara. I'll handle the mac and cheese as soon as I get dressed." He held out a hand to his son. "Come on, pal. I'll need a hand in here."

Kara stared at him, but his face gave no clue. He only moved past her into the room he shared with Tyler, and Tyler got up and went hurrying along with him. She watched him out of sight, because his back and shoulders were as much eye candy as the front of him had been. Then she took a deep, calming breath and turned to go up the stairs.

She walked into her room and saw the garment bag lying on her bed. "What in the world...?" Frowning, she went closer, tugged the item out of the bag and then held it up by its hanger. A black dress, halter-style top, ankle-length.

"Wow," she whispered. Her heart pumped a little faster. She dropped the dress on the bed and raced into the bathroom, yanking her ponytail loose as she did. Then she brushed it smooth and twisted it up into an elaborate knot at the back of her head. She left her bangs loose and tendrils hanging to frame her face. An ordinary ponytail would not do, not with a dress like that one.

God, where had he found it? What had made him do such a thing?

She resolved to ask him later and gave in to what she and her sister Edie referred to as their "inner diva." Smiling, she applied makeup with her recently acquired skill. Eyeliner, nice and dark to match the dress. Deep shadowy shades on her eyelids and a darker-than-usual blush. She painted her lips a more dramatic shade than usual, as well, and when she finished, even she was impressed with her reflection in the mirror.

Eager to see the full effect, she stripped off her clothes, all the way down to her bra and panties. Then she held up the dress and noted again the plunging back. No. The bra wouldn't work. She took it off and then slid the delectable gown from its hanger and onto her body.

It hugged her. The V-neck showed cleavage that the dress's construction helped enhance. It was as tight as a lover's arms, following every curve. She wouldn't have been able to walk in more than baby steps if it hadn't been for the slit that reached halfway up her thigh.

She stood in front of the mirror, frowned at the pantie lines. This dress hid nothing. She bunched up its skirt and drew off the panties, kicking them aside.

God almighty. She could barely believe it was her own reflection staring back at her. Jim was going to die when he saw her.

She owed her sister so much. And then it occurred to her. Edie must have helped him with this little surprise. That was why she'd begged off the inventory at the Corral, saying she had other plans.

Smiling, Kara tugged out her cell phone and dialed her sister's number even while wondering what shoes she was going to wear.

Edie answered on the first ring. "Kara?"