For one wild moment he wondered if she'd moved on to someone else already, but the vibrator, a flesh-colored piece of plastic about the diameter and length of a p.e.n.i.s, told a different story.

Gabe didn't have much experience with these things, but he'd always thought a woman used one as a quick remedy to fill in the gaps between guys. He'd never pictured a woman making a big production out of it with a skimpy nightgown, music and scented candles, which he could smell even though he wasn't inside yet.

Naturally, seeing her like this turned him on beyond belief. He didn't think she'd begun her evening of self-stimulation, but knowing what she'd had in mind quadrupled his l.u.s.t factor.

He'd told himself this would be a quick visit to pa.s.s on his mother's request and then he'd get the heck out of there. He'd told himself that despite the relatively late hour, he needed to let her know what had happened and why his mother wanted to see her.

Yeah, he could have called, but he wasn't sure she'd have answered the phone. Even if she had picked up, convincing her to come out to the ranch tomorrow would be difficult over the phone. A personal visit had seemed like the only answer.

But everything he'd told himself about this trip to town, every rationalization for being here, was a d.a.m.ned lie. He'd come because he wanted to see her. No, that was sugar-coating it. He'd shown up at her door because he craved everything she had to offer, especially in terms of s.e.x, but emotionally, too.

Knowing how weak he was when it came to Morgan, he had no business being here and should leave immediately. Then again, he might not have to worry about compromising himself by going to bed with her. Judging from the way she was glaring at him, she wouldn't allow that to happen in the next million years.

She looked as if she'd like to beat him over the head with that vibrator. She was obviously p.i.s.sed, and he could understand that. Apparently it didn't matter to him whether she welcomed him with open arms or not. Smiling or frowning, she was the most delicious woman he'd ever met, and he ached for her.

She kept tapping that vibrator against her thigh. "You'd better state your business, cowboy, before a neighbor drives by and gets the wrong idea."

"I need to talk to you." He tipped the brim of his hat up with his thumb. "How about it. Can I come in?"

"Depends." Tap, tap, tap went the vibrator. "How long will it take you to say what you have to say?"

"Not long, but as you pointed out, with you in that getup and me standing at your door, it looks like we're negotiating a price."

"All right." She stepped back and used the vibrator like an usher with a flashlight to motion him in. Then she closed the door and faced him. Once again she tapped the vibrator against her thigh. "Okay, talk."

"Could you put that d.a.m.ned thing down? You're making me nervous."

Instead of doing as he asked, she switched it on. "Oh, pardon me all to h.e.l.l." She advanced on him, the buzzing vibrator poised like a dagger. "I would hate to make you nervous." She poked him in the chest with the thing.

That brief contact made him tingle, and it wasn't a bad feeling, sort of like buzzing his lips together. He had an instant picture of her sliding that gizmo between her legs, and he was hard as a rock.

And speaking of buzzing lips, hers were glistening because she'd just licked them-slowly and very deliberately while giving him the eye. She was vamping him on purpose.

He cleared his throat. "Stop it, Morgan."

"Stop what? Being me?" She poked him in the chest again with the buzzing vibrator. "You might as well admit the truth. I'm too much woman for you. You can't take it." She aimed the vibrator lower.

He grabbed the end of it before she reached her obvious target, the fly of his jeans. The humming length of plastic sent tingling sensations through his arm. "Quit fooling around."

"But that's what you're supposed to do with it, Gabe." She held tightly to her end. "You need to leave now so I can go back in the bedroom and start." She looked into his eyes. "And I will have as many...o.r.g.a.s.ms...as...I...want."

He'd swear the d.a.m.ned vibrator was short-circuiting his brain because he couldn't think at all. Or maybe it was lack of blood to his brain that had caused it to stall out. Listening to her talk about o.r.g.a.s.ms was putting a strain on his privates unlike anything he'd ever known before.

Her voice dropped to a low purr. "Or maybe you don't want to leave. Maybe you want to stay and watch."

With a groan of surrender, he let go of the vibrator and pulled her into his arms. His last rational thought before his mouth came down on hers was that he'd leave if she struggled.

She didn't struggle. Instead she kissed him back with the same brand of desperation roaring through him. For a few seconds her hand, along with the vibrator, was wedged between them. The m.u.f.fled pulsing sent his jacked-up nerves into overdrive. Maintaining that essential mouth-to-mouth connection, he scooped her into his arms, and the vibrator-still buzzing-dropped to the carpet.

His hat fell off somewhere between the living room and the bedroom, and he let it go. All he cared about was keeping his mouth welded to hers until this was done, because he didn't want to talk. Talking would only confuse the issue. And the issue was simple-his c.o.c.k, not some d.a.m.ned piece of buzzing plastic, should be deep inside her, making her come.

As he laid her on the bed, he followed her down, his tongue stroking the fruit-flavored recesses of her mouth. He knew that taste. She'd had at least one, maybe more than one, of Josie's famous Pain Killers.

No wonder she was waving vibrators and wearing black silk...and unbuckling his belt and unfastening his jeans. Cooperation was a beautiful thing. He reached one-handed for the condom box and hoped she hadn't moved it since last night.

It was still there, but he spilled the packets everywhere in his attempt to open it. Didn't matter. He got his fingers around one, and that was all he needed to complete this mission.

He placed the packet into her busy hands as he continued to demonstrate with his tongue what he had in mind once she had him ready to rumble. She wasted no time, which was good, because there wasn't a second to spare.

He needed her with a white-hot certainty that he'd never experienced before. He didn't care if the house caught on fire or a flash flood came through. He would have her, and he would have her now.

Once he felt the welcome glide of latex over his throbbing d.i.c.k, he shoved aside whatever black silk barred his way and...heart pounding like a jackhammer...took her in one sure stroke.

Okay. This was what life was all about. Swirling his tongue in her mouth, he began to thrust. She responded by lifting to meet him.

With his jeans down around his knees, his belt jangled each time they came together. The noise blended with the liquid slide of bodies in an ever faster cadence. A rhythmic sound rose from deep in his throat and kept time with the slap, slap, slap as he pushed into her and she pushed back.

Yet still he kept his mouth on hers, his tongue mimicking the movement of his surging hips. She dug her fingers into his b.u.t.tocks. Then she whimpered and nipped his lower lip as she ground her pelvis into his.

He felt the first contraction squeeze his c.o.c.k and picked up the pace, increasing the friction that would send her up in flames. Her lips rose up, arching into him as he gave her everything he had and she came, her keening sound of release m.u.f.fled against his questing mouth.

His o.r.g.a.s.m hit him with the force of a charging bull, knocking the breath from him. At last he lifted his mouth from hers. With a sound that was half gasp, half groan, he trembled in the aftermath of pa.s.sion he hadn't known existed.

Dazed and humbled by the power of his need for her, he looked into her eyes. "I can't...be without you. I thought I could, but I can't."

She reached up and cupped his face, her gaze troubled. "Then I'm bad for you, just like you said."

"No. You're what I need." He leaned down and brushed her lips with his as he pushed deep. "This is what I need."

"You're not thinking straight right now. I admit I was angry when you blew me off today, but I don't want to be the reason you give up your compet.i.tion."

"Why not? What better reason?" He kissed her cheeks, her eyes, her hair. "Tonight I watched Nick with Dominique and you know what? I was jealous of their plans. They're picking a site for a house. They haven't talked about it, but I'm sure they'll have kids."

"That's nice for them." Morgan's voice was flat.

"It would be nice for us. You'd make a great mother."

"No, Gabe!" She struggled beneath him. "Let me up."

"What's the matter?" He rolled away from her as she scrambled out of bed. "Don't you want kids?"

"Not now! Not in the near future!" She cupped her silk-covered b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "As I mentioned this afternoon when your mother was doing the matchmaking thing, I'm no Earth Mother who can hardly wait to get pregnant and feed babies."

"Well, sure, you said that, but I thought you just meant you didn't want kids right away. I'm not talking about immediately."

"I don't know if I'll ever want children. I was the oldest of seven, which means I helped raise those kids. I'm not eager to change diapers anytime soon. And if I'm not fixated on babies, then why get married?"

His brain was spinning. "Well, there's a switch. I thought I was the one keeping us from making a commitment."

"I didn't think I needed to get specific about my feelings." She paced the length of the bedroom. "Until you showed up tonight and started talking about babies. That sends chills down my spine, Gabe."

"So what is it you want? I thought you wanted to put down roots."

"Which I'm doing! I bought this house. I'm settling into this community by building a business. I plan to stay here a long, long time, maybe for the rest of my life. That doesn't mean I want to get married or reproduce."

"That's... I mean, don't most women..."

"I don't know about most women, Gabe. I just know about me."

"Yeah, but when you were so eager to climb into bed with me just now, I thought-"

"That I wanted marriage and babies? I climbed into bed with you because it was a rush to know you couldn't resist me. My poor ego was bruised when you sent me away this afternoon, and now I feel tons better."

"I see. Glad I could be of help." Man, this was depressing as h.e.l.l.

"Gabe, I also love having s.e.x with you."

He glanced up to find her smiling at him. That was some consolation. She didn't want to marry him, but at least she liked the s.e.x. "I love having s.e.x with you, too, but..."

"But what?"

He studied her. "I'm not sure. Good s.e.x has always been plenty for me." He took a deep breath. "Let me clean up a bit before we continue this. I'm not at my best when I'm hog-tied by my own clothes." He waved a hand at jeans that were half on and half off. He was still wearing his boots, for crying out loud.

"Sure. Take your time. I'll go turn off the vibrator." She walked out of the bedroom.

Gabe waited until she was gone before he headed into her bathroom. Once there, he leaned against the sink and stared into the mirror. What in h.e.l.l was wrong with him? In effect, he'd proposed to Morgan. And she'd turned him down.

To his knowledge he'd never proposed to a woman in his life, not counting Cheryl Danbury in the second grade. Did he actually want to marry Morgan? He was afraid he did, which made no logical sense but resonated in his gut as the right move. How that worked with his campaign to get back into compet.i.tion and take Top Drawer all the way to the Hall of Fame wasn't clear to him at the moment.

One thing was clear-he couldn't think worth a d.a.m.n when he was with her. One whiff of her special scent, one glance into those blue-green eyes, one glimpse of her lush curves, and he wanted her in the most elemental way.

Maybe that's where this marriage and babies thing had come from. She stirred his need to mate. No woman had done that before, and he didn't know how to handle it. He needed distance and perspective, especially because she didn't appear to share his mating instinct.

Tucking in his shirt and zipping up his pants, he buckled his belt and walked out into the living room.

She sat in a brown leather easy chair in her black nightgown that so lovingly showcased her spectacular b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She was wearing his hat.

And he wanted her again. He wanted to have her right in that chair. He'd sit where she was sitting and she'd ride him, her legs hooked over the arms of the chair and her nightgown pulled down to her waist. She would be wearing his hat, and she would be calling his name as he guided her hips up and down, up and down.

"What is it?" she asked softly.

"You." He swallowed. "I've never..." He ma.s.saged the back of his neck and willed his erection to go away.

"I've never wanted a woman this...much."

"I'm flattered."

"And I'm completely disoriented. But the man with the goat called while I was at dinner with my family." He realized he still hadn't delivered his mother's message. Talk about brain freeze.

"The goat for Doozie?"

"Right. I'm leaving first thing in the morning for Colorado to pick it up. I'll be gone a couple of days. I think a little time apart is a good thing for us right now."

She nodded. "I think so, too."

"But I have a big favor to ask in the meantime."

"Oh?"

He noticed she didn't immediately agree to whatever it was. Morgan was keeping her wits about her, which was more than he could say for himself. "My mother asked if you'd be willing to come to the ranch and talk with her sometime tomorrow. Whenever works for you."

"Why?"

Taking a deep breath, he filled her in on what had happened when he'd told Jack he was returning to the circuit. "Jack's positive you influenced me to demand my share of the ranch."

Her eyes snapped with indignation. "That's so unfair, especially when I've said so many times that I think your ranch needs to stay just as it is. You're not serious about asking them to sell off some of the land, are you?"

"Of course not." Yet in the heat of his argument with Jack, he'd thought about it. There was acreage they didn't use for much of anything. But to say that to Morgan would be the equivalent of blasphemy, so he didn't.

"Well, that's good. I'd hate to see chunks carved off and developed."

"Strange talk coming from a real estate agent."

She lifted her chin. "Maybe you've been hanging out with the wrong real estate agents. We aren't all ready to rape the land. Some of us believe in working with existing dwellings whenever that's possible."

"That would be a good point to make with my mom. She really wants to hear your side."

"Will she believe me?"

"I think she will. But I can't speak for Jack. He plays by his own set of rules."

Morgan nodded. "So Josie said."

Unease rippled through him at the thought of Morgan and Josie comparing notes on the Chance brothers. "I'm not like Jack."

She gazed at him without responding, but he could see the wheels going around in that fertile brain of hers.

"I'm not! He goes to extremes with things, like deciding to completely stop seeing Josie because he was in bed with her when Dad died. And now he's working himself to death and pinching every penny, which is the exact opposite of how he was before. Jack can't seem to do anything in moderation."

She stood and took off his hat. "Whereas you, on the other hand, do everything in moderation."

"Well, yes. Pretty much. Mostly."

"Your compet.i.tion, for example?"

"That's not a good example. You have to go all-out if you want to get anywhere on the cutting-horse circuit. You can't make a half-a.s.sed attempt to compete."

"Or, as you put it this morning, you eat, sleep and dream it."