Sitting across the room at his desk, Clint's gaze encompa.s.sed Alyssa, who was knocked out on his sofa. He smiled, thinking that too much pa.s.sion could definitely do that to a person. Deciding he wanted to let her sleep but didn't want to leave her alone, he decided to pa.s.s the time browsing the Internet.

First he checked out the Web site that advertised her company and was impressed with what he saw and the listing of references. Her clients consisted of both corporations and a mom who was using the site to organize a carpooling network.

Deciding to use one of those search engines she had told him about at lunch, he was able to locate several foundations that had a similar goal as the Sid Roberts Foundation-saving wild horses. One such organization was located in Arizona. Reaching for a pen, he jotted the information down. He would contact the organization the next day.

Then with nothing else to do, he decided to search Alyssa's name. Perhaps such a search would list other Web sites that she'd done or was a.s.sociated with.

In addition to bringing up several sites that her name was linked to, he was also given a list of news articles in which her name appeared. One was an article about an award she had received for Web design. A semblance of pride touched him at her accomplishment.

Then his gaze sharpened when it came across another article. It was one that announced her marriage engagement. Clint instantly felt a sharp pain that was similar to a swift kick in his abdomen. Alyssa hadn't told him she'd been engaged.

He flipped to the another article and his breath caught at the headlines that read Attorney Kevin Brady Weds Alyssa Barkley.

Clint's shoulders stiffened but he managed to force them to lean forward in his chair as he read the article that was dated two years ago. "In the presence of over five hundred guests, prominent Waco attorney Kevin Brady wed local Web designer Alyssa Barkley." There was also a picture of a beautiful Alyssa in a wedding gown.

Clint flipped off that particular screen, angered beyond belief at the thought that there was a possibility he had just made love to someone else's wife. During their very first conversations the day she'd arrived in Austin, Alyssa had told him she was not married. Yet the article indicated that she had been married. Even if she had gotten a divorce, she should have told him about it. This changed everything, Clint thought angrily.

Stunned, he stood and moved away from the computer, feeling let down and used. Taking the chair on the other side of the sofa, he decided not to wake her. So he waited until she finally awakened a half hour later. He watched as she slowly opened her eyes, saw him sitting in the chair and smiled at him. He could tell by her expression that she was confused by his refusal to return her smile.

"Clint?" she asked, pulling her naked body up into a sitting position. "What's wrong?"

He didn't say anything as he tried to ignore her nudity before she reached for her T-shirt and pulled it over her head. Then in a voice tinged with the anger he was trying to hold in check, he asked, "Why didn't you tell me you had gotten married, Alyssa?"

Eleven.

A lyssa went stiff. From Clint's expression she knew he mistook the gesture for guilt. A part of her immediately wondered if it mattered what he thought since he had been quick to think the worst of her, to believe she could be married to someone and willingly partic.i.p.ate in what they had shared tonight. Her anger flared. lyssa went stiff. From Clint's expression she knew he mistook the gesture for guilt. A part of her immediately wondered if it mattered what he thought since he had been quick to think the worst of her, to believe she could be married to someone and willingly partic.i.p.ate in what they had shared tonight. Her anger flared. Just what type of woman did he think she was? Just what type of woman did he think she was?

But then she knew what he thought did matter. What he had done tonight, not once but twice, had been intense, pa.s.sionate and an unselfish giving of himself. "I asked you a question, Alyssa," Clint said in the same hard voice.

Reining her anger back in and holding his gaze, she shook her head. "I'm not married, Clint."

"But you were," he said.

It wasn't a question, it was an accusation. She wondered where he had gotten his information. It would seem like the handiwork of Kim, but she knew that couldn't be the case.

"Alyssa," he said.

Apparently she wasn't answering quickly enough to suit him. The details of the humiliating day of her wedding were something she didn't like remembering, much less talking about. Having all those people at the church know the reason she hadn't gone through with the wedding-that she had been unable to satisfy her future husband to the point where already he'd gone out seeking the attentions of others-had been a degrading experience for her.

Knowing Clint was waiting for a response, she lifted her chin and tilted her head and slanted him a look.

"I've never been married, Clint," she said.

She saw his anger die down somewhat, but she also saw the confused look in the depths of his dark eyes.

"Then explain that picture and this article on Internet," he said.

So that was where he'd gotten his misinformation, she thought. With as much dignity as she could muster, Alyssa sat up straight on the sofa.

"The wedding was supposed to take place, but it didn't and it was too late to pull the article scheduled to run in the newspaper. To be honest, I didn't even think about calling the papers to stop the announcement from printing the next day. I had other things on my mind," Alyssa said.

Like how my cousin could hate me so much to do such a thing, and how my fiance, the man I thought I loved, could allow her to use him to accomplish such a hateful act, she thought.

"You're saying that you called things off on your wedding day?"

She heard the incredulous tone of his voice as if such a thing was paramount to the burning of the flag. "Yes, that's what I'm saying," she said.

She knew that statement wouldn't suffice. He needed to know more. So she began talking and remembering that dreadful day. Her feelings of shame and embarra.s.sment hadn't lessened with time.

"I was home that day getting ready to leave for the church when a courier delivered a package for me. It contained pictures of my soon-to-be husband in bed with someone I knew. The pictures arrived just in time to ruin what should have been the happiest day of my life," Alyssa said.

She watched Clinton's fury return, but this time it wasn't directed at her.

"Are you saying that while engaged to you your fiance was sleeping around? And with someone you knew and that the person deliberately wanted to hurt you?"

She nodded. "Yes, and the pictures were very explicit. Kevin didn't even really apologize. He said he felt his behavior was something I should be able to forgive him for. He said I should get over it because it just happened that one time and meant nothing."

"Bulls.h.i.t," Clint said.

Alyssa tried not to smile. "Yes, that's what I said."

"And the woman involved?"

"She accomplished her goal, which was to hurt me and embarra.s.s me. She wanted to prove that there was nothing that I considered mine that she couldn't have," Alyssa said.

He frowned. "She doesn't sound like a very nice person."

She thought that over for a moment. "In my opinion, she's not."

The room got quiet and Alyssa was very much aware of him staring at her, so she tried looking at everything else in the room but him. She wondered what he was thinking. Did he agree with some of the others who'd pitied her because they felt she hadn't been able to hold on to her man, keep him from wandering?

She heard Clint move and when she glanced over in his direction she was startled to find him standing in front of her. She lifted confused eyes to his. When he reached out his hand to her, she took it and he gently pulled her to her feet and off the sofa. Instantly, his arms went around her waist and he pulled her tighter to him.

"I just made a mistake in accusing you of something when I should have checked out the facts first," he said, in a low, husky tone. "I'm sorry and I can a.s.sure you that it won't happen again," he said, holding her gaze with his.

"And I'm glad you didn't marry that guy because if you would have married him, you wouldn't be here with me now." A few moments later he added while placing his palm against her cheek, "Besides, he didn't deserve you."

That's the same thing her aunt had said that day. Over the years, Claudine had just about convinced Alyssa that it was true. Touched by what he'd said, Alyssa tilted her head back and slanted a small smile at him. "Thank you for saying that," she said.

"Don't thank me, sweetheart, because it's true. Any man who screws around on a woman like you can't be operating with a full deck."

Alyssa shrugged. "You haven't seen the other woman," she said.

"Don't have to. Beauty is only skin deep and a real man knows that. I'm not the kind to get taken in by just a pretty face," Clint said and he smiled down at her. "Although I would be the first to admit that you do have a pretty face," he added in a husky voice. "Come on. Let me walk you to your room."

She drew in a deep breath thinking how quick and easy it had been to fall in love with Clint. Even now, when she knew he didn't feel the same way, she loved him so deeply it made her ache. It also made her want to express her love in the only way she knew how, and with the time limit they had, the only way she could.

"We didn't finish the game," she said softly, remembering the two o.r.g.a.s.ms he had given her and how she had pa.s.sed out before returning the favor.

He reached out and gently caressed her bottom lip. "No, we didn't, but you've had enough for one night. We'll play again at another time. Trust me."

She did and it suddenly occurred to her at that moment just how much.

Alyssa woke up the next morning overwhelmed that in just one night things had changed between her and Clint. There was no doubt in her mind that he still expected them to annul the marriage and for her to return to Waco at the end of the thirty days. But then, she thought, smiling, there was also no doubt in her mind that he wanted her the way a man wanted a woman. He had proven as much last night.

She glanced over at the clock and quickly sat up as her heart jumped in her chest. It was just before eight in the morning. Clint was an early riser. On most mornings he was up and out before six. She wondered if she had already missed him.

She slid out of bed and moved quickly to the bathroom to take a shower, remembering his hands and mouth on every part of her body. Moments later in the shower and under the spray of warm water, she glanced down and saw the marks of pa.s.sion his mouth had made on her skin. Most of them, like the ones on her stomach and thighs, could be easily covered by her clothes, but the ones on her neck were blatantly visible. They would be hard to hide. At the moment she didn't care.

A short while later she'd finished dressing. She'd decided to wear a new pair of jeans she had purchased the day before and a top she had picked up while at the mall. Sighing deeply, she left the bedroom, hoping Clint was still around and hadn't left the ranch for the day.

"Is there any reason your eyes are glued to that door?" Chester asked, chuckling. Clint didn't answer. "Hey, give her a while. She'll be coming through that door at any minute. Unless your wife has a reason to sleep late this morning," Chester teased.

Your wife.

Clint felt his stomach roll into a knot. It was only when he was conversing with Chester that Clint remembered that legally Alyssa was his wife. As his spouse, she was as deeply embedded as any woman could get in his life.

"Does she have a reason to sleep late, Clint?" she have a reason to sleep late, Clint?"

Chester's question broke into his thoughts. He didn't bother glancing over in Chester's direction because he had no intention answering the old man. Yes, Alyssa had plenty of reasons to sleep late this morning and all of them involved what they had done in his office last night. He got hard just thinking about their "game" and was grateful he was sitting down and away from Chester's prying eyes. The old man saw way too much to suit Clint.

"Clint, you're not answering my question."

Clint's gaze remained glued to the door that separated the kitchen from the dining room. "And I don't intend to, Chester. Don't you have work around here to do?"

"Don't you?"

Clint frowned. He did have plenty of work to do and he was getting behind in it if the truth was known. But he needed to see Alyssa. All through the night he thought about what she had shared with him about her unfaithful fiance and her horrible wedding day. Her revelations had nagged at him to the point where he'd been unable to sleep.

He then recalled how he had found out about Chantelle's infidelity. When she believed his future aspirations did not include anything else other than being a Texas Ranger, Chantelle had sought out greener pastures and had married a banker.

Clint knew all about betrayals. He knew how it felt to believe you were in love with someone and believe that person loved you back only to have that love tarnished with treachery.

Somewhere in the house he heard a door close and the sound snapped him out of his thoughts. He glanced over at Chester. "Don't you have the men to feed?"

Chester chuckled. "I've fed them already, but if that's a way of asking me to get lost, then I'll take the hint," he said, wiping off his hands with a kitchen towel. "Lucky for you I can come back and clean this stove later." The older man smiled over at Clint before grabbing his hat off the rack and turning toward the back door.

Before reaching it Chester turned around. "Have you given any thought to attending the annual benefit for the children's hospital I was telling you about? This year it will be held at the governor's mansion. Important people from all over Texas will be there. I reminded Casey about it. The function will happen during her visit, and she and McKinnon have agreed to go.

"And I even took the liberty to contact some of your cousins. Most of them said they would fly in to attend. Wasn't that real nice of them?"

Chester paused only long enough to add, "I haven't gotten a firm commitment from Cole or you, though." He chuckled. "At least this year you won't have a problem getting a date since you have a wife."

Clint shot Chester a glare before the man turned around to open the back door. Chester was barely out of the door when Clint stood up, immediately dismissing what Chester had said from his mind. The man was becoming a smart-a.s.s in his old age.

Clint heard steps and felt his stomach clench in antic.i.p.ation. He was eager to see Alyssa. Ready. Eager. Waiting. The kitchen door swung open and then she was there. Smiling at him. And she looked so d.a.m.n good in a pair of jeans, shirt and cowboy boots. Her thick, copper-brown hair flowed around her shoulders, framing her gorgeous face. She looked prettier than anything or anyone he had seen in a long time.

"Good morning, Clint," she said.

Without responding, he walked around the table and pulled her into his arms and whispered, "Good morning, Alyssa." He leaned down and captured her lips, needing to taste her again, to have her in his arms, to be consumed by her very essence. He didn't understand what was happening to him and at the moment, he didn't want to a.n.a.lyze his feelings or scrutinize his actions. The only thing he wanted to do was what he was now doing, exploring Alyssa's mouth with a hunger that astounded him.

He finally raised his head and gazed down at her moist lips, and when she whispered his name he leaned down again for another taste as pleasure tore through him. It was the kind of pleasure that licked at his heels, filled him with a warm rush and had certain parts of his body aching for relief.

This time when he pulled back again he placed a finger against her lips. "I love kissing you," he whispered.

She smiled sweetly. "I figured as much, especially after last night."

He smiled. "Come on, let's feed you. Chester kept your breakfast warm."

"And yours?"

"I've already eaten, but I'll join you at the table and drink another cup of coffee while you eat."

"All right," Alyssa said.

He took her hand and led her to the table thinking that he could definitely get used to her presence in his home.

She melted a little bit inside each and every time Clint glanced her way. A couple of times he had looked at his watch. She knew he had work around the ranch to do, but he was putting his work aside for her. But she didn't want to keep him from doing his job.

"I got a chance to read all that information about the foundation and the reason for it," she said, to break the comfortable silence between them.

He took a sip of his coffee as his intense gaze still held hers. "Did you?"

"Yes. And I got some wonderful ideas for the site that I would like to share with you. That is if you were really serious about my doing a web design for it," she said.

"Yes, I'm serious. I've even spoken to Casey about it," Clint a.s.sured her.

She raised a brow. "You have?"