More Desire, Oklahoma, Volume 1

Excerpt

Desire for Three: Winning Back Jesse

Clay wanted nothing more than to hold his wife in his arms and comfort her, to feel her soft and warm against him so he knew she was safe. With a warning look at his brother, Rio, to keep his temper to himself, he put the phone on speaker.

“Of course we’re worried about you, baby. Please, just tell us where you are so we can come and get you.”

“No, Clay.” The trembling sob in her voice tore him up inside.

With his heart in his throat, he turned, meeting the cold, hard stare of Lucas Hart, one of the partners in Desire Security Systems—and more than that—a good friend.

Lucas had been giving him dirty looks since they’d arrived a little more than an hour ago, clearly blaming Clay and Rio for hurting Jesse.

Clay blamed himself even more.

He’d hoped, prayed, that Jesse would answer the phone and that Lucas could use some of his vast array of equipment to find her.

Clenching his jaw, Lucas motioned for Clay to keep Jesse talking.

Clay had no intention of letting Jesse hang up, especially after spending the last few hours out of his mind with worry.

“Jesse, what do you mean, no? What happened, honey? We don’t even know what’s wrong. It’s not like you not to talk to us. If you’re mad at us for something, I’d rather you just give us hell like you usually do. It’s not like you to run away.”

“I guess you’re tired of having a woman who stands up for herself.” She said it in such a low voice that Clay almost missed it, but she continued on before he could say anything.

“I’ll be back tomorrow. I just need to be alone tonight.”

“You don’t need to be alone. You need to be with us!” Clay winced inwardly as the knot in his stomach turned to ice.

He kept his voice low, struggling to speak calmly when he was anything but. “You said you’ll be back tomorrow. You didn’t say you were coming home. You’re scaring the hell out of me, Jesse. If you think I’m letting you go, you’re very much mistaken. Just talk to us. Let me explain.”

Her silence scared him, and for several heart-stopping seconds, he feared she’d hung up. When she spoke again, the weariness and distance in her tone frightened him even more.

“Clay, I really don’t want to talk about this tonight. I’ve got to go—”

“No. Don’t you hang up on me, Jesse Erickson!” He scrubbed a hand over his face, praying that Lucas would be able to pinpoint her location before she hung up. Worry for her ate him alive.

“Baby? Are you cold? You left without your coat. Please tell me you’re someplace warm, honey.”

The sob in her sigh tore at him, the effect also apparent on both Rio and Lucas as they listened.

Rio sank into a chair, hanging his head, his hair mussed from running his hands through it countless times in the last few hours.

A muscle worked in Lucas’s jaw, his steely gaze holding Clay’s and his stonelike expression even harder and more intimidating than ever.

Jesse’s voice, so sweet and with a tremble in it that brought another lump to Clay’s throat, came over the speaker, softer now than before.

“I’m fine, Clay. I’m a big girl, remember? I’m not one of those sweet little things that fall all over you. I’m used to taking care of myself, or have you forgotten?”

The reminder of the cold, withdrawn woman he’d met two years earlier, a woman that had thought herself incapable of loving or being loved, nearly took him to his knees.

“I haven’t forgotten a single thing about you.”

The ice in his stomach seemed to spread, making him cold all the way to the bone and stiff with fear.

Her tone, a tone he’d never hoped to hear again, sounded so much like the one she’d used when he’d first met her that his heart skipped a beat and he actually felt dizzy for a moment.

Losing Jesse would kill him.

He didn’t even try to keep his frustration and fear out of his voice, hoping to get through to her.

He had to get through to her.

“Jesse, of course I’m worried about you. You’re my wife. You disappeared into the night without no coat and no dinner. I’m sure you didn’t eat anything. I know you, baby. When you’re upset, Rio and I have to practically force you to eat. That means you’re cold and hungry and I can’t get to you to make you eat, or to keep you warm. You’re hurting and I can’t hold you.”

His arms ached to hold her close.

“Please tell me where you are, Jesse. We need to talk, to straighten this out. I can’t stop thinking about the way you looked at me.” That look of confusion and hurt in her eyes would haunt him forever.

Jesse’s choked sigh cut his heart to shreds. “We’ll talk, Clay. Tomorrow. Look, I’m sorry I acted like a coward and ran off that way, but it was such a shock. I’ve been stupid and never saw it coming. I should have paid more attention. I should have realized that you felt neglected.”

Her voice lowered, so low he had trouble hearing her.

“I’ve always suspected it would end some day. I knew better. I just thought I would see it coming.”

Creation of Desire: Reassuring Rachel

Despite her exhaustion, Rachel smiled at the rush of heat his devilish smile sent through her. They hadn’t made love in days, and she missed it, but she was so tired that every time she closed her eyes, she fell asleep. She didn’t have the energy to make love anymore and it scared her. “Thank you. I won’t be long. I want to finish my coffee first, though. I need all the caffeine I can get today.”

“I know. You’re going to drink it all day and make yourself sick.” Rubbing Theresa’s back, he rocked back and forth, lowering his voice to a whisper. “Something tells me our chat is going to be a little one-sided, but I’ll get her dressed and change her diaper again while we have a nice long conversation.”

Watching him go, Rachel sighed and finished her coffee, listening to the sound of Chase’s low voice as he disappeared down the hall. She could still hear the shower running, and hurried to join her other husband, Boone, before he got out. Hoping the shower would help her wake up a little more, she smiled at the thought of running her hands over Boone while he was naked and wet. He’d gone without sex for more than a week, and it had to be frustrating for him.

She started out of the room, pausing at the sound of a cell phone ringing.

With a curse, she followed the sound to Boone’s cell phone on the counter. The knowledge that he and Chase used their cell phones for their construction business had her grabbing the pen and paper they kept on the counter before answering.

“Hello?”

“Hello.”

Rachel stiffened at the husky feminine voice, alarm bells going off in her head. It wasn’t unusual for women to hire them, but something about this one set her teeth on edge. “Yes, can I help you?”

After a brief pause, the woman blew out a breath. “Put Boone on.” The demand in the sultry voice had a surge of adrenaline rushing through Rachel’s veins.

“He’s busy.” Gritting her teeth, she forced a cool politeness into her tone. “May I take a message?” When she caught herself trying to smooth her hair and straightening her stained nightgown, she inwardly cursed at her own insecurity.

“Oh. He’s probably still in the shower. I thought he’d be showered and dressed by now.” The other woman laughed softly. “He’s magnificent in the shower, isn’t he? They both are. If Boone’s busy, let me talk to Chase. God, he’s so playful and inventive in bed, isn’t he?”

Finding it suddenly difficult to breathe, Rachel pressed a hand to her stomach, struggling to keep her coffee down. “Who is this?”

Dizzy, she clung to the counter.

It had happened to her mother, and Rachel had sworn to herself that she’d never let it happen to her.

“I’m Mona. I’m sure you’ve heard of me.” Her voice dropped, the challenge in it unmistakable. “Boone’s and Chase’s lover.”

Rachel’s hand tightened on the phone, bile rising in her throat as she recognized the name from their past. “I believe you mean ex-lover.”

Even though she told herself that this woman had to be lying about being their lover, her knees shook, the fear of losing Boone and Chase so intense, it actually made her stomach hurt.

Mona’s twinkling laugh grated on her nerves and made the pain spread. “I can see they haven’t told you that we’ve…renewed our acquaintance. Hmm, interesting. Well, I’m sure they’ll tell you when they’re ready. When I talked to Boone last night, he told me that it was a bad time to talk and to call him this morning. I’m sure he’ll call me as soon as he can.”

Gritting her teeth again, Rachel glanced toward the doorway. She would have liked to believe that neither Boone nor Chase would ever cheat on her, but they’d had a relationship with this woman in the past—something Rachel knew she would be stupid to ignore. “I’ll be sure to tell him you called.”

She definitely would.

Later—when she wasn’t so damned tired, and when she figured out just what to say.

Mona sighed. “I really do feel sorry for you, you know. Boone, Chase and I are so good together.” Mona’s voice lowered and took on an edge that sent another chill through Rachel. “Don’t try to get in the way. You played it real good—getting pregnant and forcing them to marry you—but you had to know it wouldn’t be enough to keep them.”

Rachel gripped the counter tighter. “Good-bye, Mona.” Disconnecting, she cursed and started to toss the phone onto the counter, pausing at the last second. Lifting the phone again, she quietly went to the doorway and listened to see what Chase and Boone were doing.

Mona had gotten to her, and she was already spying on her husbands.

Chase still spoke to Theresa from the nursery. “Yes. You’re Daddy’s little girl and when you’re older, and those boys come sniffing around you, Daddy’s going to scare them all off. Yes, he is. You think that’s funny, do you?”

Smiling at his sing-song tone, she blinked back tears, hoping that he would still be around when Theresa was old enough to date.

Tuning him out, she listened for Boone, jolting when she realized that she could no longer hear the shower running. Her heart raced at the sound of drawers opening and closing in the master bedroom, and she knew she didn’t have much time.

Calling herself all kinds of a fool, and cursing Mona’s small victory, she searched through Boone’s phone for incoming calls, her heart lurching when she saw that Mona had called several times over the last several days.

Neither Boone nor Chase had said a word about it.