Runaway Heart Read online

  The kiss was sweet, chaste. It tasted like promises and had none of the fervent desire in it Ren had experienced behind the dance hall or even in the kitchen. It was a dedication, a solemn vow that she could let go and he would catch her.

  He broke away just a moment, his lips hovering not far from hers as his hand moved to stroke over her hair, their foreheads touching. "You know I'd never hurt you, right?"

  She let out a shaky breath and nodded, closing the distance between their mouths eagerly to avoid having to give it too much more thought. She knew this kind, easygoing man wouldn't hurt her, but she couldn't say the same in the return. There could be a day when her mother would catch up to them and she'd have to leave him in a lurch; to protect herself, to protect Kerri. She could give herself up to him for now, but in the end, she was somebody who hurt other people. It wasn't intentional, it was self-preservation, but that rarely lessened the sting.

  Before she'd taken Kerri, she'd dated; even lived with a boyfriend for a short period of time. Since then, there had been flirtations, one night stands, but no dating and no plans for the future. Beyond that, they just got attached, they had expectations. It was a lot harder to pack up all your things and sprint away in the night when someone was counting on you. Keeping her inner circle constricted to just herself and Kerri was the only way she'd figured out to keep from hurting others—in the process, she saved herself a lot of heartache, too.

  The thought of damaging this man and his family, who had so generously opened their doors and their hearts to the Maddock girls made her chest tighten painfully. In the end, she could heal. She'd toughened up, scarred over emotional wounds to protect herself over and over in her lifetime. Did the sweet, soft hearts of the Baylors defend themselves that quickly? What if she was already in too deep?

  Disrupting her thought process, Dane's stomach growled loudly and broke them apart with a chuckle.

  "Suppose supper is in order." He slid his hand over her hair one more time. Ren could have gone on kissing him all night. Everything about him made her want to feel warm and safe, and she could suspend her reality, if only briefly, when he touched her.

  She touched his cheek with a smile.

  "You'll waste away to nothing if we don't feed you."

  "Damn straight." He rose before she did and offered his hand to help her up. She took it without hesitation, and he didn't let go once she took hold. It made her smile despite her best effort not to.

  Inside the house, Ren found Kerri sitting up in the living room, nose buried in her cell phone as it buzzed signifying text messages received. Ren had originally gotten the phone for Kerri so she could keep track of her. Any time she was out of sight, Ren felt anxious, and dropping a quick text had been an easy way to touch base and make sure everything was okay. Unfortunately, teenagers being teenagers, the phone got used for much more. Half the time, Ren felt that unless she was communicating via text, she was being ignored in favor of whoever was on the other end, sending Kerri messages.

  Kerri looked up.

  "Where's Dane?"

  "Saying goodnight to Gage. Not long for you either, hey? We're touring the school tomorrow."

  Kerri nodded, distracted as her phone made a buzzing noise, her eyes flitting to the screen. It vibrated a second time before she even had a chance to reply.

  "Who's texting you so much anyways?"

  "Nobody." The teenager shoved the phone into her pocket.

  "Hey, it's not that Sullivan kid, is it?" Ren's jaw tightened.

  "I swear it's not. He's gross." Kerri clasped her hands together on her lap, the picture of innocence.

  "I see. Well…not too late, okay?" Kerri was typically very open with Ren, and it bothered her that she wouldn't disclose the identity of her texter. Ren's general rule was not to pry too hard so as to keep the lines of communication open when they were necessary but the blatant secretiveness didn't sit well with her.

  She told herself it was someone Kerri had met at the gymkhana night that Dane had taken her to. He'd assured her rodeo kids were good people—he had been one, after all, but she couldn't help but remember the scene in town with Kerri when they'd first arrived. She didn't know what she would have done without Dane there. Overall, Three Rivers was full of good people, but her thoughts wandered to Kyle Sullivan entirely too often. He reminded her that there was a whole slew of evil out there that she didn't already know.

  Kerri grunted in response.

  "Hey, eye contact." Irritated, Ren gestured between her eyes and her sister's with two fingers and the teen looked up, Ren's tone didn't welcome any questioning. "I mean it. Not too late."

  The buzz of Kerri's phone told Ren this was a battle she hadn't won.

  —FIFTEEN—

  Ren sighed and shifted in bed, rolling over just as she heard Gage cry out from downstairs. She hadn't been about to sleep anyways—the encounter with Kerri and her cell phone was on her mind and so was Dane Baylor's sweet kiss in the barn.

  She got up and headed for the door to the back staircase. It was the first time she'd had to use it in the time she'd been here, and she wondered if Dane would hear her coming down the stairs...if he had even heard Gage cry out.

  She paused at the base of the stairs, noting that Dane's door was open just a crack. She knocked a couple of times on Gage's before pushing it open.

  "Gage? Honey, are you okay?"

  The boy was sobbing in his sheets. She moved through the room, mindful of toys on the floor, and perched beside him on the twin bed. "Close your eyes, I'm going to turn the light on."

  Flicking on the bedside lamp, she turned back to Gage and brushed his sweat matted hair out of his eyes. Unexpectedly, he looked past her and recognition flickered in his eyes. His sobbing quieted.

  "Uncle Dane, the monsters were here." She hadn't heard him come in but she looked over her shoulder to see Dane was standing in the doorway in nothing but a pair of boxer briefs. It was a bad time for desire to rush her, but she seemed not to have much control over that sort of thing these days. She sucked in a breath as he crossed the floor and settled on the other side of the bed. The boy immediately wrapped his arms around his uncle and Dane dropped his lips to the top of his strawberry blond head, giving him a strong hug. The tension dropped out of the boy's body almost immediately when his uncle hugged him and Ren could relate.

  "Is it time for the spray?" Dane asked, pulling back a little bit. Gage nodded vigorously and Dane opened the bedside stand and pulled out a small aerosol can. "Where were they?"

  Gage pointed toward his partially opened closet and Dane made an exaggerated show of spraying into it, then under the bed, and in the corner by the toy box for good measure at the boy's prompting.

  Watching the little ritual was the first time Ren felt like a clear outsider to this family, but she didn't mind. While Dane had expressed reasonable doubt in his ability to parent his nephew, this was yet another piece of evidence that he was doing a better job than he thought he was.

  Finally, Gage turned to her.

  "Uncle Dane is the best monster fighter."

  "Is he? He is pretty handy with that spray."

  "It's monster spray. They are 'llergic to it and it makes them sneeze. If they can't stop sneezing, the monsters can't get me!"

  Ren smiled, meeting Dane's eyes across the bed. Could this man fight the monster that was her mother if that was what it came down to? Maybe she could rebuild a life in Three Rivers if things went South between them, but there was no way she could stay if Anita found them.

  "It sounds like your Uncle Dane has got these monsters under control."

  Gage nodded, squeezing his teddy bear to his chest and nestled down into the bed.

  "Alright, buddy. You go back to sleep now. You know I'm just across the hall."

  The boy nodded again as Dane pulled the blankets up to his chin and kissed his forehead.

  "Good night again," Dane said.

  "Good night again." Gage repeated back to him without hesitation.
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  Dane nodded to Ren across the bed and she ruffled Gage's hair lightly, then pressed her lips to the same spot Dane had and rose. As they filed out of the bedroom, he pulled the door shut carefully behind them.

  There was something about him, so vulnerable, sleep rumpled in just his boxer briefs. Mouth dry, she tried to be covert as her eyes slid over the body she had only ever seen hints of. The tanned ridges of muscles in his arms and torso attested to hours spent working in the hay fields. Sculpted abs tapered down to a narrow waist, a tantalizing trail of hair leading her eyes lower than was appropriate. She stopped herself, cleared her throat, and painstakingly dragged her eyes up to meet his. He had that same expression on his face that she remembered from the dance floor, two beats before he'd kissed her.

  She didn't give him the opportunity to make the first move this time and crossed the distance between them in the landing with certainty. She was giving him her clear, unequivocal answer. Yes, they would pursue this and deal with the consequences later. Yes, she would give herself to him and the four of them would be a family. She slid her hand over his shoulder, to the back of his neck and levied herself up on her toes to meet his mouth.

  Ren didn't have the upper hand for long. Dane met the kiss aggressively, his hand moving over her hip, under the edge of her t-shirt, to the bare, soft skin of her lower back and tugged her tight to him. This time, there were no thick layers of denim and cotton separating them and she felt his warm skin and hard body through the flimsy shirt she wore. Her flesh raised in anticipation as his fingertips slid across it. The heat of what had transpired behind the dance hall paled in comparison to the inferno he ignited in her now.

  She eased backwards, toward his bedroom door, meaning to finish what they'd started two nights ago—this time, without an ounce of regret or angst.

  *

  Dane still wasn't sure it hadn't been a dream to find Ren in Gage's room comforting him with little more than a t-shirt and a pair of boy-cut panties on—but this was a real flesh and blood woman under his hands—the very same woman he had been dreaming of since she'd marched into his home and his heart. Here she was, willing, wanting. She sure as hell didn't have to ask twice.

  Pushing through the door of the bedroom, he kicked it shut behind them, barely breaking the kiss. Her hand fisted in his hair lightly and he bit back a groan. He backed her all the way up until the back of her knees hit the edge of his bed and she sank down onto it.

  Ren leaned back on her hands, tipping her head with a little smile that made him hard as hell. He dropped to his knees beside the bed, sliding his hands under her shirt over her sides, drawing the fabric up with him as he went. His lips landed near her navel and she squirmed a little. Eventually, his lips moved North with his hands, pushing her back onto the bed, bit by bit, his body hovering over hers until he found her lips again, claiming them with a fiery kiss. It lasted only an instant until he pulled her shirt over her head, and took in the sight of her in all of her glory.

  "This evens the playing field a little, doesn't it?" Her voice was teasingly innocent. He chuckled against the hot skin of her throat, skimming his fingertips over her nipples, just enough to tease them to attention, making her arch up into his hand.

  "You could say that." He pulled his head back and caught her eyes, remembering her earlier regret. "I need to know this is what you want, Ren."

  There was not an ounce of resistance in this woman now, as he tracked his fingers over her soft flesh, but he knew he couldn't live with himself if she had even a second of doubt about what was happening right now. He would go as slow as it took, worship her in the way she deserved, and give her all of the pleasure she could handle, but he needed to have her permission to do so.

  She nearly undid him when she let out a heated breath and reached for him, drawing his lips to hers until they were barely brushing against each other. "Yes."

  *

  Ren arched her body upward as Dane claimed her mouth once more. She couldn't get close enough. She was coiled tight as a spring, in anticipation of what she knew his masterful hand and gentle touch could produce. Though she'd resisted at first, she'd thought of this moment time and time again. Her fingers splayed over the smooth muscles of his shoulder as he bent his head, drawing the sensitive flesh of her throat into his mouth to suckle and nip lightly. A shot of pleasure coursed through her veins and she let a soft noise as his teeth and tongue worked over her sensitive flesh.

  He moved lower, now, his mouth finding her nipple and treating it the same as her throat. She stifled a whimper with her teeth vised tightly on her lower lip; his hand moved lower, lower, found the waistband of the panties and slid his fingers inside. Pausing just a moment before he touched the most intimate part of her, he lifted his head and made eye contact with her.

  "Okay?"

  She nodded, breathless and he forged ahead, taking the same painfully slow trek across her sensitive center. It was almost playful, the leisurely way he strummed the chords of her body, but Ren came quickly this time, breathless, calling his name. She couldn't think of a single thing that felt better than his touch on her skin. A wrenching groan rumbled deep in his chest as she whimpered and writhed against him, desperate for more.

  There wasn't an ounce of hesitation between them as he moved down her body, drawing her panties over her thighs and following their trail with his lips. He held her gaze without breaking, the spark of passion telling her every move was deliberate, reverent, and sincere. Her skin tingled under the touch of his lips and fingertips. He moved back up her body, sliding his hands over the curve of her hips and then cupping her breasts with his palms. He tweaked each nipple in turn, a mischievous smirk playing over his features as she first winced, then pushed into the sensation.

  Shifting, Dane positioned himself between her knees and Ren tensed with anticipation. Every second he had stood too close, looked too long, and she did the same, culminated as he entered her slowly, inch by inch until he was seated deep and she thought she would come undone without any effort at all. A shuddering groan moved through his body. He waited just a moment to allow her body to accommodate him and then began to withdraw.

  Ren dug her fingers into his shoulders as he eased back, desperate not to end their contact. He slid one big hand along her thigh to hitch her knee up around his hip and surged into her as the other drew one of her hands above her head to clasp against the mattress, increasing the amount of skin on skin contact and bringing him even closer.

  As with everything he did, Dane's rhythm was consistent, patient and compelling. Ren's second orgasm built slowly this time, steady, starting deep at the ends of her toes and working its way up, burning her up from the inside out. He peppered kisses along her throat and collarbone, catching her mouth occasionally as she crested toward her peak.

  "Dane!" She whimpered, clamping her lip firmly between her teeth to avoid the sort of volume that would alert the kids to what was going on, her fingers pressing deep into the flesh at his hip.

  "Just let go, Ren." That lazy smile crossed his lips but she could tell he was teetering close to the edge, his eyes dark and his brow furrowed lightly.

  Suddenly, Ren was shattering, shuddering as Dane's movements picked up speed, driving her relentlessly, their voices rising together as she watched her normally unflappable cowboy lose control with her.

  *

  Dane couldn't imagine anything better than lying in his bed, Ren curled up with her head on his bicep, her naked body pressed to the length of his. It occurred to him that maybe he'd never actually made love to a woman until now. The warm afterglow was like nothing else he'd ever experienced before. He pulled her toward him, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead as she stretched her body, catlike. His eyes were heavy and his breathing slow; it had been another long day at the ranch and he was tuckered but he wouldn't have missed out on this for the world.

  She started to pull away from him and he let out a complainant moan, rolling her back toward him with his arm around her sho
ulders.

  "Stay."

  She pressed a kiss to his cheek and laughed a little.

  "One, I'm not a dog. Two, I can't stay. What if Kerri needs me in the night? She'll panic if I'm not there."

  With his eyes closed, he grumbled again but released her.

  "Fine. But you should know the only reason I'm letting you go is because I'm too tired to fight you. Find yourself here again and you might not be so lucky next time."

  He felt her sit up on the bed, leaning over him on her knees. Her breasts brushed against his chest as she crossed his body to drag her teeth playfully over his lower lip, bringing around a familiar tightening in his groin.

  "If there's a next time." He could hear the wicked smile on her voice.

  Without warning and without opening his eyes, he tugged her sideways to straddle his waist. The softest noise slipped through her lips but he could tell she was as turned on by the skin to skin contact as he was.

  "Oh there'll be a next time." He smirked and opened his eyes. The light and playfulness in hers was promising. He tugged her down for a quick kiss and then helped push her off of him, giving her bottom a playful swat. "Fine. Go back to your bed. I'll just be down here all lonely."

  She got to her feet and rounded the end of the bed, tapping his toe lightly as she passed by. "It's better this way and we both know it."

  He watched her go, his hands tucked behind his head. She closed the door most of the way behind her and he listened for her footsteps on the stairs, smiling to himself as he let his eyes slide shut again.

  He would do anything to keep this woman in his home, in his heart. He could still feel the warmth of her skin on his and he couldn't think of any other way he wanted to exist.

  —SIXTEEN—