Chapter Ten
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Hunter wasn’t sure how he ended up in the maze, but as he paced its green corridors, searching for the way through to the heart of it, he decided it was a fitting place to be. He didn’t know how to solve the problems facing him any more than he knew his way to the center. Jo had taken the lead when he’d been here before.
He should have given her the lead as far as her house was concerned.
The world seemed to grow quieter the farther he went in the maze. Hunter figured the thick evergreen walls muted the sounds of the ranch. It soothed him, too. Allowed him to think through the difficulties his situation presented him.
If he told Jo why he was stinting on the supplies, he’d have to admit he was the one paying for them and that her father didn’t want to. That would increase the strain between the General and his daughter, and Hunter instinctively knew that wasn’t a good outcome. Jo felt betrayed by her father on a level so deep Hunter didn’t know if the relationship could be repaired. He knew how that felt. But he also knew she missed the General despite everything Jo had said. As the man who wanted to be her husband, it was up to him to help bridge the gap between them. He didn’t want to pass the blame for the vinyl and laminate on to the General, even if he was to blame.
It would have helped if he could sell Jo on their future house, the one they’d splurge on and build together to her specifications. He truly hoped he could give her everything she wanted then, but if he went crazy on this temporary one, he wouldn’t be able to afford the upgrades for the bigger one. It seemed important to him to show her what kind of husband he would make, too. He wanted to demonstrate common sense and the ability to do the right thing to provide for their future. If he wooed her with a flashy show now and couldn’t keep it up later, how would that help?
When he reached the center of the maze, he sat down on the wooden bench positioned in front of the stone, far enough away to make it easy to contemplate. He wondered how the stone had gotten here. Who had gone through all the trouble to lift it into place?
Was it as special as everyone claimed it to be? Were the swans he and Jo had seen really some kind of cosmic message? Or just a coincidence?
Despite his best intentions—Hunter saw himself as a man of reason—he got up again, walked to it and placed his hands on the large stone’s flank. Just like the last time, the rock was warm from the autumn sunshine, and Hunter let out a long, deep breath, some of his tension escaping with it.
“What should I do?”
He hadn’t meant to ask the question aloud, and he drew away, feeling a little sheepish.
The stone didn’t answer.
He didn’t really expect it to.
Hunter supposed he couldn’t hide in the maze all day, either. Time to go back and face the music—and try to explain himself to Jo without making her hate her father even more than she already did.
He set off through the green paths and nearly crashed into Lena when he rounded a corner. Both of them stepped back.
“Jesus, you scared me.” Lena glowered up at him. “What are you doing here?”
“What does anyone do here?” Hunter countered. He meant he’d been walking and thinking, but Lena took his words another way.
“You asked the stone a question?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “What did you ask?”
She folded her arms across her chest and he found himself answering, even though he hadn’t meant to. “I wanted advice, I guess. Jo’s pretty upset with me.”
Lena rolled her eyes. “The General sent you, didn’t he? Of course she’s upset with you.”
“It isn’t that. I had to change a couple of things we’d planned for her little house. Because of budget constraints.”
“Oh.” Lena thought about that. “Jo spent a lot of time on those plans, you know. No wonder she’s pissed. Did you ask her to pitch in to cover the costs?”
“Not until after I’d bought cheap replacement materials.”
“Why didn’t you ask up front?” Lena seemed genuinely curious.
“She doesn’t have a job.”
“Jo makes money here and there. She raises McNabs. She takes care of other people’s animals while they’re gone. She’s resourceful. Don’t underestimate her.”
Hunter scratched the back of his neck. Lena was right; he had underestimated Jo. He’d treated her like the kind of woman who’d be offended to spend money on her own house. “I didn’t think of that. When I got here she seemed so—young.”
Lena’s expression darkened. “She might be young, but she’s not dumb. Look what happened to Grant Kimball.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to end up shot.” Hell, that hadn’t come out right.
But Lena laughed. Her smile faded as she went on, though. “It should have been me who pulled the trigger on Grant. I should have known what was happening. I should have—”
“Now you’re the one underestimating Jo. She’s going to be fine,” Hunter told her.
“You really think so?”
For the first time she was asking his opinion, not treating like an enemy, like she had since he’d arrived. If he was having difficulty with Jo, Logan was going to have a hell of a struggle with Lena. Hunter took his time with his answer. “I really do. She’s strong—and confident about the decision she made.”
“Maybe she’s just as confident about the choices she made about her house,” Lena pointed out.
He thought about that. Nodded. “You’re probably right.” Hell, he’d asked for advice and here he was getting it. Maybe there was something to that stone.
He did keep underestimating Jo. He made decisions for her as if she couldn’t make them herself. He should have asked her before changing the backsplash and the flooring. He’d learned his lesson.
He hoped Jo was willing to give him another chance. Lena stepped aside and let him pass her before she continued on toward the center of the maze. Hunter wondered if she had a question for the stone, too. He’d nearly made it out when his phone buzzed. He braced for another confrontation with Marlon, but it was the General on the line.
“Who’s been threatening my daughter?”
“You mean Jo, sir?” How the hell did the General know anything about that?
Cab.
Was the sheriff reporting back to the General? Spying on the goings-on at Two Willows?
“Of course I mean Jo. Who was giving her a hard time?”
“Someone named Ramsey. That’s all I know so far. Says he’s looking to buy a property in Chance Creek.”
“I hope none of you idiots are fooled by that. They’re coming at Two Willows again. You keep your eyes peeled. And you keep my daughter in the house where she belongs. None of this tiny house bullshit.”
“General. Sir. With all due respect, there aren’t enough bedrooms in the main house for everyone.”
“Sure there are. Five daughters. Five husbands. Unless you idiots don’t know what you’re doing with wives, that means five bedrooms, which there already are.”
That was true; plus there was the master bedroom none of the girls touched. They kept it just the way their mother had left it, as far as he could tell. And the guest room, which they’d still need for guests.
“Think about it. Cass is already almost three months along. Soon enough there’ll be grandkids, right? There aren’t any extra bedrooms for them,” Hunter said. “Sooner or later there will have to be more houses as the rest of us start families, too. Seems to me Cass and Brian should be the ones to stay in the current one. Cass loves it.”
“Cass is… pregnant?”
Hunter stiffened. Didn’t the General know that? Had he just spilled a secret he wasn’t supposed to tell?
“Better ask Cass.” He cut the call and nearly dropped the phone in his panic to get away from it.
Hell. Hell and damnation.
Now he’d really screwed things up.
“I’m glad you’re here.”
Jo was startled when Hunter spoke behind her later that evening. She was sitting at the kitchen table, looking over her personal accounts when he came in. She whirled around, ready to tell him off, but he put his hands up in a placating manner.
“I came to say I’m sorry.”
“You did?” She was too surprised not to show it. The last thing she’d expected from the SEAL was an apology. Even if he had done so once before.
“Look, I’m used to calling the shots. Making decisions. There’s not a lot of democracy in the military, so I got carried away. Do you want me to try to return the vinyl? If you’re able to carry some of the cost, I think we can pull off purchasing the tile instead.”
She thought about that. “I’d like that. The tile I chose previously is beautiful. I think it’s a touch that’s going to make the house charming.” She knew that must seem silly to a man used to taking things as they came, but she wanted this house to be special. It would be hers and hers alone—at least for the winter. She’d always shared most things with her sisters before.
“Okay. I’ll take care of it.”
“Why?” The question popped out of her mouth before she could stop it. When he raised an eyebrow, she tried again. “Why are you being nice all of a sudden?”
He made a face she couldn’t decipher. Chagrin, maybe. Hadn’t he meant to be dictatorial earlier?
“Because I want to do this right. I want… a relationship with you. A long-term relationship.”
Jo blinked. A long-term relationship?
“I like you,” he said.
A smile tugged at her lips. The SEAL liked her.
She could live with that.
“Stop looking like the cat who ate the canary,” Hunter growled.
Jo laughed. She couldn’t help it. “I’m not gloating; I’m simply surprised. I didn’t know you were… human.”
“Too human. I let it slip to the General today Cass is pregnant. He didn’t seem to know.”
“Oh, God.” Cass was going to be furious.
“Should I tell her?”
“Yes. But maybe not until tomorrow morning… and then I’d get in your truck and ride like hell toward town.”
He chuckled. “Good plan.” He headed for the back door. She thought he was leaving until he jerked his head and indicated that she should follow him.
Outside, Max joined them as they both stood looking at the trailer parked in its spot beside the main house. It was a good location for what would eventually become a guest house, Jo thought as she fondled the puppy’s ears.
She couldn’t wait for it to be done.
“I want to give you everything, Jo.”
She looked up at him sharply and left off fiddling with Max’s ears. Max wandered off. “You don’t have to give me—”
“I want to,” he repeated. “But more than giving you things, I want to do what’s right. You’re going to need a real house come spring. A big house that someday can hold a family. That’s the one we’ll spare no expense on. But I’m willing to look for some work, see if we can make up the difference to buy everything you want for the little house. It isn’t a lot. Maybe I was being overcautious.”
“It isn’t important. Besides, I can afford the tile,” she began.
“It’s important to me,” he cut her off. “I want you to know I…”
What had he been about to say? Jo reached out and touched his wrist. Felt longing, worry, fear—
Loneliness.
Her breath caught in her throat. He was afraid he’d lose her over this. Over doing the wrong thing. The pain in him shocked her. He wanted to stay. Wanted her—
“Hunter, look—I don’t need a tile backsplash. I want it, but I don’t need it. I know the difference.” She gathered her thoughts, still shaken by the depth of his feelings for her, paired with his need. She viewed Hunter as a warrior—a strong man who was complete in and of himself. To sense he was vulnerable made him human. “If the General gave us a budget, we’ll work with it.”
“It’s not him—” Hunter cut off abruptly. Shook his head. “Hell,” he added quietly.
He hadn’t meant to say that, Jo realized. Why not? What was he—?
It came clear in a flash.
“Hunter Powell, are you paying for my house?” She faced him, hands on hips.
He didn’t answer.
“Why?” She huffed out a breath. “The General refused, didn’t he? He’ll pay to fix the main house for Cass, and he’ll build Sadie a walled garden, but if I want a little place of my own, screw me, is that how it is?” She hated the shrill tone to her voice, but she couldn’t recall ever being so angry.
“You’ve got it wrong—”
“How? How do I have it wrong? That man hasn’t given a damn about me since he walked out on us.”
“Jo, that’s not the way it is.” Hunter put a hand on her arm. “He’s worried. Afraid of you sleeping in that house alone at night, with what’s been going on. He’s got a point.”
“So then I won’t sleep alone,” she said wildly. “You can sleep with me!”
His eyes widened, and a corner of his mouth turned up. “Really?”
She opened her mouth but couldn’t think of a thing to say. After all, they were already intimate. She wanted to stay that way with him. Didn’t he realize that?
“Hell, yeah,” he said, although she hadn’t asked a question. He pulled her close and, without another word, kissed her—hard.
One kiss led to another, and another, until she found her arms wrapped around his neck, her body pressed close to his.
“I’d be glad to.” His voice was rough.
Jo tingled all over. “Then it’s a plan. Screw the General.”
“I’d rather screw you.”
“We’d better start building.”
But neither of them moved. Being in Hunter’s arms felt far too good.
When he glanced around for somewhere to go, Jo said, “The carriage house.”
“Are you sure?”
She knew what he meant; after what had gone down there, it should be the last place she wanted to be. They wouldn’t be upstairs in Alice’s workroom, though. She led him around the side to the small room she kept for her breeding dogs when a new litter was born. In between litters, she scrubbed the place clean, and while it had a certain doggy scent, that didn’t bother Jo, who’d been around animals all her life. She had a few clean blankets in there. It would be rough, but she doubted the SEAL would care. After all, they’d spent the last three nights sleeping in the stables.
“This is private,” he said approvingly as she unlocked the door.
“And I’m the only one who comes here.”
He sniffed as he walked in. “Dogs?”
“You got it. We don’t have to stay—”
He shut the door, circled around her and hemmed her in against it. “I want to stay.”
“Good—oh.” Jo sighed as he lifted her chin and met her mouth with his own. His first kisses were soft, searching, but then he deepened them, exploring her mouth with his tongue. His hands dropped down to hold her hips in place, and the pressure of him against her abdomen told her he wanted far more from her.
She was fine with that. More than fine—delighted.
Ready for whatever he had in mind.
When he slid his hands up to caress her breasts, Jo murmured her approval. He touched her with an instinct so fine she was dizzy with the sensation in moments. His warm palms covered her sensitive nipples, and his firm strokes teased her until she found herself arching her back and pressing her breasts into his hands.
She helped him off with his shirt, and in turn, he helped her out of hers. He moaned when her nipples brushed his bare skin, and she loved the way it felt when he tugged her closer to him. He tasted good when they kissed. She wanted more.
He must have read her mind.
He spotted the blankets, angled over to them, spread them out—all without breaking off their embrace—and lowered her onto them.
She’d already undone the button of her jeans and began to shimmy out of them, kicking her boots off before thrashing her legs until she was free. Hunter rolled her over to access the clasp of her bra. He rolled her back so she faced him clad only in her panties.
“This all right?” he asked as he undid his belt.
“You’re asking now?”
“Better late than never.” He grinned at her and she grinned back.
“This is better than all right.” Jo got to her knees and helped him finish the job. When he’d skimmed off his jeans and boots, and tugged down his boxer briefs, she bent forward and, without warning, took him into her mouth.
Hunter groaned, braced himself on his knees, his thighs straining to hold himself in place. Jo wrapped one hand around him and let the other rest on his hip. As she took him in, the taste of his smooth, warm skin made her flush with heat, knowing soon he’d be inside her in a different way. Anticipation curled deep inside her.
First she wanted to tease him and make him want her as much as she wanted him, though.
“Jo—”
Hunter couldn’t seem to put his thoughts into words. Jo liked knowing she held that kind of sway over him. Liked making him feel so good he could barely talk. His thickness in her mouth made her buzz with desire, and she imagined how it would feel when he pressed inside her. She moved him in and out of her mouth. Gave attention to every part of him. When she could tell he was struggling to hold back, she let go, lay down and tugged him on top of her. He fumbled in his jeans and pulled out a condom.
“Jo, I’m not going to be able to take it slow,” he said as he sheathed himself and tossed aside the wrapper.
“I don’t want it slow,” she told him. “I just want you. Now. However you want.”
“You’re killing me.”
Positioned between Jo’s legs, pushing into her, watching her close her eyes and open to him was almost more than Hunter could bear.
She felt so good. He wished he could hold on for hours, teasing her like she’d just teased him, but she was so hot and he was so hard he’d be lucky to last a minute.
No—he’d last more than that, he promised himself as he sank into her, pulled out and pushed in again with a long, strong stroke. He had to bring her along for this ride.
Luckily, it looked like she was nearly there, too.
He liked the way Jo liked sex. She was fearless—just like she was in the rest of her life. She took her pleasure and gave it with equal abandon.
She was perfect.
As he worked himself in and out of her, bringing both of them to a point of no return, Hunter knew this wasn’t an assignment anymore. He wasn’t here because the General had sent him. He was here because he wanted to be. He wanted far more than a short-term thing with Jo. He wanted everything. To be married. To make a life.
To make a family.
Soon he was past all thought, however, moving inside Jo to an ancient rhythm he had to obey. Jo moved with him, her body accepting everything he had to give her—and when they crashed over the edge together, coming in unison, their cries intermingling, he was far too lost to the pleasure he felt to worry about the future.
But afterward, as they lay entwined on the rough blankets, Hunter wondered if he could make Jo happy as a husband.
Maybe some other man would make her happier.
He hadn’t realized he’d tightened his embrace until Jo wriggled in his arms. He loosened his hold on her again.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I had fun.”
“So did I.”
“Hunter, why are you really here?” she asked.
He wished to God he could tell her the truth. Maybe he could.
“I’m here to love you.”
He was here to love her?
Jo wasn’t sure what to make of that. He’d already become more to her than any man she’d dated before, but surely it was far too early to talk about things like love.
He must have read her thoughts in her face.
“Look, I’m not saying I’m fully there or that you have to be. But I feel—something. And it feels big,” he said.
She nodded. She wasn’t sure what else to do. “I’m not ready—”
“I’m not asking you to be.” He took her hand and she read his emotions. There was far more certainty in him than he was letting on. She was humbled by that. Why would this man—this warrior who’d seen the world—be interested in her? Love her?
She wondered if he could read her insecurity the way she read his conviction. She hoped not. Finding herself wanting to meet his strength with her own, she was almost ready to say more than she really felt, but that wouldn’t be honest, and she prized honesty.
Jo tugged her hand away. She felt something, too, though. Something that presaged the kind of emotions he had brought to the table. She simply needed time to learn more about him—and herself.
“Take all the time you need. I’m not going anywhere,” Hunter said, and she blinked again. Could he read her the way she read him?
“We should both go have some lunch,” she told him, trying to restore normalcy.
“Sure thing.” But instead of heading inside, he reached for her, and she found herself leaning toward him, ready for his kiss.
“I can wait,” he told her when he pulled back, leaving her breathless with want.
She wasn’t sure she could.