“Yes. I want you to make her love me.”

  The weight starting to lift from her shoulders settled back into place and stayed there. “Very well. If you say so.” Maybe he’d have to learn his lesson the hard way. If he was capable of learning the lesson at all. She paused to think about what she was about to do. The Council of Elders would want her seat on the council for this. But sometimes one had to take a chance to make a change.

  “All right. Go over and stand at the entrance. Call her name. When she breaks free of her lover, turns away from her true love…” But Riciseon didn’t notice her last ditch effort to change his mind, emphasizing the words to make him realize the harm he was about to do. “to look at you, I’ll send the emotion to her.” How had she misjudged him so much?

  “Great.”

  “Be careful with her, Riciseon. This will have to be a very forceful push to counteract their true love, so she may act a bit wobbly on her feet. You must make sure you’re the one she sees after I do this. If she sees her true love, she’ll fall deeper into love with him and no one will be able to break them apart.” The boy was harder in the head than she’d thought since he ignored all her emphasized words. Hard-headed or incredibly selfish.

  “Okay, I’m ready. Here goes nothing.” Riciseon strode to the middle of the entrance and sent her a look to show he was ready.

  She groaned as he pivoted toward Terey.

  “Terey!”

  As the pretty blonde swiveled toward Riciseon, Altalia nodded her head and threw Love at Terey. The human female wobbled on her feet as if a tangible force had barged into her body. As Riciseon rushed forward to help her, their eyes met and the deed was done.

  “Terey, are you all right?”

  Her long, blonde hair fell back from her face as Rici wrapped her in his arms. “Rici? Where did you come from?”

  “I’m always near if you need me, Terey.” Bending her back in the stereotypical romance kissing pose, he lowered his face close to hers. “I’m your knight in shining armor, m’lady. Your prince of all princes. Your handsome hero.”

  Altalia lifted one brow in disdain. Oh, brother. Not only is he not all those things, he’s an interloper. An intruder breaking up a couple who need each other. And I helped him.

  As the sappy smile of love grew across Terey’s face, Jim stomped over to join them. He glared at Terey and then Rici. “What the hell is going on here? Terey, you just told me you loved me. What happened?”

  Altalia bit her lip and considered her options. Should she stop her plan now? Would Jim wait long enough for Terey to realize her mistake?

  Rici brought Terey to her feet, but kept one arm hooked around her to claim his possession. “I think the lady has changed her mind about you. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like some private time with my darling love.”

  Jim snarled at Rici before addressing Terey. “I don’t get you, Terey. You’ve never liked these city types before. But I guess I was right when I called you fickle.”

  Terey started to speak, but Rici silenced her as he acted the part of the dashing romance hero. “Never mind him, my love. He’s jealous and heartbroken about losing you. And who can blame him?” With a smirky grin at Jim, Rici led Terey out of the barn and toward the house.

  Altalia watched Jim as Terey walked away, arm and arm, with Riciseon. Poor human. But I swear to you, things will work out in the end. With a nod of her head, she disappeared.

  ****

  The hired hands had started to talk. Travis knew it and hated it. What had his ranch become? Some kind of reality-based soap opera?

  He glowered at the kitchen ceiling as he tried to track Charissa’s footsteps as she crisscrossed her bedroom above him. Ever since she’d walked into his life, he’d started doing stupid, uncharacteristically strange things. Like hiring a horse talker. A horse talker, who, so far, hadn’t shown any indication of being worth the amount of money he’d promised to pay her. Not that she’d asked for any paycheck yet. Which was another curious thing about the lady.

  He’d heard stories, too, about odd events happening around Tall Oaks. Things no one was able to explain. Like how his sister had welcomed Jim into her arms and then thrown him over for Charissa’s assistant. An assistant who’d shown up unexpectedly and who Charissa didn’t seem to welcome.

  Hadn’t he gotten locked in a tack room that had no lock on the door? And wasn’t it weird that he’d hadn’t realized that until now? So how in the world had he and Charissa gotten trapped? Could the door have gotten stuck that hard? He thought about their time in the room and had to grin. After the sex they’d had, he shouldn’t complain about the door.

  But the strangest things had happened to Adonis. This stud, this champion of horses, had totally thrown Travis and the vet. Nothing in all his years of working with horses had prepared him for the way the horse had acted. And time was running out. In fact, if Adonis didn’t stud the mare soon, Travis would be up shit creek without a paddle.

  He sat down at the table and took a chunk out of the hot dog he’d fixed. Too bad he couldn’t take as big a chunk out of all his problems. He ran one hand over the table, imagining how Charissa had lain across it. When had he ever taken a woman in his kitchen? He’d had lots of women sleep over, but he’d never had the urge to lay one of them in the kitchen. Still, none of them could hold a flame to the black-haired beauty upstairs.

  He chewed and let his thoughts wander; his mind reliving the night he’d put her over the table and taken her from behind. They’d had wild, wonderful sex, the best sex he’d had in a long, long time. Not for the want of trying, but for the lack of interest in sexual partners. In fact, sex with all the others had gotten in the way of his taking care of business so he’d cut out all relationships and even the one night stands. Until Charissa.

  As he considered her, his meanderings shifted to the tack room again. The second time with her had been different. Better, yes. But more. More sexually and, God help him, more emotionally. She was definitely not a one night stand. Charissa was under his skin and he didn’t know how he’d get her out. But what was worse, he wasn’t sure he even wanted her out.

  He’d grown close, very close, to her in a very short time. Faster than he’d thought possible. He felt something for this lady, something he didn’t want to feel. What had happened to his vow to stay away from women until his business was solidly established? He cringed as the answer came to him almost before he’d finished thinking the question.

  What had happened was Charissa.

  He could see her as clearly as he could see the picture on kitchen wall. Her luminescent oval face framed by long, shiny hair draped over her shoulder made him itch to wrap the silky strands around his hand and bring her to him. As he did so, he’d watch her big, dark eyes as they latched onto him, tugging every bit of need from the recesses of his soul where he’d hidden them for so long. He wanted nothing more than to cup her breast in his palm and feel the rippled texture of her nipple against his calloused thumb. After he’d gotten her undressed, he’d position her underneath him, spread her legs wide, kneel before her like a worshipping servant, and eat her like a man who’d hungered for a thousand years for her special, one-of-a-kind drink.

  He moaned, a man lusting after a woman in the worst possible way. Damn, but he had it bad.

  Shooting his gaze skyward again, he tried to imagine her above him, getting ready for bed, slipping her warm, supple body between the cool sheets as she stretched her arms over her head. Her firm, ripe breasts would dance, seductively calling him as she splayed her hair over the pillow.

  “Shit. Double shit.” Just thinking about her had his eyes glued to the ceiling. How much farther would he fall for this mysterious woman?

  As far as it took to claim her as his own.

  If he were truthful with himself, he’d like nothing more than to march upstairs, fling her bedroom door open and take her every which way from Sunday. Maybe if they had sex enough, he could get her out of his head. Yeah, right. Good excuse.

  But he couldn’t barge in on her. Could he?

  He stopped, perplexed at his lack of decisiveness. When had he started second guessing himself? Answer? After Charissa’s appearance.

  “No more.” Tossing down what remained of his hot dog, he pushed through the swinging door and headed for the staircase. “No more. This is my home and I get what I want.” There was no doubt in his mind he knew what he wanted. He wanted Charissa.

  Taking the steps by leaps of two, he made it to the landing above in a couple of seconds. Pausing, he drew himself up and closed his eyes once again to picture the beauty lying in the bed down the hall. Seeing the vision clearly in his head, he opened his eyes and stormed down the hallway.

  ****

  She loved him. Of that, she was sure. But did he care about her? Or did he act like he cared because of Rici’s interference. She’d asked her brother not to push Travis, but Boggens had told her he had.

  What should she do now? Let Travis make her love him more while she knew he didn’t care for her? Not in the natural human way.

  “Shat, Rici. Why did you have to get involved?” She threw a cup from the nightstand, shattering it to pieces against the wall. Never mind that she’d tried to do the same for him.

  “My plan is in shambles because of my meddling brother.” She picked up the pace, going back and forth, making a path in the carpet. “I could kill Rici. And I just might once I see him again.”

  She’d had to hide out in the house to get away from Travis. She’d had to so she could keep her emotions hidden and locked deep within her. She tunneled her fingers through her hair as she thought about the Matlantian rules protecting humans against the intense emotions of their kind. Too bad they hadn’t thought to protect the Matlantians from falling in love with the humans!

  She stopped as she sensed a change in the house. He’s coming. He’s in the house. In the kitchen. From the noise he made, banging things around in the kitchen, she could guess at his frame of mind.

  When the noise below her ceased, she knew without hearing or seeing what was happening. He’s on the way upstairs. Even before she heard his footsteps on the stairs, she knew.

  If I let him in this room, we’ll have sex again. I can’t resist him anymore than he can resist me.

  But she couldn’t let it happen again. Not until she figured out a way to either remove Rici’s push from him or learn to stop loving him. Yeah, right. Some choice. But how do I stop him? How do I stop us?

  As she scanned the room around her for an idea, her gaze fell on the cover of a magazine. Two woman—the same woman—graced the cover. In one photo, the woman stood proud and tall in a sexy, body-clinging dress. She looked like one of those sexy, vibrant females she’d seen on the television. In the other photo—the before photo—she wore curlers, a mask of a milky white substance on her face, and a checkered robe.

  That’s it!

  With one nod, Charissa transformed her short t-shirt and thong into the checkered robe. As she glanced in the mirror, a milky white substance spread across her face while her hair lifted to attach each strand to a big, purple curler.

  Perfect. Travis won’t want to come anywhere near me now. But I need more to cinch the costume. And then she remembered a commercial she’s watched.

  With a yip of glee, she threw her body onto the bed and started snoring. Long, loud snores no man could tolerate.

  Her head hit the pillow and she started the obnoxious snoring in the same instant her bedroom door flew open. Letting her mouth fall open, she kept her eyes closed and waited.

  “Oh, shit.”

  She almost smiled at Travis’ disgusted whisper. She’d better close the deal. Turning her head to the side, she forced her saliva to the front of her mouth and let it slide through her lips, over her cheek, and onto the pillow.

  “Oh, double shit.”

  Although he did so with much less noise than he’d made coming into her room, Travis reversed directions and left.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Terey, I know you’re at odds right now. You haven’t decided what to do about the rest of your life, what work you want to do, but don’t you think you ought to get to know this Rici guy before you go jumping in bed with him?” Travis watched as a Terey he’d never seen before floated around him on her tiptoes. Where was his level-headed sister?

  “No, I don’t. I’ve never experienced anything like this. But you’re wrong. I do know what I want to do with the rest of my life.”

  Travis took his sister’s hand to stop her circling around him. “Please tell me you want to go for your Masters degree.”

  Her happy face smiled up at him, reminding him of the drug-induced euphoria he’d seen on his high school buddies. But his sister would never do drugs. Would she?

  She patted his cheek and answered in a singsong voice. “No, no, no. I don’t want to go.” She giggled and patted his cheek again. “Hey, I made a rhyme!”

  Travis grabbed her arms and shook her. Then again, maybe she would. “Will you cut it out? Are you on drugs?”

  The happy face flashed away for a second, got replaced by a sneer, and then returned in full force. “Of course not, Travis. I’m simply, deliriously happy. Can’t you be happy for me?”

  “I could, maybe, if you hadn’t just met the guy. Think, Sis, think. What do you know about him?”

  She broke away from him and spread her two feet wide in a challenging stance. “Okay, if you insist on trying to bring me down, let’s talk about this, shall we?”

  There was his rational, logical, down-to-earth sister he knew and loved. “Great.”

  “I know he’s Charissa’s assistant. I know he’s sweet. I know he treats me well.”

  “But what else? Where does he live? Where did he stay last night?” He let the implication of Rici sleeping with another woman, staying all night with some other woman, plant a seed of doubt in her. Or at least he hoped it would.

  But he was unprepared for her uplifted eyebrow giving him the worst answer to his questions.

  “Here? He stayed here? Under my roof? In my house?” Travis swallowed before he could spit out the next question. “In your bed?” Granted, his sister was an adult, but as her older brother, he didn’t want to think of her with a man. With a man in her bed. Like a woman having sex. Not in the way he thought of Charissa in bed.

  “Brother, dear, he did. And what’s more, he didn’t merely sleep in my bed, either.”

  Travis clamped his hands over his ears and spun on his heel. “I do not want to hear this.” Okay, so his reaction was like a stupid kid, but he’d always treated his younger sister with kid gloves; never as an equal adult who had sex.

  But Terey wouldn’t relent and kept pace with him as he stalked out of the house and toward the stud barn. “You shouldn’t run from the answers if you ask the questions, Travis. And if you want to know everything, we not only did it in my room, but in the feed barn, in the truck, behind the barn, under the hay, in the horse trailer, in the stall—”

  “Enough!” Travis grabbed her again as she stepped in front of him and stopped his progress. “In the stall? Okay, Sis, that’s just gross. No, don’t answer. I don’t want to know about your sexual antics. God knows how many of the hired hands saw you two going at it. No wonder they grin whenever you walk by them. At least try keeping yours and Rici’s sexual romps indoors, okay?”

  But if Rici cared for his sister, why had he seen him ducking behind a bush earlier when Terey walked by? Like he’d meant to avoid his sister? Like a guy trying to hide from a one-night stand he didn’t want to see the next day?

  “You mean like you and Charissa?”

  Crap. “What do you know about Charissa and me?”

  “Rici told me. Although he didn’t need to. I’m not blind, you know. I can see how much you care for her in your face right now. And Rici says she cares for you, too. Sex is a part of caring.”

  “She cares for me? Did she say that to him?” Then why had she acted so strangely in the tack room? And why had she avoided him like a bunny avoiding a coyote?

  Too many questions surrounded Charissa and Rici. Questions he intended to get answers to.

  “Yeah, she said so.” Terey scanned the yard around them. “Where is Rici anyway? I’ve looked for him all morning and can’t find him. You didn’t fire him, did you?”

  “Rici doesn’t work for me. He’s Charissa’s assistant, remember?”

  “Well, I know you didn’t fire her.” She did another one-eighty to see all around them. “Are we finished doing the Twenty Questions Game? I’ll check you later, bro, after I’ve found Rici.” She reached up to plant a kiss on his cheek and pivoted away from him.

  Good luck with finding the guy. You’re gonna need it. He’d love to tell his sister his suspicion about her man, but knew he couldn’t. Wouldn’t. Didn’t want to. So instead, he called after her, “Hey, Sis, take care of yourself. Don’t go jumping off any bridges before you first find out how deep the water is, okay?”

  She paused to give him a quizzical look. “Shit, Travis. You’re starting to sound like Dr. Phil.” Blowing him a kiss, she resumed her hunt.

  He frowned as he watched her and then reaffirmed the decision he’d made last night. If Charissa wanted them to stay Friends with Benefits, then he’d go along with it. After all, he’d made a vow to himself to stay away from emotional entanglements until his business took off and if she could keep it purely sexual, so could he. With new purpose, he headed toward the breeding shed. The men should’ve gotten the mare ready again—for the last time—and would bring in Adonis in a few minutes. He’d lost his focus on his operations, leaving too much for the men to do, but he was back now. Back in control of both his ranch and his life.

  So why don’t I feel like I’m in control?

  As he entered the breeding shed, he saw Princess Dancer, cleaned, inspected by the vet, and waiting for Adonis. The mare pranced nervously and he couldn’t help but relate to her anxiety. This has got to go well today. Or, instead of Dancer getting screwed, he’d get screwed. And not the good way, either.