Daisies in the Canyon(69)

“So ice cream now or after you see the upstairs?” he asked.

“Give me the tour and then we can come back down here for ice cream. I wish this house could talk. I bet it could tell me lots of tales,” she said.

“Give me a minute to put this back in the freezer until we’re ready for it. Abby, I’m glad the house can’t talk. And I’m almighty glad it couldn’t when Granny and Grandpa was still alive. I would have never been allowed out of my room.” Cooper returned and extended a hand.

“Ah, a bad boy, were you?”

“Bad enough that I’m glad Granny didn’t know everything,” he answered.

She let him lead her up the stairs. Common sense told her that she had no business even looking into his bedroom. Her heart told her to push him backward on the bed and land on top of him while she had the chance.

“At the end of the landing you will see three doors. The one to the left is the linen closet. The other two are bathrooms—a ladies’ and a gentlemen’s. Granny liked her own bathroom. I’ll show it to you first,” Cooper said.

“Oh, my! This is one big bathroom,” she said when he threw the door open. A big tub like the one at the Malloy Ranch didn’t even put a dent in the room. It had one of those long chaise lounges beside a vanity with two separate sinks. A separate shower and potty was hidden by a half wall covered with pink rose wallpaper.

“Grandpa never said as much, but I had a feeling that the chaise lounge was for him so he could talk to her while she took a bath, or”—he wiggled his eyebrows—“maybe for something else when they were younger.”

“You can think of your grandparents like that? I can’t even imagine my mama kissing Ezra.” She could feel her nose curling up at the thought.

“I wouldn’t know about Ezra and your mom. But my grandparents were so much in love—way past Granny’s dying day. He survived on her memories.” Cooper tipped her chin up for a scorching kiss that made her knees turn to jelly.

Instinctively, her arms snaked up around his neck, one hand tangling itself into his thick blond hair. She tilted her head so she could see his face and their gazes locked in the moonlit room. He took her hand in his and led to another door across the landing.

“This is my bedroom,” he said. “Don’t leave. I’ll be right back.”

The room was empty without him. No, the universe was empty without him. The canyon had magical powers. It had drawn her mother to Ezra and now it was doing its damnedest to draw her to Cooper.

He carried a tray bearing a huge bowl of ice cream. Her heart fluttered and she wished she could trade the ice cream for a romp in that big four-poster bed. It would be a hell of a lot more satisfying, because ice cream wouldn’t do a damn thing to cool what was hot inside her.

“One bowl? One spoon?” One of her eyebrows rose slightly.

“We only need one spoon if I feed you.” Cooper sat down in a brown leather recliner beside the double doors leading out to the sun porch. He pulled her down on his lap and when she reached for the spoon he shook his head and said, “It ain’t happenin’, darlin’. I get to feed you.”

She opened her mouth when the first spoonful came toward her. “We’ve got until midnight, so I intend to eat slowly.”

“Yes, Cinderella.”

She swallowed quickly and laughed. “That’s the first time anyone ever called me Cinderella.”

“Maybe no one saw the princess beneath the combat boots. Which reminds me, you are gorgeous tonight all dolled up like a cowgirl.”

“I didn’t buy many clothes in the military. Just a couple of things for nonmilitary weddings I attended. It seemed like a waste of money and I’ve only been out of the service a few weeks. If it was a military party, my dress uniform worked just fine. It’s hard to explain,” she explained.

“You don’t have to explain, Abby.”

“But I do, and it’s hard to put into words. I wanted Ezra, even in death, to see that I’d done all a boy could do,” she said. “But thank you for the compliment about the way I’m dressed tonight. I suppose when my camouflage is worn out, you’ll be seeing more of me in jeans and maybe even flannel shirts.”

“I like that idea of seeing more of you in anything you want to wear. But”—he grinned and his brown eyes twinkled—“I think I like you in nothing at all best.”

Another bite went into her mouth and she had to swallow fast to keep from choking after that comment. She covered his hand with hers and before he could protest, she dipped deeply into the ice cream and slowly brought it to his lips. If he wanted to play that game, she was more than willing to join right in.

“Darlin’, I like you naked best of all, too.”

He bent slightly and kissed her. His tongue traced her lip line and sent shivers down her backbone.

“Cold?” he asked.

“Hot. Very, very hot,” she murmured.

“Would it be another mistake?” he whispered softly, his breath caressing her ear.

“I hope not.” Right, wrong, or somewhere in between, she wanted to feel Cooper’s naked body next to hers.

His hands were rough against her face when he cupped her cheeks in his hands and kissed her eyelids shut, then moved to her lips. The first kiss was soft and tender. The second lingered but was still sweet. By the fourth they’d grown more passionate. One hand cupped her chin tenderly, his thumb making lazy circles on a sensitive part of her neck.