Free What's Cooking? by Sherryl Woods Page A

than she'd anticipated.
    Before she could say any of that, though, Rick's sleek little sports car turned off the road and came to a stop beside Melanie's dusty SUV. Rick emerged, looking windblown and sexy as hell.
    "Ladies," he said, coming over to drop a casual peck on Maggie's cheek. "Am I interrupting?"
    "Nope, I'd say your timing is perfect," Melanie replied, giving Maggie an I-told-you-so look. "I'm on my way. Take her to lunch. She's getting cranky."
    Maggie shot an appalled look at her sister. "I am not."
    Despite the denial, though, she had to fight to keep a sharp note out of her voice when she turned to Rick and asked, "What have you been up to this morning?" She hoped she sounded casual and interested, not possessive and panicky.
    "Miss me?" he asked.
    "Hardly. I've been busy around here," she fibbed.
    78 78WHAT'S COOKING?
    "You still haven't answered my question. Did you have a good morning?" "Sure."
    She had a weird feeling he was being deliberately evasive. It made her more determined than ever to get to the bottom of his absence. "Doing what?"
    He gave her a quizzical look. "I went for a drive, took a few pictures, nothing much," he said with a shrug. "Am I missing something, Maggie? Are you upset that I wasn't here sooner?"
    "No, of course not. We didn't have plans." "And I thought we'd agreed that you wanted some space, that you didn't want me underfoot every second." She sighed. "Yes, we did agree to that." "But you started feeling insecure, didn't you?" She felt ridiculous that he could see through her so easily. "I thought maybe you'd changed your mind and left. I wouldn't have blamed you, after all the pressure you got from Melanie last night."
    "Your sister doesn't worry me. You do. You have to trust me when I tell you that I won't leave without saying goodbye. And if you want something from me that I' m not giving you, you have to tell me that. I can't read your mind." He tilted her chin up and looked into her eyes. "Deal?"
    Duly chastened, she nodded. "Deal, and you're absolutely right," she said. "So here's the plan."
    He shook his head, obviously amused. "More rules ?" "More rules," she agreed. "Your mornings are your own. I'll do my thing around here, catch up on work, whatever. I won't even look for you till iunchtime unless we make plans ahead of time. If something comes up for either of us, we'll call."
    79 79
    "Sounds very fair," he said, obviously biting back a grin. "Let me clarify one thing, though. Do I need to schedule when I'm going to kiss you?"
    She swallowed hard at the glint in his eyes. "No. I think that can be perfectly spontaneous."
    "Good," he murmured just before he closed his mouth over hers.
    Heat slammed through Maggie, wiping out thoughts and worries and any remaining self-consciousness about her pathetic little performance a few minutes earlier. Obviously her idiotic behavior hadn't turned him off completely. Quite the opposite, in fact. They were both breathless and gasping when he finally released her.
    "Come on, darlin'," he said, grabbing her hand. "Let's go to lunch."
    "I could fix something here," she offered.
    "Bad idea."
    "You don't trust my cooking," she asked incredulously.
    "Your cooking's spectacular. What I'm afraid of is the kitchen getting a little too hot and chasing us straight up to the bedroom. I know that's a violation of one of those rules of yours." He gave her a hopeful look. "Of course, if you want to rescind that particular rule, I won't hold it against you. In fact, I'll applaud your generous spirit."
    For the first time all day, Maggie laughed. "You wish. Let's go, Flannery."
    "Where?"
    "It hardly matters, as long as there's not a bed in sight."
    He winked at her. "Who needs a bed when there are all these fields and secluded beaches close by?"
    80
    WHAT'S COOKING?
    Maggie groaned. Now that image was going to be in her head all afternoon. They weren't going to pass a cornfield without her imagining the two of them hidden away from view, their hands