Chapter Twenty-Seven

"So when is our poker game going to start?" Ian asked as he flopped down on the opposite side of the couch from Nicole and nearly made her fall sideways.

She glared at him and shook her head, "What are you talking about?" she asked.

She'd been on the phone all day with various school big wigs she knew in order to get herself on the substitute teacher call list for Monday. It wasn't a glamorous job but it would pay the bills and there were enough little schools in the county to give her work nearly everyday.

She and Cavanaugh had gone with Bethany earlier in the day and gotten all of her belongings and Nicole's horses from Silas's house. Nicole had a barn and corral behind her house but had let her horses stay at Silas's because many of the parents she had babysat for had been afraid the horses might injure their children. Now that that was no longer a worry Nicole had been happy to bring her babies home.

"When we were at the bar the other night you said that you'd arrange for us to have a poker game tonight," Ian reminded her.

"Was this before or after you rang up a one hundred and fifty dollar tab and got in a bar fight?" Nicole asked dryly and Cavanaugh chuckled from the arm chair where he was reading another gun magazine.

Ian pretended to think hard for several moments and then offered her a charming grin, "Before."

"I guess we could play. Why don't you round everyone up and ask if they want to," Nicole replied and Ian nodded happily.

"HEY EVERYBODY!" he yelled loudly without moving from his spot on the couch. "COME TO THE LIVING ROOM!" Nicole winced and shook her head as she pushed on her now deaf left ear several times.

"Thank you, Ian. I could have done that." she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Then why didn't you?"

Nicole resisted the urge to smack him, "Three years old. I swear you have the maturity of a three year old."

"He needs a good woman to make him grow up and settle him down," Cavanaugh said with a grin, knowing the reaction his commitment scared brother would have.

"Hell no! All I need is a woman to ease this throbbing in my..."

"Ian!" Nicole exclaimed.

Ian grinned sheepishly when he realized Madeline had just come into the room with her mother, "In my head," he said quickly. "This throbbing in my head." He made it a point to rub at his temples as if they were hurting him and Cavanaugh and Nicole both laughed while Madeline walked to him and crawled up on the couch beside him.

"You should take some medicine to stop the throbbing," she said in a very matter of fact way.

Ian frowned at the pain in the butt little girl, "Do they make that?"

"What was all that yelling about?" Andrew asked as he and Bethany came in from outside.

"Ian being helpful," Cavanaugh replied.

Nicole stood up, "Ian would like for us all to play some poker. Would some delivery pizza and cards sound good to everyone?"

"Poker? Real poker? Oh yeah, that sounds good to me!" Andrew exclaimed as he bounced up and down. "I ain't played poker since 1875!"

"I don't know how," Bethany said quietly.

Andrew stared at her as if she had just said she didn't know how to walk, talk, eat or some other basic function of life, "You can sit with me and I'll teach you," he promised her as he put his arm around her. "You can learn from the master."

"Master? Ha! Then I'm afraid she'll have to come sit on my lap, little brother," Ian said matter of factly.

Andrew glared at him, "I don't think she will. There ain't nobody in this room any better at poker than me."

"Not much talent involved in poker. You either have the cards or you don't," Cavanaugh stated and Ian and Andrew both glared at him as if he had just accused the Pope of being an atheist in the middle of Sunday mass.

"Of course there's talent involved." Leslie countered before anyone else could. "You have to be able to bluff and hide your tells while learning everyone else's. You have to think about what your odds are of winning and if you're playing Texas Hold 'em you have to have one heck of a strong will to stay with it until the end if your cards aren't running quite right."

Ian stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. Nicole fought back a smile when she saw how his brown eyes were wide with wonder and his jaw slack, "You like poker?" he asked awestruck.

Leslie nodded as she pulled the elastic band from her hair and shook out the brown waves. Ian's mouth went dry at the sight. Her hair was shorter than most women's he'd known. It barely reached her shoulders and her bangs fell sideways across her face when let loose.

Then he shook his head and mentally kicked himself when he realized he'd been admiring her. So her hair wasn't such a mousy brown and she knew about poker. So what? She still was a married woman, she was skinny, tired, run down, uptight and had a kid! And Ian McEllis was far too much man to ever even think about being with a settling down type of woman.

"Alright then," Nicole said with a sigh, "I'll call and order the pizza and hunt down that poker kit. I know I have one around here somewhere."

***

"Holy hell.... I've been bested by a woman," Ian mumbled as Leslie pulled another huge pot of chips toward her side of the table.

"I have an uncle who used to compete in the world poker championships. He was pretty good too. He taught me a thing or too." Leslie admitted and Ian just shook his head.

Leslie peeked into the living room and saw that Madeline had fallen fast asleep on the couch with her favorite blanket, "I better get her up to bed."

Ian pouted, "But I gotta try to win my chips back," he complained.

Andrew nodded, "Me too." he added as he wrapped his arms tighter around Bethany in his lap. "I'm gonna let Bethany take over since the women seem to have the magic touch tonight."

"This woman's magic touch is getting tired," Nicole admitted as she stood up and then yawned loudly behind her hand. "You go ahead and keep kicking butt, Leslie, and I'll take Madeline up to bed."

Leslie frowned, "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. It's kind of nice to see Ian having his ass handed to him. Might help make the swelling in his head go down."

"Ha." Ian shot back as he picked up the two cards that Cavanaugh had dealt him. Texas Hold 'em was supposed to be his game and this woman was thoroughly whooping not only him but Andrew too. Of course Andrew seemed more interested in holding Bethany and whispering in her ear than he was paying attention to the games they'd been playing.

Nicole walked over to the couch and scooped Madeline up in her arms. The sleeping girl mumbled but didn't awaken as she laid her head against Nicole's shoulder.

"Goodnight everyone." Nicole whispered.

Cavanaugh laid out the flop cards and looked over at her, "Goodnight, Nicole. Sleep well."

"Oh for Christ's sake, Cav, just claim your undying love, take the woman in your arms and kiss her already." Ian said with a laugh and Cavanaugh glared at him. Nicole blushed and quickly disappeared up the stairs.

"Leave Cav alone, Ian," Andrew scolded.

"Just play your game, Andrew. I ain't worried about what Ian says. Hell everyone knows that any workin' parts of his brain got knocked out of him by women's husbands a long time ago."

"Not cool, Cav." Ian grumbled and then he grinned over at Leslie and winked. "That's some modern day speech for ya."

"I still don't really understand some of the modern day things they say on that talking picture box," Cavanaugh admitted as he laid out the river card.

Ian threw his cards down with a loud curse, "It's called a television, Cav." Ian grumbled. "Get with the times, big brother."

***

Cavanaugh went up the stairs late that night. Leslie and Madeline were already up in their room and Ian had long since gone to his. Andrew and Bethany had once again fallen asleep on the porch swing and Cavanaugh had just covered them with a blanket and left them there.

He went into the bathroom and relieved himself and then was going back toward the stairs when he found his boots carrying him down the hallway and he paused outside Nicole's bedroom door.

God he wanted her.

As a matter of fact he couldn't remember ever wanting someone so badly. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and pull her full soft body against his. He wanted to touch her. Taste her. Learn every curve, freckle and line of her body.

This was a new feeling for him; This nearly uncontrollable desire. Cavanaugh had always had perfect control and while he had loved Leah their marriage had not been a passionate one. Cavanaugh had always thought it was his fault. He had just assumed he wasn't the kind of man to be consumed with passion or desire but he certainly was nearly every time he looked Nicole's way.

What would she say if he knocked on her door? What would she do if he walked on in? What would her reaction be if he laid her down on her big bed and slowly undressed her, tasting her body as it was revealed to him inch by inch. Would she moan his name and bury her fingers in his hair as his lips caressed the pale skin of her neck and then trailed down to her full breasts?

Cavanaugh reached for the door handle and then stopped. His hand hovered above it for several long moments as he fought an inner struggle of right and wrong. His moral side won and he removed his hand from above the knob and was about to turn and walk away when the bedroom door opened. He looked down at Nicole's startled face and saw her green eyes widen.

"What are you doing up here?" she asked quietly.

Cavanaugh shoved his hands deep in his pockets and cleared his throat, "I was using the indoor outhouse," he replied. He found his eyes traveling the length of her body and he realized she had changed into a pair of dark jeans, a sweatshirt and a pair of boots. "Going somewhere?" he asked.

She nodded and tucked a stray hair behind her ear, "I was going to go for a night ride. It's been a long time since I've done so." She frowned then. "The bathroom is at that end of the hall right next to the stairs so why were you standing outside my bedroom door?"

Cavanaugh swallowed hard and stared down at her beautiful face. His hands itched to come out of his pockets and pull her against him, "I'll just go on to bed now." he said quickly.

He cursed his cowardice as he turned to walk away and then he froze when her hand gripped his bicep, "Wait," she called. He stared down at the hardwood floor and waited for her to speak. "Come with me. Both horses need exercise and aren't you the one that pointed out that it's hard to ride two horses at once?"

Cavanaugh knew he should say no but he just couldn't remember why. He nodded and motioned for her to lead the way, "I've been missing Saraphine," he replied.

Nicole's smile had him drawing a deep breath and then he followed her down the stairs. He grabbed his flannel shirt off the back of the couch and pulled it on over his t-shirt before setting his hat on his head and following her out the back door.

Nicole grabbed a kerosene lantern off the porch and lit it, letting it light the way to the barn. Cavanaugh followed her and the horses snorted as they entered.

"Hello my loves," Nicole said quietly to them as they both tossed their heads over their stall doors. Nicole hooked the lantern by the door and while she scratched their heads and talked to them Cavanaugh went to get the saddles.

He stepped out of the tack room and found himself running directly into Nicole. She nearly fell backward and he quickly tossed the saddle aside and reached out to catch her. His bad leg put him off balance and instead of stopping her fall, he went down with her, though he managed to twist his body so that he landed on the bottom, breaking her fall as they landed in a spare stall full of hay.

Both of them froze on that hay covered floor. They stared into each others eyes and neither drew a breath. The heat in the barn was overwhelming and Cavanaugh looked up into her eyes and knew that she saw his unspoken question. His unspoken request for permission to do something about this overwhelming desire he felt deep in his bones for her.

Time seemed to stand still and then she bit her lip and nodded slightly and that was all the encouragement Cavanaugh needed. He put his hands on her cheeks and brought her face toward his. With heavy lidded eyes he let his lips trail across her face. Brushing across her eyelids and cheeks before finally landed softly on her lips.

The kiss was tentative and nervous at first. Neither of them had kissed anyone in a long time. Neither of them had been vulnerable or let their guards down in a long time. And both of them knew that this was going to be more than just physical.

It was clear to Cavanaugh from the way his very soul seemed to be entwining with hers at the joining of their lips that something much deeper than lust was going on here but he was too consumed in raw passion to put much thought into what that was. It was Nicole who finally deepened the kiss. Much to Cavanaugh's surprise it was her lips that turned hungry and greedy. It was her tongue that slipped inside his mouth and began to war with his own.

Cavanaugh was shocked by this. He had never been kissed this way before. Prim and proper Leah certainly had never kissed him this way and Cavanaugh lost what little control he may have had. He rolled them over, laying Nicole against the soft bed of hay and looked down into her hungry eyes for mere seconds before crushing her lips with his. His greedy hands roamed across her body, bringing moans and gasps of pleasure from her mouth. He felt her fingers sliding his flannel shirt from his shoulders and he pulled away long enough to slip off it and his t-shirt before continuing his assault on her mouth.

Cavanaugh was already hard and he nearly went over the edge when he felt her fingertips, like brands, leaving fire and flames as they danced over the heated skin and tight muscles of his back and arms.

Nicole had never felt such intense pleasure as she felt from just Cavanaugh's kiss. Just his body over hers. She pushed him up and sat up as well raising her arms over her head. Cavanaugh took the hint and grabbed the bottom of her sweatshirt. He pulled it up over her head and tossed it aside and Nicole felt herself blush as his hungry blue eyes fell on her breasts, still covered by her lacy black bra.

Without saying a word he lowered his mouth to her chest and kissed and licked his way around the edges of her bra and Nicole cried out his name when he pulled the bra down and took her breast into his mouth.

Quickly the rest of their clothes joined their shirts in a pile on the floor and Cavanaugh braced his hard body over hers. He knew that if he continued, if he let himself bury his arousal inside of her that a line would be crossed. Things between them would be forever changed and there would be no going back.

Again Nicole seemed to hear his unspoken words and her lips curved in a small smile before she buried her hands in his hair, pulled his mouth to hers and raised her hips against him. Cavanaugh growled low in his throat and claimed her right there and never once did thoughts of his long dead wife or the pain he'd felt the last few years without her enter his mind. His entire being was consumed with nothing but desire for this beautiful woman in his arms.

As they lay spent a long time later, covered in a saddle blanket that had been within reach, Cavanaugh held her peacefully in his arms. Her golden hair tickled his skin as he curled himself around her back and held her close.

Nicole snuggled closer to him and he could tell by her breathing that she was nearly asleep. He kissed her hair and then stilled instantly when her sleepy voice said, "I love you, Cavanaugh."

Cavanaugh didn't know what to say. He wanted to tell her that he loved her too, he really did but he knew he couldn't. Because he wasn't sure he did love her and like she had said before she didn't need another man who said things he didn't mean. So instead he just kissed her hair and held her a little tighter, praying that that would be enough.