Stone Cold Surrender - Brenda Jackson [32]
Her throat tightened when he began walking toward her and the heat surging through her got hotter. She had never appreciated a Western shirt and tight jeans on a man until she had met him. She couldn’t imagine his tall, muscled body wearing anything else…unless it was nothing at all.
Her breath caught. She wished she could strike that thought from her mind, call it back, and not think about it. But the deed was done. That wicked thought went right along with the dreams she’d been having about him lately. The man exuded raw sex appeal without trying and she was fully aware of him, more so than she needed to be.
“You okay?”
Madison shook her head. Not sure words would come out of her mouth even if she wanted them to, but she forced herself to speak anyway. “Yes, I’m fine, Stone.”
He nodded as he continued to look at her. “Can I use some of that?” he asked indicating the small bottle of liquid hand sanitizer she had brought along.
“Sure, help yourself.”
She watched as he uncapped the small bottle and poured some in his palm and then began rubbing his hands together in slow motion. She immediately thought of him rubbing those same hands all over her…in slow motion. She glanced at her soda can wondering if there was something inside it other than soda that was making her dizzy with such wanton thoughts.
“This is a beautiful spot, isn’t it?”
His question got her attention. She shifted her gaze away from his hands to take in the beauty of their surroundings. “Yes, it is. I wish I had thought to bring a camera along.”
He lifted a brow. “I’m surprised that you didn’t.”
She was surprised, too. “I had other things on my mind.” And those other things, she told herself, were what she should be concentrating on and not on Stone. She continued to watch him as he recapped the hand sanitizer and placed it back in her gear. Then he walked over to his saddlebag to pull out his own sandwich and drink. She sighed. Maybe if she got him talking about his uncle she just might be able to clear her mind of hot, steamy thoughts. She figured it was worth a try.
“Do you have any idea who in Texas is trying to locate your uncle, Stone?” she asked, after she had finished off the last of her sandwich.
He walked back over to her and sat down on the stump beside her. “No, I have no idea. I mentioned it to Durango and he didn’t have a clue, either. We decided to turn it over to Quade and let him solve the mystery.”
Madison lifted a brow. “Who?”
Stone smiled. “Quade. He’s one of Durango’s brothers—the one I mentioned was a twin. He used to be a secret service agent. Now he works for the government in some behind-the-scenes capacity. We don’t have a clue exactly what he does. We see him when we see him and don’t ask questions when we do. But we know how to contact him if we ever need him and usually within seventy-two hours we’ll hear back from him.”
Madison nodded. “And you think he can find out what’s going on?”
“He’ll find out.”
Madison sat quietly for a moment thinking that Stone seemed pretty sure of his cousin’s abilities. Her thoughts then shifted back to the man her mother had run off with. “Tell me about Corey Westmoreland,” she said, feeling the need to know as much about him as she could since she would be coming face-to-face with him soon.
Stone glanced over at her after taking a sip of his soda. “Exactly what do you want to know?”
She shrugged. “What I’m really curious about is why everyone thinks it’s strange for him to have a woman on his mountain.”
Stone’s lips lifted into a smile. “Mainly because as long as I can remember Uncle Corey claimed it would never happen. He’s been involved with women before but none of them have ever been granted access to this mountain. He’s always drawn the line as to how much of his life he’s been