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  But based on his family…could Helen have been mistaken in her charges? Maybe Rand wasn’t the one with the secret accounts in Caribbean banks. Maybe—

  “I was twelve,” he said, interrupting her thoughts. “Trey was working on a movie and he got me a job as a stuntkid.”

  “You worked in a movie?”

  His broad grin revealed his pleasure at the memory. “I doubled for this kid actor. I had to ride a horse—which of course I already knew how to do—and fall off—which wasn’t all that hard to learn. But climbing around on a mountain and getting tossed off a cliff—”

  “You got tossed off a cliff?”

  “Relax!” He laughed. “It was into water and Trey was waiting to drag me out.”

  Rachel pursed her lips. “Frankly I was surprised Meg allowed you to do that,” she said.

  “She didn’t know anything about it. Still doesn’t.” Rand could barely keep back the laughter.

  Rachel’s eyes flew wide. “But you said—”

  “I lied.” He cracked up over that. “No way would Mom have let her baby get thrown off a cliff.”

  They laughed together. Then Trey said, “I kinda suspected something like that, but I figured gettin’ roughed up a little would be good for you. Besides, Thom T. was egging me on.”

  Rand nodded. “Grandpa told me once he worried because I was danged near a sissy.”

  “That’s exactly the way he talked,” Rachel said. She added to Maxi, “Thom T. was actually Randy’s great-grandpa, but he was known simply as ‘Grandpa’ to just about everybody. He was the dearest, the kindest old man. I can’t begin to tell you how much he did for me.”

  “Sometime I’d like to hear.” Maxi realized she meant it and frowned. She wasn’t going to be around long enough to get to know these people.

  “Thom T. did a lot for all of us.” Trey’s usually cynical tone was completely absent. “He was especially fond of you, Rand—his first great-grandchild.”

  Rand sighed. “Yeah. I disappointed him and he didn’t even know the half of it.”

  The atmosphere had undergone a lightning-like transition. Trey and Rachel exchanged guarded glances and he said, “Care to elaborate on that?”

  Rand shook his head. “You’ve got a pretty good idea the kind of life I’ve been leading.”

  “Not really,” Trey drawled. “For example…where were you last week?”

  “Chicago.”

  “The week before that?”

  “Florida.”

  “The week before that?”

  “The Caribbean.”

  A shiver shot through Maxi. Helen had vacationed in the Caribbean; had it been with Rand? Even Maxi knew banks were discreet there, and money could disappear from official eyes. One business partner could defraud the other and come out smelling like a rose.

  Rachel persisted. “But where do you live, Rand?”

  “I still own Grandpa Randall’s place in Boston, but it’s…currently leased. Other than that, I visit friends…stay in hotels…rent villas…”

  “God,” Rachel said, “what a lousy existence.” She turned her sharp gaze on Maxi. “I hope you’re planning to put a stop to his gypsy wanderings.”

  “I…can try.” Maxi’s stomach muscles clenched painfully. Why was Rand so determined to throw away his heritage? He should be on his knees giving thanks for a family like this.

  Trey said, “Maybe Randy and Maxine will settle down on the Rocking T. That’s where Taggart roots are.”

  Rand rose abruptly, his expression darkening. “Okay, folks, stop planning my life. Max, it’s time we get out of here so these people can—”

  “Out of here!” Rachel rose, too, her eyes flashing. “Do you honestly think I’m going to let you stay in a hotel, Randall Taggart, when I have a perfectly good guest room?”

  “I don’t want you to go to any trouble, Aunt Rachel. We’d already made up out minds to—”

  “Forget it.” Trey’s lazy grin ended the debate. “If Rachel says you’re staying, you may as well give in gracefully, because you’re staying.”

  Trey looked at Maxi, who shrugged helplessly. No way did she want to spend the night here in these close family confines. But what could she do?

  They were trapped.

  CHAPTER SIX

  RAND WOKE UP SLOWLY…or rather, his body woke up and his mind eventually had to follow. If he kept his eyes tightly closed, maybe he could go right on believing he was in some silken harem with the sultan’s favorite wrapped around him like lights on a Christmas tree.

  His hands seemed to move of their own accord, stroking down the curved length of the woman in his arms. He reveled in the feel of firm female flesh. She sighed and rubbed her breasts against his chest until he felt her nipples peak. As unerring as a magnet heading toward iron, he curved one hand around her breast—and caught his breath.

  Maybe he’d died and gone to heaven, because he sure hadn’t crawled into bed with this sensuous creature last night. In fact, when he’d slipped gingerly between the silky sheets, Maxine had been lying on top of the bedspread as stiff as the proverbial poker, with only a crocheted afghan—

  Maxine! Rand’s eyes flew open and he stared down at the face resting on his shoulder. Incredibly long lashes lay upon high cheekbones and a rosy flush covered her cheeks. She was gorgeous, all warm and tousled and—

  Suddenly awake, staring at him with drowsy amber-brown eyes. He should stop kneading her breast, stop pressing the top of his thigh between her spread legs, stop staring at her mouth. None of these things, however, was he able to accomplish.

  She, on the other hand, stiffened, and her eyes went wide with shock. Then, very slowly and very deliberately, she pushed herself out of his arms and sat up. Licking her lips, she glanced at him over her shoulder.

  He said, “Good morning?”

  She said, “You’re joking.”

  Without hurrying, she slid to the side of the bed and rose. Not looking back, she walked with unhurried steps to the bathroom, went inside and closed the door very softly.

  Rand stared after her, his passion ebbing, gradually. She wasn’t his type…but without the dowdy hairstyles and the glasses, without the funny clothes and the Minnie Mouse shoes, she was quite…attractive. At least, she attracted the hell out of him.

  In his defense, he’d been asleep. He’d had no idea who he’d been groping…had he? This could turn into a serious complication if he let it. Fortunately she didn’t appear to be affected in the slightest.

  Under other circumstances, that would hurt. Now it was a blessing.

  SAFE IN THE BATHROOM, Maxi collapsed against the sink in dismay.

  If she’d “slept” for another three minutes, it would have been too late. She’d have been spread beneath him like a picnic lunch and he’d have been—

  Don’t even go there! Although every inch of her throbbed with frustration, her mind was in a worse whirl.

  This was not the way it was supposed to go. The man might be charming—okay, he was charming—but he was still a crook and responsible for her sister’s incarceration. Hell, he was even willing to deceive his own family for financial gain.

  Get a grip!

  She whipped off the cotton nightgown and dropped it on the floor, then stared in the mirror at her body, aroused and unsatisfied as never before. Her nipples were tight pink points on breasts rising and falling rapidly with the force of her breathing.

  What had happened—almost happened, anyway—was as much her fault as his. They’d come together in their sleep and awakened just in time. The difference was, he’d seen who he held and recoiled; she’d seen who held her and wanted to show him once and for all that she wasn’t what she seemed. An honest mistake, one she’d nurtured, but a mistake nonetheless. She wasn’t the hopeless little match girl he took her for. She was a woman whose fortune was her body, dammit!

  Beneath the stinging spray of a cold shower, she tried to calm herself. How long had it been since she’d slept with a man? She’d be
en working so hard, been so involved in other things, that she’d almost stopped even thinking about men and romance.

  Which wasn’t as hard as it might have been, actually. Her father had seen to that.

  She and Helen had taken their father’s defection some fifteen years ago in completely different ways, she reflected, patting herself dry with a fluffy towel. Helen hungered for love to the point of throwing herself at every unsuitable man who came her way—and Rand Taggart wasn’t the first who’d misled her, either. There had been others, too many others.

  Maxi, on the other hand, had relegated men to a subordinate position in her life. She’d had a boyfriend in high school because she needed one to take her to the dances and parties, but never, not once, had she mistaken that relationship for love. After graduation she’d found a job as a photographer’s assistant and, with so much to learn, had gone for more than a year without a single date.

  Her boss had seen her potential and sent photos to a friend, a photographer who worked for Violet’s Advantage; the rest, as they say, is history. At twenty-two, Maxi had found it difficult to pose in her underwear for the camera, and even more difficult to see the resulting photographs in Violet’s famous catalog. She, who had been poor all her life, had done it for the money.

  Period. Her only regret was that her mother hadn’t lived long enough to enjoy it, too.

  When the adulation had begun, Maxi had let it go to her head, at least for a little while. She’d dated a couple of movie stars, a professional football player, a rock star. After the initial excitement, she’d found them all boring and interested in only one thing—one thing that didn’t include her mind.

  Now she’d run afoul of Rand Taggart, who was not only sinfully sexy but a man with the kind of family Maxi used to dream about. Too bad he was who he was. Too bad he was going to hurt a lot of people when the truth came out, including, but not limited to, Trey and Rachel and their boys.

  Not Maxi, though. She was doing an honorable thing, fighting for her sister’s future. Rand would be brought to justice; he had to be. When he was, Helen would be cleared.

  But before that happened…Maxi took a deep breath and visualized his reaction if she were ever to let him see who she really was. Then, with a sigh, she pulled her hair back into a tight twist, planted the glasses firmly in front of naked eyes, squared her shoulders and went out to rejoin the fray.

  “DO YOU REALLY have to leave so soon?”

  Rachel’s plaintive tone made Rand smile. “Yeah, we do. When I called Mom and told her I’d brought Max here first, she was…let’s just say she wasn’t pleased.”

  Rachel wrinkled her nose. “I suppose I can’t blame her. If Jason got married and went to see Meg before me, I probably wouldn’t like it, either.”

  “How is Jason?”

  “Who is Jason?” Maxine looked from one to the other.

  “My grown son,” Rachel said. “I had him before I met Trey. He’s a few years older than Rand.” To whom she added, “He’s a minister with a church in Showdown. Did you know that?”

  He didn’t. He’d expected studious Jason to become a teacher or a librarian like his mother, not a minister. Rand was really out of the family loop to have missed this.

  “Jason’s a good kid.” Trey rose from his chair at the kitchen table. “If you’re determined to go, Rand, we might as well get the luggage loaded.”

  Here comes another lecture, Rand thought as he followed his uncle from the kitchen.

  “DO TREY AND YOUR SON get along well, Rachel?” Maxi asked when they were alone.

  “Very well. Trey loves Jason and it’s mutual.” Rachel leaned forward, her elbows on the table. “Jason’s father died before he was born, so Trey’s the only father he ever knew.” She cocked her head. “Trey and I have a good marriage, Maxine. I hope you and Rand will be as happy.”

  Maxi felt a twinge of shame. “Thank you.”

  “I don’t want you to think it’s been easy for us, though. Marriage never is.”

  “I suppose not.”

  “How much do you know about small southern towns, hon?”

  “Hardly anything. I grew up in Chicago and lived there most of my life.”

  “Well, I grew up in a little Texas town, the daughter of the town drunk.”

  Maxi felt a jolt of recognition. “My mother was an alcoholic,” she blurted, then wished she’d kept her mouth shut.

  “That’s a tough thing to have in common.” Rachel sighed. “When I was sixteen, I had a child out of wedlock, as they used to say. That was Jason.”

  “When I was sixteen, my mother died.” Maxi threw caution to the wind, figuring she’d already said too much.

  “Poor Maxine.” Rachel’s smile was warm and sympathetic. “I hope you were as lucky as I was. You see, I had Thom T. Taggart. He made it possible for me to attend college and become a librarian. Then Trey came to town and I was sure he was out to bilk that kind old gentleman for every cent he had.”

  There had been no Thom T. in Maxi’s life. “I can see how it must have been hard for you and Trey to get together,” she said.

  “Hard and then some.” Rachel nodded for emphasis. “Trey breezed in from California, took one look at ‘that trashy Cox girl,’ which is what they called me, and moved in on me as well as on Thom T. I was struggling to overcome my lurid reputation and protect Thom T. at the same time. The last thing I needed was some fast-talking damnyankee blasting away at every single preconceived idea I ever had about myself.”

  “But you found a happy ending, right?”

  “Oh, yes.” Rachel’s smile sparkled. “God, I love that man. He’s given me the most exciting and wonderful life you can imagine. I guess what I want you to know is that marriage isn’t easy, but if there’s enough love, you’ll make it—and it’s worth the effort, believe me. Rand’s parents have been there, too.”

  “His parents?”

  “They’ve had their problems. He hasn’t mentioned it?”

  “There’s hardly been time.”

  “In that case, I’ll shut up. It’s really not my place to get into details, but the details are important to understanding Randy. Then there’re Boone and Kit. Nothing’s come easily for them, either. At one point, Boone was actually determined to sell the Rocking T right out from under Thom T. and Jesse. It took Kit to stop him.”

  She raised her eyebrows and smiled. “We’re pretty much your average rootin’ tootin’ Texas family. It’s only fair for you to know what you’ve married into.”

  “Thank you.” Maxi smiled back, thinking that she’d really like to belong to a family like this if it didn’t take marriage to a crook to get in.

  “You do love Rand, don’t you?”

  Maxi’s smile faltered. “I married him,” she said.

  “People get married for all kinds of reasons.”

  “Are you talking about money?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Trust me,” Maxi said with finality, “I did not marry him for his money.”

  Rachel traced the veined pattern on the glossy tabletop with a blunt fingernail. “I don’t mean to offend you, but…I don’t get the feeling that this is really a love match.” She looked up quickly. “Are you offended?”

  “No.” Maxi met the other woman’s gaze, her own level. “Rand is one of the most complicated and intriguing men I’ve ever met.” That was certainly true. He was also one of the biggest liars. “I guess you could say I married him because I was swept away.” By hijackers, all the way to Mexico.

  Rachel seemed reassured. “The Taggart men tend to do that. I take it you know about Thom T.’s will.”

  “Yes, but I didn’t marry Rand for that, either.”

  And then Maxi realized with a start that Rachel might be worried about Rand’s motives, not hers. Could Rachel believe Maxi was an innocent victim of Rand’s Johnny-come-lately determination to get his inheritance?

  “Whatever,” Rachel said. “I’m too nosy and I apologize. You’re both adul
ts. I wouldn’t be so concerned if Thom T. hadn’t appointed me one of the judges of Rand’s marital happiness. Let’s forget all that for the moment.”

  “Good idea.” Now, Maxi thought. “Uh, I wonder if I could ask you something.”

  “Of course.”

  “I…understand Rand had a college friend n-named Bill Overton. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

  Rachel frowned. “That was a long time ago.”

  “Yes, but now Bill Overton is in a…bit of trouble.” Maxi crossed her fingers beneath the table. “If Rand should want to help him—”

  “Don’t let him!” Rachel stood up. “I haven’t heard that guy’s name in years. Now that I have, it brings back all the reasons nobody in the family liked him. He was a con man, plain and simple. The farther you both stay away from him, the better.”

  Rachel peered at Maxi. “Not to change the subject, but I have the funniest feeling we’ve met before. Have you spent much time in California?”

  So much for that line of inquiry. At least Rachel didn’t seen to suspect Maxi’s motives.

  WITH THE LUGGAGE stowed in the trunk, Trey leaned against the side of the rental car and nailed Rand with a level gaze.

  “Okay, spit it out,” Rand said. “What’s on your mind, Trey?”

  “This so-called marriage of yours.”

  “It’s not so-called. You saw the marriage certificate.”

  “Certificates are a dime a dozen. Unfortunately.” Straightening, Trey started for the house.

  Rand fell in beside his uncle. “We’re married. You can see we’re happy.”

  “I don’t see any such thing.”

  Rand stopped short. “We’re not fighting, are we? We’re not yelling at each other. We’re together.”

  “That’s the rub. You’re not together.”

  Rand frowned. “I don’t get it.”

  “When I met Rachel, I could hardly keep my hands off her. Once I got that ring on her finger…” Trey’s wolfish expression finished the sentence. “But you and Maxine—” He shook his head slowly. “You treat each other like strangers, polite but not very interested.”