A Madaris Bride for Christmas Read online

  “What is it?”

  She took a sip of her wine. “Why isn’t there a steady woman in your life? Why aren’t you taken?”

  His chuckle was low and throaty. “Should I be?”

  Most men who look like you usually are. “I’d think so.”

  He paused in the midst of chopping the tails off the shrimps. “I could ask you the same thing. Why aren’t you taken?”

  She shrugged. “I have my reasons.”

  “Share them with me.”

  “I asked you first.”

  Lee chuckled again. “So you did.”

  He put the knife aside, leaned against the island and leisurely sipped his wine, as if giving a lot of thought to what she’d asked. “One of the main reasons is because I’ve been too busy for an involvement,” he said finally.

  “We were barely getting the Grand MD Dubai erected when the opportunity came to build here. It was a miracle that Mitch Farrell got that land on the Strip. And when he approached me and Angelo about building another hotel before the first one was completed, we jumped at the chance, even though we knew doing both would be tough.”

  She rested her hands under her chin. “So your busy schedule is just one of the reasons you aren’t involved with anyone. What’s another?”

  He looked down into his glass of wine. When he lifted his head his expression was serious. “I’ve never met a woman that I wanted to spend a lot of my time with...whether I was busy or not. In other words, Carly, there has never been a woman I craved. Until you.”

  She wished his words didn’t send a surge of desire rippling through her. “Crave?”

  “Yes, crave. You know how you get a taste of something, and you aren’t satisfied until you get some more? That’s how it is with me when it comes to you. I taste you, and I want to taste you again. I lust after you. Yearn for you. Ache for you.”

  Carly stared at him, not believing he would admit such things. She said nothing as he put his wineglass aside and picked up the knife to finish the shrimp.

  He moved around her kitchen, checking on the pasta and the bread baking in the oven. Her gaze traveled over him, appreciating the way the fabric clung to his masculine thighs. He had removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, displaying a powerful chest, great abs and wide shoulders. He radiated sensuality that drew her in like a magnet, powerless to resist.

  He placed the shrimp in the colander and walked over to the sink to rinse them off. Glancing over his shoulder at her, he said, “You never said why you’re unattached.”

  “I didn’t?”

  “No.”

  She shrugged. “Let’s leave that discussion for another day, okay?”

  He held her gaze, nodded and then said, “Okay. We’ll table it, but there will be another day, Carly.”

  Carly had no reason to doubt him.

  Chapter 5

  “Well, what do you think?” he asked once they were at the dining room table.

  Instead of answering, she closed her eyes and slowly licked her lips before moaning softly. “Mmm.” She opened her eyes and smiled. “What does that tell you?”

  It told him a lot. It showed him what she could do with her mouth. She thought she’d demonstrated how much she’d savored the food, but his lascivious mind had conjured up something else entirely. He could imagine her expressing that same satisfaction after she tasted him. He could even envision how it would leave him—so damn satisfied that his erection throbbed when he thought about it. He had to force air through his lungs to get past the images floating through his brain.

  “Lee?”

  He blinked. Had she been trying to get his attention? “Yes?”

  “Tell me about your family.”

  He leaned back in his chair and picked up his wineglass to take a sip. With any other woman, he would have shut the subject down as soon as it came up, letting them know up front they were with him and not his family. The Madaris name was well-known in Texas, and there were some women who wanted to wear the name because they wanted to get their greedy hands on the wealth that came with it. Madaris men and women were successful. They’d worked hard for what they had and they were selective in a mate.

  But Lee had no problem telling Carly about his family. If he had his way, she would be his mate. He thought the name Carly Briggs Madaris suited her.

  Still, he wanted to know her thought process. “Why do you want to know?”

  She shrugged shoulders that looked beautiful in her spaghetti-strap dress. He thought she looked downright sexy. At some point she had removed her shoes. He couldn’t help but admire her feet, especially her painted toes. He held in high esteem women who pampered their feet. That meant they had no problem pampering other parts of themselves as well.

  “I guess I’m fascinated. Like I told you, I came from a small family, so I imagine belonging to a large one can be wonderful.”

  He chuckled. “Yes, it can also be a pain in the ass. When you think you have a secret, you really don’t. At times, everybody seems to be in your business. But the truth is, I wouldn’t change a thing. There’s no other family I’d want to belong to. Over the years, you learn who, and who not, to tell your secrets to.”

  He paused and then added, “The support of my family is fantastic. We have our moments, like all families do, but when it comes to us sticking together, we do it better than glue.”

  He saw the wistful look in her eyes and figured he would tell her a little more. “The Madaris family settled in Texas back in the eighteen hundreds, after acquiring a ten-thousand-acre Mexican land grant. Carlos Antonio Madaris, half Mexican and half African-American, along with his wife, Christina Marie, were shaping their future on land they named Whispering Pines, to raise cattle.”

  He recited the story that had been passed down through his family from generation to generation. It was heritage he, like every other Madaris family member, was proud of. “Whispering Pines is still in the family. It’s my uncle Jake’s ranch.”

  Carly nodded. “You mentioned you have a bunch of cousins. What about siblings?”

  “Yes. I’m the oldest. My brother Kane is two years younger than me, and my other brother Jarod is two years younger than Kane.”

  “No sisters?”

  “No sisters. Not too many females born into the Madaris family. In fact, males have dominated the family for generations.”

  Lee was tempted to ask about her family, just to see how much she would tell him. But earlier, in the kitchen, she’d avoided any discussion of why she wasn’t in a relationship, so it stood to reason she would avoid talking about her family. It didn’t really matter since he knew most of what he wanted to know from Alex’s report.

  “Your great-grandmother did a good job with your cooking classes. I’m impressed. Even the apple pie was delicious.”

  “I’m glad you enjoyed everything. It was my pleasure to show you just a little of what I can do.”

  She smiled. “There’s more?”

  “Most definitely.”

  Besides being attracted to her, he liked her. Over dinner she’d told him that she had worked in a restaurant in Miami before taking the pastry-chef job at the hotel. She’d told him about her best friend Heather’s recent marriage and relocation to Spain and about attending culinary schools in both Boston and Paris. But he’d noted she stayed away from mentioning anything about her life in Alabama and Connecticut.

  He stood. “Cleanup time,” he said, gathering the dishes.

  “Lee, there’s no way I’ll let you wash dishes on top of everything else. Besides, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

  He looked over at her. She had stood as well, and the fit of her dress, the way it emphasized her small waist and perky breasts, made his body harden again. He cleared his throat.

  “Okay, let’s sit down and talk.” It was either that or continue to stand and run the risk of her seeing how aroused he’d become.

  He sat back down and she did the same. “So what is it you want to discus
s?”

  She was nervous, he could tell. She had a tendency to gnaw her bottom lip whenever she was. “I think you might be incorrect about something.”

  “And what am I incorrect about?” he asked.

  “That you and I can have a relationship of any kind. You own the hotel I work for. Because of that, I’m not sure it’s even okay for us to be friends.”

  He stared at her, thinking he wasn’t the one who was incorrect. She was.

  “I thought we discussed this last week.”

  “Not fully.”

  “Then why am I here tonight?”

  She gnawed her lip again as she said, “Because you have a very persuasive nature and I wasn’t thinking straight that night.”

  “But now you are...thinking straight?”

  “Yes. I enjoyed this evening, but I need to be realistic. Not that I’m putting myself down, mind you. But you can do better.”

  He doubted it. His eyes drank her up, and he saw beauty she evidently couldn’t see. Over the years, had others somehow made her feel unworthy of their time and attention? Did she think it would be that way with everyone she met?

  “How can I do better, Carly?”

  She actually smiled when she responded. “I’m glad you asked. Before you got here I had time to spare, so I went online and checked out some of the young executives working for you. I read their bios. Several women are single.”

  “And?”

  “I’ve seen a number of them out and about at the hotel. They even come into the restaurant all dressed up on occasion. They look like models, starlets, women you’d want on your arm.”

  Lee was tempted to tell her that he had seen her all dressed up, on her birthday, when she’d worn that pretty green dress and those killer stilettos. She had looked better than any damn model or starlet ever could. Furthermore, she would look better on his arm than any other woman ever would. He would find it amusing that she was trying to brush him off on someone else if he didn’t know why she was doing it.

  He held her gaze. “Still trying to play the loner card, are you?”

  Her brows rose a little. “What do you mean?”

  “I know what you’re doing, trying to brush me off.”

  “Brush you off?” She shook her head negatively. “No, that’s not it. You don’t understand.”

  “Then explain it to me.”

  She shook her head again. “No, I can’t. It’s too complicated.”

  Lee inhaled deeply. She didn’t know complicated. At least not yet, she didn’t. He stood and saw how she watched him with wary eyes as he rounded the table toward her. “Stand up a second,” he said.

  She hesitated before getting out of her chair. “What?”

  He came to a stop in front of her. “You want to know what’s really complicated? For starters, this.”

  He placed his hands on the shoulders he’d been tempted to touch all evening. They were soft and smooth. In response to his touch she trembled. He trembled inside as well.

  “Now, that’s complicated. To know touching you can arouse me in a way I’ve never been aroused. You stimulate every cell in my body. To know that your reaction to my touch is not fake, not a show to impress. You, Carly Briggs, have exactly what I need.”

  Lee saw confusion in her features. “What is that?” she asked.

  He leaned in closer to her. “Passion.”

  She looked stunned. “Passion?”

  “Yes. It’s in your taste and your scent. And it’s genuine. You have more passion in your little finger than most women have in their entire bodies.”

  Her shoulders tensed beneath his hands. “I think you have me mixed up with someone else, Lee.”

  “No, I don’t. You’re the one. I don’t want to marry for love, but I can definitely marry for passion.”

  She tilted her head to the side and stared at him. “What are you talking about?”

  “Me. You. Getting married.”

  “Wha...? Married! Are you crazy?” she asked, removing his hands from her shoulders.

  He shook his head. “No, you’re the woman I want to marry.”

  * * *

  Carly stared at Lee, convinced he had lost his mind. Was it the wine? Jet lag? Whatever it was, it had messed with his brain pretty bad. They’d met only a couple of weeks ago and he was contemplating marrying her?

  “I can explain.”

  She doubted that he could.

  “I know what you’re thinking.”

  She doubted that he did.

  “Will you please hear me out, Carly?”

  She knew she shouldn’t, but for the life of her she had to hear what he would say. “Okay, I’ll hear you out.”

  “Let’s sit in your living room,” he suggested.

  She sat on the sofa and he slid onto the chair across from her. “I know this all sounds crazy, but you have to know my great-grandmother,” he said.

  She lifted a brow. “Your great-grandmother?”

  “Yes, the same one who gave me those cooking lessons. Felicia Laverne Madaris, who we call Mama Laverne, the matriarch of our family. She’s ninetysomething, the oldest living Madaris. She claims she stopped aging when she turned eighty.”

  “Oh.” Carly tried not to smile. Her aunt had said the same thing when she’d turned sixty. “She sounds feisty.”

  “Trust me, she is...among other things. She also likes playing matchmaker and has quite a record of success. Of her seven sons, she picked the wives for five of them, including my own grandmother. And for Uncle Jonathan, son number six, she didn’t pick out Aunt Marilyn, but she was instrumental in helping them patch up a rift that would have kept them from getting together. She likes taking credit for that one as well.”

  Carly nodded. “And son number seven?”

  Lee leaned back against the sofa looking rather pleased. “Jake’s her baby boy and he pulled a fast one on her. Twice. Mama Laverne didn’t know about Jessie until Jake brought her home to the ranch. His marriage to Jessie was short and ended in divorce.

  “Years later, he married Diamond Swain. They kept it a secret, to keep the media out of their business. Everyone in the family, including Mama Laverne, was shocked speechless when they found out. No one was even aware that Jake and Diamond knew each other—especially since Jake spent most of his time on the ranch and Diamond lived in Hollywood.

  “And some of Jake’s nephews, me included, had fantasy crushes on Diamond at the time. My cousins Slade and Nolan had posters of her plastered on their bedroom walls.” Lee chuckled. “You wouldn’t believe how fast they took them down upon discovering Diamond was now their aunt.”

  Carly recalled reading about Diamond Swain’s secret marriage to the wealthy rancher years ago in the tabloids. “Okay, so what does all of that have to do with me?”

  “I’m getting to that.” He paused. “Of Mama Laverne’s eleven grandchildren, she’s played matchmaker to only six of them—which includes my parents. I figure her success rate was down during that time because she was doing a lot of missionary work with her church, both in and out of the country. But now she’s not as active as she used to be, and she has plenty of free time to get into her great-grandchildren’s business.”

  “In other words, she’s back to playing matchmaker,” Carly concluded.

  “Right. And so far she’s responsible for each and every marriage of her great-grandsons, except for Slade...only because, like I said, she was out of the country doing missionary work at the time. But when she got back, my cousins Luke, Blade and Reese were caught in her schemes. Now she’s warned me that I’m next. And according to my cousin Nolan, she’s in Texas hatching a scheme with some friend of hers, to introduce me to the woman’s granddaughter when I come home for Christmas.”

  Carly shrugged. “You’re single. What’s wrong with you meeting the woman’s granddaughter?”

  “Plenty. I refuse to become a victim to Mama Laverne’s matchmaking.”

  Carly shook her head. “Surely you don’t have to. All y
ou have to do is meet the young woman and then tell your great-grandmother that the two of you didn’t hit it off. That should be simple enough.”

  He smiled. “You don’t know my grandmother. If it’s a woman she picked out then she feels there’s no reason we wouldn’t hit it off. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s already planned the wedding. She would see no reason why we couldn’t marry within days after meeting, just in time for Christmas.”

  Carly couldn’t help but chuckle. “A Madaris bride for Christmas?”

  “Yes, if Mama Laverne has her way.”

  If what Lee was telling her was true, then his great-grandmother was definitely a character, just as Carly had thought before. “Again, I ask, what does any of this have to do with me?”

  He shifted in his seat to fully face her. She wished he didn’t have the ability to fill her living room with so much masculinity. His body radiated power.

  “I plan to outsmart the old gal just like Uncle Jake did,” he said, interrupting her thoughts. “Beat her at her own game by marrying the woman I want and not the woman she picks out for me. And the woman I want is you.”

  Carly shook her head. “Lee, think about what you’re saying. You want to marry me, a woman you barely know. Isn’t that carrying things a little too far just to pull one over on your great-grandmother?”

  “It’s more than just pulling one over on her, Carly, although I admit doing so will give me immense satisfaction,” he said. “But Mama Laverne is right. It’s time for me to settle down, take a wife and start a family. I’m still young but I’m accumulating wealth that I want to pass on to my sons or daughters. I’m looking at marriage as an important merger. I need a wife for business reasons and...personal ones as well,” he said, smiling.

  Carly didn’t have to be told what those personal reasons were. “Is this to be a temporary situation?” she asked, not that she was considering his proposal. She was just interested in how his mind worked.

  “No. I am looking for an intimate business partner for life. That’s why I need someone I’m compatible with. By all accounts, the marriage will be a normal one—the only difference is that instead of love as a foundation, there will be passion, a lot of passion.”