If this was how seventeen-year-old boys felt when they were with a girl, she now had a whole lot more sympathy for them.

Before she could decide on a course of action, or what to say, Rafe turned her in his arms and kissed her hard.

“That was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen,” he muttered, his voice thick and hoarse.

He grabbed her shirt and bra, pushed both at her, then took her hand in his and half pulled, half guided her to the stairs.

She clutched the clothing to her bare br**sts and followed him up to his bedroom. In less time than she would have thought possible, he’d taken off his boots and socks and ripped off his shirt. He spent a couple of seconds fumbling in his shaving kit, then dumped the contents onto the dresser and dug through until he pulled out a package of condoms. He threw the latter on the nightstand, then returned to her.

After tossing her shirt and bra on a chair, he cupped her face and kissed her.

Later she would explore why her first instinct had been to go to the bad place. She would remind herself that her body was beautiful, and physical pleasure was to be appreciated. But for now, it was enough to touch Rafe’s bare skin, to feel how much he wanted her.

She traced his back and chest, her fingers brushing against his hard muscles. She undid his jeans and pushed them down, along with his briefs. After he stepped out of his clothes, she stroked his erection, learning the length and breadth of him. She pressed her mouth to his chest, and rubbed her thumb against the very tip of his arousal, enjoying the sharp intake of air.

He helped her out of her jeans and panties, then led her to the bed. When she stretched out on the sheets, he joined her. He knelt between her thighs and bent down to give her an open-mouthed kiss.

She would have thought she was done, but he quickly brought her back to trembling. As his tongue stroked and circled, he pushed one finger, then two, inside her. He imitated the act of love, moving rhythmically against her swollen flesh.

She dug her heels into the bed and pushed against him. He closed his lips around her clitoris and gently sucked. At the same time, he pushed his fingers in and up, stroking her from the inside. Again and again, until he had control of her body, until he decided the exact moment she would cl**ax.

He moved more quickly, still rubbing, still sucking, then faster still, until every muscle tensed in that last second, before her release rushed through her and she surrendered to the moment.

The last of the rapturous ripples faded. He straightened enough to grab the condom and rip open the package. When the protection was in place, he braced himself and thrust into her.

She met his thrust with one of her own, causing him to fill her completely. He went in deep and hard, the friction sending shivers through her. She wrapped her legs around his h*ps as he began the steady pumping.

She opened her eyes and found him watching her. His dark eyes flashed with passion, and she could see him getting closer. Sex was intimate, but this was more so. She could experience his pleasure with him, and found herself getting breathless as he got closer.

She drew him in deeper, and at the moment when he stilled and shuddered, she tightened her muscles around him. He came in a rush, grasping her h*ps with his hands, his gaze never leaving hers.

* * *

IT WAS DARK WHEN HEIDI WOKE. In the few seconds it took for her to find the clock, she realized she wasn’t in her bedroom and that there was a man sleeping beside her. As the time changed to three-seventeen, the memories of the previous evening surfaced. She smiled, enjoying the warmth of Rafe next to her.

Once they’d found their way to his bed, they hadn’t left. Sometime close to eleven, Glen and May had returned, but hadn’t ventured upstairs. Fortunately, the downstairs bedrooms were on the other side of the house, so no one heard when she and Rafe made love for the second time.

Heidi carefully got out of bed. There was enough moonlight spilling through the window for her to see her clothes in a pile on the floor. Although she would very much like to stay where she was, she didn’t want to risk getting caught there.

She picked up her panties and slid them on. Sore muscles protested, and she smiled again. It had been a while, but Rafe had been worth the wait. The man was a god in bed. Actually, he’d turned out to be a pretty nice guy everywhere else, too.

She dressed quickly, then picked up her boots and tiptoed to the door. Being as quiet as possible, she turned the knob. As she stepped back to let the door swing open, her hip bumped the dresser, and the contents of his shaving kit rattled. She put up her hand to stop anything from falling and waking him. In the process, she jostled a stack of papers, and several of them floated to the floor.

She bent down to pick them up, only to pause. The first sheet was a crude rendering of a development. Small houses lined narrow streets. As Rafe’s business included development, she wouldn’t have thought anything of the sketch, if not for what was written on top.

Castle Ranch.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“YOU’RE SURE?” CHARLIE ASKED, then held up a hand. “I’m not taking his side. I’m just saying, you need to be certain before we move forward with any plan.”

Heidi sat at a table in Jo’s Bar. She’d asked her friends to join her for lunch. She needed help coming up with some way to defeat Rafe.

“I’m sure.” Heidi held on to her anger. It was the only thing that kept her from giving in to tears. “I looked through all the papers he had. He has a survey of the ranch, and pretty much every acre is accounted for. I don’t know how he managed that without us seeing—except there are always workmen coming and going. He generously left his mother the main house and the land around it for her animals. But that’s it. Everywhere else are his ticky-tacky houses.”

She clutched her glass of iced tea. “I was so stupid. He used me. All this time, I thought he was being nice. He actually gave me the names of three people to help me sell my cheese and soap in Asia. I thought it was because we were becoming friends. It wasn’t. He feels guilty. Or worse, what if he was just trying to distract me? We’re not friends. I’m in the way of his cheap-house empire. He’s planning on taking all of it. He’s going to turn that beautiful land into a development, and there’s nothing I can do to stop him.”

Despite being furious, she felt the first whisper of tears.

“I can’t let him win. Where will Glen and I go? I have the goats—they need land. And the caves are perfect for aging my cheese. Plus, this is h-home.” Her voice cracked and she grabbed a napkin. “I don’t want to have to leave Fool’s Gold.”

She felt Charlie and Annabelle squeezing her arm.

“You’re not going to leave,” Annabelle promised. “We’ll figure something out. I just can’t believe he’s doing this in secret.”

“He expects to win,” Charlie said flatly. “Why not? With his money and influence, he doesn’t live like the rest of us. I’m sure he figures the judge will be dazzled by his plans.”

“She doesn’t have to be,” Heidi said, wiping away tears. “Even if I get sales reps interested in my cheese, it’s going to be a while until money’s coming in. I don’t have weeks, let alone months. Assuming we have until midsummer before we’re called back before the judge, I’ll be lucky to have saved ten thousand dollars. That’s only ten percent of what Glen took from May. Plus, May is completely settling into the ranch. She’s had Rafe fix the fence line, and now they’re expanding the barn. She’s bought animals.”

More tears fell. “I can’t pay her back for that.”

“You’re not going to be responsible for the repairs,” Annabelle told her. “The judge never made that a condition.”

“I know, but I’m worried the judge will think May is losing even more.”

“Do you think May knows about Rafe’s plan?” Charlie asked. “Is she in on it?”

Heidi had asked herself the same question. Slowly, she shook her head. “I can’t believe that. She’s genuinely sweet. She could have been angry at what Glen did. She could have insisted he go to jail, but she didn’t. Plus, she loves the ranch and isn’t that into business. This has to be Rafe.”

There was so much more she couldn’t bring herself to say. That she’d begun to fall for him. That she’d trusted him. That last night she’d made love with him, giving herself to him in every way possible. Talk about being a fool.

“He’s trying to distract me from his real plan,” she murmured, hoping the pain in her chest was more about wounded pride than a broken heart. “That’s why he’s being so helpful. It all started…” She swallowed as the truth fell into place. “It’s the casino. That’s who the houses are for. The people who will work there. I’m the one who took him there. Athena got out, and he came with me to collect the goats. He saw it then.”

“We can fix this,” Annabelle told her.

“Any idea how?” Charlie asked. “I don’t mean to be difficult, but wanting something doesn’t make it so.”

“There has to be a roadblock.” Annabelle leaned both elbows on the table and rested her head in her hands. “What gets in the way of construction?”

“Rules, regulations. Zoning.” Charlie brightened. “We could talk to the mayor. She has to like you more than she likes Rafe. She’d be on our side.”

“I don’t know the mayor that well,” Heidi told them. “Besides, why would she be against him building all those houses? Doesn’t she want Fool’s Gold to grow?”

“Sure, but not this way,” Annabelle said.

“Why not? Won’t those workers need somewhere to live? The ranch is perfect.” Heidi blinked back more tears. “That’s the problem. Who cares about a few goats and my dreams when compared with all those people?”

“Don’t give up,” Charlie said. “We’ll find something. If we can’t use the law to help us, what about the media? Aren’t there groups that hate what Rafe does? Maybe if we contacted one of them.”

“Unfortunately, he has a good reputation in the industry,” Annabelle said glumly. “He builds to code, pays a fair wage, takes care of the land while doing it. Blah. Blah. Blah.”

“Just our luck. He’s only a bastard personally.” Charlie sank back in her chair. “This sucks.”

Hopelessness joined Heidi’s sense of betrayal. She should have known Rafe was too good to be true. He was—

“I’ve got it!” Annabelle slapped both hands on the table. “I know what to do.”

Heidi stared at her. “What?”

Annabelle grinned, her green eyes dancing with excitement. “Remember last fall at the casino construction site? They blew away part of the mountain and exposed all that Máa-zib gold? The press came, and they had to stop construction on that part of the site. The museum people investigated.”

“I doubt there’s any Máa-zib gold on the ranch,” Heidi told her. “There’s no mountain.”

“But there are caves.”

Heidi was doubtful. “People have been going in them for decades. They would have found whatever is there.”

“Maybe, maybe not. And maybe there’s more than gold to be found.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Heidi told her.

Annabelle leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Cave paintings. What if there were cave paintings? Priceless, ancient cave paintings?”

Jo brought their burgers. “Anything else?” she asked.

“We’re good,” Charlie told her, then waited until she’d left to speak. “Rafe is still in the planning stages. Finding cave paintings or gold can’t shut down what hasn’t been started.”

“Agreed.” Annabelle picked up a French fry. “But it can buy Heidi time.” The librarian turned to her. “You said you had contacts, so you’re going to start selling your cheese and soap in Asia. If you had an extra three or four months to get that business under way, wouldn’t that help? Could you get more money to pay back May?”

“Maybe,” Heidi said slowly, not confident doing the math in her head. “It might be enough to show the judge I’m serious. I’m not sure how much I’m going to sell, but if I do half as well as I hope, then, yes.”

“The discovery buys time.” Charlie nodded. “I get it. With experts swarming around the ranch, the judge won’t want to rule.” She grinned. “This could work.”

Heidi drew in a breath. “This all sounds really great, but I don’t know if I can do this. It’s lying. Worse. It’s fraud. What happens if the judge finds out? First Glen took two hundred and fifty thousand dollars from May, and now I’m doing this? She’s going to think I come from a family of thieves.”

“All you need is enough time to get the money to pay back May,” Annabelle reminded her. “You’re not taking anything from anyone. You’re keeping what’s yours. Besides, if this brings a few more tourists to the town, all the better.”

Heidi wasn’t sure. The idea didn’t sit right with her, but she wasn’t sure she had an alternative plan. For all she knew, the judge would be so pleased at the thought of Rafe’s construction, she would simply hand the land over. After all, from the town’s point of view, there would be more revenue from his houses than her goats.

“I don’t want to lose my home,” she whispered, her whole body aching. “I can’t. This ranch is what I’ve wanted my whole life.”