The Bride Said, I Did?

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  “Meaning what?” Beau regarded her with growing impatience, irked by her refusal to let him go all out to defend her. He looked as if he wanted to either shake her or kiss her senseless, she couldn’t tell which. “You’re actually encouraging the kid?” he asked, incredulous.

  He didn’t have to say it. Dani knew what he was thinking. He was comparing her to his traitorous ex-wife, Sharon Davis. “Of course not,” Dani replied, echoing his harsh pragmatic tone. He was furious with her for not seeing that kiss of Billy’s coming, but that didn’t mean he had a right to pass judgment on her. Especially since she would have handled that situation just fine on her own if Beau hadn’t come along and gone all caveman on her.

  She stormed back into the library, figuring if nothing else she could get back to work. Beau, however, had other plans, as he backed her up against the edge of her desk. “I didn’t see you hauling off and slapping his face.”

  Dani didn’t know exactly what it was, but there was something dangerous about him now, something overly watchful and faintly predatory in his manner.

  Giving him an innocent smile that belied the sudden wobbliness of her knees and the racing of her pulse, she looked at him equably and remarked calmly, “That’s because you didn’t give me a chance.” Dani tried to back up farther and ended up sitting on the desk.

  “You’re saying you would have?” Beau planted his hands on either side of her and leaned over her, so she was pinned between his body and the smooth uncluttered surface of the desk.

  Dani paused, torn between her desire to make him suffer for thinking her capable of who only knew what with Billy and her even stronger desire to see that he was never hurt again the way his ex-wife had hurt him. She only knew that, used to total freedom her whole adult life, she resented having her actions and her integrity questioned now—a lot. Especially by him. “I…no,” Dani said honestly. “I wouldn’t have. I would have told him it was inappropriate.” So there were similarities in what was happening here and what had happened with Sharon Davis. So Billy was gaga over Dani and her celebrity and her career in the same way those young guys had been gaga over Sharon—but it didn’t mean she would go to bed with him the way Sharon had gone to bed with her youthful admirers! And darn it all, Dani thought, her resentment building, Beau should know that!

  Beau glared at her, desire and a wealth of feeling glimmering in his eyes. His glance slid over the inviting curves of her breasts, her flat abdomen and slim sexy legs before returning to her tousled hair, soft lips and wide amber eyes. “I’m sure he would’ve gotten that,” he said sarcastically. Disgusted by what he apparently saw as her naiveté regarding Billy, Beau refrained from touching her and turned away.

  Knowing this was one conflict they needed to resolve, pronto, before his suspicions and her pride tore them apart, Dani pushed herself off the desk and followed him, not stopping until she was face-to-face with Beau again. Ignoring the combination of hurt and anger flashing in his eyes, she angled her chin up at him and demanded, “What exactly are you implying?”

  Beau braced his hands on his waist and towered over her. His eyes lasered into hers. “I’m not implying anything, Dani,” he said very very softly. “I’m telling you. As long as we’re married, the only man you are making love with is me.”

  Before Dani could do more than gasp, Beau caught her beneath the knees, swung her up into his arms and headed for the stairs. He looked as if he wanted her in his bed again, Dani realized with equal parts anticipation and anxiety. And that was a dangerous proposition. Beau was not just her temporary husband. He was the kind of man she could fall in love with. Part of her felt she had already fallen in love with him. Maybe would always be in love with him, at least a little bit.

  Doing her best to remain imperious as Beau carried her up the sweeping staircase to the second floor, Dani linked one arm about his neck and used her other hand to push at his chest. “Just what do you think you’re doing, Beauregard Chamberlain?” she demanded.

  Beau’s blue eyes twinkled at the use of his full name. “What do you think I’m doing?” he murmured sexily, his gaze ardently roving her flushed upturned face.

  Getting ready to make me yours all over again, Dani thought as shimmers of desire swept through her. The only problem was, she wasn’t sure she was ready for that. “You cannot just carry me up to the bedroom like…like some conquering hero in a movie!” Dani sputtered, feeling both excited and incensed.

  “Really?” Beau paused on the landing. He looked down at her. His grip tightened possessively as he shifted her closer to his chest. “How come?”

  Trying hard not to notice how warm and strong and solid he felt, Dani shot right back, “Because you and I are not John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, or Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh!” Even if it temporarily felt as though they were right up there with the hottest most combustible couples ever to grace a movie screen.

  “We’re ordinary people.” Ordinary people did not do exciting things like this. At least not in Dani’s experience.

  “You’re right about that, all right,” Beau acknowledged with a mock gallantry that kindled her senses. He grinned confidently, then continued on up the stairs, looking all the more pleased. He strode into Dani’s bedroom and set her down with unexpected gentleness onto the rumpled covers of her bed. Pausing only long enough to kick off his boots, he stretched out beside her and draped her body with his own. “We’re not actors playing a part.”

  Dani flushed hotly as his lips tugged on the lobe of her ear, sending another frisson of sensation soaring through her veins. Suddenly his hands were framing her face and he was lifting her head to his. “We’re a man and a woman. A husband and wife. A couple who is expecting a baby in a little over eight months.” Giving her no chance to argue, he lowered his mouth to hers.

  Dani tasted the masculine force that was Beau, felt his wildness in the plundering sweeping motions of his tongue. She didn’t want to give in to him, but his will was stronger than hers. With a low moan of surrender, Dani tilted her head to give him deeper access. His tongue twined with hers, and he delivered a kiss that scored her soul and left her limp with longing and faint with acquiescence and wondering at the magical power he seemed to hold over her heart. They weren’t supposed to be together—ever—given how acrimoniously they’d behaved toward each other. And yet Dani couldn’t remember ever feeling anything as right as being held in his arms and kissed like there was no tomorrow, no yesterday. Only today.

  “Besides…” Beau eventually lifted his head. He rolled onto his back, keeping his arms wrapped around her and taking her with him, so that she ended up draped over the length of him. “In the movies you talked about,” he continued, threading his hands through the copper-colored silk of her hair, “the screen always faded to black when they got to the good part. I assure you,” he said, dropping kisses along the curve of her cheek, down the nape of her neck, into the open V of her blouse, “I am not going to let that happen here.”

  “Beau…” Dani moaned, already feeling herself begin to surrender to him, and all he’d done was carry her to bed and kiss her.

  “Not that the fault here is all yours,” Beau said between sweet seductive kisses. He looked at her lovingly as he traced the bow shape of her lip with his fingertip. “It’s mine, too,” he whispered gently. “For not making it clear sooner to you and everyone else that you are my woman now. And no one else’s.”

  Another shiver of excitement went through her. And then he was on top of her again, his body covering hers. His weight was as welcoming as a warm blanket on a cold winter night. Then his mouth was on hers in a kiss that was shattering in its possessive sensuality. He kissed her as if he was in love with her and would be for all time. He kissed her like he meant to have her. Longing surged through her, overwhelming her heart and her mind. Coupled with his wanting, it was enough to drive her toward abandon. Dani made a low helpless sound in the back of her throat. “Beau—”

  “That’s it, sweetheart.” Beau unbutt
oned her blouse, dropping kisses across her skin, while Dani’s heart pounded every bit as erratically as his. “Say my name,” Beau whispered, and then he kissed her again, hotly and thoroughly. “Say it over and over again.” He dispensed with her blouse and her bra. And then his mouth was on her once again, moving from her throat to her breast, tempting, caressing, sending her into a frenzy of wanting. Dani arched against him, burying her hands in his hair, bringing his lips back to hers. She could feel the rigidness of his arousal as he settled himself more fully on top of her. Then need took over once again, making them both reckless and relentless. She wanted him. Needed him. Needed this. Her lips parted and she drew his tongue more intimately into her mouth, continuing to kiss and caress, touch and love, even as they struggled to free themselves of their clothes. Her skirt, panties and sandals were kicked off. His jeans, briefs, shorts and socks quickly followed. Her muscles trembled, tensed, as once again he settled between her thighs, his hips nudging them apart.

  Over and over, Beau kissed her, until desire streamed through her, until she was warm and safe, until she knew, as well as he, that this—loving each other again—was inevitable.

  Beau hadn’t meant for any of this to happen. He’d wanted to make love to Dani, but not until they had their memories back. Not before he was certain with every fiber of his being that she was his and his alone. But when she had started challenging him, refusing to acknowledge she needed him to watch over and protect her, everything had taken a different turn. The truth was he wanted Dani as he had never wanted any woman. More telling still was the fact that he needed her just as desperately.

  Knowing he hadn’t yet looked his fill, he studied the rounded fullness of her breasts, the pouting apricot nipples. Lower still, the flatness of her abdomen, the slenderness of her waist, the enticing curve of her hips, her long sleek thighs. She was as beautiful as his earlier brief flashes of memory had allowed. His whole body tightened as he caressed the curves of her breasts, her pearling nipples and the shadowy valley between.

  Surging against him as if she wished his loving would never stop, he slid ever downward, inhaling the sweet lilac scent of her and tasting the silky stretch of skin across her ribs. Dipping his tongue into her navel. Her whole body straining against him, she gave a little cry as he slid lower yet, ran his palms across her legs and gently parted her thighs. The swiftness of her pinnacle caught him by surprise, as did her wantonness and lack of restraint.

  She wanted him. She let him know it. With hands and lips, teeth and tongue. Until there was no more holding back for either of them. Until once again she was beneath him. Hands under her hips, he lifted her to him. Took her slowly, sweetly. Until her heart was beating in urgent rhythm to his. The softness of her body giving new heat to his, he took her to heights and depths. He showed her they didn’t need to do anything but feel. And he groaned as his body took up an urgent primitive rhythm all its own.

  Until then, he hadn’t known his own control could be so easily lost, but it was. Beau was aware of every soft warm inch of her, inside and out. Every sigh of surrender, every whimper of desire and pulsation of need. Lost in the sweet swirling pleasure, he went deeper yet. The bedroom grew hot and close. And yet mostly he was aware of Dani, and the wild yearning he felt rising from deep inside her. As she clung to him, his blood ran hot and quick. And then all was lost in the long slow climb and the shattering pleasure.

  IT WAS A WHILE before either of them came back to earth. They lay there quietly, trembling still, breathing hard, wrapped in each other’s arms. Beau had never known a moment of greater contentment. Although as the moments drew out, he could feel Dani begin to tense. Sensing she was feeling some remorse—for how quickly and unexpectedly they had ended up in bed again—he stroked a hand down her back. He knew Dani didn’t do things like this any more than he did. What she didn’t know was that it was okay. And not just because they were married, Beau thought, but because feelings that strong—feelings that came along maybe once in a lifetime, if you were lucky—deserved to be acted on.

  Yet, as the seconds ticked out and Dani went from warm and pliant and completely his to tense and edgy, he knew it was not going to be that simple for his new bride.

  He had known the inevitable shift in their relationship would be difficult for her. They had gone from sworn enemies to unwitting newlyweds and parents-to-be in a very short period. The fact that they had been at one time, several years ago, before their careers got in the way, fast friends was of little consequence, at least to her. What did seem to matter was that the idea of tumbling into bed—with anyone—was something Dani Lockhart just did not do. Considering that, maybe he should have expected this kind of conflicted reaction from her, Beau thought as Dani extricated herself from his embrace.

  He watched as she rolled away from him and, clutching the sheet to her breasts, sat up on the edge of the bed. Coppery hair all tousled, cheeks flushed, amber eyes glowing with feisty lights, she looked so beautiful he wanted nothing more than to make love to her all over again. “Well, now we know how we ended up in bed in Mexico,” Beau said softly, taking her hand in his, letting her know with a look and a touch they had nothing to be ashamed about. He tightened his fingers reassuringly over hers. “As soon as we start to let our guard down, one touch and it’s spontaneous combustion.”

  Dani stiffened all the more as she removed her hand from his. She regarded him with a haughty confidence that surprised him. “Precisely why something like this shouldn’t happen again,” Dani said. She rose, wrapping the top sheet around her toga-style, leaving Beau with just the comforter. “With everything we have at stake, we need to keep clear heads, not just recklessly give in to our desire whenever the mood strikes,” Dani said as she stalked around the room, picking up pieces of discarded clothing one by one. Carrying his shirt, jeans, briefs and socks over to the bed, she dropped them on his chest. “I don’t make love casually, Beau. I want it to mean something.”

  Beau frowned. As far as he was concerned, it had meant something. Furthermore, even if Dani was too proud to admit it, he knew what was really getting to her. The fact they’d made love when so much of their life—past, present, and future—was still unresolved. “What’s wrong with giving in to our desire?” he demanded, knowing if he’d had his way they’d be starting to make love again right now and work out the details of their life together later, when their emotions had settled. “We are married, you know.”

  Dani frowned as she gathered her own clothes. “For starters, recklessly giving in to our desire, with no thought to the future, is how we landed in this dilemma.”

  “Our having a baby together, you mean,” Beau supplied less than graciously as he, too, got to his feet.

  Dani nodded. “When we don’t even like each other,” she said, making what seemed to be a concerted effort not to let her eyes drop any lower than his shoulders.

  Realizing more lovemaking was not going to happen—not that afternoon, anyway—Beau stepped into his briefs. “You don’t make it easy on anyone, do you?” Beau said sarcastically, aware he was hard as a rock again and they hadn’t even kissed. All he had done was look at Dani in that ludicrously wrapped sheet masquerading as a toga.

  “Life is not a movie,” Dani said wearily. Her fingers shook as she pushed them through her hair, trying—without much success, Beau noted—to restore order to the silky copper strands.

  “So?”

  With effort Beau tried to tamp down his resentment.

  Dani’s eyes were dark and unrepentant. “So everything does not always wrap up neatly, Beau.”

  Beau lifted a dissenting brow and, still aching mightily, pulled on his jeans. “In our case, it could,” he said curtly, although inwardly he was already acknowledging that this new tension was as much his fault as hers. He shouldn’t have rushed her. But it was too late now. They couldn’t take it back, any more than they could take back her pregnancy or their marriage. All they could do was move on. With a bit more caution and foresight this time
.

  But Dani, it appeared, didn’t seem likely to even give them that.

  “We’ll work this out,” Beau said. “No matter how hard it is or how long it takes.” He personally was hoping not long.

  Dani looked at him in a way that let him know there was no possibility of further physical intimacy between them, at least as far as she was concerned. “You delude yourself if you want, Beau Chamberlain,” she said very softly. “As for me—” hurt flickered briefly in her eyes “—I don’t believe in fairy-tale endings or happily-ever-afters. And that is not going to change.”

  Knowing nothing could be gained by continuing to talk about what Dani clearly did not want to talk about, Beau watched her take her clothes and go across the hall. She stepped into the bathroom, shutting the door firmly behind her.

  So they hadn’t made love right away, as he wished. It would happen, he reassured himself firmly, as he continued to dress. He would make it happen. And when it did, Dani would realize there was no pretending the physical passion between them did not exist. It was there. It was real. It was a force too powerful to be denied.

  Alone, it might not be sufficient foundation for a marriage. But it was a start. And a damn good one.

  Chapter Seven

  “So, you’re not the only one moving in this week,” Jenna Lockhart said at seven-thirty the next morning when she stopped in to see Dani on her way to work.

  Dani looked past her sister at the monster moving van parked several houses down on the opposite side of the street. Five boys, ages six to seventeen, were scattered across the lawn. A handsome man was supervising the unloading. “Is that…?”