by Unknown
Savannah fell asleep in the chair and awoke to knocking and someone calling her name.
Six
S avannah shouted, “Wait a minute!”
Running to get her robe, she recognized Mike’s voice as he called, “Savannah, are you all right?”
She opened the door a crack to peer up at him. He looked handsome and clean-shaven, his hair slightly damp from a shower. He was dressed in jeans and a short-sleeve navy knit shirt.
“Can I come in? I thought something had happened to you. I was about to pick the lock.” Mike pushed slightly, and she stepped back. Standing there in her clingy silk pajamas, she looked sleepy and disheveled. Gone was the cool, collected attorney. Her blond hair was tousled, spilling around her face.
She turned away, but he caught her arm.
“Savannah,” he said in a voice that had grown husky, “I woke you, didn’t I?”
His dark gaze was riveting as he drew her to him. She slipped out of his grasp and stepped back. “You wait right here while I get dressed,” she said breathlessly, warming when his gaze roamed over her, stirring her raw nerves as much as if he had trailed his fingers over her instead.
She rushed from the room and closed the bedroom door, looking at herself in the mirror across the room. The pajama shirt wasn’t even buttoned as high as it should have been. Her hair was a tangle and a minute ago she had been all but drooling over him. Swiftly, she showered and dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt, combing her hair and jamming her feet into loafers.
“I’m sorry you had to wait. I overslept,” she said when she joined him. He looked amused.
Over breakfast she knew he was pouring on the charm. He told her stories from his childhood, stories about his brothers. Then it was time to go to the airport and return home.
The minute they reached Stallion Pass and her parents’ house, they were kept busy. They stayed to eat sandwiches and then loaded the car with Jessie’s things. Mike fastened Jessie’s carrier into the back seat of the new car he had bought when he moved to Texas.
When they entered the house, Savannah brought Jessie in her carrier while Mike brought suitcases. At the head of the stairs, she turned to him. “Well, take your pick of bedrooms. The only one taken is Jessie’s, and I don’t think you’d want all that pink.”
“You take the master bedroom. I don’t need or want that much room,” Mike told her.
“And it’ll be easier when you move out later,” she added and got a nod from him that annoyed her. His smug certainty that he would be able to walk away without any emotional ties to the baby—or to her—was a constant source of irritation, although Savannah knew she shouldn’t let it be. He had always been clear about his intentions. She headed toward the large master bedroom. It had an adjoining bath as big as her condo’s living room.
“No wonder they kidnapped him and held him for ransom,” Mike breathed, looking at the luxurious bedroom.
“His captors didn’t know or care about his house.”
“You’re right. They knew he was the CEO of an American oil company. That was enough.” Mike set down her suitcases. “I’ll unpack the car and you take care of the baby.”
She nodded and wondered which bedroom he was taking. She’d expected him to get an apartment in San Antonio, which he said he would do sometime in the future, but for now he intended to stay here. Probably with intentions of seducing her, she thought, remembering the previous night.
As she was bringing a bottle back upstairs to Jessie, she saw Mike carrying a box and suitcase into the bedroom next to hers and directly across the hall from Jessie.
She held the baby on her shoulder while she went to the door to watch Mike open his suitcase, which sat on the four-poster bed. “This is where you’re staying?” she asked. The room suited him, she thought, with its bare hardwood floor, navy bedspread and heavy mahogany furniture.
“Yes. Does it meet with your approval?”
“Of course. I’m surprised that you’re staying in this end of the house. I thought you’d want to be as far away from me as possible.”
He put down folded shirts and crossed to her, making her pulse jump. He stood only inches away, his hand against the doorjamb. “The last thing I want to do is be far away from you,” he said in a honeyed, seductive voice. He ran a finger down her cheek. “I want you close. In my arms close, and if you weren’t holding a baby, I’d show you just how much I want you.”
“I am holding her, and she’s hungry,” Savannah whispered.
“I’ll show you later,” he said quietly. She sighed, turned and went to Jessie’s nursery to feed her.
The evening rushed by as Savannah took care of Jessie, while Mike moved all their things into the house. The new house staff would arrive the next day, but for tonight, she and Mike were alone with the baby.
Savannah changed into a T-shirt and cutoffs, then went downstairs. Mike was working to put together a baby swing.
He was leaning over the frame, muscles flexing as he worked, and for a moment, Savannah stood and watched him, enjoying the memory of how it had felt to be pressed against his lean, hard body. Shaking her head as if to clear it, she crossed the room.
“I can’t stop looking at her because she’s such a miracle in my life,” Savannah said, carrying Jessie over to Mike. “Hold her while I get a bottle.”
She put Jessie in his arms as he sat back cross-legged on the floor. Before Savannah reached the door, Jessie began to cry.
“Come back here, Savannah,” Mike said. “She’s unhappy.”
“Put her on your shoulder.”
“You come get her,” he said, standing and crossing the room to hand the baby back to her.
Savannah took Jessie, talking softly to the baby as she carried her to the kitchen, where she had a baby seat for Jessie. She put Jessie in the seat and mixed formula, then filled bottles and put them into the refrigerator while she talked to the baby.
“You’re going to have to let…” She wasn’t sure what to call Mike, realizing that he might be Jessie’s legal guardian, but that was all. Savannah shrugged. By the time Jessie could talk much, Mike would be gone.
“You have to let Colonel Remington hold you, sweetie. He’s going to be with us for a while.” She turned to get a spoon and saw Mike standing in the doorway watching her. He leaned against the jamb, one hand splayed on his hip and his eyebrow cocked.
“‘Daddy’ might be too much when she starts talking, but Colonel Remington? Isn’t that a little formal for the man who’s her guardian and soon will adopt her?”
“Maybe, but Daddy doesn’t fit,” she said, annoyed with him again and his lack of interest in Jessie. “I don’t know why I expected you to fall in love with her, but I did. I thought once you were around her, you wouldn’t be able to resist.”
“It isn’t the baby I can’t resist,” he said quietly.
She shot him a glance, responding to his words, yet still annoyed. “She’s a beautiful little girl, aren’t you, sweetie?” Savannah asked, leaning over Jessie, who was bouncing in the baby seat. Savannah smacked her lips and held up a towel to play peek-a-boo with Jessie. In seconds, the little girl was laughing every time Savannah popped out from behind the towel.
Mike watched Savannah. She was going to be a good mother, and she already loved Jessie as if she were her own daughter. As the lady lawyer leaned closer to Jessie, Mike’s gaze drifted over her.
The cutoffs were short, tight across Savannah’s trim backside, cut high to reveal long, smooth legs. She had caught her hair up on her head in a butterfly clip, and strands of it fell around her face. Desire ignited, and he longed to cross the room and take her into his arms, but he knew he couldn’t. She was giving her total attention to Jessie, and he knew he’d annoyed her when he’d handed the baby back to her.
Unable to stay away from Savannah, he crossed the room. “If you’ll tell me what to do, I’ll finish fixing the bottles. You can play with her while I do this.”
“Follow the directio
ns on the can of formula mix,” she said abruptly.
While Mike turned to do what she instructed, he heard her talking to Jessie as she picked her up in her little chair and carried her out of the room.
When he had agreed to this marriage, he had planned to get an apartment in San Antonio and rarely show up at the Stallion Pass house. He hadn’t planned to commute between his new office and the Frates mansion. But he found he wanted to be with Savannah, so he’d put off looking for an apartment, telling himself he would do that in a week or two. Yet she had been busy every minute tonight with Jessie, so he might as well have stayed in town for all the chance he got to be alone with her. True, eventually Jessie would be put to bed, but Mike had a feeling Savannah was annoyed with him and it would take him the rest of the night to mend fences with her.
He couldn’t stop thinking about last night, how Savannah had looked and felt in his arms. He wanted to hold and kiss her all night, and it was worth putting off an apartment and hanging around the mansion to get to be with her, even though she was busy with the baby.
It was another hour before Savannah rocked Jessie to sleep and carried her to bed. Mike trailed after her, watching her put the baby in her crib as she whispered to her and brushed a kiss across her cheek. She continued to gaze at the sleeping child.
“Are you going to watch her all night?” he asked quietly in the shadows of the darkened room.
“Maybe,” she said, glancing at him as if she hadn’t realized he was in the room with her. “She’s a miracle in my life. She’s so beautiful.”
“Why do I think you would react that way even if they had given you the plainest baby in the world?”
Savannah walked out of the room, and he turned to fall into step beside her. “I can’t believe that I’m going to get to adopt her and raise her. I promise I will never let her forget her real parents.”
“Blood parents,” he corrected. “You’re going to be the real parent.”
“You really aren’t interested, are you.”
“I don’t think I was meant for babies and fatherhood and all that. I told you, a baby doesn’t fit into my life. And I can’t turn on feelings for her by holding her or watching her.”
“I don’t know how you can resist her.” Savannah sighed. “Thanks for carrying all my boxes in. I need to start unpacking now.”
He stopped her. “Let’s go sit and have a glass of soda before you do. You’re taking tomorrow off work, anyway, to get moved in.”
Together they went to the upstairs family room, which ran across the front of the mansion. Its polished wood floor shone, the boards creaking slightly as they crossed the room to an oversize brown-leather sofa. Savannah sat in a corner and folded her legs beneath her, and Mike sat close enough to rest his arm across the back of the sofa and tangle his fingers in her hair.
“Are you going apartment shopping tomorrow?” she asked.
“I’ll give this a try for a while. It’s more interesting here.”
She arched her brows. “I know it’s not Jessie or the house or the town that’s drawing you.”
“You know damn well why I’m staying,” he said, letting his fingers trail to her nape.
“We’re not going to have any seduction scene, so if that’s why you’re hanging around, you may as well move on,” she said. But her voice had changed, and he knew from touching her that he was affecting her.
“We’d have a lot more pleasure this year.”
“We might. But I’ve been abandoned twice in my life. I don’t want it to happen a third time,” she said lightly, but she knew that was her deepest fear.
“Haven’t you ever had a serious relationship with a man?” he asked.
“I thought I was in love in college.”
“And when it ended?” Before she could answer, he tilted his head to study her. “You’re the one who walked, weren’t you.”
“Yes, when I realized we weren’t well suited.”
“I don’t think there’s any danger of us falling in love, then,” he said, moving closer and brushing her ear with a kiss.
Savannah pushed against his chest. “I agree with you there. We have a chemistry when we’re together—why that is, I can’t imagine—but there’s no danger of falling in love.”
“So why not enjoy each other?”
She gave him an exasperated look. “I’ve told you—and I know you understand it. Remember, I don’t want an emotional entanglement even if we don’t fall deeply in love. And if there is physical intimacy, then I will have an emotional entanglement. I can’t leave my feelings at the door.” Savannah’s words slowed as she talked. She meant every word she said, but she was far too conscious of his fingers caressing her nape, of his eyes gazing at her hungrily and his lips taunting her as he brushed her ear with kisses. He’d set his drink on the coffee table and now he put hers there.
She knew she should stop him, but the torment was delicious, impossible to resist as he leaned close to trail kisses along her throat. His thick black hair was as irresistible as the rest of him, and she wound her fingers into it, letting short strands slide through her fingers. She closed her eyes, and then his mouth covered hers and his arm slipped around her waist to draw her closer.
Dimly, over her roaring blood, Savannah thought she heard a baby crying. She pushed against Mike and when he raised his head, she listened. “It’s Jessie,” Savannah said, standing and rushing from the room, wondering how long she could live under the same roof with Mike before she succumbed to his persuasive touch and ended up in his bed. He had made it clear those were his intentions. No pretense there. They had only been married a day, and she was having trouble keeping up her resistance.
She picked up Jessie, who was indeed crying, and held her close. Jessie stopped crying and snuggled in Savannah’s arms.
“What’s the matter?” Mike asked from the doorway.
“I think all she wants is to be held,” Savannah said, crossing the room to him. “After all, she’s spent almost four days at my parents’ home, where someone held her all the time. I’ll rock her back to sleep.”
He nodded and left, while Savannah sat in the rocker and sang softly to Jessie as she went back to sleep.
Helga Aldrin, the middle-aged woman who had cooked for the Frateses, returned to cook for Savannah and Mike. The rest of the staff returned, as well—Francois Vernon to take care of the yard, Millie Hasso to clean. The new addition was Constance McGrath, the nineteen-year-old nanny who replaced Jessie’s former nanny, who had just recently married and moved away. Taking night classes at Trinity in San Antonio, Constance would stay every day, coming at seven o’clock in the morning and leaving at six o’clock in the evening.
From the first day he opened, Mike was surprised at the business that his new security company received. Then he realized that the Clays had a lot of influence in the area. Consequently, he wasn’t going to have to struggle to get clients.
Which he told Savannah when they were alone late Wednesday night. They played pool in the third-floor games room, with two wins for Mike and one for Savannah. Savannah had changed to cutoffs and a T-shirt, and had pinned her hair on her head.
“You’re good, Counselor,” he said when she won a second game.
She smiled at him. “I’ve had lots of practice. My brothers like this.”
“And you’re very competitive. No allowing me to win here.”
“You’re too good for someone to have to throw a game. And you’re right. If you were playing for the first time, I’d still try to beat you. Since it’s you, I enjoy winning. Besides, it helps me forget work.” She met his gaze across the table.
“Big case?”
“Yes,” she said, wanting to put work out of mind. “Let’s play one more, then one of us will have the best three out of five.”
“Sure thing.”
Savannah watched Mike as he moved around the table. His white T-shirt molded to his muscular body. His jeans were tight, low on his narrow hips, and desire co
iled inside her. She watched him sink three balls into pockets, then he straightened to look at her.
“How busy are you with your new business?” she asked.
“Thanks to you, I’ve got several jobs. I may have to hire some people to help me.”
“Why ‘thanks to me’?”
“People around here and San Antonio like you and your family, and now I’m part of the family. As a matter of fact…” He paused to sink a ball into a pocket. He then walked around the table to take another shot. “I was hired today for something I never thought I’d do. Someone stole your friend Wyatt Sawyer’s white stallion. He wants the horse back.”
“Why would they steal that horse? The bloodlines can’t be good,” Savannah said, mystified. “Originally, Gabe Brant caught the stallion and couldn’t gentle him, so he gave the horse to Josh, who gave the stallion to Wyatt.”
“Well, someone stole that horse and two others of Wyatt’s, and he’s not happy. I think it’s the principle of the thing. He’s hired me to catch the horse thief. Shades of the Old West.”
“Livestock and equipment still get stolen in this age. I’m surprised you took the job. A horse thief may be hard to find. People usually write off the loss. Especially when it isn’t a high-dollar animal.”
“I think Wyatt is burned that someone did this to him. He doesn’t want the thief to get away with it. Wyatt could buy another horse for what it will probably cost him to catch the thief, but that isn’t what’s worrying him.”
“Well, if anyone can do it, I’m sure you can.”
Mike had circled the table, and now she stood only a couple of feet away. He turned to her, taking her chin in his hand and tilting her face up. “I didn’t know you had that much faith in me.”
“Of course I do,” she said, looking up into smoldering brown eyes that caused her to think only halfway about what she was saying. “I married you, didn’t I? I wanted you to take charge of Jessie. I read your background. It’s impressive.”
He placed his cue stick on the table and took hers from her, and Savannah’s pulse raced. Every night they kissed, and each time increased her hunger for him.