She patted him on the chest again. “I brought only one bag, honey. Be a dear and get it out of the car for me. Then you can show me to our bedroom.” She slipped a finger between the buttons on his shirt and caressed his chest. “And if you ask me nicely, we’ll give the mattress on your bed a real workout before lunch.”
She winked wickedly at him. He groaned and rolled his eyes in exasperation.
Okay, he’d humor her, Quinn decided. He’d show her around the house. He’d even fix lunch for her. But then she was leaving, even if he had to carry her to the airport himself and personally see her onto a plane headed back to Texas. No way was she going to move in with him.
A week later Victoria hummed merrily in Quinn’s big kitchen as she prepared breakfast for them. She had a hunch that today would be the day. After all, Quinn couldn’t take much more. From the very beginning, it had been only a matter of time until he surrendered. Oh, he had put up a good fight, one worthy of any true warrior, but in the end she would defeat him because this was one battle he really didn’t want to win.
He had tried every way under the sun to get rid of her, but she’d dug in her heels. She had crawled into bed with him every night, and the first four nights he’d gotten up and moved to another bedroom. But after she’d dared him to sleep beside her, he had shared a bed with her the past two nights, just to prove he could resist her. She had taken every opportunity to try to seduce him. And she’d come darn close more than once. God, the man had a will of iron!
But desperate times called for desperate measures. With each passing day, she upped the ante just a bit. Last night, she’d played her ace in the hole—she had slept totally nude. She was certain Quinn hadn’t slept a wink.
The poor guy had been walking around with an erection for a week and unless she missed her guess, he was just about ready to explode. And if she knew Quinn, he would propose to her before they made love again. Oh, she definitely had him hooked. All she had to do now was reel him in. After he professed his undying love and asked her to marry him, she’d tell him about their baby. But until then, it would be her little secret.
“Good morning, darling,” she said cheerfully when, still wearing his bathrobe, he stomped into the kitchen.
His bloodshot eyes glared at her. “You aren’t going anywhere, are you? No matter what I say or do, you won’t leave.”
“Of course I’m not ever going to leave you,” she said. “I love you.”
“You love me just the way I am, warts and all. White trash childhood, mercenary background, lots of other women before I met you. None of that matters to you, does it?”
“Nope.” She took a carton of eggs from the refrigerator. “The only thing that matters to me is that we love each other.”
“You honest to God want to spend the rest of your life being my wife, living on what we can earn, not taking anything from your father?”
“All I want in this whole world is you, our children, and to continue finding a way to help other people through my work.” One by one she removed six eggs, cracked them on the edge of a large bowl and then dropped yolk and white into a skillet. “Without you, I can never be truly happy.”
Quinn pulled her into his arms. She went willingly. “Why should a woman like you want to spend the rest of her life with a guy like me? Tell me, Victoria, how did I get so lucky?”
She draped her arms around his neck and, with a straight face, said, “Because you’re really, really good in the sack.”
Quinn’s jaw dropped. Then he chuckled. “If that’s the case, maybe I should show you just how right you are.”
He swept her up into his arms, carried her down the hall and into his bedroom. After dropping her in the center of the king-size bed, he removed his robe. Victoria gasped with delight when she saw he was completely naked. Hurriedly, she shucked off her robe. When he placed one knee on the mattress, she opened her arms to him.
He started to lunge, then stopped and said, “If you want a big wedding, with the white gown and all the fancy frills, that’s fine with me. Let your old man throw you one hell of a send-off. But after that, you’ll be my wife and my responsibility. Is that understood?”
She smiled shyly. “Was that by any chance a proposal of marriage?”
“Huh?” Realizing that he hadn’t actually proposed, Quinn laughed. “Victoria Fortune, I love you. Will you marry me?”
She crawled to the edge of the bed, her movements mimicking a sleek, feline predator as she moved in for the kill. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?” Quinn grabbed her, tossed her onto her back and came down over her. “Maybe?” He thrust deeply inside her, filling her completely.
She gasped with pleasure. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you!”
“I’d like to torment you the way you’ve been tormenting me this past week,” he said, thrusting, retreating and then thrusting again. “But I’m afraid any slow torture will have to wait for another time.”
They made love with a savage wildness born of their passion. Taking and giving. Tossing and turning. Exchanging the dominant position several times in their mating fury. And then just as Victoria felt herself spiraling into an earth-shattering release, Quinn groaned, then increased the pace to achieve fulfillment and give them simultaneous orgasms. The aftershocks trembled through their bodies as they lay with their arms and legs entangled and their lips exchanging kisses of happiness and gratitude.
Quinn sheltered Victoria in the curve of his big body, then reached down and pulled the top sheet up and over them. He leaned down and kissed her forehead.
“Quinn?”
“Huh?”
“I want us to get married as soon as possible.”
“I’m ready whenever you are, princess, but we could wait until after Lily’s trial, if you want to. That way, your family would have time to plan something really special.”
“I don’t want to wait.” She curled her fingers in his chest hair. “Besides, I’ve never had my heart set on a big, fancy wedding. I’d rather we had a small, family wedding. And soon. Maybe in that little country church not far from the Double Crown.”
“Whatever you want, honey, but why the rush? You don’t have to worry that I’ll change my mind.”
“No way you’re getting out of marrying me,” she told him. “And the sooner the better. I really want to become Mrs. Quinn McCoy before I start showing.”
“Before you start doing what?” Quinn shot straight up in bed and stared down at Victoria.
“I’d like for us to get married before it becomes obvious that I’m pregnant.”
“You’re pregnant?”
“Uh-huh. It probably happened that night in the cave in Santo Bonisto.”
Quinn ran his hands over her shoulders, down her slender waist and then let his fingertips hover over her still flat stomach. “My baby! You’re going to have my baby?”
Taking his hand in hers, she brought it down to her belly. “In about seven months, you, Quinn McCoy, are going to become a father.”
He engulfed her in his embrace. Then he cupped her face as he gazed at her, his eyes filled with love and wonder and indescribable gratitude. “I love you so much.” He kissed her, then said, “I’ll try my best to be a good husband and a good father.”
“I know you will.”
“No more mercenary assignments for me. For quite some time now, I’ve been considering a job offer from Sam. He thinks I’d be an asset to his security firm. And I’ve also thought about the possibility of starting my own business as a private pilot.”
Victoria pulled him back down into the bed. “It’s your decision. Whatever you want to do is fine with me. I don’t care which job you decide on, just as long as you give up rescuing heiresses.”
Quinn kissed her, branding her as his woman now and forever. “You’re the last one, princess. I promise.”
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Beverly Barton for her contribution to THE FORTUNES OF TEXAS series.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7333-
1
IN THE ARMS OF A HERO
Copyright © 1999 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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In the Arms of a Hero Page 18