by C. C. Coburn
Will rewarded her with a huge grin. “Why, Miss Scarlett. Ah do believe you’ve shocked me. A young lady like you, havin’ fantasies.”
She laughed, feeling completely at ease. “I have a confession to make. I fell in love with your dimples that first day in court.” She touched a fingertip to one as he lowered her to the bed.
“Now, Scarlett,” he said as he reached for the hem of her sweater. “You know ol’ Rhett doesn’t have sissy things like dimples.”
He stripped off her sweater and bra and tossed them behind him. His shirt followed. Becky laughed. This was some fantasy and she was eager to play along.
Soft moonlight filtered through the curtains, outlining Will’s body. He was magnificent.
He kissed each wrist, then pinned her hands above her head, making her feel totally exposed and vulnerable.
She loved this role-playing of characters so different from themselves. Rhett Butler, the ultimate alpha male, and Scarlett, the beautiful, frivolous seductress. Secretly, Becky had always wanted to be more like Scarlett. Will was offering her the chance.
With his free hand, he stroked her, his eyes following his hand’s slow progress down over her throat, between her breasts, across her abdomen. She swallowed.
He trailed his hand lower, over her jeans….
Needing to feel his skin against hers, have him caress her in places no man had touched for so long, she struggled to release her hands from his grip but he held her fast and teased her some more.
“Oh, my…Scarlett, these seem to be rather thick pantalets you’re wearin’ today,” he said in a deep, gravelly voice, then bent to kiss her.
She used the distraction to pull her hands from his grasp and undo the top button of her jeans.
Will ran a finger up and down her zipper, taunting her. “Scarlett, what’s this here newfangled contraption you have in your pantalets?” he asked and lowered his head to undo her zipper—with his teeth.
She gasped as his hot breath brushed against her, then she lifted her hips and took her jeans and panties off in one smooth motion. She wanted Will so much she couldn’t wait another moment. “Now,” she whimpered.
“Scarlett, my dear, you be a good girl and just wait till ol’ Rhett has had his wicked way with you,” he said and kissed her bare tummy. When he poked his wet tongue into her belly button, Becky collapsed in a boneless heap, surrendering to his mastery.
She combed her hand through his hair, savoring the softness of it and the delicious sensation of his mouth moving lower. And when he spread her thighs and began to taste her, sending flares of ecstasy arcing through her body, she nearly wept.
“Why…Rhett,” she said, her voice breathless.
“Hush, Scarlett,” he murmured.
Will had a very clever tongue, she decided as the delicious sensations spiraled, intensified and exploded into waves of exquisite pleasure.
When she finally recovered her senses, he was hovering over her wearing a huge grin.
“Did you find that mighty pleasin’, Miss Scarlett?”
“Oh, Rhett,” she cooed in her best southern-belle accent, lifting the back of her hand to her brow as if to ward off a faint. “I can’t think about that raht now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about it tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow could be a long way off with what I’ve got planned for tonight, my dear,” he said, pretending to twirl his mustache, a lascivious look in his eye.
“Sir, you are no gentleman,” she told him in a stern Scarlett voice. “Now get up, you varmint, and let me have my way.”
BECKY AWOKE in the afterglow of a night’s lovemaking. It had been intense. Beautiful. Will was everything she could have wished for in a lover, and so much more.
She’d made herself vulnerable by putting her trust in someone else so completely and been repaid with the most precious gift.
She rolled over to gaze at him. Will lay on his back, his arms flung over his head, the sheets pushed down, scarcely covering his nakedness. A smile curved her lips as she described him in one word: potent.
She pulled the sheet up to cover him in the early-morning cold. Will seemed to like sleeping with hardly any bedding and she liked to snuggle under the blankets. That was something they’d have to work out in the future—
She sat up. Her sudden indrawn breath woke him.
“What’s up?”
She turned away, reached for her robe and drew it on. Will tugged at her hand and pulled her back down on the bed.
“I asked what’s wrong?”
“Who said anything’s wrong?” she replied, unable to face him.
“Look at me,” he commanded.
Wrapping her robe tightly across her breasts, Becky forced herself to face him. The man was magnificent, she thought. But they didn’t have a future.
He leaned on one elbow, the muscles of his chest taut, his biceps tensed, a frown creasing his brow.
“Sweetheart?” He reached for her but she flinched away, then cursed herself for being so transparent.
“I take it this is your manifestation of the ‘morning after’?” he asked, sitting up and scrubbing at his face. Then his eyes bore into her. “Despite what you said last night, you’re having regrets.”
“Of course not,” she answered and turned away, before he read the lie in her eyes. What was she thinking last night when she’d invited him in? She’d let her guard down, succumbed to her growing feelings for him and, in doing so, had crossed the boundary between employer and employee. She’d used him.
If she couldn’t be trusted to make judgments about her personal life, what hope did she have in making judgments on the lives of others?
“Yeah. You are having regrets. Big ones,” he said bluntly.
Becky could hear the disappointment in his voice. When she felt him get out of bed, a deep emptiness filled her heart.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t help feeling this way.”
“Precisely what way is that?” He’d come around the bed to stand in front of her. Naked.
Becky averted her eyes. “For one foolish moment…I let my body rule my head. The whole town will find out about this and, once they do, so will everyone who matters in Denver.”
“What the hell are you saying?” he demanded, grasping her chin and forcing her to look into his eyes. They blazed black and furious.
“You’re my employee. You’ve been a defendant in my court. You don’t even have a real job—”
“What?”
“You can’t deny that. Any of it. Once it gets out that we spent the night together—and knowing how small-town grapevines work, that won’t be long—I won’t be able to hold my head up in public and I’ll never get appointed to a better position back in Denver.”
“You’re ashamed of me?”
“What? No!” She threw up her hands in exasperation. “I’m angry with myself. I can’t believe I was so stupid.”
Will paced to the other side of the room. She watched, mesmerized by his masculine beauty, her heart breaking with the certain knowledge that she couldn’t both have the job she craved and Will. They were mutually exclusive.
He snatched up his jeans and pulled them on, buttoning them as he glared at her.
At least he was now partly clothed. She couldn’t talk to him while he was naked. He was too exposed physically and she felt too exposed emotionally.
“For a start,” he said as he returned to the bed, “I’m not going to be taking out an ad announcing that we’re lovers.”
“But—”
“No!” He cut her off. “You’ve had your say, and now you can listen to me.” He paced the room again, yanking his hand through his hair in a gesture of frustration. He turned back to her. “Despite what you think, no one in this town cares about our private business and anyone who does is irrelevant. Same for anyone in Denver.” He turned back to her and demanded, “Are you ashamed of being seen with me?”
“No, of course not! I already told you that.”
“
You figure because I don’t have a ‘job’—” he held up his fingers and drew quotation marks around the word “—that I’m beneath you?”
Becky was slower to answer this time and Will jumped on it. “That about says it all, then, doesn’t it?”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Really? Then exactly how did you mean it?” He raised his hand when she started to answer. “No, save it. You’re regretting that you slept with a ski bum who’s appeared before you in court and happens to be your employee. Well, you can cross one of those off the list, because I quit!”
“You can’t do that! What about Nicolas?”
“I didn’t say I was quitting on Nick. I just quit the job. The one where you pay me to sleep with you.”
“You know that’s not true!”
“Save it, Your Honor.” He stalked to the bedroom door and hauled it open. “I really thought you cared about me, that you trusted me and we had a future together—”
Becky couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “A future? In this town?” she blurted.
He leaned against the door frame. “You hate this town, don’t you? You hate that you took the job here. You hate thinking everyone knows everyone else’s business. Hell! You probably even hate it because people are friendly. Well, here’s a reality check for you, sweetheart—you won’t find a better place anywhere to live in and raise a child. You won’t find better people to be your neighbors and friends and, yes, stand before you in court.
“And you will never find a man who will love you the way I do!” he roared, then stormed out of the room, slamming the door.
Chapter Nineteen
She couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.
Had Will said he loved her?
No one, apart from Nicolas, had ever told her that. Not her parents. Not her ex-husband. Yet Will had said it and with such passion.
Something akin to joy bloomed in her chest, then was quickly replaced by panic.
Oh, God, what have I done? she railed at herself as she pulled on her clothes, raced downstairs and tore open the front door.
The world outside looked like a Christmas card. Snow covered everything in a pure white blanket. You won’t find a better place anywhere to live and raise a child.
Will was right, she thought as she glanced across the street to the tiny Episcopalian church, painted a cheery yellow and trimmed in white, its steeple reaching to the sky. Next to that was a Victorian cottage, painted in a soft blue and trimmed in salmon, and next to that, a run-down relic of the mining years, all rusted corrugated tin and bare timber slab walls brimming with rustic character and charm. Her neighbors on either side of her dwelled in homes filled with warmth and love. The neighborhood was quiet, peaceful. Safe. It was like a scene from a Norman Rockwell painting.
About to throw on her coat and go in search of Will, she noticed that the snow on her front path hadn’t been disturbed. He must still be in the house. “Will!” she cried, closing the front door and heading for kitchen.
He was leaning against the countertop, glaring at her. It had all become so clear—he was hurting and she loved him and that was all that mattered.
She ran to him and flung her arms around his neck. “I love you. Please don’t go. I’m sorry for everything I said. I was so wrong. Please forgive me.”
His hands clasped hers to release her stranglehold and for one dreadful moment she thought he’d thrust her away, tell her it was too late, that she’d had her one and only chance and blown it.
His dark eyes raked her face. She probably looked terrible, but she didn’t care. Will was about to walk out the door and out of her life and she was going to do everything she could to make him stay.
“What did you say?” he demanded, his look no less severe, his hands gripping hers, hard and unyielding.
“I’m sorry.”
“Before that,” he said through clenched teeth.
She studied his face, unable to remember everything she’d blubbered, but she did remember one thing. “I love you.”
His eyes narrowed and his lips thinned as he considered her words. “Do you mean it?”
“Yes!” she answered without hesitation. “You’re right. This is the perfect town to raise a child. I was so focused on my career, on my need to secure a well-paid job to ensure my son’s future, that I couldn’t see what’s been staring me in the face all along.” She paused and took a deep breath, then said, “I don’t ever want to be without you, Will.”
The side of his mouth turned up. “Do I need to ask you to swear to that in a court of law?”
Her heart soared. He wasn’t going to leave! He didn’t hate her for what she’d said. Such careless, stupid, insensitive words! “I’ll swear it to the entire audience of the courthouse come tomorrow if you like.”
“You would?”
“Yes, absolut—”
Becky’s declaration was cut off when he covered her mouth in a searing kiss that had every nerve in her body singing with joy. His big hands clasped her face so tenderly and she returned his passion, gasping as Will nuzzled the side of her throat. The scratchiness of his morning whiskers sent heat licking through her body. When his mouth moved lower to bite gently at the swell of her breast through the fabric of her sweater, the sensations were exquisite. Carnal.
“Make love to me,” she said, but Will stepped back and took her hands.
“I don’t need to remind you what happened this morning.”
“It won’t happen again.”
“It might.” He released her hands and strode to the other side of the kitchen before turning toward her. “It kills me to say this, but I think we need to cool it for a bit.”
“What?”
HER EYES GLOWED with green spears of anger, and Will couldn’t help grinning at her indignant expression and her petulant pout. He felt warmed by the knowledge she wanted him so badly.
Much as he wished he could drag Becky back upstairs, now wasn’t the time. One of them needed to keep a cool head about this, and she had to get ready for work.
A HALF HOUR LATER she was back downstairs, dressed immaculately, not a hair out of place and with no trace of the night’s lovemaking. She pulled on her gloves and said, “Please explain what you meant by ‘cool it for a bit.’”
“I think we should step back for a while—at least until Nick returns to school.”
“What difference does that make?”
He could hear the frustration in her voice. It mirrored his own. The scene in her bedroom earlier had cut him to the quick. Becky might want to protect her heart from ever being hurt again. But he needed to protect his heart, too.
“When Nick goes back to school, I’ll no longer be his full-time caregiver, and therefore not your employee. Then our relationship will be on a more even footing.”
“But I’ll still need you to collect him from school and help with his homework. I can’t do this on my own, Will. I need you! Nicolas needs you.”
He helped her into her coat. “I’ll be there for you. I won’t let you down. But I won’t be your employee anymore.”
“I don’t understand. Either you work for me looking after Nick—or what?”
“I do it for free. I do it as a friend.”
“Seems to be a very one-sided friendship to me. What do you get out of it? I can’t return the favor.”
“You can let me date you.”
Becky gave a snort of disbelief. “I think after last night we’ve moved past needing to date.”
“I don’t agree. The fact that you felt you’d put your reputation at risk is all the more reason for us to cool it. I don’t ever again want to wake up and see the look in your eyes I saw this morning. I’m in this relationship for the long-term, Becky. Not a one-night stand.”
“I can’t believe you’re even speaking to me. I’ve treated you abominably.” Her face was flushed. “I’m sorry.”
“I aim to prove to you that you can be good at relationships—fulfilling ones that wi
ll last a lifetime.”
“Look, just because I admitted I love you doesn’t mean I want to marry you!”
“You will,” he said with utter conviction.
Chapter Twenty
“Have you seen today’s paper?” Those were his mother’s first words once Will had snatched up the insistently ringing phone the following morning.
“Mom?” He sat up groggily and rubbed his face. “What’s up?”
“Get yourself out of bed and find a paper,” Sarah said, her voice holding uncharacteristic panic. “Becky’s in trouble!”
Will scrambled out of bed, hauled on his jeans and sweater and went downstairs to the free newsstand outside Mrs. C.’s shop.
He flipped through it and there on page seven, for all the world to see, was a photograph of him and Becky and the headline blaring Judge Shows Bias Toward Lover’s Protest Movement. Will felt as though he’d been hit in the chest.
The photographer had caught them in an intimate moment at the Christmas carol ceremony. Becky had wrapped a scarf around his neck, and for a moment their eyes had held. He’d been tempted to kiss her, but she’d blushed and looked away. Fortunately, he hadn’t given in to his impulse, otherwise the photograph would’ve been far more damaging.
He frowned. Until now, the paper had thrown its unconditional support behind saving the buildings. He needed to warn Becky about the article before she went to work.
BECKY’S EYES NARROWED as she scanned the story. “This is libelous,” she murmured, then pointed to a heading in tiny font at the top of the full-page story. “It’s an advertisement taken out by the development company. And there’s a disclaimer from the paper—see?”
Will cursed. “I was in such a hurry to get over here, I didn’t notice. But it’s still potentially dangerous for you. I wonder who placed it.”
“I should think that’s obvious.” A smile curved her lips.
“What are you grinning about? Your reputation’s been smeared all over the paper! It says you’re biased toward the protest group because you’re sleeping with me!”