Evan

by Diana Palmer

  Chapter 11

  They were married on Friday afternoon, with Evan’s entire family in attendance. It was a brief but beautiful ceremony, and Anna could hardly believe she was actually marrying Evan, even after he had slid the diamond-studded gold band that matched her solitaire onto her finger and kissed her tenderly.

  But despite that tenderness, he was worried. During the small reception at the Tremayne home, he was preoccupied. Anna alone knew why. He was dreading his wedding night, so haunted by the past that he was certain he was going to send her screaming from him. She knew better, but she had to convince Evan that his great strength wasn’t dangerous in intimacy.

  “It was a beautiful wedding, darling,” Polly told her daughter just before Anna and Evan left on their brief honeymoon to New Orleans. “I hope you’ll be happy.”

  “I will be,” Anna replied. She kissed and hugged her mother, then glanced toward her father, who was talking to Evan and Harden. “How about you and Dad?”

  Polly grinned. “He has to fly back to Atlanta tonight.”

  “Oh.” Anna’s face fell.

  “I’m flying back with him,” Polly continued, laughing at Anna’s shocked face. “He’s going to ask for a transfer to Houston so that he can be home nights when he’s not scheduled on flights. We’re going to be a family again, Anna. And when Duke retires—which he’s planning to do next year—I may get out of the real estate business and travel around the country with him.”

  “It’s almost too good to be true.” Anna sighed, smiling through tears. “I’m so happy!”

  “So am I,” Polly replied. She dried Anna’s tears. “Go and have a nice honeymoon. When you’re back, with both feet on the ground, we’ll talk. Take care of yourself.”

  “You, too.”

  Minutes later, Anna was sitting beside Evan as he drove them to the airport.

  “Happy?” he asked gently, glancing at her.

  “Very. Are you?”

  “Ask me in the morning,” he said with a rough laugh.

  “Oh, Evan.” She sighed. “Am I going to have to get you drunk and seduce you?”

  He didn’t laugh. His face hardened. “That wasn’t funny.”

  “I’m not afraid of you,” she said gently.

  “I hope not. Because tonight, you’ll get to prove it.”

  She gave up trying to reassure him and stared out the window. Her wedding day had fallen flat, and the honeymoon had barely started.

  New Orleans was brassy and colorful, and once Anna had rested for a few minutes, she and a subdued Evan went out to explore the French Quarter and Bourbon Street. It was late afternoon when they got back to the hotel, and Evan herded her right into the restaurant for supper before they went up to their room. During the meal she tried to make conversation, but he was heavy weather. And if she thought things couldn’t be worse, she was mistaken.

  When they got up to their room, she turned to kiss him, but he actually backed away.

  “No,” he said shortly, his dark eyes antagonistic. “Not now.”

  “We’re married, Evan,” she said gently. “It’s all right.”

  “The hell it is.” He grabbed up his Stetson and went toward the door. “I’ve got a business meeting. I’ll be late, so don’t wait up.”

  “A business meeting? On our honeymoon!” she wailed.

  He wouldn’t look at her. He’d let his anxiety build until he was terrified to touch her. He couldn’t admit that. The next best thing was to invent an excuse to get away from her until he could get a grip on himself.

  “Sorry,” he replied. “It couldn’t be helped. I’ll be back when I can. Good night.”

  He closed the door. Anna sat down on the bed with a thud and gaped after him. She wondered how she was going to survive marriage with a man who was afraid to touch her. Damn Louisa!

  She finally slept, but not until the wee hours of the morning. When she drifted off, Evan still hadn’t come to bed, and she’d cried until her eyes were red.

  Meanwhile, Evan was sitting in a bar, drinking whiskey, trying to convince himself that he wasn’t King Kong. Anna loved him. She wasn’t Louisa. But she was innocent, and he knew all too well how delicate an innocent woman’s body was. He was helpless when he started kissing her. If he lost control, he knew he was going to hurt her. He loved her until he thought his heart would break. He took another swallow, and another, brooding over all the times his strength had intimidated men and women alike. Before he knew it, the bar was empty. He paid for his drinks and went slowly up to their room, wondering whether Anna was asleep yet.

  The next morning, she woke, vaguely aware that she wasn’t alone in the bed. She rolled over and found Evan.

  With a faint sigh, she propped up on her elbow and looked at him. Asleep, he seemed younger and much less dangerous. Poor, tormented man. She couldn’t really blame him for those mental scars. A man’s ego was his most vulnerable spot, after all.

  But they really couldn’t go on like this.

  It seemed underhanded somehow to take advantage of a man in his sleep, but Anna knew instinctively that Evan’s irrational fear of hurting her was going to make any other course of action impossible.

  She tugged off her nightgown and smiled as she looked down on his sleeping face. With any luck at all she could make him believe he was only dreaming. Of course, she’d have to do it just the right way….

  Dawn was only beginning in the eastern sky, so that there was barely any light in the room. Carefully she pulled the sheet down and threw it off the bed, her breath catching at the sight of Evan’s body. He was already aroused, and he began to move restlessly, as if just the brush of the sheet had excited him.

  She eased down, her mouth slowly touching his broad chest, teasing his nipples. They were already hard, and she felt his breathing change as she nibbled at them. Her hands slid over the broad expanse of his hair-roughened chest and down his flanks to his hard thighs. As her hands moved, so did her mouth. She kissed him tenderly, nipped at him with her teeth, until she reached his navel and the sudden rippling of muscles just beneath it.

  His back arched sensuously and he moaned. She turned her face, so that her long hair brushed across his hips and thighs, and he whispered her name.

  She nipped at his waist with her teeth while her fingers slowly, torturously made their way up his powerful legs to his flat stomach.

  Seconds later, she felt herself lifted and turned, felt his mouth catch and half swallow her breast, his tongue rough on the hard nipple as he began to suckle her.

  She shivered with delight, holding his head to her body. His hands were smoothing over her, learning her. One slid between her thighs and coaxed her legs apart.

  He touched her then in a way he never had before, and she gasped at the unexpected surge of pleasure the exquisitely slow movements of his fingers aroused. All the while, his mouth was warm on her taut breast, drawing the nipple into the moist darkness with devastating expertise.

  Her eyes closed as she let the pleasure wash over her. Her body twisted sinuously under his hands and mouth, soft moans whispering out of her throat while the minutes grew hotter and more feverish.

  His mouth gently covered hers while his fingers trespassed in a new and frightening way. There was a brief flash of pain and she moaned, but his mouth gentled her, moving lovingly from her lips to her closed eyelids while his hand began to rouse her all over again. The pain was quickly forgotten as her hips began to lift toward those tormenting fingers.

  She felt his breath on her lips, just before he whispered her name. Her eyes opened slowly, half-dazed, and met his.

  Holding them, he moved slowly between her legs, levering down carefully. “No, don’t look away,” he said shakily.

  She swallowed, because she could feel him now in an intimacy unlike anything they’d ever shared. He was much more potent than she remembered, powerful and a little intimidating.

  “Hold on,” he murmured. “Dig your nails into me, if it helps.”

&n
bsp; She gasped as his hips arched down into hers, very carefully. He pushed, softly, and she tensed despite her resolve.

  “Shh,” he whispered, his eyes tender. “You knew it would be difficult. But you can take me. Try to relax. Try to let your body absorb mine. Think of a stone falling into water,” he said softly as he moved. “Absorb me, little one. Take me…inside you.”

  The imagery was arousing. She drew her eyes down to their bodies and caught her breath at what she saw.

  “No, don’t look there,” he said gently, convinced even now that she was going to panic. “Look at me, Anna.”

  She lifted her eyes back up to his, but there was no fear in them. She arched her back, her breath catching, her eyes misty now with desire. “I watched,” she said unsteadily. “Evan, I saw…!”

  She pushed harder, absorbing him. There was a burning sensation, a stabbing pain. She cried out, but she pushed harder. And then it was easy. Slow. Soft.

  Her breathing began to quicken and she managed a smile as she sought his eyes. “Oh…yes!” she moaned, shaking as she experienced the full power of his masculinity.

  He let out a ragged breath. “Yes.” He bent to her lips as his body began the slow, familiar rhythm. He nibbled her mouth as his muscles tautened, as his hips lifted and fell with exquisite tenderness.

  Her fingers slid to the base of his spine and lingered, stroking him. He shuddered. She liked that, so she did it again.

  “Stop,” he ground out. “You’ll make me lose control.”

  “I want you to,” she whispered with a tiny smile, arching her mouth up to his. “Let go,” she breathed at his lips. “Let go, Evan. It’s all right, darling, you won’t hurt me. It’s all right. Let go, Evan…let go…!”

  “Anna!” Her name was a tormented groan as he gave in to her coaxing and suddenly drove feverishly for fulfillment. He lost his fear of hurting her and every vestige of control, in the violent need to experience ecstasy, to satisfy the throbbing, savage ache in his loins.

  Even through her own building pleasure, Anna watched him achieve it. As she felt the crush of his arms and the weight of him, she saw his torso lift, his back arch tautly, his face contort as if with the most incredible kind of agony. He threw back his head and cried out, shuddering against her so violently that she thought he might actually lose consciousness.

  When he stiffened and fell heavily against her, she was still shivering with her own unsatisfied need. She clutched at his broad shoulders, biting him helplessly as she moved under his weight. When he started to lift his hips, she caught them with her nails and held him there.

  “No, please…!” she sobbed.

  “Almost, but not quite, is that it, sweetheart?” he whispered huskily. “Give me your mouth, little one, and hold on tight. I’ll satisfy you completely, now.”

  She turned her face up and he kissed her gently, his tongue suddenly stabbing into her mouth as his hips rose and fell slowly.

  It took only seconds. She sobbed her pleasure under his mouth, so racked by ecstasy that she could only cling to him while the rhythm wrung every last silvery bit of strength out of her.

  He kissed the tears away, but she still wouldn’t let go of him.

  “All right,” he whispered, smiling through his exhaustion as he settled back over her, his forearms catching his weight. He kissed her gently, soft kisses that calmed and soothed and comforted. All that worry, he thought ruefully, and for nothing! He hadn’t killed her after all, even if, for a few delicious seconds, she had sounded as though she were dying.

  “Don’t go away,” she whispered. “Hold me.”

  He kissed her very gently. “It was for your own sake that I was moving away, not for mine. I thought you might be uncomfortable. It was difficult for you.”

  Her arms contracted. “I love you,” she whispered. “It was heaven.”

  “For me, too.” He sighed softly and rested his cheek against hers, his eyes closed as he savored her softness under him. “Are you all right? It didn’t hurt too much?”

  “No.” She nibbled at his earlobe. “Now will you stop running from me?”

  “Do I have a choice?” He looked down at her tenderly. “You took me without fear,” he said, his voice coloring with pride and pleasure.

  “Yes.” She blushed a little and dropped her eyes to his mouth.

  “None of that.” He tilted her face up and searched her shy eyes. “I didn’t hold back. I couldn’t. We never discussed precautions…”

  Her face brightened. “I could be pregnant.”

  The way she said it made his heart lift. “Yes.” He smoothed back her long, soft blond hair. “You’re very young.”

  “Not that young.” She lifted herself to his mouth and began to kiss him, slowly, seductively.

  “It’s too soon,” he said huskily. “You need time to get over what we just did.”

  She did, but she hated the thought of giving up the closeness they were sharing. Her eyes told him so.

  “Come here.” He wrapped her up against him and pulled the sheet over them, pausing to brush a kiss across her nose before his arm contracted around her, bringing her even closer. “We’ll sleep a bit longer.”

  “And then?” she whispered.

  He smiled. “And then.”

  She closed her own eyes, sliding into a deep and dreamless sleep. When she awoke, the smell of beignets—little square sugar-dusted doughnuts—and jam and fresh coffee filled the room.

  “Hungry?” Evan asked. He was wearing his slacks and nothing else, and he looked younger and lighthearted and totally loving. That could have been a trick of the light, of course, she told herself. But she could dream.

  “I’m starved,” she confessed, sitting up.

  He pulled the sheet away and looked at her, his eyes darkening with possession. “My God, you are so beautiful,” he said, his voice deep and uneven.

  “Flatterer,” she whispered softly.

  He sat down beside her, his eyes searching hers while his hands stroked slowly down her body. She caught her breath and stiffened with pleasure and he bent to kiss the hardened tips of her breasts.

  But when she tried to trap his mouth against her, he shook his head and pulled away. “It’s too soon for you,” he said, his eyes full of tender wisdom. “We’ve got the rest of our lives to love each other in bed.”

  “It felt like that,” she said softly. “Like…loving, I mean.”

  “Shouldn’t it?” he asked, his eyes holding hers. “When two people love each other as much as we do?”

  Her heart stopped beating. “You…don’t,” she whispered.

  “Then why did I marry you, little one?” he asked quietly. “If sex was all I wanted, any woman would have done.”

  She thought she might faint.

  “I was trying to spare you what Louisa suffered at my hands.” He smiled bitterly. “She never loved me, Anna. And I never knew it. Until you told me.”

  Her breath was trapped somewhere in her throat.

  He touched her face with a big, gentle hand. “I was sacrificing my happiness for what I thought was yours. After what Louisa had said to me, I was terrified of hurting you like that. And you were so young… But when Randall told me you were marrying him, I thought I’d go mad.” He choked. “That was bad enough. But you were mugged, and I didn’t even know it until hours later. You could have died, and I wouldn’t have been there, with you. Your last memory of me would have been of the way I’d hurt you,” he said roughly.

  Tears stung her eyes. What he felt was naked in his face, in his voice. Why hadn’t she seen it, known it? “You…love me!” she exclaimed, awed.

  “Love. Adore. Worship.” He framed her face in his hands and kissed her with aching tenderness. “Oh, God, you’re the very breath in my body!”

  He bore her down on the mattress, his mouth ardent and faintly rough with passion, his hands insistent on her body as he kissed her. She gave unstintingly, loving him so deeply that it hurt.

  “I love you,
” he whispered finally, his mouth against her throat. “I’ll die loving you.”

  She held him, her eyes closed, her heart overflowing. “I love you, too, Evan,” she said drowsily. “Endlessly.”

  He bent again to her mouth, the look in his eyes before he kissed her so adoring that she melted under him. The kiss went on and on and on, into levels they’d never touched before.

  Finally he managed to drag himself away. “You’d better eat something,” he murmured, his voice faintly unsteady. “I have to build up your strength for the next few days, after you’ve had time to recuperate.”

  She laughed and looked up at him. “That goes double for you,” she murmured demurely. “You’re not the only one with expectations.”

  He burst out laughing. A minute later he picked her up in his big arms and carried her to the breakfast table. For the first time he gloried in his strength, in her trusting submission to it. All the ghosts were laid to rest, now. He looked down at her, so soft in his arms, and felt as if he had everything. He sat down at the table with Anna cuddled in his lap. Not content with that, he spoon-fed her every single bite.

  From that moment on, they were inseparable, and every day brought a new and ardent memory. Anna’s nightmares faded, and her painful experience with the mugger became nothing more than a bad dream. Weeks later, a big, brutal man was found in a back alley dead of a drug overdose. He was a suspect in several violent robberies in Houston, the paper said, and at least one rape. A violent end for a violent man, but his death gave Anna peace.

  Polly and Duke settled down to a happy life together, while Anna and Evan moved into a newly remodeled house on the Tremayne ranch, a wedding present from Evan’s brothers. It included a studio for Anna, and she went back to her painting with a vengeance. But in addition to her landscapes she did one portrait—of her new husband.