“I’ll do everything within my power to protect you.”
“I know you will.” Their gazes met and held. The look they exchanged silently voiced his concern and her appreciation. “Take the room across the hall from mine. It has its own private bath…and if anyone comes upstairs, they’ll have to pass that room before they come to mine.”
“Try to sleep,” he told her. “Take something, if necessary.”
She moved up the staircase, then paused after a few steps, but she didn’t look down at him. “I don’t have anything I can take. Nothing except the pain pills. I never have a problem sleeping.”
“Then maybe you won’t tonight. I’ll see if I can rig something up to cover the broken pane in the back door and then I’ll be on up. If you need me, just call out and—”
“And you’ll come running?” Annie asked as she climbed the stairs.
“Yeah, honey, I’ll come running,” Dane said so quietly that he knew Annie didn’t hear him.
Dane tossed and turned, flopping from one side of the bed to the other. He reached out in the darkness, groping on the nightstand in search of his watch. Grabbing it in one hand he held it up and checked the time on the illuminated face. Three forty-five!
Dane didn’t think their attacker would make another “house call” this soon. The guy was probably holed up somewhere, nursing his wounds and either trying to figure out his next move or putting in a call to his superior. If he had a superior. And that was the problem—the main reason Dane couldn’t sleep. If the guy who’d broken into the Harden house—the guy in the woods—was working for someone else, then the boss man could have already called in another employee.
Until a security system was installed, this house remained vulnerable to unlawful entry by anyone from a petty thief to Annie’s stalker. But even if he fell asleep, there was little chance anyone could enter the house and come up the stairs without his hearing them. He was a light sleeper, awakened easily, and trained by years as a bodyguard to listen in his sleep.
When Dane laid his watch back on the nightstand, his hand encountered his hip holster. His instincts told him that they were safe—for tonight. But regardless of his certainty, he couldn’t sleep. He hated the idea that Annie was putting herself in more danger than necessary by staying here. But he understood her reasoning and admired her courage. There wasn’t anything weak or fragile about Annie. She didn’t run from her fears—she met them head-on.
Dane laced his fingers together and cupped the back of his head with his palms. He kicked the sheet and lightweight blanket down to the foot of the bed and stretched. His toes touched the footboard of the antique bed. He tried to concentrate on relaxing, but the harder he tried the more tense he became.
He couldn’t stop thinking about Annie. The way she’d laughed and smiled aboard the Sweet Savannah. The way the sunlight had highlighted the silky blue sheen of her jet-black hair. The way her eyes widened when she was angry. The sweet feel of her body pressed against his. And the hot, hungry way she had returned his kiss.
Dane’s body grew hard as blood pumped heavily below his waist. He supposed Ellen Denby had been right when she’d said he needed to have sex. It had been quite a while since he’d been with a woman. But just any woman wouldn’t do. Not now. Not since he’d meet Annie. The most stubborn, independent little cuss he’d ever known.
What was it about her that got him all hot and bothered just thinking about her? She was pretty. She had a nice figure. She was intelligent. But he’d known his share of women who possessed those same attributes. No, Annie was different. She was smart and sassy. Independent and alluring. Poised and passionate.
And every time she looked at him, he knew she wanted him. She might not like it much, might even hate the very idea of it, but it didn’t matter. She could no more control her feelings for him than he could his for her. Even though they shared common backgrounds, Annie had made it perfectly clear that she despised the traditions and customs of the society into which she’d been born. And he embraced his heritage. He followed in the footsteps of his father, grandfather and countless Carmichael men before him. He was proud of his lineage and felt comfortable in the role of a Southern gentleman.
But a Southern gentleman needed a true Southern belle as his mate. Lorna had been his perfect counterpart. She had been all that was sweet and gentle and pure.
Annie Harden was nothing like Lorna. But then, he had no intention of mating with Annie for a lifetime. Wanting to make love to a woman didn’t mean you had to make a commitment. And he was sure Annie would run from any permanent entanglement with him. But they could become lovers. An affair for as long as it lasted. Until the fiery passion burned itself out.
Dane shot up, turned on the bedside lamp and ripped off his pajama bottoms, which he’d only worn as a concession to his duties as Annie’s bodyguard. He unzipped his bag, yanked out a pair of old jeans and shimmied them up his legs and over his hips.
He couldn’t have an affair with a client! It was against all the rules, against his own principles. Getting personally involved with Annie could endanger both her life and his. He needed to be thinking with his head and not his groin.
Annie prayed for sleep, for just a few hours of rest. No worries, no troubles, no thoughts. But her mind wouldn’t shut off and her body wouldn’t relax. She had gone over everything that had happened since Halley’s telephone call. Nothing made sense. Nothing added up. Nothing except the fact that Halley had disappeared and ever since she had gone to Point Clear four days ago in search of Halley, someone had been trying—repeatedly—to kill her.
What had she overlooked? she wondered. There had to be something, some clue, to help her solve the mystery. How had Halley’s kidnapper known who she was talking to that night? Redial! Annie thought. Or had the man already been in Halley’s room and listened to their conversation? Just what did these people think she knew? Whatever it was, had it cost Halley her life?
It has put your life in danger, an inner voice warned Annie.
What would she have done that night on the beach if Dane hadn’t been there? And later, in her hotel room, what if Dane hadn’t come back to check on her? And what if he hadn’t suspected that there might be a bomb under her rental car? And what if she’d been alone at the Robinsons’s lake house when the shooter had opened fire?
You’d be dead! she told herself.
She owed her life to Dane and all she’d done since she’d run into his arms on the Point Clear beach was argue with him, resist his kindness, and fight the urge to surrender to him. She hadn’t shown any appreciation at all.
Her mother was paying him a small fortune to protect her. This was just a job to him. She didn’t owe him anything! Okay, so he’s strong and brave and fearless, but he’s not a man you want to get involved with, her conscience warned her. No way, no how. You’ve been down that road before, Annie ole girl. And you know where it leads—straight to heartbreak. To-die-for good looks and courtly manners and impeccable breeding can camouflage a domineering tyrant or a philandering playboy.
But you want him, that inner voice taunted her. You want him so bad you’re—
Annie sat straight up in bed. Perspiration moistened her body, causing her coral silk gown to adhere to her skin. Her femininity throbbed. Her nipples peaked. You’re just horny, she told herself. You haven’t been with a man since—
She turned on the bedside lamp, hunted down her coral house slippers and matching silk robe. No use wearing out the bed, she thought. And no use lusting for a man who was so very, very bad for her. But there was also no use trying to pretend that she didn’t want to go across the hall and climb into bed with Dane Carmichael!
Once out in the hall, she paused by Dane’s open door. Tiptoeing into the room, she held her breath. His bed was empty. Where was he? Had something happened? Maybe he couldn’t sleep, either. Maybe he went downstairs to get a drink or find a book to read or…
She made her way down the stairs. Not a sound. Then she notic
ed a dim illumination coming up the hallway from the kitchen. She glided along the hall, stopping when she reached the den, which opened up onto the kitchen.
Dane stood at the counter, barefoot and bare-chested, wearing nothing but a pair of faded jeans. Her eyes scanned him, glancing at his tousled, sun-streaked brown hair and moving slowly down to his muscular chest. Thick swirls of curly brown hair created a triangle that began just below his throat and traveled all the way downward, tapering at his navel and disappearing inside his unbuttoned jeans.
Annie swallowed hard. He was a beautiful sight. Magnificent manhood in all its glory. Everything feminine within her reacted to his blatant masculinity. She ached from the sheer pleasure of looking at him.
Turn and run back upstairs, she warned herself. He hasn’t seen you. It’s not too late.
She took several steps backward, inadvertently backing right into the wall. A loud gush of air escaped from her lungs.
Dane lifted his sky-blue eyes to her, his gaze raking over her, burning her with its intensity.
“Annie.” On his lips her name was an endearment.
Oh, God! Oh, God! She couldn’t let this happen. She just couldn’t.
Chapter 10
Annie eased away from the wall. Dane stepped forward, his movements slow and easy, yet purposeful. He was coming for her. She knew this as surely as she knew her name. She had to get away before it was too late, before she surrendered to him.
Like a panther on the prowl, he stalked her. She crept backward, step by step, praying she had the strength to escape his predatory grasp. But when she looked into his eyes, she became transfixed by the blatant desire she saw.
“Annie.” He said her name again as he approached her.
“I’m…I’m going back upstairs.” She groped for words, for an explanation that would fend him off. “I noticed you weren’t in your room, so I just came down here to check on you. Now that I see everything is all right—”
In two long strides he was in front of her. He reached out, grasped the back of her neck and pulled her to him.
Her startled cry didn’t deter him nor did her barely audible plea. “No, Dane, no.” She pushed against him, her efforts weak and halfhearted.
“Yes.” He mouthed the word against her lips just before he captured them in a blazing kiss that turned her world upside down.
She tried not to respond, tried valiantly not to give in to her own wanton needs, but the moment he touched her, she’d been lost. She knew it—and so did he. This incredible hunger inside them had been building since that night on the beach when she’d run into his arms. Had it really been only days ago? Somehow it seemed as if she’d wanted this man all her life, that the passion ripping her apart inside had been growing for aeons. Not once in all her nearly thirty-five years had she experienced anything like this raw, uncontrolled need to mate with a man. To give herself completely and to take him in the same unconditional way. She’d never wanted anyone to the point of madness. Not until now. Not until Dane.
As his mouth devoured hers, hot and hungry, he cupped the back of her head in his palm. Opening his other hand, he spread it across the small of her back and pressed her into him until her mound rested against his swollen sex. Her body clenched and unclenched, shooting currents of desire from her core. She lifted her arms around his neck and gave herself over to the moment, to the utter pleasure of their sensual embrace.
She pushed herself intimately against him, glorying in the animalistic growl that erupted from his throat. His tongue lunged into the damp, dark cavern of her mouth, tasting and tempting, delving and retreating in an exciting imitation of the sex act.
Pure primeval need controlled her—mind and body—dictating her actions, giving orders to satisfy the raging hunger.
Her tongue thrust and parried in an unchoreographed mating dance with his. They couldn’t get close enough. Couldn’t taste enough. Couldn’t feel enough. They wanted more. Much more.
Dane grabbed her hips and lifted her up and into him. She clung to him, mindless with passion. Raising her leg, she rubbed against him. Heat suffused her body as the fire in her belly burned white-hot.
Dane knew he had to have this woman and have her now! Nothing mattered except appeasing the beast inside him. The animal instinct that lay buried deep within controlled him. He had needed before, wanted before, and had even loved once. But nothing compared to this mindless obsession to possess a woman—this one woman. Annie.
He wanted to see her body, to touch and taste her until her essence was embedded so deeply in him that she would be a part of him. Lust ruled him as it never had, not even in the hormone-crazed days of his youth.
While his mouth ravaged hers, he lifted his hands to the lapels of her coral silk robe, grasped and tugged them apart. Then he removed the robe, letting it drop to the floor behind her. He kissed her chin, her throat, the swell of her breasts above her gown. She trembled and moaned when he raked his fingers across her jutting nipples. When he lowered his head and took one tight point into his mouth, Annie held his head, encouraging him. He moved to the other breast and paid it equal attention. And while he suckled her through the thin silk, he grabbed a handful of her gown and, inch by inch, raised it up the back of her legs enough for him to slip his hand inside and caress her bare buttocks.
He eased the straps of her gown down her arms, drawing it over her breasts and to her waist. Her breasts were high and round and full. Sweet temptation. He covered them, then cupped them and finally stroked them with his thumbs. Annie reached out and unzipped his jeans, then tugged them down his hips. When they fell to his feet, he kicked them aside and quickly pulled her gown up and over her head. He tossed it aside and took one long, appreciative look at her. She was beautiful. Not even the small, white, sterile strip that covered the length of her wound detracted from her perfection.
He skimmed his finger around the top edge of the bandage. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t.”
Her assurance released him. They went at each other like savages. Touching, tasting, grunting and groping. Dane lifted her by her hips. She swung her legs around him as he hoisted her up and onto his straining sex. She cried out with pure sweet joy, reveling in the sensation of being filled completely.
Dane thought he’d die, so overwhelming was the pleasure of taking her, of burying himself deeply inside her. He wanted it to last, but knew the feelings were too powerful to endure.
He brought her hips backward and forward, pounding her against him, knowing that their movements were attending to her needs as well as his. Her muscles contracted, gripping his sex in her hot, wet sheath. He increased the speed of his plunges, unable to stop the raging tide of fulfillment sweeping over him. Her raspy, pleading cries sent him over the edge and he jetted his release into her.
She shuddered, the pressure building, higher and tighter inside her. Her climax hit her with hard, unrelenting power that sent shards of wild, sweet pleasure through her whole body and left her weak and her flesh ultra-sensitive. She clung to Dane, wanting them to remain a part of each other, needing this perfect moment to go on forever.
Dane kissed her tenderly, disengaged them from their intimate joining and swept her up into his arms. She laid her head on his shoulder and said nothing when he carried her out of the den, down the hall and up the stairs. He walked through her bedroom and into her private bath. After putting her on her feet, he kissed her, then reached into the shower to turn on the water.
He held out his hand and she accepted without reservation. Together they stepped into the warm shower and bathed each other, glorying in their renewed arousal. They dried hurriedly, dropping the damp towels on the floor in their haste.
Dane tended her wound and covered it with a new dressing, then she led him to her bed. Lying before him, she opened her arms. He stood over her, big, powerful and completely male, his erection telling her how much he wanted her.
Joining her on the bed, he caressed and kissed every
inch of her body and when she thought she couldn’t bear another minute of his loving attention, he parted her legs and taught her just how much she could bear. With each stroke of his tongue, he brought her closer and closer to fulfillment. She squirmed and twisted as the sensation intensified until finally she exploded with release. While she was still quivering with completion, Dane mounted her. When he entered her, she lifted her hips to meet him, taking him completely, wantonly, urging his conquest.
She wanted to be taken again, to be ravaged and plundered and dominated. She wanted nothing more than to be the woman who belonged to this man—and the woman to whom he belonged. No past. No future. No need for independence. No fear of being subjugated. Only the moment. The beautiful, perfect moment of unparalleled joy.
Their second mating was less frenzied, but equally intense. The hunger they had fed downstairs returned full force, demanding to be fed again. Dane made sure they didn’t repeat the frantic, hurried joining they’d shared the first time. This time he made love to her as if they had forever. He brought her to the brink time and again, only to stop and build her frustration until she was begging for release.
And when completion claimed her, she fell apart in his arms, crying his name. The words I love you were on the tip of her tongue, but she managed, just barely, to refrain from saying them out loud.
Minutes later, Dane hammered furiously into her, then groaned like a roaring lion when his release came. His big body shuddered convulsively and then collapsed on top of her. He eased off her, pulled her up into his arms and held her. They lay side by side, their breathing ragged, their hearts beating rapidly, sweat glistening on their bodies.
“Dane?” She lifted her head to look at him.
He nuzzled her cheek with his nose. “Go to sleep, Annie. We don’t need to talk about it now.”
She kissed his shoulder, cuddled against him and closed her eyes. Dane was right. Whatever needed to be said could wait. All she wanted now was to sleep in her lover’s arms this one time.
Blogger Bundle Volume VIII: SBTB's Harlequins That Hooked You Page 96