by Abby Green
“I’m not sorry about almost fainting,” she said, smiling. “I meant I was sorry to have gotten into a shouting match with you. I’m not usually such a shrew.”
“You have nothing to apologize for,” he told her firmly. “You weren’t the only one shouting, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“I’d noticed,” she said in a dry tone. Then her face sobered. “I’m also sorry for treating your feelings and wishes as if they count for nothing. I don’t want to deny you your child.”
“We can talk about that later,” he said, anxious not to let more discord mar the day. She still might not understand that marriage wasn’t negotiable; it was a fact, but there was nothing to be gained by antagonizing her again right now.
An odd odor assailed his nostrils, almost as if something was burning—
“The casserole!” they shouted in unison as Rafe bolted for the kitchen.
Five
Marrying him was out of the question.
As she applied mascara to her lashes several days later, Elizabeth felt a definite kick just beneath the right side of her rib cage. Laying her hand gently over the swell of her belly, she thought again of the father of the baby growing within her.
Again? That was a bit of a lie, she thought ruefully. Rafe Thorton had been in her thoughts since the night he’d taken her into the garden house and he hadn’t left yet.
What was she going to do? He hadn’t sounded as if he was kidding when he’d told her she would marry him. Not kidding at all. Even though she knew he didn’t love her, knew she was one of the last women on earth he’d ever take as wife of his own free will, he planned to marry her to provide his child with a legitimate heritage.
An admirable intent, certainly. It would be even more admirable if she wasn’t the one he was intent on marrying.
Rafe’s intense blue eyes materialized in her mental meanderings and she groaned. If only the darned man wasn’t so appealing. Irresistible. Adorable… He’d die if he heard that description, she thought with a soft chuckle. But the chuckle dried in her throat when she recalled the sharp words they’d exchanged.
Since their last confrontation they’d been as polite as casual acquaintances, avoiding anything the least bit controversial. He’d taken her to the Parada del Sol, they’d watched the beginning of a hot air balloon race and, at dawn the day before he’d driven her into the desert to watch the sun rise. He’d been gracious, friendly…and as remote as a distant moon.
There was no way they could marry. Aside from the attraction that seemed to charge the air between them, they had nothing in common. He’d been independent for more than a decade, had lived in the States long enough to be truly an American now. She was enjoying her experience in the country immeasurably, but she’d never known the kind of freedom these people took for granted.
She loved and respected her family. Though Rafe had said little about his own, she had gotten the distinct impression he wasn’t particularly fond of his nearest kin.
She’d been raised with an exceptionally fine liberal arts education that had prepared her for no practical work. Rafe had used his education to carve out an amazingly successful career for himself.
No, marriage was definitely out of the question, regardless of what Rafe had said about Las Vegas.
Las Vegas! Oh, how she’d love to see it. Serena had been married there a short time ago in one of those “have to see it to believe it” chapels, as her sister had put it, laughing gaily. Elizabeth had gotten on the Internet this afternoon and looked up some information on the town that had risen in the middle of the Nevada desert. It certainly looked like a fascinating place and she was determined to visit it one day.
The baby stirred beneath her palm and she rubbed her hand over her belly again, sighing. The next few months couldn’t go fast enough. Not only was she aching with the need to hold her child in her arms, she was nearly as excited at the thought of having a waistline again.
It was bad enough that Rafe had to provoke her into acting like a fishwife, but even worse that she felt so fat and unattractive around him. She longed for her former slim figure, the figure she’d had when they’d first met and he hadn’t known who she was.
A knock on the door of her suite startled her and she nearly dropped the mascara wand she was still holding.
“Are you ready?”
“Almost. Just give me a moment.”
Hastily she finished adding the little makeup she normally wore and picked up her jacket and bag from where she’d laid them on the bed. Opening the door, she stepped into the hallway to face Rafe and her breath caught in her throat.
He was so handsome. In a simple cream shirt and khaki pants, he managed to look better to her than other men did in a tux. He smiled when he saw her, and the deep creases his dimples made flashed in his lean cheeks.
“Ready to go?” he asked her.
“Ready.” As he took her elbow and escorted her through the house she added, “Though it might be nice to know where we’re headed.”
“I told you it’s a surprise,” he said, grinning smugly. He led her into the garage and held the door of the sleek Mercedes she’d discovered he kept in addition to his serviceable truck. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”
He drove her northeast through the city to Scottsdale Municipal Airport where he apparently already had arranged a flight. But when they walked onto the airfield, Elizabeth stopped and resisted his hand on her arm urging her forward.
“That’s a small plane,” she said in dismay. And it was. Though she’d often taken puddle-jumpers back and forth between Wynborough and the U.K., this plane looked like a life-sized toy. Two men standing outside the single door waved when they caught sight of Rafe and again he urged her forward.
“It’s a twin-engine and it’s bigger than some private planes,” Rafe said. “If I had a pilot’s license, we could have taken a two-seater.”
“And how many seats are there in this?” she asked apprehensively.
“Four. That’s the pilot and co-pilot waiting for us.”
“It takes two men to fly something this small?”
“Not normally, no. This usually is only used for pleasure tours around the city.”
“Ah-hah! So we’re going somewhere outside Phoenix.”
By then they had reached the waiting pilots, and after quick introductions Elizabeth was led up a very small, very steep flight of steps into the tiny cabin.
It was beautifully appointed, far nicer than she’d expected. Served her right for forgetting that while Rafe might act like nothing more than an American businessman, he had a small fortune at his disposal.
As she settled into the comfortable leather seat she asked, “Now do I get to know where we’re going?”
“Actually, we have two destinations,” Rafe told her. “We’ll only be doing a flyover of the first one, though. Just settle back and enjoy.”
“Settle back and enjoy,” she grumbled. But the anticipation dancing in his eyes seduced her into an equally good humor, and as the little plane rose and circled to the north, she relaxed and enjoyed the receding view of the city and the interesting combination of desert and mountain around it.
“That’s Flagstaff,” Rafe told her a few minutes later. “And in just a minute, if you look out your window, you’ll see the highest point in the state of Arizona, Humphrey’s Peak.”
“Who was Humphrey?”
He laughed. “I don’t have a clue. See, I told you I didn’t know everything about this country.”
She continued to gaze out her window at the peaks and valleys they passed, and then they flew over a densely wooded forest. “Where are we now?” she asked.
“Just keep watching.” Rafe unbuckled his seat belt and came to kneel at her side. “In another minute or two, you should be able to see it.”
“See what?” She was intensely aware of his big warm body so close, the clean smell of newly showered man and cologne. To distract herself she angled an elbow at his ribs, but
he dodged away, chuckling. He was impossible to resist in this mood. And she was so tired of forcing herself to ignore the pull of sensual promise that his intense eyes promised.
“Now look,” he said in her ear and she turned her head and peered out her window, resolutely ignoring the shiver that rushed down her spine at the sensation of hot breath bathing her sensitive earlobe.
“Oh! It’s—it’s incredible. Beautiful. Huge.” Below their little plane the Grand Canyon yawned wider and deeper than she’d ever thought possible. She turned to him, overwhelmed. “Oh, Rafe, thank you! I hadn’t expected to get to see this during my trip.”
His face was only inches away, his broad shoulders and arms bracketing her seat and creating a small haven of intimacy. Before she allowed herself to think too much about it, she leaned forward and brushed a soft kiss over his lips. Then she quickly turned her head and looked out the window again.
“What happened to the ‘no kissing’ edict?” he asked in her ear. His voice was deep and seductive, and she took deep breaths until the urge to turn back into his arms subsided enough to control.
She cleared her throat. “I made the rule. I can break it if I like,” she said.
He laughed yet again and warm breath played over her ear. Slowly his arms came around her from behind, drawing her back against his chest, surrounding her with heat and scent and the feel of his hard forearms clasped over her belly. Her breasts rested against his arms and her breath began to come faster as desire rushed through her.
To distract herself from her body’s messages, she concentrated on the glowing colors of the canyon and the distinct striations in the rock that she knew marked different periods of Earth’s geological history dating back millions of years.
The plane banked to the left, turning away from the morning sun and heading west as they followed the shining ribbon that was the mighty Colorado River winding through the canyon. The canyon narrowed, then widened again and finally a huge, gleaming lake appeared beneath them.
“That’s Lake Mead,” Rafe explained. “It’s man-made, a result of the Hoover Dam, which you’ll see in a minute.”
And then the dam was past, and they were turning due west once again. The flat plain of a desert spread below them and in the distance some sort of city rose out of the desert like a mirage—
“Where are we?” Suspicion tinged her tone.
“Don’t recognize Tinseltown? I wish I’d been able to bring you in at night, but we’d have had to miss the canyon then.” Casually, Rafe withdrew his arms and straightened, returning to his seat to buckle himself in as if he was completely unaffected by the embrace in which he’d been holding her.
“Las Vegas! We’re going to Las Vegas?” She didn’t know whether to be apprehensive or excited. It couldn’t be a coincidence that he’d brought her here when they’d been dancing around the topic of marriage for days. Could it?
“It’s a unique place.”
“My sister was married here recently,” she informed him. “I’m not sure this is such a good idea.”
Rafe shrugged his shoulders. “I thought you’d enjoy spending the day here. But if not, we can just refuel and head back home.”
“No, it’s not that. I’m sure I would enjoy it. But…” There was no way to say it without sounding paranoid and silly. I’m afraid you’ll make me marry you? Too ridiculous for words. She was entirely too suspicious for her own good.
As if he’d read her mind, Rafe laid a hand gently over hers. “You’ll like it, I promise,” he said. “I would never make you do something that you didn’t want to do.”
And so she found herself in a taxi less than half an hour later, heading through the glaring sunshine to a city that never slept.
He took her to Caesar’s first, leading her through the casinos to the huge shopping plaza beyond. They lunched at the Italian restaurant in the center and she marveled at the sky that changed from dawn to dusk, through night and back to day again in less than an hour.
At the Mirage, Rafe had gotten tickets to a special showing of Siegfried and Roy’s magic show that included unbelievable special effects as well as their trademark white tigers and other animals. When the show ended, Rafe escorted her to the front desk, where the mention of his name produced quick and efficient service in a private office.
Pocketing the key he had received, Rafe smiled at her startled expression as he led her to the elevator. “Well, you can’t expect to go all day without rest, can you? I got a suite so that you could take a nap if you like.”
The concierge attendant led them to their room and didn’t blink an eye when Rafe told him they had no luggage. “Very good, sir,” was the man’s only reaction before he shut the door, leaving the two of them standing in the foyer of the spacious suite.
“I’m impressed,” she said lightly, trying to conceal the sudden attack of nerves that assailed her. “Don’t they usually reserve these for the folks who drop a significant bundle with their establishment every year?”
“There are ways around that.” Rafe prowled the room like the great tigers they’d just seen, opening doors and cabinets. He gestured. “The bedroom’s through here. Why don’t you lie down for a while?”
She was tired, even if she hated to admit it to him. The day had been full of fun and excitement and a lot of walking—more than she was accustomed to, if she was honest. While she hadn’t gained a great deal of weight yet, the eight pounds she’d added to her slender frame made a difference and her feet were aching.
“What are you going to do?” she asked. The thought of sleeping in the single bedroom of the suite while Rafe prowled the living area made her feel vulnerable in a not entirely reasonable way. Which was stupid, she reflected, when she slept in his home every night.
Still, their bedroom suites were at opposite ends of the hallway in his house and she didn’t even see him after dinner unless she so chose.
“I’ll find something to occupy an hour or two,” he assured her. “I’ll go downstairs and gamble away enough money to make our hosts happy. I’ll be back near six, though, because I want to show you the volcano outside the hotel and then watch the pirate ship battle the British down at Treasure Island. You have to see it to believe it. Somewhere in there, we’ll get some dinner.”
“That sounds lovely.” She smiled at him across the room and his gaze seemed to snare her so that she couldn’t look away. His eyes were deeply blue and compelling, as if he were willing her toward him. The moment stretched and shimmered between them.
In a deep, rough voice, he said, “Lovely enough for another kiss?”
Every nerve in her body sprang to life. She wanted to kiss him and she didn’t. Stalling, she said, “Is that the price for today?”
He was already starting across the room. “No price tag on the day,” he said. “This would be purely a bonus for extraordinary service.”
He was directly in front of her now, and she had to tilt her head back to see his face. “Well,” she said, “I guess you should get a bonus. It’s been a pretty spectacular day.” She lowered her gaze to the open neck of the shirt he wore, waiting for him to take the lead.
“But I’m not allowed to kiss you, remember?” He was breathing faster and his eyes were even more intense than usual, narrowed and brilliant with desire, but there was indulgent humor in his voice.
“I’d forgotten,” she said. “In that case…” Taking a deep breath for courage, she stepped closer and lifted her hands to his shoulders to balance herself, then stood on tiptoe. “Thank you,” she whispered and pressed a soft kiss to his smiling lips, momentarily molding her mouth to his firm, warm one.
His hands came up to her wrists, holding her in place, and he made a sound of approval deep in his throat. Then before she could back away, his mouth shifted against hers, hardening in demand. The kiss became his instead of hers and she whimpered at the surge of sensation that tightened her body with a desire she’d been suppressing for days.
Her hands gripped his sh
oulders and he slid his own down from her wrists, traveling over the curves of her body as he held her mouth with his, demanding a response that she gave without thinking, without hesitation. His thumbs briefly caressed her hipbones, still evident despite the mound of his child in her womb, and then he gripped her soft curves, pulling her against him and shocking her system with the hard warm promise of his big body.
This, she thought hazily, was what she’d remembered from their first meeting, this magnetic pull that erased conscious decision and attracted her to him. Opposite charges creating a bond. The hard probe of his tongue sought out every response from her own; his muscled arms and shoulders blocked out the light as he loomed over her, making her feel small and fragile. Against her belly, taut masculine flesh swelled, and when he lifted her off her feet and his arousal found the hidden pocket of warmth at her thighs, her startled intake of breath matched the groan wrenched from his throat.
This was the man about whom she’d woven her foolish fantasies, the man whose skillful hands and hard body had claimed her, making it impossible for her to forget him. She had to remember…what? Her distracted thoughts whirled in her head under the sensual onslaught, and as desire mounted it became less and less crucial that she recall what her brain was struggling to bring into focus.
His hands stroked restlessly up and down her back; he no longer needed to bind her to him. One big palm slipped around her rib cage to cover a breast. Even through her clothing, his thumb sought out the tender peak, circling her nipple until it stood out in bold relief, the contact sending arrows of arousal straight to the aching flesh between her legs. Restlessly she pressed herself closer. As if he recognized her need, he slipped one hard thigh between hers, pressing upward so that she was firmly lodged against his leg, the small press and release of his muscled thigh spiraling her closer and closer to the reckless edge of passion.
Finally he released her mouth, sliding his lips along her jaw and down to the vulnerable flesh beneath her chin, sucking and licking, flicking a relentless rhythm over the tender skin as he worked his way down to the upper swells of her breasts. He nuzzled aside the button-front shirt she wore, but eventually the fabric frustrated him and he abandoned his efforts, simply closing his lips over the taut nipple shielded from his view and suckling strongly.