“Knowing the outcome, if you could go back in time, would you still pull the child to safety?”
Thane was surprised by her question. Everyone who had been around years before and knew of his loss had made the usual comments: The Lord works in mysterious ways. Fate has a better purpose for you. And the worst: Some things weren’t meant to be. No one but Autumn had the guts to ask the ultimate question: Would he do it again? His mind wanted to scream, No, I wouldn’t do it again. He’d let the boy take his chances against the bone-crushing metal. Maybe someone else would have played hero and saved the boy, even though he knew no one else had been within reach. His heart knew the answer the moment Autumn voiced the question. “Yes.”
“Did you say something?”
Thane cleared his throat. “I said, yes, knowing everything that would happen, I would still save the boy.”
Autumn froze. Where was the brass band and fireworks? No choir of singing angels appeared. No cupids. No arrows. She stared at Thane’s reflection in the window and knew. She was in love. How had that happened? They were entirely wrong for each other. He was a hero, and the strength and conviction in his voice when he had admitted he would do it all over again sent a shiver down her back. He meant it. Afraid, she pushed her confused feelings toward Thane behind a thick door in her mind and slammed it shut. Still playing the coward, O’Neil? Your ancestors must be rolling in their graves. Collecting her thoughts, she asked, “Who did you fail?”
“My parents, professors, doctors, the residents at Maple Leaf, and you.”
“Me?”
“Don’t you get it yet? He saw the reflection of her head shaking. “Geriatrics wasn’t my first choice, Autumn. If it wasn’t for the accident, I would never have set foot in Maple Leaf.” He turned and faced her. “I’m sorry, Autumn, but given a free choice, I wouldn’t have been Paddy’s doctor.”
“But you were given a free choice. I asked you if you would do it all over again and you said yes.” She watched his brow wrinkle in confusion. “You can’t have it both ways, Thane.” She rose, slowly made her way across the room, and stood directly in front of him. She reached for his hand and tenderly pressed a kiss in the middle of his palm. “Did your parents disown you after the accident?”
Heat throbbed where her lips had touched. “No.”
Her tongue flicked over the back of his fingers. “Did your schools demand their diplomas back?”
Thane swallowed hard. “No.”
A playful nip at the base of his thumb caused his hand to tremble. “Did the American Medical Association demand your stethoscope back?”
A smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. “No.”
“I haven’t noticed the residents of Maple Leaf dropping like flies, so I would have to presume you’re doing your job.” She brought his hand up and rubbed it against her cheek.
“Has anyone ever told you you have a way with words, Ms. O’Neil?”
“It runs in the family. I take after Paddy.” Her breath grew ragged as his thumb caressed her lower lip. “You didn’t fail anyone, Thane. Only your own expectations.”
“You don’t mind a second-choice doctor treating Paddy?”
“No, as long as it is a second-choice doctor and not a second-class one.”
“I have never been second-class.”
“You’ve always been first-class all the way, haven’t you?”
Thane was concentrating on her freckles. “Hmmm . . .”
“So what are you doing standing here with a middle-class Irish lass from Brooklyn?”
Thane lowered his head and gently brushed her mouth with his. “Kissing her.” His tongue swept across her lower lip. “It runs in my family.”
Autumn leaned in closer. “What does?”
“Kissing first-class women.” He captured her sigh with his mouth.
Warm, luscious sensations tingled from her every nerve ending as he deepened the kiss. Her hands clung to Thane’s back as his tongue swept into the depths of her mouth. The incredible feeling she was trying to define and understand rolled through her like thunder. It started low and intense and grew as it rumbled across the very fiber of her soul.
Thane’s fingers trembled as they gathered the fiery brilliance of her hair. His lips left hers for a moment. “I love your hair.”
Absently she mumbled. “It’s too wild.” She stood on her toes and reached for his mouth.
His rich chuckle feathered across her moist lips. “I know.”
The feel of his ordinary cotton shirt turned sensual under her fingertips as they flowed up his back and into the thick texture of his hair. Heat burned a path down her back as Thane’s hand pressed her closer. A moan tumbled from her lips when he lightly nipped at her moist lower lip.
“You taste like the sweet wine of the gods, wild and forbidden.”
Her kiss landed on the rough texture of his jaw. “Forbidden?”
“You’re the granddaughter of one of my patients.” His teeth toyed with the tip of her delicate earlobe. “Somewhere it must be written that I’m not allowed to have such wanton desires for a patient’s relative.”
Autumn started to back up toward the couch. “I’ll have Paddy removed from Maple Leaf in the morning.”
Thane chuckled as they tumbled onto the couch. He didn’t care if there really was such a ridiculous rule. He could no more stop these growing feelings for Autumn than stand by and watch a small child get hit by a car. She was forcing his eyes to see the world in a totally different light. He looked down at her smiling, flushed face and shifted his weight into a more comfortable position for her. “You know this is going to complicate things.”
She felt his arousal in the cradle of her thighs. “You mean there really is such a rule?”
He shuddered as she shifted her hips. “How in the hell should I know? I can’t even remember the Hippocratic Oath when you’re in the same room.” He tenderly brushed a stray curl from her cheek. “I was referring to the fact that after the first time I kissed you, that was all I thought about.” He sucked in a ragged breath as she gently rocked her hips again. “Lord knows what will constantly be on my mind after tonight.” She cocked an eyebrow. “Please tell me there is going to be a tonight, Autumn. I’m dying here.”
Her smile was pure bewitchery. “Try getting out of it.”
He felt his relief clear down to his toes. He tenderly traced her slightly swollen mouth. “Thank you.”
Graceful fingers stroked his cheek. “Aren’t you supposed to say that afterward?”
His smile was devilish. “I don’t plan on having that much energy left.”
“Promises, promises,” she whispered as his mouth descended. Silk strands of his hair slipped through her fingers. She opened her lips to taste the passion of his thrusting tongue. Desire and need collided and raged unchecked as his hand gently cupped her breast. Her fingers shook as she tried to slide one of his buttons through its opening.
Thane felt her frustration and tore his mouth away from the sweet temptation of her lips. “Here, let me help.”
Autumn stopped his hand from undoing his own buttons. “At Christmas you wouldn’t dream of opening someone else’s present would you?”
“Am I your present?”
She brushed aside his hand and tackled the row of buttons. “Be thankful I’m not ripping the wrapping from you.”
“I see what you mean.” He started to undo her buttons and had to sit up to unfasten the last two.
Autumn frowned and pulled his shirt from the waist of his pants. “That’s not fair.”
He glanced down at his shirt. “What?”
“You’re wearing a T-shirt underneath.”
He gazed at her delicate pink brassiere and the creamy pale skin showing from her throat to her waist. He shrugged out of the shirt and dropped it onto the floor. The white T-shirt followed. “Better?”
Both of her hands slid up his scrumptious chest. Fine, soft hair tickled her fingers. “Christmas never was this good.”
/>
Thane vaguely heard her reply as he moved her blouse aside. Twin orbs overflowed a lacy pink bra. His hands cupping the mounds, he placed a kiss on each of the tips of the straining dusky nipples bursting through the delicate lace. “Beautiful.”
Autumn dug her fingers into Thane’s broad shoulders as she arched her back. She moaned in ecstasy when the front clasp of the bra came undone. The gentle pulling of his lips on her rigid nipples made a trickle of moisture flow from the junction of her thighs. She raised her hips and thrust against the front of his straining pants.
His breathing was harsh and sporadic. The control he was so desperately trying to hold on to was slipping rapidly out of his reach. He trailed a moist path of kisses to the captivating valley between her breasts. “We have to slow down.”
Trembling fingers fumbled with the buckle of his belt. “Why?”
Thane’s mouth moved down the silky smoothness of her stomach. His tongue circled the exquisite shape of her navel. He reached for her hips and held her still. “We’re going too fast.”
Frustrated, she tried reaching for the snap of his pants. “Lord, Thane, don’t tell me there are rules for this too.”
His hands released the waistband of her pants and halted in their downward descent. He raised his head and gazed into Autumn’s flushed, taut face. His need and desire were mirrored there. He tried to smile, “Well go slower the next time.”
She released the snap and ran a fingernail down his straining zipper. “Maybe.”
Thane backed away from her warm fingers and took off her pants, silk underwear, and thick gold socks in one swoop. He stood up and quickly finished undressing while eyeing the exquisite present he’d just unwrapped. “Beautiful doesn’t do you justice.” Pale, creamy skin shimmered like marble against the dark green of the couch.
Autumn gazed over every inch of his body, illuminated by the dull glare of the silent television. He was magnificent in his need. She raised a hand. “Superb.”
Thane knelt and caressed a warm, pale thigh. “I should take you to bed.”
Silken thighs parted for his probing fingers. Her head fell back in ecstasy. “A gentleman would.”
Her moist heat dampened his fingers. He shuddered as her moan of pleasure filled the room. His tongue teased the sensitive peaks of her breasts as he lifted her hips. “I thought you didn’t like gentlemen.”
Autumn felt his hardness gently probing for the opening buried beneath the fiery curls of her womanhood and wrapped her thighs around his waist. “Next time.”
Thane slipped into paradise and mumbled one word before all coherent thoughts vanished. “Maybe.”
#
Autumn smiled a satisfied smile into the damp hair covering Thane’s chest. To think she used to call this man stuffy! She slowly opened one eye and glanced at the glow still coming from the television. The video of Dracula had finished and rewound over an hour ago. Some idiot, dressed in a gorilla suit, was trying to sell used cars. She closed her eye, snuggled deeper into Thane’s embrace, and wondered how long they had been lying on the living room floor.
Thane felt Autumn squirm and tried to gather his senses. He opened his eyes and glanced around the room. Sure enough, they were exactly where he thought they were. Smack dab in the middle of her living room floor, buck naked, except for Autumn’s blouse, which he never even got around to taking all the way off. He eyed the overturned coffee table, spilled popcorn, and assorted articles of clothing with distaste. You’re a real class number, Clayborne. Elephants made love with more finesse.
His arms tightened protectively around the woman sleeping on his chest. She must be uncomfortable. What in the hell could he say to her? Nothing like this ever happened to me before? He wasn’t completely innocent when it came to the opposite sex. He had always chosen his partners for their sophistication and understanding of the situation. Never once had he awakened on the floor with a half-dressed woman. Autumn deserved something better than a quick toss on the couch.
He had had every intention of carrying her to bed and making love to her far into the night. His mistake had been touching her. But how was he supposed to make love to her without touching her? He shivered in self-disgust. What had happened to his self-control? Grown men of thirty-three were supposed to have some control.
Autumn felt him shiver. “Cold?”
Thane tightened his hold. “Autumn, I’m sorry.”
Surprised, she raised her head from its comfortable pillow. “For what?”
He slipped a hand out from under her and waved it around the room. “For the couch, the floor, for turning your living room into the aftermath of a kiddie matinee.”
She chuckled. For a moment there she had thought he was upset that they had made love.
He picked up a kernel of popcorn and held it under her nose. “Look at this place.” His brow furrowed as he glanced at the coffee table. “Who knocked over the table?”
A guilty flush swept up her cheek. “I did.”
Thane remembered how it had gotten knocked over and grinned. “Impatient, weren’t you.”
Autumn playfully yanked a handful of chest hair.
“Ouch!”
“It isn’t nice to remind a lady of her transgressions.” She kissed the tender spot on his chest. “If my memory serves me right, you were the one begging.”
Thane playfully smacked her bottom and slid out from underneath her. “If you don’t behave yourself, I’ll go home, and then you won’t find out just how much of a gentleman I can be.” He placed a light kiss on the pink area and pulled her blouse down over the tempting sight.
Autumn plopped her chin on her folded arms and watched as Thane locked the front door, clicked off the VCR, and turned off the television. His naked body moved with graceful fluidity. Not a movement was wasted, just the way he made love.
He silently made his way back to her and scooped her up into his arms. “I presume you do own a bed.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “It’s a very big bed.”
His smile was hidden by the darkness as he headed for what he hoped was the bedroom. “Good, we’re going to need every inch of it.”
Chapter Six
Thane slowly moved the pillow from on top of his head and tried to glance around the sun-drenched room. The most he could see from his position was the massive wooden headboard of the old-fashioned sleigh bed, a large dresser, and patches of flowery yellow wallpaper. He looked down the length of his arm and the woman lying asleep under it and groaned. They had done it again.
Being careful not to wake Autumn, he slowly turned over and sat up. Blankets were twisted, bunched, and wrapped around their bodies without reason or direction. Autumn’s arm hung over the side of the bed, while one leg was uncovered to midthigh. The yellow chenille bedspread was a pile on the floor, and Autumn’s blouse and bra decorated a highly polished dressing table. The blood supply to his foot was being cut off by a tangled sheet that had come off the bed. He ran a hand down his face and tried to make sense of it all. He couldn’t. He glanced back down at Autumn and shook his head. At least they hadn’t knocked over any more furniture.
What had happened? When he had carried her into the bedroom he had had every intention of making slow, sweet love to her. Somewhere between the doorway and the bed his fine, gentlemanly intentions were shot to hell. A smile came to his lips as he remembered what precisely had mortally wounded his plans. Freckles! When the light had been flicked on, he had noticed something the darkness of the living room had hidden—freckles. The gentle sloping of Autumn’s light-complected breasts were covered with what seemed like hundreds of tiny freckles. The burning need to count every one of those intriguing specks had consumed him. He had counted to a measly thirty-nine when the mattress had taken their weight and ended his lesson in arithmetic.
The fire that had raged out of control in the living room had reignited into an inferno devouring its victims, who naively thought they could contain its flames. Thane’s one glimmer
of reassurance that he had not gone over the edge was the fact that Autumn seemed just as surprised and carried away by the intensity.
He unwrapped a blanket from around Autumn’s waist and gently draped it over her. Satisfaction washed over him as she moaned and moved closer to his warmth. His arms reached out to hold her. Electrifying red curls sprang in every direction when she cuddled nearer and used his shoulder for a pillow. Thane reached up and removed the clinging wisps from his face.
Nothing in his life had prepared him for the power of this woman. When she looked at him, he ached. Her touch was paradise and her lips were like cool water to a thirsty man. She had plagued his existence for the past six months, tormenting him with endless legs and chaotic activities at the home. Now that he had her promise of good behavior, Autumn O’Neil had turned into an epidemic. One with no known cure.
Autumn pressed her lips against Thane’s collarbone and smiled as the blissful serenity of sleep evaporated. She wasn’t dreaming. Thane was in her bed, and last night had happened. A fiery blush stole up her cheeks as she remembered the passionate details. Had she really done those things? Her breath feathered across the fine bronze hair blanketing his chest. “Oh, my!”
“You could say that again.” Thane chuckled.
She buried her face deeper into the soft curls. What in the world was she going to say to him? I’m not this kind of girl?
Thane gently cupped her chin and forced it up. Tenderness softened his heart when he saw the flush of embarrassment staining her face. Autumn was definitely not used to waking up in the arms of a lover. He studied her anxious features and realized that was what they were—lovers. His thumb was gentle as it traced her lower lip. “Do you know you talk in your sleep?”
“What did I say?” Please, please, please don’t let it be anything embarrassing. Like how much I’ve been admiring your tight buns, or the erotic dream I had the other night about you in a pumpkin patch. She lowered her eyes as visions of last night flashed through her mind. Her erotic dream would be rated PG against the real thing.
Midnight Kiss Page 7