by Cherry Adair
Narrowed-eyed, she looked up at him. "What does being a first mate entail?" How had he gotten so close? Tally refused to step back, and stood her ground while her heart did a loop-de-loop in her chest, her palms suddenly sweaty. "What are you offering me? A job? Or an affair with sightseeing privileges?"
He smiled. "Not a job. Not just an affair." A sea wind ruffled his drying hair. "We'll be lovers. Friends. Partners."
Her heart thudded. Disappointment warred with anticipation. "And when it's over?"
"It won't be."
"Why not?" She held her breath. Don't get your hopes up, Tallulah. Pump that balloon too high and it's a long drop down to reality.
His eye locked on her face. "Because I'm in love with you."
There it was. The brass ring. The words she'd waited most of her life to hear someone say to her. And the fact that it was Michael doing the talking only made them sweeter. Still, darn it, she wanted, needed, more.
The pulse at the base of her throat sped up. Her eyes scanned his features as if she were reading the secret of the universe in his face. "We haven't even known each other a week."
"So? In Paradise Island time, that counts for about twenty years."
Tally couldn't help but laugh. It was shaky, and hopeful. But still a laugh. "Is that like dog years?"
His lips twitched. "You have to admit, it's been a hell of a few days." He took his hands out of his front pockets and reached out to stroke her bruised and battered cheek. "I learned you this week, Tally Cruise. Learned you enough to know that I love you. Enough to know I can't imagine my future without you."
She grabbed his hand and held on to it with both of hers. From somewhere in the distance, she heard the shouts of the island people, probably running for the beach to check out the commotion. But it didn't matter. The only person in the world who mattered was standing right in front of her, looking less confident than he had since the moment she'd met him.
"Hmm," Tally said, watching him. He needed a haircut, his jaw was shadowed and prickly, and he looked as though he'd been in a war. Which he had. He was being so sincere, and earnest, she wanted to tumble him onto the beach and ravish him right there on the spot. Her thumbs moved over the back of his hand, and she saw hope spark to life in his one gorgeous eye.
"No kidding, it's been a hell of a week." She looked up at him so he could read in her gaze how she felt. "I came to Paradise looking for… family. A connection. And if nothing else—closure. I found you when I didn't even know I was looking for you."
"Tally—"
"I'm not finished—"
"No," he said, cutting her off. "Let me say this. I love your strength, your straightforward approach to life. I love your bravery, your willingness to see the good in everyone. I love your confidence in yourself, and your ability to cut any problem down to bite-size pieces."
"Michael—"
"I understand your need to be sure I'll keep your heart safe. And I will. But I'm willing to give you all the time you need to be sure I'm what you want. We can take as long as we like to head Stateside. We ca—"
Tally shook her head and laughed.
Stunned, he just stared at her. "You're laughing? I'm pouring my heart out here, and you're laughing?"
"You're preaching to the choir, Michael."
"Huh?"
Tally wrapped her arms around him and held on, knowing she'd finally found the one place where she belonged. A strong sea breeze buffeted them, but they stayed strong, locked together. Just as they always would.
"I love you," she said simply, honestly. "I love that you're a man of honor in a world with too little of it. I love that you love me exactly as I am. I love that I feel safe in your arms. And I want you to know that you'll always be safe in mine."
"Are you sure?" he asked, studying her features.
"Michael? Have I ever given you the impression I'm a woman who doesn't know what she wants?"
He exhaled, and a brilliant, blinding smile lit his face. "Nope."
Tally stood on her tiptoes. "Then kiss me, sailor, and let's take the long way home."
Chapter Twenty-two
« ^
Six Months Later
"Lucky, leave Duchess alone," Tally laughingly told the cat. "Look at him being territorial. Trying to oust a Great Dane, of all things. Silly cat, pick on someone your own size."
The huge dog shot her a grateful look, but the cat, with his ears back, snarled at Tally and went back to staring at the small pink bundle in her bassinet on the floor beside the dining room table. The baby cooed and smacked Lucky on the head with a little starfish hand. Lucky closed his eyes in ecstasy. He fell over, tail swishing back and forth, and purred loudly enough to be heard in the next room. Everyone at the table laughed.
Marnie, Michael's sister, smiled. "Duchess takes her babysitting duties seriously." The enormous dog did her best to guard her daughter from the furry intruder. Unfortunately, Lucky tried to scratch the dog's nose every time she came too close to her charge. The Great Dane lay as close as she dared, nose on her paws, brown eyes ever vigilant. "I think Lucky wants his own baby to look after."
"Lucky's going to have to wait," Michael said firmly, sharing a look with Tally, who gave him that sparkly eyed look he loved and, with studied innocence, wound her fingers between the long strand of lustrous black pearls around her neck while holding his gaze.
His own look promised retribution. Amazing that just a glance from Tally made his pulse race and his body hum.
Thanksgiving at his father's house in San Jose. And God knew, Michael was thankful. The people he cherished most in the world were right here. He let his gaze travel slowly down the table, his heart overflowing with love and gratitude.
His twin brothers, Kane and Derek. His sister, Marnie, and her husband, Jake Dolan. His brother Kyle sat beside his pretty wife, Delanie. The last time Michael had seen her, deep in the jungles of San Cristobal, she'd been sweaty, pale, and terrified. Michael caught Kyle's eye over her head and shared a remembered moment with his younger brother.
What goes around comes around.
"Have you heard from the couple who ran the hotel?" Geoffrey Wright asked from the head of the table. Michael's father was holding hands quite openly with the woman seated beside him. Michael watched the byplay between his dad and Sunny Hamilton with interest. Sunny was an attractive blond widow who'd been their neighbor for thirty years. Michael felt guilty for being so caught up in his own drama that he hadn't noticed his father falling in love.
"Auntie and Henri are still getting over the loss of Leli'a. Her death struck them hard." Tally put down her fork and casually shifted Michael's hand off her inner thigh and onto her knee, where she held it. Firmly. "She was the daughter of their hearts. Even though she turned crazy toward the end, when she hooked up with Arnaud, they loved her deeply. They're still grieving."
Michael wound his fingers through hers, and Tally gave him that special smile that melted his heart and made other body parts hard. "They have you as a surrogate daughter. And that monstrosity of a house."
"You bet. They're thrilled to have Trevor's house as their new hotel," Tally said dryly. She'd inherited the island along with Church's bank accounts and all his legal businesses. Several hundred arrests had been made after following Church's paper trails around the world.
Tally had happily and willingly handed the whole mess over to T-FLAC for dispersal, and had made a tidy sum in the process. Then she'd turned around and donated all proceeds to a charity to help homeless and needy kids. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with Church or his money. Michael didn't blame her.
"Auntie's in her element, bossing everyone around, getting ready for visitors. And I've never seen Henri so happy. He hated what Trevor was doing. And now that it's over, Paradise can become a true paradise."
"Amen," Michael said. "They have the honeymoon suite saved for us anytime we want to use it."
"I'll pass," Tally muttered, shaking her head.
"So what's
the deal with the island now?" Kane asked from the other end of the table. "Hand over those yams, bro. Now that T-FLAC's bought it, is it off-limits to tourists?"
"Damn straight, it is. I'll be using it for some of my training exercises." Jake handed him the steaming platter. "The terrain, while compact, will prove handy for an interesting variety of combat simulations. It'll also be used as an R&R installation for T-FLAC operatives and their families. Think you're going to need it soon?" Jake checked out his brother-in-law. "I notice you didn't waste time taking your bag upstairs this morning when you arrived."
Michael had seen Kane's bag in the entry hall, too. His brother was traveling light.
"I'm catching the red-eye later. But I might take you up on the offer sometime." To Michael, Kane's smile seemed strained, and he thought he saw a flash of something in his brother's eyes before he speared another slice of turkey and put it on his plate. "Pass the gravy."
"Are you going under?" Michael asked, locking eyes with his brother.
Kane took the gravy boat from his twin, Derek, and slathered gravy on to his third helping of turkey and mashed potatoes. He glanced down the table at Michael. "Yeah. But this assignment will be short and sweet. In, out, pass the beans. No fuss, no muss."
"Famous last words," his sister said, giving him a worried glance. "Where are you going?" She sighed when he looked at her, one eyebrow raised. "Is it hot? Cold? Dry? Wet?"
Kane cut into the turkey slices on his plate. "Sandy," he said dryly. "Very, very sandy."
"Are you taking your camera?" his father asked. Michael knew how their dad worried when any of them were out of the country. Hell, he didn't like the Musketeers being out of the country much, either.
"I'm a photographer, Dad." Kane glanced up, saw his father's expression, and said quietly, "I'll be careful."
"See that you are," Geoffrey told him gruffly. Michael noticed that Sunny squeezed his father's hand. Geoffrey was used to what his sons did for a living. Didn't mean he liked it. It was nice to know that after all these years their father had someone to share his concern with.
"This is getting way too serious for our first family dinner in a year," Kyle told everyone firmly. "Have you heard the one about the CIA agent and the nun?"
When he'd finished the joke, Marnie threw a dinner roll at his head. His wife buried her face in her hands, and the rest of them laughed.
Michael leaned back in his chair, feeling as content and satisfied as Lucky looked sleeping on the windowsill in the sun. It was all so normal. So Wright.
He grinned and caught Tally's hand. She turned away from talking to his brother, Derek, who looked far too damn suave, debonair, and un-rancher-like for a cattleman.
"I love your family," Tally whispered as Michael brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her fingers.
"Good thing, because they're crazy about you." He and Tally had taken four months to sail back to San Francisco. Four months that had given their bodies time to heal, and their love time to grow. Michael hadn't realized how vast his capacity to love was until he met Tally.
Tomorrow all the ladies would go off and find the wedding dress. As far as he was concerned, Tally could wear a sack down the aisle next month and she'd still be beautiful.
"You look very handsome," she said with a soft smile and a loving light in her brilliant blue eyes, "but I miss the patch. Will you wear it for me once in a while, anyway?"
The doctor had been less than pleased that Michael had gone so long without wearing the prosthesis. He was coming to terms with it, and adjusting to his limited vision. "You like that pirate look, huh?"
"Only on you. Have I told you in the last eight and a half seconds how much I love you?" The pearls clicked between her fingers as she rolled the strand slowly across her chest with the flat of her hand.
Holy hell.
Michael rose abruptly to his feet. Stopped several ongoing conversations in mid-word. "Tally needs a nap. See you later." He hauled her up from the table and out of the dining room.
"You haven't finished your dinner!" Marnie yelled after them.
"Apparently they're moving straight to dessert," Kyle said with a laugh, pushing back his chair. "I'm turning the stereo up. Loud!"
Tally got the giggles as music suddenly blared from downstairs. They raced upstairs to Michael's old room, where they'd been staying since their return. He slammed and locked the door behind him, then pressed her against the wall and kissed her until they were both dizzy and breathless with need.
"They all know what we're doing in here, you know." Tally lifted her arms so he could pull off her sweater. He tossed it on the floor. Still laughing, she wrestled with his shirt and sent buttons bouncing on the carpet.
Trying to strip each other simultaneously, they fell onto Michael's bed, kissing, laughing, fumbling with buttons and fasteners. Tally tugged at his zipper, managing to pull it down. She slid her hand inside his briefs and wrapped her hand around his hard length.
Michael stripped her jeans and underwear down her legs, leaving her wearing nothing but the pearls and a smile.
"I can't wait. I can't wait. I can't wait," Tally chanted as they rolled together and bumped into the wall on the other side of the bed with a loud thump. Several of his boyhood swim trophies thudded to the floor.
They were both laughing as Michael slid into her wet heat.
Home, sweet home.
Hoo-yah!
Go deeper into the steamy,
thrilling world of Cherry Adair!
HIDE AND SEEK
Posing as the spoiled girlfriend of an international crimelord, Delanie Eastman braves a remote mountain in South America to find her missing sister. The last person she expects to see is Kyle Wright, the man she had a torrid affair with four years ago. What is he doing so far from home? Though frightened and suspicious of this man who is not what he seems, Delanie cannot resist the dangerous attraction that draws her ever closer to him. For just one touch is all it takes to rekindle the intoxicating flame that still burns between them, igniting an arsenal of desire that could cost them their lives…
Published by Ivy Books.
Available wherever books are sold.
A sassy, shameless romantic
adventure about a man betrayed
and the woman who rocks his
untamed world…
KISS AND TELL
On a peaceful day of soul-searching at her grandmother's old cabin, Marnie Wright is swept away by a longhaired mountain man named Jake Dolan. After being stashed in his secret underground lair, Marnie realizes the guy is military, top secret military. Yet he also has the most beautiful mouth she has ever seen. As for Jake, the last thing he wants in his dangerous life is a woman. But a man would have to be dead not to fall for the sexy-as-sin Marnie Wright. But how could he have feelings for someone who may be killed just for being close to him? His days, after all, are numbered…
Published by Ivy Books.
Available wherever books are sold.
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USA Today-bestselling author CHERRY ADAIR is a multiple RITA finalist and has won numerous awards, including the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Contemporary Romance. Her most recent book, Hide and Seek, was voted one of Romance Writers of America's Top Ten Favorite Books for 2001.
Cherry and her husband share their Western Washington home with a fireproof cat and the world's cutest dog. When she isn't busy writing or redecorating, she spends her time dreaming up ways to torture her characters while helping them find their happy endings.
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