by Gina Wilkins
And now she was kissing him like she meant it. Like she wanted him. Like she needed him almost as much as he needed her. And he found he didn’t have the strength to question her reasons. Didn’t have the willpower to draw back and give her a chance to change her mind.
“Dana,” he muttered against her lips, his hands gripping her waist, holding her close to the arousal he couldn’t have concealed from her if he’d tried. “I want you. Damn it, I’ve wanted you for more than a year, since the first day you walked into the club and told me your name.”
Her smile was sweet, a little shy. “I wasn’t sure—”
“I wouldn’t admit it, even to myself. You always seemed so distant, so unapproachable. So far away.”
She tightened her arms around his neck. “I’m here now,” she murmured against his mouth. “And I want you, too.”
A shudder went through him. “Are you sure?” he asked rawly.
Her lips curved into a tiny smile. “Do you really think I’d have gone to all this trouble just to feed you dinner? Don’t you even know a staged seduction when you see one, Cody Carson?”
It no longer mattered why she’d reached out to him-only that she had. Cody kissed her again, until they were both gasping for oxygen. And then he drew, away and held out his hand, his eyes locked with hers.
Though her smile trembled, Dana placed her palm in his without hesitation.
They walked into his bedroom together for the first time. Cody reached for the lamp on the nightstand; Dana stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Don’t,” she whispered. “Not this time.”
He smiled and turned to take her in his arms. “Are you going to be shy?”
“Maybe a little.” She drew a deep breath. “There’s something you should know.”
Straining to see her through the dim light that filtered in from outside, he smoothed a strand of hair away from her face. “What is it, darlin’?”
She seemed to choose her words with care. “This, um, this is our wedding night, in a way.”
He smiled in anticipation. “Yes. Our first night together.”
“A first for me in more ways than one.”
He blinked as her meaning hit him. “You mean-?”
“I was a virgin bride, Cody. I know it’s terribly old-fashioned of me, but that’s the way it is. Do you mind?”
“Mind?” he repeated, cupping her face in trembling hands. “No, of course not. I’m honored beyond words. It’s just that I didn’t realize…I thought…”
“I said I’d dated someone before you,” she reminded him quietly. “I never said I went to bed with him.”
“Dana.” Her name was a reverent whisper. He brushed his lips across her face, his heart breaking with the beauty of her gift to him. “I won’t hurt you,” he promised. “Not tonight. Not ever.”
“I know you won’t, Cody,” she murmured, rising on tiptoes to slip her arms trustingly around his neck. “You gave me your word when you made me your wife.”
She believed in him in a way no one had before her, Cody realized as he pressed his lips to hers and bore her gently down to the bed. He’d never been more determined to prove himself worthy of anyone’s trust.
Starting now.
He made love to her slowly, tenderly, painstakingly. He undressed her with reverent hands, stopping often to explore and caress. He found a patience within himself he hadn’t known he possessed.
Dana responded eagerly, urging him on when he paused a bit too long, her breath catching in ragged little cries when he did something she particularly liked.
She tried to return the pleasure, but he held her still. This time, he told her gently, was for her.
There would be plenty of other times for him.
“I like the sound of that,” she whispered, stroking his perspiration-damp cheek.
“So do I,” he murmured, lowering his head to kiss her again. “Oh, Dana—so do I.”
He loved her until she was incapable of coherent speech, until she clung to him and writhed beneath him with a hunger so great that there was no room for apprehension or inhibition. He’d reined his own needs so tightly that he was trembling, drenched in sweat, every muscle rigid, but still he held back. Still he gave. And she accepted his ministrations with gratifying delight.
He told her she was beautiful, told her she was perfect, - told her he wanted her as he’d never wanted before. He meant every word.
And when he finally slipped carefully, lingeringly inside
her, he felt as though he’d found something he’d been
looking for all his life.
Dana. His wife.
He managed to restrain himself until he’d brought her to
a shattering, gasping climax in his arms, his name on her lips as she convulsed delicately beneath him. He’d never heard
anything more beautiful.
Only then did he allow himself the freedom to let go, to
give in to the needs that had been threatening to rip him
apart. Only then did he give himself permission to fly.
***
It felt like a very long time before he slowly, reluctantly returned to earth. Holding Dana close to his heart, he rolled to his side, tucking her tenderly next to him.
“We’ll move your things in here tomorrow,” he murmured as his eyes closed, and he was aware of the new note of possessiveness in his voice. “From now on, you sleep here. With me. Where you belong.”
Dana went very still, and he was prepared for her to protest his arrogant presumption. He was relieved when she only nodded against his shoulder. “Fine,” she murmured. “If that’s what you want.”
It wasn’t exactly what he’d hoped she would say, but he was suddenly too tired to pursue it. The strain of the past weeks seemed to weigh heavily on him then, the shattering release of tension leaving him sated and lethargic. He nestled her closer, his cheek on her soft hair.
“Rest now,” he whispered, his lips moving against her temple. “We have plenty of time to talk later.”
She murmured an unintelligible agreement and rested her hand on his chest, just over his still-pounding heart. They fell asleep without moving again.
Over the next few days, Dana discovered the true meaning of the term “conflicting emotions.” Her moods swung wildly between happiness and doubt, sadness and joy, fear and anticipation.
She was relieved that Barbara’s condition hadn’t worsened, but sadly resigned to the inevitable outcome of the disease.
She was pleased that Andy’s guardianship had been settled, but she didn’t want to have to lose her stepmother in order to have her little brother with her.
She was satisfied with her progress in her classes, but growing bored with the time she now had on her hands in the evenings alone.
She was wholeheartedly, head-over-heels, crazy in love with her husband, but she didn’t have the courage to tell him so. Probably because he’d never said the words to her.
If there’d ever been a more complex, puzzling, utterly bewildering man than Cody Carson, Dana had never encountered one. One minute he was making love to her so beautifully, so passionately, she thought she’d shatter with pleasure. The next minute he’d pull back, his expressive eyes shuttered, his flashing smile forced. And she would have no idea what she’d done, what she’d said, to cause him to withdraw from her.
He was still trying so hard, so obviously, to please her. He’d cut out the wisecracks, the irreverent jokes, the exasperating teasing. No woman could have asked for a more attentive, more thoughtful, more considerate husband.
And it was driving Dana slowly insane.
Cody was trying so hard to be perfect that he hardly resembled the man she’d married. The man she’d fallen in love with.
She tried to approach the subject a time or two. Suggested that it wasn’t necessary for him to spend every free minute catering to her. That she didn’t need constant attention, or a puppylike eagerness to please. She just wanted him to be himself. Cody. Th
e clown. The dreamer. The lover.
The man—flaws and all.
He didn’t seem to hear a word she said.
It was almost time for the Carson family gathering she’d first heard about six weeks ago—the day Jake had come up with the brilliant idea of having Cody and Dana pose as a couple. Dana and Cody made tentative plans to go—depending, of course, on her stepmother’s condition.
Dana called Memphis every day, only to be assured by Hilda that Barbara was no better, but no worse, either. There was no reason Cody and Dana shouldn’t take one weekend off for his family, Hilda insisted, seconded vehe mently by Barbara. Dana gave Hilda emergency numbers and a long list of instructions, which the longtime retainer accepted with patient understanding.
And finally the designated Saturday morning arrived, and it was time to go. And Dana was a nervous wreck.
“Relax,” Cody insisted as he drove the last few miles toward his grandmother’s house in Malvern, where the family had agreed to gather in honor of her eightieth birthday. “Nothing’s going to go wrong in Memphis. And if it does, I can have you there in three and a half hours if I break a few speed limits.”
Dana tucked her hair behind her ear. “I know. I talked to Barbara just before we left home. She sounded fine.”
“Then why are you so nervous? Surely you aren’t worried about spending the day with my family.”
“I’m not?” Dana asked wryly.
“Of course not,” he assured her firmly. “They’re very nice people, Dana. You’ve already met most of them. They like you. They love me. What more could you ask?”
She made a face at him. “Don’t tell me this is going to be easy for you. It’s the first time you’ve seen any of them but Rachel since we were married. You know they’re all going to make a big deal of it.”
“I would hope so,” he said with teasing indignance. “Being married is a big deal. I expect my family to treat me with the new respect I deserve as a mature, married man.”
“I’ll agree with the married part,” Dana murmured. “As for the maturity.”
He chuckled and changed the subject. Dana thought wistfully that there would have been a time when he’d have shouted in overstated outrage, and then have immediately retaliated. Outrageously, most likely.
She missed the old Cody.
Chapter Fifteen
Granny Fran met them at her door, visibly quivering with excitement at welcoming her grandson and his new bride.
“Cody,” she cried, opening her arms to him. “Oh, it’s so good to see you!”
Cody gathered his petite, gray-haired grandmother close, his expression so tender that Dana felt a lump form in her throat. He had so much love to give-would he ever feel free to love her?
Frances Carson turned to Dana then, studying her in satisfaction. “Dana,” she said, holding out steady, age-spotted hands. “Welcome to my home-and to our family.”
Touched by the simple words, Dana took the woman’s hands in her own and pressed a shy kiss against her soft, lined cheek. “Thank you,” she said. “Happy birthday, Granny Fran.”
“Thank you, dear. Come in. Everyone else is already here and they’re eager to see you.”
Dana silently gulped. As though sensing her sudden surge of panic, Cody slipped an arm around her waist.
Frances led them through her small, neat house to the back lawn where the family had gathered with picnic tables and lawn chairs. “It’s a good thing the weather is still so nice,” Frances commented. “This mob fills my house from rafter to rafter when they all try to get inside.”
Had Dana not met most of Cody’s family at one time or another, she would never have been able to learn all their names that day. There seemed to be dozens of them, milling, chattering and laughing on Frances’s tiny back lawn.
“Cody!” someone squealed. A dark-haired figure in brightly colored clothing broke away from the mob to throw herself on Cody’s chest.
Laughing, he caught her and lifted her for an enthusiastic hug. “Hi, Celia,” he said. “You look great.”
“Must be that maternal glow everyone’s always talking about. I’m pregnant, Cody. We just found out for sure yesterday.”
“You’re kidding! Celia, that’s great. Oh, God, you’re going to be a mother. That poor, helpless baby.”
“Hey,” his sister protested with a laugh. “I resent that.”
“So do I,” said a tall, dark-haired man who’d approached more sedately behind Celia. “The baby won’t be entirely helpless-he’ll have me to protect him from her.”
“Reed!” Celia wailed, tossing her head and planting her hands on her slender hips. “What a rotten thing to say. Besides, it’s going to be a girl. I have a very strong feeling about that.”
Her husband groaned and held out a hand to his brother-in-law. “Good to see you, Cody. And congratulations on your marriage.”
Celia had already turned to Dana. Dana had always considered Cody’s younger sister to be one of the most beautiful women she’d ever known. Her flawless oval face framed in clouds of dark hair, her eyes the same bright blue as Cody’s, Celia had been turning heads since she was a teenager. Cody had explained that his sister hadn’t lost her own head until she’d met Reed Hollander. And then she’d fallen hard.
“Dana,” Celia said, startling her with an eager hug. “I’m so happy for you. You always were the best waitress at Country Straight.”
Dana couldn’t help laughing. “Is that why you approve of me as a sister-in-law?”
“No. I approve of you because Cody chose you—and because you had the good sense to see behind that smartaleck exterior of his to the pretty decent guy inside. But it doesn’t hurt that you never let my hamburgers get cold before you served them to me,” she added impudently.
Dana smiled. “It’s wonderful news about your baby.
When is it due?”
“Late in June—a couple of months after Rachel’s. The family’s growing fast, isn’t it?”
Celia’s husband greeted Dana politely. She’d met him only once before, but she’d been impressed then by the government agent’s quiet strength and aura of command. She might have found him a bit intimidating had it not been for the utter adoration in his eyes when he looked at his lovely wife.
“You remember Adam and Jenny, don’t you, Dana?” Cody asked, having already greeted his cousin and his wife. “And the little imp in Adam’s arms is their daughter, Me lissa.”
Dr. Adam Stone was a prominent plastic surgeon in Little Rock. Many people considered him arroant and brusque. He’d always been very polite to Dana, though they’d met only briefly at the club. He was an attractive man, but of course, not as handsome as her own husband, she privately decided.
His wife, Jenny, was a serene-looking woman with a cap of dark brown curls and beautiful golden-brown eyes. Their curly-haired daughter was adorable, her chubby cheeks creased with deep dimples, her dark brown eyes flashing with intelligence and lively curiosity.
Cody had explained that Melissa was born nine months ago when Jenny had been stranded in a secluded cabin with Adam—a stranger to her, then—during a dangerous ice storm. Adam had delivered the baby, and had then fallen in love with both mother and child. They were married a few short months later, and Adam had legally adopted Melissa.
They seemed to be a very happy family, Dana thought with a touch of wistfulness.
Rachel and Seth waved a greeting, and Rachel’s children, Paige and Aaron, rushed up to Cody for hugs and tickles, which he obligingly provided. They’d already accepted Dana as their favorite uncle’s wife; they greeted her with sweet kisses and a touch of smugness that they’d already spent time with the woman the others were just getting to know.
The only member of the family Dana had never met was Cody’s aunt, Arlene—Adam’s widowed mother. Cody had mentioned that his aunt was a rather self-centered and de manding woman with a healthy dose of snobbishness thrown in, so Dana was a bit nervous about meeting her.
Imm
aculately groomed and a bit overdressed for a family potluck on the lawn, Arlene was quite gracious when introduced to her nephew’s wife, much to Dana’s relief.
Cody’s parents had held back while the others came forward. When it was their turn, they hugged and kissed Cody and then Dana. They had already expressed their approval of the marriage over the telephone; they took the opportunity now to do so in person.
“How is your stepmother, dear?” Cody’s mother, Evelyn, asked, her kind face creased with sympathy and concern.
“She’s about the same,” Dana replied, knowing Cody had kept his parents informed. “I’m afraid it’s just a matter of time now.”
Evelyn squeezed her hands. “I’m so sorry. If there’s anything Bill and I can do, I hope you won’t hesitate to call on us.”
Dana had to blink back a film of tears as she thanked her.
“Come sit down and talk to us, Dana,” Granny Fran urged, taking Dana’s arm and leading her toward a group of chairs that the women had claimed. “The boys are going to start the grill soon. That’s why we wanted to cook out-it’s the only time men think they’re supposed to do the cooking. That macho thing, you know.”
Dana giggled.
Cody gave her a smile of approval as he joined the men who’d gathered around the grill to ponder the most efficient arrangement of charcoal briquettes.
It was a hectic, yet delightful, day. Dana enjoyed it immensely—or she would have, if Cody hadn’t been trying so hard to make sure she had a good time.
“Honestly,” Celia grumbled at one point, shaking her head in bewilderment at her brother’s uncharacteristically solicitous behavior after sending him off on a trumped-up errand. “One would think you were made of spun glass, Dana. Doesn’t he ever relax and let you just enjoy yourself?”
Dana forced a smile. “I think he’s worried that I won’t feel a part of the family. I keep telling him that everyone’s made me very welcome, but he wants to make sure I’m having a good time.”
“It’s very sweet of him, I suppose,” Celia conceded. “But weird.”