Mark waved away her apology and smiled. “That’s fine. Things weren’t so bad and Dr. Covert and I were having a little chat.”
“Did you know we shouldn’t give Erika honey until after her first birthday, and that honey can contain spores that cause botulism poisoning in babies?” Mark switched positions in bed to ask Alli.
Alli couldn’t help but smile. It didn’t take a Ph.D. to figure out that taking his niece to the doctor had certainly been an adventure for Mark. He hadn’t stopped talking about it…at least he hadn’t brought it up during the time they had made love. Now she didn’t feel so bad about manipulating her time at the bank so he’d be the one to take Erika to the doctor once she’d discovered his calendar had been clear that morning.
“Yes, I knew it,” Alli replied. “However, such a situation happening is rare.”
Mark’s expression turned serious. “Yeah, but it can happen. I’m going to have to remember that.”
Alli shook her head smiling. She hoped he wasn’t thinking of getting rid of all the honey in the house. “Erika is almost a year old now. She’ll be able to have honey pretty soon.”
“Hmm, I don’t know,” Mark said. “Just because she’ll be a little older how do we know for certain she won’t get that botulism stuff?”
“We won’t. We just have to believe that the doctor knows what he’s talking about.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He reached out and pulled Alli into his arms, tight against his body. “I’m tired of talking. I want to do something else,” he said, leaning over and placing small kisses along her ear and neck.
“Again?”
Mark pulled back slightly, his expression turning serious again. “Do you think I want to make love to you too often?”
Alli smiled. “No, I was just kidding.” When he didn’t move but continued to stare at her as if he hadn’t believed her, she said, “Honest, Mark, I was just kidding. I want you as much as you want me and every time you want to make love I’m right there with you. Why would you think you want to do it too often?”
He sighed deeply and met her gaze. “Patrice always said I did. She didn’t like making love with me.”
His words stunned Alli. She couldn’t imagine any woman not wanting to make love with Mark, especially the woman who’d been his wife. “But why?”
He shrugged. “She didn’t like sex.”
Alli reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Well, I happen to like it, but only with you.” She could tell her words pleased him.
“No kidding?”
“No kidding. Can I prove it?”
She could tell her question caught him by surprise. “Well, uh, yes, I suppose so.”
“Good, then lay back and enjoy. Keep in mind that I still lack a lot of expertise in this, but I’m finding that I have an excellent teacher.”
Mark didn’t get a chance to say anything. Her mouth captured his as she got on top of him. Incredible, he thought, loving her taste and thinking that he would never get tired of kissing her, but evidently she had other ideas and slowly pulled her mouth from his.
And then she was kissing the area around his ear, taking her tongue and licking it while whispering just what she wanted to do to him, what she planned to do to him. Her words and the feverish pitch of her voice inflamed him and he felt himself getting harder. She must have felt it, too, and adjusted her thighs to cradle his, while at the same time thrusting her hips against him so he could feel the contact of flesh touching flesh.
“I remember the first time I got on a horse,” she whispered. “Do you remember your first time?”
He was trying to maintain his control but the feel of the tip of her tongue sliding alongside his ear was driving him crazy, and the way her naked body was fitting intimately to his wasn’t helping matters. “Yes, I remember.”
“Do you also remember how it felt to have such a huge animal beneath you?”
When her soft hand slid down his body and she took hold of his aroused staff, he gasped, then said huskily. “Yes.”
“I do, too, and being on top of you this way reminds me what it felt like and it makes me want to do something.”
She was rubbing her fingers up and down him, as if she needed to know the shape, the texture and the degree of his heat. Her curiosity was pushing him over the edge. “Do something like what?”
“Ride you.”
She reached over and took a condom pack off the nightstand and within minutes she had slipped it on him, almost driving him crazy in the process. “Now where were we?” she asked, shifting her body until she was over him again, locking his hips between her thighs. She braced herself above him and opened her legs wider.
Holding his gaze, she slowly eased her body down, taking him inside of her while listening to his labored breathing. Impatient, he thrust his hips upward, trying to hurry the connection, and since she was wet and slick, he drove easily into her to the hilt.
“I don’t think you can go any farther,” she panted, still looking at him. Their bodies were connected tight. But that didn’t stop her from clenching her muscles around him, making him groan her name out loud.
“I’m dying,” he whispered brokenly, not thinking he could last another minute. “I’m going to lose control.”
“Not before I get a chance to ride.”
It began. She withdrew partially, then plunged back on him again, taking him deeply inside of her. Over and over, thrusting her hips, rocking her bottom, slapping flesh against flesh, drawing up her knees and arching her body to ride harder. Each time she took him back inside of her, he seemed to go deeper still.
Mark grasped her hips, trying to hold himself inside of her but it wasn’t working. She was determined to ride him and all he could do was give in and meet her movement for movement, thrust for thrust, stroke for stroke. His gaze locked on hers and what he saw in their dark depths sent even more heat rushing through his body.
He released her hips to curl his fingers in Alli’s hair and gritted his teeth against the intense pleasure that was overtaking his body. He needed to kiss her, join her mouth with his but, before he could do so, she cried out his name. It was then that he let himself go and was thrown into a climax the depths of which he had never experienced before. His release kept coming and coming and she kept riding and riding.
She cried out his name again and threw her head back. Then after thrusting hard one final time, she collapsed on his chest. After a few moments, he felt her body go slack and could tell she was about to drift off to sleep. He wrapped his arms around her while trying to recover from what had to be the most exquisite experience of his life. He wanted to hold her in his arms for the rest of the night.
“How did I do?”
Mark groaned as a chuckle escaped his lips. “Sweetheart, if you would have done any better, I’d be a dead man.”
All he could think about was the way she’d looked on top of him, riding him to her heart’s content with the potency of her scent tantalizing his senses, her head thrown back, her firm and perfect breasts jutting forward, her hair tumbling wildly and swaying with every motion of her body as it moved up and down over his.
He took a deep breath as an overwhelming sense he’d never felt before caused his body to go taut and something inside of him came close to shattering. Closing his eyes and tightening his jaw, he forced the foreign feeling aside.
With a confused groan, he buried his face in Alli’s throat as he fought to stop his control from slipping any further. He reminded himself that this was all he and Alli could ever share.
No matter what, he could not let her get past his defenses.
Ten
A week later, Alli stood on the sidelines and watched Mark instruct a class of women on the art of self-defense. Her throat felt tight and her pulse escalated as she watched how he moved with precision, causing his broad shoulders to flex under his T-shirt. His firmly muscled thighs encased in a pair of sweats demonstrated incredible energy whenever he hunche
d down or let out a kick with lightning speed.
She swallowed thickly, amazed at how much Mark continued to appeal to her on a primal level. Intense heat rushed to pool between her thighs and she shifted positions to find relief. The cool air blasting from a vent overhead wasn’t much help.
As she continued to watch him, she couldn’t help but think of how things were between them. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth when she remembered the picnic they’d had a few days ago. Mrs. Sanders had urged them to get out of the house and enjoy themselves while Erika was taking a nap and had gone so far as to pack a lunch for them.
Mark had driven them to a section of Hartman land near a huge lake, and after spreading a blanket on the ground under an oak tree, they had sat down. She had enjoyed eating the sandwiches while listening to him share his days of being in the marines and the close relationship he and his brother had with her. He even had talked about his mother and what a loving and thoughtful woman she had been. Alli noted that he avoided any conversation about his father or his deceased wife. But what she remembered most of all was them making love beneath the low hanging branches of that oak tree.
Alli’s thoughts shifted to how she and Mark had gotten into the habit of sharing a bed every night. But a tinge of disappointment touched her heart when she thought of the shield he continued to keep not only with her but also with Erika. It seemed as though this boundary was elementally necessary for him to maintain a detached persona. But she had seen him let his guard down a few times, but quickly he would resurrect it.
“Da-da.”
She glanced down at Erika who was sitting in her stroller getting excited at seeing Mark. No matter how many times Mark corrected his niece, Erika was intent on calling him daddy.
Alli hunched down to Erika. “He’s busy now, sweetheart, but he knows you’re here and will come over as soon he’s finished.” Alli had taken Erika shopping that morning for some winter clothes and while in town she’d decided to drop by the studio.
A few minutes later when class was over, Mark glanced over in their direction and smiled. The expression on his face indicated he was glad to see them. He ducked under the rope that kept the observers off the gym floor and walked over to them.
“Hello, ladies.”
Alli smiled. “Hi, yourself.” She felt her pulse go haywire again. God, but he smelled good. Only with him did sweat mix with a magnetic male force to produce a scent that was physically overpowering. She wished that for once he would defy proper etiquette and pull her into his arms—something he would do if they were behind closed doors.
“Erika and I were wondering if we could tempt you to have lunch with us at the Royal Diner,” Alli said, forcing her brain to function normally.
He glanced at his watch. “I wish I could but I have a few things I need to do around here. Maybe some other time.”
She caught her bottom lip between her teeth and glanced down at Erika to hide her disappointment. “Sure.”
She glanced up to see him looking at Erika. That’s when Alli saw it, a deep longing to pick up his niece, plant a kiss on her cheek and cuddle her close. But Alli knew that he wouldn’t. To do so would show emotions and he had been taught as a child that to expose himself that way was a taboo.
He met her gaze, and at that moment, although she knew that he didn’t feel anything for her, she felt all the love she had for him. The degree shook her to the core.
Realizing that they were standing staring at each other, she broke eye contact and returned her attention to Erika. “Well, I guess we’ll be going.”
“All right. Thanks for dropping by.”
Alli glanced around. “Things seem to be running pretty smooth here without me.”
He hesitated only the barest second and then said, “Don’t ever think you aren’t needed, Alli.”
His words sounded breathy and Alli had to force herself not to put much stock in them. However, she couldn’t resist cocking her head to the side and asking, “You sure?”
He nodded and said, “I’m positive.”
Her heart suddenly lodged tightly in her throat. “We better be going. It will be time for Erika’s nap pretty soon.”
“All right.”
“Da-da.”
Alli couldn’t help but smile. It seemed that Erika didn’t intend to be ignored.
Mark hunched down. “You’re ready for lunch, little lady? Uncle Mark can’t go this time, but maybe next time.”
Alli shook her head. Now it had gone from just Mark to Uncle Mark. “We’ll see you at dinner, Mark.”
He straightened and met her gaze again. “All right. Enjoy lunch.”
“We will.” She pushed Erika past him and kept walking without looking back.
Later that evening while Alli was giving Erika her bath, Mark came home. He had called to let Alli know that he would miss dinner. Nita Windcroft had contacted him. She had received another threatening letter and the Texas Cattleman’s Club had met to discuss it.
“I can’t believe someone is still harassing Nita,” Alli said as she leaned over to take Erika out of the tub. Squealing at the fun she’d been having, Erika kicked up her legs and splashed water on both Alli and Mark.
Laughing, Alli wrapped Erika in a thick towel and handed her to Mark. “I washed now you can dry.” She ignored the surprised look on his face.
“So what did the note say this time?” she asked, walking out of the bathroom to go to Erika’s bedroom with him following behind.
“More of the same. The message is always vague. This one said, Get out or else.”
Alli turned and raised an eyebrow. “If someone thinks a few notes and a little mischief will force Nita to leave her land, then they are crazy. I just hope you guys do something before Nita has a mind to take matters into her own hands.”
Mark nodded as he continued to dry Erika. “I’m going to turn the note over to Gavin to see if the person who wrote this is the same one who wrote all the others.”
He handed his niece back over to Alli. She’d noticed that lately Mark avoided any physical contact with Erika whenever he could, yet he had confided in her once that, when he had first gotten Erika, he would spend time rocking her in the rocking chair. It seemed to Alli that he had a tendency to put up a boundary when he found himself getting too close or when he felt his emotions were becoming involved.
“I left dinner warming for you in the oven.”
“Thanks.”
“Once I get Erika dressed for bed, I’m going to rock her for a while. You can join us if you’d like.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “I thought that perhaps you’d want to spend some time with her before she goes to sleep.”
He looked at her for a moment, then at Erika and said, “No, that’s not necessary.” Without saying anything else he walked out of the room.
Alli walked through the French doors that led out onto the patio where the pool was located. She had put Erika to bed and had gone looking for Mark only to discover he had eaten and was in his office going over the ranch’s accounting books. Deciding not to disturb him, she had gone to her bedroom to change into her bathing suit. She felt tense and thought a little swim might help.
She’d swum a dozen or so laps when she decided she’d done enough. Releasing a contented sigh, she climbed out of the pool and began drying herself with the huge velour towel when she glanced over and saw Mark standing in the doorway.
She met his gaze. “How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough.”
“Long enough for what?” she asked.
“Long enough for me to realize how much I want you.”
Alli found herself melting under Mark’s intense stare. There he stood, leaning in the doorway wearing a pair of stonewashed jeans and a T-shirt. She wondered if he knew he had a patent on the word sexy. Without batting an eye she asked, “So what do you plan to do about it?”
The wantonness of her invitation was so unlike her, but so we
re a number of her actions since she had moved into this house with him to become Erika’s nanny. There was something about Mark that brought out something within her that she hadn’t known existed. It was as though beneath the layers of flesh that covered her lived a passionate, insatiable being.
“Haven’t you learned by now never to tempt me?” he asked, beginning to walk toward her.
As soon as he came closer into the light, she saw just how much he wanted her. She could barely draw breath into her lungs. The lower part of his body that she knew would soon be connected with hers looked bigger than she’d ever seen it before. All from watching her swim?
He stood directly in front of her and reached out to take the towel from her hand and toss it aside. “I want you so bad I actually ache, baby,” he whispered in her ear.
She was beginning to ache, too. The sexy sound of his voice, his breath hot against her skin wasn’t helping matters. “Then I think I better help you find relief.”
She lifted up his T-shirt, then smoothed her fingertips against the bare portion of his waist before easing them lower to the fastener of his jeans. She began undoing the zipper, and when that was done, she worked her fingers inside the waistband of his jeans. Her pulse increased at the feel of his hot, turgid flesh.
She caressed him, remembering the first time she’d done so and how aroused he’d gotten because of it. She moved her fingers back and forth, thinking there was something deliciously naughty and decadent about having him in her hands this way. She might be putty in his hands, but right now, at this very moment, he was the opposite of putty in hers. He was as solid as a rock.
“Your touch is driving me crazy,” he whispered and seemed to grow larger in her hand. “I got to have you. Now!” he growled as if in pain.
Before she could draw her next breath, he had pushed her hand aside and snatched down the top of her bathing suit, freeing her breasts. But he didn’t stop there. Determined to see her completely naked, he lowered his body to remove the suit entirely. Then he stepped back, ripped off his T-shirt, followed by the quick removal of his jeans and briefs. The sound of foil being torn rent the silence and she watched as he prepared himself, not for the first time wondering how such a small condom could fit over anything so big.
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