by Sandra Brown
"Aw, Mom."
"We want to go with Aunt Lilah. She asked us to—"
"You can go," Elizabeth hastily reassured her children. "If Aunt Lilah doesn't mind taking you by herself."
"Not if it's for a very good cause." Analytically, Lilah peered into her sister's eyes. They were several watts brighter than they'd been fifteen minutes earlier.
"It is."
Lilah grinned. "No, I don't mind taking them out alone. Come on, kids." They raced past her and out the front door, afraid that plans might be changed again.
"Lilah, I don't think I'll be writing any more fantasies, so please don't ask me to."
"Why not?"
"They're self-indulgent and self-centered. It's time I stopped dreaming about someone making love to me, and ... and made love to someone. There's a big difference, you know."
"No, I don't. But I know you believe that."
"Someday, you'll know it too."
Lilah looked doubtful, then smiled softly. "Be happy with him, Lizzie. You deserve it." She lifted up the overnight bags she was holding. "I'm an optimist. I invited the kids to spend the night with me and they're already packed." Then, laughing all the way, she followed the children out.
Elizabeth waited until the front door clicked shut, then ran for the bathroom and reached for the taps in the tub. While it was filling with water and making a mountain of bubbles out of the scented gel she'd squeezed into it, she opened her closet and gave the contents careful consideration.
Twenty minutes later, she was ready. On her way through the kitchen, she took Lilah's bottle of champagne out of the fridge and left by the back door.
He was watching television on his enclosed porch. She knocked and saw his expression of glad surprise. He carefully masked that momentary reaction and, with an annoying lack of speed, came ambling toward the door. Unlike that other time, he rudely left the television volume up. He pushed open the door, but said nothing.
"May I come in?" she asked. He stepped aside. The porch was warm. The air smelled like him, like the wool sweater he was wearing over his jeans, like his cologne. Facing him, she moistened her lips.
"I'm sorry I slapped you. I was tremendously provoked or I never could have done such a thing." She paused to draw a tremulous breath. Unlike her sister, she wasn't impulsive. Didn't know how to be. What if this didn't work?
"I ... I've thought about it for several days now and have realized that my accusations were ridiculous. I know you didn't sift through my garbage or anything like—"
"Elizabeth, what are you doing here?" he interrupted coldly. "Have you had a change of heart? Do you want me to fulfill another of your fantasies?"
She deserved that, she supposed. So she let him get by with it. This time. Instead of taking umbrage, she lifted her eyes to his. Her smile was as seductive as her whisper.
"No, I want to fulfill yours."
* * *
Chapter 10
«^
"And I always thought you were such a nice girl."
Elizabeth suspended nibbling on his bicep long enough to give him a feline smile. "I proved you wrong, didn't I?"
Replete, Thad sighed. "And then some."
She laid her head on his shoulder. "Actually, it took every ounce of courage I could muster to cross our backyards wearing nothing but high heels and a trenchcoat and my pride on my sleeve. I think I've been saving all my bravery from the day I was born for today."
Laughter rumbled out of his bare chest, which she was idly caressing wit her fingertips. "I felt like I'd been hit by a two-by-four when you untied the belt of your coat."
"To say you were stupefied would be putting it mildly."
He turned his head and gazed down at her. "I wasn't sure you were real."
"I am."
He rolled over and pinned her beneath him. "How well I know. Now." He kissed her thoroughly, and it was gratifying to learn that they weren't nearly as spent as they had thought they were. Already his manhood was firm with reawakened desire and the purring sound she made in her throat was most encouraging.
"My heart almost stopped when you reached for my fly and unzipped it," he whispered hoarsely. "And where did you learn that trick with the champagne?"
"I made it up."
"You certainly did," he snarled.
She laughed at his double entendre. "I told you I wanted to indulge your fantasies."
"You exceeded them." He cupped her breasts in his hands and kissed them in turn. "You looked so pretty in the teddy."
"Then why didn't you let me wear it longer?"
"Because the best part was watching you take it off."
"Watching us take it off."
"You looked like you could use some help with those straps." He nuzzled her neck.
Groaning, she dodged his ardent kiss, knowing that before they made love again, there were things that must be said. "Thad?"
"Hmm?"
"You are going to marry me, aren't you?"
He raised his head and looked down into her worried face. "I'm not sure. How good a cook are you?" She pinched his buttocks and he yelped. "Ouch! Okay, okay, I'll marry you." Then he laughed and hugged her tight. "Damn right I'm going to marry you. Knowing how your imagination works, do you think I'd let you run loose among the male population? Especially with FANTA C on the back of your car."
"I could never have done what I did this evening, I wouldn't be here at all, if I wasn't desperately in love with you." The seriousness with which she spoke sobered him.
"Know what?" He stroked her cheek tenderly. "If you hadn't taken the initiative, I would have. I'd have buried my anger, swallowed my pride, and come to get you. I wanted you that badly. And not just in my bed. Though you look damn good in it." His eyes ranged down her smooth nakedness, which was a perfect complement to his. "I need you in my life, Elizabeth."
"Matt and Megan?"
"The whole package."
"You're not used to their racket. You don't know how frustrating—"
He shushed her. "I'll learn to be a parent. I want to learn to be a good one. Now shut up and let me tell you how much I love you."
She acquiesced and fell silent. He ran his fingers through her hair. "I love you, Elizabeth. Admittedly it was lust at first sight. I wanted to make love to you at least a thousand times before I even thought of stopping."
His masculine smile curled her toes. "Then I got to know you and realized what kind of woman you are. Oh, I still want to be inside your body every chance I get. But I also want to be inside your head and inside your heart. I was a cynic who didn't believe there was such a thing as romance. There is. My head has been in the clouds ever since that day you got stuck in the tree and I had the honor of unsnagging your petticoat."
"I knew all about romance in my fantasies." Lovingly, she touched his lips. "But I didn't expect to find it in my own backyard. I don't need to expand my business to find a new challenge. Every day of loving you will—"
"Hey, whoa, back up. What was that about expanding your business?"
"Nothing. It doesn't matter now. Adam invited me to lunch today and made me an offer."
"What kind of offer?"
"Thad, I told you, it doesn't matter now. I'm going to marry you."
"What kind of offer?" he repeated stubbornly.
Sketchily she outlined the proposal Adam had made her. "But, of course, I'll have to turn him down now."
"Why?"
She gazed at him in amazement and gave a short laugh. "Why? Because I can hardly be a wife and mother and manage a chain of Fantasy stores all at the same time."
He propped his head on his hand. "Why not? I'll be a husband and father and manage my business all at the same time. If I have a career, why can't you? If you want one, that is."
She started to speak several times, but the words were tumbling through her head so rapidly she couldn't form a coherent sentence. Finally, smiling timidly, she said, "It would be a golden opportunity, the likes of which don't come along every day."
"I'll give it some more thought, but I must say, the idea is sounding more tantalizing all the time." She twirled a clump of chest hair around her finger and glanced up at him from beneath lowered lashes. "What about Adam? I'd be spending a lot of time with him. Aren't you jealous of him anymore?"
"Nope. It wasn't his lap you were straddling a while ago. And it wasn't his tongue licking champagne off your nipples. And your soft, warm mouth wasn't closed around—"
She laid her open palm across his lips. "Enough said."
He grinned. "Besides, I can't be too mad at him. The guy made me a fortune." Inquisitively, she angled her head to one side. "Every inch of concrete in the Hotel Cavanaugh was poured by Randolph Concrete Company. Didn't you know that?" She shook her head. "I doubt Cavanaugh realizes it, either, since I worked through the primary contractor. But in answer to your original question, no, I'm no longer jealous of him. I can't blame Cavanaugh for being attracted to you."
She turned rosy all over with pleasure. "It was never a sexual attraction between us. He likes me. I like him. But I could never love a man like him. He's too single-minded. Too driven by ambition. Too intense."
Thad rolled to his back and stacked his hands beneath his head. "What kind of man could you love?"
His conceit and complacency were endearing. She climbed over him, stretching her body lengthwise along his. She had the pleasure of watching his eyes turn hot with pleasure. "One just like you." She kissed his lips softly and murmured against them. "The one who stepped out of my fantasies."
* * * *