Ignited by Passion

by Brenda Jackson

  Before she could say anything, he captured her mouth in a kiss. It was a kiss that was so powerful and tender that it immediately brought tears to her eyes. Storm loved her and she loved him and she believed in her heart that every thing would be okay. Together, they would make their marriage work because love was the main ingredient and she believed they had plenty of that.

  He reluctantly broke off their kiss. “I know you can’t leave until everything is over, but I have to get you alone.”

  Jayla grinned and glanced around. “We’re alone now, Storm.”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, but this place is too public for what I want to do to you.” His features then turned serious. “But more importantly, Jayla, we need to talk and come to an understanding about a few things, all right?”

  She nodded. “All right. But no matter what, we’ll work things out.”

  He pulled her back into his arms. “Most definitely.”

  It was well after midnight when Jayla entered Storm’s home. The evening had been perfect and a lot of money had been raised for Kids’ World, which meant that plenty of terminally ill children’s dreams would be coming true. It wasn’t hard to guess that the calendars would sell like hotcakes. Over one hundred thousand calendars had been sold, and an order had already been placed for that many more.

  And it hadn’t come as a surprise to anyone that the single women had gone wild over the twelve men who had posed for the calendar, especially Mr. July, Thorn Westmoreland. However, any women who might have given thought to the possibility that she had a chance with Mr. July, married or not, discovered just how wrong they were when, after receiving the plaque that had been presented to all twelve men, Thorn crossed the room and kissed his wife, proclaiming to all that Tara Westmoreland was all the woman he wanted and needed.

  And, Jayla thought as she inwardly smiled, Storm had made a number of declarations himself tonight. That single woman who’d vowed that she would get at least one time with Storm had been brazen enough to approach him while he and Jayla had stood together talking. Storm had smoothly introduced Jayla to the woman as his fiancée. The woman had congratulated them and walked off, thoroughly disappointed.

  He had also introduced her to his parents and the rest of his family. She even got to meet the newest additions to the Westmoreland clan, his cousins Clinton, Cole and Casey. She had quickly decided that the Westmoreland family was a very special one and they all stuck together like glue.

  “Would you like something to drink, Jayla?”

  She turned and watched as Storm closed the door and locked it. “No, thanks.” She nervously glanced around and stopped when her gaze came to rest on a framed photo graph that sat on his fireplace mantle. It was a photo that the two of them had taken with her father at his last birth day party, the one the men at the fire station had given him. Her father had insisted that she and Storm stand next to each other while he stood in the background. Because of Adam Cole’s six-seven height, he appeared to be towering over them. And he was smiling so brightly that she couldn’t help wondering if perhaps he’d known about her feelings for Storm and, in his own special way, had given them his blessings that night, because less than five months after that picture was taken, he’d died.

  Storm followed her gaze and after a few moments said, “Whenever I look at that picture and really study it, I think that your father was a lot smarter than either of us gave him credit for being.”

  Jayla nodded. Evidently their thoughts had been on the same page. She inhaled deeply and then met Storm’s gaze. “I agree.” She broke eye contact with him and continued her study of his home. With earth-toned colors and basic furnishings, it was clearly a bachelor’s place. But every thing was neat and in order. “Nice place.”

  “Thanks. A few months ago, I decided to sell it and get a bigger place,” he said as his gaze roamed over her from head to toe. “Thanks for wearing that dress. It’s my favorite.”

  Jayla smiled. “That’s the reason I wore it. I was trying to give you a sign, or at least make you remember the time we spent together in New Orleans. I figured the only other person who would know I’d worn this dress before was Ian, and I counted on him not noticing.”

  Storm lifted a brow. He hated to tell her, but Ian had noticed. In fact, every man who’d been present tonight had noticed Jayla Cole in that dress. And each and every time he saw a man looking at her, even when trying not to, he was inwardly overjoyed that she belonged to him.

  And now with her standing in the middle of his living room, there was nothing he was itching to do more than to take that dress off her because chances were, like before, the only thing underneath that dress was a pair of thongs. But he knew before they could get to the bedroom, there were issues that needed to be resolved between them.

  Sighing, he slowly crossed the distance that separated them and took her hand in his. “Come on, let’s sit down and talk.”

  She nodded and then he led her over to the leather sofa and they sat down. “I’ve done a lot of thinking, Jayla, and you’re right. There’s nothing wrong with a woman working outside the home if she wants to do so. The reason I was opposed to it was because years ago, while a senior in high school, I thought I was in love with a girl who threw my love back in my face when I told her of my decision not to go to college but to attend the Firefighters Academy instead. She said that a man without a college education could not properly take care of the needs of his family. When she said that, something snapped inside me and I in tended to prove her wrong and, with college or not, I wanted to be a man who could sufficiently provide for all of my family’s needs.”

  Jayla nodded. She could see the pride of a man like Storm getting bruised with a woman saying something like that. She sighed, knowing it was time to get rid of her emotional baggage as well.

  “Because Dad was so strict on me while I was growing up,” she started off by saying, “I had this thing against marrying a man who I thought would try and control me. But now I see that Dad had the right approach in raising me, or no telling how I might have turned out.”

  She inhaled in a deep breath, then added, “I believe all those times I thought I was looking for Mr. Right I failed miserably because it wasn’t time to find my Mr. Right. It wasn’t time until I saw you again in New Orleans.”

  Storm lowered his mouth to hers and the kiss he gave her was filled with so much intensity and passion, Jayla couldn’t help the groan that purred from her throat. Nor could she ignore the sudden rush of heat that threatened to consume her entire body as Storm continued to claim her mouth, staking a possession all the way to the darkest recesses of her soul. She kissed him back, putting into the kiss all the love and feeling that he did, claiming his mouth as well and staking her possession.

  He pulled back, stood and pulled her into his arms. “Will you marry me, Jayla Cole? Will you love me for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part?”

  Tears gathered in Jayla’s eyes. “Yes! Oh, yes! I love you.”

  Storm grinned. “And I love you, too.” His gazed locked with hers and smiled. “Tell me again what you see.”

  She smiled up at him, knowing it was time to tell him her other news. “I see my Mr. Right…and,” she whispered softly, “I also see the man who is the father of my baby.”

  Jayla watched Storm’s expression and knew the exact moment it dawned on him what she’d said. For a moment, he continued to gaze at her, his dark eyes clouded with uncertainty, hope. “Did you just say what I think you said?” he asked breathlessly.

  She smiled. If there was any doubt in her mind that he wanted a baby, their baby, it evaporated when she saw the look of sheer happiness in his eyes. “Yes. After taking my physical, I told the doctor that I had changed my mind about the insemination procedure and she said it was a good thing since I was already pregnant.”

  Jayla chuckled. “By my calculations, I got pregnant in New Orleans but I still can’t figure out how that happened when I know for cer
tain that protection was used every time we made love.”

  Storm laughed. “Yeah, but a condom can only hold so much, sweetheart. When a man is driven to have multiple—”

  Jayla placed a finger to Stone’s lips and grinned. “Okay, I get the picture.”

  He swept her into his arms and chuckled. “I’m glad that you do and I guess you know what your pregnancy means,” he said as he moved toward his bedroom.

  “What?”

  “There’s no way we’ll have a June wedding, even if you wanted one. We’re getting married as soon as possible.”

  She laughed. “How soon?”

  “Tomorrow isn’t soon enough for me.”

  “What about in a month?”

  “Umm, that’s negotiable,” he said as he placed her in the middle of his bed.

  When he stood back, Jayla’s gaze swept over him. When she saw the magnitude of his arousal, she inhaled deeply. “I have a feeling I might not be able to move in the morning.”

  He smiled as he began removing his clothes. “I have a feeling you just might be right. And I have a feeling that if you weren’t pregnant now, you could very well be in the morning.”

  Jayla smiled and her gaze met his. “And you’re sure you’re okay with becoming a father, Storm? It’s a lot for a devout bachelor to take on a wife and child at the same time.”

  His smile widened. “But I won’t have an ordinary wife and child,” he said coming back to her, completely naked. “They will be extraordinary because they are mine. And I promise to take very good care of them, Adam’s daughter and grandchild, just as I believe he knew that I would.”

  He leaned over and slowly peeled the dress from Jayla’s body. Then he quickly removed her shoes and panty hose. Finally, he removed her thong. “I really like that dress, but I like you naked a lot better.”

  He then joined her on the bed. “Do you know what is about to happen to you, Jayla?”

  She laid a hand against his cheek. “No, tell me,” she implored softly, seeing the dark, heated look of desire in his eyes. It was a look that sent sensuous shivers all through her body.

  He smiled. “You’re about to be taken by Storm.”

  Jayla smiled. She was definitely looking forward to that experience.

  Epilogue

  A month later

  “You may kiss your bride.”

  As the Westmoreland family looked on in the backyard of his parents’ home, Storm smiled as he turned to Jayla and captured her mouth in the kind of kiss that everyone thought should have been saved for later, but one he was determined to bestow upon his bride anyway.

  “At least he has his own woman to kiss now,” Dare whispered to Thorn.

  “It’s about damn time,” Thorn Westmoreland replied, grinning.

  Finally, Storm tore his mouth away from Jayla and smiled. He then leaned over and whispered something in her ear and whatever he said made her blush profusely.

  “Umm, I wonder what he said that made her blush like that, considering the fact she’s already pregnant,” Stone whispered to Chase.

  Chase shrugged. “You know Storm. Nothing about him surprises me.”

  “Well, hell, I’m still in shock,” Jared Westmoreland said, shaking his head. “Storm was the last Westmoreland I thought would marry, and just think, in less than nine months he’ll be a daddy.”

  Jared then chuckled as he glanced at Dare, Thorn, Chase and Stone. “What is it with your side of the family? All of you are tying the knot.”

  Chase frowned. “Not all of us.”

  Stone smiled. “Your time is coming, Chase.” He then glanced over at his cousins, Ian, Jared, Spencer, Durango, Quade, Reggie, Clint and Cole. “And all of yours.”

  Durango narrowed his eyes. “Don’t try putting a damn curse on us like that old woman put on Storm.”

  Dare shook his head laughing. “She didn’t put a curse on Storm, she merely read his palm. Besides, if it’s going to happen, then it’s going to happen. The big question is who’s next.”

  He studied his remaining single brother and his eight male cousins. He smiled, having an idea just who the next Westmoreland groom would be, and he couldn’t wait to see it happen.

  He grinned. “All I have to say is that when it happens, don’t fight it. You’ll find out later that it will be the best thing to ever happen to you.”

  Quade Westmoreland frowned. “No disrespect, Sheriff, but go to hell.” He turned and walked off, and the other single Westmoreland men did likewise.

  Dare laughed and he kept on laughing while thinking there would definitely be another Westmoreland wedding before long. He would bet on it…if he were a betting man.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-7915-9

  IGNITED BY PASSION

  Copyright © 2011 by Harlequin Enterprises S.A.

  The publisher acknowledges the copyright holder of the individual works as follows:

  STONE COLD SURRENDER

  Copyright © 2004 by Brenda Streater Jackson

  RIDING THE STORM

  Copyright © 2004 by Brenda Streater Jackson

  All rights reserved. The reproduction, transmission or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without written permission. For permission please contact Kimani Press, Editorial Office, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ® and TM are trademarks. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and/or other countries.

  www.kimanipress.com