Desert Ice Daddy
Page 16
But would she have him?
Only one way to find out.
He walked outside to his pickup that one of Flint’s men had found the day before and had fixed and driven back to the ranch. He retrieved something from the locked glove box, then something else on second thought, broke the prettiest rose off the bush by the door and strode back inside. He set the alarm that he’d never seen Flint use for as long as he’d owned the ranch. The events of the past couple of days had changed all of them, he supposed.
He sped his steps as he moved up the stairs, passing straight by the guest bedroom and going for Taylor’s.
Her door was open. She sat cross-legged in an armchair, watching Christopher, who was sleeping spread-eagle in the middle of her bed in Spiderman pajamas, atop the quilt.
Her gaze lifted to him. “Are you okay? You should have gone to the hospital so they could have given you some serious drugs.”
He took in the beautiful sight she presented, her blond hair freshly combed and falling over her shoulders, and emotions welled in his chest. “Not to worry. Dr. Hardin gave me something that just about knocked me out. I think it was horse medicine.” He was only joking. Flint kept the doctor on staff at the ranch for employees. Horse medicine was Lora Leigh’s territory, actually.
Taylor grinned and stood, her wispy cotton nightgown falling just above her knees, moving gently around her body as she came to him.
His heart picked up rhythm.
“Are you staying the night?” She stopped when only a foot separated them.
Now that she was here, within arm’s reach, a team of the finest Arabian horses couldn’t have dragged him away. He handed her the rose. “Help me get settled in?”
She smiled and walked with him across the hall. “There are toothbrushes and whatnot in the bathroom cabinet.”
He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her trim waist. “I’m going to ask for more than a spare toothbrush tonight, Taylor. I want you to know that I—”
She swayed toward him slightly. His brain shut down. He kissed her.
His head spun, and he didn’t think it was from Dr. Hardin’s potion. Taylor was soft, warm and willing in his arms. He’d waited nearly ten years for this, but it had been worth every second. And he was never going to let her go again. Which he would tell her as soon as they were done kissing. Which might take a while yet.
He took his time tasting her lips, no reason to rush now. For the night, she was his to savor, and he would make sure she stayed his for the rest of their lives.
He nibbled her bottom lip, then kissed the corners, licked the seam of her mouth. And she opened on a sigh.
His hands explored her body while his tongue explored hers. There were no more reservations between them. The emotions swirling around them were too great to ignore or fight. And neither seemed to have the inclination to do that kind of battle.
He didn’t break the kiss as he lifted her and carried her to the sprawling bed. He’d showered after they’d gotten back, and was wearing only a T-shirt and jeans on loan from Flint. Getting rid of them took no time at all.
When it was Taylor’s turn, she helped him pull her nightgown over her head.
Enough moonlight came in the window to give him a visual he wouldn’t soon forget. He dipped to kiss her as he covered her breast with a hand.
“Christopher?” he asked when they broke apart, remembering all of a sudden. He was treading new territory here.
“Sleeps like a log. Takes after Flint,” she said.
And he grinned at that, remembering their frat days. He’d shared a room with Flint back in the day. She was right. A stampede wouldn’t wake that man.
He got up and closed the door, locked it before he took off his underwear and walked to the bed, then stopped. “If he wakes up…”
“He never does.” But she pointed to the baby monitor on the nightstand that she had brought over without him noticing it.
He’d been that lost in her eyes.
Worrying about a child was a strange feeling, but not strange bad. Christopher was a great little kid. Akeem looked forward to having him in his life. Fatherhood was no doubt going to bring some challenges, but he was looking forward to them. Looking forward to providing Christopher with some little brothers and sisters in time, too.
But not just yet. He should probably propose first. Except that Taylor was slipping out of her yellow lace underwear, and speech escaped him for the moment, his logical brain failing him on every level. He was lucky to be together enough to reach to the floor and pull a silver foil pack from his back pocket.
He touched her, tasted her and filled her. And experienced pure perfection for the first time in his life. Making love to Taylor McKade was sweet. And hot. Right. Crazy. The tight heat of her body seemed to have been made just for his.
He claimed her mouth, then her breasts, then her mouth again. And she gave as good as she got, making him wild with the small movements of her hips, the way she arched her back for him, the small sounds that escaped her throat when he reached deeper yet.
Their bodies soared together on the passion they wrought, twined together long after the last muscle spasm was spent.
Once his heart rate returned to within shouting distance of normal, he opened his eyes and touched her face, kissed her eyelids. Their bodies were still touching everywhere. “This is not just a quick thing.” He kissed her lips. “I need to tell you how serious I am about us.”
“Flint got to you, didn’t he?” she asked with a dreamy smile as she pulled back to look into his face. “He can be a pest. It’s the older-brother curse. I’ve tried to fight it. It’s futile. What did he threaten you with?”
“Shotgun wedding at dawn,” he said gravely.
Her eyes flew wide. “Wha—”
He grinned and kissed her again, covered her face with kisses. He took care not to leave out anything, not her eyelids, not her cheekbones, not the line of her chin. “Okay, maybe not at dawn. We could probably talk him into giving you time to at least pick a wedding dress.”
“What a terrible thing to say! I’m going to need a lot more time than that. Why, the caterer alone…” She went silent. “Is this a—”
“Yes.”
He slid off the bed and picked up his jeans, reached into the other back pocket. She rolled to her side to watch him, coming up on her elbows.
And her cornflower-blue eyes went wider yet when he went down on one knee, naked as a jaybird, with a diamond ring held on his outstretched palm.
“I’m hardly the always-professional businessman you might think I am. That’s a media image the company’s PR people work on. I lose my cool all the time. I lost my patience that day when I gave Gary a ride home. I’ve done things—You’ve seen some of the things I’ve done. I swear I’m not the kind of man you would ever have to be scared of.”
“I know,” she interjected.
“You do?”
“I’m grateful that you protected me in Hell’s Porch. Whatever you did to Gary before that, let’s just say I’m not that upset over it. I feel safe with you. I feel my son is safe with you. You saved both of our lives. I love the warrior inside you just as much as I love your gentle heart that worries about being forced into violence.”
Her full acceptance of him humbled him.
“Taylor McKade, will you marry me? I would like a chance to earn your trust.” He waited, leaving his heart and hopes in her hands.
The air conditioner stopped temporarily, and they could hear the bugs in the trees outside, serenading them, frogs croaking the chorus. The moon bathed the room in soft light.
Taylor lay naked on the bed, still flushed with the heat of their lovemaking; eyes wide and glistening, the most beautiful sight there had ever been on this earth, he was sure. “You already have,” she said.
She stayed as she was, frozen in time for a second, then lunged at him, knocking him over and sending them sprawling on the floor. “Yes!”
Then they were k
issing and making love all over again. He could never get enough of her. He couldn’t imagine that ever changing as long as there was life in his limbs. Some time passed before he could go about finding the ring among their clothes and slipping it on her slim finger. Then felt reluctant to let go of her hand.
But she wanted to get a close-up look. “This is huge. Way too much,” she protested, but she was grinning from ear to ear.
Seeing her happy and carefree in this moment was incredibly nice. He wanted to keep her like this forever, would do anything to make that happen.
“If you don’t like this, then you’re definitely going to hate when I drape you in desert ice,” he said dryly, teasing.
“Desert ice?”
“My grandfather’s diamonds. Have I ever mentioned he was in the diamond trade back in the day? His father more so. My great-grandfather was a hired protector for the diamond caravans that took the gems from Africa to the Far East, traveling through Beharrain on the way. He tended to get paid in gems.”
“A diamond collection?” She stared at him.
“If this is going to be a problem…” He shrugged. “I might as well tell you. The collection is fairly sizable.”
“I thought you didn’t claim your inheritance.”
“I didn’t. I gave up the land and the palaces. But when the executors of his estate looked me up, they had the diamonds with them. There was a giant blue diamond in the bunch that reminded me of the eyes of a certain woman. I couldn’t let it go.”
And, really, he was being modest when he used the word giant. The piece required a separate insurance policy and was kept at the supersonic safe at his company headquarters at the auction house. It would be his wedding present to her.
“So you kept them?”
“With a certain woman in mind.” He wanted her in the sprawling bed of his penthouse, covered in nothing but diamonds. He had commissioned some stunning pieces of jewelry over the years, sometimes not even knowing why he was doing it. She had been married and the chances of her ever loving him had seemed hopeless.
But now that she agreed to spend the rest of their lives together, he would have plenty of time to make all his fantasies real.
“I love you,” he said, and was gratified when she said, I love you, right back.”
“I can get used to the sound of that.” He kissed her. Might have gotten carried away a smidgen.
But she was all smiles when they broke apart for air.
“Is this part of your grandfather’s collection?” She held up her hand a few minutes later as they lay in each other’s arms. Moonlight glinted off the sparkling yellow diamond that graced her finger.
“No. I picked that locally. I want a Texas diamond for my Texas rose.”
He wanted everything that was good in the world for her and her son. He wanted to spoil them rotten, not that he believed for a moment that she was actually going to let him.
Her beautiful eyes narrowed. “Between the police, the paramedics, Flint and Lucinda and this whole mad ness, when on earth did you have time to pick a diamond for me?”
“First day I ever saw you. Nine years, two months and eleven days ago,” he said.
She stared at him in amazement and then broke into a smile. After that, they celebrated long into the night.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3010-5
DESERT ICE DADDY
Copyright © 2009 by Dana Marton
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction 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 the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
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.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
www.eHarlequin.com
*Mission: Redemption
*Mission: Redemption
*Mission: Redemption
*Mission: Redemption