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  “Thank heavens we’ve hired a nanny,” she said, thinking of Constance McGrath, the young woman Savannah had hired last week. “This isn’t a good time for me to miss work.”

  “Do you have a big case coming up?”

  “Yes. It’s a civil case involving a drilling company and an oil company, and each one thinks the other cheated them. We represent the oil company, who is the defendant.” She was acutely conscious of Mike sitting so close to her, his gaze lingering on her mouth. Mike reached over to tangle his fingers in her hair, letting locks of it slide through his fingers, his hand lightly caressing her nape. Then he took her drink and set it on the table beside them.

  Savannah could barely think about the office, because Mike sat so close. His fingers brushed her nape, playing in her hair. Through the wedding and the reception and throughout the evening, they had touched, danced together, flirted, every contact fanning the attraction that smoldered between them.

  “Remember I told you that we make each other’s pulses race?” His hand slipped around to touch her throat lightly. “I can feel your pulse, and it’s speeding now.”

  “Is yours?” she asked, touching his throat.

  “Mine has been breaking records since the moment you walked down the aisle. No woman ever looked as beautiful as you did, Savannah,” he said in a husky voice, leaning forward to brush light kisses over her ear and her throat.

  His seductive words added to the spell he was weaving. She was ensnared, caught in a current she couldn’t resist.

  He took her hand and stood. “Come here, Savannah.”

  Looking into his eyes, she knew his intent, and her heartbeat accelerated another notch. As she stood, he slipped his arm around her waist. “I’ve been wanting to do this all day,” he said.

  He leaned down, and his mouth covered hers. The first touch was electrifying.

  His arm tightened around her, pulling her against his hard length as he leaned over her and kissed her deeply. Wanting him, she wound her arms around his neck, her fingers tangling in his hair while she returned his plundering kisses, heightening the fire that already consumed her.

  Savannah clung to him, kissing him hungrily, knowing no man had ever made her tremble with such need. No man’s kisses had ever set her so aflame. Perspiration beaded her brow, and she could barely get her breath and soon kisses weren’t enough. Every stroke of his tongue built a need that was already raging.

  When his hand slipped down her back and over her bottom, desire shook her profoundly. She wanted this tough warrior who kept his heart locked away. She brought her hands to his broad chest, leaning away to unbutton his shirt. And then she touched his warm, rock-hard chest, trailing her fingers over sculpted muscles, feeling small ridges of scar tissue, tiny reminders of the kind of man he was.

  Mike caressed her nape, stroking her and easing down the zipper of her dress. When he pushed the silky material away, cool air spilled over her bare shoulders.

  Mike leaned away to look at her, and she trembled beneath his gaze, the desire in his dark eyes one more fiery touch that heightened her need. His hands cupped her breasts, his thumbs drawing lazy circles over her nipples, driving her wild.

  As he unfastened the clasp of her bra and pushed away the lace to cup her breasts again, she moaned softly. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered before he leaned down to take her nipple into his mouth, to gently tease and torment.

  “Mike,” she gasped, holding his shoulders. She ran her fingers through his hair.

  He groaned, hauling her into his embrace, his arms closing tightly around her as he kissed her again, a demanding kiss that possessed and made her feel he wanted to devour her. She was crushed against him, and she felt his thick shaft and knew he wanted her.

  Also, she knew she had to stop him now or there would be no stopping, and Mike was going too far, too fast. Torn with conflicting emotions, she didn’t want to stop, either. She wanted him with an urgency that surprised her. It was difficult to think, to do anything except cling to him and kiss him in return. He tugged his shirt away, tossing it aside, and then she was pressed against his bare chest.

  Clinging to him, she moved her hips against him, kissing him passionately while her blood thundered in her ears. For a few more moments she ignored the emotional battle raging within her.

  “Mike,” she whispered finally, pushing against his shoulder and then wriggling away slightly. “Mike, you’re going too fast.” She pushed against his chest.

  He raised his head to look at her, a look that scalded and took her breath away. He made no effort to hide his blatant desire. He trailed his fingertips across her bare breasts. She gasped, trembling while tingles shot through her, then settled low in her belly, pooling into hot desire. Gasping for breath, she yanked up her dress to cover herself.

  “We can’t go this fast.”

  “Why not?” he asked, his voice husky. “We’re husband and wife, after all.”

  “Not really, and you know it!” she snapped, on edge because she had lost control, and he had stirred her more than she had dreamed possible. And he stood only inches away, bare-chested, broad-shouldered, his stomach a washboard of muscles. She had to fight to keep from staring at his body. “I’m not ready for this. We have a business arrangement, that’s all.”

  “That isn’t all,” he answered quietly, resting his hand on her shoulder and toying with her hair. “You kissed me back. You want what I want. You respond to me, Savannah.”

  “All right, I’ll admit that I do, but logic says slow down. I’m not hopping into your bed tonight when this has been the first real date we’ve had.”

  “All right, Savannah,” he said quietly, stepping close and tucking her hair behind her ears. He reached behind her to tug her zipper up, pulling it slowly, all the time gazing into her eyes with that hungry look that made her feel totally desirable, totally beautiful.

  “We can sit and talk and get to know each other tonight if that’s what you want,” he said. “We can take more time, but ultimately I want you in my bed.”

  She placed her fingers on his lips. “Stop it!” she said fiercely. “You’re trying to seduce me right now with your talk of wanting me.”

  “Not so. I’m telling you my intentions and desires, desires that aren’t one way. You’re trying to hold on to that ever-present logic of yours, pulling it around you like a cloak, but you want to make love, too. For a few minutes there, you let go. Deny that one, Savannah.”

  “We have a business arrangement. I don’t want to be a toy for your amusement for the next twelve months, and then you pack up and leave.”

  “I was thinking of something that was mutually satisfying, not just my entertainment,” he said.

  “You’re thinking of something purely physical, and that’s not what I want. If there is a physical relationship, then there has to be emotional involvement if you expect to include me.”

  “What you say and what you do are two different things,” he chided, running his fingers lightly along her cheek. “You like to kiss, and I’m going to get you to let go completely. You already half want to.”

  “Watch out or you’ll get yourself into something permanent,” she threatened.

  Aware of her challenge and another clash of wills, he shook his head. “When the year is up, I will walk, no matter what happens in between.”

  She smiled at him, looking into his eyes and feeling sparks fly. He slipped his hand behind her head. “I mean it,” he said. “I’m leaving when a year has passed.”

  “I didn’t argue with you.”

  “The look you gave me was argument enough.”

  “We should say good night and call it an evening,” she said, stepping away from him.

  “Nonsense. It’s our wedding night. We can at least talk and sip the champagne. Sit down and tell me about your life.”

  She stood staring at him, once again torn between wanting to sit and talk and knowing she should get him out of her room now. He tugged lightly on her hand.
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  “Sit down. I won’t bite.”

  “I’m not afraid of a bite,” she said, sitting and crossing her legs.

  “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of my kisses. I didn’t think there was an ounce of fear in you a few minutes ago. Or are you afraid of seduction?” he asked softly. “Or are you afraid of yourself?”

  “I knew we should call it a night,” she said, starting to get up, but he caught her arm.

  “Sit down. I promise we’ll just talk.” He picked up the champagne flutes, handing one to her.

  Exasperated with him, and herself, she stared at him a moment, then asked him about his brothers and their careers. As he talked, she watched Mike stretch out his long legs and cross them at the ankles. He looked relaxed, as if the kisses had never happened, while she was tied in knots, tingling and aching enough that she had to fight the temptation to reach for him. How was she going to survive this bargain marriage without succumbing to his charm?

  Once, after they had lapsed into a brief silence, Mike asked, “Remember that first night we went to your family’s house? When your dad told you that you couldn’t save the world, you came back with something to the effect of ‘How can you, of all people, say that?”’ Mike rested his elbows on his knees and his index finger traced circles on her knee while he talked. “Why him ‘of all people’?”

  “You’re very observant, Mike,” she said, too aware of his finger drawing circles on her knee.

  “You said you wanted to give Jessie what they gave you. You wanted this baby desperately and you told me that you didn’t know me well enough to tell me, but we know each other better now.”

  Savannah looked away. “It’s no big secret. The four oldest of us are adopted. My parents have been wonderful, and I feel very fortunate. I just want Jessie to have that kind of life, too,” she said quietly, still feeling old hurts. “When I was four years old, my father walked out on my mother and me. A little later, my mother abandoned me, too. I became a ward of the state and was shuffled from family to family.”

  “Damn, I’m sorry,” he said. “I pried into something I shouldn’t have.”

  She turned to look at him and shook her head. “That’s all right. It’s really no secret, particularly around Stallion Pass. Matt and Amy adopted me. That was the most wonderful thing that could have happened to me.”

  “So, some of your brothers and sisters are also adopted and some aren’t. I knew you didn’t look much like your mother or father.”

  “Mike, being abandoned by my biological parents was devastating. And then I was just shuffled from one home to another. Too many nights for a long time, I cried myself to sleep. So yes, you’re right. I had a deeper reason to fight for Jessie,” she said stiffly.

  “Savannah,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry I brought the matter up. Jessie’s yours now and with your family to help, she’ll have great care and plenty of love.”

  They talked a while longer, and then Mike stood. “Come tell me good night. I’ll turn in now.” He caught her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Mrs. Michael Remington. It amazes me. You got what you wanted, Savannah. That part doesn’t surprise me at all.”

  “It does me. I’m still stunned that you agreed to marry, but I’m glad you did.”

  He held her hand and they strolled to the door of the suite, where he turned to her. “One good-night kiss,” he said.

  She gazed up at him and shook her head. “You’re incorrigible, and seductive and charming, but I’m going to resist you.”

  “Ah, Savannah. Temptation is the spice of life.”

  “It’s no such thing—”

  He leaned down and kissed her, catching her with her lips parted.

  She was rocked by another dazzling kiss, her temperature soaring instantly and all thoughts of what she should do vanishing completely.

  And then he released her. She opened her eyes to find him watching her. “Someday, I’m going to make love to you for hours on end.”

  “That isn’t any part of the deal,” she said, still trying to catch her breath and gather her wits.

  “That doesn’t mean it isn’t going to happen. You like to kiss me.”

  “A few kisses do not a seduction make,” she replied softly. “You’re a hardhearted man, and I’m not going to forget that.”

  “We’ll see,” he said, smiling at her and touching her cheek with his finger. “Let’s have breakfast together in the morning.”

  Without waiting for her answer, he turned and was gone, closing the door quietly behind him, leaving her dazed, hot, bothered and trembling, wanting him yet at the same time thankful he had gone to his room.

  She moved away from the door, thinking about him in bed only yards away. He would have stayed all night if she had agreed. They could live as husband and wife if she would agree.

  And that was exactly what Savannah wanted to guard her heart against. Even if she lived with Mike for a year, she had no illusions about his falling in love with her and staying forever. The man was tough, hard, experienced and totally wrapped up in himself and his plans for his future.

  She moved around the suite, unzipping her dress, changing to her blue silk pajamas she had worn for years, knowing when she had packed that she would be sleeping alone tonight.

  Tomorrow she and Mike would have breakfast together and then fly home, and she suspected that they would go their separate ways.

  Finally Savannah stretched out in bed, but sleep wouldn’t come. She was still wound up from the wedding, tingly from his lovemaking, unable to get him out of her thoughts and unable to go to sleep. That night as she lay in bed, moments of the wedding and the reception spun in her mind. She thought about the Garricks’ arrival last night when they were all gathered at the church for the rehearsal. An older couple had entered the church with a young man. Mike had spotted them and hurried over to greet them. Savannah had stood nearby, and she’d heard the break in Mike’s voice and then to her shock, when he hugged each of the Garricks, she’d seen tears in his eyes.

  He hadn’t gotten teary-eyed when he’d greeted his brothers or parents, a family that was strikingly handsome. Mike’s mother, Margo, was a beautiful, black-haired woman with large, luminous brown eyes, full red lips and a full figure. His father, Dan, was tall, deeply tanned and handsome enough to be in movies, and Savannah could see where all three sons got their rugged good looks.

  When Savannah had asked Mike later about the Garricks, Mike had gotten a shuttered look, gazing through her as if looking into the past. He had told her that he had felt as close to Colin Garrick as he did to his brothers, and he hated the loss. When she asked how Colin died, Mike had simply said, “In the line of duty,” and changed the subject, and she knew he didn’t want to talk about it, so she dropped it.

  She lay in bed puzzled about Mike, who kept so much of himself shut away.

  After an hour of tossing and turning, she threw back the sheet and got up to sit by the window and look out at the dark Mississippi and recall another clear memory from this week—the day before yesterday when she’d picked up Jessie.

  Excitement had boiled in Savannah that night. She had been up before dawn, carefully choosing a navy dress with a white collar and brass buttons. Mike had planned to join her, and her parents were having a reception for little Jessie. Savannah had already provided the caseworker with a dress for Jessie, and when she picked the baby up, she thought she was the most beautiful little girl she had ever seen.

  Mike stood to one side, holding the carrier while the caseworker placed Jessie in Savannah’s arms. Jessie smelled of talcum and lotion, and cooed as if she was happy with the arrangement, too. Her big blue eyes gazed up at Savannah, and Savannah’s heart melted.

  The pink dress with its smocking was pretty on the baby, and her rosy cheeks and rosebud mouth simply added to her sweet beauty. Savannah hugged her, thinking this was one of the most wonderful moments in her life. She looked up to find Mike watching her solemnly.

  “Shall we go?” he asked,
and she nodded, thanking the state officials and the caseworker and hurrying outside with Jessie.

  She kissed Jessie’s head, and then in the car, kneeling in the front seat, she fastened a pink bow in Jessie’s thin curls.

  “My baby, Mike,” Savannah told him, while on her knees in the front seat of his new car as he turned on the ignition. “She is so precious, and it’s a miracle she’s mine.” Savannah slid her arms around him and hugged him.

  “Hey,” he said, switching off the engine and pulling her into his arms so that he cradled her against him.

  She laughed and pushed away to sit up. “I’m just grateful.”

  “Come back here and show me.”

  “Showing you my gratitude for Jessie isn’t what you have in mind. Let’s go to my folks’. Everyone is waiting.”

  When she and Mike arrived, he lifted Jessie out of her carrier and handed her to Savannah.

  “Go let your family drool over her and hold her,” Mike said, and she wrinkled her nose at him.

  “Just wait until your family comes. They’ll be the same way.”

  “I’ll have to see that to believe it,” he said before she hurried away. The rest of the day, everyone hovered over Jessie, taking turns playing with her, feeding her and holding her.

  After Jessie was in bed, Mike and Savannah drove out to move some of their things to the inherited house. They toured the huge mansion, looking at an upstairs family room and a downstairs family room, a sunroom, multiple bedrooms, a games room, an exercise room, bathrooms, an enormous dining room, a huge kitchen and the yard with its Olympic-size swimming pool.

  “You said this wasn’t your style,” she reminded him. “It isn’t my style, either. I think we’re going to get lost in here.”

  “Maybe we can rent out rooms,” he said, and she laughed. He had draped his arm casually around her shoulders and she hadn’t moved away.

  Savannah’s thoughts jumped back to the present, and she glanced at the empty bed, feeling forlorn. This was probably the only wedding night she would ever have, and she was spending it alone. After a few minutes she thought of Jessie, and her spirits lifted.