“You have my love, Kane. You’ve always had it.” She blurted it out without thinking. She had told him before, but maybe he didn’t believe her then. Annie had stood between them. Now was the time to get everything out in the open. He was revealing himself to her in a way he never had before.
“I never meant to hurt you, Cady. I’m sorry for what I said to you today. You’re a fine teacher, and the kids are lucky to have you.”
“Thank you for saying so.”
There was a question she needed to ask him, a clarification of something she’d heard when she was semiconscious. She’d been afraid of Kane’s answer before, afraid to let her heart hope. But now she had to know.
Shyly, she looked down at their clasped hands. “When R. J. told you Cuchillo was getting away, I thought I heard you say that you’d given your whole life to the army and you wouldn’t give mine too.”
“I did.”
She blinked. “What did you mean?”
He took a deep breath and released it.
“The army has always come first because I felt indebted. It was the only family I had for a long time—until now,” he said. “Now you’re my family, Cady.”
Her heart beat so hard she thought he must be able to hear it. Her joy was so big she could hardly contain it. He did care about her and had told her in every way but one. “Are you ever going to say it?”
“What?” he asked. “I think I’ve said a mouthful already. More than I’ve probably ever said in my whole life.”
“You left out three small but very important words.”
“I have?” Lines creased his forehead, but a teasing glint in his eyes told her he only pretended deep thought. He knew what she wanted to hear. He finally shook his head. “Nope, I can’t think of anything else I need to say.”
She pulled her hands from his. “Kane Carrington, I have a gun and I know how to use it.”
He grinned, then turned serious. Such powerful longing radiated from him that she couldn’t doubt his sincerity.
When they came, the words were the sweetest she’d ever heard.
“I love you, Cady Tanner Carrington, more than I thought it possible to love a woman. I love you with my body, my heart, my soul. I love you with—”
She touched his mouth with her finger. “You don’t do anything halfway, do you? Kiss me,” she said, taking his face between her hands, loving the way his day’s growth of beard tickled her palms.
“You are one reckless woman,” he said, his mouth a mere inch from her own. “Do you know what you’re asking?”
“I do indeed.”
“Is that an order?”
“Most definitely,” she said, sighing as he eased himself into the bed beside her, pulling her into his arms.
“It would be my pleasure to kiss you senseless, Mrs. Carrington. Unlike you, I always follow orders.”
“I told you before, if an order makes sense to me, I’ll obey without question. This one definitely makes sense.”
“You talk too much.” He covered her mouth with his own and kissed her until she was breathless and wanting.
He loved her. Her heart sang the words over and over. From the first moment they met, Cady had somehow felt their destiny was linked. If she had known the ecstasy she would find in his arms, no power on earth could have made her leave him two years ago. They had lost so much time and there was no way to get it back. But what they had gone through would make them cherish the precious gift they had. She vowed to spend every moment of every day showing him how much she loved him. Although she would never tell him so, his reckless wife would even follow orders, if it would make him happy.
Not every order, of course.
Acknowledgments
With thanks to Stephanie Westphal
for putting a finer point on the writing,
Barbara Joel for helping me
find the emotion in my characters,
and Barbara Ankrum for always asking why.
SHE WAS A TEMPTATION
A SAINT WOULD HAVE TROUBLE RESISTING.
AND HE WAS NO SAINT.
“You have no idea what kind of danger you’re in now that I’ve found you.”
“You wouldn’t hurt me.” She knew that as surely as she knew her next breath would be filled with the heady scent of man and leather and desert and rain that all mixed together to become Kane.
“I can hurt you in ways you can’t even imagine.”
She shook her head. “You’re wrong, Kane. Why are you so hard on yourself? I trust you.”
She wanted to be with him and love him, more than she’d ever thought possible. This was right. She knew it in her heart.
She was Kane Carrington’s woman and somehow she knew she always would be.
Books by Teresa Southwick
Winter Bride
Reckless Destiny
Published by HarperPaperbacks
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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Copyright © 1995 by Teresa Southwick
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EPub Edition © SEPTEMBER 2012 ISBN: 978-0-062-24345-4
Cover illustration by Jean Monti
First printing: November 1995
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