Books By Diana Palmer

by Palmer, Diana

  "Okay. I'll just get the breakfast things cleared away first."

  Leo sat and watched her work with a smitten expression on his face. Fred didn't linger. He knew a hooked fish when he saw one.

  They swore out warrants and presented them to the sher­iff. Clark had already been transferred to the county lockup, after a trip to the hospital emergency room the night before, and Leo and Janie stopped in to see Grier at the police station.

  Grier had just finished talking to the mayor, a pleasant older man named Tarleton Connor, newly elected to his position. Connor and Grier had a mutual cousin, as did Grier and Chet Blake, the police chief. Chet was out of town on police business, so Grier was nominally in charge of things.

  "Have a seat," Grier invited, his eyes narrow and angry on Janie's bruised face. "If it's any consolation, Miss Brewster, Clark's got bruised ribs and a black eye."

  She smiled. It was uncomfortable, because it irritated the bruise. "Thanks, Mr. Grier," she said with genuine appre­ciation.

  "That goes double for me," Leo told him. "He put Har-ley and me over a table so fast it's embarrassing to admit it."

  "Why?" Grier asked, sitting down behind his desk. "The man was a martial artist," he elaborated. "He had a studio up in Victoria for a while, until the authorities re­alized that he was teaching killing techniques to ex-cons."

  Leo's jaw fell.

  Grier shrugged. "He was the equivalent of a black belt, too. Harley's not bad, but he needs a lot more training from Eb Scott before he could take on Clark." He pursed his lips and his eyes twinkled as he studied Leo's expression. "Feel better now?"

  Leo chuckled. "Yes. Thanks."

  Grier glanced at Janie's curious expression. "Men don't like to be overpowered by other men. It's a guy thing," he explained.

  "Anybody ever overpower you?" Leo asked curiously.

  "Judd Dunn almost did, once. But then, I taught him everything he knows."

  "You know a lot," Janie said. "I never saw anybody move that fast."

  "I was taught by a guy up in Tarrant County," Grier told her with a smile. "He's on television every week. Plays a Texas Ranger."

  Janie gasped.

  "Nice guy," Grier added. "And a hell of a martial art­ist."

  Leo was watching him with a twinkle in his own eyes. “I did think the spinning heel kick looked familiar."

  Grier smiled. He sat up. "About Clark," he added. "His brother came to see him at the county lockup this morning and got the bad news. With only one charge so far, Har­ley's, he's only got a misdemeanor..."

  "We took out a warrant for aggravated assault and bat­tery," Leo interrupted. "Janie had a knife at her throat just before you walked in."

  "So I was told." Grier's dark eyes narrowed on Janie's throat. The nick was red and noticeable this morning. "An inch deeper and we'd be visiting you at the funeral home this morning."

  "I know," Janie replied.

  "You kept your head," he said with a smile. "It prob­ably saved your life."

  "Can you keep Clark in jail?" she asked worriedly.

  "I'll ask Judge Barnett to set bail as high as he can. But Clark's brother isn't going to settle for a public defender. He said he'd get Jack the best attorney he could find, and he'd pay for it." He shrugged. "God knows what he'll pay for it with," he added coldly. "John Clark owes everybody, up to and including his boss. So does our local Clark brother."

  "He may have to have a public defender."

  "We'll see. But meanwhile, he's out of everybody's way, and he'll stay put."

  "What about his brother?" Leo wanted to know. "Is Janie in any danger?"

  Grier shook his head. "John Clark went back to Victoria after he saw his brother. I had him followed, by one of my off-duty guys, just to make sure he really left. But I'd keep my eyes open, if I were you, just the same. These boys are bad news."

  "We'll do that," Leo said.

  He drove Janie back to his own ranch and took her around with him while he checked on the various projects he'd initiated. He pulled up at the barn and told her to stay in the truck.

  She was curious until she remembered that he'd fired the man who'd interrupted them the night before. She was glad about the interruption, in retrospect, but uneasy about the gossip that man had started about her and Leo.

  He was back in less than five minutes, his face hard, his eyes blazing. He got into the truck and glanced at her, forc­ibly wiping the anger out of his expression.

  "He's gone," he told her gently. "Quit without his check," he added with a rueful smile. "I guess Charles told him what I said." He shrugged. "He wasn't much of a cowboy, at that, if he couldn't tell colic from bloat."

  She reached out and put her nervous fingers over his big hand on the steering wheel. He flinched and she jerked her hand back.

  "No!" He caught her fingers in his and held them tight "I'm sorry," he said at once, scowling. "You've never touched me voluntarily before. It surprised me. I like it," he added, smiling.

  She was flushed and nervous. "Oh. Okay." She smiled shyly.

  He searched her eyes with his for so long that her heart began to race. His face tautened. "This won't do," he said in a husky, deep tone. He started the truck with a violent motion and drove back the way they'd come, turning onto a rutted path that led into the woods and, far beyond, to a pasture. But he stopped the truck halfway to the pasture, threw it out of gear, and cut off the engine.

  He had Janie out of her seat belt and into his big arms in seconds, and his hungry mouth was on her lips before she could react.

  She didn't have any instincts for self-preservation left. She melted into his aroused body, not even protesting the intimate way he was pressing her hips against his. Her arms curled around his neck and she kissed him back with en­thusiasm.

  She felt his hands going under her blouse, against her breasts. That felt wonderful. It was perfectly all right, be­cause she belonged to him.

  He lifted his mouth from hers, breathing hard, and watched her eyes while his hands caressed her. She winced and he caught his breath.

  "I'm sorry!" he said at once, soothing the bruise he'd forgotten about. "I didn't mean to hurt you," he whispered.

  She reached up to kiss his eyelids shut, feeling the shock that ran through him at the soft caress. His hands moved to her waist and rested there while he held his breath, wait­ing. She felt the hunger in him, like a living thing. De­lighted by his unexpected submission to her mouth, she kissed his face softly, tenderly, drawing her lips over his thick eyebrows, his eyelids, his cheeks and nose and chin. They moved to his strong throat and lingered in the pul­sating hollow.

  One lean hand went between them to the buttons of his cotton shirt. He unfastened them quickly, jerking the fabric out of her way, inviting her mouth inside.

  Her hands spread on the thick mat of hair that covered the warm, strong muscles of his chest. Her mouth touched it, lightly, and then not lightly. She moved to where his heart beat roughly, and then over the flat male nipple that was a counterpart to her own. But the reaction she got when she put her mouth over it was shocking.

  He groaned so harshly that she was sure she'd hurt him.

  She drew back, surprising a look of anguish on his lean face.

  "Leo?" she whispered uneasily.

  "It arouses me," he ground out, then he shivered.

  She didn't know what to do next. He looked as if he ached to have her repeat the caress, but his body was as taut as a rope against her.

  "You'll have to tell me what to do," she faltered. "I don't want to make it worse."

  "Whatever I do is going to shock you speechless," he choked out. "But, what the hell...!"

  He dragged her face back to his nipple and pressed it there, hard. "You know what I want."

  She did, at some level. Her mouth eased down against him with a soft, gentle suction that lifted him back against the seat with a harsh little cry of pleasure. His hands at the back of her head were rough and insistent. She gave in and did wh
at he was silently asking her for. She felt him shud­der and gasp, his body vibrating as if it was overwhelmed by pleasure. He bit off a harsh word and trembled violently for a few seconds before he turned her mouth away from him and pressed her unblemished cheek against his chest. His hands in her hair trembled as they caressed her scalp. His heartbeat was raging under her mouth.

  He fought to breathe normally. "Wow," he whispered unsteadily.

  Her fingers tangled in the thick hair under them. "Did you really like it?" she whispered back.

  He actually laughed, a little unsteadily. "Didn't you feel what was happening to me?"

  "You were shaking."

  "Yes. I was, wasn't I? Just the way you were shaking last night when I touched you..."

  Her cheek slid back onto his shoulder so that she could look up into his soft eyes. "I didn't know a man would be sensitive, there, like a woman is."

  He bent and drew his lips over her eyelids. "I'm sensi­tive, all right" His lips moved over her mouth and pressed there hungrily. "It isn't enough, Janie. I've got to have you. All the way."

  "Right now?" she stammered.

  He lifted his head and looked down at her in his arms. He was solemn, unsmiling, as he met her wide eyes. His body was still vibrating with unsatisfied desire. Deliber­ately, he drew her hips closer against his and let her feel him there.

  She didn't protest. If anything, her body melted even closer.

  One lean hand went to her belly and rested there, be­tween them, while he searched her eyes. "I want...to make you pregnant," he said in a rough whisper.

  Her lips fell open. She stared at him, not knowing what to say.

  He looked worried. "I've never wanted that with a woman," he continued, as if he was discussing the weather. His fingers moved lightly on her body. "Not with anyone."

  He was saying something profound. She hadn't believed it at first, but the expression on his face was hard to explain away.

  "My father would shoot you," she managed to say weakly.

  "My brothers would shoot me, too," he agreed, nodding.

  She was frowning. She didn't understand.

  He bent and kissed her, with an odd tenderness. He laughed to himself. "Just my luck," he breathed against her lips, "to get mixed up with a virgin who can cook."

  "We aren't mixed up," she began.

  His hand contracted against the base of her spine, grind­ing her into him, and one eyebrow went up over a worldly smile as she blushed.

  She cleared her throat. "We aren't very mixed up," she corrected.

  He nibbled at her upper lip. “I look at you and get turned on so hard I can hardly walk around without bending over double. I touch you and I hurt all over. I dream of you every single night of my life and wake up vibrating." He lifted his head and looked down into her misty eyes. He wasn't smiling. He wasn't kidding. "Never like this, Janie. Either we have each other, or we stop it, right now."

  Her fingers touched his face lovingly. "You can do whatever you like to me," she whispered unsteadily.

  His jaw tautened. "Anything?"

  She nodded. She loved him with all her heart.

  His eyes closed. His arms brought her gently against him, and his mouth buried itself in her throat, pressing there hot and hard for a few aching seconds. Then he dragged in a harsh breath and sat up, putting her back in her seat and fastening her seat belt.

  He didn't look at her as he fastened his own belt and started the truck. She sat beside him as he pulled out onto the highway, a little surprised that he didn't turn into the road that led to his house. She'd expected him to take her there. She swallowed hard, remembering the way they'd pleasured each other on his big bed the night before, re­membering the look of his powerful body without clothes. She flushed with anticipated delight. She was out of her mind. Her father was going to kill her. She looked at Leo with an ache that curled her toes up inside her shoes, and didn't care if he did. Some things were worth dying for.

  Leo drove right into town and pulled into a parking spot in front of the drugstore. Right, she thought nervously, he was going inside to buy...protection...for what they were going to do. He wanted a child, though, he'd said. She flushed as he got out of the truck and came around to open her door.

  He had to unfasten her seat belt first. She didn't even have the presence of mind to accomplish that.

  He helped her out of the truck and looked down at her with an expression she couldn't decipher. He touched her cheek gently, and then her hair, and her soft mouth. His eyes were foil of turmoil.

  He tugged her away from the truck and closed her door, leading her to the sidewalk with one small hand tightly held in his fingers.

  She started toward the drugstore.

  "Wrong way, sweetheart," he said tenderly, and led her right into a jewelry store.

  The clerk was talking to another clerk, but he came for­ward, smiling, when they entered the shop.

  "May I help you find something?" he asked Leo.

  "Yes," Leo said somberly. "We want to look at wed­ding bands."

  Janie felt all the blood draining out of her face. It felt numb. She hoped she wasn't going to pass out.

  Leo's hand tightened around her fingers, and slowly linked them together as he positioned her in front of the case that held engagement rings and wedding rings.

  The clerk took out the tray that Leo indicated. Leo looked down at Janie with quiet, tender eyes.

  "You can have anything you want," he said huskily, and he wasn't talking solely of rings.

  She met his searching gaze with tears glistening on her lashes. He bent and kissed the wetness away.

  The clerk averted his eyes. It was like peering through a private window. He couldn't remember ever seeing such an expression on a man's face before.

  "Look at the rings, Janie," Leo said gently.

  She managed to focus on them belatedly. She didn't care about flashy things, like huge diamonds. She was a country girl, for all her sophistication. Her eyes kept coming back to a set of rings that had a grape leaf pattern. The wedding band was wide, yellow gold with a white gold rim, the pattern embossed on the gold surface. The matching engagement ring had a diamond, but not a flashy one, and it contained the same grape leaf pattern on its circumference.

  "I like this one," she said finally, touching it.

  There was a matching masculine-looking wedding band. She looked up at Leo.

  He smiled. "Do you want me to wear one, too?" he teased.

  Her eyes were breathless with love. She couldn't manage words. She only nodded.

  He turned his attention back to the clerk. "We'll take all three," he said.

  "They'll need to be sized. Let me get my measuring rod," the clerk said with a big grin. The rings were expen­sive, fourteen karat, and that diamond was the highest qual­ity the store sold. The commission was going to be tasty.

  "It isn't too expensive?" Janie worried.

  Leo bent and kissed the tip of her nose. "They're going to last a long time," he told her. "They're not too expen­sive."

  She couldn't believe what was happening. She wanted to tell him so, but the clerk came back and they were im­mediately involved in having their fingers sized and the paperwork filled out.

  Leo produced a gold card and paid for them while Janie looked on, still shell-shocked.

  Leo held her hand tight when they went back to the truck. "Next stop, city hall," he murmured dryly. "Rather, the fire station—they take the license applications when city hall is closed. I forgot it was Saturday." He lifted both eyebrows at her stunned expression. "Might as well get it all done in one day. Which reminds me." He pulled out his cell phone after he'd put her in the truck and phoned the office of the doctors Coltrain. While Janie listened, spellbound, he made an appointment for blood tests for that afternoon. The doctors Coltrain had a Saturday clinic.

  He hung up and slipped the phone back into his pocket with a grin. "Marriage license next, blood tests later, and about next Wednesday, we'll ha
ve a nice and quiet small wedding followed by," he added huskily, "one hell of a long passionate wedding night."

  She caught her breath at the passion in his eyes. "Leo, are you sure?" she wanted to know.

  He dragged her into his arms and kissed her so hungrily that a familiar couple walking past the truck actually stared amusedly at them for a few seconds before hurrying on past.

  "I'm sorry, baby. I can't...wait...any longer," he ground out into her eager mouth. "It's marriage or I'm leaving the state!" He lifted his head, and his eyes were tortured. He could barely breathe. "Oh, God, I want you, Janie!"

  She felt the tremor in his big body. She understood what he felt, because it was the same with her. She drew in a slow breath. It was desire. She thought, maybe, there was some affection as well, but he was dying to have her, and that was what prompted marriage plans. He'd said often enough that he was never going to get married.

  He saw all those thoughts in her eyes, even through the most painful desire he'd ever known. "I'll make you glad you said yes," he told her gruffly. "I won't ever cheat on you, or hurt you. I'll take care of you all my life. All of yours."

  It was enough, she thought, to take a chance on. "All right," she said tenderly. She reached up and touched his hard, swollen mouth. "I'll marry you."

  It was profound, to hear her say it. He caught his breath at the raging arousal the words produced in his already-tortured body. He groaned as he pressed his mouth hard into the palm of her hand.

  She wasn't confident enough to tease him about his de­sire for her. But it pleased her that he was, at least, fiercely hungry for her in that way, if no other.

  He caught her close and fought for control. "We'd better go and get a marriage license," he bit off. "We've already given Evan and Anna Tremayne an eyeful."

  "What?" she asked drowsily.

  "They were walking past when I kissed you," he said with a rueful smile.

  "They've been married for years," she pointed out.

  He nibbed his nose against hers. "Wait until we've been married for years," he whispered. "We'll still be fogging up windows in parked trucks."