by Monroe, Lucy
“You couldn’t expect him to marry you.”
“No, we never even talked about it.”
Win said a really ugly word.
“I didn’t want to talk about marriage to Grant, Win. I didn’t love him!”
“Are you saying you love me?” he asked, trying to sound like his old hard self, but she heard the emotion bleeding through. The need that matched her own.
Oh, please let it match her own.
“Yes, I love you, Win, and making love with you was a hugely scary step because of it. I knew I would lose myself.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“You’re leaving.”
“I thought that was what you wanted.”
“No.”
“No?”
“Never.”
“Never?” she asked, feeling light-headed.
“I don’t ever want you to leave.”
“That sounds an awful lot like marriage,” she choked out.
“Doesn’t it?”
“Win?”
“Come back inside, honey.”
She nodded, her throat too clogged with tears to speak.
Carlene expected Win to come to her bed that night, but he didn’t. She’d come back inside to find Leah waiting. The other woman had seemed keen to get to know Carlene. No doubt because she’d spent so much time with the other woman’s children. Leah had thanked her profusely for potty-training Jared and then invited her to come to Portland to visit anytime she liked, the next day before she left town.
Win hadn’t been cold to Carlene, but he hadn’t acted like a man who wanted her to stay forever either and that oblique reference to marriage had her insides tied up in knots. He disappeared into town for a couple of hours after his sister left and then returned after the hands had eaten lunch.
He found her in the kitchen. He walked up behind her and kissed her neck.
She melted into him, the relief at his touch intense. “Hey big man. Did you get what you needed in town?”
“Yes.”
She turned around to face him. “I want to talk. Is that all right?”
He nodded and then kissed her lips, softly, gently.
They went into the living room and he pulled her onto the sofa beside him.
She bit her lip and then made herself speak. “I didn’t mean to make you beg.”
“I thought you loved him more than me, but—”
“Oh, no,” she said, talking over what he would have said next. “I didn’t love him at all, but you…I think I’ve loved you since the beginning. And it scared me.”
“You said you gave me your whole self when we made love.”
“I did.”
“That’s going to make my next question a little redundant, but definitely necessary.”
He pulled a small velvet box from his jeans pocket and laid it on her thigh. “Will you marry me, honey?”
She stared at the ring box and blinked back tears. When she made no move to touch it, Win flipped the lid up. Inside nestled the most beautiful diamond ring she’d ever seen. Its oval brilliance shone.
“Why is the question redundant?” she asked with a hitch in her voice she couldn’t hide.
“You said you gave yourself to me, that means you’re already mine. But I want the rest of the world to know it too.”
“Do you love me?”
“More than anything in life. More than my fears. More than my certainty marriage is a trap for the unwary.”
“I love you too.”
“So the answer is?”
“Do you really have any doubt?”
“No.” But his eyes said something else. “I wouldn’t mind hearing an answer though.”
She dropped to her knees in front of him and said. “Yes, Win. I want to marry you. Please, be my husband and my love for a lifetime. Please.”
“You begging me, honey?”
“Love is worth pleading for.”
“Yes, it is.”
“What do you mean we aren’t sleeping together again until after we’re married?” Carlene demanded when Win kissed her outside her bedroom door and made to leave her there.
Alone.
Win watched her warily, but smiled. “I want to prove that I love you, that you’re more than your body to me.”
“You don’t have to prove anything to me. We’re past that.”
“Yes, I do. You deserve it,” he vowed. “You’ve spent your whole life being seen as a body and I need you to know you have always been and will always be more than just a sex partner for me.”
“I know that, Win. You told me you love me…that you want to marry me, for goodness’ sake.”
She twined her arms around his neck and pressed against him. “Who appointed you the decision maker in this matter? I want to make love right now.”
He grabbed her shoulders and held her away from him in a cast-iron grip. “Honey, you are going to appreciate my restraint later. Trust me.”
She laughed. “You are so darn arrogant.”
He nodded, his expression pained. “I know.”
What was she supposed to say to that? “Well, stop it!”
“I can’t. Not this time. I need to prove to you that I love you enough to wait.”
Of all the idiotic ideas…but also incredibly sweet and…she was not going to start crying. How had she ever gotten so lucky as to have this man return her love? “Win, that is ridiculous! I’m the one you’re proving it to and I already believe you love me.”
He smiled. “Good.”
Finally. “So, we can make love now.”
He shook his head, slow and easy. “No. This is important to me. Are you willing to wait for my sake?”
Darn him. He couldn’t turn the tables like this. “Are you asking me to prove my love for you?”
“No. I know you love me, honey. You’re willing to marry me knowing my worst flaws. I’m asking you to trust me. I’m asking you to let me do this right.”
“Okay.” What else could she say?
He let his hands fall away from her shoulders. “So, when are we getting married?”
She studied him for several seconds. “If we left now, we’d be in Reno by tomorrow morning.”
He jerked as if shocked by a jolt of electricity. “What about the white dress and all the trimmings?”
“I’ve got a white dress. I don’t care about the trimmings,” she assured him.
“Your parents? Don’t you care if they are there?”
She thought about that. “Nope. I’ll send them an announcement. They’ll be thrilled, of course. Married women are so much more respectable.”
“I kind of thought we’d get married here in Sunshine Springs,” Win replied.
She gripped the bottom of her top with both hands and peeled it off in one smooth movement.
Win gasped and his eyes turned dark blue. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Negotiating.”
She put her hands behind her back, which pressed her breasts against the silk cups of her bra. She grasped the clasp on the back of her bra.
Beads of sweat formed on Win’s forehead.
“Now, either you agree to Reno today or I unclasp this bra. I’m warning you. The next thing to go is my jeans. You’re going to love my silk panties.”
Win glared at her, but the unmistakable bulge in the front of his pants negated the intimidating effect of his stare. That and the fact that she knew he loved her.
“That’s not negotiation, that’s blackmail,” he ground out.
She shrugged and Win’s gaze zeroed in on her cleavage like an arrow to a target. “Call it whatever you like, but I’m one second away from taking this off.”
Win swallowed and then he grinned. “How soon can you be packed?”
“Give me fifteen minutes.” Then she bit her lip. “What about the stable?”
“The mares have foaled. One of the ranch hands can help Shorty and I can take a few days off, no problem.”
Her smile was brighter than the noonday sun. “I’m so glad.”
“Me, too, honey…me too.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Twelve hours later, Carlene unclasped the bra.
They’d flown to Reno and gotten married in the nicest wedding chapel Win could find and now he was getting his reward.
Carlene had her husband’s full attention as she let the piece of white silk fall to the thick midnight-blue carpet of their honeymoon suite. Win’s gaze was riveted to her beautiful breasts and the small scrap of silk that covered her feminine secrets.
“I told you that you’d love my panties,” Carlene purred as she walked over to join him on the bed.
He’d already undressed and he waited for her on top of the white satin covering the huge round bed that dominated the room.
“They’re every bit as sexy as the little white dress you wore to our wedding,” he assured her.
As wedding dresses went, he had to admit that it had been unique. The white lace mini-dress that so obviously had been former work gear from the Dry Gulch lay in a pool at Carlene’s feet. In fact, she had bought it to wear to work, but never got up the nerve to do so. He was glad. It had outlined her curves in a way that would have set more than one man’s hormones roaring out of control. Win had been hard pressed to make it through the wedding vows. Literally.
Carlene covered the last couple of feet to the bed in a little rush. She landed against Win’s chest, bearing him back on the bed. “This time, I’m going to lick you all over.”
He grinned. “Sure you’re up to it?”
She didn’t answer. She was too busy licking a slow path down his throat to his collar-bone. She sucked lightly on the base of his neck and he groaned.
“Baby, that feels so good.” He caressed her, brushing the sides of her breasts with his hands. “So do these.”
She didn’t answer, but kept moving down until she was making those sexy little circles around his nipples as she had the other night. Oh, man, he didn’t know if he could take this. “If you aren’t careful, honey, I’m going to lose it before I get anywhere near being inside you.”
She laughed, the sound low and throaty. “I’m not worried, Win. I have tremendous confidence in your powers of rejuvenation.”
Then she took his nipple into her mouth and sucked and he felt an electric jolt all the way to his penis. He bucked up off the bed and shouted something feral. He figured turnabout was fair play. He might not be able to reach her with his mouth, but he’d always had long arms. He started off by kneading the sides of her breasts until she was squirming against him, rubbing her hard little buds against his torso. He pushed against her until she lifted just enough for him to get his hands under her and play with the pretty pink raspberries.
She didn’t stop torturing him with her mouth, though, and pretty soon she’d scooted down far enough that he was forced to reluctantly release the soft, velvety flesh of her breasts. She pressed wet, heated kisses down his stomach making him tense in anticipation of her going lower.
“Baby, maybe this isn’t such a good idea. Let me love you.”
She shook her head and her curly hair tickled against his lower abdomen. “You are loving me, darling, but it’s my turn to pleasure you.”
Who was he to disagree with the little woman when she got stubborn? Besides, it felt so damn good.
And then her hot little mouth was there, right on his engorged shaft and she was kissing the head with her tongue and lips. She made one long, slow pass from the tip of his shaft to the base with her tongue and then back up again before taking him back into her mouth and sucking. He wanted to explode, but not without taking her with him.
He grabbed her head and gently, but firmly, lifted her away from his erection. She murmured a protest, but he was past listening. He tossed her on her back and set about bringing her to the same brink he was trying so desperately not to go over yet. At the first touch of his mouth to her breasts, she cried out. By the time he’d suckled them both, she was writhing under him, her legs spread wide to make room for him.
He pressed his penis against the now slick opening of her body. “I’m not wearing a condom.”
She stilled and met his gaze. “I don’t want you to.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I want babies.”
“Me too, honey. Me too.” And then he was inside her and they were straining together toward ultimate fulfillment.
She cried out and convulsed around him, sending him over the edge, and he pumped his seed into her. “I love you,” he shouted.
“I love you,” she whispered in return.
Several hours and more than one bout of lovemaking later, she lay cradled in his arms. “Honey?”
She yawned. “Yes?”
“About your job.”
She snuggled closer. “I like being your housekeeper, Win. It’s fun cooking for the hands—though I’m not sure it’s technically kosher for a wife to accept payment from her husband for that kind of thing.”
He caressed her backside and wondered how soon he could sustain another round of lovemaking. “I wasn’t thinking about you being my housekeeper.”
“You weren’t?” She moved so that she lay on top of his chest, her chin resting on her hands.
“No. I don’t think I mentioned it, but the principal of the high school is a friend of mine.”
“She is?” Carlene sounded sleepy.
“Uh-huh. I gave her a call, she said that there’s a position teaching English Lit for you, if you want it.”
Carlene sat straight up, her nude body glowing in neon lights reflected through the window. “She said what? What about an interview? What about my résumé?”
Win chuckled. “Calm down, honey. The interview is set up for next week, but you’re a shoe in.”
“How can you be so sure? Did you tell her about what happened in Texas? I don’t want to take a job and then have them hear about that debacle later. She’ll think I lied to her, or didn’t tell her the whole truth.”
“I told her already, honey. She knew about it anyway. I guess you submitted your resume to the school district awhile back. She’d already run the checks. There weren’t any openings then, so she didn’t call.”
Carlene nodded. “I never heard anything. There’s an opening now?”
He reached out and touched the sweet bud on her breast. She shivered.
“Yes. It’s only part-time, but I figured that would be okay with you.”
“Any job teaching would be okay with me.”
He reached for her and pulled her across his chest. “That’s what I thought.”
He kissed her, long and thoroughly. She was making sexy noises and moving against his body by the time he started trailing kisses down the side of her throat.
“Win?”
“Yeah, honey?”
“Thank you.”
He stopped kissing her and took her head in his hands, forcing her to meet his gaze. “You could have done it yourself, but I like helping you.”
She grinned, her eyes misty. “You’re amazing.”
Win’s future stretched out before him, a golden road he would travel with Carlene, his wife. The wife he’d been sure he’d never have.
He flipped her over onto her back and set about making the other part of the dream he’d never even acknowledged come true. The dream of a family and a wife who loved him—who would love him for a lifetime.
ISBN: 9781408941515
What The Rancher Wants…
© Lucy Monroe 2007
First Published in Great Britain in 2007
Harlequin (UK) Limited
Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
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