She buried her face in his shoulder and shuddered as she said, "Shane, I'll fight you with every weapon I can find. I'll be a good mother; I'll never allow Audrey to raise my daughter."
He stroked her hair. "Of course you won't. Neither would I. Nobody's going to raise our daughter but her parents—you and me, Karen."
She raised her head, startled. "But Audrey said—"
Shane's face hardened. "I know what Audrey said and I probably would have killed her for it if I hadn't been so desperate to find you."
"What!" Karen shrieked.
He pulled her close and guided her head back to his shoulder. "I'd gone into Carmel on business that morning and when I got home and found your note I went nearly out of my mind. I didn't know what you were talking about but I knew Audrey must have said something awful to drive you away like that and I went looking for her." He shivered. "It will be a cold day in hell before she forgets that encounter! I didn't take long to get the truth out of her and when she finished telling me…"
Karen sat up again, her eyes wide. "Shane?"
The look on his face softened and he rubbed the tears from her eyes with his thumb. "My precious darling, don't you know even yet how much I love you?"
She gasped. "L-love me?"
"Adore you, worship you. There isn't a word strong enough for the way I feel about you, Karen. I've loved you ever since I first saw you but I've fought it every step of the way. I was Shane McKittrick, the invincible. No woman was ever going to mean anything to me. I would never be hurt by a woman the way my father was!"
For the first time he smiled. "Then you came along and walked right into my heart and I didn't have a chance. I tried every way I knew to dislodge you. I stayed away from you, spent most of my time in San Francisco, and missed you so much I couldn't stand it. I tried to send you away and wound up in the hospital with a broken head and a need for you that was frightening. I moved you out of my bed and then paced the floor in agony every night."
His voice broke and he gathered her to him as his seeking mouth covered hers. Karen was lightheaded with joy and confusion. Had he really said he loved her? He'd never said that before—ever. His actions often told her that his feelings for her were deeper than he would admit, but he'd never told her that he loved her—not even in their most intimate moments.
She wound her arms around his neck and held him as their kiss plumbed the depth of their love. Shane groaned and buried his face in the soft hollow of her neck beneath her ear as he whispered, "Don't ever leave me again, little one! Don't even go shopping or for a walk without telling me where you're going and when you'll be back. I couldn't survive another week like this one. Hell would have been a vacation compared to what I've been through!"
She held his head against her and stroked her fingers through his hair as she murmured, "I'm sorry, darling, but Audrey was so convincing, and Shane, I did see her in your arms that night."
Shane shuddered and held her tighter. "Oh, Karen, if you'd only come in that room a minute earlier or a minute later none of this would have happened. I wasn't making love to Audrey; she tripped and started to fall and I caught her. You must have come in during the second or so it took to steady her. If you'd only said something—shouted at me, anything—I could have explained. As it was, I didn't even know you'd been there until I forced it out of Audrey."
Karen winced. "She said you wanted to marry her but that she couldn't have children—that it was her idea to advertise for a woman to give you a child."
Shane took her face in his hands and looked deep into her green eyes. "Karen, I swear to you I never had any intention of marrying Audrey. I never intended to marry anyone until you came along and started tormenting me without even meaning to. Audrey was simply a diversion, as many other women have been. I'm thirty-two years old, sweetheart, and I'm not a monk."
"What I told you about the newspaper ad was true. Mark and I were the only ones who knew about it. Audrey learned about it from Mrs. Whitney, who had been listening at keyholes and told her."
"Mrs. Whitney!" Karen screeched in disbelief. "But she's always been the perfect housekeeper! Why would she do a thing like that?"
Shane's mouth twisted with disgust. "Because Audrey was paying her to discourage beautiful women from taking an interest in me. Audrey had apparently decided that she wanted to be Mrs. Shane McKittrick, and what Audrey wants Audrey usually gets. I finally found out that's why Mrs. Whitney put you in the servants' quarters when you first came. She knew she'd better keep you out of my way if she didn't want me distracted. Then I found out about it and threatened to fire her and she's hated you ever since. She was only too happy to take revenge that way."
Karen shivered. "How awful!"
Shane shrugged. "I had to restrain myself to keep from throwing her out bodily. I gave her an hour to pack and leave and told her that if she made any more trouble I'd see to it that she never worked anywhere again. As for Audrey, someone said she's gone to Europe." His voice was grim. "If she's smart she'll stay there!"
Without warning the door opened and a nurse appeared with a small pink bundle in her arms. She grinned and said, "I have a little one here who's been screaming for her dinner. You'd better help her, Mama, before Miss McKittrick starves to death."
Karen wiggled off Shane's lap and took off her robe, then climbed onto the bed. The nurse raised it to a sitting position and handed Karen the fussing bundle. The nurse left and Karen motioned Shane to sit on the side of the bed. His eyes took in all the details of the dark-haired little girl and Karen smiled as she said, "What do you think of your daughter?"
He put out a finger and touched her almost reverently. "Does she have a name?"
"Of course," Karen answered. "Since we were going to call the baby Shane Alexander, Jr., if it was a boy, I named her Shanna Alexandria. It was the closest I could get."
Shane said nothing but continued to watch the nursing child. His expression was unreadable and Karen felt uneasy. There was one question she had to ask.
"Shane, are you terribly disappointed that she wasn't a boy?"
Shane looked up, surprised. "Why on earth should I be disappointed. She's a beautiful baby. Someday she may be almost as special as her mother." He took Karen's hand and kissed it, then held it to his cheek.
Her fingers caressed his face as she murmured, "But you wanted a son—an heir, to carry on the business."
He grinned. "Mrs. McKittrick, what makes you think a woman can't head a business just as efficiently as a man?"
Karen laughed and leaned over to kiss him, unwittingly dislodging the baby's dinner. Shanna screamed in protest and Shane rolled his eyes heavenward in mock horror.
"My stars, woman, quit messing around and feed the poor child! It's easy to see that she has an appetite like her mother's."
When Shanna was finally satisfied and fell asleep, the nurse came and carried her back to her crib. Shane adjusted the bed so Karen was lying flat, then took off his shoes and lay down beside her. He took her in his arms and held her full-length against him as he said, "We got in all kinds of trouble in the hospital in Santa Cruz for lying on the bed together, but I can't be in the same room with you and not hold you."
His lips caressed her face and when he spoke again there was a throb in his voice. "Can you ever forgive me for driving you away, making you go through the experience of giving birth to our child alone before I would admit that I love you and want you with me always? I've been such a blind, self-centered fool! I went through hell to protect myself from something I know now would never have happened. I wouldn't grow up and admit that my mother was the exception, not the rule."
He drew her closer and his lips trailed kisses down the side of her neck as he murmured, "Oh, Karen, I love you so!"
She snuggled against him and stroked his nape and back, letting her body tell him of her love. He kissed her gently but with a suppressed hunger and said, "I told you once that I wasn't sure I could live without you. Well, my darling, now I know for
sure that I can't. Karen, will you come home with me and be my wife, for as long as we both shall live?"
Karen could only nod, her throat too choked with emotion to speak. But she knew Shane could see the joy shining from her face. Those were the words she'd waited so long to hear! She turned to him, her eyes glowing with the love they shared.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Temporary Bride Page 15
