Teasing Annie: The Temptation Saga: Book Two

by Hardt, Helen;

  She nodded. “So would I.”

  “Don’t be silly. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “I told you about the pill.”

  “And I should have let you explain. You should have been able to talk to me. Hell, you should be able to tell me anything. That’s how it should be between two people who love each other.”

  “I never said—”

  “I know you didn’t. But I love you. And that’s enough for now. You don’t have to love me. All I ask is that you give me the chance to convince you I’m worth loving.”

  “You’re worth loving, Dallas.”

  “I hope so. I can’t change what’s happened, but I can promise you I love you and I trust you. I know who you are. You’re bright, and warm, and caring, and wonderful. There’s not a deceptive bone in your body, and I think I knew that all the time. I won’t let my experiences with Chelsea color our relationship ever again. I swear it. I’ll do whatever you want to prove that. I’ll even go to counseling.”

  Annie couldn’t help giggling. Dallas McCray in counseling? “You do love me, don’t you?”

  “More than anything.”

  “I can’t imagine you agreeing to counseling. You don’t seem the type.”

  “If it’s what you want, I’ll do it.”

  She sighed. “You don’t need counseling, Cowboy. You need a good stiff kick in the shorts.”

  “I’ve gotten that. From Zach, Dusty, and Chad. Even from my ma.” He chuckled. “From Jet, too. And the biggest came from myself.”

  Annie stared into his coffee-hued eyes. Could she forgive him? Oh, she wanted to. She wanted nothing more than to melt into his strong arms and live happily ever after.

  “Riggs might come after me again.”

  “He won’t. He’s going to prison for a long time.”

  “For parole violation? And for beating me up? That’s not likely to lead to a life sentence.”

  “But murder will.”

  “What?” Annie’s body tensed. “What do you mean, murder?”

  “I hired a private investigator. An old school chum of Chad’s. The fella can track anything. It seems Riggs killed a convenience store clerk in Tiny Creek, Kansas.”

  “They’re sure it’s Riggs?”

  “He’s on videotape.”

  “Wow.” Annie leaned back against her front door. “Wow.”

  “So he will go to prison for a long time.”

  “He could escape.”

  “Not likely. But if he did, I’d protect you. With my life if I had to.”

  “I don’t want you in danger.”

  “I’m not. The only danger to me is a broken heart, Doc.” He let go of her hands and pulled her into a hug. “God, I love you so damn much it hurts.”

  The ice around Annie’s heart began to melt. She started to speak, but Dallas touched two fingers to her lips.

  “There’s something I need to say. And to be honest, I’m afraid to tell you.”

  “What is it?”

  “I want to be completely honest with you. I want you to trust me, and I want you to understand that I trust you.”

  “Okay. That’s what you wanted to tell me?”

  “No.”

  “Then what?”

  “Larry, he’s the PI, found something else.”

  “Uh-huh?”

  “I suppose you know Riggs didn’t have the resources to find you on his own.”

  “I hadn’t thought about it. Although he did want money from me. But then, he always wanted money.”

  “He had help finding you. The trail leads back to—”

  “Oh God.” Annie took a deep breath. “Chelsea.”

  “Yeah. And Jon Parker.” Dallas reached toward Annie’s face and twirled a stray curl around his fingers. “This is my fault, Annie. Not yours. I know you blame me.”

  “What Chelsea does is not your fault, Dallas.”

  “If I hadn’t married her in the first place—”

  “Then we wouldn’t have met,” Annie said.

  “What?”

  “Everything you do, every person who crosses your path, contributes to where you are today. Who you are today.” She reached toward him, her hand shaking, and caressed his lightly stubbled cheek. “And who you are today is the man I love.”

  He pulled away from her, his gaze meeting hers. As Annie looked into his eyes, she swore she saw straight into his soul.

  “Say that again,” he said. “Please.” His chin trembled, and his emotion swirled into Annie as if it were her own.

  “I love you, Dallas McCray. I have since that first night when you stayed with me and comforted me. I knew then there would never be anyone else.”

  “Oh, Annie. Baby.” He pulled her into his body and took her mouth in a frantic meeting of lips and tongues. Annie’s heart burst with the joy of his kiss. Of his love.

  “Say you’ll stay with me.” Dallas nipped her earlobe and whispered against her skin. “Please. Say you’ll stay.”

  “I’ll stay, Cowboy.” She pushed away slightly. “But you’d better never hurt me again.”

  “God. Never. I swear it. I never—”

  “Make the same mistake twice,” they finished in unison.

  “Well, I don’t,” he said. He nibbled on her neck, his hands roaming over her breasts. “I want to take you to bed. Now.”

  Annie’s pulse raced. “Here? On my stoop?”

  “I could.” He pressed her hand onto his arousal, which was very apparent through his jeans. “I don’t even have to work up to it. I’m hard whenever I’m near you. Hell, I’m hard whenever I’m thinking of you, which is all the time. It’s made me crazy.”

  “You’ll have to wait a little while, Cowboy.”

  “Not long, I hope.”

  “No.” She smiled into his eyes. “Not long.”

  “Oh”—Dallas scrounged in his pocket—“I almost forgot. I know it’s soon and all, but since you’re staying, and since you love me”—he winked—“I’d like to give you this.”

  In his hand was the most beautiful ring Annie had ever seen. Amethyst baguettes surrounded a large emerald cut diamond set in yellow gold.

  “I never realized this before, but those purple stones match your eyes perfectly,” Dallas said. “White gold or platinum would be better with your skin tone. We’ll have it reset.”

  “Reset?”

  “Yeah. I want it to be perfect for you.”

  “It is perfect, Dallas.”

  “It doesn’t have to be an engagement ring. I know it’s early. You can wear it on your right hand, and maybe someday, soon I hope, you’ll want to wear it on your left.”

  “Dallas, I—”

  “It was my grandmother’s. My ma gave it to me when I turned twenty-one. I never gave it to Chelsea. It didn’t feel right. But it feels exactly right to give it to you, Annie.”

  “Oh, Cowboy.” Annie closed her eyes and two tears squeezed out and trickled down her cheeks.

  “It’s okay, Doc.”

  “Yes. It’s very okay, and don’t you dare have this ring reset, Dallas McCray. It’s perfect as it is.”

  “All right. If that’s what you want.”

  “It’s what I want.” She sniffed. “Well, aren’t you going to put it on me?”

  He smiled and took her right hand, but she pulled it away. “Wrong hand, Cowboy.”

  His eyes widened, the darkness sparkling. “You mean?”

  “Yeah. Let’s make it an engagement ring. If that’s what you want.”

  “Oh, baby.” He kissed her lips hard. “I’m going to be a gentleman and do this right. Stand up.”

  Annie rose and Dallas knelt before her, taking her left hand in his. “Annalisa DeSimone, I love you with all my heart. Will you be my wife?”

  Tears of joy flowed as Annie knelt down to face Dallas. “I love you too. Yes, I would be honored to be your wife.”

  Dallas slipped the ring onto Annie’s finger. “A perfect fit.” He smiled. “I knew it would be.”
/>
  “Me too,” Annie said. “A perfect fit.”

  Jet panted and wiggled around them. “How long did you make this poor dog sit out here on my stoop?”

  “Long enough for Dusty to get you out the door.”

  “Tyrant.” She clasped her hand to her mouth. “Oh my God. When I opened your note, something fell out. Was it…?”

  “Yeah, it was the ring.”

  “You put an antique diamond ring around a dog’s neck?”

  “I’m no dummy. I know you can’t resist Jet.”

  “You’re no dummy?” Annie laughed. “I can see we’re going to have to have a little talk about priceless objects and their care.”

  “I don’t put much stock in things, Doc, although this ring does mean a lot to me, since it was my grandma’s.”

  “I’ll take excellent care of it,” Annie said. “I promise never to put it around a dog’s neck. In fact, I promise never to take it off.”

  “Then it will be exactly where it belongs.” Dallas stood and pulled Annie to her feet. “And now I’m going to make love to you, my beautiful wife-to-be. I can’t wait any longer. So go get rid of Dusty.”

  “I can’t just kick her out.”

  “I can.”

  “Dallas!”

  Annie stood helplessly on her stoop for less than a minute before Dusty came rushing out.

  Annie opened her mouth to speak, but Dusty shushed her. “Don’t say a word. I understand completely.” She pulled Annie into a hug. “I’m so happy for both of you. Bye.”

  When Annie entered the bedroom, Dallas was already lying on the bed. Naked. Her breath caught. She would never tire of the beautiful, magnificent sight of him. She undressed slowly and provocatively, purposefully tormenting him.

  “You’re killing me, Doc.”

  “I know. I love this power I have over you.”

  “Get your pretty self over here. Now.”

  “Ah. Exerting husbandly authority already, are we?”

  When she had finally disrobed completely, he pulled her onto the bed. “I’m going to love you until dawn,” he whispered.

  Annie climbed on top of him and impaled herself, easing down slowly, the sweet stroke of him completing her. “Only until dawn, huh?” Her words were a breathless rasp. “I’m going to love you forever, Cowboy.”

  Epilogue

  A Month Later

  “She had the eye of every single man around.” Chad clapped Dallas on the back and kissed the cheek of his new sister-in-law. “You’re lucky you saw her first, big brother.”

  “I know,” Dallas said, squeezing his wife’s hand. “Believe me, I know.”

  The small wedding held at Laurie McCray’s sprawling ranch house had turned into a lavish reception, complete with a champagne fountain and buffet dinner with a giant baron of McCray roast beef. Annie’s parents had flown out and Sylvia and Laurie had become fast friends.

  “Come dance with me, Chad.”

  Annie turned to see Caitlyn Bay, looking exquisite in a clingy dress of pink silk. Chad’s eyes widened. Clearly he took notice of his pretty young neighbor.

  “I’m not much of a dancer, Catie,” he said.

  “What a crock,” Catie said. “You’ve danced with every woman here, including my mother and my sister. I want my turn.”

  “I don’t think it would be appropriate.”

  Annie pulled Chad close and whispered, “Dance with her. It would mean a lot to her.”

  “She’s just a kid, Annie.”

  “Dance with her anyway. It’s my wedding. Do it for me.”

  “Christ. All right.” He turned back to Catie and took her arm. “Let’s cut the rug, little bit.”

  Annie winced at the term little bit. “Lord, he’s going to break her heart,” she said to Dallas.

  “Break her heart? She’s a kid, Doc.”

  “She’s seventeen, Cowboy. That’s darn close to eighteen.”

  “Still a kid.”

  “Not according to your great State of Colorado. Or the United States, for that matter.”

  “And Chad’s twenty-eight.”

  “So? Next year he’ll be twenty-nine, and she’ll be eighteen. Legal and all. She’s in love with him, Dallas. Look at the stars in her eyes.”

  “Chad has more than enough women in love with him as it is. More than even he can handle, and they’re all over twenty-one. Catie’s just a friend of the family.”

  “You are blind as a bat. She’s in love.”

  “If it’s anything, it’s just a crush.”

  “Husband, you are so naive.”

  His lazy grin started her heart racing. “I like it when you say that.”

  “That you’re naive?”

  He cupped her cheek in his hand. “Nah. When you call me husband.”

  “Ah. In that case, husband, husband, husband. My gorgeous, rugged, incredible husband. Would you do something for me?”

  “Anything. I’m at your command.”

  “Oh, I like that.”

  “I figured you would. What’s your wish, baby? I’ll do anything for you.”

  “Would you take me to bed?”

  “Annie, honey?”

  “What?”

  “Let me make this perfectly clear.” He picked her up and headed toward the house. “The answer to that question will always be a resounding yes.”

  “Geez, Cowboy, not in front of all these people.” She struggled, giggling, but didn’t put much fight into it. “I meant later. At home.”

  “Don’t want to wait.”

  “What’s your mother going to think?”

  “Don’t care.”

  “What’s my mother going to think?”

  “Still don’t care.”

  “In that case”—she smiled into his warm brown eyes, dark with desire—“hurry.”

  Continue The Temptation Saga with Book Three: Taking Catie

  Continue the The Temptation Saga with Book Three

  Available Now

  Keep reading for an excerpt!

  Chapter One

  Chad McCray loved women. Brunette, blond, or redhead, thin and willowy or curvy and voluptuous, he adored them all. Exploring their bodies and sating his sexual hunger was his favorite hobby.

  Yes, he did adore women.

  Commitment?

  Not so much.

  Since women seemed to love him as well, life had been good for his thirty-two years. In his two decades of loving the fairer sex, only one had tried badgering him into commitment. He’d gotten rid of her faster than a bucking bronc tosses a cowpoke. Now, he was on his way out the door to pick up a new luscious lollipop he’d met at a community potluck. Light blond hair, cherry-red lips, and curves that went on forever—Amber Cross, the new manicurist in town, was a tasty treat he looked forward to sampling.

  The ring of his cell phone interrupted his lascivious thoughts. He scooped it out of his pocket and stared at the screen. His brother Zach.

  “What’s up, Zach?”

  “Got an opportunity of a lifetime for you, Chad,” Zach’s deep voice said.

  “What might that be?”

  “Well, it seems you, Dallas, and I have been chosen to judge the rodeo queen contest this year.”

  Chad guffawed into the phone. “You mean Dusty and Annie are going to let you and Dallas ogle the cheesecake of Bakersville? You’ve got to be kidding.” The mere thought of his disgustingly happily married brothers judging a beauty pageant brought a smirk to his lips. “I, on the other hand, would be honored.”

  Zach chuckled. “Our wives trust us. We’re committed.”

  “Should be committed, you mean.” Chad checked his watch. “Do you need anything else at the moment? I’m due to meet a lovely little cream puff in half an hour.”

  “Meet her? You mean you’re not picking her up at her place?”

  “Nope. We’re meeting at the Bullfrog for a drink.”

  “One day, little brother,” Zach said, “you’re going to meet a woman who knocks your b
oots right off. A woman you want to treat like a lady.”

  “Not likely,” Chad said. “My life is pretty darn perfect the way it is. When I need a home cooked meal, I crash your house or Dallas’s. And when I want a critter fix, I have Sean and the twins. All the family love, but none of the responsibility. That’s the way I like it.”

  “Sean’s my critter, and the twins are Dallas’s.” Zach’s tone turned serious. “Don’t you want one of your own? You’re not getting any younger, you know.”

  “Worried about my biological clock, Zach?” Chad laughed.

  “Nope,” his brother said. “Just worried you’re going to wake up one day and find yourself alone.”

  Chad smiled, imagining the sweet red lips of Miss Amber Cross roaming over every inch of his body. “One thing I can guarantee you, brother. I’ll never be alone.”

  Message from Helen Hardt

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for reading Teasing Annie. If you want to find out about my current backlist and future releases, please like my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HelenHardt and join my mailing list: http://helenhardt.com/signup/. I often do giveaways. If you’re a fan and would like to join my street team to help spread the word about my books, you can do so here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hardtandsoul/. I regularly do awesome giveaways for my street team members.

  If you enjoyed the story, please take the time to leave a review on a site like Amazon or Goodreads. I welcome all feedback.

  I wish you all the best, and keep reading!

  Helen

  Also by Helen Hardt

  Sex and the Season:

  Lily and the Duke

  Rose in Bloom

  Lady Alexandra’s Lover

  Sophie’s Voice

  The Perils of Patricia (coming soon)

  The Temptation Saga:

  Tempting Dusty