His Marriage Bonus

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  “You think in a situation like that, a woman should be romanced?” he asked in a low, astonished voice.

  “Well, if you at least tried to find the basis for some attraction between you, the whole situation would be a lot easier.” Otherwise, she couldn’t imagine sharing a marriage bed, as couples had been forced to do in years past.

  Mitch scoffed, as if he couldn’t have disagreed more. “Tell that to Dolly Lancaster,” he said.

  A little shiver went down Lauren’s spine as she eased away from Mitch. “What do you mean?” she demanded warily.

  “Captain Nyquist gave it his best shot when he was romancing Dolly, only to renege on it later, when he decided he couldn’t go through with the marriage after all because he was in love with someone else.”

  “So?” Lauren asked.

  “So Dolly wasn’t the least bit grateful for his efforts to find a way to conjure up some chemistry between them,” Mitch said impatiently. “Instead, she felt led on and deceived when it all fell apart.”

  “Look, I’m sympathetic to what Dolly went through, too,” Lauren said, leaning toward Mitch earnestly. “I understand that her pride and her feelings were hurt, especially if by then she did love Captain Nyquist. But as for what she did in return… She put a curse on the entire Deveraux family, Mitch.” Which was something that didn’t seem to shock or surprise Mitch at all, Lauren noted unhappily. Lauren flattened both her hands on the bedspread. “Surely you can’t condone what Dolly did—even if it was in revenge.”

  “I can’t sanction her actions, but I do understand her resentment of Eleanor Deveraux.” Mitch sat up abruptly so they were both sitting cross-legged on the center of Lauren’s big comfortable bed, knee to knee. “Dolly probably thought if Eleanor hadn’t been around, Douglas Nyquist would have gone through with their marriage.”

  “And maybe he wouldn’t have gone through it in any case,” Lauren persisted just as determinedly. “Eleanor or no Eleanor.”

  “Why would he have done that?” Mitch asked, taking one of her hands in his.

  “I don’t know.” Lauren’s irritation with Mitch grew. She didn’t know why he was on the wrong side of this issue! Lauren withdrew her hand from his and blurted out the first excuse that came to her mind. “Maybe Captain Nyquist just didn’t think he could fake it in the bedroom!”

  Mitch grinned, amused. His look grew even more challenging. “Could you?”

  “What?” Lauren froze, her heart pounding in her chest.

  “Fake it,” Mitch said.

  Her breath coming quick and fast, Lauren regarded Mitch warily. She wasn’t sure why, exactly—maybe it was the dusky light coming in through the windows in her room, but his eyes had never seemed such a deep, vivid blue. “I don’t know where you are going with all these questions,” she said, swallowing hard.

  Mitch steadfastly ignored her effort to steer the conversation to another, less intimate track. He took her wrist, turned it over and stroked the tender inside of it. “Could you kiss a man like you meant it if you didn’t?”

  Lauren flushed guiltily. Aside from the very real, very passionate kisses with Mitch, all she had really done up to now with the other men she had dated and even the two men she had been engaged to—was try to conjure up passion where there ultimately was none. But how had Mitch known that?

  Determined to keep what surely had to be one of the most embarrassing and humiliating secrets of her life, Lauren tipped up her chin and pretended a sexual sophistication she did not—maybe never would—possess. “I suppose,” she said slowly, watching with satisfaction as an answering fire ignited in Mitch’s eyes, “that it would all depend on what was riding on it. If the stakes were high enough, sure,” she fibbed audaciously, daring to meet him on a level playing field. “I know I could.”

  “Really,” Mitch said as he sized her up with a humor-filled glance.

  “Really,” Lauren declared mulishly, aware Mitch hadn’t even tried to put the moves on her and she was already tingling from head to toe.

  “Then let’s just put that boast to the test,” Mitch drawled, moving swiftly toward her.

  The next thing Lauren knew, she was lying flat on her back and Mitch was stretched out beside her on the bed, one of his knees wedged intimately between hers.

  Lauren tensed, aware everything was about to change. “You wouldn’t dare kiss me just to prove a point,” she said. “Not after the very businesslike deal we made!”

  But Mitch merely grinned, not about to be put off now that he had her in his arms again. “I wouldn’t bet on that,” he said in a low sexy voice that stirred her senses. His lips moved down her neck, eliciting tingles wherever they touched.

  Before she could do more than rake in one quick breath, he had framed her face with his hands and pressed his lips to hers firmly, possessively. Heart pounding, she kissed him back just as hungrily, knowing what Mitch didn’t. That despite what her father wanted—and she swore to herself she didn’t—despite the repeated warnings she had given herself, she was falling dangerously, wonderfully, head over heels for Mitch Deveraux. To the point she no longer cared what happened at week’s end. She only cared about the here and now, and the fire of desire raging in her soul. For the first time, the only time, in her life, she truly wanted to be with a man. Knowing these overwhelming feelings might never happen again, knowing she might never feel so consumed by a man, so possessed, she wasn’t about to walk away.

  So for the first time in her life she forgot about protecting her heart and put everything she had into the reckless kiss—fitting her lips to his, slanting her head at just the right angle, finding just the right way to caress his teeth and tongue. She expected fireworks in return, and she got plenty. Mitch’s lips were firm but yielding, his tongue plundering deep as their kiss took on an even more urgent turn. It felt so good to be wanted and held this way, Lauren thought as Mitch clamped an arm protectively about her waist, rolled onto his side and dragged her even closer, so near their bodies were almost one. Her breasts pressed against the solid wall of his chest as he murmured his pleasure, then drew back a little, altering the angle, increasing the depth and torridness of their kiss. She felt his erection pressing against her, hot and urgent, and her excitement mounted, fueled by the rasp of their breathing and the feel of his hot, hard body so close to hers. She caught her breath, as lost in the miracle of longing as he. She had waited a lifetime to be kissed and wanted and possessed like this.

  Mitch hadn’t meant for the situation to get out of hand. But it had. Instead of the kiss testing Lauren’s loyalty, or determining just how far she would go to help her father—and maybe, by association, herself—it was revealing far more telling things. Like how much he wanted her. And needed her. Needed this. In ways that had nothing to do with the way the situation would benefit him, financially or professionally.

  She made him feel like taking risks. Not just in business, which was easy, but in his personal life, which was not. She made him feel as if all things were possible, including an intimate liaison between the two that went far beyond the seven dates for which they had reluctantly signed on. The two of them had discovered something special here. The question was, did she realize it, too?

  He let the fiery kiss come to a halt and drew back. As their gazes locked he saw a new and ardent excitement shimmering in her dark brown eyes. “So,” Mitch drawled, still wondering what was in her heart. “Did you mean it?” ’Cause the kiss had sure felt as though she did, he thought. “Or were you faking it?”

  “What do you think?” She let out a soft, ragged sigh.

  “I think,” Mitch said, already unbuttoning her blouse, “we need to try that again.” And try it they did as she clasped his head, lowered it to hers and kissed him with a fervor that surprised them both. In no particular hurry, he opened her blouse the rest of the way, pushed it off her shoulders, down her arms. He sighed his pleasure as his glance roved her breasts. They were full and round and soft—rosy nipples budding against the transparen
t light blue lace. He smoothed the creamy flesh with the pads of his thumbs. “Just as I thought,” he murmured, fastening his lips on her breasts, suckling her gently through the cloth. “Beautiful.”

  Lauren let out a soft moan. Her back arched. Her thighs fell even farther apart. Knowing he had to undress her and see the rest of her, Mitch removed her bra, slacks, socks.

  “Just so you know,” Lauren gasped as he worked off her panties, too, “making love doesn’t mean we’re getting married.”

  Passion flowed through him, fierce and hot, as Mitch shrugged out of his clothes, as well. Naked, he stretched out beside her. Chuckling softly, he caught her around the waist. “Never figured, even for one second, it did.” Getting Lauren to marry him would take a lot more than just this.

  “Glad we got that straight,” Lauren murmured, tugging him back into her arms.

  “Me, too,” Mitch murmured as he stroked the silken insides of her legs, from knee to thigh. Feeling her begin to slide inexorably toward the edge, he caressed the satiny petals until the dampness flowed. His fingertips made lazy circles. Moved up, in, out, and then back again. Over and over he loved her, kissing her hotly, rapaciously, all the while. Lauren gasped, arched, bucked, until at last she was there, right where he wanted her, shuddering with release. And it was then, when she looked at him, her eyes full of wonder, that he knew. This was a first. Not just for them, but for her.

  “You never…?”

  “No.” Lauren gulped, her slender body still quivering in his arms. “I didn’t think I could.”

  Eager to please her even more, he slid his hands beneath her, he guided her thighs apart. Then driven by the same urgent need as she, he lifted her against him and surged into her, slowly, deliberately. Still kissing, caressing, he took everything she offered and gave her everything in return. Moving together, toward a single goal, until she gasped with arousal and wrapped her arms and legs around him needing to make her his and only his. And he continued with deep, then shallow strokes. Until both of them were breathing frantically, trembling. And then suddenly they were there, as one, catapulting over the edge before coming slowly, reluctantly, back to earth again.

  Mitch collapsed against her, loving her softness, her warmth, the uninhibited way she had just made love with him. Worried, however, that he might be too heavy for her, he rolled, so they were lying on their sides.

  Mitch looked at Lauren’s rosy face and kiss-swollen lips and smiled. He didn’t know how it was possible, but he wanted her again. Lauren might not know it yet, might not want to accept it, but this was not, he decided firmly, going to be a one-time-only love affair. This was real. It was passionate. It was lasting. He didn’t give a damn how or why it had begun. And in time, he promised himself, she wouldn’t, either.

  Lauren swallowed as she moved even farther away from him and regarded him in silence. Clearly, Mitch thought, she wanted to trust him, but she was not quite able to, probably because of how and why their relationship had begun.

  She wet her lips. “Mitch, I’m not sure this is the right time, but there’s something I need to say.”

  Uh-oh. Here it comes.

  “I’m not doing this for my father or the deal we made with him.”

  Mitch had already guessed as much, given the depth and genuineness of her response to him, but he was glad she’d felt the need to clarify it. Honesty was always helpful. Especially in situations like this. It was lying and withholding information that got people into trouble.

  “I made love with you for me,” Lauren continued softly.

  Which was, Mitch thought, just the way it should be. Because the only reason to ever make love with someone was because you wanted to be with that person. “The same is true for me,” Mitch stated seriously, even as her expression relaxed in relief.

  But that didn’t explain everything, however. There was one more thing he wanted to inquire about.

  MITCH RESTED his elbow on the bed, and propped his head on his upraised palm. “You’ve never had an orgasm before.”

  Because I wasn’t in love, Lauren thought, then immediately banished the notion. She wasn’t, was she? In love with Mitch? This was just lust, wasn’t it? Wonderful, life-altering, mind-blowing, passionate lust?

  “I don’t know,” Lauren fibbed just as her phone began to ring. Mitch scowled at the interruption as Lauren turned to get it. “I hope that’s not your father.”

  “Me, too,” Lauren murmured, dragging the phone into bed with them. The last thing Lauren wanted was her father guessing what had just happened, or was happening, between her and Mitch and saying, “I meant for you to be together as in married.” It was bad enough that Payton had paired the two of them together romantically for business gain. “Hello.”

  “Lauren, darling, it’s Winnifred! Is Mitch still there?”

  Lauren breathed a sigh of relief that it was only Mitch’s aunt. “Yes, actually, he is,” she said, deciding this was exactly the kind of distraction they needed.

  “Could you put him on the line, too, so I can speak to you both at once?” Winnifred asked over the din of the party around her.

  “Of course,” Lauren said. She told Mitch what was going on and held the receiver so they both could hear.

  “We’re both here now, Aunt Winnie.” Mitch smiled as he put his face close to Lauren’s. “What is it?”

  “The two of you have got to watch out for Eleanor Deveraux’s ghost!” Winnifred warned with utmost seriousness on the other end of the telephone connection.

  Mitch rolled his eyes. “Not that again, Aunt Winnifred!”

  “I’m serious, Mitch!” Winnifred retorted.

  “Why would she appear to either of us, when you’re the only member of the family who has actually seen our heartbroken ancestor?” Mitch asked with a beleaguered frown.

  “Chase and Bridgett think they may have had a visit from Eleanor on their wedding night,” Eleanor continued.

  Mitch scoffed and shot Lauren a can-you-believe-this glance. “Sounds more like too much champagne to me.”

  “Listen to me, you two!” Winnifred scolded emphatically. “If Eleanor’s belongings are in the secret room at 10 Gathering Street, then she will obviously be there soon, too. So be on the lookout and let me know if you do spot her, because I would love to talk to her.”

  Mitch wrapped an arm around Lauren’s shoulders in a gesture that seemed to state they were in this—whatever it was—together. “I promise we’ll call you if and when we see Eleanor’s ghost,” Mitch told his aunt sincerely.

  Winnifred thanked them and ended the call so she could go back to her party.

  Lauren put the phone back on the nightstand beside her bed. Acutely aware of her nakedness—and his—she held the sheet against her breasts and turned to look at Mitch. He was so warm and strong and tall, and he made love to her better than she had ever dreamed, but she couldn’t let herself depend on him to rescue her from this situation or any other. Not when she knew she was perfectly capable of handling it herself.

  She looked Mitch straight in the eye. “A ghost did not leave those flowers,” she stated firmly.

  MITCH WAS GLAD this subject had come up again. He had known he was going to have to deal with the fact that Lauren had obviously had a love-struck intruder in her new home, before the evening ended. “Which means,” Mitch speculated, “that someone else has been using that secret room without permission.”

  “Well, they can’t keep doing that,” Lauren said heatedly. “I live here now.”

  Mitch lifted his eyebrow in surprise. He had just assumed Lauren would not want to live there until the locks had been changed, the house secured from any further trespassers.

  “You can’t stay here alone tonight,” Mitch said, shocked she would even consider it.

  “Careful,” Lauren warned as she bounded out of bed and began to dress. “You’re sounding like my very over-protective father.”

  “And in this case, he’d be right.” Mitch reluctantly left the bed and re
ached for his boxers. He looked at Lauren sternly. “You need a man to protect you.” And now that they’d made love, Mitch knew exactly who that man was. He didn’t care how their relationship had started, or even why, he just knew where he wanted it to go. Which was to a more permanent, traditional arrangement.

  Lauren rolled her eyes as she ran a brush through the mussed length of her golden-brown hair. Abruptly, she looked more like the determinedly single woman her father had described. “Look, Mitch, it’s very sweet. But you don’t have to come to my rescue just because we made love once. I’ve lived on my own for nearly seven years now,” she told him in a low, exasperated tone. “I know how to protect myself.”

  “I still want to be here,” Mitch stated just as stubbornly, studying the new color that swept into her fair cheeks. “Unless you’d rather I call your father and ask him,” Mitch amended when Lauren continued to look unreceptive to his suggestion.

  Lauren’s lower lip shot out petulantly. “Don’t you dare,” she warned bluntly.

  Mitch lifted an eyebrow, wondering why she was so opposed.

  “I don’t want my dad thinking he has to come to my rescue,” Lauren said fiercely as she hunted around for her socks, and then sat down on the bed to put them on. “I am a grown woman. I can handle this.”

  Regardless of what Lauren might or might not be trying to put over on him in a business sense, there was no way he was leaving her alone. Not after the way they had just made love. Mitch shrugged. “Then I’ll stay with you tonight.” He didn’t mind. It might even give them a chance to make love again.

  Lauren sized Mitch up with a provoking glance as she vaulted back to her feet and brushed the bangs out of her face with the heel of her hand. “You know my father wouldn’t approve.”