For a long time she said nothing. Instead she stood there silently, shivering from head to foot and drinking him in with her eyes as if she could fill her soul. He was rumpled from sleep, stubbled with a day’s beard growth, wrapped in the frayed blue terry robe he’d once let her wear. He was, simply, the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen.
Dare stared back at her, noting the tremors that shook her, recognizing that she was cold but at a loss as to what to do about it. Once he would have touched her, warmed her with his body. Now he simply didn’t know if he was any longer entitled to such intimacy.
What had brought her out in the middle of such a cold night? he wondered. What couldn’t wait until morning?
“Andrea,” he said gently, “what’s wrong? Has something happened?”
Shivering, she stepped toward him. “Hold me,” she whispered. “Please hold me.”
He was more than willing to oblige. Closing the last bit of distance between them, he unbuttoned her parka with swift fingers and flung it aside. He started to bend so he could lift her, then suddenly paused. Taking her trembling shoulders in his hands, he looked down at her, forcing her to meet his gaze.
“No more games, Andrea,” he said gruffly. “I’m in no mood for another scene like Wednesday morning. If you’re planning to kiss me off again—”
“No…” she said hoarsely. “Oh, no. Dare, please…”
He obliged, sweeping her trembling body up into his arms. She coiled her arms around his neck, clinging with a fierceness he’d never felt in her before as shivers continued to rack her.
“Damn it,” he said roughly as he laid her on his bed, “why didn’t you call me before you came? How long did you stand out there?”
She didn’t answer, watching him with hazy green eyes as, by the light of the small bedside lamp, he tugged her boots and then her jeans from her frozen body. His scent rose around her from the very sheets, warming the coldest place of all: her heart.
“Come on, honey,” he said, lifting her. “Let’s get this sweater off so I can warm you.”
Finally, at long last, her naked, shivering body was wrapped in the heat of his, swaddled in his arms, in his blankets, in his bed. He stroked her hair and shoulder, tucked her head under his chin, covered her legs with his.
“What happened, darlin’?” he asked gently. “Tell me what happened.”
The endearments, the tender caresses, his concern, thawed her as much as his heat. She’d feared he might have come to hate her for the way she’d left him, but he didn’t hate her. Of that much she was sure. Now she had to face whatever it was he really felt, and she had no right to ask that of him until she’d given him her own honesty.
“I’m sorry,” she said in a small voice, her breath stirring the soft hair on his chest.
“Sorry for what?” he asked, his soothing hands never hesitating in their caresses.
“Leaving you.”
Now his hands did hesitate. Noticeably. “You did what you felt you had to,” he said gruffly, and resumed stroking her shoulder.
“I was afraid,” she admitted. “I was terrified.”
“Of me?” He was stunned by the notion.
“No, not of you. Of me. Leaving you was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I was afraid to stay.”
Something in him started to unknot, just a little, and made it possible for him to drop a kiss on her forehead. “I kind of got that feeling,” he said in what he hoped was an encouraging voice.
“I was afraid of myself,” she admitted in a voice that was barely above a whisper. Her heart had climbed into her throat, and she knew that this time there was truly no rip cord. Closing her eyes tightly, she stepped out into space. “I was afraid of how much I love you.”
Dare was electrified by her words. He had practically given up hope of ever hearing them. He closed his eyes and hugged her nearer. “Just how much do you love me?” he heard himself ask huskily.
Andrea’s voice quavered. “I love you so much that I don’t want to imagine life without you.”
“I love you, too,” he managed to say gruffly through a tightening throat. “For the last couple of days my future had been looking about as barren as the prairie in January.”
“But what do you want from me?”
The cry pierced his heart. Bending his head, he sought her mouth with his and kissed her with aching tenderness. “Sweetheart, what I want from you is you. Just the way you are. I never hoped I’d find a woman who can give me as much as you do. You’re a friend, a colleague and a lover. I couldn’t ask for more.”
There was more she needed to ask, but for the moment she was overwhelmed by the need to show him her love. Pushing him gently backward, she rose above him beneath the tent of the blankets. On hands and knees she straddled him, then lowered her head to take hungry possession of his mouth.
At first Dare was content to let her lead, but before long the hunger she always evoked in him began to pulse through him, and he reached for her, wanting her closer, much closer.
Andrea caught his hands, lacing her fingers with his. “No,” she whispered huskily, smiling almost drowsily down at him. “Let me. This time, let me.”
This was the first time he had ever taken the passive role in lovemaking, and he found the experience at once gratifying and torturous. In relinquishing control, he began to learn the awesome dimensions of the need this woman could arouse in him.
Because Dare had always taken charge of their lovemaking, Andrea knew very little of what he liked for himself. Aware of her lack of experience, she moved slowly, listening attentively to his breathing, heeding the responsive movements of his muscles. She found a sensitive spot behind his jaw, a cord in his neck where a nip could make him groan. She already knew that his nipples were as sensitive as hers, but when she found one hard little button in the soft fur, she set about discovering just what pleased him best.
“Oh! Andrea…”
She wriggled away from his hands and sought lower, as excited by his responses as she had ever been excited by his touches and kisses. She loved everything about this man, she realized. Everything. His rough-soft contrasts, his hardness and smoothness. The hair on his chest and legs, and in his groin. The way his muscles bunched beneath her hands, the way his hands grasped her and held her and guided her…
The way he groaned and caught her hips, this time refusing to let her escape. The way he showed her how to lower herself onto him, the way he reached out and touched her most secret place, depriving her of any will at all except the will to be his.
The way he made her his woman. The way he completed her and filled her and let her know she was all this man would ever need.
The way he held her to his chest with trembling arms afterward. The way he kissed her and stroked her hair back from her damp face, the way he pulled the comforter over them but wouldn’t let her move away. The way he fell asleep with her, their bodies still joined, his arms snug around her, her weight a reassurance on his chest.
“Wake up, darlin’,” a husky male voice growled in her ear. “It’s noon, and I’ve run out of patience.”
Andrea was smiling even before she pried open her eyelids. A gentle kiss on the lips broadened the smile even more.
“Tell me I didn’t dream last night,” she murmured, fully opening her sleepy eyes.
“I was going to ask you to tell me the same thing, sweetheart.” His face just inches from hers, he ran a finger along her cheek and smiled into her eyes. “Did you really say you love me?”
“I love you.” She said it positively, in a soft, sleepy voice. “With my whole heart.”
“Enough to discuss marriage?”
Her breath caught, and the sleepiness vanished from her eyes. When she didn’t say anything immediately, tension began to grow in Dare. He honestly didn’t know if he had the patience to wait her out again.
“Okay,” he said. “Too heavy before coffee.”
He rolled out of bed, and Andrea saw that he was wearin
g jeans and a white T-shirt. He grabbed his blue terry robe from the back of the closet door and tossed it to her.
“The coffee’s ready. I’ll make some eggs for you.”
“Dare—”
But he’d already left the room, closing the door behind him.
“Damn!” Andrea said in frustration. “Double damn!” He’d caught her by surprise, and now she’d hurt him. Disappointed him.
By the time he heard Andrea come into the kitchen behind him, Dare was feeling pretty annoyed with himself. Just because proposing to her had him all uptight was no reason to be short with her. He knew how hard all of this was for her.
“I’m sorry,” he said, turning as soon as he heard her step. “I shouldn’t have—”
She covered his mouth with her fingertips. “Shh,” she said softly. “Shh. You just took me by surprise.” For a long moment she stood and simply looked up at him, her expression growing softer.
“I wanted to tell you something about my career goals,” she said finally, running her index finger back and forth across his lower lip in a way that made it difficult for him to concentrate on her words.
“You keep touching me like this,” he said huskily, “and we’re going to wind up in bed pursuing a few physical goals.”
A breathless laugh escaped her, and she dropped her hand. “Sorry.”
“Never apologize for that, honey.” Catching her hand, he astonished her by pressing a kiss into her palm. “What’s this about your career goals?”
“Well…” She looked down and to the side, and then stole a look at him from the corner of her eye, as if worrying what his reaction would be.
“Go on,” he prompted.
“Well, I decided that I don’t really want to be Colonel Andrea Burke after all.”
He thought his heart was going to stop right there. She couldn’t give up her career. He wouldn’t let her. Choosing his words carefully, he asked, “What do you want to be, then?”
The corners of her mouth twitched upward. “How does Colonel Andrea MacLendon sound?”
Understanding crashed through him, overwhelming him. “Are you proposing to me?” he asked, hardly daring to believe it.
Andrea bit her lower lip and looked up at him, shaking her head slowly. “No, sir. I thought about it, but then I decided you should propose to me.”
He was beginning to believe. “Why?”
A smile quirked the corners of her mouth. “I imagine I’ll never again have a chance to bring a general to his knees.”
A snort of laughter escaped him. “I’m not a general yet,” he reminded her, struggling to restrain the urge to crush her to him.
“Close enough,” she argued with apparent satisfaction. “Well?”
“On my knees?”
She nodded. There was a wicked sparkle in her eyes that quickly gave way to something much softer, much warmer, when, without the least hesitation, he dropped to one knee and took her hands in his.
Tilting back his head, Dare looked up at her, and now there was a teasing glint in his blue eyes. “I always wondered what would happen if I double-dared you.”
Andrea smiled. “Try me.”
“Captain Burke, I love you with my whole heart and soul. Will you marry me?”
She blinked rapidly as tears welled unexpectedly to her eyes. “Yes, sir, I will,” she said and dropped to her own knees to throw her arms around his neck and hold him close. “I love you, Dare,” she whispered fiercely. “I love you more than I can possibly say.”
He kissed her thirstily, then lifted his head to look down at her. “It doesn’t scare you anymore?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I was afraid that I’d wind up being like my mother, totally dependent. And then I realized that I had the strength to walk away from you when I needed you most. I’m not weak. I’ll never be like my mother.”
“I can guarantee that, love,” he said, cradling her cheek in his palm. “And what about the rest of it?”
“My problems with being a cop and a soldier, you mean?”
Dare nodded, his gaze skimming her features as if he didn’t want to miss a single nuance of her expression.
“I figure I’ll always have a problem with that,” Andrea said frankly. “There would be something wrong with me if I didn’t have a problem with guns. It hasn’t kept me from doing my job yet, and I don’t see any reason why it should. You were right about why I didn’t shoot Halliday, and since I didn’t have to shoot to protect someone, that’s not something I should have to apologize for.”
“Thank God!” he sighed with heartfelt relief.
Much later, in the intimacy of his big water bed, Dare tilted her face up to his. “Have you ever refused a dare?”
Andrea shook her head. “Never. You said you were going to double-dare me. You forgot.”
“Uh-uh, I didn’t forget. I saved it up.”
Andrea’s eyes sparkled. “Well then? I’m waiting.”
Under the blanket, he crossed his fingers. “What would you say if I double-dared you to start a family?”
Andrea stared at him solemnly for a long time, so long that he began to think he’d really blown it bad. Finally she spoke.
“I’d better warn you that twins run in my family.”
He started breathing again.
“Do you still want to dare me?” she asked.
He never answered. He just held her so close and so tight that she got the definite impression she’d made him a happy man.
“I love you,” he said a long time later. “I’ll love you with my dying breath.”
Andrea had no doubt that she would love him just as long.
Keeping Annie Safe
By Beverly Barton
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Prologue
He dumped the body into Mobile Bay. It could take days, maybe even weeks or months, before anyone found her. Or she just might wash out to sea and no one would ever know what had happened to her. The boss had told him that if it hadn’t taken them so long to discover that she’d gone off to some damn convention, they could have gotten rid of her before she’d shared her secret with anyone else. Luckily, he’d caught up with her in time to end her telephone conversation with her editor. But he had no idea how much information she’d shared with Annie Harden.
He hated having to call his boss. But before he took any further action, he needed an okay from the person who was paying him big bucks for this job. In his opinion, they had no choice but to take care of Ms. Harden before she had a chance to cause any trouble.
He closed the trunk lid, opened the driver’s side door and slid behind the wheel. Within minutes he entered the main highway and headed back toward Point Clear.
Using his cellular phone, he placed the call.
“Hello?”
“I disposed of our little problem,” he said.
“Good.”
“But I’m afraid we have another problem.”
“What went wrong?”
“She called her editor. I don’t know how much she told her, but I think it was enough to make the lady suspicious,” he explained. “And I didn’t find the package.”
“This complicates matters. We need that package. And my superior isn’t going to like knowing that Annie is now involved.”
“I wiped out the computer files and checked her suitcase, so there’s no evidence of any kind,” he said. “But if she shared enough information with—”
“I hate that this has happened. I wanted this stopped before… We have no choice now. I’m afraid we’ll have to take care of the new problem
in a similar manner.” Pause. Deep breath. “Stay where you are until I find out exactly where the lady is. If she’s still in town, I’ll get someone here to take care of it. If she’s on her way there, then I’ll let you know and you can handle the situation.”
“I’ll lay low until I hear from you.”
The guy who’d hired him had explained that they’d wanted to eliminate Halley Robinson before she involved this Annie dame. So he figured Annie meant something to either the boss or his superior. And if that was the case, then issuing an order to kill her might not be so easy for them.
Chapter 1
Relaxation washed over Dane Carmichael like the Gulf waters over the sandy beach beneath his feet. Maybe his co-workers had been right, after all. Maybe he did need this vacation more than he realized. He certainly had enjoyed having dinner with old friends tonight. He hadn’t seen Norma Jane and Jay in years, even though he and Lorna had once been very close to the couple. Docking the Sweet Savannah here at Point Clear had brought back a lot of memories—memories of the life he had lost ten years ago when Lorna died. How many summers had they vacationed at the Grand Hotel, as Southern aristocracy had done since pre-Civil War days?
Dane slowed his steps, took a deep breath and gazed up at the starry sky. Clear and bright. A balmy springtime breeze drifted ashore from Mobile Bay. Sweet serenity. Only the ocean’s heartbeat and his own, beating in unison.
A few years ago he’d left the Bureau and a grueling schedule that had helped keep him sane during the difficult years following Lorna’s death. He’d thought that the change would be good for him, maybe allow him time for a personal life. During the first few months as head of one of the most prestigious private security and investigation firms in the country, he had slowed his pace and actually started dating. But as time had passed, he hadn’t found anyone who could measure up to Lorna. After that disappointing revelation, he had once again buried himself in his work, not realizing what a workaholic he’d become or to what extent he had allowed the Dundee agency to become his whole life. Not until his co-workers had suggested he take a few weeks off.
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