A Bride for the Boss

by Maureen Child

  Wryly, she shook her head and smiled. “So it’s my fault.”

  “Absolutely.”

  She laughed again. “Well, then, I’m so very sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” he said and drew them to a stop. Hands on her arms, he turned her to face him. “I wouldn’t change a damn thing, except for the idea of you quitting.”

  “It’s not an idea. It’s fact. You can’t change it, Mac. It already happened.”

  “Don’t count me out just yet,” he warned, one corner of his mouth lifting into that half smile that did amazing things to the pit of her stomach.

  It was a scene built for romance. If she wasn’t living it, Andi would have thought it was like being in the pages of a romance novel. Moonlight, soft breezes, stars glittering overhead and a tall, gorgeous man looking down at her as if she were the center of the universe.

  Just for a moment, for the length of a single heartbeat, Andi wished it were true. Wished she and Mac were a couple. That they were here on their home ranch, taking a walk in the moonlight before going upstairs together.

  Then the moment passed and reality came crashing back down on her. “Um, you going to show me that mare?”

  “You bet,” he said, then in one smooth move bent down, scooped one arm under her legs and swung her up against him.

  So surprised she could hardly speak, Andi just gaped at him. Whether he knew it or not, he was really filling in the blanks on her romantic fantasy.

  “Mac!” She pushed ineffectually at his chest and wasn’t surprised at all when she didn’t make a dent. “What are you doing?”

  “Look there,” he said, jerking his head to a spot just ahead of them.

  She did, and saw a mud puddle that stretched from the stable fence to nearly the back of the ranch house. “Oh.”

  “That’s right.” He looked down at her. “Those pretty shoes of yours would never make it through the mud. A shame to ruin them.”

  “Or,” she said, squirming a little in his hard, tight grasp, “I just won’t go see the horse tonight. Put me down.”

  “Nope, we had a deal. I’ll carry you to the stable.” He started walking and then added, “Guess I just have to rescue you again. How many does that make now?” he wondered aloud. “Are you keeping count?”

  “This isn’t a rescue,” she said, not completely able to hide the exasperated laughter bubbling from her throat as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “This is a kidnapping.”

  “Is that right?” He shrugged and hefted her just a little higher in his arms. “Well, it’s my first.”

  “Congratulations.”

  “Thanks.” He looked at her again. “I’m having a hell of a good time.”

  “Strangely enough,” she said wistfully, “so am I.”

  He stopped, stared down into her eyes. “Good to know.”

  A couple of humming, electrical seconds passed while they stared at each other and the soft, early summer breeze wrapped itself around them. She was in so much trouble, Andi told herself.

  Finally, he went on, carrying her across the muddy water and into the stable, where the scents of fresh hay and horses greeted them. It was quiet but for the occasional stamp of a hoof against the floor. Slowly, Mac set her on her feet, but caught her hand in his and held tight.

  “Come on,” he said, “I’ll show you the mare.”

  They walked the length of the freshly swept aisle between stalls and as they passed horses poked their heads out as if to say hello. Mac had a moment with each of them, stroking noses, murmuring soft words to the animals until Andi was half convinced they were actually communicating.

  At the last stall, he stopped and smiled at a gray horse with a blond mane as the animal reached out her nose toward him. “Andi, this is Moonlight.”

  “She’s beautiful.” She stroked the horse’s neck and jaw, loving the soft, sturdy feel of the friendly mare.

  “Yeah,” Mac said, shifting his gaze from the mare to her. “She is. And this pretty girl’s going to produce some beautiful children over the next few years.”

  “Who’s the proud father-to-be?”

  “Ah,” he said, giving the mare one last pat before turning and pointing to a stall twice as big as the other animals had. “That would be Apollo.”

  The stallion was a dark, sleek brown with a black mane and tail, and he held his head high and aloof as if he knew just how important he was.

  “He looks as if he thinks of himself as a god, so, appropriate name,” Andi said.

  “For a stallion, he’s got a great temperament, too.” They walked closer and the big horse shook his head and snorted.

  “Yeah, I can see he’s really friendly,” Andi said, laughing nervously.

  “He just doesn’t like being tied down. He’d rather be out in the corral kicking up his heels than shut down for the night.”

  “So he’s definitely male.”

  One eyebrow lifted. “Is that a slur against my gender?”

  “Not a slur. An observation,” she said, walking back up the aisle, pausing now and again to say hello to one of the horses or to stroke or pat.

  “Based on your vast experience?” he teased from just a step behind her.

  She looked over her shoulder at him. “I’ve known a few who’ve taken off for the hills as soon as anything remotely serious pops up. Take you, for example.”

  “Me?” He slapped one hand to his chest as if deeply wounded.

  She laughed again, enjoying herself in the quiet, dimly lit stable. “Please. How many times have I purchased the see-you-later-thanks-for-the-memories bracelets?”

  He winced and that only made her laugh harder. “Admit it, Mac. It’s not only when you get bored with a woman that you move on. It’s also when she starts getting stars in her eyes over you. Much like your stallion over there, you prefer running free. The only real commitment you’ve ever made was to the business.”

  “Maybe,” he said, taking her arm and pulling her around to face him, “it’s because I haven’t met the right woman yet.”

  “Not for lack of trying,” she said wryly.

  He grinned and shrugged that off. “I’m no quitter.”

  He slid his hands up her arms to cup her face between his work-roughened palms. His thumbs stroked her cheekbones as his gaze met hers and held, warming the longer he looked at her. “You’re confusing me, Andi,” he said so softly she wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly.

  Andi felt that rush of heat she’d come to expect from his touch, then her breath caught when the heat exploded into an inferno as he leaned down, bringing his mouth just inches from hers. If she had a single working brain cell, she would move back, keep a distance between them. A kiss from Mac was going to lead to places she really shouldn’t consider going.

  But she couldn’t think. What woman could under the same circumstances? Her heartbeat sounded like a bass drum in her own ears. Breathe, she reminded herself. Breathe.

  He smiled, a slow, slight curve of his mouth. “What’s the matter, Andi? Feeling a little nervous after all?”

  “No.” Liar. Nerves, yes. Excitement, oh yes. Worry? She should be worried. Instead there was a tiny, faint voice crying out for caution, trying to be heard over the clamor of need screaming in her head.

  She licked her lips and watched his eyes flare at the motion.

  “Seduction in a stable, Mac?”

  “The horses won’t mind,” he assured her.

  “Maybe not,” she whispered, her gaze dropping briefly to his mouth before meeting his again. “But I should.”

  His hands stilled as he stared into her eyes. “Do you?”

  “No.”

  “Thank God.”

  She leaned into him and he moved quickly, laying his mouth over hers. Andi thought she heard
herself groan, but that was the last thought she had. It was impossible to think when so many sensations were awakening, demanding to be relished, explored.

  He pulled her tight against him, his arms coming around her like a vise, squeezing as though he thought she might try to escape his hold. But that was the last thing Andi wanted. This was probably a mistake and no doubt she’d come to regret it at some point, but at the moment, all she could think was yes. Touch me. Hold me. Be with me.

  For six years, she’d loved him. For six years, she’d hidden everything she felt. Now finally, if only for this one night, she would be with the man she loved. Know what it was like to hold his body close to hers. To take him inside. And she wouldn’t give up that chance for any amount of logic and reason.

  He drew his head back and looked down at her, eyes wide, flashing with emotions that changed too quickly for her to read. But maybe that was for the best.

  “Man,” he whispered. “Should have done that a long time ago.”

  “Now is good, too,” she said, though her voice sounded breathy and so unlike her she hardly recognized it. Her whole body was humming with impatience, with need. She was practically vibrating with the tension coiled tight in the pit of her stomach.

  “Now is great,” he amended, then swept her up into his arms again.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Just another rescue,” he said, and headed out of the stable. But instead of going toward his car, Mac made a right turn and started for the ranch house. “This time, though,” he told her, “I’m saving us both.”

  Seven

  Andi held on, then leaned up and kissed the side of his neck. Her decision was made. There would be no turning back now. Tonight, she would make memories that years from now she’d relive and remember. “Hurry.”

  A low, throaty growl rolled from his throat, but he did exactly as she ordered, his long legs eating up the distance to the house in a few minutes. Overhead, the sky was black with a wide sweep of stars impossible to see unless you were outside a city, away from the lights. A nearly full moon glowed against the blackness and sent that wash of light over everything like a blessing. The warm June wind wrapped itself around them and swept them on toward the lamplit house ahead of them.

  He opened the door, stepped through and kicked it shut behind him. The kitchen lay empty and still in the glow of a stove light, but Mac didn’t stop to admire the elegantly remodeled space.

  Andi barely had a chance to admire it, even if she’d been interested, before he was across the room and striding down a long hallway. They passed a dining room, Mac’s study and the great room at the front of the house before he came to the wide oak staircase, where he suddenly stopped.

  Surprised, Andi tore her gaze away from the massive iron and wood chandelier hanging from the cathedral ceiling over the foyer to look into his eyes. A view she preferred.

  “What is it? What’s wrong?” Her heart galloped in her chest as his hands held her in a proprietary grasp.

  Keeping her pressed tightly against him, Mac said, “Nothing’s wrong as far as I’m concerned. I’m just checking one last time.”

  She smiled and trailed the tips of her fingers along his jaw and throat. He shivered, then sucked in a gulp of air like a drowning man tasting hope.

  She smiled, loving his response. And she knew exactly what he was doing now. Mac being Mac, he was giving her one last chance to change her mind about what was about to happen. He was charming, gorgeous and had a sense of honor that not enough men these days possessed. How could she resist him?

  But still she asked innocently, “Checking what?”

  “God help me,” Mac said, letting his head fall back helplessly. “Yes or no, Andi. Don’t make me beg.”

  “It’s a big step,” she teased. “I just don’t know...”

  He narrowed his eyes on her and gave her a hard squeeze. “Woman, you’re treading on thin ice here.”

  She smiled and asked, “How fast can you take these stairs?”

  His grin flashed bright. “We’re about to find out.”

  Probably silly, Andi thought as her heart raced, to feel such a wild rush of pleasure at the man she loved holding her close and sprinting up a staircase.

  She’d been in the house before, to see Vi when she’d lived in the west wing. But Andi now caught glimpses of Mac’s side of the house when he made a sharp right at the top of the stairs. She couldn’t have been less interested in the decor, but noted the Western paintings on the cream-colored walls as he passed. She saw the heavy, dark beams on the ceiling and heard every muffled boot step on the carpet runner along the hall. Then he turned into his bedroom and Andi focused only on him.

  He swung her to her feet, but didn’t let her go. Instead, he cradled her close to his chest, lowered his head to hers and kissed her breathless.

  There was no slow slide into delight here; this was like a fall on a roller coaster. A whoosh of sensation that rushed through the blood and then gave you just enough time to breathe before starting all over again.

  His hands, those big, strong hands, were everywhere at once—sliding up and down her spine, around to cup her breasts and then up to touch her face, fingers spearing through her hair, tipping her head first one way then the other as he deepened a kiss that was already searing her soul.

  “I’ve been wanting my hands on you,” he murmured when he tore his mouth from hers.

  “I’ve been wanting that, too.” For so long.

  “Glad to hear it,” he said, giving her the wicked half smile that never failed to send jolts of anticipation rocketing through her. And now, that sensation was going to have a payoff. At last.

  He turned her around, her back to his front, and tugged her zipper down slowly. She sighed, air sliding from her lungs on a half moan at the touch of his fingers against her back.

  The bed in front of her was huge. Like an adult playground, with a midnight-blue duvet and a dozen pillows propped at the headboard. Across the room, there were French doors that led out onto the second-story balcony and a door on the right of the room that no doubt led to a bathroom suite. A cold hearth stood on one side of the room and there were two matching leather comfy chairs in front of it.

  She wasn’t feeling comfy at the moment, though; she was on edge, every nerve in her body tingling with expectation. Mac slid the shoulder straps of her dress down her arms and followed the motion with his mouth. Lips, teeth, tongue trailed over her skin and made her shiver. She couldn’t believe this was happening. After six long years of loving, she was finally being loved by the man she’d thought she could never have.

  And even if this was only one night, it was one she would always remember. She would etch it into her memory so she could replay it over and over again. Relish every touch, every breath, every sigh—and regret that it hadn’t lasted longer than one night.

  “I wanted slow and seductive,” he admitted as he turned her to face him and watched as the bodice of her dress dropped to her waist, displaying a strapless black lace bra. His eyes went wide and hot as he lifted his gaze to hers. “But I find I’m too hungry for you to take my time.”

  “Me, too, Mac.” She’d wanted for so long, needed so much; this was no time for lazy caresses and tenderness. This was a rush to fulfillment. To ease the aches they both felt. And she was ready.

  Andi reached for the buttons on his shirt even as he shrugged off his jacket and let it fall. When the shirt lay open, she splayed her hands on his hard, muscled chest and felt his heart pound in time with her own. His eyes caught hers and locked, passion glittering bright and sharp in those green depths. He kissed her again, long and deep, eliciting another groan from her as he tumbled her back onto the bed and followed her down. He tore his own shirt off, then came back to her, sliding her dress down her hips and taking her black lace panties with it. He pushed
them off and onto the floor.

  The duvet felt silky and cool against her back, adding contrasting layers to the sizzling warmth pumping through her. Andi unhooked her bra and watched his eyes as her breasts were bared to him. Heat flashed in his gaze just before he lowered his head to take, first, one rigid nipple, then the other into his mouth. His tongue lapped at her, his lips and teeth tugged and suckled at her, and in seconds, Andi was writhing beneath him, moving with the need erupting like lava in her blood. She held his head to her and watched him, and her mind spun out into sparkle-splashed darkness. There was nothing in the world but the two of them. This moment. This bed. This...wonder.

  Then he moved up her body and took her mouth again, their tongues tangling together in a frenzied dance of passion that fed the fires already burning inside them both.

  His right hand swept down her length and into the heat of her. She was wound so tight, had waited so long, that that first intimate touch was enough to make her shatter in tiny, helpless waves of pleasure that flickered and shone like lit sparklers just beneath her skin. “Mac...”

  “Just getting started, darlin’,” he promised, and delved deep, his fingers stroking, caressing already sensitive skin until she lifted her hips into his hand, hoping to ease the sudden burst of need that continued to build.

  “I can’t do this again so soon.” Proud of herself for getting the words out, she clutched at his shoulders and held on as her body did things she hadn’t expected it could.

  Always before, sex had been a soft, almost sweet release of tension. A gentle ripple that drifted through her body on a tender sigh of completion.

  This was different. That soft ripple had already washed away in a rising tide of fresh need that swamped everything that had come before.

  He kissed her mouth, her shoulders, her breasts; he touched her deeply, intimately, and watched her every reaction. She gave him everything she had. She showed him everything she felt. Andi held nothing back because she’d waited too long to feel it all.

  His touch was fire. His eyes were magic. She felt her own body jumping out of her control and she let it go.