Falling for Her Husband: The Renaldis, Book 3

by Karen Erickson

  But he didn’t want that sort of life either. Yes, he’d spoken to Matteo of the submissive little woman waiting at home for him, but did he really mean it?

  After spending just a few minutes with Catalina and seeing how she so desperately didn’t want a marriage like that, neither did he.

  He couldn’t believe how quickly she could change his mind.

  “You’re sorely mistaken if you think that’s all I want from you,” he started, but the withering stare she shot in his direction silenced him.

  “Please. You’ll say all the right things now because you want me to believe you, but be honest with yourself. You don’t know me, don’t love me or feel absolutely anything for me. Why would that change when we’re married? It wouldn’t. It absolutely wouldn’t, and you know it. In fact, our relationship would probably take a turn for the worse because we’ll slowly start to resent each other. Resent our businesslike marriage and how we let it happen.” She paused, pressing her lips together. Had she revealed too much? He was thankful for her candor even though it hurt.

  “You don’t want a relationship based on nothing,” he said, his voice flat.

  “Who would?”

  She had a valid point, one he couldn’t argue. Quite frankly, he’d grown weary of the argument for marriage in general. With Catalina, he got a sense that he couldn’t win. She would trump him every single time.

  Rafe knew the right move would be to back down and walk away. He didn’t want to—it was the last thing he wanted to do, but he didn’t want to be trapped forever with a resentful wife either.

  “You’re right,” he agreed, earning a shocked gasp in reply. “Our marriage would be based on nothing but an outlandish agreement made years ago between two men whose children didn’t know each other and never really would. I can’t ask you to marry me, Catalina. It wouldn’t be right.”

  She was quiet for a moment, staring at him as if she couldn’t quite believe he just said that.

  “It’s Cat,” she finally whispered, her voice trembling.

  Frowning, he met her troubled gaze. “What did you say?”

  “My friends and family, they call me Cat,” she explained, confusing him further. Certainly she didn’t think of him as a friend or a member of her family.

  So why mention the nickname now?

  “It just sounds so formal when you call me Catalina,” she explained further when he didn’t reply.

  “And isn’t that what you called our agreement? Too formal?” She had, hadn’t she? He couldn’t remember. The endless words they’d spoken to each other this evening were all starting to run together.

  She shrugged. “Yes, but…I got tired of hearing you call me Catalina.”

  “Well, Cat, I appreciate the sudden informality, but I suppose this is the end.” He liked the sound of it. Cat. The nickname fit her. Made him think of a gorgeous, sleek feline, slinking into his life, turning his head. This woman constantly aroused him to an almost painful state only to turn around and leave him in the dust.

  Exactly what she’d done to him tonight.

  “I guess so,” she agreed, her voice hollow, her gaze…sad? No, it couldn’t be. He was reading her wrong. He must’ve read her wrong for years.

  What an idiot he was.

  “This is what you want.”

  “Absolutely.” She nodded. “Freedom. I’m dying for a taste of freedom. I want to see the world before I settle down, you know? We used to spread our time evenly between Chicago and here, but the last few years, we’ve rarely left Italy.”

  Chicago was the U.S. base for Campioni, where many of their relatives lived and also maintained a small branch. But Carlo Campioni had run out of funds, hence his inability to return to the States. Not that Rafe would throw his knowledge of their financial state in her face. He knew most everything about her family.

  Not marrying him wouldn’t give her an opportunity for freedom. Didn’t she realize she’d only become married to her family business if she didn’t wed him? That it would suck her dry, working so hard to build the company back up after her father had nearly destroyed it?

  But she wouldn’t listen to reason, not now, especially coming from him. Still, he couldn’t help but say something.

  “If you gave me a chance, I could’ve shown you the world. Together, just the two of us,” he said softly.

  Surprise flitted over her face, her full lips parting, forming a little O. “Don’t say things you don’t mean.”

  “I never do.”

  Silence settled between them once again, thick with promise. Could she not sense it? Feel it? The tension between them? The attraction? It was more than obvious to him, permeating the air and making it hard for him to focus. She looked frazzled too, her eyes full of confusion, her cheeks flushed a delicious pink. She gnawed on her lower lip as if she wanted to chew a hole in it, and he wondered what she might be thinking.

  Not that she’d tell him, oh no. She’d already written him off as bad for her. As if his sole intention was to ruin her life and leave her a domesticated slave available to his every whim.

  A rather unfair assumption, and one he couldn’t seem to convince her out of.

  “I appreciate you giving me no trouble,” she finally said, drawing herself up to her full height as she thrust her shoulders back, looking so very mighty and strong despite her petite stature. “And letting me back out of this agreement between us. You know it was the right thing to do.”

  “If you say so,” he murmured, his gaze never leaving her pretty, oh-so-tempting face. “Give me one last kiss goodbye, then? Between old friends and ex-future husband and wife?”

  She rolled her eyes, some of the fire back. He liked seeing that hint of fire, the flash of defiance. Maybe Matteo was right. A little feistiness in a woman wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. “You must be kidding.”

  He schooled his expression, trying for solemn. Really, he wanted to laugh, yank her into his arms and lay one on her. “I never kid about kisses, Cat. That is one thing you’d learn if you were to marry me.” There was heated promise in his voice and he hoped like hell she noticed.

  Pressing her lips together, she approached him quickly, leaning in for the fastest, barest peck upon his lips he’d ever experienced.

  But he was quicker than that, thank Christ. He slung his arm around her slim waist and hauled her in, her slender, slightly curvy body pressing up against his, her lips achingly close to his mouth. She tempted him beyond measure, despite her eager rejection and he wanted to prove to her that they could be good together.

  If only she would give him a try.

  Without warning, he pressed his mouth to hers, softly. Reverently. Her eyes were wide open as she stared up at him, and he broke the kiss, letting his lids fall to half-mast as he leaned in and kissed her again. One corner of her mouth, then the other, tasting those succulent lips, pleasure rippling through him when she closed her eyes as if lost to the deliciousness of his mouth on hers. Savoring her lips, he darted out his tongue quickly, tasting her. Drawing the moment out as slowly as he could. Using it to his advantage so maybe, just maybe, he could get her to change her mind.

  That he had to work so hard to try and change her mind was mind-blowing, but nothing had been normal about this situation from the start. What could he expect?

  Withdrawing from her for the barest second, he studied her pretty, upturned face, her damp lips, her closed eyes and those thick, dark lashes. God, she was a true beauty, one he wanted to explore further, but she shut him down. Not giving him a chance.

  So he took another kiss, this one lingering longer, coaxing her lips apart with his own as best as he could but she held firm. Stubborn female, he thought with slight amusement when he finally broke the kiss, noting the telltale throb of her pulse at the base of her neck when she opened her eyes to stare up at him in silent awe.

  She was just as affected by the kiss as he was. Perhaps even more so. Triumph surged through him even knowing that she could still walk away.

/>   “Goodbye, Cat,” he whispered, wishing his mouth was on hers once more.

  She needed answers, but he gives her a place she can call home.

  Count on Me

  © 2014 Lauren Dane

  Petal, Georgia, Book 3

  Petal is the last place Caroline Mendoza thought she’d end up. Sixteen years ago she lost both parents there—her mother to murder and her father to prison for the crime. Since then she’s built a successful life, but she’s never let go of the belief her father is innocent.

  Now she’s back in Petal to find the truth. With a new job and a mystery to solve, she’s got plenty on her plate. But when she bumps into Royal Watson, the sparks fly hard and fast.

  When the whipsmart, opinionated lawyer blows into town like a beautiful storm, Royal has a reason to make the time to get off his organic farm and pursue her. And soon their intense attraction is tipping into something more.

  As Caroline’s dogged investigation digs up ghosts of the past, there’s not much time for basking in love’s glow. The closer she gets to the truth, the more threatened the real killer gets…and the greater the danger that all her digging could lead to her own grave.

  Warning: Laid-back ranchers who are really sneak alpha males, tight butts in wranglers, and creative use of belts and buckles. Bad words, hot sex, and lots of pie—sometimes all at once.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Count on Me:

  Caroline stared up the box she needed.

  On the top shelf.

  Naturally.

  Sighing, she looked through her cart to for something to use to tip it down. Nothing that would work.

  Muttering a curse, she stretched and just barely missed it. She’d totally climb the shelves if she had to but the last time she’d tried it, she’d ended up knocking a bunch of jars down and they broke and it was pretty embarrassing. Heaven knew she had enough to work against as it was without an incident on aisle ten with cereal.

  “Lemme get that for you.”

  She looked to the side at the very tall cowboy who’d sidled up to use all his height to retrieve her box of cereal.

  “This here?” He pointed at the natural cereal she liked.

  “Yes, thanks.”

  He grabbed it.

  “Can you please get two? I figure I may as well just have a backup now, you know in case you aren’t around the next time I’m here.”

  He pulled one more down and turned to drop them in her cart. That’s when she realized it was Royal Watson. All grown up.

  He faced her and all her parts stood up and cheered. Like a full-stadium wave.

  “Hey, it’s Caroline Mendoza.”

  Oh. That accent. All Southern charm. Sexy and slow, like he tasted every word, savoring it before he let it go. She did love a Southern drawl coming from a man who used words like ma’am when they opened doors and retrieved things from high shelves. She knew it was pretty old school of her, but damn she didn’t even care.

  “Hey, it’s Royal Watson. Thanks again for the assist.”

  His grin made her want to moan.

  Back in high school, he’d been two grades ahead. He’d been that super cute older boy who probably never noticed her existence. And of course by the time she’d grown into her body, he’d grown into his everything and she’d left town.

  He had great hands. She tore her gaze away from them and her brain from imagining them on her because hello, grocery store, in front of people and all.

  As if he knew what she was thinking, he got just a smidge closer. “It’s good to see you. You’re in town. For a visit or?”

  She laughed, putting a hand at her hip. “Come on now. Are we pretending you haven’t already heard I moved back to Petal? I may have forgotten my share of things about living in small towns, but your business is everyone’s business.” And her past had so much meat for the gossip table, she knew tongues had been wagging ever since she signed the lease on her apartment three weeks before.

  “All right. Well, my Aunt Denver is famous for two things. First, she makes the best coconut cake in a hundred-mile radius. Maybe even the whole state of Georgia, but there’s some serious old-lady cake competition out there so I can’t be totally sure. Second, she’s got a nose for gossip that is, as my uncle says, unparalleled. I was just being neighborly and was gonna let you divulge all the details to me yourself.”

  She pushed her cart and he followed. “Yes, I’m back for good.”

  He loped along at her side. “I may as well come with you. You’re what they call size challenged. In case you need something else from the top shelf, I’ll come in handy.”

  “Oh you’re not going to use the S word? Go on then. Short. I’m short.”

  “Why, Ms. Mendoza, I do believe you’re yanking my chain. I think you’re more fun sized than short.”

  She blushed. “I don’t know why they have to have shelves that are so high to start with. How do all the little old ladies get their cereal anyway?”

  “Darlin’, they eat Cheerios and mother’s oats. All that fancy organic stuff is on the high shelf ’cause it’s just you city girls who eat it. I’d check the sell-by date on it, just in case it went bad in 2010 or something.”

  “There’s not a darned thing wrong with wanting healthy options.”

  He grinned again. “I’m teasing. Well, I’m telling the truth, but also teasing. Heck, we converted the farm into an organic operation three years ago. I’m always happy when people want the healthier option.”

  “You did? That’s awesome.”

  Before she could ask more questions, they had to skirt around a gaggle of women who gave him the once-over twice.

  “I see it’d be impossible to take you anywhere.” Caroline gave him a raised brow.

  He held his hands out all innocent-like. “You, sweet thing, can take me anywhere you like. In any case, I can’t be blamed for being so handsome and charming.”

  She laughed. Good Lord he was adorable.

  “So you’re working with Edward Chase then?”

  “I bet the gossip already knows what color my sheets are too. Yes. My first day is Monday.”

  “Makes sense you’re a lawyer now. You did love to argue back in school.”

  As if he’d ever noticed her! Had he?

  She managed to pretend she was cool and not giddy. Probably worked. “My uncle says it’s a wonderful thing when you can make a living off your most annoying trait.”

  She paused to put some soup in her cart. “Can you?” She pointed toward the chicken broth.

  “There’s cans of it right there,” he said as he pulled the carton down.

  “I have to buy three of the cans to make one of those cartons. And I can use the carton more than once. It has a screw-on top.”

  “Ah.”

  Back toward the front of the store he paused, turning to her so she was caged in by the buggy and his body.

  Her heart sped as he seemed to block out everything but him.

  He lowered his voice, getting just a little closer. “You grew up gorgeous, Caroline.”

  She licked her lips, his gaze locked on her mouth. A blush crept up her neck, and she tightened her hold on the buggy before she grabbed him by the front of his shirt and hauled him close for a kiss.

  So close she could see the gold flecks in his green eyes. The shadow of the dent in his chin even through the scruff of his beard. His skin was sun kissed, his body one of a man who worked outside a lot.

  The heat of his body washed over her as the scent of him—of the cold air outside, the detergent from his shirt—reached her nose. It turned out to be pretty difficult not to lean in and sniff him. She bet he smelled really good where his neck met his shoulder.

  “Whatever can you be thinking? I hope it’s really dirty.”

  He was without a doubt ridiculously sexy. There was chemistry between them, for damn sure.

  It was…sweaty palms, dry mouth, slow-dance-in-a-high-school-gym chemistry. He made her giddy and silly even as he made h
er tingly and super hot for him. All in the freezer section of the local grocery store in Petal. That took some major testosterone.

  “I’m pretty sure the frozen peas don’t need to hear my dirty thoughts. As for your compliment? Uh, my genes thank you. Except the ones that made me short. Though I sort of think fun sized is a good descriptor.”

  “I bet the peas would be as excited to hear you talk dirty as I am. You should give me your phone number so I can call you and ask you out.”

  Lord he made her smile. “I should?”

  “Oh yeah. I give really good date. How long’s it been since you’ve been dancing, Caroline?”

  “Too long apparently.” She cocked her head and looked up at him. “Well, Royal, I’ll make you a deal.”

  “Oh yeah? Let me hear it then. I’m sort of easy for big brown eyes.”

  It had been years since she’d flirted like this. It felt really good.

  “You find me in town, and the next time I see you, I might just give you my number. Until then thank you for your assistance with the high shelves.”

  She winked and moved past him. “It was very nice to see you again. And for the record? You grew up awful sexy.”

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  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

  11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B

  Cincinnati OH 45249

  Falling for Her Husband

  Copyright © 2014 by Karen Erickson

  ISBN: 978-1-61922-300-4

  Edited by Amy Sherwood

  Cover by Angela Waters

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.