Captive Bride

by Carol Finch

  "Let them all wait," Hawk growled in mounting frustration. "I can't seem to get enough of you. And until I do, I won't be worth a damn at conversation."

  When his lips engaged in something far more stimulating than discussion, Hawk forgot that a houseful of people awaited them. He had always been a man with an insatiable appetite where Rozalyn was concerned and his need was not yet curbed. As flames of passion engulfed him, Hawk felt he was flying into the sun, into a heat so intense he feared he would not survive it.

  It has always been like this, Hawk reminded himself. Rozalyn stirred such deep emotions in him that he had not been the same since they'd met. This free-spirited woman had taken a firm hold on his heart, and she had given him a son. Hawk had found a meaning to life that was worth more than all the riches in the mountains. Home was in the glorious blue depths of Rozalyn's eyes, in the sparkle of love in them.

  "Don't ever stop loving me," Rozalyn murmured, as she surveyed the ruggedly handsome face hovering just above her. "I couldn't bear it now that I know how wondrous life can be."

  Raw emotion tugged at the string of Hawk's heart as he blessed her with a gentle smile. "Never doubt my devotion, amie. Without you, I would be only half a man. Ah, how I love loving you ..."

  While Hawk and Rozalyn were entangled in each other's arms, their young son was being entertained by three adults who were cooing at him. Not to be outdone, each of them made faces to gain the infant's undivided attention and to entice him to break into a smile. However, impatient with their childish games, the lad let out a squawk and then found himself cuddled on his great-grandmother's shoulder while she lovingly patted his backside.

  "You silly old fools," Lenore grumbled, glaring at Aubrey and Lyndon. "See what you've done. You've frightened the poor child."

  "You were making idiotic faces at him as well," Aubrey pouted, his hands folding about the small bundle so he could take his turn at comforting his grandson.

  But before Aubrey could nestle the lad in his lap, Lyndon snatched him away to bound him on his knee. The tiny tot gave up his attempt to secure peace and quiet when the threesome crowded around him and again tried to coax him into a smile. This time he gave it. What else could he do? His persistent grandparents would not let him be until he had given each of them a glance and a grin.

  "He smiled at me first," Lyndon boasted, swelling with pride.

  "Old fool." Lenore sniffed and then turned her attention on the wide-eyed infant. "That one was meant for his grandmother. You just got in the way."

  "Give him back," Aubrey grumbled. "It is my turn to hold him."

  By the time the tot had been passed among them, he was very nearly exhausted. Wondering at the strange habits of adults, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep while his parents renewed the vows of love that had brought him into the world. The young lad slept in first one pair of arms and then another. While he was on the lap of one of his grandfathers, Lenore insisted he was being squeezed too tightly. When she was cuddling him on her shoulder, the men complained that she was smothering him.

  Into that scene, Rozalyn and Hawk walked. "I don't think they even realized we were gone." Rozalyn said as they paused by the parlor door.

  A wide grin lightened Hawk's dashing features and he arched a rakish brow. "Don't you think it would be most impolite for us to disturb them?"

  Rozalyn returned his provocative smile, "I have been so long in the mountains that I had almost forgotten my manners." Her gaze strayed back to the staircase they had recently descended. "I think it only proper to leave them be."

  "My thoughts exactly," Hawk concurred, and he ushered Rozalyn back to the stairs. "Besides, there a few more matters I wish to discuss with you while we have the opportunity."

  "Do go on,"' Rozalyn encouraged as she untied Hawk's cravat. "I am hanging on your every word."

  "My word?" Hawk's dark eyebrow arched higher when Rozalyn brazenly unbuttoned his shirt on the landing of the stairs. "It seems you are hanging all over me! Shameless wench . . . mmmmmm ... do that again." Hawk purred like a gentled mountain lion when her roaming hands glided over his bare chest, and when he glanced down into a pair of dancing blue eyes, he wondered if he and Roz would show their faces before the sun rose ... or their young son roused to demand the bedtime snack he was in the habit of taking before he settled in for a long night's sleep.

  "I intend to," Rozalyn promised huskily as she grasped Hawk's hand and led him down the hall. "Just as soon as I get you alone."

  And when she did, she did!