The Forbidden Bride

by Debra Cowan

  Sliding a hand into his back pocket, she took out his wallet, then a condom.

  “Good thinking,” he said roughly.

  She opened his shorts, got rid of them and his boxers at the same time.

  She curled her hand around him, stroked hard.

  He swore. Sitting down, he pulled her between his legs. His large hands spanned her naked hips as he teasingly stroked the crease of her thighs.

  Her legs almost gave out. A muscle in her belly quivered as she realized the searing need inside her could easily rage out of control. He spread open her thin cotton blouse and she watched his hands drag slowly up her rib cage to the lace covering her breasts.

  He put his mouth on her, suckling hard, until her nipples strained against the silk of her bra. Overwhelmed with sensation, she gave herself to the dark, seductive draw of his kisses.

  His sure touch, the wet fire of his mouth, sent a spear of pure, blinding lust through her. She was barely aware of him ripping open the condom and putting it on.

  She shifted impatiently. He pushed off her shirt, nudged down the fabric of her bra and closed his mouth over her.

  She inhaled sharply and straddled him, holding his gaze as she sank down on him. His eyes were dark blue, his features tight with restraint. There was a mix of tenderness and hunger on his face that nicked some emotion buried deep inside her.

  His gaze moved over her face, then lower, making her skin sizzle as if he were touching her all over. He reached around and unhooked her bra, dropping it to the floor. The possessiveness in his face, the proprietary way he held her, struck at that same raw place inside her and filled her with a sudden urgency.

  Why was this happening? She wasn’t interested in dissecting her emotions. She wanted him. And she wanted him now.

  When she shifted to take him deeper, he stopped her, his big hands gripping her hips.

  “Just sit here for a minute,” he murmured against the curve of her breast, his mouth damp and warm against her flesh.

  A low, hoarse sound escaped her. “I need to move.”

  “Not yet. I want to feel you.”

  His skin was dark bronze next to her golden tan. With a rapt look on his face, he studied every inch of her, and she was swept under by a huge, scary wave of emotion.

  Her chest tight, she focused on the supple feel of his skin against hers, the soft glide of his lips across the plane of her chest, up her neck to her ear. The faint scent of musk and man mingled with her own scent.

  He buried his hands in her hair and kissed her. Slow, deep, hot. Some emotion snaked through her, too quick to define before it was gone.

  He pressed a damp kiss on her shoulder, giving her a little shiver. No one had ever been so thorough with her. He touched her like she mattered, as though she were the only thing that did. There was something different about him tonight. It was as if he wanted nothing for himself, wanted only to give to her.

  The realization had her going still inside.

  Her body was vibrating for his, reaching for the ultimate satisfaction. “Nate,” she pleaded in a half whisper. “Please.”

  He tilted her hips so he could get even deeper inside, just the way he was getting inside her heart. Then they began to move together and she became completely focused on the demands of her body. The barely constrained frenzy in her blood, the throbbing ache low in her belly.

  Maybe it was because he had made her wait, but she needed him at this moment in a way she had never needed another man. Staring into his blue eyes, she realized, in a flash of clarity, he needed her, too.

  A huge, searing emotion unfurled in her chest. She was no longer aware of her surroundings, only the big man whose gaze burned right through her, who read her body as though it were his own.

  There was no thought in her mind except him. No touch except his. They went over the edge together.

  Long minutes later, after their pulses slowed, Nate carried her into his bedroom. They fell into his bed and he pulled her back against him with one arm around her middle.

  “Stay,” he ordered huskily.

  “Okay.”

  He promptly fell asleep, but Robin didn’t.

  A thin strip of moonlight was visible beneath his blinds. She lay awake, eyes focused absently on the shadows wavering on the ceiling, across the television at the foot of the bed.

  Panic fluttered and she tried to figure out why. What she had shared with Nate was some of the best sex she’d ever had. Shattering enough that her rarely threatened control had jumped the neatly ordered rails of her life.

  The thought cut her breath for a second, and that’s when she realized what she’d done. She’d fallen for him.

  Hard.

  All the way.

  Chapter 11

  The next morning, Robin left Nate’s before he woke. She had finally fallen asleep, but in the light of day felt just as unsettled as she had the night before. She jotted him a note telling him she wanted to change clothes before work, though that didn’t explain the restlessness she felt, the need to ground herself.

  She didn’t understand it. The previous evening with Nate had been good. Very, very good. So why did she feel so volatile? As though one small thing could make her explode.

  Her anxiety could have been due to waiting on the results of the Roper DNA test, but Robin knew that wasn’t the case.

  It was Nate, she admitted. Or rather the lack of control she felt whenever they were together. At first, the sex had made it easy to ignore anything deeper, but last night had changed that. Had changed everything.

  The tenderness in his touch had stripped away any pretense of their relationship being strictly physical. The connection she felt to him was stronger, more intense, more solid than any she’d felt with another person. She had never meant to get this close to him, never wanted to. But she had, proven by the fact that she had gone straight to Nate after talking to her sister.

  She had automatically turned to him rather than to Meredith or Terra, the two best friends who had supported her through all the heartache she’d suffered because of her ex and her sister.

  Nate had supported her, too. Listened. Then they had gotten naked.

  She had known what she was doing, had wanted to do it, but from the moment his lips touched hers she had been helpless to resist. It was as though she had no control over her own body.

  In his kitchen last night, with him buried inside her, her carefully managed life had careened off course in a big way. The last time she had experienced this helpless, out-of-control feeling, her wedding imploded and her entire world collapsed. The thought of that happening again had Robin’s gut knotting. She had to get back on track right now.

  As she walked into the police department, she checked her gun and clip-on holster for the third time, made sure her badge was fastened securely to the waistband of her khaki slacks. Work was just what she needed in order to calm her jittery nerves.

  She stashed her purse in the bottom drawer of her desk and headed across the room for coffee. She passed Captain Hager’s office on her way to the metal table holding a coffeemaker, foam cups, stir sticks and sugar packets.

  On her return, he stopped her. “Daly.”

  Sipping the hot brew that smelled considerably better than it tasted, she walked into his office. “Sir?”

  The wiry, balding man searched through a stack of papers on his desk. “A federally funded position with the FBI has opened up.”

  Did this affect her? “What kind of position?”

  “With their arson investigators to work cold case arson-murders.” He paused for a moment to look at her. “It’s temporary, and you’d work with them for the term of the grant, a year.”

  She would? “Sir?”

  “With the experience you have you’d be good at something like that.”

  Unease tickled a spot low on her back, just like it did when her instincts said something was wrong. “Thank you.”

  “Houston thinks so, too.”

  Robin froze
, her breath jamming under her ribs. “You talked to Houston about this?”

  “Actually, he’s the one who brought it to me.” Dark eyes flickered to her. “He said an assignment like this would be a real coup.”

  It would. And when had Nate discussed this with her captain? Why hadn’t he talked to her about it first? This involved her. Her job.

  “You would have to move to D.C.”

  “Move?” Her life was exactly the way she wanted, what she had worked hard to build.

  This job, this move would screw up all of that. Panic churned in her gut like acid.

  Feeling cornered, Robin listened with half an ear as Hager outlined more details, including when the job would begin.

  Nate had some nerve, going behind her back! Turning her life upside down again. Ice-cold shock gave way to burning fury.

  She was surprised steam wasn’t rising off her skin. She realized Hager was talking to her.

  “Once you’ve had a chance to find out more about it,” he said, “let me have your thoughts.”

  “Sure.” Her voice sounded distant; she barely registered answering him. Cold sweat peppered her skin. She had friends and family here. She’d thought she had something with Nate, too. But here he was, working in the background to upend her life. Just like before. He wouldn’t get away with this again.

  Captain Hager gestured toward her desk, visible through his open blinds. Houston stood with his back to her, talking to Detectives Jack Spencer and Clay Jessup.

  “If you have questions,” her boss said, “Nate has more information. A Fed buddy of his gave him a heads-up about the position.”

  “What if I say no? What does that do to my career here?”

  Hager leaned back in his chair, gave her a speculative look. “Nothing, I guess. But a chance like this doesn’t come around often. You’d get a foot in the door with the Feds, make law enforcement contacts you could use your entire career. Plus, this type of assignment could put you on the fast-track for promotions.”

  Great, she thought. If she declined, Hager would view her as a deadbeat. A cop who wasn’t interested in advancement. Not promotion material.

  The more her boss talked, the tighter her chest got. Bowled over by panic and uncertainty, Robin felt suffocated. She murmured agreement and walked out of his office. A red mist hazed her vision as she neared her desk.

  Spencer and Jessup, both facing her, lifted a hand in greeting.

  “Hi, guys.” Her face felt tight, brittle. When Nate turned, she couldn’t look at him. If she did, she wouldn’t be able to keep from losing her temper. “Houston, could I talk to you for a minute?”

  “Sure,” he said easily. As though he had no idea what he had done.

  As Jack and Clay continued their conversation, Robin walked briskly out of the squad room and down the hall to the stairwell. Her mental circuits were blown. There was no thought, only molten, boiling rage. Behind her, the heavy door squeezed shut.

  She caught a faint whiff of Nate’s spicy masculine scent and it magnified her anger. Her hand closed over the butt of her gun as she fought to rein in her temper.

  “Hey,” he said softly. “Why didn’t you wake me up before you left this morning?”

  “I put a note on the pillow,” she gritted out, her control wire thin.

  “Yeah, I got it. I just thought—” He broke off when she turned to face him. “What’s going on?”

  When she didn’t answer, he took a step toward her.

  She backed away, still reeling from her conversation with Captain Hager.

  He went still. “What’s happened?”

  “What do you think you’re doing, talking to my boss about my job? I have a job.”

  Nate’s eyes narrowed, his face wary, as if he were tiptoeing through a minefield. “I know.”

  “And yet you talked to Hager about getting me transferred.”

  “That’s not—”

  “Could you not have talked to me first? Bounced the idea off of me?”

  “Robin—”

  “What gives you the right to try and get me transferred to another assignment? Who the hell do you think you are?”

  His shoulders went rigid. “Hold on.”

  She saw the confusion on his face, but she was too angry to let it stop her. “I don’t need you to get me a job. I sure as hell don’t need you talking to my boss about a job. Once again, you’re sticking your nose in my business!”

  The hurt that flared in his eyes had her chest going tight, but she kept going. “You never even mentioned the idea of this FBI position to me. Just because we’re sleeping together doesn’t mean you can interfere in my life like you did five years ago.”

  “You’re a piece of work, Daly. Do you trust anyone?” His eyes glittered dangerously; a muscle in his jaw flexed. “Think about it. Why would I care anything about your job, other than when you have to work with me?”

  She drew back, shocked at the savagery in his voice.

  “What do you think? That I spoke to Hager because I think you’re the only detective in Oklahoma who could handle this position? Get over yourself.”

  She flushed. Well, when he put it that way, she sounded arrogant, presumptuous. “Okay, maybe I jumped to conclusions.”

  “Maybe you jumped to conclusions? Are you kidding me? For your information,” he said coldly, “I had a conversation with your boss. Not a meeting. Not a request for a transfer. You’re accusing me of going behind your back in order to get you to do something I supposedly want.”

  She angled her chin at him, her heart hammering hard. She pushed away a sudden pulse of dread. “Well, then why did you do it?”

  “Not to screw up your life, that’s for sure.” Nate stepped closer, his eyes hard, his words soft and razor-edged. “I derailed your wedding for a good reason. For you. And up until now, you agreed I did the right thing. You’re the one with the control issue here, not me. I did not go behind your back and I did not ask to get you transferred.”

  “So you’re saying you didn’t talk to my captain?” She poked a finger in his chest.

  “No, I’m not saying that.” He grabbed her wrist, keeping her from touching him again. He towered over her, intimidating and dark. “I asked Hager’s opinion on whether you would like that kind of assignment, period.”

  “And you didn’t request he transfer me?”

  “No,” he said flatly.

  The anger and panic leached right out of her. She could feel the blood drain from her face.

  Robin thought back over her conversation with the captain. He had said “you” repeatedly. Evidently, he’d meant that in a general sense, not her specifically. Her gut knotted. “The captain—I thought it was a done deal,” she said stiffly.

  “Well, it wasn’t,” Nate snapped. “I can’t believe you think I would do something like that, especially without talking to you first.”

  Turning away, he swore, his big hand rubbing his neck. Dread settled over her like a fog.

  “I’m sorry I jumped to the wrong conclusion.” She’d done more than that. She’d hurt him.

  He faced her, white lines of anger etched around his mouth and eyes. His features were stone cold. “Do you know one damn thing about me?”

  “I—yes.”

  “I thought you had moved past what had happened at your wedding, the fact that I interfered, but you haven’t.”

  “Yes, I have.” Hadn’t she? “I know you had my best interest at heart. I know your stepping in was for me.”

  He slashed a hand through the air. “I’ve been down this road before. You don’t trust me. You may never trust me. I thought we had something good going on here. Obviously, I was wrong.”

  Panic flooded her like a cold, dark river. “What are you saying? Things are over?”

  “Let’s put it this way. There isn’t much hope for a relationship where one party doesn’t trust the other. You don’t trust me, that’s for sure. If you ever decide you can, give me a call.”

  Something
dark and smoky wound through her, but Robin couldn’t define it. And she was too angry to try. Jerking open the door, she walked away.

  He didn’t stop her.

  Two hours later, Nate hadn’t stopped fuming. He was back in the fire marshal’s office, updating Tom Burke about the investigation. Nate understood why Robin had gotten the wrong impression after talking to her boss, but she hadn’t even asked him if it was true. Just jumped down his throat. What he really didn’t get was how she could believe he would go behind her back for any reason. Like Kyle had. Like Wendy.

  In that stairwell, she had looked at him with the same contempt she had five years earlier. Unbelievable. He was a damn idiot. He had thought he’d gotten past her defenses, gotten to know the real her. That she had gotten to know the real him. It had to be the sex. It was phenomenal. It had never been that way for him with any other woman. That was why he had thought he and Robin had something when they really didn’t.

  His temple throbbed. And until this investigation wrapped up, he had to work with her.

  As Nate explained to his boss about the shaving kit they had found at Joel Roper’s former residence, his cell phone rang. A glance down showed Robin’s name on the screen. He was sorely tempted to let it go to voice mail, but she could only be calling him about the case.

  Excusing himself from his boss, he answered. “Yeah.”

  “I just got a call from the OSBI lab.” Stripped of emotion, her words were a no-nonsense lash of sound.

  Nate straightened in his chair. It was probably killing her that she had to call him. If she could’ve gotten Collier to do it, she probably would have. But their friend was bringing his wife home from the hospital today, so he wasn’t working.

  “I’m here with Marshal Burke. I’m going to put you on speaker so he can hear this, too.”

  Once he did that, Robin continued. “The lab matched the DNA from Roper’s razor and toothbrush to the cigarette butts we collected at the campground fire.”

  “Excellent. Do you think his motive for those murders was jealousy?”

  “And maybe something else.”

  Finally getting the evidence they needed to prove Roper was the Mailman filled Nate with satisfaction. There were only a few loose ends to tie up, then he and Robin could go their separate ways.