One-Click Buy: November Harlequin Presents

by Susan Stephens

  Maverick shook his head. ‘Too risky for me.’

  ‘You know, I think that’s one of the first things that convinced me that Morgan is special. She doesn’t hang back, she doesn’t advocate being safe. When I was prevaricating over whether or not to go ahead with the deal, it was her words that convinced me. She told me that there are times when it’s worth going out on a limb, it’s worth taking a risk. She was right in my case too.’ He handed his glass to a passing flight attendant as the ‘fasten seat belt’ sign came on in preparation for landing. ‘My word, she’s a gutsy girl all right.’

  Maverick wasn’t sure he disagreed. What baffled him was why it had taken him so long to notice.

  Tegan stood in the crowded arrivals lounge, her nerves stretched tighter than fencing wire, her stomach home to a swarm of dragon flies—drunken dragonflies, that crashed into the walls of her gut and slid down only to relaunch themselves into intoxicated flight once more, the odd one catching her squarely in the lungs.

  When she’d received Maverick’s email to pick him up from the airport her heart had skipped a beat. The fact that he wanted to see her as soon as he returned had to mean that he wasn’t finished with her yet. And in spite of everything the notion warmed her more than it should, spreading through her bones like a drug.

  Because she wanted to see him too. She didn’t want him to come back and decide that he was over her. She wanted the opportunity of making love to him once more, just one last time, before she broke her news.

  Just one last time; that wasn’t too much to ask, surely? And then the cards could lie where they fell. And all of them—Morgan, Tegan and Maverick—would just have to live with the consequences.

  The arrivals doors slid open and her tall, dark corporate cowboy strode through, his briefcase in one hand, luggage suspended in the other.

  Her heart gave a little leap as their eyes connected, and it felt for a moment like every part of her smiled, though she didn’t make a move towards him. She was content for now just to drink him in.

  Maverick.

  Her Maverick. So it wouldn’t be for ever. So it would soon be over. But he’d been hers for a while. A thrill of secret pleasure zipped up her spine.

  Because, whatever happened, now she had something of him to keep for ever.

  Something that would make her lonely days apart from him worthwhile. Something that would ease the pain of losing the man she loved.

  Not even the scary prospect of being a partnerless single mother, unemployed and without her own home, could snuff out the sheer spark of delight she felt because she was carrying Maverick’s child. Always she would have part of him to hold dear. And she would cope. She had the money saved up from her work overseas, plus her share of her father’s modest estate when it settled. She could do it.

  He came closer, the father of her child, bearing the unmistakeable imprint of long-haul air travel, and yet unlike on most people it only served to make him look even sexier. The shadow at his jaw was evidence of hours away from a razor; his wavy hair looked more rumpled. But still his eyes looked down at her, darkly dangerous, his mouth turned up in a lazy smile, and every cell in her body became an exercise in anticipation as expectation sizzled into life inside her.

  Then he turned and spoke and the moment splintered, and she was left confused and floundering as the noise of meet and greets and the jostle of movement and colour returned—and for the first time she noticed the man who’d stepped through the doors alongside him.

  ‘Hello, Morgan,’ Phil said, his creased face tired and somehow sympathetic. ‘My car’s waiting outside. I guess I’ll see you both some time soon.’

  Then he was gone and it was Maverick looking into her face, his brow slightly furrowed, his eyes perplexed.

  He smiled, and the warmth from his eyes flowed right down to her toes. ‘Take me home,’ he said.

  ‘Do you want to drive?’ she asked when they got to Morgan’s neat Honda coupé and opened the boot for his luggage.

  He just turfed the luggage in and shook his head. Then he gave that look in her direction again that set her alight, and the soles of her shoes all but melted. ‘Today I want the full five-star treatment.’

  She swallowed; sure as hell he wasn’t referring to her driving, and her plans were rapidly going south. Tonight was ultimately supposed to be get-serious time. She had news to share, and then a confession that must be made. There was no choice now, regardless of the fallout, regardless of what might happen to Morgan’s job or her own reputation, or anything—the stakes were suddenly too high, too damning.

  But if he kept on looking at her that way, like she actually meant something more to him than a convenient mistress, then there was no way she wanted to spoil that feeling. Not just yet.

  And she knew that was wrong.

  It was a heady journey, Maverick filling her passenger seat angled towards her, too big, too warm and all too male, his fingers lazily toying with the ends of her hair as she tried to concentrate on driving and not how he was making her feel.

  His fingers dipped to her neck, tracing the sweep of skin across her collarbone to her singlet straps, caressing her shoulder, following it with a press of his lips. She inhaled his scent, familiar and welcome once more. ‘I missed you,’ he said. ‘I missed the feel of your skin against mine.’

  She shivered into his caress, looking forward to what would happen when they got to his house, clamping down on unwelcome fears about what the aftermath would bring.

  ‘I missed these…’

  His hand lightly cupped one breast, teasing her breast into delicious fullness, teasing an already sensitive nipple into exquisite tightness before dropping to her knee, sliding under her skirt and up her leg.

  She gasped, thankful for light traffic and automatic gears, and never more thankful that they were not far from their destination.

  ‘And I really missed…’ his fingertips rounded her thigh, brushing the moist place between ‘…this.’

  It was shockingly intimate. Devastatingly effective.

  It was out and out crazy.

  ‘Maverick!’ she pleaded, never for a moment thinking he’d go so far. ‘You can’t do that! I’m trying to drive here.’

  She tried to push his arm away, but the attempt was half-hearted at best—she liked how he was making her feel, she liked being the epicentre of his world—so she gave it up as a bad joke. Besides, she was better off right now keeping both hands on the wheel.

  But it was madness. Already she could feel ripples of pleasure starting to build inside as her flesh reacted, only too keen to make up for their forced abstinence.

  ‘Can’t you drive any faster?’ he asked as his fingers teased her mercilessly, his lips and tongue busy at her shoulder.

  ‘I’m already doing the speed limit,’ she said, her words little more than a breathy whisper as he continued to pleasure her. Waves and waves of pleasure. Maybe she should pull over and let him finish this thing, but in a highly erotic way this was better. This was forbidden and dangerous and impossible, in fact all those things Maverick had always been.

  She braked gently and he looked up. ‘What now?’

  ‘Red light,’ she explained, and he growled his satisfaction.

  ‘Perfect.’

  She’d barely brought the car to a halt, still with enough sense to jerk on the handbrake, when his fingers slid underneath her panties to circle that tight, aching bud until she was ready to explode. He dragged her face around and pulled her into a kiss that threatened to devour her with his hunger and need. And he slipped his fingers lower and pressed two fingers into her slickness, his thumb not neglecting that sweet, tight spot, and she did explode, right there in the driver’s seat of the car.

  It was crazy. It was insane. So maybe it wasn’t rush hour and there wasn’t a lot of traffic—but it was still broad daylight on a sunny Sunday on the main thoroughfare through the Gold Coast, and he’d made her come while they’d waited for the traffic lights to change.


  ‘You missed me,’ he said as he straightened her skirt, and she could hear the satisfaction in his voice.

  She took a couple of deep breaths while her breathing steadied. ‘How could you tell?’

  He chuckled as the light turned green. She pressed her languid muscles into work and stepped on the accelerator.

  Later it was like that first time all over again. Once on the island they didn’t make it to the front door before he was driving into her, blowing her senses and raising her hopes.

  Maybe it won’t be so bad, she thought as he powered into her like a machine, a marvelous machine of muscled perfection that had been crafted just to pleasure her. Maybe he wouldn’t react badly to her news. Maybe he might forgive her for deceiving him all this time.

  Maybe…

  Then he took her high again, to that place where rhyme and reason no longer existed, and she abandoned all concerns about the future as she went with him, spinning into a world of sensation where there existed nothing but the two of them and a blanket of a million stars to wrap around them.

  ‘Here we go.’ Maverick placed glasses and an ice bucket down on a side table. Inside the ice bucket the neck of a bottle of Dom Perignon leaned jauntily to one side. Outside the light was fading, and night would soon close around them.

  Tegan lay on her stomach and watched him dispense with the foil and wire and release the cork, a feeling of sadness swamping the joy she’d felt in the hours since they’d come back from the airport. She’d known ever since she’d picked him up that she could no longer put off the truth, but here he was presenting her with the perfect opportunity to admit her pregnancy.

  He handed her a flute filled with the pale strawcoloured liquid and she watched the tiny bubbles sparkle to the surface. ‘What are you celebrating? Having the deal signed off?’

  ‘Why not?’ he said. He sat down alongside her. ‘Or maybe just celebrating the beautiful woman in my bed.’ Then he handed her a package that screamed Bulgari.

  She just looked at it. ‘You don’t have to buy me things.’

  ‘I wanted to. Open it.’

  She removed the lid, gasping when she saw the magnificent diamond bracelet sparkling inside. She just sat there shaking her head.

  ‘Don’t you like it?’

  ‘It’s beautiful,’ she said, her heart breaking. ‘I don’t deserve this.’

  ‘I think you do,’ he said, removing it from the box and fixing it around her wrist, its diamonds dazzling as they played in the light. He picked up his glass and toasted her. ‘Here’s to you,’ he said before taking a deep sip, his eyes not leaving hers.

  He wound an arm around her neck and reeled her in, pressing his mouth to hers. Fine wine seasoned with fine man; his taste was on her lips, his musky male scent curling warmly into her senses, creating a mix that melted her from the bones out and left her weak in his arms. And planted a spark of hope in her heart. A kiss like that had to mean something, surely? A gift like that must mean something.

  Just maybe, if he felt something for her, they might find a way through the mess she’d created.

  ‘You don’t like the wine?’ he asked when he’d released her and moved to top up his own glass.

  She contemplated her flute solemnly and stumbled over her next breath. The moment had finally come. ‘Maverick,’ she said, ‘I need to tell you something.’

  His eyebrows lifted and she caught a fleeting shadow skate across his eyes. ‘That sounds ominous,’ he said as he returned the bottle to the ice bucket without refilling his glass. ‘What’s on your mind?’

  ‘There’s a couple of things,’ she began uncertainly, damning herself for her inability to come right out and say it—I’m pregnant!—and be done with it. But her mouth refused to form the words. Instead she had to find out what if anything she meant to him, before she sprung the surprise news that not only was she having his baby but she’d been living a lie these past weeks. She was probably just prolonging her torture, but if she learnt that he had felt something for her during their time together it would be something to cherish in her heart for ever.

  ‘When we started this…’ she searched for the right word ‘…liaison, you said it would burn out. Two or three weeks maximum, you said.’

  He shrugged. ‘You’re complaining because we’re good together?’

  ‘No. I like the way we, er, fit.’ She could feel the heat in her face building up, but there was no choice now but to press on. ‘But I just don’t understand what’s going on.’

  He leaned over and lifted her chin, pressing his lips to hers, all the while his eyes regarding her coolly. ‘What’s to understand? We’re having an affair. And we’re having great sex. Why should there be any more to it than that? Why complicate things?’

  She shook her head sadly as his cold words snuffed out the tiny flame of hope she’d nurtured during their day of passion. ‘No. No reason,’ she agreed, with what she hoped was a smile. It was just as he’d told her it would be. He still expected this thing between them to burn out, and then he’d go back to acting as if it had never happened. It was just taking longer to burn out than he’d expected. ‘I was just surprised it had lasted this long. You seemed so sure.’

  ‘I’m as surprised as you are. But why knock it?’

  She bit her lower lip. ‘What happened with that other person, the one who let you down? What did she do to you that was so bad?’

  ‘Her?’ He shook his head. ‘Don’t give her another thought. She was a bitch. She lied to me. She got pregnant, and—’

  His mobile rang out alongside the bed, cutting off his words, and Maverick took one look at the caller ID and stopped. ‘Hold on, this is Nell.’

  Tegan nodded blindly, too busy concentrating on what he’d said before the interruption to care.

  She’d got pregnant.

  She’d lied to him.

  Those were the sins that had damned the woman. And those were the very same sins of which Tegan herself was guilty. Her heart plummeted to new depths.

  There was no hope now.

  CHAPTER TEN

  SHE sidled out of bed to retrieve her clothes. She’d get dressed and be ready when Maverick finished his call to tell him straight, to tell him the simple truth she should have managed to spit out before now.

  ‘You’ve been away!’ barked his gran’s outraged voice.

  ‘To Italy, yes,’ he replied, leaning with one elbow against the window frame and gazing out into the night, feeling guilty that he hadn’t visited her today on his return. Hadn’t given it a thought. ‘I told you I was going before I left.’

  ‘Well, that doesn’t matter now,’ she reasoned, as if she didn’t believe him for a minute. ‘What does matter is I’ve sorted out the Christmas problem!’

  Maverick sighed. If she banged on again about his parents coming for lunch, he was likely to put his fist through something, most likely the window.

  ‘So, what have you got in mind?’

  ‘And I don’t know why you didn’t think of it yourself. Or maybe you did, and you were keeping it for a surprise? That would be nice. I like surprises.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ he said, rubbing his brow, rapidly losing patience.

  ‘Vanessa. We’ll ask that lovely Vanessa. She’ll come to lunch. She’d love to.’

  He squeezed his eyes shut, pinching the bridge of his nose. ‘You don’t think she might already have plans?’ He turned around, surprised to see her fully dressed and reaching for her sandals. He frowned. What was that all about? He’d expected she’d stay the night.

  ‘You haven’t asked her already, then? I told you you should have thought of it yourself.’

  ‘Gran, she’s my PA.’

  Tegan looked up at him then, sandals in her hand, a question in her eyes, and he shrugged.

  ‘And that means she doesn’t celebrate Christmas? What codswallop!’ Nell continued. ‘Besides, I’ve seen the way you look at her, like a rutting elk. It’s high time you settled down. You’d be mad to
let this one slip through your fingers.’

  He had to hand it to Nell, she sure had a fertile imagination. But maybe she had a point. Morgan would be a good distraction on the big day, and maybe it would even cheer her up. She seemed a bit tense about something.

  ‘Okay, Gran,’ he soothed. ‘But I’ve got a better idea. We’ve got a big lunch planned for Christmas Eve with the Royalty Cove team. It’ll be a real party—you’ll love it. And I know Vanessa’s going to be there—yes, I’ll make sure of it.’ He promised he’d call by tomorrow, then snapped his phone closed and looked over at Morgan. She looked worried about something, no doubt wondering what Nell had been on about.

  She took a shaky step closer. ‘Maverick, I have to—’

  ‘This Christmas Eve lunch with the Royalty Cove team—you are coming to that?’

  She blinked. ‘Pardon?’

  ‘Christmas Eve. Nell wants a real Christmas lunch this year, so this is the best solution, so long as you’re there. She probably won’t even realise it’s not Christmas Day. She’ll just have a ball.’

  Her head shook slowly from side to side. ‘I don’t think…’

  ‘You’d be doing Nell a huge favour. She’s been worried lately about my parents being missing from Christmas. Your presence will be a welcome distraction.’

  She screwed up her face, turned it ceilingwards. ‘You can’t keep doing this!’

  ‘Doing what? Nell likes you. And you’ll be at the lunch anyway.’ He raised a hand to her shoulder and pulled her close. ‘And I wouldn’t mind you being there too, if that makes a difference.’

  Yes, you would, she thought, given his previous speech about how little she meant to him—and how he sure as hell wouldn’t want her there when she revealed the truth.

  She shook her head. ‘I don’t know if I can make it.’

  ‘Of course you will. It’s a work function.’

  ‘Christmas Eve is on a Saturday! I don’t have to be there.’

  ‘I want you there. And so does Nell. And I warn you, she won’t give up. She doesn’t find it easy taking no for an answer.’