Claimed for Destiny

by Brenda Jackson

  Dana didn’t have to ask Jared if he wanted to come in when he took her home that night. She wanted him to and hoped that he would. Tonight was their last night together and she wanted one more lasting memory. Besides, she needed to give him back his ring.

  When she had returned from touring Tara and Thorn’s house she had noticed something different about Jared. It wasn’t anything that she could put her finger on, but she sensed something was up. He’d always been attentive when they were together, but tonight it seemed that he was doubly so. And for some one who was sup posed to announce to his family that they had bro ken their engagement tomorrow, he seemed too much the adoring, doting fiancé tonight for such a thing to be believable. There had been the hand holding and the loving kisses that all painted a picture of a couple who were very much in love.

  And then there were the times she had caught him looking at her, some times in the oddest way. Once, when their gazes had locked, with out warning and right in the middle of Dare’s conversation, Jared had cupped her face in his hand and kissed her in front of his family, slowly and firmly, before whispering the words, “Let’s leave,” seductively in her ear.

  So here they were, back at her place and as he closed the door behind them she wondered what he had in mind. But whatever it was, she was determined not to lose her composure. She would get through this night as they said their goodbyes.

  “It was a nice party, wasn’t it?” she asked, trying to generate conversation.

  Jared leaned against the door, saying nothing as he watched her with in tense dark eyes. “Yes, it was nice.”

  “And that motorcycle that Thorn presented to Tara was beautiful, simply awe some. To think he made it with his own hands. I can’t imagine all the hours it took for him to do it. That was such a special gift to her.”

  “Yes, it was.”

  “It’s obvious they are so happy together,” she added, knowing she had started to ramble. “It’s plain to see how much in love they are.”

  Jared smiled. “Yes, it is. In fact all my cousins who’ve gotten married appear to be happily in love.”

  She met his gaze. “What about Chase? Do you think he’ll follow his brothers into matrimony eventually?”

  Jared eased away from the door to stand in front of her. “Yes, I think he will, once he finds the right woman.”

  Dana nodded. She wondered if Jared would ever change his mind about love and marriage or if he would al ways let what he saw in his profession dictate how his future would be.

  Knowing there was something she couldn’t put off doing any longer, she let out a long, shaky breath as she lifted her hand and eased the engagement ring from her finger. She handed it to him. “It’s time to give this back.”

  He shook his head as his gaze continued to hold hers. He took the ring from her and placed it back on her finger. “No, I want you to keep it.”

  She blinked. “I can’t do that,” she said incredulously, shocked he would suggest such a thing.

  “Why not? You wanted to keep Cord’s ring.”

  “But only because I was stuck with all those wedding expenses. Pretending to be engaged to you hasn’t cost me anything,” she said softly, not wanting to admit that it had cost her something. Her heart.

  He didn’t say anything for a few moments and then he gently took her into his arms and gathered her close. He pulled back briefly, met her gaze and in Dana’s mind he was looking at her the same way he had done earlier that night.

  She held his gaze and every emotion Dana could think of took hold of her. Every time she thought about the fact that this would be the last time they shared together, that chances were when he walked out the door he wouldn’t becoming back, despair took hold of her. But she re fused to let their last night together end in gloom and doom. It hadn’t started out that way and she wouldn’t let it end that way.

  Jared leaned down and their mouths joined. Immediately, Dana could tell there was something different about this kiss. It still packed a lot of passion that sent toe-curling sensations through her, but there was a degree of tenderness that touched her deeply, almost brought tears to her eyes. It was as if he was methodically placing his stamp on her.

  Moments later when he drew away, she had to hold on to his hand to keep her balance. She could actually hear her heart pounding.

  “Let’s play one final game,” Jared whispered softly.

  “A final game?” she asked, thinking of the two others they had played together. Her heart began pounding even harder just thinking about them. And the purely seductive male look in his eyes wasn’t helping matters.

  He looked at her for several long, quiet moments, then said, “Yes. Let’s play Truth or Dare?”

  With a sigh, Dana looked down at her hands, her gaze focused on the ring he had placed back there. She looked up at him. “I haven’t played that in years, since high school at a sleep over.”

  “Then you know how it’s played?”

  “Yes.” But something told her that Jared would have his own version of the game. What would his dare be like? And did she really want to bare her heart and soul by telling him the truth about anything he asked?

  Jared kept his gaze leveled on her. “Okay then let’s get started. You go first,” he murmured softly.

  Dana heaved a deep breath. “Truth or dare?” she challenged.

  A smile spread from Jared’s lips to his entire face. “Truth.”

  “Okay.” She paused for a moment, wondering what she could ask him and decided to go easy. “What did you enjoy the most about Thorn and Tara’s party tonight?”

  “Being there with you.”

  Dana’s breath caught and goose bumps formed on her arms with his response. She hadn’t expected him to say that. Before she could recover he said, “Truth or dare?”

  She decided she would stick with the truth. “Truth.”

  “What did you enjoy the most about the party tonight?” he asked.

  Dana sighed. She had hoped he wouldn’t ask her that. She had enjoyed a lot about the party tonight, but she knew what she’d enjoyed the most. She met his gaze and told him the truth. “The moment you kissed me in front of everyone.”

  She saw the darkening of Jared’s eyes. She heard the deepening of his breathing. Both sparked desires with in her. He reached out and touched her chin, and then his finger moved slowly down the center of her neck to where her pulse was pounding. “Truth or dare,” she challenged again, barely able to get the words out.

  Although it was impossible, it seemed his eyes darkened more. “Dare,” he said huskily.

  Dana swallowed past the lump, especially with Jared’s hand still there on her neck, drawing lazy circles with his fingers, stimulating both her mind and her body. She could only think of one dare at the moment. “I dare you to kiss me like I’m the only woman you could ever want.” A part of Dana knew how badly that must have sounded, but it was her dare and she wondered what he would do about it.

  Jared felt his groin tight en in response to Dana’s dare. He doubted that she knew how beautiful and sexy she looked, waiting to see what he would do. Fulfilling her dare wasn’t a problem since in his mind she was the only woman he could ever want any way. But she didn’t know it and may be it was about time she did.

  He reached out and gently pulled her to him. There was no waiting, and his mouth took hers with all the urgency and need that he felt. He heard her whimper the moment his tongue entered her mouth, and as he began mating his mouth with hers, he felt the shiver that ran down her body. He had kissed her a number of times, but now he was kissing her as the woman he had singled out to spend the rest of his life with, and he was determined to let it show in his kiss. All evening he had longed to kiss her this way. That kiss in front of his family was merely meant to tide him over until now. Until this. His heart was filled with love and his body was wired with sensuous need. Together, both were causing him to over load.

  When she grabbed the back of his head, locking their mouths, his han
d eased under her blouse, unhooked the front catch to her bra to touch her breasts. Her felt the tips hardened beneath his fingers, felt her body’s response to it in her kiss. She moaned in his mouth and the sound sent fire through every nerve in his body. Then when breathing became a necessity, he slowly pulled back, reluctantly breaking off the kiss.

  Dana swallowed a frustrated groan. She hadn’t wanted him to stop kissing her. Thanks to him she knew how it felt to come apart in a man’s arms. She’d discovered all the pleasure a person could experience in making love.

  “Truth or dare?”

  A heated flutter floated around in her chest, a tingling sensation took root in her stomach. She nervously bit her bottom lip, looked up at him and met his gaze and said, “Dare.”

  He smiled, seemingly pleased. Then said, “Give me your under wear.”

  Dana blinked, wondered if she’d heard him right, al though she knew that she had. The room felt charged when she lifted her skirt. The heat in his gaze intensified and her breathing pattern became irregular.

  Holding his gaze, she slowly eased her bikini panties down her legs. When they were completely off, she balled them up in her hand and handed them to him.

  He took them. “Thanks.”

  Now it was her turn. “Truth or Dare?”

  His deep penetrating gaze met hers. “Dare.”

  A wicked gleam appeared in her eyes when she said, “Give me yours.”

  Jared chuckled quietly as his hands went to his belt and he pulled it out of the loop. Next he eased down his zipper. Dana watched as he re moved his jeans, then the pair of black briefs he was wearing. She in haled deeply when he stood before her naked from the waist down. Completely naked and totally aroused.

  He held her gaze. “Truth or Dare.”

  She gave him an intimate smile. “Dare.”

  “I dare you to take off the rest of your clothes.”

  Dana’s heart began beating faster as she began unbuttoning her blouse to take if off. She then re moved her bra that was half off any way. Next was the skirt that she eased down her legs along with her half slip. Her body shivered at the in tense desire she saw in Jared’s gaze as he looked at her. His eyes seemed fixated with the area below her navel.

  “Truth or Dare?” she asked softly, feeling totally exposed, yet at the same time, utterly sexy while standing nude before him.

  “Dare,” he said throatily, as if that one word had been torn from deep in side his throat.

  She nodded, wondering if they would ever get back to truths when it was much more fun being daring. Just looking at him standing in her living room more naked than dressed, made her feel warm, wet and wan ton. “Take off the rest of yours, as well.”

  All he had to do was pull his shirt over his head and he was done. “Truth or Dare?” he challenged in a husky voice as his gaze moved down the length of her. She felt her body burn everywhere his eyes touched. She also felt her blood simmer slowly through each of her veins.

  “Truth,” she responded, letting out a slow breath.

  “Now that we’re naked, what do you want us to do?” he asked. The magnitude of desire in his eyes had her body burning.

  She held his gaze. They were back to the truth again. Everything feminine with in her yearned for him, actually ached. The area between her legs was throbbing unmercifully. And she could think of only one way to end the torment. “I want you to make love to me. Here. Now. And don’t hold back on anything.”

  Her words were both a truth and a dare, Jared thought, as he filled with need and desire, and an overpowering love slammed into him. Something with in him snapped and he wanted to give her exactly what she’d asked for.

  He reached out, pulled her to him and kissed her, drowning in the sweet moistness of her mouth. He wanted to touch her, taste her, mark her as his. And although he knew such a thing wasn’t possible, he wanted to se duce her into loving him as much as he loved her.

  He tugged her down on the carpeted floor and let out a low growl of need when he left her mouth to devour the rest of her. His tongue was hot and the skin it tasted in creased the fever and the hunger in side him. And Dana wasn’t helping matters. Her hands were touching him everywhere, letting him know that she was driven by the same fierce urgency. When she took him into her hand, running her fingers down his hot, slick shaft, he sucked in his breath. She was burning for him the same way he was on fire for her and he knew of only one way to put out the flames.

  “No more,” he said, pushing aside her hands, his arousal beyond the point of control. He quickly covered her body and entered her, sheathing himself deep. Breathing raggedly, he began thrusting in side of her, holding her gaze as he moved in and out, mating with her like a man who was about to take his last breath and this was the only thing that could sustain him.

  Dana followed Jared’s frantic rhythm, kept up with his nonstop pace and sucked in a breath at the impact of each and every thrust. Pleasure tore through her relentlessly, urged her to wrap her legs around his hips and pull him deeper in side of her. She wanted this, had asked for it. And he was giving it to her.

  “Jared!”

  She gave herself to him in torrid abandonment. Shudders, unyielding and unrelenting, rammed through every part of her body, from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. A mass of sensations bombarded the area between her legs where their bodies were joined. And when he picked up the pace, in creased the already frantic rhythm, and deepened his stead y thrusts, she lifted her body off the floor, needing and wanting every thing he had to give.

  “Dana!”

  Jared’s body shook with the force of an orgasm that shot him into ecstasy, filled him with wondrous sensations. A deep guttural growl of satisfaction ripped from deep with in his throat and he felt his body explode in side of her. He never knew, never even thought that making love to a woman could be so climactic and earth-shattering, until he’d made love with her. He had never before mated this wildly with a woman, never before wished the rapture would never end.

  A short while later, he collapsed on the floor be side her and pulled her into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her as she lay sprawled lifelessly across his chest, the hunger they had for each other satisfied.

  “Truth or dare?” she whispered, pressing her lips against the hollow of his throat and gently sucking there.

  His breath caught and he felt himself getting hard all over again. “Truth,” he said when he was able to breathe normally again.

  “What are you thinking?” she asked, some how finding strength to lean up and stare down at him.

  His heart reacted immediately to her question. “I’m thinking that what we just shared is amazing, and that every time we’ve made love was incredible. I also think that you’re beautiful, sexy and a woman any man would want to claim as his. And that I want you in all the ways a man could possibly want a woman. In bed and out of bed. I’m also thinking about the fact that we didn’t use protection, but I’m not bothered by it because I don’t want things to end between us tonight.”

  Dana lightly traced her fingers through the hair on his chest. Was he trying to say he wanted her as a lover? That things didn’t have to be over after tonight? But how would he explain to his family as to why she had gone from being his fiancée to nothing more than his lover. But then another part of her knew she wanted more from Jared, a lot more than he was willing to give. She re fused to sell herself short and it was best to walk away now to save herself heartbreak later.

  “Truth or dare, Dana?”

  His challenge interrupted her thoughts. She looked at him. “Truth.”

  He reached out and captured her hand. “What are you thinking?”

  She in haled deeply, then re leased a slow, shaky breath. “I’m thinking that I can’t settle for an affair with you, Jared.”

  “That’s good because I don’t want an affair.”

  At the con fused look that appeared on her face, he sat up and pulled her to him and placed a slow, lingering kiss on her l
ips. When he re leased her he said, “I want something more than an affair, Dana. I want you to be the woman I come home to every night.”

  She frowned, not sure she under stood what he was saying. “I don’t understand.”

  With a shuddering sigh he said, “Then may be it’s time to put all game playing aside and speak only the truth.”

  He couldn’t help but think about how much he loved her and needed her in his life. “These past six weeks, pretending to be your fiancé, the man you are going to marry, have been the best weeks of my life. And tonight when I realized it was about to end, I had to face a number of truths. One of which was the fact that I have fall en in love with you.”

  Dana blinked, seeming thunder struck. “You have?”

  His smile showed a perfect set of white teeth. “Yes, and more than anything I want to make our engagement real.” He lifted his hand to her face to caress her cheek. “But getting what I want really depends on how you feel about me, Dana.”

  He saw the moment tears began forming in her eyes. “Oh, Jared, I love you, too, and more than anything I want our engagement to be real.”

  He chuckled with both joy and relief and pulled her into his lap. “I’m damn glad to hear that. So, Dana Rollins will you marry me? Be my wife, the mother of my children and the love of my life for al ways?”

  He framed her face in his hands and continued. “Will you let that ring you’re already wearing be a symbol of my love and promise? And will you believe that I will honor you, protect you and make you happy?”

  He watched as more tears came into her eyes at the same time a soft chuckle escaped from her throat. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Jared, and be all of those things.”

  An over powering gush of happiness erupted from Jared’s throat. “You do know this means you’ll have all the Westmorelands as family?”