by Lori Foster
Life was too short to carry grudges or pass up chances. The awful fact of Derek’s death was just starting to sink in, making her tremble all over again. If she put her emotional hurt aside, she could understand Dane’s behavior toward her. It hadn’t been unconscionable as Derek’s had been, but rather motivated by the strong need to find a killer.
Angel intended to help him in his efforts.
She glanced around the house without much interest. It was open and airy, the colors bright and clean. It had been professionally decorated and seemed impersonal to Angel, not at all suited to Dane.
She fed Grayson while Dane grilled her on a dozen questions and she did her best to answer them to his satisfaction. Dane was antsy, pacing around her as he tried to find out exactly when her accident had occurred, when the phone calls had begun. Angel had contacted Derek for the last time when she was five and a half months pregnant. He’d turned her away. Shortly after that, he’d died. Two months later, her own car was run off the road, starting her labor. The timing made Dane even more agitated.
Angel put Grayson down for his nap in an empty guest room. Dane lit a fire in the family room then called Alec at her apartment. Unfortunately, though Alec was very thorough, there were no additional clues to be found there.
Angel was tired, but she had no idea what the sleeping arrangements would be. She assumed they would share a certain amount of intimacy. Dane had certainly been insistent, and with her new revelations, she wasn’t averse to the idea. She wanted him; in the middle of all the crises they’d managed to find something very special. Dane made her feel things she’d never felt before, things she hadn’t even known existed. She had no idea how much time they might have together so she didn’t intend to waste any of it.
Which meant she needed to clear the air first. “Dane?”
He had just hung up the phone and now he lifted his head to stare at her.
“I never wished Derek any physical harm. I’m so sorry for what happened to him.”
Just that quick, the distance between them was narrowed. Dane strode to her, stopping a mere inch in front of her. “I don’t know if it means anything honey, but Derek regretted what happened.” His gaze was searching, warm and direct. “Celia claimed he was almost sick with remorse, and that he knew you’d never forgive him. She said he seemed preoccupied by it all in the time before his death.”
Angel nodded, thinking that was at least something, though she wasn’t certain she believed it.
Dane laid his large warm hands on her shoulders and gently squeezed. “When I think of all the time we could have saved if either of us would have simply been honest, it sickens me.” He drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You’ve been at risk all this time, and I didn’t know it. If anything had happened to you—”
Angel gently laid her fingers against his mouth. He was trying his best, even willing to sacrifice himself to marriage to keep her safe. The least she could do was be totally honest with him. He was right about that.
She tipped her face up to him and had to catch her breath at the tender look in his eyes. Somehow, despite the fact he was the mirror image of Derek, her heart had always known he was different. She still didn’t appreciate the underhanded way he had manipulated her, but knowing she hadn’t been taken in by the same man twice was a balm to her pride.
He lifted one finger to caress her cheek, unnerving her, sending her thoughts in scattering directions. She smiled. “Dane, if you’d admitted who you were when I first contacted you, I’d have taken off.”
He frowned at that possibility.
“I was so afraid of you,” she explained, “of all the Carter family, but especially you.” His eyes darkened to golden amber, and her stomach muscles constricted in reaction. She had to force herself back on track.
“Derek had told me so many horrible stories of how ruthless and unforgiving you could be.”
He pulled her close, pressing her head to his shoulder and rocking her. She had the feeling he was comforting himself as much as her. “Derek and I had major disagreements on the family, and on the company. He felt challenged by all the games, while I was sickened by them. I suppose he didn’t like it much that I walked away.” He hesitated, then whispered, “And now he’s gone.”
Needing to reassure him, Angel pushed back and smiled up at him. “He always spoke of you with admiration, making you out to be bigger than life, and twice as frightening. I didn’t trust anyone in your family, and there was only a marginal amount of trust for Derek. But deep down, despite everything, I thought he’d do the right thing for his son.”
Dane pulled her close again. “So you’re saying it’s actually a good thing I didn’t introduce myself up front?” He kissed her chin, featherlight, then her temple. “If I had, you’d have taken off and who knows what might have happened to you?”
He shuddered roughly with the thought, and then he kissed her. All her turbulent emotions of the day seemed to swell and heat into one overwhelming need. She wasn’t used to the sexual demands of her body and didn’t know how to temper them. All that they’d done the night before, all the ways he’d touched her and pleasured her, came swamping back. Heat pounded beneath her skin and her legs suddenly felt weak and shaky. She wanted to lie down beneath him, she wanted him inside her again, making her shudder with nearly painful pleasure. She wanted him to help her forget—at least for a little while.
“Let me make love to you, Angel.”
The quiet plea was whispered into her ear, his warm breath a caress on its own. She wanted him, and that single focus drowned out everything else.
He’d asked her to marry him so he could protect Grayson. He was noble enough to go to any lengths to make sure the baby was taken care of. And now he needed her, if only in a physical way.
It was such a huge risk, letting her heart get involved when he’d made his motivations crystal clear. But she found she had no choice. She’d used up all her energy for the day, and for now, nothing seemed more right than making love with Dane. “Yes.”
DANE WANTED TO SHOUT like a conqueror when Angel went soft and willing against him. God knew, after the turmoil of the day, he needed a distraction and he couldn’t think of a nicer one than sinking himself into her warm body.
He did nearly shout when her small hand suddenly snaked down his chest and cupped over his fly. He choked and got an erection at the same time.
“Angel?” Her name was a harsh groan, but he couldn’t help that. Too many emotions were slamming into him. He’d planned on wearing her down slowly, using the advantages he had: her love of Grayson and her need for protection, combined with their compatibility in bed. Loving Grayson wouldn’t be a hardship; the baby was adorable and had owned Dane’s heart from the first moment he’d met him. And even before he’d known Angel had no part in Derek’s death, he’d felt compelled to protect her. He’d die before he let her suffer the same fate as his brother.
No woman had ever affected him so strongly.
He didn’t understand her sudden submission to his lust, not when she’d been outraged only an hour or so before, but he wasn’t fool enough to question her on it. He covered her small, soft hand with his own and pressed hard, catching his breath at the exquisite feel of her holding him. He watched her bright green eyes widen, saw her lips part on a deeply indrawn breath, and he kissed her again. He wasn’t gentle. He possessed her mouth with his own, giving her his tongue and groaning when she sucked on it. Her fingers curled around his erection, stroking, proving what a deft learner she could be.
His revelations of the day, the fear he felt for her, his frustration in being unable to solve the mystery of his brother’s death, all clamored inside him. He needed her, her comfort. Being with her overrode everything else.
He lifted his fingers to her breast and teased. Already her nipples were peaked, thrusting against the worn material of the sweatshirt she wore. Dane moved his mouth down to her throat, over the sensitive, ultra-soft skin beneath her chin, then to h
er ear. When he took a breath, he noticed the smoke smell still clinging to her and wanted to pull her into himself, to make her a part of him and forever keep her safe. She and Mick had claimed the fire to be a mere threat, without the intent of burning her out, but he wasn’t so sure and the idea that someone could have gotten to her so easily filled him with an ice-cold rage. He would protect her.
Ruthlessly, hoping to banish the disturbing thoughts, he backstepped her up to the brick wall beside the fireplace and pinned her there with his hips. His hands jerked up her sweatshirt and he covered both plump, tender breasts with his rough palms. “You’re mine now, Angel.”
She moved against him, inciting him, encouraging him, and he reacted to her on a primitive level. He jerked back, lowered his head and carefully closed his teeth over one erect nipple. Angel cried out. He knew her breasts were sensitive; he’d found that out last night, taking extra care with her then. But now, he wanted to dominate her, to make her beg, to make her admit that she needed him, and not just for convenience and the safety he afforded. It was disquieting to feel such depth of emotion with this one particular woman. He hadn’t wanted to ever again care so much, not like this. But now he had to admit, especially to himself, that what he felt for Angel had no comparison. It was crazy, given the short amount of time he’d known her, but he couldn’t fight it—didn’t even want to try. He wouldn’t feel guilty about it, either. Derek had thrown away his chance to have her. Dane felt guilty for a lot of things, but not for this.
“Dane,” she cried, digging her fingers into his back, and he relished the small pain for bringing him a measure of control.
“Say my name again,” he told her as he began unfastening her jeans.
“I want you, Dane.”
“Now, Angel, right here.”
Her eyes widened, but he tugged her jeans down to her knees and turned her. “Brace your hands on the wall.”
“Dane?” Eyes wide with confusion, she looked at him over her shoulder.
“Do it, honey.” Not waiting for her to comply, he took her wrists in his hands and flattened her palms on the wall, wide on either side of her head. “Now don’t move.”
He could hear her frantic breaths, her small whimpers, a mixture of excitement and uncertain anxiety. Grimly he smiled as he released himself from his slacks. He was rock hard and throbbing and more than ready to explode. When his arms came around her to ply her breasts, his fingertips plucking at her nipples, his erection just naturally nestled in the cleft of her rounded bottom. Angel gasped, pressing her head back, and at the same time, pushing her hips more closely to him.
He moved his pelvis, stroking her, teasing. He felt blind with lust, but also determined to accomplish his goals. “I want to get married tomorrow, no later than Wednesday.”
“Yes.”
A startled squeak escaped her when his arms squeezed her tight, but his relief was a living thing and there was no way to get close enough. He hated rushing her into marriage after everything else she’d been through. She deserved a proper courtship, with moonlight dates and flowers and gentle promises, all the things she hadn’t had, all the things women wanted. But he had to do what he thought was best for both of them, and right now, tying her to him was his first priority.
Slowly, making himself as crazy as she, he dragged his palm down her ribs to her belly, and when she held her breath he bit her shoulder, a soft, wet love bite—then cupped her fully, taking her by surprise, loving the sound of her startled pleasure as she jerked and moaned.
His fingers gently pressed and found her ready for him, her feminine flesh swollen, the soft petals slick and hot. His middle finger glided over her, barely touching until her hips began moving in a counterpoint. He kept the pressure light and easy, teasing. She tried to hurry him, to encourage him to give her what she now needed, what she desperately wanted, but he resisted. Once, she started to drop her hands but he quickly repositioned her as he wanted her, vulnerable to him, submissive. Judging by the sounds of her panting breaths and raw moans, she loved it as much as he did.
“Dane, please…”
Just as he’d plucked at her nipples, he used his fingertips now to torment her again, but this flesh was so much more sensitive, the feelings so acute, she cried out and almost jerked away from him. His free arm locked around her, holding her in place for his sensual torment.
“You’re mine, Angel. Mine.” His words were harsh, commanding, breathed against her temple as he thrust against her, his fingers unrelenting.
To his satisfaction and deep pleasure, she came.
Her arms stiffened, her head dropped forward and her body jerked and bucked as her hips pressed hard against him. Dane groaned with her, encouraging her, continuing the gentle abrasion of her most sensitive flesh. As she quieted, he praised her, telling her how crazy she made him, how special she was. He had no idea if she heard him, and she gave no reply other than her gratified groans.
He’d never before resented the use of protection, but now, as he fumbled in a rush to get the condom in place, he cursed the use of them.
Angel was barely staying upright, her body now slumped fully against the wall, her arms no longer stiff and straight. Her cheek pressed to the warm brick and he feared the abrasion against her soft skin, so he pulled her away and lowered her to the carpet, entering her at the same time.
Her tight jeans restricted his movements, but it didn’t matter. He simply needed to be inside her, like he needed his next breath and the occasional sunshine and a few hours’ sleep. He needed her.
Riding her hard, pushing errant thoughts of the danger from his brain, he concentrated on the pleasure. Angel didn’t join him again, but chose to watch him instead, her eyes soft in the firelight, her body pliant to his urgent thrusts. One hand lifted and she smoothed his shoulder, smiling gently.
Knowing she watched his every move, that she witnessed every emotion to pass over his face, knowing she could see his explosive pleasure as he came, made it all that much more powerful. He didn’t disappoint her, and let himself go completely. He ground his teeth together to keep from shouting and strained against her, knowing she had just taken his heart. His body went rigid and he took his own orgasm with a low, endless growl of blinding pleasure.
He loved Angel Morris, he thought as he slumped against her. He loved her more than he’d ever thought to love anyone or anything. He loved her enough to give his life for her, to do anything to keep her bound to him.
Well damn, he thought, the effort almost painful to his muddled brain. That sure shot a hole in his altruistic plans of merely offering protection. It was also enough to scare ten years off his life.
CHAPTER NINE
“WELL, THAT DIDN’T go quite as I had planned it.”
The words, so softly spoken, drifted around Dane, but it took considerable effort on his part to lift his head. He felt not only physically appeased, but emotionally full, and he didn’t want to move, not yet, maybe not ever. He didn’t want to lose the feeling, the closeness, and he didn’t want reality, with all the present problems, to intrude. But he finally managed to struggle up onto his elbows.
Angel, tender and warm and womanly beneath him, looked at him with gentle, shining eyes, a tiny satisfied smile on her mouth.
God, he loved her. The profound acknowledgment shook him. He’d been careless with her, and just as he’d lost his brother, he could have lost her, too.
He tenderly tucked a pale curl behind her ear. “What didn’t go as you planned? Did I disappoint you, sweetheart?” He asked the outrageous question to give his brain a chance for mental recovery. Looking at her now, with the realization of how easily she could crush him, was going to take some getting used to. He wasn’t accustomed to feeling fear, but what he felt for Angel scared him down deep in his bones, clear to his masculine core. It also made him feel near to bursting and kept his male flesh, still buried tight inside her, semihard. Nothing would ever be enough with her.
Feeling the way he did, realizi
ng just how special she was, made him doubt what he knew about Derek. His brother couldn’t have used Angel as vindictively as everyone thought. No man could possibly spend time with her and not appreciate how special, how unique she was.
Her smooth brow puckered as she frowned at him. He had to laugh, and luckily that lightened the moment for him, at least to the point he could talk coherently without fear of professing undying love. Angel had been badly misused by his family, and he hadn’t done much better by her, though that would quickly change. He fully intended to rush her headlong into marriage. Burdening her now with his excess of emotion before she’d had a chance to get used to the rest would be grossly unfair.
And besides all that, he was suddenly a horrible coward. He simply didn’t want to lay his heart on the line, not when the odds were she’d disdain his love. She wanted him on a physical level, there was no denying that, not with the heated scent of their lovemaking still thick in the air. And they had the mutual love of Grayson, a binding responsibility for them both. He’d have to build on those things, and hope it would suffice.
Touching his fingertips over one tightly drawn eyebrow, he grinned. “How can you look so embarrassed after what we just did? Your pants are around your knees, I can feel your nipples hard against my chest, and you’re still holding me inside you.” He leaned down and brushed his mouth over hers. “So tight, Angel, like you never want to let me go.”
“Dane.” Unconsciously, she lifted her hips into his and he groaned.
“What didn’t go as you planned?”
She looked shyly away, charming him anew. That she could be so wild one minute, and yet timid the next, kept his lust on a keen edge, and sharpened the emotional needs he felt to tie her to him, to keep her safe.
“I wanted this time to be different.”
He laughed again. She never ceased to surprise him. “More different than making love against a brick wall with your—”
“Dane, hush!” She pressed her hand against his mouth and he kissed her palm, silently laughing.
