Maybe Lynn Didn’t Think Marriage Was A Good Idea, But Russ Knew It Was The Only Answer. He Didn’t Give His Word Lightly.
Lynn’s brother had looked him directly in the eyes and asked if Russ was going to marry Lynn. Unable to lie about the situation, Russ had gone along with Lynn’s ruse, knowing in his heart that he’d meant it.
He knew he was in dangerous territory. He’d made up his mind a long time ago not to get emotionally involved with another woman, and until he’d ended up in bed with Lynn McCall, he’d had no trouble sticking to his plans to remain single and detached.
Despite what had happened between him and Lynn, he wasn’t going to allow her to get close enough to hurt him. He wasn’t going to put his heart on the line. Besides, he knew it wouldn’t be a forever-after kind of relationship. It wouldn’t even be a real marriage.
Of course, if she was pregnant with his child, that would change the stakes quite a bit….
Dear Reader,
Welcome to Silhouette Desire, where you can spice up your April with six passionate, powerful and provocative romances!
Beloved author Diana Palmer delivers a great read with A Man of Means, the latest in her LONG, TALL TEXANS miniseries, as a saucy cook tames a hot-tempered cowboy with her biscuits. Then, enjoy reading how one woman’s orderly life is turned upside down when she is wooed by Mr. Temptation, April’s MAN OF THE MONTH and the first title in Cait London’s hot new HEARTBREAKERS miniseries.
Reader favorite Maureen Child proves a naval hero is no match for a determined single mom in The SEAL’s Surrender, the latest DYNASTIES: THE CONNELLYS title. And a reluctant widow gets a second chance at love in Her Texan Tycoon by Jan Hudson.
The drama continues in the TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB: THE LAST BACHELOR continuity series with Tall, Dark…and Framed? by Cathleen Galitz, when an attractive defense attorney falls head over heels for her client—a devastatingly handsome tycoon with a secret. And discover what a ranch foreman, a virgin and her protective brothers have in common in One Wedding Night… by Shirley Rogers.
Celebrate the season by pampering yourself with all six of these exciting new love stories.
Enjoy!
Joan Marlow Golan
Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire
One Wedding Night…
SHIRLEY ROGERS
Books by Shirley Rogers
Silhouette Desire
Cowboys, Babies and Shotgun Vows #1176
Conveniently His #1266
A Cowboy, a Bride & a Wedding Vow #1344
Baby of Fortune #1384
One Wedding Night… #1434
SHIRLEY ROGERS
lives in Virginia with her husband, two cats and an adorable Maltese named Blanca. She has two grown children, a son and a daughter. As a child, she was known for having a vivid imagination. It wasn’t until she started reading romances that she realized her true destiny was writing them! Besides reading, she enjoys traveling, seeing movies and spending time with her family.
To Diana, my wonderful brainstorming partner, with deep appreciation. And to my terrific editor, Tina Colombo.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
One
Russ Logan rolled onto his side in his double bed and felt something warm and exquisitely soft beneath his palm.
A woman’s body.
Still deep in the dregs of sleep, he savored the enticing fragments of the erotic dream, sliding his hand over smooth skin and letting it rest on a soft round mound. A very real erotic dream, his subconscious told him. He let his imagination run with it, feeling his own body’s quickening response.
Without warning, pain slammed through his brain, distorting the dream and the illusion of a blond-haired, blue-eyed angel. Russ struggled through the depths of the dream to the edge of reality and very slowly pried open one eye.
He was in his own room. Sunshine shone brightly through a gap in familiar dusky brown curtains.
Thank God. Closing his eyes, he knew a moment of relief. Drawing a ragged breath, he struggled to get his bearings. His mind swam, and his stomach felt like lead heated to the boiling point. Finally, forcing both eyes open, he stared straight into the lovely face of Lynn McCall.
Hell.
Jerking his hand away from her breast, Russ shot up into a sitting position. His sudden movements caused her to stir, and her eyelids lifted, slowly at first, then widening as they began to focus on him. He watched the realization of where she was dawn on her just before her harsh, ear-piercing scream echoed throughout the room and his already pounding head. Russ was sure it was heard as far away from the west Texas ranch as San Antonio. He put his hand to the ear closest to Lynn and covered it.
“Stop that!” he barked, cutting his eyes at her, his mind just beginning to catalog a hangover and the pulverizing headache that came with it.
“Don’t come near me!” Lynn scrambled up against the backboard of his bed, dragging the sheet up and over her, clutching it tightly, covering what she could of herself and just about yanking it totally off of him.
Russ grabbed at it just before it exposed all the gifts God gave him. “If you scream like that again, believe me, that won’t be a hardship,” he grated, his teeth clenched against the throbbing in his head. He was sure a blood vessel was about to explode.
She stared at him as if he had two heads. Red blotches stained her cheeks. “What…what are you doing here?” she demanded, gasping for air.
He eyed her cautiously, his expression guarded as he fought to keep his eyes open. The ability to breathe was suddenly as difficult as believing this was really happening. The girl who worked beside him every day in worn jeans and dirty boots didn’t exist. In her place was a beautiful young woman.
Naked! In your bed!
Her tousled blond hair was cropped short and framed her heart-shaped face. Bare of makeup, her flawless skin glowed. His gaze slid lower, past the gentle slope of her neckline, pausing for a moment on her full breasts hidden beneath the white sheet. Russ’s gaze lingered there long enough to wonder how it would feel to have his mouth on them, then he wisely diverted his attention to her face. “I think a more appropriate question is, ‘What are you doing in my bed?”’ He leaned forward and held his head in his hands, moaning in agony.
Damn. What on earth had happened last night? he wondered, trying to make some sense of the incredible dream turned nightmare. Sleeping with his boss’s sister! He must have lost his mind—and most certainly he’d lost his job along with it.
Russ thought about the previous evening. Flashbacks tormented him. He really couldn’t remember drinking too much at Lynn’s brother’s wedding reception, only a few beers. Of course, everyone had toasted Jake and Catherine several times. A lot of partying had gone on long after the bride and groom had left. Damn! When was the last time he’d drunk enough to lose control of his senses?
However, it didn’t take much alcohol to dull someone’s senses—or to take advantage of another person’s loss of inhibitions. And he had to wonder how much he’d wanted Lynn to let this happen. Had he subconsciously just ignored his inner warnings that she was forbidden?
“Your bed?” Lynn wailed, squinting. She closed her eyes, then very slowly reopened them, hoping that this was some horrible dream. Looking around the large room, her gaze swept past a dresser and a small refrigerator, coming to rest on a television positioned on the wall opposite the foot of the bed. Though she’d never been in the foreman’s qua
rters, she began to recognize the room as one of the buildings on the McCall ranch. “Oh, no! Oh, please tell me this isn’t really happening.”
Pain came crashing down on her, and she put a hand to her forehead. What had happened last night? She tried to remember, but it hurt to think. It hurt just to breathe. She felt like she was going to die, and heaven knows, she deserved to. The contents of her stomach rolled. Unable to face Russ, she kept her head turned away.
Russ Logan! She was in bed, naked, with Russ Logan. Oh, jeez, she’d done some stupid things in her life, but never anything this stupid. Her mind swam with possible solutions of getting herself out of this with at least a touch of dignity.
Russ watched her facial expression change from shock to disbelief to humiliation. She pulled her legs up and tucked her forehead on her knees. Her blond bangs fell forward and covered her rose-colored nails. Damn, she was sexy as hell, he thought, running his gaze over her bare shoulders and arms, then down to the sheet covering the rest of her. She moaned again, and he hauled his mind back to the problem facing him.
“Take it easy,” Russ coaxed, and he instinctively reached toward her. As if sensing he was going to touch her, she gripped the sheet even tighter as her head whipped around.
“Don’t you dare touch me!” she snapped, then groaned, her gaze focused just over his right shoulder. Panic seized every muscle in her face, twisting her lovely features in contortions he wouldn’t have thought possible.
Despite his own anguish, Russ slowly shook his head. He gave a slight chuckle that sounded more sarcastic than humorous. “I think it’s a little late for you to be saying that,” he stated flatly, realizing that a whole lot more than touching had gone on during the night. An image of her soft and pliant beneath him, of him slowly sliding into her, played like a detailed erotic movie in his mind. “And, dammit, don’t raise your voice again.” Despite his cursing, it came out sounding like a plea.
“I’m sorry,” Lynn murmured, a trace of fear and humiliation still in her eyes. She looked at him and winced, then just as quickly turned her head away as tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. She was going to die of embarrassment. That, or by the hands of her three older brothers, whichever came first. She swallowed hard and managed to calm herself enough to speak rationally. “Would you please just get out of the bed and hand me my clothes?”
He started to throw the sheet back, and she screamed again, stilling his movements. He shot her a warning stare, looking as if he wanted to strangle her.
“No! Wait! Just stay where you are!” she demanded, realizing he was as naked as she was. “And…oh…please, please, don’t move again. My stomach feels like it’s on the ocean.” The temptation to throw up all over everything was inching closer to reality.
Russ swore under his breath, but he was grateful that she’d relented. His entire body ached. “Don’t worry. I don’t think I can move anyway.”
They moaned in unison, then he raised his head. He opened his mouth to speak, but was suddenly at a loss for words. He stared at her, silenced by her beauty and by the fact that he’d spent the night making love to her. As if aware of his scrutiny, she looked at him, and their eyes finally connected. It seemed she was as shocked as he was to find herself in his bed.
She had the McCall blue eyes, a trait she shared with two of her brothers. Only on Lynn, those blue eyes could bring a man to his knees. When she smiled, well, Russ figured there wasn’t a man for miles who wouldn’t want to have her smiling at him.
But he wasn’t the right man for her, and he damn well knew it—as well as he knew making love with her last night had been a huge mistake. Besides the fact that she was a McCall and hands-off, she was too innocent, too sweet, too trusting. And he was too cynical, too jaded.
And too damn old. At thirty, he was ten years older and wiser. He’d tried marriage once, and it had ended in disaster. He wouldn’t be making that mistake again.
“Look,” Russ began, speaking softly so that his head wouldn’t detonate, “I’m not proud about admitting it, but I’m not exactly sure how this happened. What do you remember?” He hoped she had a better idea than him. Maybe something she said would trigger his own mind, trick it into remembering.
Staring at him as if he was an apparition, Lynn felt like she was in a hypnotic trance. Everything that had happened last night, everything, was slowly coming back to her, but there was no way she was going to confess what she remembered. Her eyes lost their glaze, and her gaze slowly slipped over Russ’s wide shoulders and well-muscled arms to the pattern of dark hair on his chest. Her heartbeat quickened. She’d kissed him there!
She mentally jerked herself back from going there and tried to focus on what had happened the night before. Jake’s reception. Lynn had a vague memory of having fun at the reception, drinking a little and flirting a lot. With Russ. And dancing with him. Many times. Slow, seductive dances where he’d held her in his arms and his body had moved in rhythm against hers, stirring up all kinds of wants and needs she hadn’t been conscious of before.
Russ! The one person in the world she thought was a chauvinistic, overbearing, insufferable… She stopped her inner ranting as it began to worsen her headache. Sure, Russ was handsome, ruggedly so, with dark brown hair and deep, sea-green eyes that rarely revealed his innermost feelings.
He’d come to the ranch asking for a job one day and had talked at length with Jake. Her brother had hired Russ on a trial basis. After a short while, he’d made a name for himself throughout the area. Word had quickly spread from Crockett to Ozona and San Luis about his incredible skill with horses, and in addition to training the Bar M’s quarter horses, he trained horses for other ranchers.
She’d started working with him over a year ago, but they were barely able to tolerate one another. Well, they’d done a lot more than tolerate each other last night, she thought, shrinking a little more away from him.
“Lynn?”
His voice drew her attention back to him, and she felt her cheeks flame. “What?”
Russ frowned, drawing his dark brown eyebrows into a vee. “Can you help me out here a little?”
She shook her head, then cringed when pain slammed her again. “Not really,” she told him, fully aware of the images of Russ kissing her appearing in her mind. “I don’t remember all that much, either,” she fibbed.
Russ sank back down onto the bed, straightening his body and crossing his forearm over his face.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, glaring at him.
“Trying to keep my head from firing off like a rocket,” he answered, cracking open an eye, then closing it again.
The night before began coming back in very slow sketches. Drinking a little, dancing with Lynn. Kissing her. Wanting her.
Bringing her back to his room.
Making love to her—hot, achingly lustful love to her. Several times.
She was a virgin!
Russ felt as if his entire world had shifted, and he was about to slide into a void of darkness. He’d taken her virginity!
You really screwed up. Big time. Not only had he hurt Lynn, he’d hurt her entire family.
Her brothers were going to kill him. And rightly so. He’d do the same thing if someone had taken advantage of his sister. Not that he had one. But he could understand their desire to protect Lynn.
The silence in the room closed in on him. He forced his eyes open and looked at her, then stopped himself from blurting an empty apology. Hell, an apology of any kind wasn’t exactly appropriate. Unfortunately, it was all he could offer.
“Lynn, I’m sorry,” he said, his voice husky with regret. He rolled onto his side, and his gaze met hers squarely. “This should never have happened. I take full responsibility.”
“What?” Lynn’s eyes widened, and her blond brows rose.
“I should never have brought you here. I should have been in control enough to stop myself from touching you.”
“Well, thank you very much,” she snapped, wishi
ng she could crawl into a hole and disappear. “It’s just wonderful for a woman to hear how much a man didn’t really want to be with her the morning after she made love with him.” Her voice cracked, and she damned herself for it.
“Hell, honey, I didn’t mean it like that,” he said, trying again to apologize, but feeling as if he was digging a deeper hole for himself. Moving slowly, he sat up. “I don’t want to hurt your feelings, I swear.” He started to touch her, and she stiffened. Letting his hand drop, he studied her. Her hurt expression tore at his insides. He wasn’t getting this right at all. Hell, he was out of practice. It had been a long time since he’d had a morning after.
“Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to make an honest woman of me,” she retorted.
Russ welcomed the relief that washed over him, then just as quickly admonished himself. He should have been thinking of doing exactly that. When her brothers found out about this, there’d be hell to pay. Not only that, but if anyone saw him and Lynn come in here, her reputation was ruined.
And he’d taken her virginity.
Hell and damnation. Annoyed with himself and the world as a whole, he stared into her blue eyes. Confusion and hurt lingered in them, mixed with disappointment and a trace of fear.
He smiled crookedly, and his gaze sought hers. “Well, if it’ll make you feel any better, I’ll tell you what I do remember about last night.” She didn’t say anything, just clamped her beautifully sculpted lips together. Russ forged on, “I have an incredible memory of holding you and kissing you.” The flush that had barely disappeared from her face returned in a rush. “I remember how sweet and giving you were when I took you the first time, and how thoroughly sexy you were the second and third.”
One Wedding Night... Page 1
