She glowered at him and muttered, “That’s not for you to decide.”
Mark sighed. “No. I don’t suppose it is. Maybe we should make another deal.”
Lindsay regarded him doubtfully. He was obviously even better at this “deal” business than she was. The last one he’d offered had gotten her in way over her head. Another one would probably send her under for the third time. “What’s the deal?” she asked cautiously.
“We’ll try it your way for one month.”
“A month?” she repeated incredulously. “That’s no deal. You know the kind of work I do. I may be in Cannes or New York or L.A. for the next month.”
“Then it won’t work out very well, will it?”
“Are you trying to set me up to lose?”
“No, of course not,” he said innocently, though there was a wicked glimmer in his eyes when he added, “but if it doesn’t work out, we’ll try it my way.”
“Exactly what is your way?” she asked skeptically.
“We’ll get married.”
They seemed to be right back where they’d started. “How will that solve anything? I’ll still be traveling.”
“No, you won’t. That’s part of the deal. You’ll stay here with me.”
“Damn it, Mark. Haven’t you heard anything I’ve said?”
“I’ve heard all of it.”
“And what it comes down to is that you expect me to make a choice between you and my career?”
“Why not? What would you do if you fell in love with someone who lived in Bangor, Maine? Would you expect to commute, would you leave your job or would you dump him?”
“Oh, don’t be absurd. I don’t even know anyone in Maine.”
“You didn’t know anyone in Boulder until a few days ago. Now that you do, maybe it’s time to sort through your priorities.”
“If that’s not the most arrogant, chauvinistic statement I’ve ever heard in my life,” she exclaimed. “Who are you to question my priorities? Why should I give up my career, move to a place where you freeze to death in anything less than four layers of clothing and sit around all day staring at the walls, while you lock yourself away in another room and write to your heart’s content? What’s wrong with you making a few compromises? You could write anywhere.”
“That’s true,” he admitted slowly. “I could. But I hate Los Angeles and you said yourself you’re never there anyway.”
“So get a portable typewriter. You can sit next to me and write on the plane.”
“Very funny.”
“Well, it’s no more absurd than you asking me to give up everything,” she snapped, then sighed wearily. “Look, this is getting us nowhere. You don’t want to live in Los Angeles. I don’t want to live in Boulder. You apparently want me at your beck and call. I need my independence. Sounds to me like any judge would agree we’ve got a good case for irreconcilable differences.”
“Gosh,” he said with a wicked grin. “We’re not even married and you’re already throwing around divorce court terms.”
“I might as well start practicing. Can’t you see this would never work?”
“Of course it would.”
“If I give in.”
“Only on one or two points.”
“They’re pretty big points. Exactly how are you planning to bend?”
“Well...”
“I thought so.”
Suddenly he gave her one of those full-blown, dazzling, dimpled smiles that had gotten her into this emotional clench in the first place. “Am I mistaken or somewhere in the middle of all this did you agree to the basic idea of marrying me?” he asked.
“Of course not.”
“Then why are we battling over where we’re going to live after we’re married?”
She grinned back at him tentatively. “Because it’s a safer topic?”
“That’s what you think. You haven’t heard all of the awful, rotten things I can say about Los Angeles. Do you actually want your children to grow up in a place where they can’t see the mountains for the smog?”
“Do you want them to grow up where it’ll take an hour for them to thaw out their little hands?”
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” he said enthusiastically.
Lindsay looked at him blankly. “Where?”
“We’re discussing this rationally.”
“You call this rational?”
“Well, in a twisted sort of way it is.”
She shook her head. “I think that’s the problem. Your mind’s warped from all this damp weather.”
“Would you rather just talk about getting married? I can do that.”
“What’s the point?”
“We love each other.”
“We do?”
“I love you,” he said emphatically and with such absolute conviction that it rocked Lindsay back on her heels. She dropped the sheet and simply stared at him. Mark’s eyes immediately lowered to take in her firm breasts. The warm appreciation in his gaze sent a ripple of excitement skittering along her spine.
“You do?”
“Well, of course. I wouldn’t have asked you to marry me otherwise.” He looked at her oddly. “What did you think?”
“I thought maybe you were just tired of being out here all by yourself, which,” she added significantly, “I could certainly understand. This place makes me crazy and I’ve only been here a few days.”
He shook his head as though trying to clear it. “Let me get this straight. You think that just because I’m tired of being stranded out here all alone, I asked a woman who wants to wander the globe to marry me? That doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
“None of this makes any sense. I came here to get you to sign a simple movie deal and now you’re trying to negotiate a marriage contract. The role reversal has my head spinning.”
“Good. I like to keep my women off balance.”
“Your women!”
“I meant my woman. You.” He tried to kiss her, but she ducked out of reach. “Only you, Lindsay. I swear.”
“Right. Exactly how often do you propose?”
“You’re the first,” he said, suddenly sobering. “Since Alicia.”
“Oh, Mark,” she murmured, instantly apologetic. She slid her arms around him, her breasts brushing against his chest. “I’m sorry.”
“There’s no need for you to be sorry,” he said huskily. “Just marry me.”
“I can’t,” she said insistently.
To her utter astonishment, Mark freed himself from her embrace and casually jumped out of bed.
“Okay,” he said easily, striding toward the bathroom, thoroughly at ease with his magnificent nakedness. Her pulse danced a dramatic tango at the sight of him.
“Okay?” she murmured, unable to tear her eyes off of his muscular frame.
“Sure. We’ll go see Grace. She’ll be able to talk you into it,” he said confidently.
“Mark Channing, this is between you and me. If you can’t talk me into it, no one can.”
“You just wait until you hear Grace try. She’s very determined to marry me off. She’s just been waiting for the right candidate to come along.”
Lindsay sighed as the bathroom door shut behind him. Grace Tynan was indeed very determined and her own resistance was weakening with every minute that passed. But she was not going to rush recklessly into a commitment that she might regret the rest of her life. She might not have a lot of experience in such matters, but she knew perfectly well that no one in her right mind would decide to get married five days after meeting someone in an airport newsstand, even if he did have dazzling dimples and a sharp, irreverent mind that made hers spark and crackle just to keep up with it. They might have a rip-roaring, spectacularly satisfying affair, but that was the most that could possibly come of such a passionate, short-term encounter.
She picked up a pillow that was fragrant with Mark’s masculine scent and hugged it to her. An affair was the most that could happen, wasn’t it? she thought
desperately.
An hour later, they were trudging through the snow toward the general store, Lindsay’s mittened hand held in Mark’s gloved one. Despite all that interference, she could feel the warmth of his touch flashing right straight through her. She was hardly even aware that the wind-chill factor was somewhere below zero and the snow drifts on the side of the road were up to her chin. Mark’s unsettling ability to make her forget her surroundings was not a good omen for a woman who was trying to resist a proposal.
When they reached the store and threw open the door, Grace and Jeb greeted them with welcoming smiles. The pair quickly took in the fact that Lindsay’s hand was firmly grasped in Mark’s and their eyes lit with the approval of a couple of dedicated matchmakers.
“Howdy, you two,” Jeb bellowed enthusiastically. “Get in here and get that door shut. It’s colder outside than a witch’s...”
“Jeb!” Grace thundered warningly, then beamed at them. “Sit down. I’ll get some tea. Or would you rather have hot chocolate?”
“Oh, hot chocolate sounds wonderful,” Lindsay sighed. “If it’s not too much trouble.”
“Not a bit. It’s Mark’s favorite too.”
Lindsay caught the triumphant gleam in his eye. He actually considered their mutual desire for hot chocolate a point in his favor on the unevenly tipped scale of their romance. He apparently figured Lindsay and Grace would grasp the significance of it, too.
“So, what brings you two out from in front of a warm fire?” Jeb asked. “Just come down to get the mail, did you?”
“Not exactly,” Mark said. “I want Grace to do something for me.”
“What’s that?” she called from the back room.
“I want you to propose to Lindsay for me,” he said perfectly calmly, as Jeb suddenly hooted wildly and slapped his knee.
“Hey, Grace! Did you hear that? This ought to be a good one,” he snickered. He settled back in his rocker and watched them expectantly.
“Mark!” Lindsay protested weakly as embarrassment flooded through her.
“Well,” Mark retorted defensively, “that’s what we came down here for.”
“We did not. We came to visit.”
“Maybe you came to visit. I came to get Grace to propose to you.”
Grace poked her head around the doorway. “Any reason you can’t do your own proposing, young man?” she inquired sternly.
“She won’t listen to me.”
“Then what on earth makes you think she’d listen to me?”
“I thought you could tell her about my finer points, sort of act as my agent.”
“Don’t mention agents,” Lindsay said with a shudder. “If you get Morrie in on this, I’ll walk out on you for sure.”
“No Morrie,” he agreed. “I think this needs a woman’s touch. Come on, Grace. You can do it.”
“I’m thinking the girl must have a pretty good reason for saying no to a man like you. She’s been locked away in the cabin all alone with you for days now. She’s probably seen a side of you the rest of us don’t know about. Maybe she doesn’t love you.”
“Of course, she loves me,” Mark retorted indignantly. “She’s just being stubborn.”
“Stubborn!” Lindsay said indignantly. “I am not being stubborn. I am just trying to preserve life as I know it.”
“What’s that mean?” Jeb wanted to know.
“It means she doesn’t like cold weather,” Mark answered.
“Don’t blame her much. My bones are beginning to take a mighty strong dislike to all these howling winds too.”
“Your bones are a lot older than hers, you old coot,” Grace barked, as she brought in a tray with steaming mugs of hot chocolate. “Besides, ain’t nobody stopping you from moving to Arizona or Florida, if that’s what you want.”
“You won’t go.”
“Of course, I won’t go. I like it here. What’s that got to do with anything?”
“You blasted well know I’m not going anywhere without you, Grace Tynan, not after all these years.”
“Then settle back and hold your arthritic old hands over the stove and keep your mouth shut. Let Mark and Lindsay try to work this out.”
“Seems to me they’re not doing too well on their own, if they had to come down here to get you to run interference,” Jeb shot back.
“You, of all people,” he added in disgust.
“What’s that supposed to mean, Jeb Davis?” Grace demanded, her blue eyes flashing dangerously.
“Just that you ought to be paying a little more attention to your own life and not worrying about everyone else’s.”
“He might have a point there,” Mark said helpfully, as Grace glared at him.
“Mark Channing, unless you want me to tell this woman to run for her life, you’d best not be siding with Jeb.”
“Oh, are there two different sides here?” he asked innocently. “I was kind of hoping you two were on the same one.”
“In a pig’s eye,” Grace sniffed. “We’re getting off the subject anyway. If you want Lindsay to marry you, then you’re just going to have to convince her you love her.”
“She knows I love her.”
“And you’re sure she loves you?”
Lindsay was beginning to get the feeling that neither of them remembered that she was around. Jeb shrugged and gave her a sympathetic, I-know-what-you’re-up-against look.
“Of course, she loves me. I’ve already told you that.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“The problem,” Lindsay interrupted emphatically, “is that your pigheaded friend here expects me to do all of the compromising.”
“Ahh. I see. Like what?”
“Like giving up my career and moving here to flounder around in snow up to my knees.”
“There’s no snow in the summer,” Mark pointed out cheerfully.
“Then let’s just live here in the summer,” she countered.
“Good,” Grace said approvingly. “Now that’s a compromise.”
“But I love it here in the winter,” Mark said plaintively.
Lindsay threw up her hands. “See what I mean?”
“Yes. I think I do.” Grace scowled at Mark. “Which do you love more: winters in Boulder or Lindsay?”
Lindsay chuckled as she watched the play of expressions on Mark’s face. “Shoe’s on the other foot now, isn’t it?” she said gleefully.
“Yes,” he conceded grudgingly.
“How’s it feel?”
“It’s damned uncomfortable.”
Lindsay gave Grace a grateful look. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.”
She gazed into Mark’s troubled eyes. “Want to go back now?”
“Why not?” he said, his tone suddenly defeated. “I suppose you’ll want to leave now.”
“Yes,” she said softly, her eyes catching his, her lips curving into a slow, easy smile. “I think it’s time I started packing.”
“Okay. Let’s go.”
“Of course,” she said, gazing at him impishly, “I didn’t bring all that much.”
Mark’s eyes lit up. “So?”
“I suppose it could wait until morning.”
CHAPTER TEN
It was a long, long time until morning and Mark filled every minute with incredible tenderness and spellbinding passion. Lindsay had nothing to compare it with, but she knew intuitively that what was happening between them was unique, that she would capture this sort of wildly sensuous responsiveness and wanton abandonment with no other man.
As dawn approached, Lindsay could read the sadness in Mark’s eyes, knew that it was reflected in her own, but they had talked for hours and eventually she had been able to make him see that it was too soon for unwilling compromises. They had come together for an explosive moment in time and now they needed time apart to sort things out. They each had to find their own way back into each other’s arms.
“You know that once you leave, it will be that much harder for you to
come back,” Mark said as he sat propped up in bed and watched her pack the few things she had brought with her for what had been meant to be nothing more than a brief business trip, but had turned into an unbelievably romantic, once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“Not if it’s right,” she countered. “If we were meant to be, we’ll find a way to make it work. And if we weren’t, then...”
She found she couldn’t complete the thought because the idea of not spending the rest of her life with Mark suddenly terrified her. Already the thing she had feared most had happened. She was captivated by an intriguing man and no amount of distance and perspective was likely to change that. She wanted to run straight back into his arms, to snuggle next to him under the covers and feel the crisp hairs on his chest as they taunted her bare skin, to feel his warmth and strength and love surround her with an astounding beauty. She wanted to stay there and never let him go.
But she knew it would be wrong. If they didn’t work out their differences about the future in a way that was right for both of them they would make each other miserable in the end. And there had to be a way to do that, she reassured herself. There had to be! Two people as in love as they were could not be kept apart.
The drive to the airport seemed to take forever over roads made hazardous by a fresh coating of ice. Mark’s hands gripped the wheel with white-knuckled intensity and Lindsay knew it was not entirely due to the condition of the highway. He hated letting her go even more than she hated leaving. The tension in his body had told her that—from the instant they had left Jeb and Grace the previous night. Even at the height of passion, there was no emotional release for him. Instead, there had been only a growing sorrow and desperation that had made each taking of her willing body more urgent. There had been exciting peaks of violent, soul-shaking shudders, but no aftermath of calm.
At the airport Mark left her alone at the check-in counter for several minutes. She was still in line when a familiar, beloved hand reached over her shoulder and held out a chocolate bar and a bag of chocolate-covered almonds. Lindsay turned and gave him a wobbly grin and felt sudden tears well up in her eyes. She tried to blink them away before he could see them, but she was too late. He brushed away the single tear that had escaped and rolled down her cheek.
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