Carrying the Rancher's Heir / Secret Son, Convenient Wife. Charlene Sands

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      Tagg grinned. “That wasn’t an insult, Callie.”

      “Was hardly a glowing review, either.”

      He set his glass down and walked in front of her, blocking her view from anything but him. He lifted her chin with his thumb and gazed into her beautiful eyes. She flinched, not in fear but with surprise, then lowered her arms to her sides. The anticipation on her face gave him pause. She blinked and inhaled a sharp breath.

      “It was a compliment.”

      She searched his eyes. “How so?”

      “You made me forget things I’m damned determined not to forget.” He glanced at her mouth and saw her tremble. “Why are you so nervous?”

      “I’m not,” she blurted, lifting her chin up and taking a step back. “I have nothing to be nervous about.” She turned then and reached for her purse sitting on the sofa. “You know, I think I am tired. I’m going to bed.”

      Tagg reached his arm out and snaked it around her waist, pulling her close. Her intoxicating scent destroyed his patience.

      “What are you doing?” she whispered.

      “Are you really tired, Callie?”

      She shook her head no. Then gazed deep into his eyes.

      He set both hands on her waist, enjoying the lush feel of her hips in his outspread palms. Silence filled the room. Fading dusky beams of starlight filtered through the window to cast them in shadows.

      He angled his head and moved closer. His legs met with her thighs. An ache of need began growing. He gave in to the sensation and brought his mouth down on hers. She froze, her lips refusing to respond for a second, and Tagg was ready to back off, lest he seduce an unwilling woman. But then she moved closer, wrapping her arms around his neck, crushing her breasts to his chest. She gave into the kiss then with effort and passion, the way he remembered her. The way they’d kissed before.

      She was sweetly alluring, tentative yet fiery. Tagg relished having her in his arms.

      They came up for air a full minute later, both breathing hard. Callie reached her arm around to move her hair to her right side, the locks falling freely on one nearly bare shoulder. It was a reflective move, one to give her time to think, he surmised. Their lips still close, she softly spoke. “I didn’t think you wanted this. You said it would never happen again.”

      Tagg closed his eyes briefly. He had said that. And he’d meant it at the time. “I guess I was fooling myself.”

      She shook her head slightly, her eyes questioning. “What changed?” she asked.

      You, he wanted to answer. Or rather my perception of you. He’d gotten to know her, and liked what he saw. She loved horses. She loved Arizona and small-town life. She even begrudgingly loved her miserable father. Her story about Amber and Georgie tugged at something primal and protective in him. But he wouldn’t tell her that. He wouldn’t tell her that she’d gotten to him. That maybe meeting up with her in Reno had been the best thing that could have happened to him.

      There’d be no purpose in that. He had no place in his heart for another woman. He’d closed himself off emotionally. There was no going back. So he told her a half truth and one she would understand. “Jed.”

      Her eyes snapped up. “Jed?”

      “He was panting after you, plain as day.” He lifted a curl that rested on her chest, watching it fall from his fingertips. “I came to the rescue.”

      “And you stepped in to save me?”

      Tagg looked away before peering into her eyes. “Yeah, something like that.”

      She seemed a little baffled. “Were you jealous?”

      “No,” he lied. He’d seen more green than his pasture after heavy rains.

      She narrowed her eyes, a skeptical look on her face. Then with determination, she moved closer to him and brushed an air kiss to his mouth. His groin tightened. “Not even a little?”

      He shook his head, keeping his eyes trained on her mouth.

      She came even closer, until their mouths were almost touching again, then licked at his lips with her very skilled tongue. “Are you sure?”

      Tagg smiled. This was the bold, sexy woman he remembered from Reno. They’d done wild things together. “Callie,” he warned and then didn’t give her a chance to protect herself.

      He hauled her hips into his, making his point with one flush move against his straining erection. His hands went into her hair and he planted his mouth on hers in a rough, desperate kiss that brought a soft moan of pleasure up from her throat. Their openmouthed frenzy sped his heart rate, and when Callie whimpered again, it was all he could do not to rip her dress off. They fought with each other’s clothes, unfastening, unbuttoning, unzipping, hands clumsy but efficient until she was naked in his arms and he was almost there. He picked her up, carried her to the master bedroom and set her down on the oversize bed. He took a minute to look at her, beautifully bare, her hair spreading out like a glorious fan around her upper body. Her breasts round and full enticed him with two inviting upturned peaks.

      She smiled coyly and turned on her side, her hip curving up from her waist, shadowing the V between her long shapely legs. He rid himself of his briefs and Callie beckoned him with a look at his manhood, her gaze bright with anticipation, ready for their long sexy ride.

      Tagg reached into the bedside drawer and came up with a condom packet.

      A tremble ran through Callie’s body. She stared at the silver packet as Tagg ripped it open. They didn’t need protection. They’d already made a baby. But Tagg didn’t know that and the cold, hard reality came crashing down on her. Guilt coiled in her stomach and pounded in her brain. What was she doing? She hated deceiving Tagg. Hated that the condom itself signified her deception. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him. To lay out the truth, that she’d conceived a baby with him in Reno. That she’d been lying to him all along.

      Could she be that brave? Could she ease her guilt and own up to her pregnancy? Tagg was going to be a father, yet she had withheld that information from him for weeks. One little mistake, one slip of the tongue and she could lose Tagg forever. If she told him now would it be all over between them, before it really had a chance of beginning?

      She bit her lower lip and closed her eyes, wishing that everything would just turn out okay. Somehow. She needed a miracle, but she wasn’t that big an optimist to believe she’d be granted one.

      The bedsheets rustled and she sunk into the mattress when he lay down beside her. His warm breath caressed her cheek. “Callie? Did you go somewhere?”

      He smelled of whiskey and lust and Callie’s body reacted, her bare nipples pebbled at the sound of his voice. She opened her eyes. He was there, his beautiful face against hers, his nose in her hair, breathing in her scent.

      “I’m here, Tagg,” she whispered, losing her nerve. She couldn’t tell him. She had to give them more time. It wasn’t selfish on her part, she told herself. The baby’s future was at stake. Was it so wrong to hold out for the brass ring? To hope that given time, Tagg would come to love her? СКАЧАТЬ