The Millionaire's Cinderella: Renegade Millionaire / Billionaire Bachelors: Gray / Her Convenient Millionaire. KRISTI GOLD

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СКАЧАТЬ turned back to the train to keep from staring at him. When she heard footsteps behind her, she didn’t dare turn around. “Exactly how old are you, if you don’t mind me asking?” she said, aiming for something simple to say.

      His hand came around her to push the control, setting the locomotive in motion along with her pulse. “Literally? Thirty-three.”

      She concentrated on the engine billowing steam, the multicolored cars as the train made the rounds on the track. “And how old would you like to be?”

      “That depends. When I’m in here, I’m thirteen again. In the outside world, I have to be the grown-up.”

      “Well, I passed you up agewise last year.”

      “You’re only fourteen?” he asked, mock seriously.

      She turned and smiled at him. “Ha, ha. Thirty-four. And a half.”

      He inched a little closer, seeming to suck the air from the small space between them. “An older woman. Intriguing. You look much younger. Not fourteen, but I would’ve guessed under thirty.”

      “Sometimes I feel ancient.”

      He stroked a hand over her cheek while studying her flushed face. “You feel great.”

      She was losing it, losing her will to resist him. Not a sensible thing to do, but rationality wasn’t foremost on her mind at the moment. Rio was, with his penetrating eyes and a smile that certainly didn’t belong on a boy. “So you don’t like being the grown-up?” she asked.

      “There’s nothing wrong with being a man when the circumstance calls for it.”

      He stopped the train now in mid-whistle, sending the room into silence. Then he pulled her flush against him and claimed her mouth with a kiss that could shake the tracks, the walls, shake Joanna into oblivion. It did. The gentle thrust of his tongue, the searing heat of his body, the strength of his steady hands as they traveled the length of her back then came to rest on her hips, acted on her like a magic charm, a spell she couldn’t escape if her very life depended on it.

      She draped her arms around his neck and sent her hands through his silky dark hair to explore. The kiss deepened, wild and needy, hungry and desperate. Desire advanced and her concerns retreated. Under Rio Madrid’s expert guidance, she forgot to be afraid to want.

      Rio was suddenly moving, taking her with him, leading her to who knew where. Perhaps a dreamland of his own making, like the mythical god he had spoken of, a sun god creating a firebrand with his mouth moving softly yet firmly against hers. She instinctively knew that he could take her places she’d never been before, if she allowed him.

      He spun her around and backed her up without breaking the kiss. The edge of a table nudged her hip, the pool table, she decided, not that it mattered. The only thing that mattered was Rio and what he was doing to her body and her brain.

      His lips drifted down the column of her throat, leaving a wet tingling path in their wake. His hand came to rest on the placket of her blouse, causing Joanna’s heart to beat in a crazy cadence. He slipped the buttons with ease, allowing a cool draft of air to caress her heated skin. But the heat came back when his lips floated over the rise of her breasts.

      Joanna laid her hands on his bent head, lost in the feel of his mouth on her skin, the deep, damp heat settling between her thighs.

      He lifted his head and studied her with a potent golden gaze. “ ¿Me quiere usted?”

      She couldn’t deny that she wanted him. She wanted this, wanted more, even though she shouldn’t. “Yes.”

      “Diga mi nombre.” He made the demand in a low, persuasive voice.

      She understood the Spanish, but not his request. “What?”

      “Say my name.”

      Rio, her mind shouted, but she feared forming the word in her mouth. If she dispensed with the formality, he would no longer be the elusive doctor. If she continued to allow this heavenly assault on her senses, this prelude to pleasure, he could very well be her lover. And once more, she would be vulnerable to a man who wasn’t what she needed at all.

      But she did need this physical contact, to be desired as a woman. To satisfy cravings that had long been missing from her life. To forget herself in the arms of a man whose name meant “river.” A man as seductive as dark waters, his lure a strong current promising to carry her away into uncharted territory.

      She hesitated a moment longer, searching his eyes for a reason to stop. She saw only questions, then disappointment before he turned away from her.

      Hands fisted at his sides, he muttered, “I promised myself I wouldn’t do this.”

      Joanna clasped her shirt closed. “Do what?”

      “Push you.”

      “You didn’t push me. I let it happen.”

      He finally turned to her. “You’re not ready.”

      She’d certainly felt ready. More than ready, and willing. “How can you say that?”

      “Because you can’t say my name. I’ll be damned if I make love to a woman who calls me ‘doctor.’”

      Her gaping shirt forgotten, she braced her hands on her hips. “Rio. There, I said it. Are you happy now?”

      His gaze went to her exposed bra and a half smile curled the corners of his mouth. “Yeah, you said it, but not like you meant it.”

      He was driving her to distraction, making her insane. “I don’t understand this at all.”

      “You understand it. You won’t acknowledge it.”

      She redid her blouse with shaking fingers. “Forget it. This was a mistake anyway. All of it.”

      “Is it, mi amante?”

      Her eyes snapped from the buttons to him. “I’m not your lover, remember?”

      His smile disappeared, making way for a look that could dissolve the pool table behind her. “You will be, Joanna. When you’re ready.”

      She hugged her arms to her middle. “You’re mighty sure of yourself, aren’t you?”

      He folded his arms across his chest, his face an unreadable mask. “You can lie to yourself. You can pretend that nothing’s going on between us. But I can’t lie. I know how I feel when I’m holding you, and it’s not just minor affection.”

      Why, oh, why hadn’t she stayed home New Year’s Eve? Stayed in her wretched apartment? She’d been comfortable with her existence, her celibacy, her choices. Why did he have to come along and disrupt her life? Why him, of all people—a man who made her ache, made her want, made her realize she possessed desires beyond all bounds?

      The shrill of the phone startled Joanna and caused her to physically jump.

      Rio grabbed up the cordless phone. “Dr. Madrid.” He paced with his back to Joanna. After a time, he said, “Okay, I’m СКАЧАТЬ