Название: Married By Midnight
Автор: Mollie Molay
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Контркультура
Серия: Mills & Boon American Romance
isbn: 9781474020862
isbn:
Puzzled, he looked at the couch in the center of the next room. He seemed to remember he’d gone to sleep there sometime last night. Why had he chosen the couch when he had a king-size bed waiting for him? He glanced down at his sleeping companion. The bigger question was when and how he had wound up in bed with her.
He fought a growing uneasiness as he tried hard to recall what had actually happened last night. Slowly, the mental clouds began to clear. He recalled Kelly’s warning look as he’d slid the garter up her leg. He also recalled her look that dared him to a point where he’d been driven by an uncommon impulse to change the warning to a look of desire.
He gazed at the rumpled bed and the clothing strewn haphazardly around the room. From the looks of things, he’d obviously accomplished his goal only too well. Too bad he didn’t remember the details.
But couch or no couch, good intentions or otherwise, it didn’t take much imagination to figure out he and Kelly had ultimately fallen into bed together. The evidence was obvious enough to make him wonder how he could possibly have drawn a blank after what surely must have been a memorable night.
He gazed down at Kelly’s ivory and pink-tinged skin. Wrapped in a white satin sheet, her shoulders bare, she looked every bit as enticing as she had during the garter incident. And, heaven help him, in his dream.
Her lips, curved in a smile, were moving soundlessly. He leaned over to listen. The smile and the possible meaning behind it sent a wave of guilt through him.
After all, from what little he remembered, he’d only intended to tease, to challenge Kelly. One look had led to another, closer one until the game they’d been playing had become more than a simple flirtation. Now the burning question was what had happened during the night to leave her with a smile on her face.
She looked so sweet, so natural, it was hard to imagine this was the same feisty woman who had taken on his wordless challenge last night. Impulsively, he gently brushed an auburn eyelash from her cheek.
Never one to run away from a problem he’d helped to create, Max cleared his throat.
Kelly stirred at the sound. It was a few moments before she opened her eyes. “You!”
“I’m afraid so,” Max agreed, inching sideways at the edge in her voice. If there was going to be a disagreement, he intended to stay out of arm’s reach.
Clutching the sheet, Kelly pulled herself up against the satin pillows. “What are you doing here?”
Max heaved a sigh of relief. She was taking things more calmly than he’d expected. “If you’re talking about the room, I believe it’s mine. As to why I’m here in bed with you, I’m not sure. I just woke up myself.” When she looked confused, he added, “By the way, under the circumstances, you can call me Max.”
“I’m Kelly,” she replied, biting her lip. Her mind whirled with questions, questions she was too embarrassed to ask. One thing was clear, she was in bed with Troy’s best man. A twenty-six-year-old businessman DeeDee had urged on her before the wedding ceremony. At first, she hadn’t been interested—but things had obviously changed.
Kelly gazed at his rumpled brown hair, the dark shadows on his cheeks and his broad, tanned shoulders. In spite of her embarrassment, her gaze slowly moved down his bare shoulders, to the golden brown curls on his chest and down to his lithe waist. Warm memories flooded her mind.
She remembered taking him up on his unspoken sensual challenge, intending to put him in his place. Instead, she’d wound up falling for his sexy smile.
In spite of her dismay at finding herself in bed with Max, the warm glow lingering in her middle brought back memories of his sensuous glances and dynamite kisses.
Those same glances were warming her now.
Max’s eyes suddenly widened. She was just in time to grab the satin sheet and keep it from sliding to her waist. “I’m not sure how things got started last night,” she muttered as she pulled the sheet to her chin, “but it seems you won. I never planned on going this far. I sure didn’t start out intending to spend the night with you.”
Max rubbed his forehead. “Frankly, this is as big a surprise to me as it is to you.” He gazed at the silk stockings hanging on the lamp and grinned sheepishly. “I honestly don’t seem to remember much about last night, either. Maybe it was because I was pretty exhausted after we—”
“Stop! Stop right there!” Kelly warned as memories of a killer smile, tangled limbs and heated kisses filled her mind. “I don’t think I care to hear the details. It must have been the champagne punch,” she muttered. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“Me neither. My behavior last night was totally unlike me, too.” He’d had his share of relationships, but until now he’d always been awake to enjoy them. What had possessed him to play erotic games with the bride’s best friend? Mentally cursing himself for his stupidity, he forced a feeble smile. “In spite of how this looks, the last thing I remember was offering to sleep on the couch last night.”
Kelly glanced from the undisturbed couch to the tousled bed, to the clothing strewn around the room. She frowned. “I can’t believe I did this.”
“It was all just a game we were playing, right?” Max said hastily.
Kelly decided to play it safe. “Maybe.”
“Maybe? Does that mean you remember what happened last night?”
“Just enough,” she answered, turning a deeper shade of pink at how much she actually did remember.
She had intended to take him up on his dare, flirt a bit and then walk away. Instead, before she’d realized what was happening, his tempting smile had gotten to her. Like Cinderella, she should have walked away from him at midnight.
Just when had the game turned into something more serious? And more to the point, what had she gotten herself into?
Eyeing Kelly’s flushed face and her obvious dismay, Max swallowed the light remark he had been about to make. As he mentally reviewed the last twelve hours, a lightbulb turned on in his head. Maybe the one important detail he did remember would mitigate some of the more obvious evidence of what had taken place last night.
He took a deep breath. “I think we may have gotten married last night.”
“Married! That’s ridiculous. Why would I have married you? I don’t even know you!” She pulled the sheet closer around her and inched to the edge of the bed.
“Maybe so,” Max agreed. “But during the hotel’s unexpected celebration of Troy and DeeDee’s marriage, I think something happened. Something that involved us.”
“That’s enough,” Kelly said hurriedly, putting up a hand to stop him. “Try to remember. It was all a game. I’d rather forget last night, and all of this, too.” She glanced down at the bed.
“Maybe so,” Max went on doggedly. “But I swear I remember a wedding ceremony.”
“Not ours,” Kelly replied firmly. “I СКАЧАТЬ