AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And a wife?” The hurt stormed back into Shayne’s voice.
He released his breath in a sigh. “That, too.”
She fell silent for a long moment and he felt the tension building in her, thrusting against his chest and arms, rejecting him with unspoken, yet clear determination.
“Perhaps this would be a good time to discuss what you require from me,” shesaid.
What the hell did that mean? “What the hell does that mean?”
“Jumbo wasn’t far off, was he? We did make a bargain. You told me you wanted a wife who could create a home.” She slipped from his grasp before he could stop her. “You just neglected to mention the home was for your daughter, rather than for us.”
She was killing him by inches. “And?”
“And I’d like to know precisely what that involves. What do you want from me?” she repeated.
He didn’t have a clue how to answer that one. Rolling off the bed, he crossed to his dresser and removed a T-shirt. “Here.” He tossed her the improvised nightgown. “We’re both exhausted and I don’t know what Jumbo did with our suitcases. Wear this tonight and we can unpack tomorrow.”
“I’m not sleeping here.”
“Then pick another room. Doesn’t matter much to me where we bed down.”
“I mean, I’m not sleeping with you.”
He’d already figured that out. Not that it altered his decision any. “We sleep together.” He said it in a tone he rarely used, but one that made even the most ornery cowpoke scramble to obey. “Now get changed.”
He thought he heard a word he’d have sworn his precious wife didn’t know. Between that and the rustle of clothing being shed, he knew he’d won this particular battle. Trying to ignore the surge of relief that one argument had finally gone his way, Chaz opened the door and recovered the tray Jumbo had left. Ashaft of light slipped into the room and as he turned, he saw Shayne.
She knelt in the center of his bed, her legs curled beneath her and her arms lifted as she prepared to drop his T-shirt over her head. She’d removed her clothes and the light licked across her profile. Time paused for a breath, gifting him with a second that seemed to last an eternity, enabling him to look hisfill.
Golden hair streamed down her back, the ends stopping just shy of the full, lush curves of her buttocks. Creamy thighs joined with narrow hips, shadows taunting him by throwing a modest hand across the golden delta beneath her flat belly. Her breasts were high and round, the rosy tips pearling in reaction to the cold kiss of the surrounding air. Her face was turned toward him, the vulnerability revealed in her wide, dark eyes burning a permanent path to his verysoul.
He kicked the door closed, returning her to the protective embrace of the darkness. And then he fought to breath, to force air into badly depleted lungs. Desire clawed at him, demanding that he toss the tray aside and take the woman on his bed, to brand her with his possession.
“Chaz?”
Her voice slipped through the darkness, ripe with apprehension, and he knew that he couldn’t do anything that would hurt her. He’d caused her enough pain. Fighting as he never had before, he slowly regained his self-control. Memory guided his footsteps to the end of the bed and he set the tray on the mattress.
“You didn’t eat your dinner, so I had Jumbo leave this.”
“You didn’t eat, either.”
He snapped on the bedside lamp. Shayne had retreated beneath the covers, the blankets pulled to her chin. He’d suspected that she’d been crying earlier and one look at her face confirmedit.
Her lashes formed damp spikes and he could make out the faint track of dried tears on her cheeks. Helpless rage swept through him—anger at himself for provoking her tears and anger at her for opening herself up tohurt.
If she’d just realize that love wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, if she’d just deaden her emotions, life would be a hell of a lot simpler. They could take pleasure in each other’s company without all the angst.
And without the guilt.
He recovered the tray and settled next to her. Mojo had put together a huge romaine salad liberally sprinkled with mesquite chicken, sweet red peppers and croutons. Chaz speared a sliver of chicken and fed it to his wife. She took it without protest, which was either a testament to her exhaustion or to her hunger. Whichever, he wasn’t about to complain.
He waited until she'd eaten a decent-sized portion of the salad and the crispy rolls before speaking. “Here's the deal, sweetheart. I'll do anything to get my hands on my daughter. Unfortunately, Doña Isabella holds all the cards. If she decides to hightail it out of the country with Sarita, there's not much I can do about it. At least, not without a lengthy legal battle. I'd rather avoid that, if at all possible.”
“And I’m the means by which you’ll get Sarita.” Her dark eyes were trained on him, filled with some unnamed and unwanted emotion. “That’s why you married me, to gain custody of your daughter?”
He steeled himself to say the unforgivable. “That’s about the size of it.”
Her lashes swept downward, concealing the warmth of her gaze and shutting away feelings that shouldn’t matter. So, why did her cool reserve annoy the hell out of him? Why was he tempted to catch her chin in his palm and force those beautiful brown eyes to look at him, to see if he could coax free the expression that had glittered there when they’d made love? He forced himself not to touch her, knowing he’d be unable to restrain himself if he were foolish enough to put his hands onher.
