she confirmed.
“Lord Ashton’s wife was named Elise.”
“I guess she must be the artist. Elise’s paintings are
“Whatever you say.” Zach couldn’t keep his gaze from Abigail.
There was a smudge of dust on her smooth cheek. Her eyes were deep gold in the streaming sunshine. Her lips were full and dark, and her mussed hair framed her face like a halo.
“You’re beautiful,” he breathed.
“Sarcasm?” she returned without missing a beat.
“I’m dead serious.” Despite her family’s obvious attempts to turn her into some latter-day Cinderella laborer, he’d never met any woman who could hold a candle to her.
“I’m dirty and sweaty, and I haven’t worn makeup in two weeks.” She held up her blunt, unadorned fingernails. “Look at these.”
Setting aside the painting, he reached forward and took her hand, giving in to impulse and gently kissing at her knuckles.
“Doesn’t matter,” he told her. “They can’t erase your beauty.”
She fluttered her long lashes. “You’re starting to sound like a courtly Lord Ashton.”
“I’m beginning to like Lord Ashton.”
“I bet he danced a mean quadrille.”
Zach lifted her hand and spun Abigail in a pirouette, earning a grin. “He strikes me as more of the pheasant- hunting type. Or maybe wild boar.”
“Wild boar?”
“Isn’t that what they do in England?”
“I think they go fox hunting. In those tight little red suits. Quite the dandies back then.”
“I suppose,” he allowed. “I mean, when he wasn’t busy loading a cannon or fighting a duel.”
“Over the honor of a lady?”
“What other reason would there be to fight a duel?”
“Would you fight for my honor?”
“In a heartbeat.” He sobered, his voice going husky, using their joined hands to draw her close.
She didn’t pull away, but fear clouded her expression.
“Don’t look so scared.”
“I’m not scared.”
“Good.” He couldn’t resist brushing a smudge of dust from her cheek.
“Zach?”
“Relax.”
“That seems unlikely.”
“Let’s stop time again.”
She went still. “I don’t think-”
“I don’t mean jump back into bed,” he quickly assured her.
“Yes, you do,” she countered.
She was right about that, but he wasn’t going to press her. “I mean you should stay here. For a couple of days. Help me put together some ideas for the restaurant.”
“I told Travis I’d come home today.”
“Call him back and tell him you’ve changed your mind.”
“They need me-”
“I know they need you. And I know you love them. And they can have you back. But not yet. Stay here with me and heal.” He searched his brain for something else to say, some other argument that might sway her.
He realized that he couldn’t bear to let her go back to the ranch while she was still injured. He wanted her here, with him. And, yes, he wanted to sleep with her. He wanted to pull her into his arms and never let her go. But he’d take her with or without lovemaking. He’d take her however he could get her.
She drew a breath. “I don’t need to hide to take a few days off. There’s some office work at the ranch that I can-”
“Stay, Doll-Face.” He gazed deeply into her eyes, all out of reasonable arguments. “Just… Stay.”
She was silent for what seemed like an eternity. “Okay,” the word whispered out. “For a couple of days.”
The tension rushed from his body, and his hand tightened around hers.
He tried to fight the impulse, but he couldn’t resist brushing a tender kiss across her soft lips.
The tenderness didn’t last. Passion leaped to life inside him, shattering his control. He deepened the kiss, parting her lips, releasing her hand to snake his arm around the small of her back. He reveled in the satisfying feeling of her curves pressed against his taut body. He’d missed her so much, he could barely stand it.
And he wanted more.
He wanted her naked.
He wanted to make love to her so badly that he was nearly shaking with need.
But that wasn’t fair. He forced himself to pull back. He let her go, refusing to take advantage of the situation and risk hurting her.
“The west hall,” he managed to say.
She blinked at him in obvious confusion, her pupils dilated, lips parted, dark and moist. “Huh?”
He mustered his strength and focused. “We should go look at the west hall. See if it’s big enough for the restaurant. I like the high ceilings, and the archways. If it’s too small, we could include the mezzanine level. It wraps around the main hall, one story above.” Zach knew he was babbling, but it was either that or haul her back into his arms and make love to her on the stone floor, or maybe up against the curved wall, or on one of its long trunks.
Damn it. He had to stop letting his mind wander like that.
“The west hall?” he repeated with a steely will. “We can go down there and take a look.” He waited for her response, inordinately proud of his self-control.
She tipped her head to one side, her soft brows going up. “Or,” she proposed in a perfectly reasonable tone, “we can stay up here and have sex.”
His jaw dropped.
She eased in closer, coming up against him, a sultry smile growing on her face. “Come on, Zach. We both know that’s why I’m staying.”
“There’s more to it than that.” There was much more to it than that. Abigail wasn’t just about sex to him.
She leaned a cheek against the front of his shirt. “I suppose there’s the restaurant. That’ll be fun, too.”
“Abby,” he protested. “I’m not asking you to-”
“I’m just sayin’.” She walked her fingertips up his chest. “We can have a quickie now and then concentrate on the restaurant for the rest of the afternoon. Or we can pretend to work, while doing nothing but lusting after each other for the next few hours.”
Zach was honestly speechless. The woman was one in a million. No, one in a billion. How many people out there were so forthright and pragmatic? He’d swear she didn’t have a manipulative bone in her body.
He put his arms around her and tugged her flush against him. “My room?”
“What’s wrong with here?”
“Nothing.”
“Good. It’ll be more efficient.”
“Efficient? That’s your priority?”
“A girl gets more done that way.”
Chuckling, he popped the snap on her jeans, released the zipper and whisked the denim and her panties down her legs. Then he lifted her and set her on top of a waist-high trunk in one smooth motion.
“Happy to help this girl get things done,” he drawled.
She kicked off her boots and got out of her jeans, while he shucked his own pants.
As soon as he was done, she put her hands on his hips and pulled him between her legs. She met his lips in an openmouthed, carnal kiss that went on and on.
