When he had arrived here in Seattle with her three days ago and moved into her glossy apartment, he had been confident of his ability to convince her to move to St. Gabriel within a matter of days. He had been so certain that all he needed was a little time to overcome the feminine pique she felt because of his past engagement to Ariel.
Now things were looking a lot more complicated than they had appeared from St. Gabe. A new sense of uncertainty was gnawing at his insides.
And after two nights he was already damn tired of sleeping on the couch.
Hugh tossed aside the covers of his makeshift bed and got to his feet. He crossed the red and gray carpet that designated what he thought of as the living room area of the huge studio and padded over the gleaming wooden floors to the windows. He stood there for a long while watching a late-night ferry crossing Elliott Bay.
Still restless, he wandered over to the kitchen area and rummaged around in the shadows until he found the sack of oat bran muffins Mattie had bought for breakfast. He pulled one out and took a bite. He didn't think he was ever going to become a big fan of oat bran, but he'd eaten worse things in his life. Paul Cormier's sun-dried tomatoes, for instance.
That recollection brought back a lot of other memories, some of them unpleasant. But most of all it brought back the image of the gaping red hole in Cormier's chest.
Hugh had never had a lot of friends. Cormier had been one of the few. Truth was, for a while there, Cormier had been more than a friend. He'd been almost a father in some ways back in the early years, when Hugh had still been searching for himself and a way to test his own young manhood. From Paul he had learned a lot of the important things, like how to have pride in himself, how to live by a code of honor. And how to survive.
Hugh was suddenly, acutely aware of his deep loneliness. The sensation came more and more frequently of late. The only time it was ever really banished was when he was making love to Mattie.
A soft sound from above made him turn and look up at the open loft-style bedroom that jutted out over the living area. The loft had a shiny red metal railing around it. Mattie's bed was lost in the shadows behind the railing.
Mattie was the one who could banish the loneliness.
Hugh came to a decision. He put down the half-finished oat bran muffin and walked over to the narrow spiral staircase. Silently he climbed up the wrought-iron steps to Mattie's bedroom aerie.
Tonight at the gallery he had experienced genuine uneasiness as he had watched Flynn Grafton and Emery Blackwell hover around Mattie as if they had a prior claim on her.
This was not a sure thing he had going with Mattie, after all. He could lose her, Hugh thought, and he knew of only one way to reassert his own claim on her. He needed some reassurance. He had to know she still wanted him physically, even if she was trying to talk herself out of wanting him as a husband.
He had to know that on some level, at least, she was still his, the way she had been since their first night together all those months ago.
Mattie was still wide awake when she sensed Hugh's presence near the bed. She had been unable to sleep since she had climbed the stairs to her little fortress in the sky two hours ago.
Some part of her had known this would happen, if not tonight, then tomorrow night or the next. Soon. The inevitable could not be postponed for long. The attraction between herself and Hugh ran too deep, and the fear that she might still be in love with him was too strong to ignore. She turned slowly to see him standing beside the bed, wearing only his briefs.
“Hugh?”
“Tell me you want me, Mattie. At least give me that much.”
“I want you. You know that. That isn't the point.”
“It is tonight.” He leaned down, lifted the covers, and crawled in beside her. “If you don't want me to touch you, I won't. But I can't take any more nights alone down there on your couch.” He reached out and caressed the curve of her shoulder. “I've spent too damn many nights alone, babe.”
Mattie searched his face for a long moment and then, with a small sigh of surrender, she raised herself up on her elbow and kissed his sensual mouth. Her lips grazed fleetingly across his. Her fingers glided over his hard chest like butterflies.
“Mattie.” Hugh's groan of relief came from deep within him. He half lifted himself and pushed her eagerly back onto the pillows. Then he came down on top of her like a ton of bricks.
Mattie lay crushed beneath Hugh's weight, her mouth open to him. She was aware of his big hands moving hungrily on her, sliding down over her breasts to her stomach and lower. He wedged his leg between her thighs, prying them apart, and then his hand was on her in an intimate caress.
Mattie gasped, feeling herself growing warm and moist almost instantly. His tongue filled her mouth. She arched her hips, straining against him, and her head tilted back over his arm.
“That's it, babe. God, yes. So hot. So wet. So good.” He settled himself quickly between her legs and reached down to wrap her thighs around his hips. “Squeeze me tight, babe. Take me inside and hold me.”
Mattie felt the heat and excitement flood her senses. She wanted to tell him
