Chapter Ten
“I just can’t believe it,” Marie said later, smiling at Allison. “I never thought I’d live long enough to see Gene married. Imagine that, my footloose, fancy-free brother not only willing, but anxious to tie the knot! And to someone I really like!”
“I’m glad of that,” Allison said, but her eyes were troubled.
Winnie was upstairs with Dwight, and Gene had gone back out to work after a brief lunch. Marie was still getting over the shock of what Gene had announced so matter-of-factly.
Marie stared at her for a moment. “There’s something more, isn’t there?” she asked gently. “Forgive me for prying, but I know my brother very well and I’ve learned quite a bit about you. Something happened that night that Rance gossiped about, and you think Gene is only marrying you to appease his conscience. That’s it, isn’t it?”
Allison started to deny it, but there really wasn’t any point. She stared down at her hands folded in her lap. “Yes.”
“Gene has a conscience,” Marie continued. “But nothing could make him marry a woman in cold blood, not even that. You’d better believe that it isn’t guilt on his part.”
“There could be a baby,” Allison said painfully, amazed that she could talk to Marie this way when she couldn’t bring herself to tell Winnie about it.
Marie smiled. “Gene loves children,” she said simply. “So do all the rest of us. A baby would be the sweetest kind of surprise.”
Allison fought tears and lost. She put her head in her hands and wept bitterly. “I’ve trapped him, all because I got in over my head,” she moaned. “Whatever his motives, inevitably he’ll hate me!”
Marie hugged her warmly. “No, I don’t think so. Not the way he’s been acting since you’ve been around. You’ve changed him. All the bitterness and mockery are gone. He’s gentler, less volatile.”
“Mr. Rance wouldn’t agree with you,” Allison said with a watery smile.
“Mr. Rance deserved what he got,” Marie said shortly. “I don’t feel sorry for him. Now you cheer up,” she told Allison. “No more regrets. You’re the first sister-in-law prospect Gene’s ever presented me with, and I’m not letting you escape!”
Marie’s enthusiasm was catching. Allison went back up to sit with Dwight in a brighter mood altogether. If she had doubts, she kept them to herself.
Gene led her off into the study later that night, after they’d had supper, and closed the door.
She was nervous, and he smiled gently at the expression on her face.
“Don’t look so threatened,” he said, his green eyes twinkling at her. “The couch is too short, and the desk would be hell on your back.”
She blushed, her eyes like saucers as they met his.
He moved toward her, indulgent and smiling. “How can you still blush?” he asked, drawing her gently to him. “You wide-eyed little innocent.”
“Not so innocent now,” she said quietly.
He bent and kissed her softly. “It won’t do much good to ask you not to beat your conscience to death. But try not to go overboard. God made us human, little one,” he said, his voice deep and caressing as he searched her eyes. “He gave us physical pleasure to ensure the perpetuation of the species.”
“And He gave us responsibility not to make a mockery of it, or twist it into something bad,” she replied miserably.
He framed her wan face in his lean hands and studied her. “You believed in me when no one else did,” he said. “You weren’t put off by my reputation or intimidated by my temper. You gave yourself to me more than any other reason because you knew how desperately I needed you.” He sighed heavily. “Allison, what we did, that night at the cabin and today, was as natural as breathing. It isn’t hateful to want someone, especially when it goes beyond a physical need.”
“Did it, though?” she asked sadly.
He nodded. “Yes. This afternoon, it most certainly went beyond desire.”
“You were...so tender,” she whispered.
He drew her against him and enveloped her in his arms, resting his cheek on her dark hair. “It’s going to be that way every time, from now on,” he said. His arms tightened as he felt her warmth and softness so close to him. His body reacted predictably and he laughed. “My God, feel that,” he whispered at her ear.
“Stop,” she protested in a flutter.
“You’re a nurse. You should know that I can’t stop it.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.” She buried her face in his chest and felt him suddenly go stiff and catch his breath.
His hands moved slowly into her hair. He drew her mouth against him, through the shirt, and his breathing became ragged. “Allison,” he whispered huskily. His eyes closed. He’d never felt so vulnerable, or minded it so little.
“You like that?” she whispered hesitantly.
“I like it a lot.” He eased a lean hand between them. “But I’d like it on my bare skin more, sweetheart,” he said, unfastening buttons as he spoke. “Push my shirt out of the way and put your mouth on me,” he whispered sensuously.
“We shouldn’t,” she protested weakly. “What if...”
“We’re going to be married,” he said at her forehead. “A piece of paper and the right words aren’t going to bind us any closer than our bodies already have. You’re mine now. I love being part of you, feeling you share my pleasure. Is it really so frightening to let me love you now?”
“It isn’t...frightening,” she confessed. She rubbed her hands flat against his hair-laden chest, up and down in a sensual pattern.
He drew her mouth to his warm skin, feeling her lips search through the mat of hair to the hard muscles of his chest and he caught his breath, tautening involuntarily.
It was intoxicating, she thought dazedly, smoothing her hands over him while her mouth lifted and touched. He smelled of spicy cologne
