She tucked the baby into her crib, caressing the soft, sweet-smelling cheek with a delicate touch. Suddenly she was overwhelmed with emotions—love for this precious new life, love for the man who waited in the next room. Her fear of the future was diminishing day by day.
Finally it was her love for Luke that drew her back. She was lured by the promise of warmth, by the deep sense of honor that made Luke the man he was, a man worthy of loving. There would be no passion between them, she thought with deep regret. Not tonight. Physically for her, it was too soon. Perhaps emotionally, as well, though she didn’t think so.
But there would be commitment at last. She could sense it with everything in her. He would no longer deny his feelings. And with Luke by her side, they could fight the rest of the inevitable battle with his family together.
He stood when she entered, then met her halfway across the room. Fighting, then visibly losing one last battle with himself, he opened his arms to her. Jessie moved into the embrace with the sense that she was finally, at long last, home to stay. The serenity that swept through her was overwhelming.
“It won’t be easy,” he said, his chin resting atop her head as she nestled against his chest.
“Easy is for cowards,” she said bravely.
“Anything this difficult may be for fools,” he said dryly.
She stepped back and looked up at him. “Do you love me?”
He cupped her face in his hands, then slowly, so very slowly lowered his head until his mouth covered hers. The answer was in his kiss, a consuming, breath-stealing kiss that seemed to last forever and said yes, yes, yes with each passing second. The touch of his lips branded her, the invasion of his tongue claimed her as intimately as she knew his body would some day. Relief and so much more washed through her, filling her with wild exhilaration.
Convinced at last, she dared to insist on an answer to her earlier question. “Do you love me?”
“I thought I’d just told you,” he said, a satisfied smile on his face.
“That was just a clue,” she said, deliberately dismissing the kiss to taunt him. “A very good clue, but not conclusive. I want proof, Lucas.”
His eyebrows rose fractionally. “Oh, really? How far can I actually go under the circumstances.”
“I’ll let you know when you’ve reached the limit.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of, we’ll reach yours and test mine beyond endurance.”
She stripped him of his shirt with slow deliberation. When his torso was bare, she caressed the hard muscles of his arms in a deliberately provocative gesture, following the shape, learning the texture of his skin. “I’d say you’re strong enough to take it.”
His gaze narrowed. “Do you have a wanton streak I ought to know about?”
“I suppose that’s one of the things you’ll learn eventually,” she taunted him, delighting in the flare of heat in his eyes, the unmistakable catch of his breath that hinted of sudden urgency.
He reached for the buttons of her blouse then and easily freed them. Beneath the cotton, her breasts were fuller than ever and extraordinarily sensitive. He swallowed hard as his tanned, callused finger traced the pale, rounded flesh, arriving in time at the already throbbing nipple. He leaned down and flicked over the sensitive bud with his tongue. A gasp rose in Jessie’s throat as she clung to his shoulders.
With her eyes closed and her head thrown back, there was no knowing where his caresses would come next or how shattering they would be. With each exquisite, daring touch, her body responded in ways she’d never expected it to.
Far too soon, she realized the torment she was putting him—putting both of them—through. There would be no tumbling into bed, no tangling of bared arms and legs, no press of bodies on fire. She had underestimated how difficult it would be to call a halt. Her newly awakened body throbbed with need. Luke’s muscles were tensed with the effort of holding back. His eyes glittered with dangerous emotions.
She covered his hands with her own and stilled his touch.
“Enough?” he asked, his voice hoarse.
“Not nearly enough,” she replied, still wondering at the discovery that there could be so much more than she had ever experienced with Erik. “But we’re dangerously close to the point when I’ll lose all reason.”
“How long will it be before I can hold you through the night?” he asked, his voice filled with hunger and perhaps just a touch of awe that such a day would, indeed, finally come. They’d reached a turning point and moved on. There would be no going back from this night. They both recognized that.
“There’s been no one in my life, Luke. Not since Erik. I saw no need to ask the doctor about this,” she confessed with regret. “A few weeks, I believe.”
Luke’s expression turned grim. “Just about long enough to put out the wildfire we’re about to touch off when everyone figures out what’s going on.”
Jessie’s confidence faltered for a moment. He still hadn’t said the words she’d demanded of him. Every action, every touch told her he loved her, but she wanted him to say the words, wanted to hold the sound of them in her heart. “Luke, exactly what is going on?”
He glanced from her bared breasts to her face and back again. “I’d say that’s plain enough.”
“Just sex?”
“Darlin’, there’s no such thing as just sex, where you and I are concerned. I knew the instant I laid eyes on you years ago that it would be like this between us.”
“You know what I mean,” she said impatiently.
He pulled her back against him, close enough she could feel his warmth, could feel the steady, reassuring beat of his heart.
“We’ll work all of that out,” he promised. “One step at a time, Jessie, we’ll find our way.”
He still couldn’t seem to bring himself to say the words. But for now, it
