“Feel better?” she said finally.
He dropped the shards of glass into the trash and regarded her sheepishly. “Frankly, no.”
“Good. Then you won’t bother to break anything else, will you?”
“Don’t count on it.”
An untimely chuckle emerged from somewhere deep inside her. He scowled ferociously. “I’m sorry,” she said at once.
“Annie, what are we going to do about this?”
“We’ll think about it. I’m sure with two well-educated brains between us we can come up with a rational decision.”
“Maybe that’s the problem,” he said, suddenly looming over her, his expression fierce. “Maybe we’ve been too rational about this for too long. Maybe it’s time we just acted.”
Something about the hungry, determined look in his eyes made her pulse leap and then race wildly. “What do you mean?”
“This,” he said, pulling her up and slanting his mouth over hers. His lips were hard and demanding, his tongue persuasive. He backed her against the kitchen counter and pinned her there, his body pressed tight against hers. Ann moaned a halfhearted protest, but it was swallowed by yet another marauding kiss as his hands set her body on fire and melted the last of her resistance. His arousal hard against her set off a sweet ache that grew in intensity until it reached an almost unbearable tension.
Hank slid a hand beneath her skirt, running his fingers along her thigh until he reached the moist heat at the apex. Ann felt the room spin crazily as sensations raced through her. Raw, urgent need sprang to life, tearing away the last shred of sanity. She began frantically working at the buttons on his shirt. Why had he worn the damnable thing tonight of all nights, when she needed to be able to slide his shirt away in one easy movement? When she needed so very badly to touch the rippling muscles beneath? Finally she freed the shirt from his pants. She ran her hands over his chest, then pressed kisses on the heated flesh, finally finding the masculine nipple that was flat and already hard with arousal. She felt Hank tremble as she circled that nipple with her tongue again and again.
The pain that she’d felt when she’d heard that Melissa might be taken away began to ease, lost for the moment in other sensations, the way his flesh came alive beneath her fingers, the warm, musky scent of him.
“Not here, sweetheart,” she heard Hank murmur as he slid an arm beneath her knees and lifted her off the floor. When they reached her room, he set her slowly back on her feet, then reached behind her to lock the door and flip on the light.
The trip through the house had restored some of Ann’s sanity. “Hank, this is crazy. There are six children in this house.”
“Not at the moment.”
“Where are they?”
“Out.”
“Out where?” she said, then lost track of the question’s importance as his lips found an especially sensitive spot behind her knee.
“Oh, my,” she gasped softly, her eyes widening.
“That’s good?”
“Very good.”
“How about here?”
“Hmm.”
“And here?”
She giggled and he laughed. “Not so good there,” he said. “Okay, how about here?”
Here was…incredible, she thought with another gasp of pleasure. The laughter died and the loving became very serious indeed. Here, in his arms, she had no more doubts. Here she forgot about the past, stopped worrying about the future and lived only for the present.
She found herself letting go, allowing her body to soar, relinquishing her hard-won control without fear. Hank would never harm her. He would never take her anyplace he wouldn’t go himself. And, as she felt him explode deep inside her, she believed with all her heart that he would never leave her, that their love could see them through anything. That faith sent her over the edge and, clinging tightly to him, she cried out his name in joyous surrender.
Hank propped himself up on his elbow and studied the woman lying next to him. Her cheeks were still flushed, her dark hair damp and feathered around her face. The tips of her breasts were rose-hued and puckered in the chilly air. She was so beautiful, with a radiance that began inside and left her glowing. Her skin was as smooth as ivory. Her lips had the power to tempt him beyond reason. Her slightest touch could heat his body in a way that drove him to distraction. His heart was filled to bursting with the sheer wonder of loving her.
He watched the steady rise and fall of her chest, heard the slight catch in her breath, the gentle sigh.
Her eyes still closed, a smile playing about her still-swollen lips, she said quietly, “This won’t solve our problem, you know.”
“If you think that, then you haven’t been listening.”
“Listening?” Her smile grew. “Is this your way of conversing?”
“Can you think of any more intimate form of communication?”
“No, but some people think words cover more ground and offer more clarity.”
He shook his head. “Then they’ve never experienced the language of love.” He gently cupped her breast as he gazed into her eyes, his thumb insistently grazing the sensitive peak. “What am I saying now?”
When the color rose in her cheeks and she tried to look away, he tilted her chin up until she was forced to face him.
“I’m saying I love you.” He smoothed his hand over the curve of her hip. “And now?”
Ann swallowed convulsively as he continued the slow strokes.
“Well?” he prodded.
“I love you,” she said hesitantly.
“Very good. You’re catching on.”
“Thank you, professor.”
“Should I continue?”
“Please do.”
He did—and no lesson had ever been more exhilarating, no discussion more thrilling.
And when they were lying tangled together, breathless from experiencing all the nuances of the language of love, he whispered, “Have I made myself clear yet?”
“Very clear.”
“Then you’ll marry me?”
“Yes,” she said finally and without hesitation. “Yes, Hank, I’ll marry you.”
He grinned at her. “It’s about time. I was running out of arguments.”
“Somehow I
