A Wife in Time (Silhouette Desire) (18 page)

She wanted no barriers between them. So she got rid of his T-shirt as efficiently as he’d done hers. Only now did she even register what he was actually wearing. “You look good in jeans,” she murmured appreciatively, even as she set about unfastening them. “Ah, but you look even better out of them.”

Kane’s smile was slow and filled with promise as he stepped out of the jeans before sweeping her into his arms and carrying her to bed, where the remaining bits of underwear were quickly discarded.

“Another good thing about being back in the twentieth century is the fact that I’ve got more condoms,” he muttered.

“Perhaps you’d care to model one for me?” she inquired seductively.

“Inside out or right side out?” he wickedly returned.

“Whichever you prefer.”

Once he was sheathed in the latex condom, he reached out to touch her with dark intimacy, brushing his thumb against her crisp curls, searching out and finding the secret nub of her pleasure. The expanse of his reach was such that he could continue his erotic seduction while slowly sliding his finger into her slick passage, verifying her readiness for him.

“It’s been another hundred and eleven years since we’ve made love,” she managed to gasp even as she tugged his hips down to hers. “I don’t think we need to wait any longer.”

He came to her in slow doses, his thick shaft poised far enough inside to tease her with the incredibly sensual friction. “As I recall, this felt right to you.”

She grinned with brazen feminine satisfaction. “Ah, you chose inside out!”

“I take it...ah...” Kane groaned as she gently clenched around his arousal. “I take it...you approve?” His voice was gritty with desire.

She showed him how much—with actions not with words. The buildup of ecstasy was slow and spiraling, sending her spinning like a leaf in a whirlwind, ever upward, from one plateau to the next until she reached the very apex of passion. The experience was intense and primitive, timeless and evolving.

Whether in this century or the last, when Kane made love to her the result was the same. Ecstasy drenched her senses, spilling over from one rippling motion to the next, growing and expanding into sharply blissful contractions.

“I can’t...wait...” he gasped.

She showed him there was no need to wait, reaching her completion just as he started his.

* * *

Susannah was only hazily aware of Kane reaching toward the bedside table for something. Thinking he was reaching for the package of condoms, she languidly murmured, “Again? So soon?”

He tore off a sheet of paper from the notepad the hotel supplied and handed it to her.

“What’s this?”

“An apology. I was working on it when you came pounding on my door. Remember how when we first met at the convention center you said you expected a written apology from me for thinking you’d had an affair with my brother?”

Blinking away the tears at the words he’d written, she looked up at him. “I don’t know what to say,” she whispered.

“That’s okay. Because I’ve got something to say. Marry me.”

This time her blink was one of total surprise. “Marry you?”

“That’s right. What do you say?”

Before she could reply, the phone rang. Susannah automatically reached for it, picking up the receiver before remembering this wasn’t her room, it was Kane’s. Without speaking into the receiver, she immediately handed it over to him.

She could tell by the tension in his face and his body that it was his brother calling. Susannah braced herself for the worst.

Seeing Susannah’s defensive body language, Kane reached out to brush her cheek with the back of his hand as he mouthed,
It’ll be okay.

“I’ve been trying to reach you, Kane,” his brother was saying, his voice frantic. “There’s something I have to tell you. I...I’ve done some serious soul-searching and I have a confession to make. I had no idea you’d meet Ms. Hall down there in Savannah and confront her.... Ann told me.... It was a lie, Kane. I never had an affair with her. I don’t know why I said I did....” Chuck’s laugh was that of a man close to tears. “Maybe because...because I’ve always been intimidated by all your success. And maybe because I wanted to be a man of the world, myself. So I made up this fantasy about Susannah. I don’t know if you noticed, big brother, but she is a beautiful woman.”

“I noticed,” Kane said quietly.

“Yeah, well, she never seemed to notice me as anything other than an intern. I just kept building things in my head. It wasn’t like I was in love with her or anything, it was just this fantasy to make me feel more important, you know? Anyway, I’ve talked things over with Ann, and I’ve agreed to get some counseling to see if our marriage can be saved.”

“I think that’s a good idea.”

“Yeah, well, anyway...uh, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry I dragged you into this mess, bro,” Chuck said. “Who knows, maybe you and Susannah will get along, after all.”

“I’d say that’s a sure bet,” Kane replied before saying his goodbyes and hanging up the phone.

“What did he want?” Susannah asked.

“To set the record straight,” Kane said. “He confessed that he’d made the story up about the two of you. And he’s agreed to get some counseling to help save his marriage.”

“That’s good news.”

“Speaking of good news, I’m still waiting to hear some from you. I asked you an important question—the most important question in my life—and you still haven’t answered.”

Trying hard to be logical, Susannah said, “You do realize that in
this
time zone we’ve only known each other twenty-four hours.”

“We spent two weeks living together in 1884,” Kane countered. “How many other couples have that kind of background to build on?”

“Still, two weeks isn’t a real long time....”

“Funny how time flies when you’re having fun,” Kane noted with a wicked grin. “And when you’re in love. We can work out all the details later. Just say yes, you will marry me.”

She did, with words and with actions.

* * * * *

ISBN: 978-1-4592-8688-7

A Wife in Time

Copyright © 1995 by Cathie L. Baumgardner

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.

www.Harlequin.com