Fortune's Legacy (12 page)

And how the hell would he ever be able to ignore them now?

“Phone's still out,” he blurted, trying to ease his mind away from thoughts that had no solution, questions that had no answers.

She nodded and nestled closer, dragging her blanket up to cover her breasts. “Then I guess all we can do is wait.”

“Looks like,” he said, feeling his body stir and thicken. His blood raced and his heart rate tripled, commencing an uneven, jackhammer beat.

She let the edge of her blanket dip a little, displaying the tops of her breasts and the sweet valley between them. “So,” she asked thoughtfully, “wanna play some cards?”

“No,” he replied, his gaze locked on her cleavage, just the reaction she'd no doubt been hoping for.

He'd always considered himself a rational, calm and collected kind of man. Funny how a few days with Kyra had changed all that.

But then again, maybe she hadn't changed anything about him. Maybe she'd just awakened something in
side him that had always been there. Maybe he was simply becoming the real Garrett. The person he'd buried under work and responsibility all his life.

“Okay, then, how about a board game?” she teased. “I saw some over there on the bookcase.” She lifted one hand to point and the blanket dipped another notch or two.

“I don't think so.”

Deliberately, she dropped the blanket a little lower, and Garrett held his breath, waiting for her nipples to appear.

“Okay,” Kyra said, tilting her head back to look at him again. Licking her lips, she pulled the edge of the blanket down even farther, baring her breasts to his hungry gaze. “So, we could go in the kitchen and get something to eat?”

Shifting his gaze to hers, he reached out and cupped one of her breasts in his palm. His thumb stroked her hardened nipple and he smiled as she closed her eyes and sighed.

“I'm hungry,” he admitted, amazed to feel the need clamoring inside him again, even fiercer than before. “But not for food.”

She opened her eyes and looked directly into his. Reaching up, she curled one arm around his neck and pulled his mouth down to hers. “Show me.”

K
yra gave herself up to the incredible feelings Garrett aroused in her.

In her brief nap, her dreams had been filled with him. With the memory of his touch, the warmth of his breath on her face. Waking and finding him here, beside her, had stirred the dreams to life.

He cradled her close and Kyra listened to the steady beat of his heart beneath her ear. Through the thin fabric of his dress shirt, she felt heat streaming from his skin.

His hands moved up and down her body, sliding the blanket off as he gave himself free rein to touch, to define every line and curve.

She arched into him, amazed at the flash of renewed
desire jolting her. How could this keep getting better and better? How could she only need more of him?

No man before him had ever made her want so completely. Had ever made her laugh or crazy mad or stirred such feelings of tenderness. Always before, she'd kept a part of herself separate. She'd been careful to maintain an emotional distance.

Maybe it was about control, she thought idly, while Garrett stroked her body. She'd seen firsthand, with her mother, how giving in to a wild attraction could ruin a woman's life. And she'd never wanted that for herself.

Until now, with Garrett Wolff, she hadn't had any trouble at all sidestepping the slippery slope of affection.

He laid her down on the braided rug and she smiled inwardly, knowing that there was a nice, soft bed in the other room and they'd never gotten that far. But what did beds matter, really?

Closing off the thoughts beginning to plague her, she stretched out under his stroking hands, like a spoiled cat searching out a spot in the sun. When he leaned back and stripped his clothes off, Kyra's breath caught in her throat.

Instantly, her brain raced with more questions that didn't have answers.

Where was it coming from, this overwhelming attraction? The fiery chemistry? For years they'd worked together, snarled at each other and in general done everything they could to avoid being in the same room alone together.

Was it because they'd each somehow sensed what
would happen if there were no rules? No strict code of employer, employee? No real world intruding on them?

And what would they do when they had to leave this place?

She reached for him as he covered her, and forgot everything else in the rush of the moment. This time was slow, gentle. They came together in a hush of breath and unspoken promises.

He entered her on a whisper. Softly, smoothly, a quiet invasion, and her body welcomed him. Her heart suddenly full to overflowing, she took what he offered and gave all she had.

Their bodies moved in a natural, easy rhythm, as if they'd been together for years and knew each other's wants and needs. His hands were magic, his mouth a gift. He sighed her name and she felt a flash of something warm, amazing, ping inside her. Her eyes filled with tears and she closed them so he wouldn't see. Wouldn't misunderstand.

Wouldn't read in her expression what she was feeling.

With every caress, he delved deeper into her heart. Deeper into her mind. Her soul. Kyra knew it was happening and couldn't stop it. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to stop it.

She'd lived her whole life never looking for love, avoiding whatever situations might have led her to it. And now, when she least expected it, Love with a capital
L
knocked her for a loop.

As the wonder of that realization swept through her, Garrett kissed her and her heart soared. He murmured her name and Kyra felt more alive than she ever had before.

She clung to him more tightly, welcomed him more deeply, and this time, when the stars exploded behind her eyes, all she could see was his face.

 

Sometime later—who knew how long, since she wasn't wearing her watch?—he handed her her clothes and, smiling, said, “If we don't get dressed, whoever owns this cabin will find two very naked, very dead people when he comes back here.”

“Not a bad way to go, though,” Kyra said, already slipping her bra on and hooking it. She shrugged into her shirt, and as she buttoned it, she looked at him. “What happens in the cabin stays in the cabin, right?”

He glanced up from the row of buttons on his shirt-front. “Right. Just like Vegas.”

“Then tell me something.”

He stood up to step into his pants, then sat back down again before saying, “What?”

“Why now?”

“What do you mean?”

She sighed and shimmied into her panties. “You know exactly what I mean, Garrett.” Swinging her hair out of her eyes, she grabbed her own slacks and brushed fruitlessly at the lint clinging to them.

“Okay, yeah, I do,” he said, and drew one knee up to brace his forearm across it. “But I don't have an answer for you.”

“Too bad. Neither do I,” she admitted, and stood up, stepping into her slacks and zipping them up before sitting down on the hearth rug again.

“Does there have to be an answer?”

“Usually,” she said, and wondered why it was so much harder to talk to him than it was to make love with him. What kind of weird situation was that?

“Maybe it was just circumstances and—”

“Please.” She cut him off sharply and nearly smiled when his blue eyes narrowed. Love zinged through her again and she nearly laughed. She used to get furious when his expression went all stony. Now, heaven help her, she actually thought it was cute. “And don't make the annoyed boss face at me, either. Not here. Not now.”

He scowled darkly for a second or two, then his features cleared as he shook his head. “‘Annoyed boss face'?”

“Yes. You know the one. Your eyes get all small and your forehead goes wrinkly.”

He lifted one hand to his brow to check, then dropped it again. “I don't make faces.”

“Yes, you do,” Kyra countered, “but that's not really the point at the moment, is it?” Before he could speak, she charged on, full steam ahead.

“You were about to say that all of this—” she waved a hand to encompass the room and all that had happened between them “—happened just because we were stuck together.”

“And it didn't?”

“You're telling me if you'd been stuck in this cabin with Carol, the same thing would have happened?”

“No.” Clearly appalled at the thought, he frowned at Kyra again.

“Or how about Terry, Mr. Henderson's assistant? Would it have happened with her?”

“No, and I don't understand what you're getting at, Kyra. Nor do I see the point.”

“The point is, it wouldn't have happened with me and anyone else, either.”

“Glad to hear it,” he muttered.

“Thanks. Me, too.” He looked as confused as she felt. And why not? Neither one of them had come on this business trip expecting to discover what they'd found in this cabin. And she, at least, couldn't be more confused about how to handle it.

“God.” His jaw dropped and his eyes went suddenly wide and horrified.

“What?” Kyra leaned over, covered his hand with hers and said, “What is it? What's wrong?”

“I can't believe this,” he muttered thickly.

He shook off her hand and pushed himself to his feet. Then he paced back and forth across the room, muttering to himself in a voice so deep she couldn't make anything out.

Kyra watched him shove both hands through his hair, then drop his arms to his sides. Her stomach did a weird stop and spin as she wondered what was driving him. His steps were long and hurried, as if he were trying to escape from something.

An icy curl of dread settled in the pit of her stomach as she watched him. But she'd never been one to put something off. Better to just face it and get it over with. Figure out a way to deal with it.

“Will you stop the pacing and tell me what's wrong?”

He did stop. And when he shifted his gaze to hers, Kyra read fury in his eyes. Not to mention guilt. “What's wrong?” he repeated incredulously. “What isn't? I can't believe we did this. Can't believe neither one of us stopped to consider—”

She stood up, crossed to him and slapped one hand against his broad chest. “For heaven's sake, just say it.”

“We didn't use any protection, Kyra. Not once.” He grabbed her upper arms and yanked her close enough that she had to let her head fall back so she could meet his eyes. “I never thought of it.”

This she could deal with. A part of her had worried he was about to say everything that had happened had been a horrible mistake. That he wished she'd never come on this trip. That he never wanted to see her again.

Then again, now that she was considering the implications, Kyra couldn't believe she'd been so stupid. Ms. Look-Out-For-Herself had simply thrown caution to the wind and gone with what had felt too good to ignore.

She was now officially a cautionary tale.

“Oh, boy.” She planted both hands on his chest, felt the thud of his heartbeat beneath her palms and knew her own was a match for it. “I…”

“Right.”

“We—”

“Oh, we certainly did.”

Her brain raced like a runaway train headed for a washed out bridge. She'd never done anything so stupid, so careless in her life. She couldn't believe that
she'd been so out of control, she'd forgotten the first rule of surviving dating in the twenty-first century.

Self-protection at all costs.

“Okay,” she said, watching flares of temper flash in his eyes. “We were stupid.”

“Oh, yeah.” He viciously rubbed the back of his neck. “I'd say so.”

“But it'll be okay as long as you're healthy.”

He actually looked insulted. “Of course I'm healthy. Do you think I would have—”

He broke off, let go of her and took a step back. “Damn it, Kyra, I wouldn't have put you at risk that way.”

“I appreciate it,” Kyra said, taking a step toward him. “And you should know that I'm healthy, too.”

One corner of his mouth lifted, but the half smile didn't reach his eyes. “Good for us. But there's still the possibility of—”

“No, there isn't.” She cut him off neatly before he could even say the word
baby.
Hey, no point in calling down curses.

“You're sure?”

“As sure as taking the Pill can make me,” she told him. “Granted,” she added with a shrug, “they're not one hundred percent effective, but—”

“They're not?” He looked appalled again. “Isn't that their job?”

Kyra laughed. “Yes, but nothing is foolproof.”

“Oh,” he said, smiling grimly, “I feel better.”

Obviously the thought of making a baby with her was more worthy of a freakout than the threat of disease.
Well now, Kyra thought. Didn't she feel all warm and cuddly?

“Relax, Garrett. I'm not pregnant and I'm not going to be pregnant.” Ever, she added silently, but he didn't have to know that. But she'd already told him how she felt about the prospect of getting married. Surely he could figure out for himself that she felt the same way about parenthood.

Sure, some single women made great mothers. And if it worked for them, that was terrific. But Kyra would want any child of hers to have both parents. And since she had no intention of getting married, that sort of left her out of the whole motherhood issue.

Although, with this newfound realization that she was actually in love with Garrett Wolff, maybe none of her resolutions were worth anything. Suddenly, without warning, an image drifted into her mind: she and Garrett, hands linked, smiling down at a cooing baby in a bassinet.

Wow.

How had she gone from anti-marriage and love to blurry-eyed dreams of happily ever after in a twenty-four hour period? That had to be some sort of record.

“Relieved?” she asked, leaving her fantasies where they belonged—locked in a corner of her mind.

“Yeah,” he said, frowning. “Of course.”

But he wasn't, Garrett realized. In fact, a part of him was actually disappointed.

Crazy.

It made no sense at all to be sorry that he and Kyra
hadn't made a child. Only a week or so ago, he'd been firmly convinced that she was the most irritating woman on the face of the planet.

And yet somehow now he was looking at her as if she might be the one woman he'd been searching for all his life. He just didn't learn, that was his problem.

He'd thought himself in love before. Twice he'd proposed to women who had professed to love him. And twice it had blown up in his face.

Was he really going to take one night of incredible passion and try to build it into a relationship? Even if he was willing to take that risk again—to put himself on the line and actually tell Kyra that his feelings for her had changed—she wouldn't be interested.

She didn't want love. Or marriage.

Or him.

Not an easy thing for any man to admit, but there it was. She'd made herself clear. She didn't want the things he did. Just because they'd found an incredible passion together didn't mean that they were destined to stroll through eternity hand in hand. Besides, he wasn't about to risk humiliating himself again by throwing his heart at yet another woman who didn't want it.

Kyra was watching him, and damned if he could figure out what she was thinking. Usually, her emotions were plainly etched on her features. Naturally, now when he could really use a clue, she was a blank slate.

“You don't have to worry,” she said, splintering the silence stretching between them.

“What?” Not what he'd been expecting. Though why that should surprise him, he couldn't have said.

“I said you don't have to worry.” She tossed her hair back from her face, tilted her chin up and gave him a smile that wasn't the least bit convincing. “I'm not going to follow you around at work making puppy eyes at you or anything.”

He shook his head as if to clear it, but that didn't help.