Persuading Prudence (22 page)

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Some moments later, Kolton regained his senses and realized he was collapsed atop of Pru on the kitchen table. He smiled ruefully. Not the romantic reunion he’d had planned, but no less satisfying, he decided.

He hauled himself up on his elbows, gazed down at Pru’s flushed features, and tucked a sweat-dampened curl behind her ear. Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled lazily up at him.

“Perhaps we should take this to a more comfortable location,” he suggested.

Pru laughed. “Yes, perhaps we should. This table is a bit hard.”

“It is not the only thing,” he added, flexing his hips suggestively.

Pru’s eyes rounded. “Oh, my! Yes, perhaps we should find a more comfortable location posthaste.”

Kolton straightened, securing his trousers before he lifted her in his arms and carried her to his room. Pru gave a little squeak of surprise and wrapped her arms around his neck. When he entered the bedroom, he made quick work of removing the rest of their clothing. He tossed her on the bed and immediately settled beside her, his hands commencing a thorough exploration of her body.

Pru giggled and the sound made his heart swell with joy. “In a hurry, my lord?”

“To touch your luscious body and feel its nakedness pressed against mine? Always, my love,” he replied while fondling her breasts. “I would gladly stay here for days—weeks—but we have a wedding to attend in the near future.”

Pru twisted and propped herself up on her elbow facing him, her eyes wide with surprise. “You didn’t cancel the ceremony?”

“Another day or two and I would have had to,” he replied. “But I refused to do so before then. It would have been admitting I would never find you, never have you back in my arms. I couldn’t bear the thought of that.”

Pru’s eyes glittered with moisture and she blinked back the threatening tears. “Oh, Kolton.” Her voice cracked as she said his name. “What did I do to deserve such happiness?”

“You have done nothing but be your beautiful, funny, passionate, self. I am the one who counts himself the luckiest man on earth.”

“Then we are both blessed.” She smiled, cupping his face and leaning in to kiss him.

“Yes,” he murmured against her lips. “Blessed.”

Blessed with love, blessed with passion, and blessed—Kolton smiled at the thought—blessed with the ability to persuade his stubborn, darling Prudence.

Biography

Liz Cole was born and raised in a small town in upstate New York. Her love of reading romance—the steamier the better—began in her early teens, but it wasn’t until she left her job as a secretary to dedicate herself to being a stay-at-home mom to her two young children that her writing career began. It started with a story rolling around in her head that refused to be ignored. Desperate to turn her mind to other things, Liz sat down, hoping to exorcise the ‘demon’, and wrote her first novel. Since then, she has been plagued with other stories demanding to be told. Who knew that two jobs could be so fulfilling?

She now lives in North Carolina with her husband, two children, two cats, and three dogs.

Liz welcomes readers’ comments and can be reached at ; and check out her blog at .