Wagonmaster (20 page)

“Promise me what, Joshua?” She leaned toward him.

He tore his thoughts away from the kiss he wanted, needed. “No man will ever love you more than I do.”

Addie's eyes filled with tears, and she laid her palm against his chest, but she didn't speak. Emotions, one after another, played behind the shimmering blue orbs.

Josh read each and every one. A guarded hope filled him, but her silence wouldn't allow him to release his fear. “Say somethin'.”

She licked her lips. Her eyes closed, and she swallowed audibly. Still, she didn't speak.

“Damn it, woman. You're killin' me. Say somethin'.”

Her lashes lifted. Her indigo blue eyes held only one thought—one warm, fearless, tender emotion. He knew the words she would speak even before they tumbled from her lips in a breathless whisper. “I love you, Joshua.”

Josh gathered her in his arms and claimed her lips. He let his tongue delve into the depths of her honeyed mouth. Need consumed him. Need to show her how much she meant to him. Need to make certain she knew she belonged to him. Forever.

“Ahem.” A graveled voice interrupted the sweet, passionate kiss. Josh raised his head to find Foster standing in the doorway, his coat bundled tightly around him. The old man held his hat in his gloved hands. “As it appears I'm no longer

needed here, I'll be heading back to town before I get snowed in.”

Addie's face flushed a rosy pink. “We're going to stay married, Uncle Rick.”

The man's gray head bobbed, and he smiled. “Your father would be so happy, Adelaide. He can rest in peace now. You've got a good husband who knows how lucky he is to have you for his wife.”

Addie's smile brightened the room. “Now I just have to make certain he doesn't forget it.”

Foster nodded. “I'll see you when the roads are passable again.” He jammed his hat on his head. His footsteps echoed in the foyer, followed by the sound of the door opening and closing.

Joshua turned to the table and grabbed the papers. He strode to the hearth and tossed them into the fire. The flames licked the edges for a moment before engulfing the pages in a bright flash. Josh swung his attention back to Addie. She watched the papers burn, a grin playing about her lips. His own lips curved in response. “You're mine now, darlin'. I won't have you changin' your mind and tryin' to get me to sign those.”

Her grin widened. She shook her head and flew across the room to him. His wife threw herself into his arms, grasped his face, and pressed her sweet lips to his.
His wife
. The title thrilled him and comforted him all at once.

The kiss began as a light, happy exchange, but within the space of a few beats of his suddenly light and contented heart, their passion bloomed. Heat spiraled through him, and the kiss awakened the sleeping beast that roared to life every time she touched him. He bent, lifted her into his arms, and strode toward the stairs.

“Joshua, it's the middle of the day.” Her words might have been an objection, but the impish gleam in her eyes told him otherwise.

“Who says babies have to be made in the dark?”

Nita Wick lives in southern Tennessee with her husband of 20 years and two awesome teenagers. She works fulltime at a small credit union and runs a one-woman show at a branch office where she is the teller, vault custodian, new accounts secretary, and loan officer.

With a job and a family, she doesn't have much free time, but when she's not busy working as cook, maid, chauffeur, or financial advisor, you will find her either reading or writing. She sticks with romance novels because she believes that there absolutely, positively, must be a happily-ever-after ending!