“Okay, go back to sleep.”
He curled round and settled back again. I busied myself cleaning up the stove. I sloshed the coffeepot to measure its contents. The sound was suggestive and the idea of more coffee was appealing.
I glanced over my shoulder at the step stool on the far side of the porch door, remembering the major’s injunction. I wrinkled my nose disrespectfully.
I was levering myself up onto the counter when Regan Laird returned. He grabbed up the stool and marched over to me. He set the stool on the floor under my dangling feet. Spanning my waist with his two hands, he picked me up and set me joltingly on the top step. His eyes blazed a few inches from mine.
“If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a dozen times to use that stool. I don’t want you breaking your fool neck.”
“Stop sounding like a father,” I snapped irritably, our previous rapport shattered.
“My feelings towards you at the moment are scarcely paternal,” he retorted heatedly, his jaws clenched.
When he had encircled my waist, my hands had automatically gone to his shoulders for balance. Furious at his proprietary manner, I dug my nails into his shoulders.
“Why you little
” and before I knew it, he had hooked an arm around my waist, roughly jerking me against him. He wound the fingers of the other hand in my tangled hair and pulled my head towards his.
His mouth fastened angrily on mine. He must have intended that kiss as a disciplinary affront. But the moment our lips met, the moment I responded, his intentions changed. I could feel it in the tenderness of his mouth on mine, in the longing strength of his arms as they tightened about me. I had never been kissed like this before, not even by the acknowledged lady-killer of Riley. And Regan was no less hungry for such caresses than I.
I found my hands were kneading the muscles along his shoulders and back, gripping his strong arms in an instinctive desire to be as close to him as possible. My whole being was concentrated on the warm, hard pressure of his mouth covering mine, his hand burning at my waist, his fingers in my hair. Time was a curious new dimension of contact points that thrilled and ached as we clung to each other. Beneath my urgent hands I felt his body begin to tremble. Deep within him I heard a soft groan begin. Very gently, most reluctantly, he loosened the tight embrace. His face, a blur above me, became separate features, his eyes achingly tender and gentle as he searched my face.
My feet were back on the stool and he framed my face with his hands, one thumb stroking my temple where a frantic pulse beat. A very, very gentle smile touched his lips.
“Talk about surprises,” he murmured in a husky voice. He leaned forward again slowly, giving me time to evade him if I wished. He bent his head to kiss the base of my neck. I felt the rough scar tissue against the skin of my throat and quickly pressed his head against me, my lips on the wound by his forehead. I felt him stiffen slightly and then relax as his lips continued to move along my throat. He suddenly stopped, raised his head, and looked at me with a peculiar expression.
“I can’t go on like this. I’m supposed to be your guardian, not your seducer.”
I looked at him with what I hoped was a solemn expression but exultation surged within me.
“There is a way in which you may be both legally,” I said and held my breath at the conflicting emotions that crossed his face. He started to draw back but I tightened my hands around his neck.
“Unless, of course, you’ve been trifling with my affections. He gathered me tightly to him again, his lips against my hair, my head pressed against his good cheek.
“No, by God, I’m not trifling with you, Carla. But I’m a one-time loser already. I’m not a good husband candidate.”
“If it makes any difference, my father didn’t think so.”
Startled, Regan tilted me in his arms so that he could see my face.
“How in hell do you figure that?”
“Why in hell do you think my father went to such asinine lengths to throw us together? I don’t need a guardian.”
Amazement flooded his face.
“Why the old - of all the crazy . Oh, Carla, I’m in love with you all right enough. I know it’s rushing things but watching you cook, flounce around my kitchen even your funny moods . I was so mad when you washed my socks I I .” and his lips covered mine which was what I wanted very, very much.
He kissed all kinds of ways that gave me intense delight. My pulses raced so violently I couldn’t breathe. Then he set me very carefully on the counter and backed up to the table. He sank to the surface, rubbing his hands along his thighs, regarding me.
“That’s enough of that for tonight,” he said decisively. And, I thought, considering the sweetness of the moment, a little grimly. I knew what he meant for I was aroused and he surely must be.
“No nonsense now, Carla. You’ll have to go somewhere else until we can be married. For a little bit of a thing you’re much woman.”
I beamed at him. “Only three days for blood test and license. I’ve got my guardian’s consent.”
“Three days! Wait a minute,” Regan said, holding up a restraining hand. “I’m due down in Walter Reed.”
I jumped down from the counter and, before he guessed my intention, I put my hands on his head and kissed his scarred cheek.
“I don’t want anyone to say I married you for your good looks,” I said softly, earnest despite the light tone. He remained so still I dropped my hands uncertainly. His eyes were closed and he held his head back stiffly. I could see the pulse in his neck beating strongly. Then his head came forward slowly as he expelled a deep breath.
Frightened, I wondered if I had offended him with my impulsiveness; if I had gone on one of my headlong plunges unaccompanied. Just when I was afraid he would never break the silence, he held his hand out to me.
“You unman me,” he murmured and I shall treasure forever the look he gave me.
Hastily I placed my hand in his and we stood that way, just looking at each other. Slowly, after a very long moment, he drew me gently to him and kissed my forehead.
“If you don’t leave me now
Carla…
I was half tempted to stay, fully aware of the consequences, when the rational part of me insisted this would be unfair to Regan’s New England conscience. I was at the door when I remembered another obligation.
“Merlin!”
I saw Regan grip the table edge with both hands.
“Get out of here, Carla. I swear I’ll take him to bed with me. I’ll order him to guard me. But, Carla darling, don’t let me hear your voice again until morning.” The room echoed with the intense emotion in his order.
I really didn’t want to leave but I did, closing the kitchen door softly behind me, the blood still hammering in my veins. When Regan did claim me, I wanted him to have no reservations, no dying qualms of guardianly conscience; a curious switch of conventional positions!
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I woke the next morning, alert as I had not been in a long time, alert and eager for the day to begin. It was early in the morning for the sun was just up over the edge of the dunes sheltering the Point from Nauset Beach. My watch said quarter of eight.
The fire was almost out and I rose hastily in the cold to build it up. I smiled to myself as I realized Regan had not mended it as he had done every night since I arrived. His abstention endeared him further to me. Despite the chill in the room, I stretched fully and luxuriously, curling my cold toes up, away from the frigid floor.
I rummaged through my suitcase to see what I had to wear that was more appropriate to my improved status than pants and layers of concealing sweaters.