be long.”
Bria waited until Sam had closed the kitchen door before resting her forearms on the edge of the sink to sag against it. By the time Sam regained his memory, she was going to be thoroughly exhausted from dancing around the truth, as well as fighting the temptation he posed. No matter how disillusioned and angry she had been with him over the past several months, no matter how many times she told herself that she couldn’t live with a man who was never there for her, she still wanted him.
Deciding that she was going to need reinforcement, she quickly finished washing the last of the dishes and walked into the study to pick up the phone. When her sister answered on the second ring, Bria said, “Mariah, I need your help. Get down to the ranch as soon as you can. And plan on staying a couple of days.”
* * *
“I thought you told me you’d only be a few minutes,” Sam said when Bria walked out onto the porch. “I was just about to come looking for you, sweetheart.”
Instead of sitting beside him on the swing as he thought she would, she walked over to stand by the porch rail. “I was on the phone with my sister.”
“How is Mariah?” Sam asked, unable to remember the last time he had seen his sister-in-law. Five years younger than Bria, the two sisters were as close as he and his brothers.
“She’s coming down from Amarillo for the weekend.” Bria turned to give him a smile. “She offered to help me make dinner for Jaron’s birthday.”
Sam wasn’t the least bit surprised that Mariah planned to attend the birthday dinner for his brother. Aside from the fact that the vivacious brunette attended all the birthday celebrations Bria arranged for him and his brothers, it was no secret that Mariah had a huge crush on Jaron. That his brother thought of her as off-limits because she was Bria’s sister and ten years younger than himself was no secret either.
“It’ll be good to see her again,” Sam said, meaning it. He liked his sister-in-law and thought she would be good for Jaron—help settle him down. But it wasn’t his place to interfere. That was Jaron’s business, and Hank had taught them all not to stick their noses in where they didn’t belong.
“Why don’t you come over here and sit down?” he asked when Bria continued to stand by the rail.
She hesitated a moment, then slowly walked over to lower herself onto the porch swing next to him. “You looked comfortable and I didn’t want to disturb you.”
Sam released a frustrated breath. “Dammit, Bria, that run-in with the brindle bull didn’t turn me into an invalid. I may still have a couple of aching muscles, but give me some credit. I’m made of stronger stuff than that.”
“I know, but—”
“But nothing,” he interrupted. He moved his outstretched arm from the back of the swing to put it around her shoulders and pull her to his side. “You’re my wife. This is where I want you and where you belong—right here in my arms.”
Lowering his head before she could find another lame excuse not to kiss him, Sam covered her soft lips with his and savored the sweet taste of the woman he cared for more than he ever dreamed was possible. At first she stiffened in his arms as if she meant to pull away from him, then, whimpering, she put her arms around his shoulders and kissed him back like a woman greeting her soldier returning home from war.
Not one to try solving the mysteries of a woman’s inner thoughts, Sam relegated her reaction to the back of his mind as he deepened the kiss. There would be plenty of time to ponder why Bria had been running hot and cold all day and why she was kissing him now with a desperation that robbed him of breath. At the moment, she was in his arms and that was all that mattered.
As he stroked her tongue with his, she tangled her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck and pressed herself closer. His body’s reaction was not only predictable, it was immediate. He was hotter than hell and aching to sink himself deep inside her in two seconds flat. But their timing was lousy. It wasn’t a good time for her and as much as he hated to admit it, he still wasn’t feeling a hundred percent. And he never gave