The Texan's Contract Marriage - By Sara Orwig Page 0,30

take my money, your only feeling would be relief. I don’t have to ask if I’m right.”

She looked outside at the busy thoroughfare and again had to fight tears. He was right. The millions meant nothing next to letting him have so much of Noah.

They rode the rest of the way to her condo in silence. On her porch, he placed his hands on her shoulders. “Camille, I’ll repeat—I’m thrilled beyond measure over your acceptance of my proposal. I promise to try to keep you and your sisters happy. I’m thrilled and excited over the prospects and we’ll get along in this quasi marriage.”

“I hope so,” she said. “I pray this is good for Noah. That’s the one thing I really cling to. The money will benefit me and my family in several ways, but it’s the thought that you’ll be good for Noah that really makes this acceptable. It’s what I wanted in the first place.”

“I’ll do everything in my power to make it good for him.” Marek’s brown eyes were unfathomable as he studied her. “When we wed, we’ll kiss in church. I don’t want that to be our first kiss,” he said, his dark gaze focusing on her mouth. Her heart drummed so violently she hoped he couldn’t hear it. His announcement that he intended to kiss her caused every nerve to come alive. Why was it so enormously unsettling? His kiss should be meaningless.

As his arm circled her waist, she could barely get her breath. He drew her closer, and she rested her hands lightly against his upper arms.

When he leaned down, she closed her eyes, tilting her face up to his. His mouth covered hers lightly, then pressing more firmly, warm, sexy, tempting. Her lips parted and then his did while his tongue slipped into her mouth. The first stroke changed their relationship for her forever. No more was he a new acquaintance becoming closely involved with her. He was an appealing, sexy man she would be entering into an intimate relationship with. Slowly, with deliberation, he kissed her while he drew her up against him. Feeling the bulge of hard biceps beneath her hands, she stood quietly. Leaning over her, he tightened his arm around her.

She kissed him in return, tumbling into an abyss that made her stomach flip and her heart pound faster. Without thinking about what she was doing, she slipped her arm around his neck, and then she realized how she had responded. She leaned away and gasped for breath.

“Now we’ve kissed,” she whispered, feeling stunned because his kiss had been sexy, possessive—a hot kiss that conveyed he cared while that wasn’t actually the situation.

He gave her another inscrutable look and said nothing.

“Good night, Marek.”

“I’ll see you for dinner tomorrow night and we can firm up plans, call parents and whoever we need to tell while we’re together. I’m happy, Camille,” he said, smiling at her.

He turned away to get into the waiting limo while she went inside, her heart pounding. His kiss had melted her, shaken her and set her on fire. Could she live with this? How long would it be a marriage of convenience only?

She would lose Noah part of the time. Now another threat loomed that she might fall in love with Marek and complicate her life in every way possible. She had known that was a risk, but it had seemed slight. His kiss had smashed that opinion to bits. Her lips tingled, and she shook her head.

“I can’t fall in love with him,” she whispered. Yet her heartbeat still raced from his kiss and she would remember forever the look in his eyes afterward, a heated, possessive look, a look that clearly expressed that he saw her as a desirable woman.

“I thought I heard you,” Ashley said, coming into the hall from the family room. She was in turquoise pajamas and a matching robe.

“I’m going to marry him,” Camille announced as if trying to convince herself. “I accepted. You know that’s what we decided.”

Ashley shook her head. “I hope you know what you’re doing. I’ll be with Noah, but you won’t be.”

“I’m going to be with him more than I thought at first.”

“All that money, Camille. I can’t even imagine our lives.”

“I think you’ll want to go to school before long. Maybe by next fall. We’ll find a nanny. There’s bound to be another good one in the world.”

“Let’s just take this a little bit at a time. This will change the lives of everyone