Wrangling the Redhead - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,57
me fits.”
His lips twitched then. “Oh, I am, am I?” He seemed very pleased with himself. “In what way?”
“You’ve kept me out here wasting time talking about a man who means absolutely nothing to me, when I could be inside making love with a man who does matter.”
He slid his hand into her hair and tilted her head up. “And that annoys you?”
“Frustrates me,” she corrected.
“Would a kiss help?”
“It would definitely be a start in the right direction,” she confirmed.
With tantalizing restraint, he slowly lowered his head until his lips were just above hers. She could already feel the promised heat, but he refused the contact she was craving.
“Has anybody ever told you that you’re a tease?” she murmured.
“Not nearly often enough,” he whispered just as his mouth settled on hers.
There was something greedy and raw and needy about the kiss. The sensations exploded through her. Suddenly Lauren felt as if she were falling…falling from the topmost peak of a mountain…falling in love.
She rocked back on her heels and captured Wade’s face in her hands. She gazed deep into his eyes.
“We have some unfinished business,” she told him.
“You bet we do,” he said.
“Not that,” she said with a quick smile. “From earlier. I love you, Wade Owens.” She saw his eyes go dark, saw the quick flash of heat. “Just so you know.”
“It’s a darn good thing,” he murmured. “I’d hate to be in water this deep all by myself.”
She searched his face. “Then you meant what you said up at the house? You do love me?”
He grinned at her. “It scares the hell out of me, but yes, darlin’, I do.”
Lauren’s heart soared. And as long as she didn’t let herself think about the secret that could destroy them, it would keep right on soaring.
Chapter Twelve
“So, did you and Lauren patch things up last night?” Grady inquired when Wade rode out with him the next morning to check fence lines.
Wade thought of the raw passion that had kept them both awake for half the night. “You could say that.”
“After you agreed not to sell Midnight, I assume.”
Wade realized that they’d never gotten to that topic the night before, but he could read the gloating expression on Grady’s face. “Yeah, she convinced me it was a bad idea.”
Grady chuckled. “I’ll just bet she did.”
“Hey, I won a couple of concessions from her,” Wade protested. “She’ll only work with him when I’m around, and if something looks too risky, she’ll stop when I say so.”
“She actually agreed to that?”
“You bet,” Wade said, then shrugged. “I imagine it won’t take her more than a couple of days to forget all about it, though.”
“Yep, you know Lauren, all right.” Grady turned a penetrating look on Wade. “Were you serious about being in love with her? Karen’s going to take you apart bit by bit if you were just playing games.”
“No games,” Wade assured him. “No woman has ever twisted me into knots the way Lauren does.”
“You thinking marriage?”
Wade froze, drawing his horse to a dead stop. “Marriage?” He echoed the word as if he’d never heard it before. It hadn’t come up the night before. He was certain of that. If it had, he would have blasted the idea right out of the water. He was equally sure of that.
“That’s usually the next step,” Grady said. His gaze narrowed. “Unless you were playing games, after all.”
“It’s just that I never thought that far ahead,” Wade said defensively. “What the heck do I have to offer a woman?”
“You have a good job, a place to live,” Grady reminded him. “You have plans for the future. And the way I hear it, you have the most important thing of all—you love her.”
“Is that enough?” Wade said. He thought about his plans for the future. Only with Grady’s encouragement had he actually begun to dream of owning his own horse-breeding operation a few years down the road. He still couldn’t quite believe that it was within his reach. Until he’d come to the Blackhawk ranch, he’d always assumed he would spend his life drifting from one job to another.
“I suppose the only one who can answer whether it’s enough is Lauren,” Grady said. “A few months ago, I might not have thought so, but I’ve seen a lot of changes in her. Being here—being with you—has grounded her. Something tells me she’ll think it’s plenty.”
Marriage to Lauren. An image of her all dressed up in yards and yards of white satin with a gossamer-sheer veil trailing