it long and hard. Why was Colton so adamant, so damned insistent that my family was involved!”
Turning, she tried to escape from the manacle of his hands, but he wouldn’t let her go. “You’re forgetting something, Tessa,” he said, his eyes as dark as midnight.
“What?”
“Your father was found drunk at the fire. He really couldn’t remember what had happened. Colton, on the other hand, had been riding the back fields—”
“He claims.”
“His horse was still saddled.”
“But he drove up in the truck. Isn’t that odd? Just because his horse wasn’t in the barn isn’t any proof he wasn’t involved.”
“And it doesn’t get your father off the hook!”
Gasping, Tessa arched her hand upward intending to slap him, but she didn’t. She stopped just before her palm connected with his cheek. “I knew I shouldn’t have come here,” she said, fighting the urge to break down completely.
A gamut of emotions contorted his features—hate, anger, sadness, love?
To her surprise, he folded her into his arms. “Shh. Of course you should have,” he said, his face becoming gentle. “Let’s not argue about it. Not now.”
“But you don’t trust us.”
“I trust you.”
“And Dad?”
“I’m not sure about him, Tessa. Face it. Your father has a problem—a serious problem. We have to do something about it.”
“We?” she whispered, disbelieving. Denver wanted to help Curtis Kramer? She couldn’t believe it—wouldn’t.
“There are places he could go—hospitals and clinics. But first he’s got to admit he has an alcohol problem.”
Tessa swallowed back the urge to argue. “I—I’ll talk to him when we get back,” she said. She’d come to the same conclusion herself, but hated discussing her father’s private life with Denver. “Mitchell seems to think he drinks to block out the fire.”
Denver’s lips twisted. “It doesn’t work,” he said. “I should know. I tried to pour myself into a bottle the week after I got out of the hospital.”
“Why?”
He let out a long breath. “To forget you, Tessa,” he said. “To forget you, the fire, everything.” He glanced down at the scars on his hand and his mouth tightened. “Unfortunately I couldn’t, and alcohol didn’t make a damned bit of difference. So I gave myself a swift kick, picked up the pieces as best I could and threw myself into my work.” He kissed her crown as the ocean breeze snatched at her skirt. “And I did my best to forget you.”
“I didn’t have anything to do with the fire,” she said slowly. “I would never, never have done anything to hurt you.”
His arms slid upward and he took her face between his palms. “I know that now,” he whispered, his eyes shining as he slanted his mouth over hers.
His arms tightened and she fell against him, tilting her face upward, her lips eager for his. He pulled her against him, the length of his body protection against the stiff ocean breeze. “Make love to me, Tessa,” he whispered against her hair.
“Here?” She quivered inside. The beach was deserted, but houses and condominiums curved along the shoreline.
He grinned wickedly. “Inside.” He scooped her into his arms and carried her up the few steps to the deck. She had to cling to him to keep from slipping as he shouldered open the door and climbed the stairs to a loft that shared a view of the ocean with the living room below.
“Here,” he said, tossing her onto a huge bed with a patterned spread of forest green and pearl gray. Twining his fingers through her hair, he leaned over her, his weight causing the mattress to sag. “You don’t know how many nights I’ve dreamed of you,” he said. “Wished that you were here in my bed.” His voice was low and throaty, his breath hot against her ear. Lying beside her, he guided her hand to the buttons of his shirt. “Make love to me, Tessa.”
She slid the first two buttons through the holes, then pressed the flat of her hand to the hard muscles of his chest. She could feel his heart pounding wildly, knew its erratic cadence matched her own.
He moaned softly and his lips crashed down on hers, stealing the breath from her lungs and forcing liquid fire through her veins. She tingled expectantly and felt his hands slide beneath the elastic waistband of her skirt, slowly sliding the soft cotton down her legs and calves.
The bed creaked as he finished undressing her and rolled onto his back, guiding her to rest atop him. He watched the gentle sway of her breasts, nipples dark, above him. “Now,”