and play with them, right? And they could come inside for a little while each day?”
“Yes, you could, and yes, they could. But rest assured, eventually Angel and the kittens will wind up in the barn because that’s where the rats are, and believe me, that’s like round steak to them.” He chuckled.
“And my puppies?”
“Will probably claim the porch, bark at any newcomers, and trip you up when you try to bring in groceries,” he told her.
She laughed. “Kiss me, Creed.”
His expression made her laugh harder.
“Wasn’t expecting that, were you?” she asked.
He shook his head.
“I can accept all that you just said if you kiss me.”
She walked around the table and sat down in his lap so that she was facing him. She put a hand on each side of his face and leaned in for the kiss. When her mouth touched his, strong arms encircled her body.
When the string of hot, heavy kisses ended, he asked, “What does a kiss have to do with doghouses?”
“Not a damn thing. I heard you. I agree with you. But all I could think about when you were talking is how much I wanted to kiss the lips that were moving.”
“I thought we were slowing this wagon down.”
“We are slowing it down, but we aren’t unhitchin’ it.”
* * *
He kissed her again, this time controlling the pressure with his hand on the back of her head and teasing her lips with soft nips and his tongue. So she wasn’t ready to unhitch the wagon and put it in the barn forever. Well, neither was he, and if kisses were all he could have until after the sale, then he’d enjoy them to the fullest.
“I like the way you feel in my arms,” he said.
“I like the way I feel in your arms too.”
“But…”
“No buts; just kiss me again.”
He held her chin in his hand. “But I can’t do this all evening, Sage. Just sitting in the same room with you makes me crazy with want. Kissing you one time jacks up the heat in my body. A dozen times and I’m throbbing.”
She moved back to her original chair. “Do you think Noel was in love with her old bluetick hound boyfriend?”
Creed wasn’t sure how to answer that. Were they talking about dogs or dancing around their own relationship?
“I hope so. She’s got three babies to raise… Oh my God! Sage, I just thought of something. We didn’t use a bit of protection yesterday. I didn’t even think of that when we…” He let the sentence trail off.
“I’m on the pill. I’ve always had problems with regularity so I’ve been on it for years.”
He wiped a hand across his forehead.
“You tellin’ me you wouldn’t want me to have three little dark-haired cowboys or cowgirls to run around in this canyon?”
“I wouldn’t mind that at all, but I’d damn sure like for them to be legitimate. I got a feeling the wrath of your Grand would not be a pretty sight.”
Chapter 12
Creed’s comment about kids haunted Sage. It hadn’t been a drop-down-on-one-knee proposal, but it had rattled her nerves. If she had kids, they’d grow up and leave her. She could barely think about putting Noel and Angel and their broods out on the front porch.
A child would be so much harder to lose. Her very own father was proof of that. He’d left the canyon to serve his country. Oh, he’d come home all right. The grave in the cemetery on the other side of the grandfather rock was proof of that. Sage laced her hands behind her head and stared out the window at the stars twinkling in the black sky. Grand was a strong-willed woman to survive losing her only child. And then she took in her daughter-in-law and granddaughter only for the daughter to die two years later. Sage wasn’t sure she could live with that much pain.
She closed her eyes and sleep came easily, but the dreams haunted her all night. Dreams of little boys and girls chasing puppies around the yard and of Creed swinging them up into his arms when he came in for dinner. She watched the scenario as if it were a movie and felt the joy of the love surrounding them. When she awoke she wasn’t sure if she’d been a character or someone viewing it from a padded seat with a bag of popcorn in her hands.
A pang of pure old jealousy stabbed her in the heart when she thought of some other woman