She leaned forward ever so slowly, deliberately taunting him. Cord clenched his fists at his sides to keep from reaching for her, claiming her. The brush of her lips, when it finally came, was as light and feathery soft and rapid as the touch of a bird’s wings. He had a feeling her heart was racing just as quickly.
“Nice,” he murmured. He glanced sideways in her direction. “How many of those points did you say I’d accumulated?”
She grinned. “Enough.”
“Then let’s try that again.”
This time just as her lips neared his cheek, he turned so that the kiss landed squarely on his mouth. After the first startled instant, the first flaring of panic in her eyes, she sighed softly and stayed right where she was, her lips teasing his.
Cord’s hands came up to cup her face. His fingers threaded through her hair. Another sigh shuddered through her and as it did, he deepened the kiss, tasting her, dipping into the mysterious, honeyed sweetness of her mouth.
The kiss lasted forever...but not nearly long enough. He was the one who pulled away, though he didn’t release her face. He studied the bright patches of color on her cheeks, the confusion in her eyes.
“Was that a mistake?” he asked quietly.
She swallowed hard, then returned his gaze bravely. “No,” she said in a whisper. “Not a mistake. Just a surprise.”
He grinned at that. “You didn’t see it coming? Haven’t expected it since the day we met?”
“Okay, yes, maybe.” The confusion was back. “Do we have to talk about it?”
“Only if it’s a problem.”
She shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know if it is or not. Cord, I can’t make promises. I can’t look ahead. You need to know that.”
He pressed a finger to her lips. “Shh. It was a kiss. Not a commitment.”
In time, though, in time he wanted more from her. Much more.
The phone rang then, jarring them both out of their reveries. Sharon Lynn’s hand trembled visibly as she reached for it. After she’d answered, she turned to him and mouthed, “It’s Lizzy.”
Her expression darkened at whatever Lizzy was telling her. “I see,” she said finally. “What happens next?”
Cord could see from her bleak expression that the news wasn’t good. He reached for her as she hung up, pulled her closer so that her back was resting against his chest.
“The blood type’s a match,” she said, her voice thick with choked-back sobs. “They’ll have to do more testing.”
Cord held back his own dismay. “She could still be ruled out as the baby’s grandmother,” he reminded her. “Millions of people have the same blood type.”
“I know. It’s just that...”
“It’s just that you wanted it to be over, at least for now.” He felt her barely perceptible nod against his shoulder. “The testing won’t take forever. We have to be absolutely sure.”
“I know,” she said.
Her utter stillness, the sadness in her voice, combined to touch him in a way that Lizzy’s report hadn’t. It galvanized him into plotting his own strategy for handling things from here on out. Let the police and medical experts do their thing, he thought. There were other kinds of evidence that would be needed if there was to be a court battle, other ways to gather proof. He didn’t have a lot of money left and it had been meant as a stake toward buying his own ranch, but this was a better use for it.
“I’ll hire a private investigator tomorrow,” he promised her. “By the time he’s done, we’ll know everything there is to know about Hazel and Victoria Murdock.”
She turned to face him. “Private investigators cost money,” she protested. “You’re supposed to be saving every cent toward a down payment on a ranch.”
“That can wait. This can’t.”
“I have some money.”
“No. This is something I need to do.” He met her gaze. “Let me, Sharon Lynn. Let me do this for you.” He hesitated, gazed directly into her eyes and added quietly, “For us.”
Maybe it was his imagination, but it seemed to him that she visibly relaxed. A halfhearted grin came and went.
“You’re just after more brownie points, aren’t you?” she teased.
He laughed at that. “Okay, you’ve got me. That is something I am surely counting on.”
* * *
First thing in the morning Cord sought out Sharon Lynn’s father. He wanted to settle the matter of the land with him and he wanted to see if Cody could recommend a private investigator to look into the background of the Murdocks.