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She closed her eyes in that final moment when both their bodies released the tension that had built between them for weeks. She cried his name and quaked with an inner, rocking explosion that caused a thousand shooting stars to burst inside her head. Tears of joy and relief filled her eyes when the weight of his body fell against her, his flat chest crushing her breasts, his belabored breathing whispering against her ears and the pounding of his heart echoing the rapid thunder of hers.
“Oh, God, Dani,” he murmured at length, gazing in
to her eyes and cradling her small face in his large, rough hands. “What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know.” She brushed his golden hair off his brow, smoothing the deep furrow lining his forehead. Slowly, through the haze of afterglow, her mind began to clear. “We’ll have to go on as we have, I suppose.”
“I can’t.” He saw the tears standing in her eyes and kissed them as he rolled onto the shabby carpet and wrapped his arms lovingly around her.
“We don’t have a choice.”
“There are always choices,” he whispered.
“Chase—”
“Shh.” He placed a finger to her lips. “For just this once, don’t argue with me.”
His gaze slid down her body, and he noted the sheen of perspiration on her skin, the soft bend of her waist, her rounded hips and slim legs. “You’re an incredibly beautiful woman.”
Balancing on one elbow, she laughed, brushing aside her remaining tears and tossing her hair away from her face. Even in the darkness, the silken strands shimmered gold. Chase reached forward and touched a wayward curl that fell across Dani’s shoulder and brushed across the tip of her nipple.
“Lady Godiva,” he whispered, and Dani laughed again.
“I don’t think so. Besides, she was more than a little notorious.”
“So are you.”
“Me?” She shook her head and Chase was mesmerized by the tousled honey-gold curls sweeping over her breasts. “You ve got the wrong lady.”
“Do I?” His teeth flashed in the darkness and he traced the round edge of her nipple with his finger, watching as the dark peak stiffened. “I hope not. I hope to God not.”
Then he bent forward and circled her nipple with his tongue and Dani felt shivers of delight dart up her spine. “Chase . . . please . . . I don’t think—”
“Don’t think.” He kissed her again; gently at first and then harder and with a hungry, burning passion that surprised even him. It was as if he couldn’t get enough of her, as if he had to claim her as his own, brand her with his mark.
Deftly he lifted her to her feet and then into the air, carrying her up the stairs, holding her body against his and pausing only slightly at Cody’s room before walking down the hall to her bedroom and placing her on the old four-poster. The springs squeaked, the mattress sagged and the old hand-pieced quilt her grandinother had made for her slid off the bed. But Dani didn’t notice. She was concerned only with Chase and giving and receiving the warm comfort he offered.
He rolled over her and parted her legs with his and she welcomed him again, offering herself eagerly and never once thinking that their lovemaking was for only one night.
* * *
Dani woke with the dawn. Sunlight was streaming through the open window, birds were chirping merrily and the cattle were already bawling for breakfast.
Chase was still asleep. Sprawled over three-quarters of the bed, with one tanned arm draped possessively across Dani’s breasts, he snored against the pillow.
She watched him quietly, noticing the way his blond hair fell across his forehead, how his dark lashes rested over his angular cheeks and how his relaxed back and shoulder muscles rose and fell with his steady breathing.
Her heart swelled at the sight of him and she had to tell herself that what had happened only hours before could never be repeated. No matter how right making love to Chase had felt, she still couldn’t trust him. One foolish night could be forgiven, another would be suicidal because the closer she got to Chase, the closer she wanted to get.
“It would be so easy to love you,” she whispered, kissing him on the forehead before lifting his arm and slowly sliding out of the bed. “Too easy. Too convenient.” And Caleb Johnson was probably banking on the fact that Dani would fall for Chase.
Determination clenching her jaw, she pulled clean clothes from her bureau, glanced in the mirror to assure herself that Chase was still sleeping soundly, and after tying her hair back, slipped into jeans and a T-shirt.
Then, before her wayward mind could convince her to crawl back into bed with Chase, she hurried out of the room and down the stairs. She’d just about made it to the kitchen when she saw the pile of discarded clothes lying on the floor. Her sundress and Chase’s jeans were wrinkled and piled negligently together.
“Oh, Dani, how could you have been such a fool?” she wondered aloud, rolling her eyes to the ceiling and the room overhead where Chase was sleeping peacefully. “You can’t fall in love with him, you just can’t!” She picked up the clothes and folded them, frowning at the wrinkles in her sundress and remembering all too vividly how the soft material had been crushed.
She hurried outside. It was early. The air was still crisp and cool and she went through her morning chores by rote, her thoughts not on feeding the cattle and horses or watering the garden, or even on petting Runt, though she managed to do all those things and more. Her mind was with the man in her room, the man she’d spent the night with: Caleb Johnson’s partner.
