AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It is,” she admitted reluctantly. “But, most often, we get national media attention. That kind of advertising we can’t afford to lose.”
“But you didn’t get any national attention for the last few years, did you?”
She shook her heard as if she had expected this question and seemed resigned to a fate she couldn’t avoid. “No.”
“Why not?” He knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it from her.
Sheila bit her lower lip nervously. Her words rang with honesty and despair. “Dad was afraid. With all of the news coverage on the tampered bottles of chardonnay found in Montana and the problems with the crop because of the early snowfall, Dad thought it would be best for Cascade Valley to keep a low profile.” She paused for a moment to study the ribbon of silver moon-glow on the pond. “This was the year he had hoped would change all of that.”
“How?”
“Because we planned to introduce our reserve bottling of Cabernet Sauvignon.”
“Reserve bottling?” Noah repeated. “Something new?”
“For Cascade Valley, yes.” She turned to face him, her expression sincere. “It could be the biggest breakthrough we’ve had.”
“Tell me about it.” Noah was interested. This was the first hint of good news at the winery.
Sheila shook her head. “Not now. On Monday Dave Jansen will come by. He can tell you all about it. . .” She stopped midsentence, as if she’d assumed far too much about him. “You can stay until Monday, can’t you?” Why was it so imperative that he remain for more than just one night? Now that he was here, she desperately wanted him to stay.
“Is it that important?” he asked, his voice as low as the soft breeze that had begun to whisper through the pines.
“Yes, it’s important,” she admitted, but lied about the reason. “I think you should see for yourself. . . .”
His fingers lightly touched her shoulders, and through the light cotton fabric they warmed her skin. “What I meant was, is it important that I stay with you?”
Her lips felt desert dry. She had to lick them in order to find the courage for her truthful reply. “I’m glad you came here, Noah.” She admitted with only a trace of reluctance. “And I’d like you to stay, not just to witness the damage from the fire, nor just to evaluate the winery. Iwantyou to stay here with me, forme.” Her honesty filtered softly through the warm night air. The words of confession surprised her. After Jeff, she thought she had lost theneedof a man’s embrace. She had never expected to admit how much she wanted a man, because she thought that part of her had died. She had assumed that Jeff had ruined her for a relationship with any man, that the cynical feelings he had created in her would remain forever.
But she had been wrong, hopelessly mistaken. The strong man touching her lightly on the shoulders had changed her mind about many things, one of which was love. Though she couldn’t yet admit it to him, Sheila knew that she loved Noah as she had never loved before.
“Then I’ll stay,” he whispered. His thumbs smoothed the fabric over her collarbones. “I want to stay with you, sweet lady.”
Sheila sighed through trembling lips as Noah reached up and unclasped her hair. It billowed down in a chestnut tumble to frame her face in copper-tinged curls. Noah gently kissed her eyelids, and Sheila felt her knees begin to give way. His arms came protectively around her waist and pulled her achingly against the length of him. Her thighs touched his, her breasts were crushed against his chest, her heartbeat echoed with his in the still night.
His lips caressed her eyelids before moving slowly downward, leaving a moist trail of midnight dew on her cheekbones and the soft skin below her chin. A warm passion uncurling within her made a shudder pass through her body, and her skin quivered under the touch of his hands. His lips moved gently against her throat, and his tongue stroked the white skin, leaving a heated, wet impression. Sheila sighed dreamily into the night, unconsciously asking for more from him.
Her lips quivered when met by his and her gentle moan of pleasure blended warmly with his answering sigh. Their breath mingled and caught, heated by the fires dancing in their bloodstreams. When his tongue touched hers, the tempo of her heartbeat quickened and she opened her mouth in a gasp, wanting all of him, craving more of his bittersweet love.
He felt her surrender, knew the moment when the passion began to thunder in her ears and her bones began to melt. Her tongue stroked his, teasing and flirting with him until he could stand no more of the painless agony. Gently be pushed against her until the weight of his body forced her to fall on the soft bed of grass beneath the towering ponderosa pines. He let his weight fall against her, imprisoning her with the power of his body and the strength of his desire.
The ground felt cool against her back, a welcome relief to a sultry night. Noah’s kisses inflamed her blood and awakened a savage beast of passion slumbering quietly within her. She felt hot blood pumping through her racing heart until she thought she would explode from the powerful surge of desire sweeping through her. She wanted him—all of him. There was a desperation to her need, an untamed craving that knew no bounds.
“Make love to me,” she pleaded through fevered lips. He lifted his head and slowly extracted himself from her embrace.
After opening one of the buttons of her blouse, he kissed the warm skin between her breasts, tasting the salt of her perspiration on his tongue. His hand shook as he smoothed the hair away from her face. “I thought I’d go crazy,” he confessed, watching the play of moonlight on her red-brown hair. “I wanted to follow you back here that first night I met you.” His face was grave, his eyes earnest. “It was hell staying away.”
“Why didn’t you come sooner?” she asked, trying to keep her mind on the conversation. With his free hand he was toying with the collar of her blouse, letting his fingers dip deliciously below the lapels. Her skin still burned where he had planted the wet kiss between her breasts. Heat waves washed over her skin, which flushed a rosy hue.
“You were the one who needed time,” he reminded her. “I didn’t want to push you into anything you might regret later.”
“I could never regret spending time with you,” she confessed.
His forefinger circled the hollow of her throat, creating a whirlpool of sensitive longing deep within her. “Is . . . is that why you decided to come now, because you thought I might have come to some decision . . . about our relationship?” Why couldn’t she keep her wandering mind on the subject? It was important that she learn more about this man, and yet all of her thoughts were centered on his slow, seductive touch at the base of her throat.
“No . . . I came because I couldn’t wait any longer,” he admitted. It wasn’t a lie; he had felt an urgency to be with her again, but there was that sordid little business about Anthony Simmons’s report and her father’s implication in the arson. Dear God, how would he be able to tell her? He promised himself that he would find a way to break the news—when the timing was right. Just now, beneath a dusty sprinkling of midnight stars, he could only think of how hopelessly he wanted her.
She grabbed his finger, stopping its wandering journey on her neck. “I can’t think when you touch me like that.”
