They walked hand in hand to the staircase, pausing to kiss at the foot of the stairs.
“Do you want me to pick you up and carry you?” he asked, leaning toward her as if readying himself to do just that.
“Please don’t. Maybe it’s because of the baby, but being carried is—unnerving, Luke.” Brenna swallowed. “I’m sorry.”
“No apologies necessary.” Luke put his arm around her and led her up the stairs. “I’ll never make you do anything you don’t want to, Brenna. You don’t ever have to be afraid that I will.”
She reached for his hand resting on her shoulder and linked her fingers with his. “So there will be no more pressure from you to name the baby Sam or Lucas, if it’s a boy?” she teased, feeling playful and younger than she could ever remember feeling.
“Let me qualify my last statement. I’ll never pressure you sexually. Otherwise, I’ll try my damnedest to get you to do things my way. Winning over the opposition is part of my ex-political-operative charm.”
They both laughed as they reached the top of the stairs and headed toward her bedroom. This time she felt no trepidation as he undressed her, she made no apologies for her pregnant figure. No apologies necessary, she reminded herself. Luke had seen her before, and he had stayed. He’d even made the return trip to her bedroom!
So when he told her how feminine and beautiful she was, Brenna allowed herself to believe that he meant what he was saying. That he believed it himself.
They kissed and caressed each other for a long time, with no sense of rush, no need to hurry things along. Each touch was special, each kiss meaningful, as tenderness and passion built and merged together into a loving conflagration.
They lay on the bed together until Luke helped her on top of him, to sit astride him, putting her in a position that paradoxically made her both vulnerable and powerful at the same time.
Brenna wanted more, more affection, more reassurance. More of him.
Leaning forward, she twined her fingers through the springy thickness of his hair. The sensitive tips of her breasts brushed his chest as she kissed him, her mouth open and demanding, hot and wild
Luke’s hands skimmed along the length of her back, tracing the fine line of her spine and the small dimple at the base of it. After a few of these sweeping caresses, he cupped her buttocks, filling his palms with them and lushly squeezing.
She moaned her arousal and wriggled sensuously atop him, bringing her into full contact with his throbbing erection.
Luke reached up to fondle her breasts, teasing the nipples until she arched her back, tipping back her head so that her hair dangled down her back.
She closed her eyes as Luke lowered his hand and his clever fingers caressed her with an erotic expertise. Perspiration glowed on her skin as a primal instinct guided her into a position which most maximized the pleasure.
Brenna felt her body sinking into the sensual rhythm provided by his hand, and the delicious tension built, growing tighter, burning hotter. Her head lolled on her neck, frenetically turning from side to side, and her lips parted as she breathed his name and moaned her pleasure.
Her eyes remained tightly closed. Opening them would require too much effort, and her whole being was focused on what he was doing to her, what he was making her feel.
He murmured love words, sexy words that excited her even more. Luke was good with words; the thought flashed through her feverish brain. He was also very good with his hands.
She nearly smiled at the thought, except at that moment, he slowly, carefully inserted his finger inside her. First one, then another while his thumb maintained just the right amount of light pressure on the small swollen bud that ached and throbbed for his touch.
“You’re close now.” His voice was low and deep and seemed to exert a hypnotic effect on her.
“Yes. Please,” she mumbled, as if in a trance.
“Please what, sweetheart?”
“You—you know.” Her words were thick and almost incoherent.
“Tell me what you want, Brenna. And say my name,” he added, a possessive note creeping into his tone.
Embarrassment and fear had lost all meaning; she felt sensual, she felt free. To say and do and feel. “Let me climax, Luke. Please.”
“Yes, Brenna. I’ll do anything for you.”
And then he did, and a searing flash of heat exploded within her, making her writhe and rock and scream his name as her entire body convulsed with the power of her surrender.
It was a wondrous, rapturous tidal wave of heat and passion and release crashing over her. Before she could come down, as her body still quivered with aftershocks of pleasure, Brenna felt his big strong hands on her hips, settling her directly over him.
Guiding himself inside her.
She felt her body opening to his penetration, accepting him within her.
“That’s it, sweetheart,” he rasped. “I want you so much. You feel so good, so soft, like hot velvet. You’re my love, and I’ll never hurt you. You know that, don’t you, Brenna? Don’t ever be afraid of me.”
Fear was the farthest thing from her mind, Brenna thought dizzily as she felt her body stretching to sheathe him. The fullness felt wonderful, an indescribable contrast to that empty ache that she’d known only since Luke had first aroused her. He was her first everything, and their bodies seemed exquisitely attuned to each other’s.
Her insides pulsed thrillingly with his every rhythmic stroke. He adjusted her position once again until she could feel his manhood rub more directly against her most sensitive place.
“Better?” he muttered huskily.
Brenna saw shards of color streak like fireworks behind her closed eyelids. She whimpered. Better was definitely an understatement. It was the best, the most marvelous, the wildest and hottest…
And then their bodies both plunged over the precipice into a sublime free fall.
Luke held her as feelings he’d never experienced gripped him. He’d had intercourse before, of course, but this was the first time it went beyond physical pleasure for him.
He felt as if Brenna had absorbed him as he had entered her, that the two of them had merged and become one. She was on top of him and he was inside her, he could taste her on his lips and feel her passion-slick skin against his own. A rush of protectiveness and pride swept through him. She was his.
Her body was trembling, and he could feel her delicate little shivers as he gently eased himself out of her.
He placed her down beside him, keeping her close and tucking her into the curve of his body, like nesting spoons. Smoothing a lock of her hair away from her cheek, he gently tucked it behind her ear.
He loved her. The insight struck him with the force of a two-by-four to the head, leaving him feeling slightly giddy. For the first time in his life, he was truly in love.
He guessed there might have been—there most certainly had been—a time in his life when, if someone had told him he would fall in love with an almost-nine-months-pregnant woman carrying another man’s child, he would’ve laughed himself silly.
Of course, nobody would ever have said such a thing, because it was just too improbable for anybody to imagine. He was the Minteer with the best imagination, and not even he could have come up with a scenario more unlikely than this one.
But it had happened, and Luke decided he wouldn’t have it any other way. He wanted Brenna, only Brenna, and if she happened to be almost nine months pregnant, that’s how he wanted her. Just the way she was.
His hand automatically came to rest on Brenna’s abdomen, where the baby lay quiescent within her womb. Never mind the med student who’d biologically fathered this child via the sperm bank—the man whom this child called “Daddy” was going to be Luke Minteer.
“Luke?” she murmured, her voice quavering.
“I’m here, honey.” He kissed the corner of her jaw, her earlobe, the curve of her neck.
“Could you go home now?”
It took a while for him to fully process what she’d just said. When it finally dawned…
“You’re kicking me out?” Luke was staggered. “You’re not only kicking me out of your bed, you’re kicking me out of your house?”
“I want to be by myself. Please, Luke.” Her voice rose to a nervous plea. “I really need some time alone.”
“Tough.” His hands drifted over her body, caressing, soothing, apologizing for his stand. But not reconsidering. “You’ve already spent too much time by yourself, Brenna. Now I’m with you, and I’m staying with you. Deal with it.”
“Oh, I’ve done it now, haven’t I?” Brenna groaned. “You’ve taken my request as a challenge and decided to stay put.”
“It wasn’t a request, it was an order, and you can’t say you weren’t warned about what would happen.” Luke nipped her shoulder, then laved it with his tongue. “A less secure man might go running off, but luckily I have a strong male ego and am not taking your attempted rejection personally.”
Within his embrace, Brenna rolled onto her other side, facing him, her arm sliding reflexively across his middle. She regarded him gravely for a moment. Her lashes were spiky with tears, her eyes shimmered with them.
“There are those who might say your ego is more than merely strong, it’s overinflated, which makes you over-bearing. And that you should take my attempted rejection personally because—well, what could be more personal than a woman kicking you out of her bed right after…after—” She bit her lip and shook her head, unable to continue.
Luke lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed each finger, punctuating his words with the light touches of his lips.
“After we made love and you loved every minute of it?” he suggested.
Brenna flinched.
“You’re absolutely right, you know,” Luke continued calmly. “There are those who would say all those things you just said. But I have a thick skin. So even though you feel compelled to say stuff to send me away, I can just shrug it off. And I’ll stay with you, just like you want me to, Brenna.”
She glowered at him. “What do I have to say to get you to go away and leave me alone?”
“Your body language is saying all I need to know, honey.”
Brenna glanced down at her arm, draped across his stomach, at her leg which had slipped between his…. She hadn’t even realized what she’d done. It was as if her limbs had moved of their own volition in direct opposition to her stated demands.
“So I’ve come to this—saying one thing and doing another,” she said grimly. “Which makes me a total nutcase who is—”
“You’re not nuts and you’re not hormonal,” Luke cut in, his voice ringing with that confidence and assurance he projected so well. “Your mother was a wacko and surrounded herself with similar kinds, which meant that you had to endure too many of them during those rotten years with her. So you learned not to let your guard down, and it’s hard to break old defensive habits. That’s all it is, Brenna.”
“It’s hard to argue with someone who’s arguing that you’re not crazy.” Brenna’s voice was tinged with irony.
“Yeah, it is. So stop arguing and go to sleep.”
“Will you be here in the morning?” Brenna’s heart hammered wildly in her chest.
“I’ll be here, Brenna.”
He didn’t say anything else, and neither did she.
Was Luke right? Brenna wondered, confused. Did she really want him to stay here with her?
Already she was beginning to reconstruct those invisible walls around her heart. She reminded herself how much she cherished her privacy and how much time alone she required.
As for sharing a bed all night with him…well, that wasn’t going to happen. It couldn’t. At the school in Denver, she’d had a terrible time sleeping while sharing a room with another girl and hadn’t shared a room with anyone since. Let alone a bed.
Brenna tried not to think of what she’d done with Luke today. Her mind was already on overload. Reliving the wild, hot memories would probably short-circuit it! But try as she might to suppress them, those feelings sneaked past her guard, evoking everything.
What they’d done. What they’d said. How wonderful it all had been.
And he was still here, holding her in the dark silence of her room, warming her with his body heat. His steady breathing echoed in her ears. It was a calming, reassuring sound.
She would lie here for just a little longer and then convince him to leave.
But wrapped in Luke’s arms, Brenna felt as if her tired mind and her satiated body were floating away as she slowly drifted into sleep.
“The good news is that it’s stopped snowing and the roads have been cleared,” Luke announced the next morning.
Brenna, who’d awakened moments earlier, struggled to a sitting position in bed and watched him look out the window.
He was dressed in his clothes from yesterday, but his face was smoothly shaven and his hair still damp from the shower. He looked vigorous and alert and cheerful—whereas she felt nowhere near any of those enviable states.
“The bad news is that it’s stopped snowing and the roads have been cleared—and everything is open and running on time today,” Luke continued. “I heard it on the radio, which means we have jury duty today. Ready for another go-round of Gimme That Ring?”
Brenna closed her eyes and tried to stifle a moan. She didn’t quite succeed.
“My sentiments exactly.” Luke chuckled. “When we jurors get together to deliberate, I’m going to suggest that the court confiscate the damn ring and donate it to charity.”
Should she try to explain that it wasn’t the prospect of serving on the jury and listening to Amber’s and Brad’s attorneys do their best to portray each other’s clients as greedy/stingy, shameless/shameful wretches who did/did not deserve the diamond ring?
No, it was the thought of having to sit next to Luke Minteer in the jury box all day, and wondering what to say and do after the courtroom session ended.
Brenna gnawed nervously on her lower lip.
Suppose he asked—no, Luke didn’t ask, he just did as he pleased—and suppose it pleased him to come back to her house with her again tonight? To make love to her and spend the night with her again? Why, she’d intended to send him on his way last night—except she’d fallen asleep first.
And for it to occur two nights in a row? She couldn’t handle so much intimacy. Brenna shivered. The very idea made her claustrophobic.
But suppose it didn’t please him to be with her? Suppose yesterday had been both the beginning and the end of her involvement with Luke Minteer?
She couldn’t handle that, either!
For the first time in her life, Brenna felt a sharp flicker of recognition. This awful uncertainty must have been what her mother’s chaotic romantic life had been like.
Brenna was aghast. She had spent years avoiding men to save herself from falling into the same traps that had constantly ensnared her mother. Yet here she was, so like Marly, falling in love and into bed with a man she hadn’t known long enough. Wasting her time and brain cells worrying about what would happen next. Would he call? Wouldn’t he? What did every nuance of his every word and expression mean?
Brenna steeled herself against it. She would not subject herself or her baby to any of that futile nonsense.
“You went into the bathroom about four times last night,” Luke said.
Brenna’s eyes flew open, and she felt a hot blush spread over every inch of her skin. She saw Luke studying her, and she didn’t meet his eyes. She couldn’t. The physical intimacy they’d shared last night didn’t extend to this morning—nor to pointed observations on her bathroom habits!
“Was it because you’re so far along in the pregnancy or because of the sex?” Luke’s brows narrowed in concern.
“The pregnancy,” Brenna replied brusquely. “I’ve been getting up a lot at night for the past month or so.” She threw off the covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed.
She was naked, a fact she’d forgotten. Looking down at herself while making an ungainly escape into the sanctuary of the bathroom made her cringe.
But she made a successful, if ungainly, escape to the sanctuary of the bathroom, closed the door and locked it.
“I’ll make some breakfast,” Luke called through the door. “What do you want?”
“Anything. Whatever you’re going to have.” She turned on the shower, and the roaring sound of the water precluded any further conversation.
After a quick breakfast of juice and cereal, they drove to the courthouse in silence. There had been an argument about taking two cars. Brenna insisted on driving herself. Luke said it made no sense as parking was sure to be scarce since the snowplows had been utilized to clear the district’s roads, not the parking lots. However, the VIP spots in front of the courthouse would surely be cleared.
Why should Brenna drive around town, searching for what might be a nonexistent parking space? Luke argued. Even if she found one, there would be a long cold walk to the courthouse, and the sidewalks might be slippery. If she fell, she could hurt herself or the baby.
Brenna accused him of being manipulative for bringing the baby into this. Luke replied it was impossible not to bring the baby into this, as it was inside her.
In the end Brenna decided it was easier simply to ride to the courthouse with Luke. His points were too valid to ignore. Besides, she could tell he wasn’t going to budge on the issue. He assured her that he wouldn’t, and she’d come to realize that he always meant what he said.
Luke swung the Dodge Durango into the cleared VIP spot directly in front of the courthouse, came around to her side and lifted her out of the truck.
“There’s just one thing,” Brenna said, as he set her on the ground.
She was breathless from being handled by him and wanted nothing more than to lean into him and tuck her hand into his. But she kept it at her side.
“And what’s that?” Luke reached for her hand and slipped it into his pocket, pulling her closer to him in the process.
Brenna felt his body brush hers and a honeyed warmth oozed through her. “I want to go right home after we’re finished here for the day.”
“Okay, I’ll take you right home,” he replied easily.
“And—I don’t want you to come into my house or ask if you can. Because my answer will be no,” she finished in a rush.
“Well, I guess this is one of those damned-if-you-do or damned-if-you-don’t situations.” He sounded more resigned than angry or sad. “If I agree to drop you off without any protest, you’ll assume I want to leave you. If I refuse and insist on coming in with you, you’ll accuse me of stalking you. Of not knowing how to take no for an answer.”
“You don’t know how to take no for an answer. I don’t have to prove that,” she added.
Even to her own ears she sounded cranky and ill-tempered. She really wouldn’t blame Luke if he dropped her hand and stomped off inside the courthouse.
Instead, Luke laughed. They kept on walking together, up the stairs and into the building.
In the jury box, the jurors exchanged tales of yesterday’s storm and how they’d weathered it. Everybody but Luke and Brenna complained about the lack of accessible parking spaces since the lots had only been partially plowed.
Brad and Amber and their attorneys sat at their respective tables, ignoring each other.
Everybody rose when the judge entered the courtroom.
“Your Honor, yesterday afternoon the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld a ruling by the Superior Court that pertains to this case,” Brad’s lawyer announced, looking very pleased. “If I may cite the ruling…”
Brad, clearly aware of what was to come, grinned from ear to ear.
Amber’s lawyer looked as if he knew, too. He grimaced and seemed to brace himself as he whispered something in his client’s ear.
“Amber looks ready to hit something, or somebody, probably Brad or his lawyer,” Luke whispered to Brenna. “Maybe both.”
The judge, giving nothing away by his expression, told Brad’s attorney to continue.
“In a case with circumstances closely paralleling this one, the Superior Court ordered the fiancée to give back the engagement ring after the engagement was terminated,” the lawyer continued in a majestic baritone. “The Superior Court considered this case to be a ‘case of first impression.”’
He turned to the jury and added in an aside, “That means the Court’s ruling would be the standard for similar cases in the future.”
“I read the ruling, Counselor,” chimed in the judge. “The Supreme Court justices said that the state had adopted a no-fault divorce statute back in 1980 and should apply similar principles to cases spawned by broken engagements.”
“It’s long overdue for these personal issues of blame and fault to be removed from the courtroom, Your Honor,” Brad’s attorney said smugly.
The judge shot him a warning look. “I hereby order the ring returned and dismiss this case.”
“No!” shrieked Amber, jumping to her feet. “That’s not fair!”
“Sit down and be quiet, young lady,” ordered the judge, pounding his gavel. He turned to the jury. “The jurors are dismissed with the Commonwealth’s thanks for performing your civic duty.”
“They didn’t do anything but sit there and stare at me!” howled Amber.
“You see why I broke up with her?” Brad addressed the jury himself. “Would any of you guys want to marry her?”
“She’s pretty hot, though,” one Jason chortled to the other.
After another pound of the gavel and another demand for silence, the judge departed. The attorneys attempted to shepherd their bickering clients from the courtroom as Amber cursed furiously at the preening, triumphant Brad.
The jurors filed out of the jury box.
“Let’s go before we’re witnesses to a homicide and have to come back to testify,” joked one of the older women.
Beside her, Brenna felt Luke freeze in place. She glanced up at him to see him staring down at her, a look of concern on his face.
“Brenna, what she said…” Luke murmured. “She didn’t know about your—”
“I know,” Brenna said quietly. “I don’t take jokes like that personally.” Her lips tightened. “But when it comes to books that make crime seem exciting and criminals seem interesting, those I take those personally.”
Roger, the jury’s elected foreman, invited everybody to Peglady’s to celebrate their unexpected freedom.
“Do you want to go?” Luke asked Brenna.
She shook her head. “I want to go home. Alone!”
“Anything you want, you’ve got it,” said Luke. Then he hummed a few bars of it.
As she’d requested—demanded!—Luke drove directly to her house. He politely assisted her to the front door, and when Brenna opened it, he made no move to come inside.
Her heart sinking, she watched him stroll back down the walk. This was the way she wanted it, Brenna reminded herself sternly.
It was just that she didn’t want him to want it that way, too! Brenna realized she was on the verge of tears. She fought against them, appalled by her weakness.
“Do you want me to pick you up at six or six-thirty for dinner tonight?” Luke called to her, just before he climbed behind the wheel.
The jolt of relief she felt was palpable, throwing her so off balance that she feared she would lose her already tenuous control and start to cry, if she attempted to speak.
Oh, the effect of all these hormones, causing her moods to shift crazily from low to high!
Or was it the effect of Luke Minteer?
“Okay, six it is,” Luke answered for her. “See you then, Brenna.”