“Oh, really,” Dani echoed dryly, wondering what in heaven’s name he was going to try to commandeer her into now. “Like what?” She moved carefully away from him, determined not to put herself in a physically or emotionally vulnerable situation with him again.
“Like get this place organized.” Beau flashed her his movie-star I-can-conquer-anything grin. “We won’t be able to concentrate on us until there’s a peaceful environment to concentrate in. Therefore—” he shook his head disparagingly at the moving boxes stacked in every nook and cranny of the first floor “—we need to unpack.”
“Only one problem with that,” Dani said, resenting that his immediate ambitions so clearly mirrored her own. She didn’t want them to think alike on anything. Except maybe about the baby. She wanted them both to care about the baby.
Beau’s glance ran over her face, lingering on her lips for a long heart-stopping moment before returning to her eyes. Adding to her dismay was the fact that he seemed to like her low-flash-point temper. “And that problem is?”
Dani blew out an exasperated breath, not sure when a man had gotten under her skin so swiftly. All she knew was that he was fast taking over her life. And she did not want that to happen. Letting Beau into her life meant taking chances she was not prepared to take. She was happy just the way she was, even if she was a little lonely from time to time. But knowing she would soon have a child she wanted with all her heart and soul and living near her sisters again would take care of that, she assured herself. She didn’t need Beau to see her through the pregnancy or help her take care of the baby. Her sisters could do that, too.
Steeling herself against any passes he might make, she propped both hands on her hips and took an equally insouciant stance. “Billy Carter will be here in a few minutes and I’m still in my pajamas.” She might be working at home now, but she didn’t intend to greet her employee in her nightclothes.
“I can remedy that.” Beau’s dark-blue eyes glimmered mischievously. “Where are your clothes? I’ll get you dressed in no time flat.”
“Undressed is more like it.”
“I admit it. I’m pretty good at that, too.”
“Well, that’s a skill you are not going to be called on to use here,” Dani said as hot embarrassed color bled into her face. Honestly, what was wrong with her? He hadn’t even touched her and she was tingling all over!
Beau leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. The look he gave her was direct, uncompromising and confident. “You never know,” he offered cheerfully.
Dani shook her head imperiously. “I know.”
He merely smiled in a way that made her feel all hot and bothered inside and continued looking at her.
“However, I think I will get dressed,” Dani said, knowing the less time they spent together in an intimate fashion the better. Their situation was complicated enough without bringing sex back into the equation or allowing herself to think their marriage was anything but a temporary solution for the benefit of the child they were unexpectedly expecting.
Looking as if he had no such reservations himself about either their present or their future, Beau took her in from head to toe. His glance lingered appreciatively on her breasts before returning to her face. “Need any help with that?” he teased.
Dani rolled her eyes and drew in a short stabilizing breath. “Don’t you wish.”
“NO,” DANI TOLD BEAU and Billy for the twentieth time that morning. “I don’t like that arrangement, either.”
Beau and Billy put the sofa down in front of the bay window overlooking the front lawn. Wordlessly they traded impatient man-to-man glances and shook their heads.
“Why don’t we just put them somewhere and worry about it later?” Beau told Dani, not sure when he had been so thoroughly exasperated by a woman. As far as he was concerned, every single way they’d had the living-room furniture arranged so far was just fine. Who cared, anyway, as long as you had a place to sit down? Or in his case, as the husband-relegated-to-the-sofa, to sleep?
“No,” Dani shot back. “I won’t be able to work unless it’s right.”
“Well, I won’t be able to keep a lid on my temper unless we stop now,” Beau said just as firmly, ignoring Billy’s wide-eyed look of dismay.
Dani gave Beau a deliberately provoking look. Smiled with all the steely resolve of a born and bred Texas belle. “Maybe that’s a sign, then, you weren’t cut out for…this and should run on home now,” she suggested sweetly.
Beau knew what she meant, even if Billy didn’t. And he didn’t care what Dani did or how many hoops she tried to make him jump through. He wasn’t about to give up on this marriage of theirs. If he had married her, against his decision never to marry again, he’d had a reason. And he was damn well sticking to her like glue until he found out or remembered what that reason was.
Beau glanced at his watch. “Maybe we should break for lunch.” And maybe it was time he made a few calls, without Dani’s knowledge, and took care of this problem once and for all. Their lives would be much simpler, much sooner, if he did now what he’d been tempted to do all along.
“Suit yourself, but I’m staying where I am,” Dani said sweetly, looking at Beau in a way that made him want to haul her into his arms and kiss her until she went weak in the knees and melted against him.
Billy looked from one to the other. Clearly he felt as caught between the two of them as he was tired of moving furniture. “Maybe I should, um, go into your office and start setting up your computer,” Billy suggested to Dani nervously.
“Good idea,” Dani said, her stubborn glance still trained on Beau.
“Meanwhile, I’ll go out, make a few phone calls and bring us all back some lunch,” Beau promised, heading for the door.
AS SOON AS BEAU LEFT, Dani went into the library/ study, with the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and beautiful marble fireplace, to help Billy. Although still cluttered with dozens of boxes stacked one on top of the other, she knew this large room with its abundant storage and floor space was going to be the perfect working environment for her. Not to mention that there was also plenty of room for a playpen or crib and a child-size play area, so her baby could come to work with her, in comfort and style. Dani hadn’t planned to mix motherhood and work just yet, but now that she was living in Laramie again, surrounded by family and friends and pregnant with Beau’s child, she had to admit, she couldn’t have been happier. Despite the fact the baby would link her and Beau forever.
“I never knew you and Beau Chamberlain were such good friends,” Billy said as he tore open the box that contained her computer monitor.
Dani cleared off her computer table, which had already been placed next to an electrical outlet, and began looking for the surge protector. “I wouldn’t call us that, exactly.”
Billy carried the monitor over to the table, then went back to the box that contained the hard drive and carried it over. “He’s here helping you move in.”
Dani sorted out the half-dozen cables that would connect the components of the computer. “I know.”
Billy went back for the keyboard and brought that over, too. His expression puzzled, he asked, “Why would a big movie star like Beau be going all out to help you when he obviously doesn’t really like this moving stuff unless—” Billy stopped abruptly, a stricken expression on his face.
“Unless what?” Dani asked, wondering what had Billy so upset. He didn’t know about her pregnancy or marriage.
“Unless Beau’s trying to butter you up to write a good review of his next movie!”
“When it comes to my reviews, I tell the plain unvarnished truth. Everyone knows I can’t be bought. And I don’t give favorable reviews for friends to help sales, either.”
Billy stopped in the act of connecting the keyboard to the hard drive. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise, but you gotta admit, Dani, you were awfully hard on him in your reviews of his last four movies.”
So others had said. “Every word I wrote was dead on,” Dani said irritably. Beau’s movies had been good. She’d just thought they could be better. “Furthermore, other critics feel Beau could pick material that’s a little more realistic and a little less idealistic, too.”
Billy shrugged that off. “That’s true. But your column is in a lot more than just one newspaper, Dani, now that your reviews are syndicated. Heck, you’re almost as famous as Ebert or Pauline Kael.”
Dani knew that was true. In some ways the importance of her opinion had begun to weigh on her. She had never wanted to be responsible for a movie’s success or failure. She’d just wanted to review them. Let others know what she saw in them or didn’t see.
“Beau is not here for that,” she said firmly, cutting open the box that held her printer, then signaling to Billy to come over and lift it out for her. Like her, Beau was far too ethical for that. He wanted to stand or fall on his own merits. He would never ask her to write something about him that was not true. He would never ask her to write good things about his movies she didn’t believe or be selective about telling the truth, the way Dani’s ex-boyfriend, Chris Avery, had.
Billy carried the printer over to the stand and set it down. Scowling, he persisted, “Then how come he’s here so much?” Billy jerked in a breath as his next thought hit. He leaned urgently closer. “You two aren’t dating, are you?”
Dani flushed self-consciously as she struggled to untangle the cord and plug the monitor into the hard drive. “No, we’re not dating.” We’re married.
“Good.” Billy blew out a sigh of relief. “Because—” Again, he stopped abruptly. And grinned at her as if she’d just given him an unexpected Christmas gift.
“Because what, Billy?” Dani asked softly. Maybe it was time to get this all out on the table. Discuss Billy’s obvious crush on her, openly and honestly, and then move past it. She looked at him gently, waiting for him to tell her what was on his mind and in his heart. And that was when he made his move. Closed the distance between them swiftly. Put his arms around her in a fierce hug and planted a big wet one on her lips. Dani gasped, struggled and clamped her lips together. Billy held her all the tighter and continued the hopelessly clumsy kiss.
And that was when Beau walked in.
He took one look, set down the bags containing their lunch, strode over. One swift yank and Billy was off Dani and held aloft in Beau’s fist. “You have,” Beau said through clenched teeth as Dani wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, “exactly two seconds to explain.”
Quaking from head to toe, Billy shouted, “Summer of ’42!”
Dani blinked at the movie analogy, as did Beau. Then she put her hand on the flexed muscles of Beau’s arm and stepped in to intervene. “Put him down, Beau,” she said, still struggling to catch her breath.
Beau let Billy’s feet touch the floor again, but did not release the powerful grip he had on Billy’s T-shirt. “Keep talking,” Beau growled at Billy, looking as if he was ready to punch out Billy at any second.
“Didn’t you see the movie?” Billy sputtered anxiously, putting up both hands to ward off the blow he was sure was coming and obviously knew he no doubt deserved. “Where the sexy older woman falls for the young kid and takes him into her…well, you know.” Billy turned bright red.
Yes, Dani did. And so, unfortunately, did Beau. And she had no intention of taking Billy into her bed. “This is not the movies, Billy,” Dani said sternly.
“With one exception,” Beau growled. Keeping his grip on Billy’s shirt, he lifted him off his feet again so they were face-to-face. “You ever ever lay a hand on her again and you’re going to have your lights punched out—by me. Only these won’t be the fake punches you see on-screen. These will be the real thing. You got that?”
Billy was shaking from head to toe. “Yes. Yessir!”
“That’s good.” Beau lowered him to the floor. Releasing his grip on his shirt, he gave him a shove. “Now go home. Now!” he thundered, all the louder and more forcibly when Billy hesitated.
“Yessir!” Billy shouted, and darted for the door.
“And don’t come back!” Beau thundered, shutting the door behind him.
Stunned, furious, Dani stared at him. That had been a terrible scene. No doubt about it. But she hadn’t wanted to end it that way. She hadn’t wanted Beau to end it at all. “You have no right,” she sputtered furiously. She was the one who should have put Billy in his place.
Beau folded his arms and leaned against the front door. His eyes met hers. Once again he seemed to be watching and weighing everything she said and did. “I have every right,” he reminded her mildly. “Unless you have forgotten, you are my wife.”
Her feelings wounded by Beau’s obvious lack of faith in her, Dani marched forward and stabbed a finger at his chest. “And Billy is my employee,” she countered, feeling a crazy mixture of emotion running riot inside her.
Beau brushed past her, a censuring light in his eyes, a downward slant to his lips. “Not for long.”
If she didn’t know better, she would think it was Beau’s heart that was hurting, instead of just his pride. Dani’s heart soared at the possibility even as she worried about the problems Beau’s feelings would cause. The truth was, she wasn’t any happier about Billy’s pass than Beau was, but she saw no reason to let Beau know that. He would just use it to further his own argument.
Her temper soaring, Dani followed Beau across the foyer. “You can’t fire him, Beau. Only I can do that.”
She gave Beau a quelling look that, to her chagrin, didn’t seem to weigh on him in the least as he turned and smiled back at her, at that moment looking every bit the kick-butt cowboy he played on-screen.
“Want to bet?” Beau drawled, and started for the door as if to go after Billy.
Dani intervened, putting herself between Beau and the front door. When he would have stepped right by her, she took him by the arm. There was no doubt Beau was bigger, taller and stronger than she was. But she had one weapon to use against him in this battle of wills—her words. “Listen to me, Beau Chamberlain,” she told him, her fingers curling around the powerful muscles in his arms. “I will not allow you to come in here and take over my life.”
“Meaning what?” Beau regarded her with growing impatience, irked by her refusal to let him go all out to defend her. He looked as if he wanted to either shake her or kiss her senseless, she couldn’t tell which. “You’re actually encouraging the kid?” he asked, incredulous.
He didn’t have to say it. Dani knew what he was thinking. He was comparing her to his traitorous ex-wife, Sharon Davis. “Of course not,” Dani replied, echoing his harsh pragmatic tone. He was furious with her for not seeing that kiss of Billy’s coming, but that didn’t mean he had a right to pass judgment on her. Especially since she would have handled that situation just fine on her own if Beau hadn’t come along and gone all caveman on her.
She stormed back into the library, figuring if nothing else she could get back to work. Beau, however, had other plans, as he backed her up against the edge of her desk. “I didn’t see you hauling off and slapping his face.”
Dani didn’t know exactly what it was, but there was something dangerous about him now, something overly watchful and faintly predatory in his manner.
Giving him an innocent smile that belied the sudden wobbliness of her knees and the racing of her pulse, she looked at him equably and remarked calmly, “That’s because you didn’t give me a chance.” Dani tried to back up farther and ended up sitting on the desk.
“You’re saying you would have?” Beau planted his hands on either side of her and leaned over her, so she was pinned between his body and the smooth uncluttered surface of the desk.
Dani paused, torn between her desire to make him suffer for thinking her capable of who only knew what with Billy and her even stronger desire to see that he was never hurt again the way his ex-wife had hurt him. She only knew that, used to total freedom her whole adult life, she resented having her actions and her integrity questioned now—a lot. Especially by him. “I…no,” Dani said honestly. “I wouldn’t have. I would have told him it was inappropriate.” So there were similarities in what was happening here and what had happened with Sharon Davis. So Billy was gaga over Dani and her celebrity and her career in the same way those young guys had been gaga over Sharon—but it didn’t mean she would go to bed with him the way Sharon had gone to bed with her youthful admirers! And darn it all, Dani thought, her resentment building, Beau should know that!
Beau glared at her, desire and a wealth of feeling glimmering in his eyes. His glance slid over the inviting curves of her breasts, her flat abdomen and slim sexy legs before returning to her tousled hair, soft lips and wide amber eyes. “I’m sure he would’ve gotten that,” he said sarcastically. Disgusted by what he apparently saw as her naiveté regarding Billy, Beau refrained from touching her and turned away.
Knowing this was one conflict they needed to resolve, pronto, before his suspicions and her pride tore them apart, Dani pushed herself off the desk and followed him, not stopping until she was face-to-face with Beau again. Ignoring the combination of hurt and anger flashing in his eyes, she angled her chin up at him and demanded, “What exactly are you implying?”
Beau braced his hands on his waist and towered over her. His eyes lasered into hers. “I’m not implying anything, Dani,” he said very very softly. “I’m telling you. As long as we’re married, the only man you are making love with is me.”
Before Dani could do more than gasp, Beau caught her beneath the knees, swung her up into his arms and headed for the stairs. He looked as if he wanted her in his bed again, Dani realized with equal parts anticipation and anxiety. And that was a dangerous proposition. Beau was not just her temporary husband. He was the kind of man she could fall in love with. Part of her felt she had already fallen in love with him. Maybe would always be in love with him, at least a little bit.
Doing her best to remain imperious as Beau carried her up the sweeping staircase to the second floor, Dani linked one arm about his neck and used her other hand to push at his chest. “Just what do you think you’re doing, Beauregard Chamberlain?” she demanded.
Beau’s blue eyes twinkled at the use of his full name. “What do you think I’m doing?” he murmured sexily, his gaze ardently roving her flushed upturned face.
Getting ready to make me yours all over again, Dani thought as shimmers of desire swept through her. The only problem was, she wasn’t sure she was ready for that. “You cannot just carry me up to the bedroom like…like some conquering hero in a movie!” Dani sputtered, feeling both excited and incensed.
“Really?” Beau paused on the landing. He looked down at her. His grip tightened possessively as he shifted her closer to his chest. “How come?”
Trying hard not to notice how warm and strong and solid he felt, Dani shot right back, “Because you and I are not John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, or Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh!” Even if it temporarily felt as though they were right up there with the hottest most combustible couples ever to grace a movie screen.
“We’re ordinary people.” Ordinary people did not do exciting things like this. At least not in Dani’s experience.
“You’re right about that, all right,” Beau acknowledged with a mock gallantry that kindled her senses. He grinned confidently, then continued on up the stairs, looking all the more pleased. He strode into Dani’s bedroom and set her down with unexpected gentleness onto the rumpled covers of her bed. Pausing only long enough to kick off his boots, he stretched out beside her and draped her body with his own. “We’re not actors playing a part.”
Dani flushed hotly as his lips tugged on the lobe of her ear, sending another frisson of sensation soaring through her veins. Suddenly his hands were framing her face and he was lifting her head to his. “We’re a man and a woman. A husband and wife. A couple who is expecting a baby in a little over eight months.” Giving her no chance to argue, he lowered his mouth to hers.
Dani tasted the masculine force that was Beau, felt his wildness in the plundering sweeping motions of his tongue. She didn’t want to give in to him, but his will was stronger than hers. With a low moan of surrender, Dani tilted her head to give him deeper access. His tongue twined with hers, and he delivered a kiss that scored her soul and left her limp with longing and faint with acquiescence and wondering at the magical power he seemed to hold over her heart. They weren’t supposed to be together—ever—given how acrimoniously they’d behaved toward each other. And yet Dani couldn’t remember ever feeling anything as right as being held in his arms and kissed like there was no tomorrow, no yesterday. Only today.
“Besides…” Beau eventually lifted his head. He rolled onto his back, keeping his arms wrapped around her and taking her with him, so that she ended up draped over the length of him. “In the movies you talked about,” he continued, threading his hands through the copper-colored silk of her hair, “the screen always faded to black when they got to the good part. I assure you,” he said, dropping kisses along the curve of her cheek, down the nape of her neck, into the open V of her blouse, “I am not going to let that happen here.”
“Beau…” Dani moaned, already feeling herself begin to surrender to him, and all he’d done was carry her to bed and kiss her.
“Not that the fault here is all yours,” Beau said between sweet seductive kisses. He looked at her lovingly as he traced the bow shape of her lip with his fingertip. “It’s mine, too,” he whispered gently. “For not making it clear sooner to you and everyone else that you are my woman now. And no one else’s.”
Another shiver of excitement went through her. And then he was on top of her again, his body covering hers. His weight was as welcoming as a warm blanket on a cold winter night. Then his mouth was on hers in a kiss that was shattering in its possessive sensuality. He kissed her as if he was in love with her and would be for all time. He kissed her like he meant to have her. Longing surged through her, overwhelming her heart and her mind. Coupled with his wanting, it was enough to drive her toward abandon. Dani made a low helpless sound in the back of her throat. “Beau—”
“That’s it, sweetheart.” Beau unbuttoned her blouse, dropping kisses across her skin, while Dani’s heart pounded every bit as erratically as his. “Say my name,” Beau whispered, and then he kissed her again, hotly and thoroughly. “Say it over and over again.” He dispensed with her blouse and her bra. And then his mouth was on her once again, moving from her throat to her breast, tempting, caressing, sending her into a frenzy of wanting. Dani arched against him, burying her hands in his hair, bringing his lips back to hers. She could feel the rigidness of his arousal as he settled himself more fully on top of her. Then need took over once again, making them both reckless and relentless. She wanted him. Needed him. Needed this. Her lips parted and she drew his tongue more intimately into her mouth, continuing to kiss and caress, touch and love, even as they struggled to free themselves of their clothes. Her skirt, panties and sandals were kicked off. His jeans, briefs, shorts and socks quickly followed. Her muscles trembled, tensed, as once again he settled between her thighs, his hips nudging them apart.
Over and over, Beau kissed her, until desire streamed through her, until she was warm and safe, until she knew, as well as he, that this—loving each other again—was inevitable.
Beau hadn’t meant for any of this to happen. He’d wanted to make love to Dani, but not until they had their memories back. Not before he was certain with every fiber of his being that she was his and his alone. But when she had started challenging him, refusing to acknowledge she needed him to watch over and protect her, everything had taken a different turn. The truth was he wanted Dani as he had never wanted any woman. More telling still was the fact that he needed her just as desperately.
Knowing he hadn’t yet looked his fill, he studied the rounded fullness of her breasts, the pouting apricot nipples. Lower still, the flatness of her abdomen, the slenderness of her waist, the enticing curve of her hips, her long sleek thighs. She was as beautiful as his earlier brief flashes of memory had allowed. His whole body tightened as he caressed the curves of her breasts, her pearling nipples and the shadowy valley between.
Surging against him as if she wished his loving would never stop, he slid ever downward, inhaling the sweet lilac scent of her and tasting the silky stretch of skin across her ribs. Dipping his tongue into her navel. Her whole body straining against him, she gave a little cry as he slid lower yet, ran his palms across her legs and gently parted her thighs. The swiftness of her pinnacle caught him by surprise, as did her wantonness and lack of restraint.
She wanted him. She let him know it. With hands and lips, teeth and tongue. Until there was no more holding back for either of them. Until once again she was beneath him. Hands under her hips, he lifted her to him. Took her slowly, sweetly. Until her heart was beating in urgent rhythm to his. The softness of her body giving new heat to his, he took her to heights and depths. He showed her they didn’t need to do anything but feel. And he groaned as his body took up an urgent primitive rhythm all its own.
Until then, he hadn’t known his own control could be so easily lost, but it was. Beau was aware of every soft warm inch of her, inside and out. Every sigh of surrender, every whimper of desire and pulsation of need. Lost in the sweet swirling pleasure, he went deeper yet. The bedroom grew hot and close. And yet mostly he was aware of Dani, and the wild yearning he felt rising from deep inside her. As she clung to him, his blood ran hot and quick. And then all was lost in the long slow climb and the shattering pleasure.
IT WAS A WHILE before either of them came back to earth. They lay there quietly, trembling still, breathing hard, wrapped in each other’s arms. Beau had never known a moment of greater contentment. Although as the moments drew out, he could feel Dani begin to tense. Sensing she was feeling some remorse—for how quickly and unexpectedly they had ended up in bed again—he stroked a hand down her back. He knew Dani didn’t do things like this any more than he did. What she didn’t know was that it was okay. And not just because they were married, Beau thought, but because feelings that strong—feelings that came along maybe once in a lifetime, if you were lucky—deserved to be acted on.
Yet, as the seconds ticked out and Dani went from warm and pliant and completely his to tense and edgy, he knew it was not going to be that simple for his new bride.
He had known the inevitable shift in their relationship would be difficult for her. They had gone from sworn enemies to unwitting newlyweds and parents-to-be in a very short period. The fact that they had been at one time, several years ago, before their careers got in the way, fast friends was of little consequence, at least to her. What did seem to matter was that the idea of tumbling into bed—with anyone—was something Dani Lockhart just did not do. Considering that, maybe he should have expected this kind of conflicted reaction from her, Beau thought as Dani extricated herself from his embrace.
He watched as she rolled away from him and, clutching the sheet to her breasts, sat up on the edge of the bed. Coppery hair all tousled, cheeks flushed, amber eyes glowing with feisty lights, she looked so beautiful he wanted nothing more than to make love to her all over again. “Well, now we know how we ended up in bed in Mexico,” Beau said softly, taking her hand in his, letting her know with a look and a touch they had nothing to be ashamed about. He tightened his fingers reassuringly over hers. “As soon as we start to let our guard down, one touch and it’s spontaneous combustion.”
Dani stiffened all the more as she removed her hand from his. She regarded him with a haughty confidence that surprised him. “Precisely why something like this shouldn’t happen again,” Dani said. She rose, wrapping the top sheet around her toga-style, leaving Beau with just the comforter. “With everything we have at stake, we need to keep clear heads, not just recklessly give in to our desire whenever the mood strikes,” Dani said as she stalked around the room, picking up pieces of discarded clothing one by one. Carrying his shirt, jeans, briefs and socks over to the bed, she dropped them on his chest. “I don’t make love casually, Beau. I want it to mean something.”
Beau frowned. As far as he was concerned, it had meant something. Furthermore, even if Dani was too proud to admit it, he knew what was really getting to her. The fact they’d made love when so much of their life—past, present, and future—was still unresolved. “What’s wrong with giving in to our desire?” he demanded, knowing if he’d had his way they’d be starting to make love again right now and work out the details of their life together later, when their emotions had settled. “We are married, you know.”
Dani frowned as she gathered her own clothes. “For starters, recklessly giving in to our desire, with no thought to the future, is how we landed in this dilemma.”
“Our having a baby together, you mean,” Beau supplied less than graciously as he, too, got to his feet.
Dani nodded. “When we don’t even like each other,” she said, making what seemed to be a concerted effort not to let her eyes drop any lower than his shoulders.
Realizing more lovemaking was not going to happen—not that afternoon, anyway—Beau stepped into his briefs. “You don’t make it easy on anyone, do you?” Beau said sarcastically, aware he was hard as a rock again and they hadn’t even kissed. All he had done was look at Dani in that ludicrously wrapped sheet masquerading as a toga.
“Life is not a movie,” Dani said wearily. Her fingers shook as she pushed them through her hair, trying—without much success, Beau noted—to restore order to the silky copper strands.
“So?”
With effort Beau tried to tamp down his resentment.
Dani’s eyes were dark and unrepentant. “So everything does not always wrap up neatly, Beau.”
Beau lifted a dissenting brow and, still aching mightily, pulled on his jeans. “In our case, it could,” he said curtly, although inwardly he was already acknowledging that this new tension was as much his fault as hers. He shouldn’t have rushed her. But it was too late now. They couldn’t take it back, any more than they could take back her pregnancy or their marriage. All they could do was move on. With a bit more caution and foresight this time.
But Dani, it appeared, didn’t seem likely to even give them that.
“We’ll work this out,” Beau said. “No matter how hard it is or how long it takes.” He personally was hoping not long.
Dani looked at him in a way that let him know there was no possibility of further physical intimacy between them, at least as far as she was concerned. “You delude yourself if you want, Beau Chamberlain,” she said very softly. “As for me—” hurt flickered briefly in her eyes “—I don’t believe in fairy-tale endings or happily-ever-afters. And that is not going to change.”
Knowing nothing could be gained by continuing to talk about what Dani clearly did not want to talk about, Beau watched her take her clothes and go across the hall. She stepped into the bathroom, shutting the door firmly behind her.
So they hadn’t made love right away, as he wished. It would happen, he reassured himself firmly, as he continued to dress. He would make it happen. And when it did, Dani would realize there was no pretending the physical passion between them did not exist. It was there. It was real. It was a force too powerful to be denied.
Alone, it might not be sufficient foundation for a marriage. But it was a start. And a damn good one.