Quinn had trailed Heather home. He quickly crossed to her car. It was too dark for Heather to see him clearly, but she felt his tension.
Quinn longed to press his lips against hers. Instead he asked, “All set?”
She nodded, suppressing a quiver of excitement. The past few hours had whirled by in an exciting blur. Everyone had a wonderful time, especially her folks. Quinn being near had heightened her own pleasure. She pushed her worries aside, focusing on only one point: Quinn loved her.
But as he walked with her to the front door, he was deep in thought. He was still very much the private, self-contained man she had come to love... and detest. Heather never knew what he was thinking or feeling. It amazed her that he had revealed so much of himself tonight. The things he had said about Peggy, his family... she still couldn’t believe his candor.
“I hope Cynthia doesn’t feel neglected by the change in plans. She’d expected to stay with me tonight.” Heather was chattering but couldn’t seem to help it. Her nerves were somewhere in her throat.
Quinn surprised her when he laughed softly. “Hardly. She was tickled that we’ve made up. And as much as she loves you, she was thrilled by the chance to sleep over at Ericia and Angela’s. I can’t let her go over there every time she asks, or Gwen would end up suing me for child support.”
Heather smiled, realizing she’d been holding her breath. Butterflies licked at her stomach as she wondered if he’d changed his mind. Maybe he did love—
Quinn stayed her hand as she reached for the light switch in the foyer. A low lamp had been left on in the living room. It was more than enough light... too much in fact. “We don’t need that.”
Her nerves slowly began to dissipate, replaced by a rapid jolt of sexual tension. It had been too long. Tilting her head toward him, her voice was husky with feminine longing. “Something to drink?”
He shook his head. “Can you tell how much I’ve missed you, sugar?”
Shivers of sweet yearning ran down her spine. “I missed you, too. The difficult time was when you were ill. Oh, Quinn, I couldn’t stand not knowing how you were after you left the hospital.” She caressed his cheek with a fingertip. “I hung on to Cynthia’s every word, afraid you would go back to work too soon or you wouldn’t follow the doctor’s orders by staying on your diet. Oh, honey...” She traced the shape of his mouth.
He eyed the sexy little mole at the corner of her rose-tinted lips. “Marry me, Heather,” he whispered.
Startled caramel eyes met dark gray eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Yes... I love you. I want you.”
She wanted to laugh... to cry. She did neither. She’d been so afraid of his quietness. She’d been thinking... She wasn’t even sure what she’d been thinking.
“Quinn...” She breathed the sound into his mouth, her soft lips and warm tongue welcoming him. Quinn drank deeply. Her mouth was hot and sweet as honey, her fleshy lips so soft, so lush. But he’d been without for too damn long. He had to have Heather... now.
“Make love to me, Quinn,” she moaned breathlessly, inhaling his masculine scent. She laced her arms around his neck, loving the hard male feel of his body. “I need you... now.”
He felt as if his entire body was pulsating with a primitive force too powerful to be ignored. He shuddered with anticipation as he swung Heather up into his arms. He felt like an ageless African warrior—proud, strong, invincible—with his woman in his arms.
He didn’t let her down until they’d reached her bedroom. He realized his hands were trembling as her body slid down against his.
When she went to turn off the bedside lamp, he said, “Leave it on.” His voice was gravelly with desire. “I want to look at you. I want to see your face when I’m inside of you.” He chuckled at her blush, thrilled by it. He kissed her smooth cheeks.
She watched in fascination as he removed his clothes. His eyes smoldered with unrestrained passion as he watched her watching him. By the time Quinn moved to Heather, his sex was full and high.
“Pretty girl.” He kissed her over and over again. “It’s been too long... too long.” His large warm hands quickly removed her clothes. He felt as if he were unwrapping a priceless treasure, each layer bringing him closer to his heaven on earth.
Heather was weak with need by the time he held her in his arms, her soft breasts pillowed against his bare chest. She could feel the rhythm of his heart from where her cheek rested over the swell of his breastbone.
“I’m sorry, baby,” he whispered, lowering his head. “I never meant to put you through the kind of hell I’ve put you through these last few months. I never meant to hurt you.” He placed a series of kisses along her collarbone and soft shoulders. “Forgive me—”
“Yes—” Her lips were crushed beneath his. Heather forgot what she was about to say. She concentrated on loving her man. Nothing mattered but him.
When she rubbed the throbbing tips of her breasts against him, Quinn groaned, thrusting his tongue into the honeyed depths of her mouth. His boldness was richly rewarded as she returned the caress, suckling on his tongue.
Soft, husky sounds poured from deep inside her throat as she responded to his urgency. He was right. It had been too long since they had loved each other. This time there could be no doubt about the loving. With her need every bit as acute as his, Heather buried her small oval nails into his muscular shoulders, raking them down his spine.
Quinn loved it, just as he loved her. He couldn’t move from her lips. He feasted within the warmth of her mouth, stroking then savoring her tongue. When he raised his head to look at her, he marveled at her beauty. Her warmth and generosity floored him. Words suddenly failed him. His eyes told her everything she needed to know about his love for her.
With a flick of a strong wrist, comforter, blankets, top sheet, and pillows went tumbling to the floor. Soon his heated dark brown flesh glided against her soft molten-gold flesh. He kissed skin smoother and softer than the finest satin. His mouth loved her from the hollow at the base of her delicately boned throat down to the petal softness of her inner thighs and slender feet.
Heather moaned in delight, deciding wildly that her whole body was one huge erogenous zone. When Quinn warmed Heather with the wet rough velvet of his tongue, she stopped thinking altogether. Every curvy centimeter of her petite length was privy to the brush of his thick black mustache and the heat of his mouth. She never felt more loved or cherished.
“It’s been so damn long...” he grumbled into the sensitive valley between her breasts as he licked their fleshy underside. “Touch me, please.”
“Yes... oh, yes,” she managed in a soft voice filled with passion.
She caressed his smooth chest, focusing on tantalizing his ebony nipples with her fingertips. Quinn quivered in reaction as she worried the nipple, quaking from the pleasure as she laved him with her wet, wonderfully hot mouth. Heather ever so slowly drew circles around his nipple with her tongue, further inflaming his senses. He was gasping for breath when she kissed the scar on his stomach, then licked it. When her lips neared dense black hair, he grabbed her, pulling her up to him.
“I can’t take much more.” His mouth devoured hers.
But Heather had a mind of her own. She intended to give him all he could take and then some. While he kissed her, her hands caressed his manhood. She moved her hands up and down his erection, caressing the broad tip repeatedly.
Quinn groaned hotly. Knowing he was fast approaching his limit and having no intentions of cheating either of them, he lifted her hands to his mouth. He placed a kiss in each soft palm. Then his mouth settled on hers as he covered her body with his.
He chuckled with pure masculine arrogance when she lifted her damp heat against his erection. “You’re ready, aren’t you, sweetheart.”
There was no need for confirmation. The heaviness of her lids, the elongated tips of her breasts, all spoke of her readiness. He didn’t tease her... he couldn’t. His lean fingers played briefly in the dewy curls between her soft thighs. He wanted her so badly, he hurt from the wanting. His control was practically nonexistent as his blood pounded feverishly inside his veins.
But this wasn’t about sexual gratification. What they shared was much much more. He loved her the way only a man in love could love his woman... thoroughly. He fingered her slick feminine folds, circling the highly sensitive nub that seemed to be waiting for his caress. Quinn gave Heather the firm pressure she craved.
She cried out, “Quinn... now. I can’t wait.”
“Take me,” he grunted against her neck, his body a mass of barely contained desire.
Heather guided him to her moist heat. She wrapped her limbs around him and sobbed his name over and over again.
“Yes...” he said with a ragged sigh. His eyes were tightly closed as he slowly absorbed the absolute pleasure of being inside Heather. “I love you.”
Her heart overflowed with the joy. But she knew he was holding back a vital part of himself and she wouldn’t tolerate it. “Please...” She instinctively tightened inner, muscles. “I want all of you.”
Busy tonguing that delicately scented place behind her ear, he answered, “I don’t want to hurt you, baby. You’re so small. It’s been a while since we’ve been together.”
But Heather couldn’t think of denying either of them full pleasure. She moved sensuously beneath him. Quinn was powerless to resist her. She was so deliciously hot that he couldn’t fight her and his own need to possess every sweet inch of her. He clenched his jaw as he slowly filled her. She sighed her pleasure and rewarded him with wet kisses along his jaw line and the thick cord of his neck—any and every part of him that she could reach.
He sipped from her mouth, then licked each of her nipples in turn before he began thrusting deeply within her. She gasped his name until his name was an indistinguishable breathless moan. She welcomed the hard, long, sweep of his manhood... tantalizing her... mesmerizing her. Over and over again she matched him thrust for sizzling hot thrust. Passion flared out of control.
“Tell me,” he demanded through his teeth, his body drenched in perspiration.
“I love you.” She gasped aloud as she gave everything that was within her power to give and accepted no less from him. They came together... shuddering and convulsing in an earth-shattering climax. Finally they were able to savor the wonder that was their love. Neither was able to speak for some time. Heather lay across him, her head tucked under his chin, her full breasts filling the concave hardness of his stomach, her legs resting between his muscular thighs.
“I love you.”
Quinn quirked a black brow. “It’s about time! I’ve been waiting all night to hear you say it.”
“But I did—”
“Not without prompting. You were so far gone you don’t know what you said.”
Heather laughed, snuggling closer.
“Are you still sorry you ever met me?”
“No!” she denied, caressing him. “I should never have said it.”
“You were upset—and with good reason.”
“This time will be different, won’t it, Quinn?”
“Yes, I promise you.” Resting his chin on her head, his voice was filled with disgust as he said, “I’ve wasted so much time. It wasn’t until I thought I had lost you that I sought outside help.”
“Outside help?”
“Mmmm, I made an appointment with Greg Martin, Peggy’s doctor. He went over her case with me. I also had a long talk with Elaine. It’s taken me a while, but I’ve come to accept my role in all of this.”
“It wasn’t your fault. You weren’t responsible for Peggy’s death.”
“Heather, I think I’ll always feel some responsibility for it. But at least now I know what really happened. Peggy knew about those lumps in her breasts long before I found them. She told Elaine, but she didn’t tell me. Nor did she see her doctor. She made her choice before I knew there was even a problem.”
“Peggy told Elaine? But why didn’t Elaine tell you?” Heather said in disbelief. “How could Elaine keep this from you?”
Quinn smiled. “You have to admit I haven’t been exactly open to any kind of discussions about Peggy. Elaine was Peggy’s best friend. She promised Peggy that she’d never tell me about the lumps. But she told me when I asked. And she seemed relieved.”
“I see.”
“Problem was with me. I pushed everyone close to me away. But it was my daughter who suffered the most. If it weren’t for you, I would have lost her.”
“No, Quinn. That’s not true. Cynthia is thrilled to have her father back.” Heather pressed her mouth to the hollow at the base of his throat. “The pain of keeping it locked inside for so long must have been horrible.”
Quinn shivered from the brief contact, automatically tightening his hold on her, his right hand caressing the graceful lines of her back.
“I was so lost in guilt and self pity that not even my child could reach me. You made me realize just what I was doing.”
“It’s behind you, sweetheart. You and Cynthia are closer now than you’ve ever been before. You didn’t lose her.”
His gaze settled on Heather’s soft mouth.
“Have you been able to talk to her about her mother?”
“Yes. I’m surprised she hasn’t told you about it. She seems to tell you everything these days,” he said, humor sparkling his eyes.
“And how did she take it?”
“What you want to know is how much does she know, and does she blame me, as I’ve blamed myself, all these years.” Quinn hesitated, tracing her soft mouth with a fingertip. “Heather, I got so tired of the secrets. I told her everything,” he admitted, before saying, “and she took it much better than I’d hoped.”
“She’s a great kid.”
Quinn couldn’t agree more. His fingers threaded through Heather’s braided hair. When he spoke his voice wasn’t quite as carefree as he would have liked. “So when are you going to make an honest man out of me?”
“That depends...” she whispered, her eyes downcast.
He frowned. “On what?”
“On you,” she said. “I love you, but I think we should wait. Give ourselves a little time.”
“Time for what? We haven’t been together in months. I’ve already spent too many nights without you. I should think you would be fed up with waiting for me to get my head together.”
“Quinn, we don’t need to rush into marriage.”
“And how long do you think we need to decide if we’re right for each other?”
“Maybe six months, possibly a year.”
“No!” Quinn exploded, setting her away from him. “You can’t be serious! Wait an entire year to be together?” He stared at her for a time before he got up. He paced in front of the bed, oblivious to his nudity. “Why, baby?” he demanded, trying not to show the hurt he was feeling.
She dropped her head, thoughtful. She wasn’t trying to make him angry, but she had to be sure. “It’s not as if we can’t be together.” She propped herself up against the headboard, her legs tucked under her.
“I know being a stepmother won’t be easy, especially to a teenager who has had some serious problems,” he said, half to himself, as he pushed a trembling hand over his short natural.
“You know as well as I do that Cynthia isn’t the problem. Quinn, it’s too soon.”
“For whom, Heather? Me or you?”
“I think you need more time to come to terms with all your feelings about Peggy. I know how much you loved her. It’s difficult to let go. I think you need to say goodbye without me interfering. Later we can make a fresh start together.”
He swore bitterly. “No, Heather. I’ve been in hell for over five years!” He paced. He finally stopped, sitting on the window seat. His brown length was dark and appealing against the pale peach cushions.
Finally he said with difficulty, “After we broke up last summer, I knew I needed help in order to put the past behind me. So I started working with Dr. Johnson on getting through the grief.” He watched her closely when he said. “I loved Peggy, Heather. She mothered my child. But she’s dead. I’m ready to go on with my life. Maybe you’ll be taking a risk if you accept...”
Heather went to him and put her arms around his waist, squeezing him tight. “I’m so glad you told me.”
“Me, too. From now on everything is out in the open between us,” he promised, lifting her chin so he could see her face. “Life is a gamble, sweetheart. Heather, I want you to be my wife.”
“I want that, too. But I couldn’t stand it if we married and later you came to regret it. I couldn’t! I want for always, Quinn.”
“You’ve got it with me, pretty girl. I’m ready to make a total commitment to you. And I want the same from you. In my book that means marriage and pretty brown babies.”
Whatever she had been about to say was smothered beneath the onslaught of his mouth.
“Marry me now,” he said with a moan, “I need you so badly.” His mouth moved insistently over hers, his tongue boldly staking his claim. He sighed with pleasure as she bit his bottom lip, sharp sweet little bites that aroused him.
“I should never have kissed you.” He ran his stubbled cheek against the valley between her breasts. He gave each plump nipple a soft licking. “I can’t get enough of you.”
She smiled, her soft mouth swollen from his kisses. It was foolish to let the risk involved overshadow the love she felt for him and Cynthia.
Her eyes shimmered like semiprecious stones, Quinn waited, his mouth a hairsbreadth away from hers. Their fingers were laced.
“Heather...”
“Is next month too soon?” she laughed. She quivered from the force of her emotions and his scalding kisses as they rained over her face, her neck and throat, then came to pay homage at her sweet lips.
“Heather...” Quinn said, his voice thick with a mixture of joy, love, and relief.
Her eyes locked with his. “I love you with all my heart.”
His full mouth lifted in a confident grin. “December wedding... a small family affair.” He brushed aside the damp braids clinging to her neck as he kissed her throat.
“How did you know?”
“That it’s important to you to have Cynthia and your entire family at our wedding?”
Heather nodded, eyes brimming with tears, too choked up with happiness to speak.
“Gwen told me about your dream.”
Heather’s eyes went wide.
“Don’t be angry. She felt sorry for me.”
Heather giggled, deciding then and there that she was going to have to thank her meddling sister for interfering.
“Interested in honeymooning in Egypt? Cruising the Nile?”
“Oh, Quinn...”
“I’ll make you happy, my precious love. I promise. And I intend to show you just how much you mean to me each day of our lives together. Each day...” Quinn’s voice trailed off as his kisses began.