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Beneath the overhang that protected a small back stoop, Brynna unlocked the entry, then led him up a flight of orange-carpeted stairs to her door. Her fingers trembled so hard she dropped the keys. With a gentle hand on her shoulder, Dev pressed her against the wall, eased his rock-solid body against hers and kissed her, knocking his hat from her head to the floor. She wrapped one arm around his neck and met the invasive mind-reeling quest of his tongue. Her imagination couldn’t have come up with anything better than Dev’s kisses.
Again, she forgot where she was until he loosened his hold and separated them to quickly scoop up her keys and his hat and unlock the door. Brynna groped for the light switch that turned on a lamp at the end of her sofa.
Dev let her bag fall and glanced around. He met her gaze.
Lips tingling, body thrumming, she smiled hesitantly and kicked off her shoes.
“Maybe we should get out of these wet clothes,” he suggested standing his hat on its crown on the floor.
She locked the door behind her and walked toward the hall. “I’ll grab towels while you get those boots off.”
She stepped behind the half-closed bathroom door and unbuttoned her shirt, dropping it and her bra into the tub. Her socks and jeans came next. Slipping into her terry robe, she carried a towel back to Dev.
He had removed his wet shirt and draped it over the back of a chair. Her mouth went dry at the sight of all that smooth golden skin, his loosened belt and gaping jeans. He was tanned and firm, with enticing shadows in the muscled contours of his arms and chest, and she imagined touching her tongue to those places….
Trying to stay rational, Brynna reached up with the towel to dry his hair. He allowed the act for only a moment, before pulling her close and kissing her. She touched his chest and shoulders with seeking fingers, as if she were blind and could read every inch of him. Her exploration took in his throat, then his cheeks, where the textures contrasted.
He pulled away and scraped his jaw with the backs of his fingers. “I haven’t shaved since this morning. Didn’t know I was going to…do this….”
“It’s okay. I kind of like it.” He smiled and she placed her finger on the dimple his grin created. “I like that, too.”
“I could shave if you have a razor.”
“No.”
He cocked a brow.
“I mean, I have a razor,” she explained, “but I don’t want you to shave now.”
“But I want to kiss you.”
“I want you to kiss me. I just don’t want to wait.” She blushed at her impetuousness—her impatience.
Obliging, Dev ran a finger down the front of her pale-yellow robe and spread the fabric to the side until one breast was exposed. Her nipple puckered shamelessly, but she didn’t mind him looking at her. He lowered his face to the swell of her breast and pressed a kiss there. “Not too rough?”
“No-o.” Had she managed to say that out loud? “No,” she reiterated, in case the word had only been in her head. Brynna made a conscious effort to think clearly and realized then that Dev had barely made it inside her front door before she’d succumbed to the sublime pleasures he offered. Hating to interrupt the attention he was giving her breast, but needing to move them to a more comfortable location, she took his hand and led him down the hallway to her bedroom.
She stood just inside for a moment, seeing the room with his eyes. It was by no means a lover’s den. Her bedroom was functional and represented her busy life, with a desk and filing cabinet in one corner, a treadmill in the other. The light from the hallway was enough to illuminate her plain double bed with unimaginative plaid sheets and the comforter she hadn’t even bothered to pull up that morning. No one ever saw her bed.
Devlin obviously couldn’t have cared less whether her bed was made. He released her hand, wrapped his strong arms around her and kissed her so thoroughly, she forgot to be embarrassed by the intense situation and her lack of finesse. He stroked her throat, touched her hair, and the fire was back.
Minutes later, he was backing her toward her bed, edging the robe from her shoulders, and she gladly helped him in the task of peeling damp jeans down his hips and off into a heap on the floor. They fell back on her bed, their bodies touching flesh-to-flesh—his legs cool because of the rain-soaked denim he’d just removed.
Dev stretched out over her, his weight a delicious mix of pleasure and torment. Holding him, touching him, was so much more emotionally and physically gratifying than anything she’d ever experienced…wanting him wasn’t enough…not nearly enough…yet wanting him was everything.
Somehow, Brynna knew that this experience with this man was going to be something extraordinary. It was already enough to bring tears to her eyes.
She kissed his neck…cupped his jaw and tasted his incredible thrill-inspiring mouth by gently sucking his lower lip, then seeking his tongue and deepening the contact, needing to become a part of him.
This was crazy—crazy wonderful.
Dev kissed her in return, his hand sliding across her shoulder to her breast. His mouth left hers to taste the nub he’d worked to a rigid point, and Brynna closed her eyes against the intensity of the sensations. She’d been ready and willing since sitting across from him at Joe’s—and she appreciated his efforts to prolong the inevitable—but she really didn’t think she could wait any longer.
When at last he slid his hand down her hip, across her belly and between her thighs, intuitively knowing just how and where to stroke, she bit her lower lip and held back a cry. He kissed her, as though he understood her frustration and shared her impatience. Without verbal communication, he knew to move away, grab the foil packages from his jeans on the floor and return for her assistance.
Within seconds he was sheathed and pressing into her willing flesh. Stars burst behind Brynna’s eyelids as waves of pleasure washed over her, coursed through her and stole all breath and reason. He was incredible. This moment was perfect. She had only ever imagined anything this good.
Devlin slowed his movements, kissed her tenderly…told her in a few clipped words how hot she made him…and in moments she discovered her imagination was a void where this man was concerned. He cupped her hips and angled her body so he could penetrate her swollen readiness more deeply, then gently, determinedly, eased her into another shattering climax, after which he found his own release and fell to her side.
Dazed and lethargically replete, Brynna turned on her side to gaze at him. She laid her palm against his chest, where his heart slowed to an even rhythm beneath her touch, and studied his face in profile. He had closed his eyes. One hand lay limp on his belly. His skin glowed from exertion. What a mind-numbing experience that had been, Brynna thought, thinking how uncharacteristic it was of her to do something so—impulsive.
Oddly, she didn’t care. Maybe she would later. Maybe tomorrow she’d be consumed with regret and shame. But not at this moment. Not feeling the way she did and not while looking at Devlin. A smile touched her lips.
Could the experience possibly have been as incredible for him as it had been for her? Had it meant anything to him, or was she just another in a long line of one-night flings? The thought was like a shard of glass to her chest. She was nothing if not realistic and practical. Devlin Holmes would probably sleep for a few hours and then slip out of her apartment to disappear, except for an awkward moment every once in a while, where she ran into him at MonMart or the gas station. How would she feel?
He rolled his head toward her then and opened his eyes to look at her with an expression she would have called awe if she weren’t down-to-earth and reasonable. He rolled toward her, raising the hand from his belly to her cheek. “Hey.”
She gave him a half-embarrassed smile, wondering how she could assure him she didn’t expect him to stay for breakfast, or even to use the rest of those condoms.
He looked into her eyes and said the last thing she would ever have expected. “Will you marry me, Brynna?”
Chapter Three
The Present
Brynna arranged two china plates, silverware and napkins in silver rings, then placed a pair of candlesticks holding ivory tapers in the center of the dining room table and paused. Too obvious, much too obvious. This looked as though she was setting the scene for a seduction. Plucking the candlesticks from the table, she stood holding them…considering…rethinking…changing her mind yet again.
She was setting the scene for something, after all—dinner! She and Dev shared a candlelight dinner a couple of times a month, whenever their schedules allowed, so why shouldn’t she set a romantic table?
Replacing the candles, she laid a book of matches nearby and studied the setting again, turning the bouquet of freshly cut daisies for the best effect. Dev liked daisies. She hoped he had remembered their arrangement and would be here on time.
She glanced at her watch, deliberately shoving concern away. More than once, he’d forgotten their planned evening and had been off flying somewhere while she waited. His forgetfulness had been a point of contention on more than one occasion.
Marriage was still new to him, Brynna thought, justifying his underlying wanderlust as she always did. Eight months was barely enough time to get to know each other, let alone change a lifetime of habits. Before marrying her, he’d never had to be accountable to anyone, never had to take another person’s feelings or schedule into consideration, so considering all that, he was doing great. And only occasionally did she allow his wild ways to strain her patience.
She just didn’t know how he was going to take the news she was going to lay on him tonight. Every day, every situation with Dev was like sailing uncharted waters. Anxiety tied her stomach in a knot.
Headlights swept across the picture window in the living room, indicating Dev’s pickup had turned into the driveway. Relief washed over her at the same time as anxiety pricked at her nerves. Brynna placed a hand over her chest and took a deep breath to calm herself.
Quickly, she lit the candles and turned off the overhead light.
The front door opened, and her tall handsome husband entered the living room, tossing his hat on a nearby bench and immediately looking for her. A warm rush of affection flooded over her as it always did when she saw him—when he made her feel so special. “Hey, sweet thing,” he greeted her.
She headed toward him with a smile. “You’re on time.”
He met her in the doorway to the dining room and, taking her elbows in his warm hands, gazed down at her with tenderness. “This is our only evening together this week. I wouldn’t miss it.”
“Remember Friday evening is Tuck’s birthday party at Melanie’s place,” she said, touching a finger to his chin. “Don’t miss that, either. I’ll be on call, but I should get to spend part of the evening there.”
He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her soundly. “I’ll be there.”
When he loosened the embrace and lowered his mouth to hers, Brynna met his lips and kissed him, amazed that she still felt such excitement every time she saw him. In eight months, the blush of first love had not waned. She never ceased being grateful that she’d found him, but a wariness always accompanied her joy. How long would a free spirit like Dev be happy with her and with this life?
“You cooked,” he said, releasing her and glancing over her shoulder with appreciation.
“I did.”
“I’ll pour the wine.”
She moved toward the kitchen to get the food. “None for me, thanks.”
He glanced at her. “Well, then, I’ll decline, too. No sense opening a bottle just for me. Can I help?” He moved into the kitchen and washed his hands at the sink.
“When have I ever turned down help?”
He grinned and kissed the back of her neck before moving on to his task. Dev was a toucher, spontaneously caressing her or laying a hand on the small of her back in passing. He had a natural way of making her feel loved and important. Some days she’d felt so lucky, she’d wondered when it would all come crashing down. And she prayed this wasn’t the day.
Once the food was on the table, they sat. She passed the dishes and they ate.
“Someone offered to buy Sky Spirit today,” he said, slathering butter and sour cream on his potato.
“Again?” He was referring to his pride and joy, the ultralight plane he’d built.
“A guy I met in Denver.”
“You were in Denver today?”
“This morning.” He tasted the steak she’d grilled to perfection. “Mmm, this is delicious.”
Brynna could barely keep track of his activities. Some days he worked at the Holmes Ranch, but others he spent flying. She hadn’t known much at all about Dev when she’d married him, nothing save the fact that he set her on fire and she couldn’t take another breath without him in her life, but she’d quickly learned that he didn’t work at his cousin’s ranch for the money.
Dev was the second son of a well-to-do family, college-educated. He assisted with the family business when duty forced him to do so, and, having tried his hand at ranching and finding he enjoyed it, Dev now preferred to work for his cousin for a mere pittance.
His main activity was flying the ultralights he built and sold for a nice profit. The only one he hadn’t sold was his favorite, Sky Spirit. He also owned and flew a Cessna 206 as well as a Piper Seneca that he kept in hangars at Lee Henderson’s airfield north of Rumor. His inability to stay in one place very long kept him on the go.
“It was awesome flying weather today,” he told her. “You would have loved the sky over Colorado.”
She smiled indulgently. “I’ll bet I would have.”
His aviation ability had come in handy the night he’d flown them to Las Vegas to get married. Brynna had refused to go that first night—the night after they’d made love for the first time and he’d proposed. They’d both had too much to drink. She hadn’t wanted to make decisions, and she hadn’t wanted him piloting a plane until they were both stone-cold sober.
Three days later, just as crazy for him and without a single drink, she’d agreed to fly to Nevada and be married. Since then he’d made several international trips and numerous flights in the States, but her job always prevented her from joining him. The next flight he had planned for them was a honeymoon on an African safari in the fall. Brynna had already planned for the time off between internships. “I wonder what the sky looks like over Nairobi,” she said teasingly.
Dev laid down his fork and took a drink of his water. “I don’t know, but we’ll find out.”
Her thoughts reverted immediately to what she had learned that day and how it would affect their trip. They finished their meal, and Dev carried the dishes to the kitchen. He opened the dishwasher, but she stopped him with a touch on his arm. “Leave them.”
He took her hand with a grin. “You have plans that can’t wait?”
She nodded, turned and took a glass bowl from the refrigerator.
Dev cocked a brow at the chocolate confection she held. His green eyes flashed intrigue and desire, and a slow grin carved a sexy dimple in his lean cheek. “For here or in the bedroom?”
Brynna blushed. The man was infinitely creative and ever so willing to please. “At the table, Dev.”
He shrugged. “Okay.”
She spooned a dollop of mousse into each of their dishes and they sat.
Dev leaned forward and touched her forehead with one finger, as if to smooth out a worry line. “Something wrong, sweet thing?”
Brynna folded her hands in her lap, then thought better of looking too nervous and brought them up to twist her napkin. “I have something to tell you.”
“Okay.” He laid down his spoon and waited, an inquisitive smile on his lips.
Her heart thudded erratically, and she swallowed. Fear of not knowing his reaction paralyzed her.
“Brynn, what is it? Is something wrong?” Immediately sensing her distress, he got up from his seat and moved to crouch on one knee at her side. He cradled her cold hand with his strong warm fingers.
Gathering courage from the love and concern in his green eyes, she took a breath. “Dev, I’m pregnant.”
Chapter Four
The words didn’t register on his face for a moment, but she knew the instant they clicked in his brain. A wrinkle formed between his brows. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “I’m an ob-gyn,” she said needlessly. “I saw the ultrasound myself.”
“Yes, of course, but…but how? We’re careful every time.”
More than a little disappointed that he was questioning the technical aspect while she was suffering the emotional impact, she concentrated on his question. “You know I’m not a supporter of many forms of birth control, because of potential side effects. I know there are risks with every method, but we were being doubly safe with…” She didn’t really need to explain to him—he was there every time she used a contraceptive foam and he a condom.
“Well, these things happen,” she went on, “even though every precaution is taken. I see this in patients now and then.”
He looked at her with disbelief edging his expression and then sat squarely on the floor as though he might fall over if he didn’t ground himself. His face plainly registered the shock he was feeling. “You’re pregnant, Brynna?”
She nodded and blinked back tears of disappointment at his reaction. He needed a little time. She’d had a couple of weeks of suspicions to get prepared. Besides, she wanted a family more than anything.
He jammed the fingers of one hand into his fair hair and gazed unseeingly into space. His silence unnerved her.
Brynna got out of her chair and lowered herself to the floor beside him. “I didn’t do this on purpose, Dev.”
He met her eyes immediately. “I never thought you did.”
“I just didn’t want you to have a doubt.”
“I don’t. Why would I doubt you?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. Because it’s never been a secret that I enjoy helping people create families and that I’ve always wanted my own family. I want one for us.”
“I never said I didn’t want a family,” he said defensively.
“You just aren’t ready. Not right now.”
“I don’t know. Don’t put words in my mouth. Don’t think for me.”
“Then tell me what you’re thinking. Please.”
He gestured with an open palm. “I’m dumbfounded. I hadn’t thought about this. I hadn’t planned on…”
“A baby,” she clarified.
“No. I hadn’t planned on a baby. We hadn’t planned on it.”
“You’re right. We hadn’t. But it’s happened, and now we just have to count our blessings.”
He nodded without conviction. But he didn’t meet her eyes for a long moment.
“It’s not the worst thing that could happen, Dev. We’ll have a family sooner than we planned, that’s all.”
“You’re just a year away from setting up your practice,” he pointed out.
Brynna took his hand. “I can keep working up until the last few weeks. After the baby comes, we can hire someone to help. I can have my career and be a good mother, too, Dev, I know I can.”
“I believe you can, too,” he said. He stood, still holding her hand, and helped her to her feet. As an afterthought he asked, still looking at the floor, “How pregnant are you?”
“Eight weeks,” she replied.
“How many weeks does it take?”
“Forty.”
“Is that all?” He rubbed a hand down his face.
He didn’t ask her how she felt, if she had morning sickness or what she was feeling. Tears threatened and Brynna blinked them back.
“That means he would be born when?”
“He…or she,” she replied, quoting the due date she had calculated.
He nodded, as though figuring the event into his schedule or planning how much he could fit in before he was tied down.
Brynna turned to the table. “Do you want your dessert?”
“No,” he replied distractedly. “Thanks.”
She carried the dishes into the kitchen and returned to blow out the candles.
Dev was standing in the doorway to the living room, leaning against the jamb. The light from the hall silhouetted his tall frame. Overshadowing her love for him had always been the fear that any children of theirs would be neglected while he pursued his carefree flying. Dev wasn’t used to being tied down.
Devlin Holmes was the only impulsive thing she’d ever done in her life and she prayed she wasn’t going to regret it. Thinking she might terrified her. She loved him so much it hurt.
She walked to him, and he enfolded her in a strong embrace. Brynna laid her cheek against his solid chest and allowed a tear to dampen his shirt-front.
“I love you, Brynna,” he said softly, his voice the stirring baritone she loved.
“I love you, Dev,” she replied hoarsely.
He rubbed her back and cupped her buttocks, his touch arousing feelings of passion and need as it always did. He kissed her and she melted against him.
“Is it okay to make love?” he asked.
“Yes, of course. We make love all the time, don’t we?” She took his hand and led him to the bedroom.
The following morning, Brynna stood before the mirror in her chemise and panties and studied her body, her barely swelling abdomen negligible proof of the life within her. She touched the place where their child nestled and tried not to think of Dev’s reaction the night before. His focus on flying reminded her frighteningly of her parents’ obsession with their own private lives.
Norman and Audrey Shaw had been loving toward each other, but never attentive to their children. Brynna had often wondered why the couple had bothered to create and keep four children. She’d thought they would have discovered after the first one—her—that they weren’t cut out to be parents.
Her father worked his eight-to-five job at the lumber mill and her mother as a file clerk at the courthouse. Once the two hit the door after work, they were right back out pursuing their own interests, keeping Beauties and the Beat as well as Joe’s Bar in business, traveling to flea markets and trade shows on the weekends. Her father bought and sold rare coins.
Once Tuck had graduated, they’d bought an RV and hit the road. Brynna had always been the emotional stability for her siblings. She’d prepared their meals, washed their clothes and helped them with schoolwork.
She didn’t want to be the solitary backbone of her own family as she had been for her birth family. She didn’t want a family without Dev’s help. She couldn’t bear to be alone in this marriage.
Dev had more money to play with, but he was preoccupied with his own interests, just as her parents had been. She didn’t believe for a moment that he’d ever be unfaithful. She just didn’t think he knew how to commit. His reaction to her pregnancy confirmed that.
Brynna had worked hard to get this far in her career. Focus and responsibility had brought her to this point. She’d done this on her own and she wasn’t going to give it up. But she wanted this baby, too. A family. She had a horrible feeling that she’d made a mistake in impulsively marrying a man she didn’t know well. It was a feeling she couldn’t shake.
The next two evenings Brynna worked, and when she came home, Dev had been waiting for her with a light meal. They made small talk, though neither of them mentioned her pregnancy, and the subject hung between them like an invisible wall. Brynna’s defenses were more on alert than ever. Would Dev come around…or had this pushed him away?
Would she come home some night to find him gone? His things missing? Preparing herself for that possibility, she distanced herself a little more each day.
Friday evening after work, Brynna showered and dressed for her younger brother’s party, concerned because she hadn’t heard from Dev since that morning, and he hadn’t been here to greet her after her shift. She fixed her pager to the snug waistband of her slacks and tried calling Dev’s cell phone. She got his voice mail and left him a brief message, asking where he was.