This month, in WORLD’S MOST ELIGIBLE TEXAN by Sara Orwig, meet Aaron Black—diplomat extraordinaire.

Aaron was a world-weary man-about-town who found nothing to excite him, until…Pamela Miles waltzed into his arms. This Plain Jane schoolteacher was about to change his life!

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Silhouette Desire, the ultimate treat for Valentine’s Day—we promise you will find six passionate, powerful and provocative romances every month! And here’s what you can indulge yourself with this February….

The fabulous Peggy Moreland brings you February’s MAN OF THE MONTH, The Way to a Rancher’s Heart. You’ll be enticed by this gruff widowed rancher who must let down his guard for the sake of a younger woman.

The exciting Desire miniseries TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB: LONE STAR JEWELS continues with World’s Most Eligible Texan by Sara Orwig. A world-weary diplomat finds love—and fatherhood—after making a Plain Jane schoolteacher pregnant with his child.

Kathryn Jensen’s The American Earl is an office romance featuring the son of a British earl who falls for his American employee. In Overnight Cinderella by Katherine Garbera, an ugly-duckling heroine transforms herself into a swan to win the love of an alpha male. Kate Little tells the story of a wealthy bachelor captivated by the woman he was trying to protect his younger brother from in The Millionaire Takes a Bride. And Kristi Gold offers His Sheltering Arms, in which a macho ex-cop finds love with the woman he protects.

Make this Valentine’s Day extra-special by spoiling yourself with all six of these alluring Desire titles!

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

World’s Most Eligible Texan
Sara Orwig

www.millsandboon.co.uk

SARA ORWIG

lives with her husband and children in Oklahoma. She has a patient husband who will take her on research trips anywhere, from big cities to old forts. She is an avid collector of Western history books. With a master’s degree in English, Sara writes historical romance, mainstream fiction and contemporary romance. Books are beloved treasures that take Sara to magical worlds, and she loves both reading and writing them.

“What’s Happening in Royal?”

NEWS FLASH, February—Could it possibly be true that the jaded heart of diplomat Aaron Black—most eligible of bachelors—has been softened by our local country gal Pamela Miles? The town of Royal, TX, has been a-buzzing since these two were spied dancing cheek-to-cheek during the splashy Texas Cattleman’s Club gala last month…and an eyewitness saw the smitten couple dashing out the door arm-in-arm before the festivities were at an end….

In other news, Royal is still spinning from the awful emergency plane landing. No fatalities, thank our lucky stars! However, some of our Texas Cattleman’s Club members have been seen rummaging through the rubble at the crash site…. What could they be looking for?

And two mysterious men have been noted about town, asking the whereabouts of all women who were on that flight. These ladies may be needing our cattlemen’s protection—stay tuned for more!

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Epilogue

Prologue

“You’re going home to Royal?”

“You heard me right. Can I get the family plane to pick me up?” Aaron Black persisted patiently on the phone, knowing his request was a shock to his brother.

“You’re taking a leave of absence,” Jeb Black repeated. “I don’t believe it, but I’ll have the plane there as soon as possible. The diplomat from Spain, my worldly brother, is going to take a vacation in our hometown of Royal, Texas. I’m finding this damned difficult to believe.”

“The State Department has cleared it so I can take some time to go home,” Aaron said. “Dammit, you take vacations.”

“Yeah, with the family and we go to one of those countries you work in. We don’t leave Houston to go back and sit around Royal.”

“Maybe you should. Royal is nice.”

“Yep, if you like cows and mesquite. I’ll bet you last two days and then you’ll be calling me to send the plane to get you out of there. What about the embassy while you’re gone?”

For the first time that day, Aaron was amused. He smiled in the darkness of his silent Georgetown house. “The American Embassy in Spain can carry on nicely if the First Secretary is not there for a little while.”

“I’m not sure I’m talking to my brother. Aaron, are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Tell Mary and the boys hi for me. Better yet, give them a big hug. Thanks for sending the plane.”

“Sure. Keep in touch. And tell me one more time that you’re okay.”

“I’m okay, ‘Mom.”’

“Well, I’m your big brother and I have to take her place sometimes. And you’ll have to admit, this isn’t like you at all. Aaron—does this have something to do with the Texas Cattleman’s Club?”

“Yes, it does,” Aaron could answer honestly. His brother wasn’t a member, but he could have been and he knew that the club was a facade for members to work together covertly on secret missions to save innocents’ lives.

“Why didn’t you tell me,” Jeb said, sounding more relaxed.

“Take care of yourself.”

“Thanks, Jeb.” Aaron replaced the receiver, breaking the connection with his older brother. Aaron stared out the window at the swirling snow. “No, it isn’t like me,” he whispered to himself. “Thanks to a tall, black-haired Texas gal, I’m doing things I’ve never done in my life.” Mesmerized by the swirling snow and twinkling lights, he remembered early January, three weeks ago, the night of the Cattleman’s Club gala.

Aaron’s pulse accelerated as he recalled the moment he had glanced across the room and seen the willowy, black-haired woman in a simple black dress. When she’d turned, her blue-eyed gaze had met his and, just for an instant, he’d felt something spark inside him. She was laughing at something someone else had said to her. Seeing her wide blue eyes, dimples and irresistible smile, Aaron had a sudden, unreasonable compulsion to meet her. He’d thought he knew almost everyone in Royal, but she was a stranger.

Then Justin Webb had spoken to him and he’d turned to shake hands with his physician friend. The next time he’d looked back, the woman was gone from sight. It had taken him twenty more minutes to work his way through the crowd and get introduced. Another two minutes and he had her in his arms, moving on the dance floor. And then later—images taunted him of her in his arms, of the heat of her kisses, her eagerness—memories still fresh enough that his body reacted swiftly to them. Pamela Miles.

Breaking into his thoughts, a car slid to a stop before his Georgetown home and Brad Meadows, his stocky neighbor, emerged. Brad walked around the car to open the door for his wife, and then he opened the back door and leaned inside. In minutes he straightened up with his little girl in his arms. As they rushed toward their front door, they were all laughing, but then the curly-headed three-year-old looked at Aaron’s house and evidently saw him standing in the window because she smiled and waved. Feeling a pang as he watched them, Aaron smiled and waved in return.

Brad Meadows had a family, a beautiful wife and a precious little girl. Aaron ran his hand across his forehead as Pamela’s image floated into his thoughts again. “What the hell is the matter with me?” he mumbled. Since when did he envy a guy being married?

Yet he thought about his own family when he was growing up and what fun he’d had with his two brothers and sister. He glanced around his quiet living room. Empty house, empty life.

The thought nagged at him—why did he feel this way so often lately? Except that night with Pamela Miles. The loneliness, the feeling that he was missing something important in life, the hollowness he had been experiencing the last few years had vanished from the first moment he’d looked into her eyes. From that first glance the chemistry between them had been volatile. It had erupted into fiery lovemaking that at the slightest memory could make him break into a sweat. But there was something deeper than physical need. At least there had been for him.

The next morning she had been the one who’d slipped out without a word. When he’d stirred, she was gone. He had tried to shrug off the evening. When had he let a woman tie him in knots? If the lady wanted to end it that way—fine. He had to return to Washington and then to Spain and his busy life. And he knew she was going abroad to Asterland as an exchange teacher. If he wanted, he could look her up there after he was back in Spain.

He had left Royal without seeing her, flown back to D.C. and then to Spain. Two days after the ball, a private jet had left Royal, Texas, bound for Asterland with Pamela Miles on board. Not far from Royal, the plane had had to make an emergency landing. When Matt Walker, a rancher and a fellow member of the Texas Cattleman’s Club, called about the landing and about other strange happenings in Royal, Aaron had tried to call Pamela, but to no avail.

The hospital had released Pamela soon after the landing and Aaron knew so little about her, he couldn’t easily find her. It was clear that the lady wasn’t interested in seeing him, so he tried to put her out of mind.

But Pamela Miles had a persistent way of staying in his thoughts until he was driven to constant distraction—something so foreign to his life that he decided to see her again.

As he watched snowflakes swirl and melt on the slushy narrow Georgetown street, an emptiness struck him with a chill that was far colder than the snow. He had gone into the diplomatic corps from Army intelligence, thinking he could make a difference, help change things a little in the world, but now he was losing that feeling.

Lately he had been too aware of his thirty-seven years and what little he had in his life that was really important. But the night of the Texas ball, that desolation had vanished. Pamela had brought him to life to an extent he wouldn’t have guessed possible.

He swore, looking at the phone in his hand as an annoyingly loud recorded message told him his receiver was off the hook.

Aaron stared out the window, no longer seeing swirling snow or the neighboring houses with warm glows spilling from open windows. He was seeing sprawling, mesquite-covered land and a willowy, blue-eyed woman.

“Dammit,” he said. “Pamela, I know there was something you felt as much as I did.” He shook his head. He was being a world-class sap. The lady wasn’t interested. She had made that clear. Maybe so, but he was going home to find out.

The following afternoon, the last day of January, Aaron gripped the wheel of a family car left for him at the airport as he sped down the hard-packed dusty road toward a sprawling ranch in the distance. Mesquite trees bending to the north by prevailing southern winds dotted the land on either side of the road, but all he could think about was Pamela.

He was home and he was going to find his lady.

One

“Well, I can tell you what’s making you nauseated, Pamela.”

She sat on the examining table with her legs crossed, the silly light cotton gown covering her as she faced white-haired Doctor Woodbury who had been treating her since she was born. She tilted her head to one side and waited, long accustomed to his blunt manner.

“You’re pregnant.”

“Pregnant!” Pamela’s head swam and she clutched the table she was seated on with both hands. Pregnant. It was only once. One night three weeks ago. She couldn’t be.

Dr. Woodbury was talking, but she didn’t hear anything except the ringing in her ears. Her teaching job—they wouldn’t want her. Pregnant! She was going to have a baby. Baby…baby… The word echoed in her mind. Impossible! But of course, it was possible. That night with Aaron Black. She closed her eyes and clung tightly to the cold metal, feeling as if she were going to faint.

“Knowing you as I’ve done through all these years, I’m guessing you’ll want to keep this baby.”

Dr. Woodbury’s words cut through the wooziness she was experiencing. …keep this baby…

She opened her eyes and placed her hand protectively against her stomach. “Yes! Of course, I’ll keep my baby,” she snapped, her head clearing swiftly. How could he think she wouldn’t!

His blue eyes gazed undisturbed at her as he shrugged stooped shoulders. “After she had you, your mother had two abortions. She wasn’t having any more babies.”

“I’m not my mother,” Pamela said stiffly, suddenly seeing how not only Dr. Woodbury, but everyone else in town would see her—with morals as loose as her mother’s had been. The town tramp. That was what Dolly Miles had been called too many times. Pamela remembered the teasing, the whispers, and worse, the steady stream of men who came and went through the Miles’s tiny house.

She was shocked to learn there had been two abortions. When she thought about it, though, she wasn’t surprised. Dolly thought of no one except herself. Two abortions. Pamela had a strange sense of loss. She might have had brothers or sisters. She pressed her hand against her stomach as she tried to focus on what Dr. Woodbury was saying.

“I’m keeping my baby.”

“I thought you would,” he said complacently. “You seem in perfectly good health. I’m going to put you on some vitamins, and then you make an appointment to come back this time next month.”

The rest of the hour she moved in a daze that lasted through running errands, getting her vitamins and heading to the Royal Diner to eat. It was early for lunch and the diner would be empty, which suited her fine. Right now she didn’t feel like seeing anyone. Thank heavens Aaron Black had gone back to Spain. She would have three or four months before her pregnancy would show, so she would have to make her plans in that time.

The brisk wind was chilly, catching the door to the diner and fluttering the muslin curtains at the windows, following her into the diner in a gust that swirled dried leaves around her feet. The little brass bell over the door tinkled. She glanced at the long, Formica counter top, the red vinyl-covered barstools and headed toward an empty booth along the wall. The jukebox was quiet. She put her head in her hands, her elbows propped on the table, while she thought about her pregnancy.

“Hi, Pamela,” came a sharp voice, and she looked up at Sheila Foster, who plopped a plastic-coated menu into her hands. The Royal Diner—Food Fit For A King! was lettered across the top. Trying to focus on the words, Pamela skimmed the menu and ordered one of Manny’s delicious hamburgers and a chocolate malt, knowing she would have to start thinking in terms of healthy meals because of the baby. The baby. She was going to have a baby. She was pregnant!

She couldn’t believe the news. First sheer terror had gripped her because she didn’t know how to be a mother and being unwed and pregnant was still scandalous in Royal, Texas. But the terror was quickly replaced with awe. And then when Dr. Woodbury had asked her if she would keep her baby, reality had come and she’d known she wanted her baby with every fiber in her body.

A precious baby all her own. She had never once expected to have her own baby. She had rarely dated. What Aaron had found in her, even for one night, she couldn’t imagine. Except she had easily fallen into his arms, succumbed to his charms, returned his lovemaking with unbridled passion.

As she sat waiting for her lunch, her mind went back to that magical night of the Texas Cattleman’s Club gala.

The gala had been given to celebrate the European dignitaries who were visiting Royal from Asterland and Obersbourg and to thank the members of the local Texas Cattleman’s Club for their help in the rescue of Princess Anna von Oberland, now married to Greg Hunt. It was a glittering array of diplomats and titled people including Asterland’s Lady Helena Reichard. It had been a cold, clear night, and when Pamela had walked into the light and warmth of the ballroom, she had wondered what she was doing there. Yet, it had sounded like fun when Thad Delner, her recently widowed principal, had told her he had to make an appearance and would she like to go, since his invitation included a guest.

While Thad had talked to friends and she had talked to people she knew, they’d drifted apart. As she stood in a circle of acquaintances, she felt compelled to turn. Glancing across the room, she looked into the green-eyed gaze of a tall, ruggedly handsome man. Looking dashing in his black tux and white shirt, he had stared at her too intently, a little too long to be a casual glance. Broad-shouldered yet lean, he had short, neatly combed dark brown hair. His features were rugged with a prominent bone structure, but it was his thickly lashed green eyes that mesmerized and held her.

As she gazed back at him, time was suspended. Her pulse jumped: it was as if he had reached across the room and touched her.

Then Justin Webb had spoken to him, and he’d turned away to talk to his friend.

She knew who he was. Aaron Black. Older, an American diplomat stationed abroad, he was from Royal. Everyone in town knew the Black family. Old money, but down-to-earth good people.

Trying to concentrate and forget the look from the disturbing stranger, she turned back to the conversation at hand.

And then she was looking into his eyes only a few feet from her as he extended his hand. “Fun party. I’m Aaron Black.” His voice was low, husky and mellow. She’d placed her hand in his and his grip was solid, his fingers warm, curling around hers.

“I’m Pamela Miles.”

“Native?”

“Yes,” she’d answered, wondering how he could possibly not know. She’d thought everyone in town knew Dolly Miles, and that Dolly had a daughter.

“I haven’t spotted your date hovering over you.”

She’d laughed. “You won’t. I’m here with Thad Delner, my principal. I teach second grade at Royal Elementary, and Thad has been recently widowed. He had an invitation for tonight, and thought he needed to attend briefly to represent Royal Elementary, so he asked if I would like to come along. I’ve never been to one of these balls before.”

“Well, since no date will be breathing down my neck—want to dance?”

When she’d nodded, he’d taken her arm to steer her to the dance floor and then she was closer than ever to him, aware of the cottony scent of his stiffly starched shirt, his cologne. Her fingers brushed his neck as she put her arm on his shoulder to dance. His hand holding hers was warm. They moved together as if they had danced with each other forever.

His cheekbones were prominent and his lower lip full, sensual. She realized she was staring at his mouth, and her gaze flew back up to meet his. She saw fires in the depth of his emerald eyes. Once again her gaze was caught and held by his and conversation fled while her heart drummed. As the moment stretched, making her breathless, tension crackled between them. With an effort of will she looked away.

“Tell me about your life, Pamela,” he said. “You’re here with your principal. Does this mean there’s no guy in your life right now?”

“Yes, it does. I lead an ordinary teacher’s life except I’m going to Asterland in two days as an exchange teacher.”

“You’re the one!” Aaron’s eyebrow arched, and he tilted his head as he leaned away slightly to study her. “This is my lucky day. I’m with the American Embassy in Spain. On weekends we can see each other,” he said with a warmth in his voice that sent a tingle through her. “Lucky Asterland. It’s a pretty place. Very different from West Texas,” he drawled.

She laughed. “I’d imagined that.”

She’d listened to him talk as they danced through two more dances, and then his arm had tightened and they were dancing cheek-to-cheek and her pulse was racing.

She’d danced once with Matt Walker, an old friend and one of the local ranchers, and then Aaron was back, claiming her for another dance. And she was aware of other women watching Aaron, and she knew they wanted to be dancing with him, and she could understand why they did. As they’d spun around the floor to a fast number, she looked at women in fancy gowns they had bought for thousands of dollars in elegant boutiques here in Royal or in stores in Dallas and Houston while she was in her simple black sheath she had purchased for a little over fifty dollars. She was amazed that Aaron was dancing with her—amazed and glad. And in some ways, it seemed the most natural thing in the world to be in his arms, moving with him, looking into his green eyes.

After an hour, between dances, Thad Delner had joined them. As soon as she introduced him to Aaron, Thad had turned to her to tell her he was ready to leave. Before he could finish, Aaron broke in.

“I’ll take Pamela home, Mr. Delner. I’m glad you brought her.”

Thad Delner’s blue eyes focused on her with a questioning look. “Is that all right with you, Pamela?”

She’d nodded, breathless, amazed Aaron was offering to take her home “Yes, it’s fine,” she said, looking at Aaron, whose rugged handsomeness made her heart race.

“All right. You two go back to your dancing. I’ll talk to you before you leave for Asterland, Pamela.”

“Thanks for bringing me, Thad,” she’d said and then she was back in Aaron’s arms to dance again.

When he’d invited her to come by his house for a drink, and she’d accepted, the dreamlike quality of the evening continued. At Pine Valley, an exclusive area of fine homes, Aaron slowed for large iron gates to open. As a gate swung back, he drove past it and waved at the guard.

The stately mansions sobered her. The lawns were vast and well-cared-for, the houses imposing, and his world of wealth and privilege seemed light years from her world of teaching and budgeting and ordinary living.

“Why so quiet?” Aaron asked. The lights of the dash threw the flat planes of his cheeks into shadow. When he looked at her, she could feel his probing look. Handsome, dashing, he was incredibly unique.

“I was just thinking about the differences in our lives,” she said, looking at the palatial Georgian-style houses with sweeping, constantly tended lawns. “We’re very different, you and I,” she said solemnly.

“Thank heavens,” he said lightly and picked up her hand to brush her knuckles across his cheek. “If you were just like me, I wouldn’t be taking you home with me now, I can promise.”

She smiled at him and relaxed, but the feeling returned again when they entered his house and he turned off an alarm.

“Gates, guards and alarms. You’re well-protected.”

He shrugged. “This is a family home. Ninety percent of the time, no one lives here,” he said, taking her arm as he switched on a low light in the entryway.

“I’m sorry you lost your parents,” she said, remembering headlines several years ago that had told about the plane crash in Denmark when his parents and six other Texans had been killed.

“Thanks. What about your parents?”

“They’re deceased,” she said stiffly, amazed again that he didn’t know about her mother. She had never known her father and wasn’t certain her mother even knew which man fathered her.

Aaron had led her through a kitchen and down a wide hall into a large family room elegantly furnished with plush navy leather and deeply burnished cherrywood furniture. An immense redbrick fireplace was at one end of the room and a thick Oriental rug covered part of the polished oak floor. He crossed the room to the fireplace to start the fire and in minutes the logs blazed. Following him into the room, she wandered around to look at oil paintings of western scenes. When she glanced back at him, he’d shed his tux coat. As her gaze ran across his broad shoulders, she drew a deep breath. He removed his tie and unfastened his collar and there was something so personal in watching him shed part of his clothing, that her cheeks flushed.

As soon as he moved to the bar, he glanced at her. “Wine, beer, whiskey, soda pop, what would you like to drink?”

“White wine sounds fine,” she answered, watching his well-shaped hands move over sparkling crystal while she sat on a corner of the cool leather sofa. He joined her, handing her a glass. When he sat down, he raised his glass. “Here’s to tonight, the night we met, Pamela,” he said softly and his words were like a caress.

While she smiled at him, she touched her glass lightly to his. “You think tonight is going to be memorable? You’re a sweet-talkin’ devil, Aaron Black. You’re dangerous,” she said, flirting with him and watching his green eyes sparkle. Yet even as she teased him, she had a feeling that his words, tonight, the night we met, would stick with her forever.

“I’m dangerous? I think that’s good news,” he said, sipping his wine and setting it on the large glass and cherrywood table in front of them. He scooted closer to her and reached out, picking up locks of her hair and letting them slide through his fingers. She was too aware of his faint touches, his knuckles just barely brushing her throat and ear and cheek. “Now why am I dangerous?”

“All that fancy talking can turn a girl’s head mighty fast. Texas men are too good at it.”

“And Texas women are the prettiest women in the world,” he said softly, his gaze running over her features.

She laughed and set her wine on the table as she looked at him with amusement. His brows arched in question. “That is high-fallutin’ talkin’! I’m too tall, too freckled and there’s never been a time in my entire life that anyone told me what a beauty I am, so that’s a stretch, Aaron.”

He didn’t smile in return which made her heart miss a beat, but he gazed at her solemnly while he stroked his fingers through her hair. “Maybe I see something others haven’t seen.”

“Oh, heavens, can you lay it on thick!”

“Just telling the truth,” he drawled and smiled a lazy smile at her.

They were in dangerous waters and she glanced around, trying to get the conversation less personal. “If no one lives here most of the time, who takes care of your house?” she asked, looking at the immaculate room.

“We have a staff,” he answered casually without taking his eyes from hers. His fingers stroked her nape in featherlight brushes that ignited fires deep within her. His voice was low. The only light now was from the blazing fire, and there was a cozy intimacy that was made electric by his nearness. “Why are you a teacher?”

“I love children,” she answered, and he nodded his approval. “I feel strongly that all children should be able to read, so I like working with them, particularly in reading. I never had any family. Maybe that’s why I feel the way I do about kids. Why did you want to be a diplomat?”

“Everything about it fascinated me,” he said quietly, his green gaze studying her as if he were memorizing every feature. “I thought I could help save the world when I went into it.”

“And now?”

“Now I know that’s an impossibility. The old world will keep turning no matter what I do. There will always be wars and intrigue, and now, more than ever, terrorism.”

“You sound disenchanted.”

“Not tonight. Tonight is good,” he said, giving her a heated, direct look that blatantly conveyed his desire.

“Behave yourself, Aaron! You do come on strong.”

“You won’t believe me, but I don’t usually.” As she smiled, he touched her cheek. “Dimples. You have to have been told your dimples are pretty.”

“Maybe so,” she said. “Tell me about Spain.”

“I’ll tell you, but soon I want to show it to you. You’ll have your weekends free when you get to Asterland and I can take you to my favorite places in Spain.”

Though she merely smiled at him, his words gave her a thrill. She listened to him describe Spain and Asterland, and she answered his questions about her job. Their conversation roamed over a myriad of subjects as if they had a million things to tell each other. And all the time they talked, his fingers drifted over her hands or nape or ear or played in her hair while he watched her as if she were the first woman he had ever seen.

“Your family has lived in Texas for more than a hundred years, haven’t they?” she asked him. He nodded while his fingers stroked her nape and she barely could concentrate on what he was answering. While his index finger traced the curve of her ear, she inhaled deeply, tingles fueling her desire.

“Yep. My great-granddaddy, Pappy Black, ran cattle when he came home after the War Between the States. He amassed the Black fortune. Then my granddad, Rainy Black—I’m named for him—he was Aaron Rainier Black, was a Texas senator, so I grew up around politicians. I’m as Texas as you can get.”

“Sure, Aaron,” she said, thinking of his eastern education. His fingers trailed from her ear down over her throat and along her arm, moving to her knee. His thickly lashed eyes were filled with desire and she tingled along every nerve ending from all his feather touches. “¿Habla Español?” she asked.

“Sì. ¿Y usted?”

“Muy poco. Only what I’ve picked up from living in Royal. What other languages do you speak?”

“French, German, Arabic, Italian, Polish and Chinese. My undergraduate degree is in languages and political science and I had to learn Arabic in the military. I had to learn Polish with the State Department.”

She thought again of the vast differences in their lives. “Which colleges did you attend?”

“Harvard for an undergraduate degree,” he replied in an offhand manner. “Now tell me what you like to do? What’s fun?”

“Playing with little children, reading. I enjoy doing pencil drawings. Just simple things. I’ve taught aerobics before, but not for the past year.” Her gaze dropped to his mouth, and she wondered what it would be like to kiss him. She wanted to kiss him. Why did he have this effect on her? She felt as if sparks constantly danced between them, and her awareness level was at a maximum. With an effort she tried to concentrate on what he was saying.

They sat and talked until a grandfather clock in the hall chimed three in the morning. It seemed she had been with him five minutes, yet it seemed as if she had known him all her life.

By three he had unfastened and removed his cuff links, turned back his white sleeves, kicked off his shoes. Her nerves were tingling and raw, and she was intensely aware of him, looking at his full lower lip and continuing to wonder what it would be like to kiss him.

When the clock softly chimed the third time, she stood. “Well, it’s getting late,” she said.

In a fluid movement, he came to his feet instantly and placed his hand on her waist, turning her to face him. One look in his eyes and her breath caught. He drew her closer.

“I feel like I’ve waited all my life for this moment,” he said softly.

Her heart thudded, and she told herself not to believe what he said, but the words thrilled her as his hand slid behind her head and his arm went around her waist, pulling her against his hard length. He leaned down, his mouth brushing hers and her pulse skipped with the first contact of his lips on hers. Fire and magic. Even more, before her lashes came down, was the look in his eyes of wanting her—as if his words had been the truth and he had been waiting forever.

What was it about this man that melted her physically and emotionally? That made all barriers go down and her body and heart both yield completely? He took her breath and made her pulse race and it seemed so incredibly right, as if she were destined for this night from the day she was born. He rubbed his lips softly against hers again.

“Aaron,” she whispered his name, that from the first moment they’d met had been special, irresistible.

His mouth settled on hers, opening it fully while his tongue thrust over hers, stroking it and conveying such need that she quivered in response. She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kisses and his passion. She felt his arousal and felt his hands slide over her and then move to her zipper. Cool air played across her shoulders as her dress fell away, and Aaron raised his head to push away the top of her lacy blue teddy. Inhaling deeply, he cupped her small breasts in his large, tanned hands. His breathing was ragged when he bent, and his tongue stroked her nipple.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispered. “I need you.”

His words were as seductive as his kisses. Moaning with pleasure, she shook and gripped his shoulders and knew she should stop, but his every touch was magic. Sensations and desire bombarded her. Never in her life had she known passion. Never before had she found a man who ignited desire into blazing flames. She would stop him, but oh, not yet. Not yet…

His thumbs circled and stroked her taut nipples and her insides turned a somersault. Her fingers went to the studs on his shirt, and in minutes she had worked them free and pushed away his shirt and then her hands were on his chest that was lean, hard-corded muscles. Her fingers tangled in the mat of short brown hair across his chest.

Swinging her into his arms while he kissed her, he carried her to a bedroom and then they were in bed together, her length stretched against his. As he peeled away the teddy and her hose, his hands and kisses were everywhere.

Was it the wine? The man? The magic of the night? His beguiling words that made her feel an incredible need in him for her alone?

A dim voice within her urged her usual caution, but it went up in smoke in minutes as he moved lower, trailing kisses to her thighs. His hand slipped between her legs, stroking her, driving her over a brink and making her want what she had never known, want it all with this man who was so special to her from the first moment she had looked into his eyes.

She helped him peel away his trousers and briefs. He moved over her, hard, ready, breathtakingly handsome as she wrapped her long legs around him and pulled him to her. She heard him whisper, asking if she was protected, and she answered yes, yes, wanting him with a desperate urgency in a manner she hadn’t ever dreamed possible while desire demolished all her wisdom and caution.

His mouth covered hers, taking her cries of passion as he slowly entered her. When he raised his head and frowned, she arched her hips, tightened her legs, and pulled him to her.

“Please, Aaron,” she whispered, knowing this night was more than magic for her and she wanted him as she had never wanted anything. She gave her virginity to him eagerly, wanting him and lost in the roaring of her pulse, only dimly hearing him cry out her name as she gasped, carried out of the world into pure ecstasy, finally tumbling over a brink of release.

In the quiet of the fading night he showered her with kisses, and then he held her tightly against him while they talked. His other hand caressed her, and his voice was a deep rumble that she loved to listen to.

“What do you like best in the world, Aaron?” she asked, wanting to discover everything about him she could.

“This night. You in my arms. Long, slow hot kisses, people who care, Switzerland, the ranch. What do you like?” he asked in a lazy voice while he languidly drew his fingers over her hip.

“Tonight, too. Being with you. Little children. Books.” She ran her finger along his jaw that had a faint trace of stubble now. “What do you want out of life?”

“Ahh, that’s an easier question. I want a family, a woman who is my best friend and lover. I want to do some good for people, to settle on the ranch—”

“You want to live here on your ranch?” she asked, interrupting him and surprised by his answer.

“Sure. I grew up on the ranch and love it. I want some more years in the diplomatic service, but then I want to come home to ranching. What do you want out of life?” he asked, gazing into her eyes while she caught his hand to kiss his knuckles lightly.

“I don’t think about it much. I want to be a good teacher. I don’t want any child to ever pass through my classroom and not be able to read when moving on. They should all learn in first and second grade and never go on until they master reading.”

“No yearning for marriage?”

She was glad it was dark and he couldn’t see her blush, because she could feel the heat rise in her cheeks. “You know now, Aaron, that you’re the first man in my life. I’ve never dated much and never thought I would marry.”

“I’ll bet the ranch you do.”

When she laughed, he touched her dimple. “Are you a gambling man?”

“Actually no. But I don’t think that would be much of a bet. You’ll marry, lady.”

“Right now, I’m thinking about going to Asterland. Tell me some more about Europe.”

“Asterland is a beautiful little country. You’re going to like it.” She listened to him talk for another twenty minutes and then while she was talking, she heard his deep, regular breathing and realized he was asleep. Hugging him, knowing she would carry memories of this night with her the rest of her life because she had fallen in love, she settled against him and closed her eyes.

She lay in his arms and listened to his heartbeat and his deep steady breathing. He held her tightly as if afraid of losing her. The wonder of the night left her dazed. Aaron was a marvel. Their lovemaking was ecstasy she had never expected to experience. She’d slept, then stirred as dawn spilled into the room, and along with it, reality.

Memories assailed her, and in the light of day, they held clarity and a shocked realization of how he must see the night.

How could she have fallen into his arms and given all to him the first night she’d met him? She closed her eyes in pain, thinking of her mother and the taunting cries she had been teased with when she was young—“…your mom’s the town tramp,” “trash mama,” “she’s cheap,” “easy lay”—even worse names.

Shame, shock, fear of what Aaron would think of her, all ran through her mind. Was she that much like her mother after all? After all these years of being so circumspect, so careful, the moment a dashing, worldly man had turned his charm on her, she had thrown prudence over instantly.

Wiping at tears that stung her eyes, she slid out of bed. She could only imagine how Aaron must see her. Then her gaze fell on him and, momentarily, her feelings shifted and longing shook her. He was sprawled in bed, the sheet down below his narrow waist. His body was lean, muscled and looked like the body of a runner. The mat of dark brown hair across his chest tapered down in a line to his navel. Her gaze traveled lower to the sheet covering him, but her memories conjured up visions of Aaron last night when he was hard, ready and so incredibly male and appealing.

Giving a little shake of her shoulders, she knew she didn’t want to see those probing green eyes open and look at her in a demeaning manner. Nor did she want to hear him make excuses or make light of an evening that had taken her heart. Again, she wondered how she could have succumbed so swiftly. Was it in her genes? She had fought that notion all her life, treating boys coldly, keeping barriers around her when she was older, barriers that turned guys off quickly.

As quietly as possible, with shaking hands and tears stinging her eyes, she gathered her things and dressed. Then she slipped downstairs and called Royal’s only cab.

In minutes she was standing on the drive, praying that Aaron wouldn’t waken. Today she was supposed to go to Midland to see her closest friend, Jessica Atkins, a fellow teacher. Aaron probably couldn’t find her if he wanted to. She suspected he wouldn’t even care. Yet he hadn’t seemed that way last night.

“Of course, he didn’t, ninny!” she whispered to herself. “Get real. He seduced you—it was a one-night stand and you fell into his arms eagerly. Practically jumped into his arms.”

The cab whisked her away, and when the tall iron gates began to swing shut behind her she was certain she was closing a part of her life away. From this time forward, last night would only be a memory, yet she knew she had given Aaron much more than just her body.

Embarrassed and saddened, she had ridden home, packed for the weekend swiftly and rushed to her car to drive to Midland and the haven of Jessica’s small frame house. No matter how many miles she put between them, she couldn’t get Aaron out of her thoughts. The realization that they hadn’t used any protection came to her. Aaron had asked if she was protected, and, totally lost to the moment, wanting him as she had never wanted anything in her life, she had whispered yes.

“You know better than that!” she said aloud to herself.

Realizing she was sitting in the Royal Diner, talking to herself, Pamela took a deep breath. Aaron had asked if she was protected. She couldn’t blame him. And if he learned about her pregnancy—that must never happen. She wouldn’t even consider the possibilities.

She thought about the Blacks. Everyone in town knew that his parents had been into missionary work; his brother was a minister, channeling funds to worldwide missions, his older sister was a doctor in a third-world country. She didn’t know what his other brother did, but they were good people and used their enormous wealth to help others. Aaron had told her how he had gone into the diplomatic service because he thought he could try to do something to help world situations.

She ran her fingers across her brow. Aaron Black must never know he was the father of her baby. He would be a man to marry out of a sense of duty and doing the right thing. Aaron…

Such a pang hit her she clutched her middle. Longing rolled up through her like a tidal wave. Along with her body, she had given her heart to him. She knew that. But she was realistic. She was a veteran of watching pillars of the community sleep with her mother, give Dolly tokens of appreciation—or much more than tokens—cars, jewelry, but always they eventually turned their backs on Dolly and went their own way. And out in public she had seen them meet her mother and seen the furtive glances, the coolness, the lack of respect they had treated Dolly with.

She couldn’t bear that with Aaron. Aaron Black’s baby. Again, she pressed her hand to her flat stomach and felt a surge of maternal joy. She already loved this baby with her whole heart and she would devote her life to her precious child.

She would have to move from Royal because there would be too much gossip here, but that was something she didn’t have to worry about today. She just had to keep her condition a secret until her plans were made. It was a secret to be kept most of all from Aaron Black. He had already gone back to Europe, so there was little chance of his finding out unless Justin Webb or Matt Walker or another one of those buddies of Aaron’s learned about it and told him. And if he did find out, Matt was a good enough friend to respect her wishes. She could trust Matt to be the friend he always had been.

Once again the enormity of what she had done struck her. How could she have been so like her mother? How could she have thrown over all her caution when she had spent a lifetime being cautious? The man could charm the proverbial birds out of the trees, but that was no excuse. She had met charmers in college and had managed easily to say no. What was it about Aaron Black that twisted her into knots, melted her reserve, dissolved all barriers she kept up?

She clutched her middle again, aghast when she thought about how easy she had been, how careless, and what Aaron must think about her.

“Are you feeling better, Pamela?”

“I’m fine, thanks,” she said, aware of the waitress approaching the table. Sheila’s pink uniform was bright and her gaze was sharp.

“What happened was scary. I guess you’ll get over it as time goes by. Sorry you won’t get to go to Asterland to teach this semester. I heard the program was suspended.”

“That’s right, but with my ankle hurt, I wasn’t able to teach right after the crash,” Pamela said, wishing they could stop talking about it.

Sheila turned away, and Pamela stared at the giant burger and golden fries on her plate and knew she couldn’t eat a bite. Nor could she leave the entire burger and fries without stirring up a storm of comments. She sipped some of the chocolate malt, ate two bites of the burger, and then she couldn’t get down another morsel. She wrapped the burger and a few fries in her napkin and jammed them into her purse. Her purse would reek of hamburger, but she didn’t want any gossip starting now. No one ordered one of Manny’s juicy burgers and then left it with only a couple of bites taken out of it.

Thank heavens, so far, both she and Thad Delner led such straight and square lives that no one could conjure up gossip about them going together to the ball. And everyone in town knew he went to represent the school. Also, everyone in town was sorry about the loss of his wife, whom he had deeply loved. But once word got out that she had left the ball with Aaron Black, that would be another matter.

She slid out of the booth, paid and rushed from the diner before she had another conversation with anyone else. A few people were beginning to appear for lunch and she greeted them perfunctorily without even seeing who they were.

She drove home, her thoughts still churning, but an absolute determination growing within her that Aaron Black should never know about the baby. Their baby. She would call Jessica to tell her to watch for teaching jobs in Midland. The teaching position in Asterland was suspended this semester and by the next term, she would be very pregnant and she wouldn’t want to go to Asterland even if it were possible. She wanted her baby born here in Texas where she had friends.

Midland was larger than Royal, far enough away that her life would be her own, yet close enough she could get back to see her friends in Royal when she wanted to.

At least she didn’t have to worry about running into Aaron. He was halfway around the world and most likely had forgotten about her by now. She could imagine the kind of women in his life and wondered whether, while home in Texas, he had simply been amusing himself with the country girl that she was. In many ways Royal wasn’t a typical small Texas town because of oil money and all the wealth it produced. Basically, though, Royal was a small West Texas town and she was pure country.

She turned onto her street and saw her two-story brick apartment complex. She drove through the open wooden barriers that never closed and turned down the row to the back of her tiny apartment and her carport. As she approached her carport, her heart thudded. Seated on the tailgate of a shiny black pickup was Aaron Black.

Two

Her throat went dry and it was difficult to breathe. She felt hot, embarrassed, as if she were nine months pregnant instead of only weeks. There he was, and more than that, he looked marvelous. Her pulse raced like a shooting star. He looked as good in jeans and a plaid woolen shirt as he had in a tux. He wore scuffed boots and slid casually to his feet with his hands hooked into his wide, hand-tooled leather belt. A lock of brown hair fell across his forehead.

His green eyes were just as she remembered—going right through her. How could she keep her secret? Why was he here and not halfway around the world? What was she going to say to him? What did he want?

A cynical voice answered that question in a flash—another easy night with her. Her chin raised and her lips compressed while she tried to breathe deeply and wondered if she was going to faint right in front of him. Except she wasn’t given to fainting. It might be a lot easier if she could.

“Go away, Aaron Black,” she mumbled as she parked, and knew he was watching her every move. And then he was at the door, opening it and holding it for her.

When she stepped outside and looked up at him, her heart skipped beats. Gazing at him solemnly, she wrestled with her feelings because she wanted to walk right into his arms.

“Hi, Pamela.”

She couldn’t say a word.

“Well, hi, there, Aaron, it’s good to see you,” he said in a teasing voice while he ran his finger lightly along her cheek. “Cat got your tongue? Some reason I developed the plague and you want to avoid me?”

At his touch, tingles flashed through her, and she knew she was hopelessly lost unless she got her wits together and her defenses up. She drew herself up. “Hi, Aaron. I thought you were in Spain.”

“Well, I was,” he drawled in that mellow voice that was like a stroke of his fingers. Darn, if he would just quit looking at her like she was a bit of steak and he was a starving man. “But I came home because I wanted to see you.”

“You came home to see me?” she whispered, shocked and unable to believe she had heard correctly. Did he know? She rejected that notion instantly.

He looked around while a gust of cold wind buffeted them and spun leaves into the air. “Could we maybe talk inside?”

“Oh! Of course. Come in,” she said, feeling ridiculous and knowing the women in his life knew how to handle moments like this smoothly and casually, while she was acting like a twelve-year-old with her first crush. She moved ahead of him, reached out to unlock the door and dropped her keys. He scooped them up, reached his long arm around her and unlocked the door, pushing it open and waiting for her to enter. Too aware of how close he was behind her, she stepped inside. He made her fluttery and overly conscious of him and of herself and her condition.

She glanced around her tiny kitchen and thought of his palatial family home in Pine Valley. Her whole apartment would fit into his kitchen.

She opened her purse to drop her keys inside and the smell of the hamburger wafted into the air. His brows arched and he reached down to pull the wrapped burger from her purse. She could hear the laughter in his voice. “You carry hamburgers and fries in your purse?”

“Not usually,” she said, snatching her lunch from him and carrying it to the counter to set it down. “I wasn’t hungry. Do you want anything to drink?”

“No thanks, but help yourself.”

She shook her head. “Let’s sit in the living room.”

He looked all around as they entered her tiny living room with its white wicker furniture, red, blue and yellow throw pillows, colorful prints on the walls—an attractive room to her, but a far cry from his lifestyle.

“Nice place.”

“Thank you.”

He prowled around with both the grace and curiosity of a cat and stepped into the bedroom that opened off the living room. “This is your bedroom,” he said, and she wondered how she had left her room that morning when she had dressed for the doctor’s appointment. She ran her hand across her forehead, watching him as he returned to the living room and moved across the room to the sofa. He tilted his head again.

“Are you going to sit down?”

“Yes,” she replied, knowing she was acting ridiculously, but he had jolted her with his sudden appearance when she’d thought he was in Spain.

When she perched on the edge of the sofa, he sank down near her, looking relaxed and as if he owned the place. He leaned closer, and she realized she should have sat across the room from him. He ran his finger along her cheek. “Big blue eyes just like I remembered,” he said softly, and she wondered if he could hear her heart thudding.

“Why are you here?”

Again, he looked as if amusement danced in his eyes. “Glad to see me?”

“Yes,” she said cautiously. This time there was no mistaking the laughter in his eyes.

“Uh-huh,” he drawled. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” she said, bracing up and wondering what was coming.

“Why did you disappear the next morning?” His voice was quiet, his words innocuous, but his eyes nailed her and a flush heated her cheeks.

With an effort she looked away from those damnable green eyes that made her feel as if he could see every thought in her head. “I was supposed to leave town and I needed to get home.”

“Oh, yeah,” he drawled in a voice that indicated he didn’t believe that answer for a second.

She knotted her fingers in her lap. “I don’t usually sleep with a guy the first night I meet him,” she whispered stiffly, feeling her cheeks burn, but there it was, the flat-out bald truth.

“I know you don’t,” he said in such a tender voice that she wanted to fling herself into his arms. His fingers lifted her chin and turned her to face him, and when she looked into his eyes, she felt she was melting and all her resistance was slipping away.

“Go to dinner with me tonight.”

“I can’t be—”

“That’s why I came home,” he interrupted.

Shocked by his statement, she stared at him. “It isn’t either! You didn’t come home to take me to dinner.”

“Did so,” he argued quietly. “To my way of thinking, we have some unfinished business between us,” he said, and beneath his soft voice, she could hear a steely determination.

She thought about her condition and shook her head. “I think it is finished,” she said. “You move in one world and I live in another. I’m just a country girl, Aaron, so let’s be realistic. You couldn’t have come home to take me to dinner!”

“Yes, ma’am, I surely did,” slipping into a West Texas drawl that she knew he didn’t usually have. “And what’s all this about a country girl? Where do you think I grew up?”

“Right here, but don’t give me that ol’ country-boy routine. You were educated in the east and you live abroad and you move in circles that I know nothing about and the women in your life—”

“Bore me witless,” he said, scooting a little closer. “I wouldn’t pursue this if I didn’t feel like there was something between us.”

His words devastated her, and she clutched her fingers even more tightly together. Resist the sweet talk, resist…

She scooted away from him a few inches, keeping the space they’d had, but now she was pressed against the end of the sofa.

“We had sex between us, but—”

“That was lovemaking, Pamela,” he interrupted with such solemnity that her heart did another lurch. “It was good and fine and important.” He studied her. “Maybe we need to take some time now to get to know each other.”

“No, we don’t!”

“Why the hell not?”

Her mind raced on how to answer him. Why did he have to sit so close? It was difficult to think. “I told you, I’m country and you’re not and don’t say you are. Our worlds are really different, and there is no way you can convince me that you’re here because I’m so fascinating.”

“You don’t think so?”

“No. How’d did you get off work in the middle of the week?”

“I asked for time off to come home to see you.”

Her jaw did drop. While she stared at him, he gazed back steadily with no amusement in his features now.

“This is important,” he announced solemnly.

Her heart stopped. Missed beats and then picked up. No. Not now, was all she could think. Not now. Don’t do this. He mustn’t know. Her head swam. This can’t happen now. It’s too late. Much too late for us.

She shook her head. “You need to pack and go back to Spain. This is ridiculous. We’re in different worlds, Aaron. That night was special, but it was just a night. Now I need to—”

He moved closer. “Pamela, I want a chance to show you that our worlds aren’t that different. There are some basic things about people that match up, and I think we ought to get to know each other a little and see how much we match up. Maybe you’re right and it won’t be the magic it seemed, but let’s get to know each other a little better and give a relationship a chance.”

“I just don’t think we should.” She could barely get out the words.

“What will it hurt?” he persisted softly, lacing his fingers in hers and running his thumb across her knuckles and scrambling her thoughts.

If you only knew, you would run like crazy. She stared at him, her heart pounding, knowing that she had to send him on his way.

“You’re sitting close.”

“I’m glad you noticed. What will it hurt?”

I will be in love with you more than I am now, she thought, and you’ll find out I’m carrying your baby, and then you’ll want to marry me for all the wrong reasons. She knew she could never, ever let him know about the pregnancy. Send him on his way back to Spain.

“One little dinner date,” he said softly, leaning forward to brush his lips against her throat. “Just go out with me tonight, okay? Come on. I’ll bet we’ll have a good time getting to know each other a little better,” he coaxed. He was close enough that she could feel his warmth, smell his woodsy aftershave.

“We shouldn’t—”

“You’d rather eat alone than with me?” he whispered.

“No, but—”

“Good. It’s settled.” His lips trailed kisses lightly along her throat, and she ached to turn her head and kiss him fully. With that first brush of his lips, she was lost. He leaned back. “I’ll pick you up about seven. I made reservations at Claire’s.”

Her eyes opened. What had she done? How did he get his way so easily with her?

“Aaron, you couldn’t have come back from Spain to take me to dinner.”

“Yes, I did.”

If he was lying, he was doing a magnificent job of sounding convincing, but then she knew in his job he must be accustomed to some slick talking to get what he wanted.

“But what about your job? You can’t just leave on a whim.”

“I have so many vacation days piled up, I can take off for a long time. When I started this job, I was in love with it. I guess I thought I was doing my part to help save the world. I gave it my everything. I didn’t take vacations very often, so I have a lot of days coming. Besides, I asked for a leave of absence and they granted it.”

Appalled, she stared at him. “Leave of absence! You’re in Royal for more than tonight?”

“Don’t sound so thrilled,” he drawled, and his eyes were full of questions. “You keep looking at me as if I’m some kind of monster.”

“No! Oh, no! I just am shocked about your leave of absence. It takes some adjusting to think of you in Royal instead of Spain.”

He placed both hands on either side of her face while his gaze probed hers. “Why does it take some adjusting to have me here? That’s not too flattering.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, heat burning her cheeks. Why couldn’t she control her darn blushes! “I’m just surprised.”

“Well, get used to it, lady, because I came home for us to get to know each other a little better,” he said in a husky voice.

She pulled away from him and stood, her knees bumping his knees. He was on his feet instantly and his hand rested on her waist, stopping her from moving away from him.

“Pamela, I don’t know what’s going on in that pretty head of yours, but yes, I want us to get to know each other better. I’ve been thinking about you constantly since that night.”

“Oh, my heavens! I don’t believe it.”

He frowned. “Well, you better believe it, and I’ll do my damnedest to convince you because memories of you have played hell with my work. You’ve got some notion in your head about the kind of woman I want in my life, but you’re wrong.”

“Oh, Aaron,” she said, his words tearing at her.

“At least, let’s just take a little time. Maybe we’re not compatible, but let’s give ourselves a chance to find out.”

She didn’t have that option. In spite of her longing, her feelings for him, his charm and persistence, she knew she had to keep her secret from him and send him packing back to Spain.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“You promised dinner tonight. I’m holding you to that.” She gazed up at him, aware of his hand on her waist, his nearness, his green eyes filled with determination and a look that kept her pulse racing.

He brushed her lips lightly with a kiss and moved away. “I’ll see you at seven, darlin’.” He strode through her tiny apartment and opened the back door. “I doubt if that hamburger is fit to eat now. I’ll feed you tonight.”

And then he was gone, and she stared at the closed door, frozen in shock over how once again she had capitulated to what he wanted. She heard the roar of the pickup. A pickup and cowboy boots and jeans. He had looked at home in them, but she knew better. He was a diplomat who lived in Europe and had spent nearly all his adult life abroad. He was First Secretary at the American Embassy in Spain. She could imagine the women he knew, beautiful, sophisticated—they didn’t drop keys and carry hamburgers in their purses. She rubbed her temples and moved restlessly around the room. When he’d asked her out, all her resolve had just melted away. She was jelly where he was concerned, and she was going to have to do better tonight.

Why was she going? What would she wear? Was he doing this to sleep with her again? That question brought her up short and a flash of shame and anger burned in her.

She turned to a small mirror and shook her finger at her reflection. “Pamela, you were easy. Get a backbone where he is concerned! You’ll have to send him packing tonight and stay cool, cool, cold.”

She thought of guys who had called her frigid. Where was all that coldness she could turn on so easily with others?

She looked down at her flat stomach and splayed her fingers against it. A baby. Aaron’s baby. He must never, never know. But in spite of the foolishness of getting pregnant in her first night of lovemaking, in spite of how it would turn her life upside down and in spite of all the struggles of being a single mother, she couldn’t stop being thrilled and awed. Her own precious baby. Aaron’s baby.

She knew from teaching the struggles the young single mothers and dads had, how they had to be everything for their kids and juggle jobs and schedules, but she would do it. Her own baby. Aaron’s baby. This baby had a wonderful father.

Aaron has a right to know about his baby.

That thought was an unwanted one. He might have a right to know, but if he did, she knew he would want to do the right thing, and out of duty he would insist they marry. His family would hate her and think she had trapped him. No, he wasn’t going to know, and he would marry some beautiful woman who was the right kind of woman for him and have his own family someday. She was certain of that. This was the only way it could be because Aaron would never be happy married to a woman like her. Not ever. And she didn’t want duty or pity or charity. She couldn’t bear to see him feeling trapped.

“Go to dinner and send him back to Spain. You know how to turn men off,” she said and wondered when she had started talking out loud to herself and realized it had been since she met Aaron.

She threw up her hands and went to find something to wear tonight. Her life had changed forever today—pregnant, dinner tonight with Aaron. He had come home to take her out! To get to know her better. A pang of longing made her tremble. Why did it have to be this way! “Because of my own carelessness,” she answered herself.

Long ago she could remember Dr. Woodbury asking her if she wanted a prescription for the Pill and her turning him down, saying she wasn’t dating and there was no need. When he had lectured her, she had turned a deaf ear. She should have listened, but then she touched her stomach again and knew she really had no regrets. She adored little children and this would be her own baby, something she had never dreamed possible.

Dinner with Aaron. If only— She shut her mind to following that line of thought, but she couldn’t resist touching her throat and remembering his lips brushing against her.

Aaron whistled as he drove. He was excited, eager and he had to laugh at that hamburger stashed in her purse.

“No, darlin’, I don’t know any women like you and that’s what’s so wonderful about you. I like a country girl,” he said out loud. It was refreshing to know she was going to tell him what she thought and not twist things all around or play games with him.

She couldn’t believe he was here to take her out, but he would convince her. And maybe they wouldn’t get along as well as he expected, but he had to find out. Maybe this was a bunch of foolishness on his part, but he knew he was excited, happy, and felt better than he had since the night of the gala.

At seven that evening his pulse raced while he stood at her front door and punched the bell. The door swung open and she smiled at him. His pulse jumped another notch at the sight of her. Her shiny black hair was short, straight, hanging loosely with the ends curling under just below her ears in a simple, uncomplicated hairdo that was like the rest of her. Her dress was an indigo sheath that clung to her slender figure. She didn’t wear jewelry and had very little makeup, but she took his breath away, and, for an instant, he saw her without the dress, as he remembered her from that first night, slender, curvaceous, supple, warm, so damn giving and open to him.

“Hi,” he said, his husky voice betraying what he was feeling.

“Come in,” she said quietly, her blue eyes pulling him into their depths, and he wanted to say to hell with dinner and take her into his arms and straight to that tiny little virginal bedroom she had. Instead, he watched her as he walked inside. As soon as she closed the door, he turned to face her. He inhaled her perfume, a scent of lilacs, and it was an effort to keep from reaching for her, but he knew he’d better keep some kind of distance. The lady wasn’t overwhelmed with eagerness to go out with him tonight.

“You look gorgeous.”

“Thank you,” she said, smiling with her cheeks flushing and a sparkle coming to her eyes that made him feel better. Why was she so solemn? She hadn’t been that way that first night. He felt like he had done something wrong, but he couldn’t imagine what.

“I’ll get my coat. You look nice, too, Aaron, very elegant in your navy suit,” she said shyly, and he couldn’t keep from reaching out to brush her cheek lightly with his fingers.

“Thanks, darlin’. I’ve been getting ready for this date since I drove away from your place this afternoon.”

She gave him an I-don’t-believe-you look and turned to get her coat. He watched the gentle, sexy sway of her hips and tried to get his thoughts elsewhere because the slightest little thing with her could turn him on in a flash. For the first time he noticed the small elastic bandage that wrapped one slender ankle and he wondered if that was a lingering result of an injury during the rough landing of the Asterland jet.

His hands trembled slightly as he held her coat, brushing his fingers across her nape and trying to keep from taking her into his arms. She couldn’t have any idea how badly he wanted her.

“You have a bandage on your ankle,” he said when she turned around to face him. Unable to keep from touching her, he smoothed the collar of her coat.

“I had torn ligaments in my ankle because of the plane’s rough landing. I’m supposed to wear this bandage two more weeks. I thought about leaving it off tonight and seeing how I get along, but that might not be a good idea.”

“Bandage or no bandage, your legs are beautiful. You wear it as long as you’re supposed to,” he said quietly, looking into her eyes while she gazed back at him and tension coiled between them.

“We should go, Aaron,” she reminded him solemnly. He took her arm, still wondering about the barriers she had thrown up between them. When they left, she locked her apartment. He took her arm to walk to the car, looking at the flash of her shapely legs again as she slid into his black car.

When he entered the stream of traffic in the street in front of her apartment complex, Aaron glanced in the rearview mirror out of habit. He had spent years abroad, sometimes involved in intrigue, sometimes residing in countries that didn’t welcome Americans, so he was accustomed to checking his surroundings and did it without thought. And, through habit, he noticed the black car turning into traffic a few cars behind him. When he got to Claire’s, Royal’s finest restaurant, instead of driving up immediately for valet parking, he circled the block.

“If you’re looking for a parking spot, they have plenty in the back of their lot,” Pamela said.

“Just driving around,” he answered casually, aware she was watching him. In the rearview mirror, he saw the same black car turn the corner behind him, just as he turned another corner.

“I think we’re being followed,” he said, glancing at her to see what her reaction would be.

“Have you brought someone all the way from Spain to follow you around Royal, Texas?” she asked, her voice filled with disbelief. “Surely not!”

He turned back toward Main Street and slid to a stop at the curb, knowing he was squarely in front of a fire hydrant, but he would be there only briefly. She didn’t guess she might be the one being followed.

“No, darlin’, I don’t think so,” he drawled, waiting. The car swung around the corner and had to pass him. He watched and pulled into the street behind the car.

The sedan had darkened windows, but when he drove behind it, he could see the silhouettes of two men. He noted the license tag, memorizing the number. At the corner they turned away from the restaurant and he turned toward it, driving up in front to let a valet park his car, but the incident worried him. He took her arm to walk to the front door of the restaurant.

“If they weren’t following you—no one would be following a second-grade school teacher, Aaron. That’s absurd.”

“Maybe.” He remembered talking to Justin about the site of the forced landing of the Asterland jet and all the questions the plane’s malfunction had raised. Was Pamela in any danger? He reached out to open the door for her.

“You’ve spent too much time involved in European intrigue. You’re in Royal, Texas, with a teacher from Royal Elementary. Nothing exciting here.”

He stopped to face her, suddenly blocking her way. Startled, she looked up at him. “Au contraire,” he said solemnly, brushing her hair away from her cheek. “Being with you is the most excitement I’ve known in a long, long time.”

“There you go again, pouring on charm thicker than molasses,” she teased, making light of his statement, but her words sounded breathless and pink filled her cheeks.

“I mean it, lady,” he said and moved out of her way, following her inside. He passed her to talk to the maitre d’ and then they were ushered to a table with candlelight, a red rose in a crystal vase and a white linen tablecloth. When he ordered a bottle of French white wine, she interrupted.

“Aaron, I’ll just drink water. I’m not much into wine or drinks.”

She had been that night. She’d had wine at the gala and another glass at his house. Maybe that had been a once-in-a-year thing. He knew so little about her, but he wanted to know everything. He ordered the wine for himself and water for her, wondering why everything she liked or said or did was so important to him.

“Do you like French food?” he asked. “If not, Chef Etienne does broil steaks—a concession to the steak-eating Texans. I know because I’m one of them.”

She studied the fancy menu. “I see salmon that I’d like.”

When their waiter returned for their order, Aaron said, “The lady will have the saumon fumé avec pommes de terre primeurs au beurre de persil,” he ordered in what sounded to her like flawless French. “I’ll have a steak, medium rare, and a baked potato.”

“You really do speak French fluently, don’t you?” she asked as soon as they were alone.

“You make it sound like I rob gas stations often,” he answered with a twinkle in his eye.

“Sorry. It’s just another difference between us.”

“Well, I won’t converse with you in French, darlin’,” he said, lapsing into a West Texas drawl.

She smiled slightly, but she didn’t look happy.

“Believe me, we wouldn’t be out together if there weren’t differences between us,” he said and she shrugged her shoulders slightly.

All through salads, his sizzling steak and her smoked salmon and new potatoes, he sensed a reserve in her that she hadn’t had before. Something wasn’t quite right, and he didn’t know what it was. But when he looked into her guileless blue eyes, his heart raced. In their depths was desire.

He could feel that same volatile chemistry between them, that urgency that made sparks dance between them and kept him touching her lightly as often as possible. He wanted her in his arms, as close as possible. He wanted another night with her like the one they’d had. And he knew she was responding to his touches and looks. No matter how coolly she seemed to act, he could see her fiery response in her eyes. Buddies who knew he had taken her home the night of the gala had teased him unmercifully, talking about the ice maiden, the woman no man could touch. He’d learned about her mother. Justin had clued him in on that one, and he dimly remembered hearing things about Dolly Miles and the men who slept with her. Did that have something to do with Pamela’s reserve? But Dolly Miles was of his parents’ generation. Growing up, Aaron had paid little attention to rumors about Dolly Miles. He hadn’t even known she’d a daughter, but Pamela was much younger than he was.

Over candlelight, he gazed at her, and for once couldn’t eat much of a delicious steak. All he wanted was to devour the woman, looking regal and poised, sitting across from him. He even loved the smattering of freckles across her straight nose. And she was country in all the best ways, down-to-earth, practical. Except there was something she was holding back. He could sense it and there was no mistaking the cool reserve that held her in check most of the evening. Occasionally, he could bring forth a laugh and then the reserve was gone, and once she seemed to forget herself and reached over to grasp his wrist while she told him about a little boy in her second-grade class.

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