Authors: Samantha James
How long they huddled together against the
bite of the wind and the chill of salt spray, Samantha could never
have said. It seemed like hours before a dull roaring sounded in
her ears, a drone that grew steadily louder. She opened her eyes
as she realized what it was; the throbbing sound of rotors.
"Kevin!" She shook the still form lying
limply against her. "Look!" She pointed upward to where a makeshift
chair was already being lowered.
His eyes widened as she lifted him to his
feet. "Wow! A Coast Guard helicopter! Wait 'til the kids at school
hear about this! This'll knock 'em dead!"
Samantha laughed shakily at his little-boy
glee. He might not have missed this for the world but this was one
experience she could have done without.
A short time later Kevin's mother gave him a
sound scolding then proceeded to clasp him tightly in her ample
arms. Samantha was next. She acknowledged the woman's gushing
thanks and warm hugs with a weak smile. Clutching the rough woolen
blanket someone had draped over her shoulders, she disengaged
herself from the surrounding crush of bodies.
"Samantha!" Hard hands caught her firmly by
the arms before she found herself engulfed in a warm pair of arms,
snugly folded against a warm male body. "Whatever possessed you to
do something so stupid, so foolhardy, so completely idiotic! Didn't
you think before you went charging up there?"
The harsh sound of Jason's voice was at
complete odds with the tender brush of his lips on her forehead,
her eyes, her cold cheeks. She sagged against his hard strength.
"You told me once I did too much thinking," she murmured with a
weak laugh against his chest.
His hands pushed her back so he could stare
down at her. "My God!" he said fiercely. "When I think what could
have happened! You could have been swept out to sea . . .
drowned!"
The agonized frenzy in his voice wasn't lost
on Samantha. Numbly she raised her head to stare back into his
hard face, the worry lines etched into his forehead, the deep
grooves carved beside his mouth. But his eyes... She caught her
breath. She was dead-tired, her entire body felt like an ice cube,
but the emotion reflected in his eyes had a startling effect on
her. He looked protective, fiercely so, and distinctly possessive,
but perhaps strongest of all... Suddenly she felt as if a warm ray
of sunshine had penetrated her foggy state clear through to her
soul. In anyone else she'd have sworn it was love.
Her breathing grew shallow. Did this mean
there was hope for him yet?
Jason took one look at her pale face and
gathered her up in his arms. Feeling as if she'd just come home
after a very long journey, Samantha wrapped her arms around his
neck and drowsily smiled her contentment against the strong brown
column of his neck, taking a deep breath of his heady male
scent.
"Take me home, Jason," she murmured tiredly
against his jaw. "Take me home."
A warm bath, some hot soup and an hour later,
Samantha felt completely revived. So much so, in fact, that
Jason's solicitous behavior was getting a little annoying. She
slapped away his hand as he reached to take her pulse for the third
time in the past ten minutes.
"For heaven's sakes, Jason," she protested,
"I'm perfectly fine!" She glared at him.
"You were soaked to the skin. Haven't you
ever heard of hypothermia? Maybe we should still take you to the
hospital."
Samantha rolled her eyes and set aside her
teacup. Jason had taken her to his house, and now they were sitting
on the edge of the bed, where he'd brought her a tray immediately
after her bath.
"You said yourself we weren't out there more
than ten minutes. The paramedics said both Kevin and I were fine.
Isn't that enough for you?"
"You only stopped shivering a few minutes
ago," Jason said accusingly. His eyes darkened and he reached out
to fold her in his arms. "Samantha, I nearly went out of my mind! I
don't know which was worse, seeing you up there and knowing there
wasn't a damn thing I could do or having you run out on me."
He broke off abruptly, and she had the
distinct sensation that he was having a hard time garnering his
emotions. She couldn't help but remember the deeply intense look in
his eyes when he'd brought her here. She snuggled closer and tucked
her head under his chin, smiling her contentment.
"Samantha—" He expelled a harsh sigh, his
breath stirring her hair. "I'm sorry. God, I'm sorry!" The words
were wrenched from deep inside him. "I shouldn't have struck out at
you the way I did, but I was angry, and hurt that you hadn't cared
enough to tell me you'd been married."
She made a small murmur of protest and tried
to look up, but his hand smoothed her hair and held her tightly.
"No, don't talk, just listen," he said in an emotion-rough voice
that was all the more precious for the gentleness of his hand on
her head. "I don't think I'll ever forgive myself for tearing into
you like that. I know I'll never forget that wounded look in your
eyes. I don't want to hurt you like that again. Ever. I accused you
of being a coward, but I was wrong. I'm the one who's a coward. I
came after you, but when I saw you sitting there on the
sand..."
His arms tightened as he hesitated. "For the
first time in my life, I was at a loss for words. Saying I was
sorry just didn't seem enough, and all of a sudden I was scared to
death that you would never forgive me, that you would hate me
forever for hurting you so."
Forever
. It was a strange word coming from a man who didn't believe
in forever. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. Slowly
she raised her head to look at him, her eyes searching his face.
"Jason.. ." Her throat tightened with emotion.
"I'm going to make you a promise, Samantha,"
he said in a velvet-soft tone. "I walked away from you then, but
I'll never walk away again." Her skin tingled when he slowly
brought her hand to his lips, brushing his warm mouth over her
knuckles. There was a silent question in his eyes as they met
hers.
"I'm a very forgiving woman." She smiled
mistily up at him. "And I think you already know I was coming back
to you when I saw Kevin up on those rocks."
Jason's eyes grew stormy. "I still can't
believe you did that!"
"I knew he'd never get down alone." Her tone
was very gentle, and the lines in his face seemed to relax. His
hand reached for hers, his long fingers threading tightly through
hers and resting on her bare thigh.
"I know," he said with a sigh. "I'd have done
the same thing myself."
At this she smiled and drew back from the
circle of his arms. "Your big chance at a real rescue attempt," she
teased, "and this time it wasn't one of your make-believe heroes
that beat you to it, it was the Coast Guard. Disappointed?"
His eyes met hers, the look undeniably warm.
Samantha was suddenly reminded of how he had impersonally
stripped her and lowered her into the tub, and just as
matter-of-factly toweled her hair and body. But now his warm
protective attitude was suddenly transformed into something very
different, and infinitely more exciting.
"Not yet." He shook his dark head, a ghost
of a smile at his lips. "All of my books invariably have a scene
like this." His eyes dropped to the pale blue material that covered
her slender body. "Even down to what you're wearing--one of my
shirts. And we both know what happens next—a love scene."
A love
scene
. Her senses already whirled giddily
from his nearness, but she noticed dazedly that once again, he
didn't call it a sex scene.
"You know you're driving me crazy."
The sound of his voice drifted across her
skin like a kiss of a warm summer breeze. She drew a deep
quivering breath. "Why is that?"
"Because after sitting here next to you, and
holding you in my arms, all I can think about is the fact that you
don't have a damn thing on under that shirt."
Her breath quickened. "My clothes aren't dry
yet," she murmured needlessly.
"They won't be dry until morning," he said
quietly, his eyes on the outline of her breasts. His eyes came up
to linger on her face. "You're beautiful, Samantha."
She felt her nipples tighten and swell under
the heat of his look. "I'm not," she said with a breathless laugh.
"You dried me so thoroughly I'm sure I'm still red as a
lobster!"
"Your nose is sunburned again—" his smile
deepened slightly "—but you look absolutely adorable."
Adorable! How could he tell her she was
beautiful one second, and adorable the next? Children were
adorable; warm cuddly puppies were adorable. She shook her head and
laughed shakily. "What is this fixation you have with my nose?"
That deep intimate glow in his eyes grew
more intense. "It's not just your nose," he murmured in a voice
that was faintly teasing, "it's your entire body. It's everything
about you."
She stifled a groan. If only she knew when to
take him seriously! "Jason—" She opened her mouth to protest.
He interpreted her look with pinpoint
accuracy and raised an eyebrow. "I've just bared my soul to you and
now you're going to give me that nonsense about not believing a
word I say."
"Jason, please stop!" His name was
half-laugh, half-groan. "I know I'm not pretty—my hair is a mousy
brown, I have a pug nose..."
"When are you going to learn!" His fingers
pressed urgently into her shoulders. "There's every bit as much to
love outside as there is inside." He shifted his position on the
edge of the bed and moved so close his hair-roughened thigh brushed
the smoothness of her own.
Samantha shrugged uneasily. "I still have a
hard time believing you'd want a woman for her mind..." She broke
off, again feeling miserable.
His laughter startled her, as did the golden
sparkle in his eyes. She drew herself up indignantly, but he
reached for her, easily quelling her squirming movements by
tightening his arms around her. The laughter in his eyes died as
suddenly as it had erupted.
"You have everything," he told her in a
voice like melted honey. "You are everything, all I've ever
wanted." His voice dropped to a mere whisper. "I've been waiting
all my life for a woman like you, Samantha. And now that I've
found you I'll never let you go."
She was stunned by the vibrant urgency in his
voice. Her eyes sought his as if seeking confirmation, unable to
believe what she was hearing.
"Did you know that you have tiny threads of
gold in your hair? They shimmer in the sunlight, and in the
firelight." His voice rippled over her skin like wine-dark velvet.
He smiled as he touched the silky strands that lay on her shoulder.
"And those beautiful blue eyes, with those gold-tipped lashes. When
you smile it's like a thousand tiny stars light up in your eyes.
And that mouth—" his eyes dropped, and his smile faded "—I can't
look at you without remembering how sweet you taste, and thirsting
for that warm honey—" A finger crept inside her parted lips to
trace the sensitive flesh just inside her lower lip. "Right here."
His eyes looked directly into hers. "You are beautiful,
Samantha."
She felt the sensual magic of his words, the
fiery glow in his eyes, everything about him, vibrate through every
part of her, clear to her soul. No man but Jason had ever told her
she was beautiful. No man but Jason had ever endeavored to appeal
to the deeply romantic passion in her heart. And she wanted to
believe. Even more, she wanted to believe that Jason believed. A
quiet serenity spread through her as she smiled at him. Never
before had she felt so proud, so incredibly alive, and yes, even
beautiful. Jason might someday belong to another and he might
belong to no one.
But right now he was hers. And that was all
that mattered.
Chapter 9
For a long moment Jason simply stared down at
her, cradling her close. "There'll be no nighttime entertainment
in the form of a book for you tonight, Samantha." His tone was
incredibly soft, his look tenderly possessive. "Tonight you're
mine. All mine."
The words reverberated through her, bringing
a welter of excitement in their wake. Samantha matched the
unshakable resolve in his eyes with a look of her own. "Does this
mean I'm finally going to have my way with you?" she murmured. Her
hands slipped over the straining muscles of his shoulders.
Jason laughed huskily. "Do with me what you
will," he quoted softly. And with that, he reversed their positions
so that she was free to do exactly that.
His body looked very big and dark on the
light gold of the bedspread. He had removed his shirt, and
Samantha's breath stopped in her throat at the sight of the
muscled contours of his chest. A strange curling sensation formed
deep in her belly as she looked at him. He was still watching her,
a half-smile on his lips, but there was something in those glowing
dark eyes that told her exactly how serious he was.
It was an invitation no woman in her right
mind would refuse. Her hand reached out to tangle in the silky
jungle on his chest, and she leaned forward to touch his lips with
her own, gently at first, and then with increasing urgency.
They were both breathing hard when she
finally lifted her head. His heart beat a pulsing rhythm beneath
her questing fingers. One silky thigh was tangled between his, the
contact of his hair-roughened skin against her own smoothness
incredibly sensuous.
She smiled against his hard mouth. "So this
is what's known as unbridled lust," she murmured.
His hands tangled in her hair to bring her
mouth to his. "All-consuming mists of passion?" he suggested
throatily.
Samantha arched her body sinuously against
his. A blazing fire leaped in his eyes, exciting her further. His
hands moved impatiently to the buttons of her shirt. "Insatiable
desire," she countered provocatively. It was wonderful to be able
to taunt and tease Jason like this. Her eyes darkened suddenly as
his shirt was pulled from her shoulders. She felt the heat of his
gaze burn through her as his eyes moved irresistibly to the gentle
mounds of her breasts. It was even more wonderful to be making
love with him like this.