Playing for Keeps/A Tempting Stranger (39 page)

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Authors: Lori Copeland

Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #General, #Contemporary, #Westerns, #test

BOOK: Playing for Keeps/A Tempting Stranger
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such a cowardshe should be in there helping him! Slipping out of the warm bed, she stepped onto the cold floor. She had to help him. If anything happened to him she'd never forgive herself. She crept silently back down the hall, holding her breath, listening for any sign of struggle. She peeked carefully around the door and, seeing no sign of Garrett, bolted on over to her sleeping roll and climbed into it quickly, covering up her head. The fire had died down to embers, casting a very dim light into the room. She lay as still as a statue as she waited for Garrett to make his rounds through the house. Peeking out of her hideout a few minutes later she could barely make out his tall form sneaking quietly out of the kitchen, a child's ball bat clutched tightly in his hand.
He approached her bedroll and instead of alerting him to her presence she simply reached out and latched onto his bare ankle, calling his name softly. ''Garrett, I decided to come in here" The words were nearly crammed back down her throat as he literally pounced on her, pinning her to the floor tightly. His heavy weight nearly knocked the breath out of her.
"Garrett, stop it!" she yelled, fighting to get his dead weight off her aching body. "Get off me, you big oaf!"
"Dammit, is that you again, Chandra?" His voice was shooting fire.
"Yes, it's meget off!" she bellowed. "You're breaking my arm!"
"I'm going to break every damn bone in your body if you don't quit sneaking around in the dark, grabbing out at me. Is that clear?!" He shoved off her in extreme agitation.
"Did you scare the burglar away?" she asked hurriedly as she sat up in her bedroll to face him.
"There wasn't any burglar. It was the wind flapping a loose shutter around," he hissed shortly. "Come onyou're coming with me." He took her by the arm and jerked her to her feet.
"Where are we going?" she asked resentfully. He didn't have to treat her so nastily. She was sure there was a burglar!
 
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''You're sleeping in my bed for the rest of the night," he replied tensely, pulling her along behind him.
"What . . . ? I certainly am not," she protested indignantly. "What would I tell Phill"
"I don't give a damn what you tell Phillip," he exploded, yanking her on down the hall. "You've scared ten years off my life tonight, lady, and I don't plan on lying back down in that bed until I make damn good and sure where you are."
"You're cussing again," she reminded curtly as he stalked on into the bedroom, shoving her none too gently onto the bed.
"Tell it to the wall, lady. I'll cuss if I want to."
"You're nothing but a bullya mean, cussin' bully," she tossed back defiantly as she landed in the middle of the bed.
"That's right. I'm a mean, low-down, cussing bully! Now go to sleep before I call your fiancé and have him come take you off my hands," he threatened, jerking his trousers back off irritably.
"Don't you dare get in this bed," she warned hysterically.
Garrett stonily climbed into the bed, completely ignoring her shouting tirade. Chandra sat up on her side of the bed, her arms crossed, staring daggers at his broad, bare back. He was such a . . . brute! How could she have ever thought she was in love with him? Phillip was an angel compared to this gorilla. Well, he could only push her so far. She was going to have the last word in this little border skirmish.
Reaching over, she maliciously jerked the pillow from beneath his head and slammed it down between them. She did the same with her own pillow, creating a foam barrier. Garrett didn't move a muscle as she made her protective fence. He was completely ignoring her temper tantrum.
"Don't you dare cross over that line," she warned, raising up to see if he was listening to her. "Understand?"
"That not only was childish," he commented dryly, "it was a waste of time. I have no intention of trying to seduce you. I'm leaving it all for good old virtuous Phineas."
Chandra's temper boiled. She leaned over and pecked him
 
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roughly on his shoulder with her fingernail. He turned over and his sleepy eyes met hers. ''Now what?"
"Garrett, look at my lips. Now watch me carefully." She enunciated carefully. "My fiancé's name is Phillip. Phillip Benjamin Watson the third."
With a short snort of disgust Garrett rolled back over. "You would have thought his parents could have come up with something better than that," he jeered.
"You're impossible!"
"And you're a dippy broad. Now, pipe down and let me get some sleep."
"I'll pipe down," she said wiggling down on her side of the bed, "but I'm going home in the morning, so just don't try to talk me out of it."
"I won't," he assured her sleepily.
Drat him anyway,
she thought tearfully.
Things were going so smoothly until today. Oh well, it's for the best
. Things couldn't go on forever like this. Tomorrow she would go back home and think of nothing but her upcoming wedding to Phelan . . . Phillip!
Chandra could hear the cold wind whipping violently around the bare branches of the trees as she pushed away the barrier blocking her heat and snuggled closer to the warm object lying next to her. She buried her face into the soft warmth, breathing in the clean, tantalizing smell that reached her nostrils. She wrapped her arms around the source of such radiating heat, delighting in the soft, sensuous feeling of lying next to something so wonderful, so comforting. She could feel light touches on her neck, then down her shoulder, feather-soft kisses following the same path. She sighed blissfully, arching her neck for easier access.
The kisses strayed gently across her breasts, pausing, then becoming soft nibbles on her nipples, making their tips grow taut and hard. Chandra groaned, her mouth searching for fulfillment. An eager, moist mouth met her and she responded anxiously. Her tongue mingled playfully then passionately with the other.
 
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The hands that were intimately exploring her body held her captive in a world of sensous pleasure, sending shivers of longing rippling through her body. Her hands began to move slowly, her fingers acquainting themselves with the ridges of sinewy hard, rippling back muscles. She heard a low, agonizing groan as her hand traveled downward, touching everything within its pathmolding, caressinguntil it was grabbed firmly and stopped. Feeling slighted, Chandra groaned disappointedly, bringing her hand back down to gently caress once again.
''Chandradammit . . ." A male voice came to her. "Do you know what you're doing to me?" The same warm mouth closed back over hers, capturing it with a rough urgency.
"Mmmmm . . . Garrett . . ." she whispered between heated kisses, her hands working slowly through his hair-roughened chest. "You feel so good," she told him drowsily as his mouth began to wander back down her neck, exploring every inch with fevered kisses. Once again his mouth found her breasts, his tongue flicking lightly over them. Groaning, he buried his face in them, breathing in the sweet, flowery fragrance of her.
"Honey, are you awake?" he whispered in a strangled husky-sounding voice, his hands stroking down the curve of her satiny hip. "I don't want to take advantage of you, sweetheart, but I'm not drunk this time," he murmured helplessly. "I can't take much more of this, Chandra." He began working his way back up her body, leaving a trail of urgent kisses in his wake.
"I want you, Garrett," Chandra murmured, only vaguely aware of his strange statement. She stroked his buttocks gently, feeling his passion for her mounting steadily. She was still groggy but awake enough to know who the comforting warmth had become.
"Oh, baby, I want you, too," he groaned painfully, his mouth searching hungrily again for hers. They kissed long, slow, drugging kisses, the fire inside them building into a raging inferno. They touched each other's bodies eagerly, their hands stoking the fire higher. Garrett's hand touched and lightly stroked Chandra's secret hidden places, urging her to match his own
 
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overpowering needs.
I shouldn't be letting him do this,
she thought languidly.
I'm going to be married soonbut I love him. . . . Oh, dear Lord, I've fallen in love with him!
Garrett slid on top of her urgently, his kisses hot, fiery, and completely out of control.
Chandra could feel his body trembling as he posed over her, supporting his weight from her body with his arms.
''I want this to be something special," he whispered, his eyes glowing with desire for her. "I've wanted you from the first night I saw you."
She reached up and drew his mouth back down to hers, eager for his touch once again. "I want you too, Garrett. I want to always remember the time we have together," she whispered, her fingers stroking the thick mass of his brown hair.
"You'll remember it," he growled low. "I promise you that. You'll always remember me."
He began to move gently with her. Together they began to climb to heights only dreamt of before. Wave after wave of sensation enveloped Chandra as Garrett more than amply proved his words. She would remember this as long as she lived, she thought languidly as she clung to him, her body blending in rapture with his. He took them both to a point where she knew she would explode with desire for him. She arched against him, begging for fulfillment. When she thought she could bear no more, he took her beyond all her expectations, their bodies both bursting with agonizing pleasure at the same time.
Garrett held on to her tightly as they both descended from their mist of passion, still exchanging heated kisses. Chandra was breathing raggedly as she buried her face in his shoulder, murmuring his name over and over again when she finally caught her breath. He stroked her hair tenderly, pushing back the moist, wet tendrils from her face. His fingers felt the wetness of her tears as he pulled her tighter into the shelter of his arms.
"Regrets already?" he asked gently, his hands moving over her bare back consolingly.
 
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''Never," she murmured, raising her face up to meet his, kissing him again. "I'll always remember tonight, Garrett."
"You're one hell of a woman, do you know that?" he said admiringly, his eyes moving gently over her flushed face.
"I hope I made you happy." She reached out to trace the outline of his lips with her finger. She would give anything to hear him say he loved her, show any indication that he cared for her.
"You made me happy, sweetheart, and you're not leaving in the morning," he said firmly, pulling them both down into the bed, covering them with a light blanket.
Her heart soared. "You don't want me to?" she asked hopefully.
"I think we ought to forget about that fight we had and"his voice faltered"see this thing through."
Chandra fought back the tears as his words washed over her. He wasn't going to tell her he loved her. All that mattered to him was his job and to carry on this ridiculous fake marriage. Well, she was a fool of the biggest kind, and she deserved everything she got. He made no bones about his feelings on marriage. Garrett Morganson would belong to no womanleast of all her. The tears slipped silently down on her pillow as sleep overtook them both, still wrapped in each other's arms.
 
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Chapter Six
''It is truly hard to believe what you have done to that house in such a short time." Sara Rhodes complimented Chandra, taking a sip of her hot tea as they sat in the cheerfully bright restaurant. "At the rate you're going, you'll have the house decorated in no time at all."
Chandra smiled, picking up her own teacup and taking a drink.
I'd better have it decorated in record time,
she thought,
because I can't spend more than another few days in Garrett's house
. Something close to pain tugged gently at her heart as she realized her parents, could be back sometime late this week from Europe and she'd have to return home. She no longer felt it necessary to have that talk with her mom about her coming marriage. She was beginning to realize that she and she alone had to be the one to decide if she loved Phillip enough to go on with the wedding.
Her eyes fixed on the single red rose sitting in the crystal vase on the small table where she and Mrs. Rhodes sat as the older woman chattered on about the simply breathtaking dining room furniture they had just seen. Chandra's thoughts wandered back to this morning when she had awakened to find Garrett's side of the bed empty. She had rolled over, gathering his pillow to her and breathing in the faint, musky smell of his aftershave. She buried her face in the deep, downy softness, recalling his lovemaking of the night before. It was true that she had no regrets. She knew she should have. Very soon she was supposed to become the bride of another man. Where was her conscience?

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