Tender Taming (23 page)

“Oh, quit!” Whitney pleaded. “Won’t you ever let me live that down.”

“Never, love. I cherish all my memories too dearly.”

Whitney frowned suddenly and ran her fingers tenderly down his cheek. “So do I,” she whispered. “Especially my memory of this morning. But I don’t understand. After last night—”

“Last night,” Eagle said sheepishly, running his fingers through her hair, “I behaved like a thwarted lover. I had no idea whom you were with, and seeing you with another man—when I had become sure we could work things out—drove me half wild. Then I began to cool down, realizing things weren’t always what they seemed. You had thought I was ‘with’ my secretary. I finally put two and two together. I realized the man you were with had to be the infamous Gerry. I had ribbed you cruelly because of simple jealousy. And as far as I was concerned, too, darling, you were already my wife. It frustrated the hell out of me not to be able to do anything about it! I called your office in the morning, determined to have an honest showdown, and they told me you were going out to the land site. I decided to follow you.”

“Thank God you did!”

Eagle’s brows knit tightly together. “At first I wanted to strangle that ex-husband of yours. I knew a lot about your relationship, but he was with you, and love isn’t always rational. He didn’t look like a terrible person. Are you sure it’s over?”

“I never said Gerry was a terrible person!” Whitney laughed. “He was amazingly decent after your appearance. He was as positive as I that it was all over. He told me to go to you, and I put him on a plane. Everything is over for me that doesn’t concern a wonderfully crazy Indian attorney!”

Whitney’s eyes shone with bright emerald love, and their track of conversation was temporarily lost as Eagle kissed her with gentle sweetness, savoring the magic moments of revelation. When he finally pulled away, it was to draw a long, shaky breath. “Where were we?” he murmured, bewildered at the way he could lose himself completely in her enchanting warmth.

“Right here, love,” Whitney whispered dreamily.

“Now wait a minute, wanton witch,” Eagle said with a laugh, catching the slender hand that teased along the length of his back. “I have a few questions. What made you change your mind when it was so stubbornly set? About the land, and me.”

“It was simple—your father told me I was trying to build on a burial ground. Then your sister convinced me that you were right—culture and custom mean more to many people than convenience and electric stoves. I’m really a very reasonable person!”

“Hah!”

“I am.”

“It may take you a few years to convince me of that,” Eagle said with a chuckle, running a finger over her lips with thorough fascination. “So that old coot of a father of mine went after you, huh? No wonder he was so smug about things working out!”

“He’s something special,” Whitney said softly. “And I’m very grateful to him! Without him, there wouldn’t be a you!” She raised a questioning brow. “Is he still in town? He told me he lived in Chicago.”

“Yeah, he’s still in town. He told me he missed the first wedding so he wanted to hang around for the second!”

Whitney giggled. “I think you’re all a pack of Hindu mystics, not Indians! By the way,” she demanded, “just what will my name be?”

“Mrs. Jonathan Eagle Stewart, of course.”

“Of course!” she mimicked with an impish grin. “And where will we really live?”

“We”—Eagle scowled—“will really live at my permanent address—a nice little house in a pretty beach section of Naples called Port Royal. However, I do own the cabin in the woods. And I have permanent reservations for a certain chickee. Do you mind?”

“Not in the least,” Whitney assured him innocently. “Although I admit I’m not certain I could spend my life in a chickee, I have become partial to certain of the dwellings. And I love rustic little cabins in the woods. Besides, my love,” she told him huskily, “my ties are firmly knotted. I would sleep with you anywhere.”

“Sleeping wasn’t exactly what I had in mind,” Eagle declared with silky insinuation. “Not yet, anyway. Strenuous activity before bedtime is known to improve the quality of your rest. Did you know that?”

“No. Really?” Whitney fluttered her lashes guilelessly and ran a taunting finger lightly over his taut abdomen, delighting in the quiver and sharp intake of breath that were his response. “Then, since we seem to be busy people who need their rest, I suggest we engage in lots of strenuous activity.”

Eagle laughed and pulled her tightly to his hardening body. “A most pleasurable suggestion.” His lips began a knowing forage against the sensitive flesh of her throat.

“Ummmmm …” Whitney murmured, allowing her fingers the wonder of sinking possessively into his sleek raven hair.

He continued to play upon her body with expertise and draw from it the response of a beautiful, perfectly tuned instrument.

The golden globe of a shimmering orange sun sank slowly in its descent into the horizon. The light was dazzling upon the glassy water in reflection and cast graceful shadows upon the birds caught in silhouette like shadows in the dusk. For a second Whitney mused upon the vivid, primitive loveliness of the land she could now call home. Then it all became part of a splendor that was rightfully hers. Her lover claimed her undivided attention again and she was among those that soared the gold-streaked skies, in flight with an eagle forever.

Heather Graham (b. 1953) is one of the country’s most prominent authors of romance, suspense, and historical fiction. She has been writing bestselling books for nearly three decades, publishing more than 150 novels and selling more than seventy-five million copies worldwide.

Born in Florida to an Irish mother and a Scottish father, Graham attended college at the University of South Florida, where she majored in theater arts. She spent a few years making a living onstage as a back-up vocalist and dinner theater actor, but after the birth of her third child decided to seek work that would allow her to spend more time with her family.

After early efforts writing romance and horror stories, Graham sold her first novel,
When Next We Love
(1982). She went on to write nearly two dozen contemporary romance novels.

In 1989 Graham published
Sweet Savage Eden
, which initiated the Cameron family saga, an epic six-book series that sets romantic drama amid turbulent periods of American history, such as the Civil War. She revisited the nineteenth century in
Runaway
(1994), a story of passion, deception, and murder in Florida, which spawned five sequels of its own.

In the past decade, Graham has written romantic suspense novels such as
Tall, Dark, and Deadly
(1999),
Long, Lean, and Lethal
(2000), and
Dying to Have Her
(2001), as well as supernatural fiction. In 2003’s
Haunted
she created the Harrison Investigation service, a paranormal detective organization that she spun off into four Krewe of Hunters novels in 2011.

Graham lives in Florida, where she writes, scuba dives, and spends time with her husband and five children.

Graham (left) with her sister.

Graham with her family in New Orleans. Pictured left to right: Dennis Pozzessere; Zhenia Yeretskaya Pozzessere; Derek, Shayne, and Chynna Pozzessere; Heather Graham; Jason and Bryee-Annon Pozzessere; and Jeremy Gonzalez.

Graham at a photo shoot in Key West for the promotion of the Flynn Brothers trilogy.

Graham at the haunted Myrtles plantation, Francisville, Louisiana.

Graham and the Slushpile Band playing the Memnoch the Devil Ball at the Undead Con in New Orleans, 2010.

Graham with dear friend, actor Doug Jones.