Wild Midnight (44 page)

“Modern, California style, lots of wood and a deck,” he murmured, settling himself comfortably against her. He pressed her head gently against his bare, warm shoulder, his fingers softly stroking her nipple. “Rachel, Rachel—you’re all I’ll ever want, you know that, don’t you?” His breath moved her hair. “Tell me, are all our kids going to be redheaded too?”
 

“Oh, I don’t know,” she murmured, as his other hand came to rest on her stomach possessively. “Maybe—it’s dominant genes, I think.” His touch there distracted her, too, even as tired as she was. “Oh, darling ... I don’t ... know.”
 

“What’s the matter, you’re not still worried about the house, are you?” He pressed her head back against his shoulder firmly while his hand continued to stroke the taut, silky skin of her belly. “Have you been listening to D’Arcy, about the curse of the Beaumonts, how we’re all going to die out when the house falls down?” His long fingers gave her midriff a pat. “What’s right here shows what a lot of crap the Beaumont curse was. Now,” he said throatily, “how am I going to get you wound around me enough so that we can both get a little sleep?”
 

Rachel met those golden, incredible eyes with a soft smile. “You’ll find a way,” she murmured. “You always do. With everything.”
 

There was a muffled roar and both of them started. He looked up quickly over her head to the window.
 

“That’s the end of it. The front just went.” The master of Belle Haven bent his beautiful sun-streaked head to her. “And this,” he murmured against her mouth, “is only the beginning.”