Heart of the Wild (27 page)

"And now—."

"I still can't keep my hands off you. We wouldn't even be having this conversation now, if Tanka and Gina hadn't showed up. We'd be married by now."

It was all she needed for courage. A slow invading smile formed on her lips as his expression softened on her, and he began to pull her slowly into his waiting arms. Deliberately, her arms floated up and around his neck, and she pulled his head down to meet hers. "Oh, Chay," she barely whispered, just before their lips met in a steamy kiss that threatened to melt the rest of the snow. This was where she belonged.

He pulled away enough to look into her eyes, his expression serious, contemplating. "But Kasie, can you handle living here in this wilderness, alone for days at a time? I don't have many luxuries here, like you are used to. My business is just now starting to show a real profit. I might be gone half the time."

"Handle it? I love it here, just the way it is. Well…maybe a bathroom." She looked around her, then at him. "In the city you have to worry about burglary, rape, murder, car theft. The worst thing that can happen here is an ornery old bear."

"You left out kidnapping." He winked. "Kasie, I want no more doubts in your mind about how I feel. Besides, as much as I care about your father, I don't want him having the upper hand on me either. I wouldn't pull such a stunt for anyone else."

"I do love you, Chayton. How I love you." She kissed the big powerful hands that held her. "I don't understand why it's so easy to say now, but it's true. I'm not afraid anymore."

It was all the reassurance he needed as a slow invading smile warmed her heart.

"Thanks for keeping Ole Blue's story quiet." she whispered as his lips trailed down her neck in a tempting manner, and she lifted the delicate necklace for him to see. In the center of the glass was Ole Blue's hair. "It's the sweetest gift I've ever received."

"Some things are private, between two people. The way you fell in love with Ole Blue made me want you all the more. Lord, I wanted you when I came back that day and found you chopping wood, too. It sounds a little crazy but you reminded me of my mother. She was a beautifully stubborn woman, too. Dad and her fought every day. But even I knew it was a good kind of fighting." His voice grew throaty as his eyes devoured her. Then slowly, his hands began to thread through the long silky strands of her hair in a caressing manner, while his lips tantalized.

"I was scared to come up here. And scared not to."

"It was a gamble I took. There was no need to worry though, sweetheart. I realized driving back that I couldn't leave you down there. I wanted to give you some thinking time. I'd have been back. Why were you scared?"

"I thought this was the way you might have planned the revenge, to hurt me. To make me want you and throw it in my face. I wouldn't have blamed you. It was a gamble I had to take. It was my last chance to erase all the bad between us."

He looked deep into her eyes, and shook her gently, "There is no bad between us. All love is different. Just because we know what we want now, doesn't mean the fighting will end. It won't. I hate to tell you this, but I've enjoyed every skirmish, and it's deepened my respect for you, too. But at least now I'll look forward to it. Don't ever be afraid of me, sweetheart. I'd never hurt you."

"I know," she sighed, her lips finding his once more. "As long as you love me, I'll never hurt again."

"Is a lifetime long enough?" He pulled away once more after a long, drugging kiss. "I'll kill that Springer if he ever touches you again. I knew he had, you didn't have to tell me. And I wanted to go down there like a caveman and knock his block off. That's why I was so determined to keep you here. I'd never let you go back to him. I would have given you until morning to come to me, maybe. Then I would have stormed back down there and carried you off again."

"How were you going to stop me?"

"Easy, kidnapping really isn't that hard, you know. I think I've got the knack of it now. Oh God, there's always been too many clothes between us," he grumbled lowly after another earth-shattering kiss.

"Funny," she purred in his arms. "I never noticed. When I'm in your arms, I feel there's nothing between us."

Suddenly, in one lithe movement he lifted her up, and carried her through the open doorway of the cabin. His boot heel kicked the door shut behind them. "I think I better tell you right now, I want lots of babies. A whole houseful. I want to fill this place with love and family. I want what my parents had, what we can have, Kasie."

"Me, too," she said, with a full-blown smile as her lips found his once more. "I only wish I could have met them."

"They would have loved you. And kicked me for being so insensitive. I guess we'll have to settle on building our own little brood."

"Wanna start now," she murmured for his ears only.

"Oh, Kasie," he shuddered with the unspoken needs of a man too long without his woman.

Gently he laid her against the softness of his bed, and looked down into her sea-green eyes, "You better find a preacher fast, sweetheart. Because I've had about all I can stand of being a gentleman around you. Besides, this is a marrying bed."

Her eyes roamed the room, "Before Tanka and Gina showed up. Why did you stop me?"

He made a funny sound in his throat and a face. "It was the first signal I had that my plan for revenge wouldn't work. I loved you too much to compromise you like that. Hell, I wasn't about to settle for just your body. I wanted you!"

"Chayton," she opened her arms to him again, then glanced about the cabin. Strange, but it was lit with tiny candles, and the bed had been turned back. There was a bottle of wine on the table and a rose, too. "Expecting someone?"

"Only you."

"Pretty sure of yourself, weren't you?" She tested.

"'Bout time, wouldn't you say? Now," he murmured, as he chucked his jacket, and began peeling hers away. "I like talking, but I'm a man of action. I won't compromise you completely, I'll save the best for our honeymoon, but a few kisses aren't going to be enough, that much I can tell you right now."

She giggled with delight. "Don't worry, Dad's on his way, and I let him know he'd better bring a preacher," she sighed happily, pulling him into her waiting arms, knowing at long last she was home, and that their marriage was taking place right now, in her heart—for he had kidnapped her heart so very long ago, and that she had captured the heart of the wild!

The End!

Rita Hestand — Author

Don't miss Rita's historical romances at Decadent Publishing, and Secret Cravings  Publishing.

Always Remember-Secrete Cravings Publishing

Better Off Without Her- Secret Cravings Publishing

Jodi's Journey- Secret Cravings Publishing

Beyond The Dream Catcher    at  Decadent Publishing

Love Rules at   Decadent Publishing

And her huge backlist of Short Contemporary Romances at Smashwords.com

Nick's Baby

Pretend Mom

Strictly Business

Wandering Heart

Runaway Bride

Chief Cook and Bottle Washer

Courting Abby

Hannah's Man

Along Came Love

Sweeter Than Wine   Book 2 of the Amory Series

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