Read Online The Family Way by Jayne Ann Krentz - Free Book Online Page B

sweet Prudence, this is what I wanted. It just took me a while to realize it.“ He brushed his mouth lightly over hers, and then his grip on her shoulders tightened.
    Pru’s smile was tremulous with relief as he pulled her up against his hard chest. Overwhelmed by the depth of her feelings for him and the tremendous relief she felt at finally being with McCord again, Pru clung to him. Her head rested against his bare shoulder, and she closed her eyes as the warm, musky scent of him washed through her senses.
    „I never thought I’d see you again,“ she whispered.
    „You should have known better.“ He dropped the softest of kisses into her hair.
    „You said you wouldn’t come after me.“
    „I was madder than hell at the time. Besides, I thought you were bluffing. I couldn’t believe you’d really leave me.“
    Pru felt suddenly guilty. Her arms tightened around his waist. „I’m sorry. I thought I had to leave.“
    „I know,“ he said gently. „After getting to know you all these months, and after talking to your Aunt Wilhelmina, I can only conclude it’s a miracle you stayed with me as long as you did before you demanded a more settled arrangement. You’re the kind of woman who wants to make a commitment. And you want the same thing in return- I should have realized that months ago. I should have guessed what would happen as soon as I knew you were in love with me.“
    She turned her face toward his shoulder and astonished both of them by nipping his skin with her small white teeth. „Beast. What makes you so sure I’m in love with you?“
    „I don’t know. Since the first time I took you to bed, I’ve felt very sure of you.“ His hold on her tightened as she started to protest. „I know that sounds arrogant, but it’s your own fault, you know. You never tried to hide your responses from me. That’s why I didn’t pay any attention when you threatened to leave. I thought you loved me too much to carry out the threat.“
    „I didn’t think I had any choice.“
    His hands moved slowly and luxuriously along her slender back as he gentled the tension in her.
    „I know, sweetheart. For what it’s worth, I think you were right. We couldn’t have gone on much longer the way we were. It was time to settle the future.“ His dark voice was a whisper of midnight velvet against her skin as he cradled her chin in one palm and lifted her face for his kiss.
    The last of Pru’s uncertainty left her in a soft soundless sigh as she felt the reassuring touch of his mouth. The hunger and the need in him rippled through her, touching all of her senses. McCord wanted her with the same limitless desire she had always sensed in him.
    His desire wasn’t really unlimited, she thought with womanly anticipation. It only seemed like that in the beginning because the sensual demand emanating from him was so huge. When McCord took her in his arms, Pru felt as though she had been swept into a deep, torrential waterfall of masculine need. But she knew from past experience that she could turn the thundering cascade into a slow, lazy river of contentment.
    His mouth moved heavily on hers until she made a tiny sound of pleasure and opened her lips. McCord was inside at once, tasting her, provoking her, exciting her as only he could. Pru shivered in his grasp.
    „If s been so long,“ McCord muttered against her mouth.
    „Only a couple of weeks.“
    „Seems like forever.“ He deepened the kiss again until she was leaning into his strength. When he felt her fingers clenching and unclenching on his shoulders, he groaned and scooped her up in his arms.
    „McCord?“ She looked up at him with wide, trusting eyes that were luminous with her love.
    „I told myself I was going to make tonight very special. If you look at me like that before I’ve even got you to the bed, I won’t be able to last long enough to do this right.“ He put her down on the turned-back sheets of the wide bed and stood gazing at her for a long