this stunt. And I’ll have you know that I’ve been very much looking forward to marrying Herbert. I’m still looking forward to marrying him and I’m going to—just as soon as you take me back to Mesa.”
“Trust me, Lorelei. When I take you back to Mesa, it won’t be so you can marry Herbert.”
Lorelei’s pulse jumped at the possessive way he was looking at her. Chiding herself for her response, she looked out at the road ahead and forced herself to focus on her situation. Her thoughts immediately came back to her parents. “Regardless of what Desiree tells them, my parents are going to be worried.”
“From what your mother told me, she’s been worried over your lack of enthusiasm about marrying Herbert.”
“How would you know what my mother’s feeling?”
“Didn’t I mention that I had breakfast with her and your dad a few days ago?”
“No, you didn’t mention it.” And neither had her parents.
He shrugged. “I ran into them in the hotel dining room. Seeing how we’re old acquaintances, I thought asking them to join me was the polite thing to do. They really are a neat couple, you know. And of course, they insisted I come to the wedding.”
Of course, her parents would invite him. It was their nature to do so. They were open and giving and always willing to share. “I’m sure the invitation would have been rescinded if they’d known what you’d planned.”
Color climbed up his neck and cheeks. “I’m hoping that given the circumstances, they’ll understand I couldn’t very well tell them what my plans were. On the other hand, I don’t think they’ll be all that surprised.”
“You don’t think they’ll be surprised that you kidnapped me on my wedding day?”
“Your mother won’t. According to her, you moped around for weeks after your family moved to the West Coast. She assumed I was the reason. She said you never said anything, but she suspected you and I had been in love and that you were missing me.” He slanted her a glance. “Did you miss me, Lorelei?”
“As I said before, I was little more than a child. You were my first case of puppy love.”
He flashed her a look that had Lorelei pressing her back against the seat. It was there again, that reckless danger she’d sensed in him earlier. “Don’t kid yourself, Lorelei. Neither one of us were children, and what we felt for one another was very real. You loved me with a woman’s heart and a woman’s body. And I loved you the same way.” He paused. His expression grew even more somber. “I still love you. I always have.”
Lorelei’s breath lodged in her throat. An invisible fist seemed to tighten around her heart and refused to let go. She felt herself weakening. “Jack—”
The blare of a horn from an oncoming car sounded. Jack swore and jerked his attention back to the road. He yanked on the wheel of the truck and brought it back into the proper lane.
Her heart still pounding, Lorelei crushed a handful of satin in her fist. She refused to let him do this to her, to make her feel anything for him again. He was a charmer, she reminded herself as Jack slowed the vehicle and began easing over onto the side of the road. Hadn’t she even told him once that if he’d lived in another lifetime, he’d have been a pirate? Only he’d have been a pirate who would have charmed the ships’ passengers out of their gold instead of stealing it from them.
She wasn’t the same naive girl who’d believed his lies of love ten years ago. She was older, smarter and she wouldn’t allow him to charm his way back into her life.
The tires crunched on the gravel as he brought the truck to a halt on the road’s shoulder. He turned to face her. “Lorelei, I want another chance.”
She heard the plea in his voice, saw it in his eyes. She closed her heart to both. She’d taken a chance by loving him once, and it had nearly destroyed her. She wouldn’t, couldn’t make that mistake again. “A chance to do what, Jack? To hurt me again?”
She caught his slight wince, but forced herself to remain strong. She’d vowed ten years ago not to leave herself open to that kind of pain ever again. She’d opted for safe. Allowing Jack Storm back into her life was anything but safe.
“A chance to prove to you that I’m the right man for you—not Herbert.”
“You’re wrong.”
“I don’t think so. And judging from that kiss we shared two weeks ago, I think you know it, too. Ten years may have passed, but nothing’s changed between us. All that fire, that passion we felt before...it’s still there between us. Only you’re too stubborn to admit it.”
Her heart picked up speed at the mention of the kiss, at the seductive warmth in his eyes. No, she would not subject herself to that craziness again. Forcing her voice to remain even, Lorelei said, “You’re the one who’s being stubborn, Jack. I told you, I’m in love with Herbert—not you.”
She saw fire flash in his blue eyes and before she could think of moving, he’d snapped the release on his seat belt and was reaching for her. “Jack, no.”
“Yes,” he said as he cupped her head with both hands and eased his fingers into the tumbled mass of curls. “I have to. I have to.”
And then he was lowering his head, covering her mouth with his. Slowly, oh so slowly, his lips brushed against hers. Teasing. Tempting. His tongue traced the seam of her mouth, and a shiver of longing shimmied through her. He repeated the movement, and Lorelei could feel her control slipping as her world started to tilt.
He lifted his head a moment, looked into her eyes. “Lorelei. My sweet, lovely Lorelei,” he whispered, “I love you.”
When his lips touched hers again, her eyes drifted closed. A mistake, she realized too late as the sensations grew more intense. His tongue caressed her mouth, over and over again. And when he sought entry once more, she opened to him like a flowers to sunshine.
Jack groaned. She felt a shudder race through him as she touched her tongue to his. And then he was crushing her to him and deepening the kiss.
The kiss went on forever as he continued to taste her, to worship her with his mouth and his tongue. His hands skimmed over her neck, her shoulders, the curve of her breasts. Lorelei gasped when he cupped the fullness in his palms and she strained against the confines of the seat-belt harness, wanting to be closer, wanting him to touch her, wanting to touch him.
Jack lifted his head and caught her face in his hands. “God, how I’ve missed you. When I think how close I came to losing you forever.” His voice trembled, and he pulled her to him.
Lorelei buried her face against his chest, breathing in the scent of mountain air, of sweat, of Jack. It felt so right being in his arms again, to feel the steady thudding of his heart beneath her palm.
“We were meant to be together, Lorelei. I’m sure of it. Fate caused that map to land in my hands so I would come here and find you again.”
Lorelei blinked, struggling to clear her kiss-drugged brain and make sense out of what he was saying. Map? “What map?”
“To the gold mine.”
“The
