do.” Dakota reached into his pocket and produced a white-gold band set with a marquee-cut diamond and an intricate inlay of semi-precious stones.
Annie studied the ring glinting against his hand. “Is it one of yours?”
He nodded. He’d designed it for her for this day, but he couldn’t tell her that. He doubted she’d be pleased about the secret he and Harold had been keeping. But then Dakota wasn’t about to reveal the role she’d played in his recovery. He would rather die than suffer the mortification of her knowing the truth. Overcoming his paralysis and the impotency that had accompanied it wasn’t something he could discuss with Annie. The loss of his virility, no matter how temporary, had made him feel like less of a man.
Annie leaned in close, drawing his attention back to the ring. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered, “but you didn’t have to give me something so extravagant. I didn’t expect a ring at all.”
Her floral scent drifted to his nostrils, reminding him of how long he’d been waiting to bury his face in the fragrance of her hair.
Dakota shrugged and made a fist, pressing the diamond into his palm. “It’s no big deal.”
It was, of course. It hurt that she didn’t want to make love with him. And now he couldn’t help but wish that he’d kept his mouth shut about her other wedding. Richard had cheated on Annie with the same woman that Dakota had been with only months before. Mary had told him how upset Annie had been over that ordeal, how she’d felt as though Dakota had betrayed their friendship by “getting involved with Richard’s old girlfriend.”
Dakota shook his head. His “involvement” had been one stupid night that he’d regretted every day since.
Sheila had been a brazen one. Wearing a skimpy red dress designed to make a man drool, she’d sashayed up to him at that party and tossed her head, spilling golden waves around her shoulders. His immediate thought had been that she’d looked like a harder version of Annie. Blond and luscious, only lacking the inborn grace. But that hadn’t mattered at the time, especially since Annie had been milling around the party with her Joe-college boyfriend.
Sheila made her first move by pressing her hand to Dakota’s forehead. “You’re hot for Richard’s little girlfriend, aren’t you? Burning right up with a fever.”
Dakota’s knees nearly buckled. No one had ever challenged him about his sexual attraction to Annie, the all-consuming ache he couldn’t seem to shake. “Yeah, right. I’ve known her since she was a kid.”
“Well, she’s hardly a kid now,” the blonde purred. “And you get excited just watching her breathe.”
Dakota jerked away. “What the hell do you want?”
Sheila’s painted lips curled into a naughty smile. “To make you forget all about her.”
He should have walked away then. Game playing wasn’t his style, but he wanted nothing more than to get Annie out of his system. Destroy the heat that surged through his blood every time he laid eyes on her.
The night had gone from bad to worse with Richard getting in his face, hissing words that were much too true. “What’s the matter?” the jock had snarled in a quiet, menacing voice, “Are you stuck with my leftovers because you can’t get the real thing?”
Blinded by rage, Dakota had lunged at the other man, knocking him against a wall. Richard had the woman he wanted, and there didn’t seem to be a damn thing he could do about it. Nothing but take Sheila up on her offer. An offer that had made him sick and remorseful the following morning.
Swapping Sheila for Annie hadn’t worked. And in the process he’d humiliated Annie and disgusted Mary and Jill, the women he cared most about.
“Looks to me like you folks are ready.” The minister’s voice boomed in Dakota’s ear, jarring him from his disturbing thoughts.
Ready. Right. To marry a woman who had no intention of making love with him, of forgiving him for his sins. Annie had to suspect how many Sheila Harrises had slithered in and out of his bed. But that was his past, Dakota thought, the type of man he was before the accident.
“Sure,” he said, faking a smile. “We’re ready.”
They took their places quietly, and when Bea began to plunk out a wedding march, brother and sister both turned to view the bride. As her hourglass figure swayed, Dakota’s blood tingled. Annie Winters looked like a goddess: white-blond hair, a flowing white dress and a bouquet of white roses. As unique and pure, he decided, as a freshly fallen snowflake.
She stood beside him and stared straight ahead as the organ music ended and The Reverend Matthews began to speak. Dakota focused on Annie, on the way the sunlight streamed through the windows, highlighting her hair and illuminating her skin with a warm glow. The moment she repeated her vows and her gaze met his, his chest constricted. Her voice was soft and barely audible, but the words sounded sincere, as though they should have been spoken for another man, one she wanted to marry.
Dakota said his vows in the same near whisper, then removed the white-gold band from his pocket. The ring slid easily onto her finger.
“I pronounce you husband and wife,” The Reverend Matthews said in a clear, strong voice, then smiled at Dakota. “Mr. Graywolf, you may kiss your bride.”
Dakota turned toward Annie, and their eyes met. She looked sweet, he thought. Warm and girlish, yet womanly. He leaned in close and swallowed. “I’m supposed to do this,” he whispered, praying she wouldn’t flinch at his touch.
He skimmed his fingers down her back. Her whisky eyes grew doelike, but she didn’t pull away, so he caressed her skin through the silk.
He encountered the outline of her undergarment, a wisp of lace beneath her dress. Closing his eyes, he brought his mouth to hers, then felt an immediate shiver rock them both.
Her lips yielded beneath his, just enough to send red-tipped sparks along his skin. Did she feel them, too? he wondered. The tiny, burning flames?
Annie placed her hands on Dakota’s shoulders, intending to steady herself, but as her fingers crept forward, she caught a lock of his hair. That midnight hair. Thick and rebellious.
Without a second thought she parted her lips and allowed her husband access. Their tongues met in a desperate embrace, like strangers clinging to each other in a storm. No, she thought, a hurricane. A hurricane of desire. And loneliness, at least for her. It had been so long since she’d allowed a man to hold her close.
When the kiss ended, they stared at each other—an intimate gaze that defied all logic, all common sense. She watched him take a breath and felt her own hitch shakily. He towered over her, yet somehow their bodies seemed to fit. Still locked in an embrace, his pelvis brushed her stomach in a sensual tease, his chest a wall of iron against her breasts. Her nipples were hard, she realized. Hard and aching.
He dipped his head again, and she whispered his name and inhaled the faint spice of his cologne. It blended with a hint of leather and a pinch of tobacco, making him smell the way she imagined a reckless cowboy was supposed to smell. Earthy, masculine and forbidden.
He tasted forbidden, too. Heady, like a man who sipped brandy while he made love—satisfying a woman with slow, intoxicating strokes. Annie could almost imagine the naked feel of him, the virile mass of muscle and sinew beneath
