paused. Her head dropped forward and for one single instant, she covered her face, filling Axel with guilt.
Please don’t let her cry, he prayed. He detested crying women.
In the next instant, she shook her fist at the sky, growled like a wild animal, and turned to plod up the path to the house.
Axel grinned despite himself. She really was in a temper, all because she wanted him. Cute.
No, scratch that.
She wasn’t cute.
She was a catastrophe waiting to happen. A virgin on the loose, with experimenting on her mind. Luckily, he’d escaped her clutches in time.
Yeah, real lucky.
Shit.
He didn’t bother going back to the house. Elwood wouldn’t remember if he’d said good-bye or not. Axel dug his keys from his pocket and went around the house to the drive. He climbed into his BMW and slammed the door.
All the way home, he groused to himself. Even with the windows down and the cool wind in his face, he burned. He kept remembering the feel of her, how she tasted, the look on her face as she came.
And damn it, regardless of what common sense told him, he still wanted her.
Now maybe more than ever.
Three
Libby punched her pillow hard, shoved it this way and that, but it didn’t help her get comfortable. And she knew why.
For three weeks now, she’d tried to forget the big lug and his compelling dark eyes. Her first foray into sexual matters had been less than awe-inspiring—if she ignored the way he’d made her feel. But she couldn’t. She remembered it oh too well. Every single shiver and tremor and spark and gasp. It plagued her mind and left her achy and fidgety and…needy. She didn’t like it. She didn’t like him.
So why couldn’t she get him out of her head?
Flopping to her back and throwing an arm over her face, Libby tried to block out the memory of how exciting he’d been, how sexy—up until the moment he’d turned into such a jerk.
He’d called her a baby. Now there was a laugh. Maturity was her middle name. Losing her mother so young had forced her to grow up quick, to plan her life long before most kids even thought about tomorrow, much less years down the road. She was mature all right—but given the tantrum she’d had on him, he’d never believe that now.
Of course, she’d never see him again, so what did his beliefs matter?
It mattered, blast him, because he’d gotten her all primed, showed her what she’d been missing, then turned as prim as a maiden aunt. All his suave, macho confidence had melted beneath sputtering incredulity.
All because she was a little younger than him.
How old was he anyway? Thirty-three or four? Certainly not old. Twelve years was no biggie. Not to her. Not to most men.
She’d considered asking Uncle Elwood about him, but luckily she’d snuffed out that idea before it had a chance to take root. Her uncle would have a complete conniption if he ever found out she’d been playing hanky-panky in his gardens. He wanted her to study, graduate nursing school, and remove herself from his responsibilities.
And she would, as fast as humanly possible.
This meant she needed to relegate good ole Brown Eyes to the status of an opportunity missed, and stop thinking of him. That should have been easy to do. Never before had she had a problem dismissing guys. First there’d been the grief for her mother. Then the uncertainty of living with Elwood. And her studies. Her determination.
Guys just hadn’t factored into her priorities.
Before meeting him.
But now he had her so blasted curious, she thought she might implode. In one short, unsuccessful interlude, he’d managed to turn her into a sex maniac. She wanted to find out all there was to the whole intimacy game. Maybe the time had come for her to notice the masculine sex.
Other guys wouldn’t mind her age or inexperience. She knew plenty of men, from college, from working, even from the hospital. When she smiled at them, they always smiled back. They seemed delighted by her attention. And a few of them even had dark brown eyes.
Not eyes like his, but…
Tough tootsies. Her choices were limited, so she’d have to make do. But first things first. She wasn’t a dumb girl to mess up her life because of a little sexual exploration. She was a woman of the new millennium. A modern woman. If she intended to be sexually active—and she sort of did—then there were certain precautions to take.
She’d set an appointment first thing tomorrow. Not with a doctor at the hospital. Heaven forbid her uncle should get wind of her private plans! No, she’d hunt in the phone book, pick someone out of the way, and take care of business.
Then she’d find a guy who suited. There had to be one out there for her. And maybe looking would prove fun.
Mind made up, Libby punched her pillow one last time and settled in to sleep. But sometime during the night, dark brown eyes and a sensual smile invaded her dreams, and she knew in her heart that any man other than him would simply be a substitute.
Since she didn’t even know Brown Eyes’s name, a substitute was all she could have.
It’d been damn near a month. A month of celibacy and Axel couldn’t take it. Since that fantasy-inspired interlude in the garden, he’d been turning women down. It was enough to curdle his blood. He was worse than a married man. At least they had wives at home. All he had was one super sexy young lady who had turned him inside out for reasons he couldn’t begin to understand.
Letting her occupy his mind in his off hours was bad enough, but no way in hell would he let her affect his work. When in the office, he had only the well-being of each patient on his mind.
He snatched up a file on his desk, determined to read the medical history on the young lady he’d see next. A moment later, his thoughts back in order, he nodded. His newest patient appeared healthy as a horse. No history of serious medical problems. She only needed a routine exam to get a prescription for birth control.
Wearing his doctor face, Axel went down the hall to exam room three. Along the way, Nora—who was both a nurse in his employ and his best friend’s wife—fell into step beside him.
Nora said, “This one is a little skittish. I take it she’s never seen a gynecologist before.”
Axel nodded. “Thanks. We’ll try to make her at ease.” As he opened the door and drifted in, Nora on his heels, he was already saying, “Good afternoon, Ms. Preston. How are you to—”
Her screech of horror made his hair stand on end.
Axel back-stepped and bumped into Nora, who bumped into the hallway wall.
“What in the world?” Nora sputtered.
But Axel couldn’t say a damn
