“Do you ever think about that night, Sam? Not about Paul, but about what happened between us?”
Even after seven years, those memories still haunted his dreams in sleep and his thoughts upon waking. “I remember.”
“Do you ever wish that it hadn’t happened?”
How could he explain so she would understand? He caught her hand and brushed a kiss across her palm. “I suppose that if I could change anything about that time, it would only be two things.”
With fine fingertips she traced a path along his jaw. “What would they be?”
“That I could have saved Paul from his fate. And that I could have stayed.”
Her face lit up as if he had offered her the stars that held her dreams. Leaning forward, she whisked a kiss across his cheek. “Thank you.”
He did not deserve her gratitude, then or now. “Nothing has changed, Andrea. We cannot go back. I will still leave you again.”
She framed his jaw in her slender fingers. “We could make up for lost time. There are a lot of hours in fourteen days.”
Not nearly enough, Sam decided. Not nearly enough distance between them, either. Normally he was a man with a firm resolve, but Andrea unearthed his weakness, could mold him as easily as if he were made of clay. As he stared at her lips, he became caught in the grip of longing.
Sam claimed her mouth for a kiss fueled by a power he didn’t know he possessed. In the far reaches of his mind, he realized he should be experiencing some guilt, since he was promised to another. But that woman was as unfamiliar to him as the concept of turning his back on his country and his legacy. He could only consider the sweet heat of Andrea’s mouth, the gentle foray of her tongue against his, the feel of her lithe body curled against him as he deepened the kiss and tightened his hold on her.
The passion that was so much a part of Andrea came out in the kiss. Her hands roved over his back in steady strokes as if she were memorizing this moment. He caught a handful of her hair as if to moor himself against the onslaught of heat, of desperate desire. When she draped one leg over his thigh, he curved his palm over her waist. They parted for a moment, but only a moment, to draw air before their mouths united again. How easy it would be to touch her, Sam thought. How easy to show her pleasure. He slipped his hand between her thighs and Andrea wriggled her encouragement.
Reality soon caught hold and Sam became aware that if he continued, he would not be able to stop. He would toss away all his reasons for avoiding this very thing and carry her to bed, make love to her all through the night, destroying his determination not to hurt her more than he already had.
Breaking the kiss, he tipped his forehead against hers as he tried to regain his respiration. “You are still too hard to resist.”
“Then why even bother?”
He pulled back and searched her blue eyes. “You know the reasons why. Because I—”
“Have to go back to the magic kingdom,” she said, then scooted away from him to the other end of the sofa. “You don’t have to remind me again.”
“I’m glad you are finally beginning to understand.”
She picked up a throw pillow and held it against her breasts. “Now that we’ve established you’ll be leaving, for about the hundredth time, I’ve come to a decision.”
“About?”
“Chance. I’ve decided you can go with me to the camp.”
Sincerely pleased, Sam smiled. “Good. We can travel in the limo instead of that wreck you call a truck.”
He snared the pillow she tossed at him in one hand before it hit his face. “What’s wrong with my truck?”
“Nothing if you’re hauling feed and hay and traveling only a short distance. I believe my mode of transportation provides more comfort and reliability. And if you’ll recall, our son expressed his desire to ride in it. Rashid can drive us.”
Andrea chewed her bottom lip for a moment before raising her eyes to his. “Maybe that is a good idea. Plenty of room in the limo. Lots of room, in fact.” She smiled once again. A smile that could only mean trouble for Sam. “In fact, I just bet you could stretch out if you wanted to.”
“Andrea,” he said in a half-warning tone, a great effort considering the arrival of visions of Andrea beneath him, naked, in the dimly lit limousine.
She stretched her arms above her head, giving him a good view of her breasts unencumbered beneath the satin, then rose and stood above him. “Relax, Sam. I promise I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.”
Exactly what he feared, for if given the opportunity, Sam knew precisely what he would want to do—make love to her as if tomorrow would not arrive.
In many ways, at least in regard to his time with the mother of his child, that was very close to the truth.
“Got a minute to gab, Andi?” Tess asked the following day.
Andi looked up from gathering a few things for the trip to camp and gave her attention to Tess. “Sure. What’s up?”
Pacing the length of the bedroom, Tess paused to toy with various keepsakes on the bureau. “I have something I need to tell you.”
Andi tossed the picnic blanket aside and took a roost on the edge of the bed, gearing up for a “Sam” lecture. “I’ve agreed to let him go with me, if that’s what’s bugging you.”
Tess finally faced her. “I know. Sam told me. But this doesn’t have a thing to do with him.”
Realizing Tess meant serious business, Andi patted the mattress beside her. “Have a seat and tell me what’s got you in such a mood.”
Tess joined her and wrapped an arm around Andi’s shoulder. “Honey, Riley has asked me to marry him.”
“So what else is new?”
“This time I said yes.”
Andi’s heart took a nosedive over the prospect of losing the one person she had come to count on through thick and thin, a proverbial port in the storm, her touchstone.
Hiding her selfishness with a smile, Andi proclaimed with a goodnatured pat on Tess’s thigh, “Well it’s about damned time.”
Tess gave Andi’s shoulder a motherly squeeze. “Then you’re okay with this?”
“Are you asking my approval?”
“I’m asking how you feel about it.”
Rising from the bed, Andrea took her place at the bureau where Tess had been a few moments before, her back turned to her aunt so she wouldn’t give herself away. “Of course I’m okay with it. I’m thrilled.” She didn’t sound at all thrilled.
Biting back the tears, Andi drew in several cleansing breaths. Tess’s careworn hands coming to rest on her shoulders almost proved to be her undoing.
“I
