LITMIR.BIZ

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you do hospital work before you moved back to Hondo Valley?” he asked.

      Before her divorce, she thought ruefully. Clearing her throat, she gazed ahead at a stand of tall pines and the long, dark shadows slipping across the road. Beyond the distant mountains, the sinking sun painted a bank of clouds pink and gold and as she admired the beauty, she realized she was just now coming awake after a long, long sleep.

      “No. I worked at a large health clinic. Which was hectic, but rewarding.”

      “Forgive me if this sounds tacky, Maura, but we both know that you don’t have to work at anything. I mean—your family has made millions and you’re obviously wealthy. You could travel the world and be a lady of leisure.”

      She looked at him, then burst out laughing. “Oh, Quint. That’s so funny. Me, a lady of leisure? I’d be bored out of my mind. And everyone has a reason for being, don’t you think? I like to be doing—to make a difference for others. Don’t you?”

      He smiled and then his expression turned sober. “I guess I’ve never thought about it that much. I suppose from the time I was a boy I’ve been on a mission to keep the ranches going. As for making a difference for others—I must be selfish. I do what I do, because in the end, it pleases me.”

      Her eyes softened as she studied his face. “That’s not entirely true, Quint. I don’t know you all that well, but I can see that you want to make a difference for your grandfather, your mother. That’s not a self-centered man.”

      One corner of his lips tilted to a wicked little grin. “You’re wrong, Maura. I am selfish.” One hand reached out and wrapped itself around her shoulder. “Because right now all I’m thinking about is what I want.”

      She shivered as heat rushed from the spot where he was touching her and shot to every particle of her body.

      “And what is that?” she asked in a strained voice.

      “To kiss you.”

      He watched her lips part with shock, but he didn’t give her the chance to utter a word or move away. Placing a finger beneath her chin, he bent his head and settled his lips firmly over hers.

      Soft. Incredibly soft. And oh, so sweet. Those thoughts tumbled through Quint’s brain as his lips began to move against hers, to search for even more of her honeyed goodness. Mindlessly, his arms slipped around her waist and drew her ever closer.

      Between them, he felt her hands flatten against his chest, then reach upward to his shoulders. The warmth of her spread through him like a white-hot sun baking his skin, heat seeping right down to his bones.

      How long had it been since he’d kissed a woman? Since he’d wanted to kiss a woman? He couldn’t remember. Couldn’t think. While his mind turned to mush, the rest of his body burst to life, buzzed as though her lips were liquid spirit, intoxicating, luring, begging him to surrender to the moment. To her.

      Fired by a hunger that threatened to consume him, his hands pressed into her back and crushed her body up against his. Beneath his lips, hers opened like an exotic flower, tempting him to taste the center. When his tongue delved inside, she moaned low in her throat.

      The feral sound matched the urgency inside him and it was all he could do to keep his hands anchored at her back instead of allowing them to cup her breasts, the swell of her bottom, to drag her hips forward and grind them against his aching arousal.

      He wasn’t sure how much time had ticked by when she finally pulled her mouth from beneath his and stepped back. For all he knew, it could have been long minutes or even hours since he’d first tugged her into his arms.

      No matter, he thought, as he sucked in a harsh breath and tried to collect his senses. However long their kiss had lasted, it hadn’t gone on long enough to suit him. Even though she was looking at him with stunned dismay, everything inside him was screeching for him to hang on to her, to capture her lips all over again.

       So much for kissing Maura and getting her out of your system, Quint.

      “I…think we’d better forget about walking on to the stables,” she said in a breathless rush. Then before he could say anything, she turned on her heel and took off in long strides toward the house.

      Before she could take three steps, Quint caught her by the shoulder and spun her back to him.

      “Wait, Maura! We can’t go back to the house now!”

      Her breasts moved up and down as she struggled to regain her breath and Quint was amazed to find himself just as winded and shaken as she. As he watched her lips form a perfect O, he had to fight the urge to sear them back together with another kiss.

      “We can’t?” she murmured. “Why?”

      “Because—” Heaving out another heavy breath, he shook his head. “After what just happened we—”

      “Need to come to our senses and get back to safety,” she finished for him.

      His hands wrapped around her upper arms and held them tightly as though he wanted to make sure she couldn’t escape.

      “Safety? You think I… That we—our attraction is something to run from?”

      She needed to run from herself more than him. But she couldn’t admit such a thing. It would be like telling him she wasn’t capable of controlling herself or her sexual urges whenever she was near him. Oh, God, how embarrassing.

      “I think—” Twisting her head aside, she closed her eyes and tried not to think about the heavenly way he’d made her feel. So alive. So sexy. So wanted. “Things were about to get carried away, Quint. And I—I’m not ready for something like that.”

      There was a long pause, and while she waited for his reply, she tried to calm her racing heart, tried to tell herself that the kiss was no big deal. Even though it was the biggest thing she could ever remember happening to her.

      “I never meant for the kiss to go so far, Maura,” he said lowly. “That just seemed to happen.”

      Turning her face back to his, she opened her eyes and felt a jolt to her senses as she gazed into his blue ones. He was probably the most sexual, sensual man she’d ever met and to say that his kiss had been potent would be an understatement. Her knees were still quivering.

      Mortified, she said, “I was in on it, too, Quint. It’s just as much as my fault for letting it go on.” And on and on, she mentally added.

      “Why should it be anyone’s fault? Why are you so bothered about this? It’s not like we committed a crime—or hurt anyone.”

      She looked down at the ground while inside her emotions were tumbling, falling, rolling away at a speed too fast to allow her to catch up.

      “That’s true.”

      “And you did like it. As much as I liked it,” he pointed out.

      “I can’t deny that,” she admitted.

      “So? Why are you trying to race back to the house? To end our walk?”

      He called this a walk? She shivered to think what a deliberate rendezvous would be.

      Her gaze dropped to the toes of his brown boots. “I shouldn’t have to explain. But it looks as though I must.” Her eyes fluttered back up to his. “I’m not the type to—well, just be a diversion for a man. And we both know that’s all you want. A kiss, maybe two. Maybe you even want to have sex with me.”

      “The thought did occur to me.”

      Her nostrils flared at his flippant reply. “Well, it isn’t going to happen.”

      Amusement dimpled his cheek long before a chuckle passed his lips. “That’s what you think.”

      A mixture of annoyance and excitement rushed through her, pushing her heartbeat to an even higher rate. “And why? Why would you want a woman

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