LITMIR.BIZ

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you again, Shane.”

      Walking out of the resort, Shane forgot all about politicians and senatorial committees as he started out. He was on a mission to get Lissa to join him for the three-day weekend and he wasn’t going to give up until he got what he wanted.

      Given her concerns about feeding the gossip mongers at the resort, he was pretty sure it wouldn’t be all that easy to talk her into staying with him at Rainbow Bend. But there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that what they shared would be worth whatever he had to do to convince her.

      Shane shook his head as he looked around to see if anyone was watching, then took the hidden shortcut back toward the luxury lodges. He had been jumping through hoops for the past couple of months just to please her, and it was beginning to get old.

      Instead of going directly to the lodge where she was staying, it had become a ritual for him to head toward the stables, then cut back through a small patch of woods. She had insisted that no one would think anything of him going to check on the herd of horses he had sold the resort, and he supposed she was right. But he couldn’t control other people’s opinions of him and didn’t give a damn what they thought anyway. Lissa, on the other hand, was a very private person and he respected her need for discretion even if he didn’t completely understand it.

      Slipping through the stand of pine trees behind Willow Lodge, he took the porch steps two at a time. Just as he raised his hand to knock, Lissa opened the door.

      “What took you so long?” she asked, taking him by the hand to pull him inside.

      As soon as they cleared the doorway, he took her into his arms and used his boot to shove the door shut behind them. “I don’t know a man alive who doesn’t want to hear a woman ask that question, angel.”

      She looked as if she had something more on her mind, but it would just have to wait. It had been almost three days since he had held her, kissed her, and he had every intention of immediately remedying that particular problem.

      His mouth came down on hers, and she let out a startled little squeak, but to his satisfaction, she didn’t protest or try to push him away. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed herself against him.

      Her response to him never failed to send a flash fire rushing from the top of his head straight to the region south of his belt buckle. Today was no different. In the blink of an eye, he was hotter than a two-dollar pistol on a Saturday night.

      Shifting to pull her more fully into him, Shane deepened the kiss. As he stroked and teased, her sweet taste, the floral scent of her silky blond hair and the feel of her soft body pressed to his much harder one had him feeling as if his jeans had shrunk at least two sizes in the stride. He quickly decided that he would do well to end the kiss or there was a good chance he’d end up emasculating himself.

      “I’ve been wanting to do that ever since I saw you at the resort this morning,” he said, leaning back to smile down at her.

      The dazed look in her vibrant blue eyes and the heat of passion coloring her creamy cheeks was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever been privileged to see. Soft and feminine, Lissa looked the way a woman was meant to look when a man kissed her.

      She shook her head as if to clear it. “Shane, before this goes any further. We need to talk.”

      “Yes, we do,” he agreed.

      “There’s something I need to tell you.”

      “Me first,” he insisted.

      He took her by the hand and led her into the great room. Settling himself into one of the oversize leather chairs in front of the stone fireplace, he pulled her down to sit on his lap.

      “This is really important, Shane. There’s been an unexpected development that—”

      He placed his index finger to her soft lips. “It’ll have to wait.”

      “This is something that can’t wait.”

      He gave her a quick kiss to divert her. “I have something I want you to do with me this weekend.”

      The kiss distracted her just as he had intended. “W-what?”

      “I want you to spend the next few days at my ranch with me.” When it looked as if she was about to protest, he shook his head. “Hear me out, angel. Most of my ranch hands are off for the holiday weekend and the ones who aren’t couldn’t care less who I have staying with me. Cactus, my housekeeper, has already left to visit his sister in Denver for the next few days, and we’ll have the entire house to ourselves. Unless you tell them, no one who cares will ever be the wiser that you stayed with me.”

      She looked thoughtful for several long moments before she finally nodded. “We need to discuss something at length and I think it would be a very good idea to have the privacy of your ranch to do it.”

      Surprised and more than a little pleased by how easily she had agreed, he hugged her close. “Talking wasn’t what I had in mind when I asked you to go with me. But I guess we can hash over whatever you think is so important while we rest up from more pleasurable pursuits.”

      She gave him a warning look. “Will you be serious?”

      “Angel, I thought you’d have figured out by now that when it comes to making love, I’m always serious,” he murmured as he kissed the side of her slender neck. “But if you think it’s necessary, I’ll be more than happy to take a few minutes to refresh your memory.”

      “After I tell you what I discovered this morning, I think you’ll agree that there should be less emphasis on teasing and making love this weekend and more concentration on making some very serious decisions about what we’re going to do,” she said, pulling from his arms to stand up. He watched her shoulders rise and fall as she took several deep breaths. “Shane, there’s no easy way to put this and I doubt you’ll be happy to hear about it.”

      His smile slowly faded. Her body language and the seriousness of her tone warned him that whatever was on her mind was most likely something unpleasant. But he had never been one to avoid an obvious problem. He preferred to hit the difficulty head-on, deal with it and move forward.

      “Why don’t you just tell me outright and get it over with, Lissa?”

      “A-all right.”

      The slight tremor in her voice and the lone tear slowly slipping down her cheek when she turned to face him caused his heart to stutter and had him moving to get to his feet in the blink of an eye. But her next words stopped him stone cold.

      “Shane, I’m … pregnant.”

      Two

      Feeling as if he had taken a sucker punch to the gut, Shane stared at her as he sank back down into the plush chair. Rarely at a loss for words, he suddenly couldn’t have strung two words together if his life depended on it.

      Pregnant. Lissa was pregnant. That meant he was going to be a … he swallowed hard against the knot forming in his stomach … a daddy.

      Un-freaking-believable.

      He shook his head in an effort to make some sense of his tangled thoughts. He wasn’t sure what he had expected her to tell him, but the fact that she was having a baby—his baby—certainly hadn’t been it. Hell, he had never expected any woman to announce that he had made her pregnant.

      “The baby belongs to you,” Lissa said, sounding a little defensive.

      He shook his head. “There wasn’t a doubt in my mind about that, angel. When did you see the doctor?”

      “I haven’t.” She bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling and he knew she was thoroughly stressed. “I just took the home test this morning.”

      “Maybe it was wrong.”

      “I don’t think so. I’ve missed one period and getting close to missing the second.” Her shoulders slumped. “Besides,

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