Momentary Marriage (19 page)

When he got the lock opened behind her, Jared lifted her, swinging Kelsey inside and slamming the door behind them.

Darkness and the ragged sound of their breathing filled the penthouse. In a tangle of seconds, he was free of his jacket and she found herself stripped to the waist, her skirt billowing up around her hips as he pressed her to the wall.

Cupping her naked breasts in his hands, Jared growled in his throat, the sound both satisfied and impatient. Straining against her, just her hose and panties between them, his eager searching hand found her damp center as his mouth closed on her nipple. Kelsey arched to him. God.

Her back still to the wall, she stared vacantly into the twilight room, sensations rippling over her. His mouth was hot and wet at her breast, drawing at her as his fingers delved beneath her panties. She moaned, dazed in the wash of response to his touch.

Thrusting her hands into his hair, she held him there, the laving of his tongue making her gasp. His scent filled her lungs.

She wanted him inside, wanted him pumping hard against her.

Never before had she known this. Never been so hungry. Her knees threatened to buckle beneath her.

In a raging heat, she grappled to unfasten his pants. Straightening, Jared helped her. Soon he was free, his sex in her eager hands.

She stroked the hot, hard length of him. This was for her, because of her. A sense of erotic power shook her as she palmed him again. She wanted this, needed the hard press of his body.

With a low guttural sound, Jared lifted her suddenly. In less than a second, she found herself lying on a backless cushioned bench near the door. Flat and narrow, the bench held her open to him, legs splayed on either side.

She was only faintly conscious of the wedding dress still wadded around her waist. Heat and need thundered through her as she watched him shove down his pants, then drag her underwear down her legs till she lie bare. She couldn’t remember when her shoes had come off and couldn’t care less. In the faint light from the uncurtained windows, he seemed almost a shadow. But with the imprint of his hands on her body, she knew he was real.

Jared knelt on the bench, bracing himself over her. With no delay, she felt the tip of his member pushing at her.

“Yes,” Kelsey breathed.

Drawing back, he sheathed himself in one long thrust. Shudders rippled through her. Breathlessly, she strained to meet him, each thrust sending splinters of incredible pleasure over her body.

“Oh, God. Oh, yes,” she mewed, her hands clutching at his shoulders. He rocked her, long and hard. Over and over. So hard and good, she cried out.

Kelsey felt herself disintegrating, knowing nothing but the contact of their bodies, the breathless wonder of sensation.

With the suddenness of lightening, it hit her, the power of his thrusts driving her over the edge to an explosion. Kelsey felt herself washed away, caught in a tide of pleasure so intense, she held her breath.

An instant later, Jared buried himself to the hilt, shudders ripping through his powerful body.

She lie there in the semi-dark, half-conscious, splayed beneath him, their bodies still joined.

It took several long moments for the buzzing in her ears to dim. She felt the pounding of her heart, hard against her breast bone. Collapsing onto his elbows, Jared braced his weight, but his head fell forward on her shoulder, his breath ragged and uneven in her ear.

She raised a trembling hand and smoothed his hair, her heart contracting. Somehow she knew, felt deep down, nothing would ever be the same again.

*
**

Sunlight tickled her eyelids. Kelsey tried to resist, but didn’t manage for long.

Somewhere she heard Jared’s deep voice, a half conversation seeming to indicate the telephone.

“Okay then,” he said. “Great. She’s fueled and ready to go? We’ll be there shortly.”

The memory of the previous evening came surging back, Kelsey stretched under the covers, warmth stealing over her. Just the thought of their lovemaking made her tingle in all the right places.

“Kelsey?” He was next to her now, his hand on her bare shoulder.

“What?” Pushing back a tumble of hair, Kelsey sat up to see him crouching next to the bed.

“You’re awake.” Jared’s gaze wandered over her, his face softening.  “The plane is waiting. As soon as you’re dressed, we’ll head off.”

“Head off?” He looked fabulous in a casual knit shirt that snugged in all the right places, she thought. His pants fit pretty well, too.

“Our honeymoon,” he said, his eyes darkening as he reached out to stroke a finger over her shoulder. “Remember I told you to leave it to me?”

“Yes,” she said, her breath feeling shallow in her chest. The night was gone, but the magic still lingered.

“Well, get moving and, on the way, I’ll tell you where we’re going.” He bent to kiss her before straightening and turning back to the phone.

Throwing the covers back, Kelsey got up, showering and dressing quickly in the suite’s luxurious bathroom.

They’d set the sky on fire last night, she thought, slipping her shoes on. It felt monumental to her. Somehow the world seemed different this morning, brighter.

Kelsey couldn’t help feeling a buzz of excitement and anticipation, thinking about the future. Everything was working out so well. She’d shown Doug how hopeless his crush was and in the process, found herself a spectacular lover. All she had to do was protect her heart.

Two hours later, she looked out the window of the small plane at the lush green display of upstate New York.

“I can’t believe you never mentioned you’re a pilot,” she said again, shaking her head.

“Ahhh. There are so many things we have to discover about each other,” Jared said, smiling “It’ll make our time together so much more interesting.”

She drew in a deep breath. If it got much more interesting, she’d go into sensory overload. “You’re sure we can just land the plane on the lake in front of your cabin?”

“I’m sure,” he said. “It’s fitted with pontoons especially to land on the water. The house belonged to my grandfather when I was young and I’ve been flying up to the
Adirondacks
since I was sixteen.”

“You certainly look like you know what you’re doing,” Kelsey said.

A smile flashed briefly on Jared’s face, as he turned the plane. “Trust me.”

Kelsey smiled, looking out the window as she realized she did trust him, more certainly than she had the other men in her life. She’d married him, tied herself to him legally and here she was allowing him to spirit her away to some isolated cabin in the mountains of upstate
New York
.

Legally.
The word vibrated in her head for a minute, tickling a memory. “Jared! We never signed the prenuptial agreement.”

He glanced over, his expression unruffled. “So?”

“Well—I thought-- Under the circumstances…,” she stumbled over the words. Surely, he had to see his own best interests in the situation. He knew business better than she could ever hope to, and like it or not, marriage was business.

“Don’t worry,” he recommended, steering the plane into a banked turn. “I trust you.”

Kelsey stared at him for a moment, unprepared for the wash of warmth his words brought. He trusted her not to bilk him. It was undoubtedly foolish for a man in his financial position, but…she blinked back the sudden moisture in her eyes, fiercely promising herself not to make him regret his faith in her.

It was odd, this mixture of emotion. Tenderness, desire, fierce protectiveness. Connection.

She had friends, of course. Several who earned the title of “best.” And she’d had lovers—though certainly none like Jared—but still, it wasn’t his sexual prowess that left her with the sensation of…commitment to him. It was everything. He made her feel different. Special. Determined never to let him down.

And she was sure that everything was going to be all right. Ever since she’d walked down the aisle yesterday, it had seemed as if her most forbidden dreams had come true. She’d never felt so cherished in her life and she wanted to cling to the moment, even if it wouldn’t last.

Kelsey sighed contentedly. Beyond the plane’s window spread an array of rumpled landscape, green and brown hills with faint mist clinging to the hollows. It seemed littered with lakes and ponds.

In no time, they were circling round a small lake, Jared maneuvering the aircraft to skim lower and lower over the water until a spray across the windows indicated contact. On the shore, Kelsey could see a house. Large and low, built of weathered logs, it didn’t look like any cabin she’d ever seen before.

Jared positioned the plane at the dock and tied it up. He turned, offering his hand to help her climb out.

She stood on the dock, surveying the place. Around them stretched water, forest and sky. Not another human habitation was within eyesight.

A week alone in the Garden of Eden with a man who made her bones melt…and her heart laugh.

She turned, hoisting a bag.

“Come on,” Kelsey invited, hearing the husky note in her own voice. “We’ve got some exploring to do.”

*
**

Jared put down the book he’d been reading and looked at Kelsey lying asleep on the deck chair beside him.

In the last weeks since he’d taken the gamble of proposing, he’d discovered much about her. Every piece of information wove together. She was an exuberant, joyful woman, vibrant and sexual in a way that called him like a siren. But she’d had her heart under lock and key.

That much he’d known from the start of this adventure. Now he knew why. What kind of girl, intelligent and sensitive, could live through such a tumultuous childhood without developing some kind of protection?

He’d thought about all those stepfathers as he lie awake last night after they’d made love. She must have felt lost amid all the shuffle of father-figures. What amazed Jared was how important she was becoming to him in a way he hadn’t expected. He’d envisioned a beautiful, sexy wife and a pair of children—a secure, yet exciting family life.

This emotion, the wealth of feelings that clustered in his chest when he looked at her, he hadn’t expected that. Even the blinding, cataclysmic lovemaking surpassed his anticipation. His heart was involved, he knew.

She’d never have to be alone again, if he had his way, never again flounder for someone to love her.

Still, he had a year. Only fifty-two weeks to win her heart—or she’d be gone.

*
**

“Tell me about your first marriage,” Kelsey said softly, lying next to him in the magical darkness of the night.

He stroked a hand over her naked stomach. “What would you like to know?”

She hesitated. “I don’t know. The high points, I guess.”

“There weren’t many,” Jared said honestly. “We met in college, got married after graduation and were divorced a year or so after that.”

“Her name was Marianne?”

“Yes,” he confirmed, wondering what sparked her curiosity. “She was blond, about five foot two inches, slender like a ballet dancer.”

“So…you just fell out of love with each other?”

“No,” he said seriously, knowing his answer was important. “I don’t think we really knew how to be in love. At least, I didn’t.”

She stirred, rolling over to face him. “What do you mean?”

Jared shrugged. “I was in the middle of building the corporation, wheeling and dealing as fast as I could. I didn’t really spend much time on the marriage. Back then, I thought if you loved each other, you got married and that was it, like some sort of perpetual motion machine that didn’t need any maintenance.”

“So, she left you because you ignored her,” Kelsey concluded slowly.

“We both left each other. Regrets, but no hard feelings.” How could he explain his own lack of investment with Marianne…and convey how different it was with her?

“Where is she now?” Kelsey murmured.

“I’m not really sure,” he said. “Somewhere in
Virginia
the last time her lawyer contacted mine, but that was years ago.”

“And you’ve never been tempted to marry again?” she asked, the faint outline of her face seeming pensive.

Jared smiled. “Not until recently.”

*
**

“My God,” she muttered, rummaging again through her carry-on luggage.

“What’s the matter?” Jared ask lazily, still lying naked in the bed they’d shared so passionately these past glorious days.

“I can’t find my birth control pills,” she said finally, her efforts in the carry-on yielding nothing. Kelsey sat back on her heels beside the bed. “I’m almost sure I put them in here.”

He rolled over, surveying her tumbled bag. “Did you look in your other suitcase? Your purse?”

“Yes,” she said, nervously worrying her lip between her teeth. “They’re not anywhere.”

Reaching out, Jared brushed strong fingers along her cheek, his gaze dark and warm on her. “Don’t worry about them. Birth control pills aren’t good for you anyway. You’re better off not taking them.”