STARTING OVER (26 page)

"Let me know if I'm hurting you," he whispered as he entered her.

He pushed slowly, gently, instinctively knowing she would still be tender because this was her first time since Shanna was born. But his months of abstinence were making him pay dearly for his restraint. He could feel beads of perspiration popping out on his forehead, and the muscles in his stomach were aching from the strain of holding back.

But he was determined to bring her to pleasure the old-fashioned way so he could feel her pulsing around him.

As if reading his mind, she said, "I've never reached a climax twice in one night, so don't wait for me."

"Then tonight is a night of firsts. Your first time in a car, your first time to climax twice, and your first time with me."

"It feels like the first time with anyone. I didn't realize I would have gotten tighter."

"It . . . feels . . . good," he growled out as he gave one last push and let her take his full length. For several seconds, he stayed buried inside her, cherishing the sensation that she was now truly his. Then he began moving, slowly at first, in long, deep strokes in and out, in and out.

Her breasts were flattened against him, their extended nipples rubbing against the sprinkling of hair that covered his chest. His lips claimed hers, demanding and receiving a response from her. His tongue imitated his other movements, plunging in and out of her mouth, slowly, sensually, hotly.

"Oh!" she exclaimed with obvious surprise as her body began moving with his, writhing and hungry for more. His mouth lowered to the delicate skin behind her ear, and she trembled, crying out at the new sensations his love bites were creating.

The pressure within him was tremendous, and he felt it begin to leak out. "Oh God," he groaned. "I don't have any protection. I can't..."

Her fingernails dug into his buttocks, preventing his retreat. "You . . . can't . . . stop," she demanded.

"But if you get pregnant again so soon—"

"Then you'll be a daddy to two babies instead of just one," she answered.

A daddy.
He had never thought that word would bring such joy to his heart. Kate had accepted him as a possible father for Shanna, and she was not opposed to the idea of a child of his. A daddy. The words pounded in his brain along with the blood that was pumping hotly through his veins.

He increased his speed, rushing in, pulling back just like the tides that washed the beach outside their van. He had thought he had willpower of steel, but he was beginning to lose control when he felt her arch against him. She cried his name as she tightened around him, the ripples of her passion pulling him deeper.

His buttocks tightened, his toes dug into the seat as he pumped his love, his heat inside her. This might not be the night that she would conceive, but he no longer doubted that their time would come. He loved her. She loved him. She would be the mother of his children and the love of his life. Forever.

Outside, the ocean continued its monotonous roar, unaware that something spectacular had just occurred inside the burgundy van parked on its shore.

"Amazing,'! Kate whispered against the curve of his neck as they lay limply in each other's arms. "I officially declare this van to be initiated. Already, it's worth the money."

"As much as I'd never like to move from this spot, I don't think camping is allowed on this part of Galveston Island. How would you feel about renting a room in the nearest hotel and going for three?"

"Only three?" she asked, her voice bubbling with newfound self-confidence. "Let's go for the record."

THEY DIDN'T SET any world records, but they broke a few personal ones. Rusty had to admit that even he was a little sore by the time they checked out of their room the next morning.

They stopped by Doug's parents' since they passed right by their house on the way back to the San Luis Pass bridge and picked up Shanna. Rusty didn't know whether it was his imagination, but he could have sworn the baby was glad to see him. She was looking directly at him when she smiled, and he chose to believe that was because she recognized him as someone who loved her . . . her future father.

Rusty's
spirits had never been higher as he drove his little family back to Lake Jackson. Every time he glanced over at Kate, he caught her gazing at him with the same silly, moonstruck look he knew was in his own eyes.

They made plans on how to spend their Sunday, but whatever the official agenda was, they both knew it was open to change if the mood struck them. He reached over and caressed her breast, almost losing control of the car when he realized she wasn't wearing her bra.

Kate laughed, the lilting, carefree laugh of a woman who was completely happy. "I just couldn't put it back on," she said.

"Warn me next time, so I won't have a wreck," he teased.

"You're supposed to keep both hands on the wheel. I didn't expect you to fondle me while you're driving."

"I'm having enough trouble keeping my mind on my business. And now you want me to keep both hands on the wheel. The next thing you'll say is that I have to keep both eyes on the road."

Kate glanced back at where Shanna was strapped into her car seat. "Once you get my daughter and me safely home, you can keep your eyes and your hands on anything you want."

He shifted uncomfortably on the seat and increased his speed to a few miles above the posted limit. There would still be the problem of being with her in Doug's old house and Doug's old bedroom, but Rusty was filled with confidence that, at the moment, he could solve anything.

They arrived at Kate's a few minutes later. She took Shanna into the house, and Rusty was unloading the baby's supplies when Al drove up.

Rusty greeted him but was immediately struck by an overwhelming sense of dread.

"So did you find Vicki Young?" he asked the insurance man.

"We did better than that. We found them both!"
Al exclaimed, obviously proud of the achievement.

Both! It was his worst
nightmare come true. "So Doug really is alive?" Rusty could barely force himself to voice the words.

"Alive, but not well.
It seems he had a bad case of Montezuma's revenge almost from the day he arrived in Jamaica."

"Are you sure? There couldn't be some sort of mistake in identification, could there?"

"No, the police have verified his identity. It's Doug Cramer, all right."

"But how did he survive the crash?"

"We don't know any of the details, just that he's alive."

Rusty dragged his trembling fingers through his hair. How could this one moment change a lifetime?

"So what's next?" he asked. "Is he coming back? Will he be prosecuted? How are we going to break the news to Kate?"

"How are we going to break what news to Kate?"

Both men whirled around, their expressions as guilty as if their mothers had just caught them with their hands in the cookie jar.

Kate stood by the back of the van, waiting expectantly. "Break what news?" she persisted.

Al looked at Rusty and was clearly at a loss for words, which meant it would be up to Rusty to try to find a gentle way to tell her about Doug.

"Uh . . . why don't we go inside?" he suggested. "It's really hot out here."

"It's bad news, isn't it?" she asked. "Is it my mom? My dad? The helicopter?"

"No, no, none of those."
Rusty picked up the diaper bag and the stroller, stalling for time as he tried to decide what to say.

"I think I'll be going now," Al said. "He's already in town, by the way. They're holding him at the police station for questions. I'm sure they'll be in touch soon."

Soon!

That meant Rusty had to break the news to her quickly before she heard it from someone else. It would probably be better if the initial shock was gone by the time the police contacted her. And the press! As soon as they got wind of this, they'd be knocking down her door.

Rusty wanted to toss all the baby's things back in the van, get Kate to pack a suitcase, load Shanna and Rebel into the back seats and get out of town. It was tempting to try to run away from this, to shield Kate from the truth.

But he knew that, sooner or later, she would find out. And she would resent his dishonesty and duplicity. Rusty also knew that he might very well be throwing his own future with Kate out the window.

Like a condemned man going to his execution, he marched into the house. He settled Kate on the couch, but he was too tense to stop pacing.

"Who's in town and in jail? Tell me," she pleaded. "It couldn't be all that bad."

He sucked in a deep, bracing breath. "I'd do anything to spare you what's about to happen."

She stood up and wrapped her arms around him, forcibly stopping his jerky motion. "Whatever the problem is, the two of us can work it out."

Rusty looked down into her lovely face. He tried to freeze the image of her sweet, joyful smile into his mind, because he wasn't sure how long it would be before he would see it again. They could have made it. They were almost home free. If only . . .

"Katie, that's part of the problem," he said, deciding there was only one way to tell her. "There's not just the two of us."

"Well, of course, there's not. Counting Shanna, there's three of us." She stretched up and kissed his tightly drawn lips. "We both love you, you know."

She certainly wasn't making it any easier for him. Gently, he eased her back down on the couch, knowing she would need something solid beneath her.

"Kate, I know this is going to shock you. Try to stay calm." He tried to swallow around the lump that had become lodged in his throat, then plunged ahead, "Doug didn't die in that accident. He's downtown at the police station right now, and . . ."

"Doug's alive?" All the color drained from her face. "He's at the police station?" she repeated incredulously.

Then to Rusty's surprise, she jumped to her feet.

"I have to go to him. He needs me." She was halfway toward the door when she stopped and glanced at Rusty over her shoulder. "Oh, you wouldn't mind staying with Shanna, would you? I've got to be with my husband."

"Wait, Katie. You don't know about..." he called, but she had already left.

Chapter Fourteen

He hadn't been able to warn her.

Kate would be going into that police station without any of the details. The press might already be there, ready to pounce.

Rusty would have gone with her. But she had left him behind. Within a matter of seconds he had been reduced from lover to baby-sitter.

Doug needed her. What a joke. What Doug needed was a good psychiatrist and probably an even better attorney. If there wasn't proof of amnesia or some other debilitating illness that had kept him from reporting his whereabouts, or if it was found that he had planned the whole escapade, then Doug would be in trouble that was deeper than the Gulf of Mexico.

Would Kate stand by him through thick or thin? Could she forgive her philandering husband if he should beg her pardon and promise to change his ways?

Rusty knew that even if he was asked to stay as a pilot at C-Breeze, he would have to refuse. He couldn't imagine working for Doug. Although he had yet to meet the man, already Rusty disliked him. Actually, hatred came closer to what he felt for Doug, even though that wasn't an emotion that was in
Rusty's character.

Why would any man leave a warm, affectionate woman like Kate for a cheap affair? But, from what Al had implied, cheap was not the operative word. For a lot of money even a deliriously happy man might be tempted to try something desperate, especially if he was facing what he thought were insurmountable financial problems.

And Kate was the kind of woman who would understand and sympathize. That was just part of her personality. If she wasn't that way, Rusty wouldn't love her as much as he did.

But her generosity of spirit would not include having more than one man in her life. If it came down to making her choose, how could Rusty hope to compete against the man who had been her college sweetheart and the father of her child?

From the bedroom came the sound of Shanna working herself into a serious cry. Rusty went to her, delighted he would have the opportunity to hold her and make believe, just for a while longer, that she would someday be his daughter.

KATE HADN'T EXPECTED reporters and photographers to be hanging all over the police station. The minute she stepped out of the car, the video cameras started rolling.

"How do you feel now that you've found out your husband is alive?" one reporter asked, thrusting a microphone into Kate's face.

"Please . . . I just found out..." Kate tried to brush past them, but they were swarming around her like locusts on a cornfield.

"Just give us a statement about the million-dollar insurance policy...." another reporter asked.