The Parks Empire: Secrets, Lies and Loves: Romancing the Enemy

“Good idea,” Cade said.

“Can we have a fire?” the girl wanted to know.

“After we get the brownies in the oven.”

They ate in front of the fire, then played Go Fish until it was time for Stacy to go to bed. Cade escorted the child upstairs while Sara sat on the sofa, relaxing in pleasant idleness.

The evening seemed like something in a play—the perfect family holiday…before the aliens landed or the body was found or some other tragedy befell the players in the scene.

She gazed into the fire as a shiver rushed over her. Someone was walking over her grave, as her mother would have said.

Hearing Cade’s steps on the stairs, she carefully wiped all emotion from her face and waited, heart pounding. She wasn’t sure what she was waiting for.

Chapter Six

Sara knew, when her eyes met Cade’s, that she’d lied to herself about her reasons for coming to his ranch. It wasn’t for fact-finding, but for herself and the hunger that refused to be suppressed any longer.

In the soft lamplight, his eyes were dark and mysterious. Alarm sizzled through her body, warning her against being foolish, but even that couldn’t overcome the intense need that surged like a lava flow in her blood.

He sat on the sofa beside her and kicked off his shoes, then propped his feet on the rustic coffee table that looked as if it had been made from saplings with the bark whittled away. The latest fishing and hunting magazines were stacked on it. Older editions were piled in a bookcase along a side wall. A small television resided on a shelf.

The cabin had a welcoming feel. It seemed comforting to her. A warm, safe place, the way a home should be.

But it wasn’t her home, she reminded herself.

“We don’t get cable here,” he said. “And I haven’t bothered with a satellite dish. Stacy and I keep movies and video games on hand. You ever played Banjo-Kazooie?”

Sara shook her head.

“We’ll have to try it. Tomorrow, maybe.”

When she glanced his way, the expression in his eyes told her movies and games weren’t uppermost in his mind. A sensation of anticipation, so strong it was painful, rolled over her.

He moved close, crowding her, but she didn’t mind. “I didn’t bring you here for this,” he said in a low tone, “but now that you’re here, I can’t stop thinking about it. About us. About making love with you.”

Sara sighed. “I know. I’ve argued with myself all week, going over the reasons I shouldn’t come up here and why it’s impossible for us to become involved.”

“Why?” he asked, leaning close and sliding his fingers into her hair. “Why is it impossible?”

Why? Let me count the ways… “I’m Stacy’s teacher, for one thing.”

He nodded. “She’s the most important element in this triangle. I don’t want her hurt by anything that happens between us. I think we can guard against that.”

“We hardly know each other.”

“Ah, but that’s not true. We’ve known each other all our lives.”

His quick smile was almost her undoing, but she held to her argument. “Not really. A year in the same kindergarten class doesn’t qualify as a lifelong friendship.”

“It counts for something,” he murmured huskily. “If I remember correctly, the second week of school you announced that we were going to be married when we grew up. Since then, when the world has seemed a dark and uncaring place, I’ve remembered that somewhere out there was a beautiful woman who loved me.”

His smile was so wonderful as he teased her, she could have cried. He caressed her scalp with his fingertips, making little round motions that soothed and excited her at the same time.

With a sigh, partly of defeat, partly of anticipation, she turned her face to his. Their lips were mere inches apart as they gazed into each other’s eyes.

“You remember because you associate me with happier times in your life.” She cradled his handsome face in her hands, returning the intensity of his stare with that of her own. “It’s the same with me. But Cade, that was long ago. So many years have passed. So many things have happened to each of us.” She dropped her hands to his chest.

“Yes, but we have this moment. The fact that we’ve found each other again must mean something.”

His eyes were sexy and compelling while he waited patiently for her agreement or rejection. Unlike her former fiancé, Cade didn’t insist on having things his way. He treated her as an equal, one who had opinions and needs as strong as his. She could have loved him for that reason alone.

No, not love, she quickly corrected. She wasn’t in love with anyone. But she was terribly attracted to this man.

Sex for enjoyment only, without love and commitment? a hesitant part of her questioned.

“You’re doing an awful lot of thinking,” he murmured, a smile playing across his lips.

She managed a laugh. “I know. My sister calls me Plato when I take a long time to decide something. My mother said we should ask ourselves if, a year from now, we would regret whatever we’d done. She said to let that be our guide.”

“A wise woman.”

“I think she learned from experience,” Sara told him, a strum of returning sadness running through her like the plaintive moan of a bass viol, low and mournful.

She stared into his eyes, then closed hers tightly, wanting his touch with everything in her.

When he kissed her, she forgot the qualms about sharing passion while planning his father’s downfall. Raking her fingers into his hair, she responded to the kiss by pulling him closer.

Cade felt as if he held a magical goddess who could change her form at will, becoming earth or air or water as well as flame. Whatever she was, her essence burned brightly through him. It tugged him ever closer to the pit of self-deception he’d experienced once before, when he’d thought fascination and desire were everlasting love.

When she slipped her hands under his shirt so that she was touching his flesh, he knew he would sell his soul to whatever devil wanted it, if he could but have her to himself for this one night.

He planted kiss after kiss over her mouth, her eyes, her throat. When he bit lightly, she gasped, then gave him a playful pinch on his chest.

Going back to her mouth, he tasted the honey inside, then parried the delectable thrusts of her tongue as they staged a mock battle, each knowing there would be no losers in this skirmish.

Sara soon found kisses weren’t enough. She kicked off her slippers and swung her legs up and around so they were resting across his lap. He pressed against her so that she half reclined in the cozy corner.

With his chest touching hers, she arched upward while exploring the muscles of his back. His skin was warm and smooth, inviting her to roam further. Their breaths mingled intimately as the embrace grew ever deeper.

“This isn’t going to be enough,” he said in a low growl, deserting her lips to nibble on her ear. “I need to touch you…all over.”

“I need it, too,” she whispered, frustrated with the clothing that interfered with sensuous stroking.

He lifted his head. “Your bedroom is close. It has a lock on the door.”

She could have refused. She could have weighed the situation and wisely refrained from giving in to temptation. It hardly crossed her mind. “Let’s go there.”

He stood and pulled her to her feet, then carried her on the short trip to the guest room. Standing her by the bed, he turned on the lamp, then closed and locked the door.