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FOREVER YOURS Excerpt
FOREVER YOURS
by Francis Ray
ISBN-13: 978-0312365080
Release date 03/30/10
Victoria ran for the front door. If anyone had told her an hour ago that she would be chasing after a man to get him to marry her, she would have called that person insane. Somehow, once she caught up with Kane, she had to get him to change his mind and help her. If she accomplished that task, she still had a greater challenge of keeping her body from reacting so strongly to his.
He thought she was bothered by his rugged, almost overpowering masculinity. She was, but not in the way he imagined. He was the most riveting man she ever had the misfortune to meet. He disturbed her in ways she didn’t want and didn’t understand.
Outside, she saw a mud-splattered truck parked on the other side of the tree-lined street. A man sat inside. His black Stetson-covered head stared straight ahead. One arm was draped across the steering wheel.
Kane. Without hesitation Victoria went to the vehicle and got in on the passenger side.
His head swung around. “What are you doing here, Victoria?”
Neither his eyes nor his voice invited conversation. The tip of her tongue moistened her dry lips. His gaze followed. She felt again the unwanted tightening sensation in the pit of her stomach. “Why...why did you stop calling me Tory?”
One large hand clenched and then slowly unclenched on the steering wheel. “I don’t think you’d like my answer.”
She shifted against the black leather seat. “Kane, I know things didn’t work out the way either of us planned, but I had things all worked out in my head and then I met you.”
“You’re not what I expected either,” he drawled, disappointment heavy in his voice.
Victoria decided to ignore his baiting words. “This whole situation is awkward for the both of us. Maybe if we got to know each other better.”
“I don’t think that would help.” A flick of his wrist ignited the engine. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to be on my way.”
She did mind. “I know you want to ring my neck, but –”
“Is that what I want to do to you?” he interrupted, his voice stroking her.
There was no mistaking the husky inflection in his voice this time. Her heart thudded in her chest. This wasn’t supposed to be happening to her.
“Kane, all I want is a business transaction. That way, both parties know where they stand and no one will get...the wrong idea.”
“We’ve been through what you want. Now please get out of my truck.” The woman he remembered was gone, and there was no sense staying.
“I need your help.”
“I’m not interested.”
“Eleven thousand dollars.”
A finger and a thumb kicked back his hat. “Not everyone has a price tag. Or is your ego so big you can’t stand the idea of a man rejecting you?”
She leaned toward him. “That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard.”
“Then get out of my truck.”
“No.”
“You’ve got three seconds,” Kane warned.
“Twelve thou—”
“Times up.” Strong hands grasped her forearms, twisting and turning her in one deft motion. His mouth captured hers.
Victoria gasped in shock, inadvertently allowing Kane’s tongue inside the warm interior of her mouth. Her body stiffened at the unwanted intimacy. But as the velvet roughness of his tongue touched hers, unexpected desire swept through her. She fought the need to join in the kiss until his teeth nipped her lower lip, then suckled the sweet pain away. By the time his mouth covered hers again, she had ceased to think.
Her tongue sought and found his. He tasted hot and sensuous. She had never known a kiss could be so potent. There was nothing she could do to control the fire racing through her body except hold on and try not to be consumed by it. But as the kiss deepened, her own hunger grew and she made her own demands.
Slim arms circled his neck, knocking his hat off as her fingers plowed through his thick black hair. From somewhere she heard a moan, then realized it was hers just as a callused palm covered the hard peak of her breast.
Suddenly, her mouth was free.
Her eyes blinked, focused. She lay across Kane’s lap, her arms circling his neck. Kane stared down at her, looking as dazed as she felt. The sound of their labored breathing filled the truck’s cab.
His hands tightened and his head dipped. Her lips parted.
Kane thrust her away. “God, woman! Don’t you have any sense?”
Victoria’s trembling hand touched her tingling lips. No, she thought, because a man has finally kissed me senseless.
