The Getaway Bride

He swooped down to kiss her into silence. Her arms locked around his neck, holding him to her.

He stripped her clothing away with urgent hunger. Rather than complain at his lack of finesse, she cooperated fully, helping him rid them both of the layers of fabric that separated them.

Only when they were pressed skin to skin, heart to heart, desire to desire, did Gabe allow himself to slow down and savor.

He made love to her slowly this time. There was so much lost time to make up for.

Page shuddered in climax, sobbing his name, her arms and legs locked tightly around him. Gabe closed his eyes, buried his face in her throat and surrendered at last to his own shattering release.

I love you. I love you. The words echoed in his mind, but he swallowed them. They were all he held back as he emptied himself deep inside her.

LIMP AND DAMP, Page lay against the sheets, staring at the ceiling and listening to Gabe’s movements in the bathroom. She felt slightly battered, somewhat bemused, and utterly baffled by Gabe’s behavior. One moment he was growling at her, still resentful of her leaving him, the next he was making love to her with a tenderness that turned her inside out.

Yet he still hadn’t told her he loved her.

Would she ever fully understand him? Could he ever completely understand her?

How could two people love each other as much as she and Gabe had and still not know what lay inside their deepest hearts?

She stroked a cool film of perspiration away from her breasts, her hand lingering at her tummy. They’d made love twice now, and hadn’t used any form of birth control. There’d been a time when they’d talked excitedly about starting a family, raising children together. Now the thought of being responsible for someone else petrified her.

A baby was so vulnerable. So helpless. And Page felt so woefully inadequate when it came to keeping her loved ones safe.

Not that the burden would all be hers, she mused slowly. If there was one thing she was beginning to understand about Gabe, it was that he took his commitments very seriously. He would willingly give his life for his child—just as he was willing to risk it now for her.

She wasn’t alone anymore. Gabe had been repeating that for days, but she was only now beginning to believe it The knowledge terrified her as much as it elated her.

She couldn’t bear to think about how devastated she would be to suddenly find herself alone after being with Gabe again, even for this brief interlude.

A sudden, shrill buzz from the nightstand made her jump, her hand flying to her throat. Realizing that it was Gabe’s cell phone, she g

lanced toward the closed bathroom door.

It was probably Blake calling, she thought, reaching for the phone. Maybe he had more news for them. She flipped the instrument open and spoke into it. “Hello?”

“I’ve taken care of your nosy investigator,” an ominously familiar voice snarled in her ear. “As a matter of fact, I’m calling from his phone. You’ve really blown it this time, Page. Kiss your devoted husband goodbye. Before this day ends, he’ll be a dead man.”

10

“NO-O-O!”

The anguished cry from the other room nearly stopped Gabe’s heart. Dressed only in white cotton briefs, he threw open the bathroom door and charged into the bedroom, tautly prepared for whatever awaited him.

Page sat nude in the center of the bed, the sheet pooled at her waist, Gabe’s cellular telephone clutched in her hand. She looked as though someone had punched her in the stomach.

“What is it?” he asked her sharply. “Is that Blake?”

Looking incapable of speech, she shook her head. Her eyes were filled with tears, her lips trembling.

Gabe took the phone from her and held it to his ear, but whoever had called had disconnected. He tossed the instrument aside and set his hands on Page’s shoulders.

“Page, what’s wrong? What did Blake say to you?”

“It...it wasn’t Blake,” she managed to say, her voice reedy. “Blake...Blake’s...”

“Blake’s what?” Gabe demanded, resisting an urge to shake the words out of her.

“Dead.”