TheSurpriseChristmasBride Read online

  “That’s what the test kit says.”

  The doctor shook her head and said wryly, “Those blasted kits are putting me out of business.” Glancing at Jake, she asked, “You staying?”

  “If it’s all right.”

  “OK by me, just keep out of the way.” Dr. Hauck laughed, pulled up a stool and sank onto it. “That’s what I’ll be telling you when we’re in the delivery room, so get used to it.”

  Jake inhaled sharply and one of the doctor’s eyebrows lifted.

  “OK, Casey, take the position.” The nurse handed Dr. Hauck a pair of latex gloves and she snapped them on.

  Jake took the woman at her word and moved to the head of the table. Casey reached back and took his hand. His fingers curled around hers. Her skin felt cold. Was she as nervous as he was?

  What if the kit had been wrong? What if there was no baby? Would he be pleased? Or disappointed? He looked down into Casey’s green eyes and saw his own anxieties staring back at him.

  It was over in a matter of minutes.

  “You can sit up now,” the doctor said as she rose and walked to the sink, pulling off her gloves as she went. While she washed her hands, she looked over her shoulder at them. “My best guess is that in about eight months or so you’ll be parents.”

  Jake released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. A warm delightful feeling settled in his chest. That settled that. He was pleased about the baby.

  Moving closer to Casey, he instinctively tightened his grip on her hand and began asking all of the usual about-to-be-a-father questions.

  The very next evening Casey turned the dimmer on the kitchen light switch until the room was softly lit. She raised the lid on the pot at the back of the stove, gave the contents a quick stir, then resettled the lid.

  She looked around the room. Stumbles wasn’t around, tucked into his blanket in Jake’s office. The table was elegantly set. Counters and cooking island cleaned off. Fire burning in the hearth. Beef stew simmering. Freshly made éclairs waiting in the refrigerator.

  Everything was ready.

  Even her.

  She smoothed her hair one last time as she heard Jake’s Jeep pull into the yard. Tossing a quick glance out the curtained window, she saw him climb out of the Jeep and reach back inside for the tools he’d picked up at the hardware store.

  Her stomach flipped over and she took a deep steadying breath. It was time to find out if Mrs. Dieter knew what she was talking about.

  She glanced down at herself, sighed, then tugged at the wide red ribbon tied around her chest. The bow between her breasts was a little crooked, but she didn’t think Jake would mind. She hoped he would be too busy doing something else to worry about the aesthetics.

  She shivered in the somewhat cool room and told herself she should have stayed closer to the fireplace. Naked but for the bright red bow, she was beginning to get downright cold. Not to mention just a tad uneasy.

  Inhaling sharply, she tried not to think about what she might be setting herself up for. She groaned quietly at the humiliating images leaping to life in her mind. What if he walked in the door, took one look at her and laughed?Or worse yet, walked right past her and didn’t even noticeshe was naked?

  Won’t happen, she told herself. She knew darn well he wanted her every bit as much as she did him.

  The outside door opened, then shut again, and Casey tensed. If this little stunt didn’t reach him, she wasn’t sure what would. She struck a pose, hoping to look nonchalant, and waited.

  Jake set the bag down on a table, then stopped in the mudroom long enough to shrug out of his coat, tug off his boots and toss them onto the newspaper spread out alongside the door. He sniffed the air, appreciating the delicious aroma drifting from the kitchen. A man could get used to this. It wasn’t so long ago that he had come home from a long day to an empty house and a frozen microwave dinner.

  But that was before Casey.

  He slumped back against the wall and asked himself how he was going to keep living with his wife and not make love to her. It was harder every day to ignore her presence. To ignore the small but pleasant changes she’d made to the house. To his life.

  How could he live with her and notfall in love with her?

  Keep remembering Linda, he thought. Remember what it had been like to find out she’d been lying about loving him. Remember the pain.

  Nodding abruptly, he straightened and crossed to the sink on the opposite wall. He washed up quickly, then moved to the kitchen door. He stepped into the warm fragrant room and all rational thought dissolved.

  “Merry Christmas, Jake.”

  He blinked, shook his head and blinked again as if expecting the apparition in front of him to disappear.

  “Casey?”

  His body tightened as his gaze swept over her. In the soft light her skin looked as pale and creamy as fine porcelain. The wide ribbon wrapped around her chest and across her erect nipples came together in a slightly askew bow in the valley between her breasts. The ends of the ribbon trailed across her abdomen, drawing his gaze down to the light brown triangle of curls at the juncture of her thighs. As he admired her, she shifted position and the ribbon swayed gently with her movement.

  Mouth dry, heart pounding in his chest, Jake knew his valiant struggle was over. No more battling his instincts. No more distance between them. At some point he would have to find a way to live with this incredible—and surprising—woman without falling in love with her.

  But not today.

  “It’s three weeks until Christmas,” he said finally, and congratulated himself on getting his voice to work.

  “Close enough.” She shrugged and his breath caught as the ribbon across her breasts dipped a bit.

  His gaze stroked across her body, slowly, hungrily. A Christmas package. Santa had never been thisgood to him before.

  Minutes ticked by. He had to say something. But what?

  “Dinner smells good.” Brilliant.

  “Beef stew.”

  He nodded and noticed the grip she had on the edge of the cooking island. Her knuckles were white. Nerves? Swinging his gaze back to hers, he asked, “What’s for dessert?”

  She cleared her throat, again shifted from foot to foot and glanced at the refrigerator. “Chocolate éclairs.”

  “I’d rather have you.”

  Her breath caught, the tension in her shoulders eased, and she released her death grip on the island. She took a hesitant step toward him and Jake wanted to kick himself. Had he done this to her? Made her so anxious? So unsure of herself? Yes, he had.

  To protect himself. Something to be proud of, he thought with disgust. Whether they had planned this marriage or not, Casey was his wifeand deserved better than she had gotten so far from him.

  Starting now, this minute, he would give her everything he could give. And hopefully it would be enough to keep her from missing what he simply didn’t have anymore.

  “Jake?”

  He smiled and watched the lines between her finely arched brows disappear. “I don’t believe I’ve ever been welcomed home so warmly.”

  “Welcome? Yes,” she said, and grinned wryly. “Warm?” She shivered a bit. “Not really.”

  Goose bumps raced along her arms and legs. He went to her quickly and pulled her into his arms. Running his hands up and down her supple body, he whispered, “Maybe you should have waited to try this in the summer.”

  “I didn’t want to wait,” she said, and drew her head back to look at him. “Not anymore.”

  He lifted one hand to caress her cheek and groaned when she turned a kiss into his palm. “I’m glad you didn’t wait.”

  “Me, too.”

  Glancing down at her ribbon-wrapped body, he gave her a half smile before asking, “Am I allowed to open my Christmas present this early?”

  “You’re allowed just about anything tonight,” she said softly. She trembled again and his right hand began to stroke up and down her spine.

  “Still cold?�
�� he whispered.

  Another tremor rocketed through her. “Not now.”

  “Good,” he said just before he dipped his head to claim the kiss for which, he’d been hungering for days.

  She leaned into him, liquid sensual heat, and Jake knew the moment his mouth came down on hers that no matter what else happened between them, he would never again keep himself from her. As long as she wanted him, he would be there.

  Her lips parted his and his tongue thrust inside to restake his claim on her. Caressing, exploring, he rediscovered her with all of the eagerness and excitement of their first night together.

  He felt her hands slide up his arms to his shoulders. Felt her fingers spear through his hair. Her breath puffed against his cheek. His hands moved up and down her back in long smooth motions over skin that seemed as perfect, as sleek as the finest china.

  Raising one hand, he cupped her breast and, through the satiny texture of the ribbon, rubbed his thumb across her hardened nipple until a low deep-throated moan escaped her. She arched against him and Jake held her tighter, closer.

  Her hands slipped to the front of his shirt and beneath the soft flannel fabric to his chest. He shuddered at her touch, then pulled back from her only long enough to tug his shirt off and toss it to the floor.

  She reached for him, but he caught her hands. His gaze moved over her slowly, admiringly. “When someone gives me a package, all neatly done up in ribbon, it’s mypresent. Right?”

  “Yeah…”

  “And,” he said as he reached for one dangling end of the ribbon, “you didsay I was allowed anythingtonight, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah, I guess so.” She shivered a bit as he tugged on the ribbon.

  The big bow came loose and fell to the floor at her feet in a whisper of sound. Jake smiled and both black eyebrows rose as he set his hands at her waist and lifted her to sit on the edge of the cooking island.

  “What are you up to?” she asked.

  “Why, Casey,” he admonished, and took the few steps to the refrigerator, “don’t you trust me?”

  “Sure, but what…” Her voice faded as she watched him pull the chocolate éclairs out of the fridge.

  He set the tray of pastries on the table, then picked up one éclair and walked back to her. Dipping his index finger into the luscious cream filling, he scooped out a generous dollop, held it toward her and said softly, “I’m having my dessert first.”

  Ten

  The countertop under her bottom was cold, but the look in Jake’s eyes made the blood in her veins sizzle.

  She swallowed heavily and watched him come closer. When her knees brushed his bare chest, he stopped. Seated on the cooking island, she was at eye level with her husband, and she kept her gaze locked with his as he offered her the fingerful of heavy sweetened cream. The flavor exploded in her mouth, but when she reached for the éclair to offer some to him, Jake shook his head.

  “I’ll get my own,” he said softly, then bent to taste first one of her breasts, then the other. Tenderly, delicately, his tongue stroked her nipples as if she were indeed a rare luscious dessert. Her fingers curled around the edge of the island and she held on tight as wave after wave of delight crashed through her.

  Sharp dagger points of need began to stab at her center, making her ache with wanting him. A deep inner throbbing pulsed along with her heartbeat, and her breath came in ragged gasps. Arching into his wonderful mouth, she offered herself to him, hoping for, needing, more.

  He chuckled gently and lifted his head. “Mypresent,” he reminded her with one quick kiss on her lips.

  Ridiculous to suddenly feel…not uneasy. Embarrassed?This whole naked-in-the-kitchen thing had seemed like such a good idea at the time. She noted the gleam in his eye and experienced an answering tremor that shook her insides. The brief attack of awkwardness disappeared in a rush of something she could only describe as…intoxicating.

  “Jake,” she said, her voice just a touch playful, “nice men don’t torture their wives.”

  “Ah,” he countered with a wink, “but what wife wants her husband to be nice?”

  “Me?”

  “No, you don’t, Casey,” he assured her, and eased her back until she was lying down on the island, knees bent at the edge and her feet dangling. “You much prefer me adventurous.”

  “Just how adventurous are we talking about here?” Nerves fluttered in her chest again. “Maybe I should warn you that I’m not normally the adventurous type.”

  “That’s not what your ribbon said.”

  True. No way to argue that. But then, she admitted silently, she didn’t really want to argue with whatever he had in mind. She’d waited long enough for this moment and damned if she wouldn’t enjoy herself.

  She lifted her head to watch him as he walked to the end of the island and positioned himself between her legs. She gasped when he dipped one finger into the éclair filling again and reached for her.

  “Jake…”

  “My present,” he reminded her. “My dessert.”

  Then he touched the icy filling to her hottest flesh, and she jumped, startled at the sensation. “It’s cold!”

  “Not for long,” he said, and his voice sounded thick, husky.

  Casey shuddered. Through half-closed eyes, she watched him as he lowered his mouth to her center. As he covered her, she groaned and let her head drop back to the countertop.

  His tongue smoothed through the cool thick cream, swirling it around her flesh, stroking it, tasting it. He lapped at her body with a slow deliberation that pushed Casey’s nerve endings into a frenzy of need. Her legs parted farther, inviting him closer, deeper.

  He drove her toward madness and taunted her with release. His mouth created fires of desperation, and his tongue introduced her to delights she hadn’t dreamed existed.

  With every intimate caress, he became more a part of her. He touched more than her body. He touched her heart. Her soul.

  As much as her body hummed from his attentions, her soul soared. This is what they were meant to be, she thought dazedly. His touch reached beyond the physical and eased her spirit.

  Together.

  Forever.

  “Jake…” She felt it coming. Her body tightened in expectation. Tingles of awareness brightened, glowing inside her like a Fourth of July fireworks display. Her breath caught. She reached for the prize dangling just out of her grasp. She strained, aching for the completion he offered her. Then a spectacular bolt of pure pleasure rocketed through her. She stiffened and cried his name in a strangled voice.

  A few moments later she lay limp on the counter and felt him delicately washing away the last of the sugared cream filling from her body. She jumped as he brushed over the still-sensitive flesh. When he finally finished, she opened her eyes to look up at him.

  Passion darkened his gaze, and though her climax had only just passed, she felt desperate for him again. To feel him atop her. Inside her. Joined to her as deeply as he had been on that magical night that had led to their marriage. She reached for him and cuddled close to his chest as he scooped her up and carried her down the hallway to the master bedroom.

  He laid her in the center of the mattress, tore off the rest of his clothes and lay down beside her. His hands moved over her roughly, hurriedly, as if he had waited too long to touch her. As if he couldn’t touch her enough.

  Desperation rose in Jake and shattered inside his chest. Need like he’d never known before swamped him. His body ached for her. Casey’s flesh beneath his hands became a song in his brain that repeated over and over. A tune he couldn’t name and couldn’t forget. A melody that had somehow, despite his efforts to prevent it, etched its way into his heart and become as much a part of his life as breathing.

  She kissed him, opening her mouth to him, inviting his caress. She took his breath for her own and gave him hers. And when he couldn’t bear to be separate from her another moment, she opened her body to him, welcoming him inside.

  He groaned aloud as he
pushed into her and felt her heat surround him, invade him. She locked her legs around his hips and held him tight within her until his world finally exploded, leaving only her warmth to shelter him.

  A short time later they lay entwined on the bed, Casey’s head pillowed on his chest. Jake ran one hand up and down her back, marveling at the softness of her skin and the incredible gift of having her in his life.

  Even as he thought it, though, he turned from the realization that he was coming to care too much for her. He wouldn’t let it happen again. He wouldn’t allow himself to be such a fool for love that when it was over he was left with nothing.

  She stirred against him, dropped a quick kiss on his chest and draped one arm across his body.

  It felt good. Right.

  And terrifying.

  “Is dinner ruined?” He blurted the question in self-defense, to keep himself from wandering too far down a path he couldn’t risk taking.

  “You can think about food at a time like this?” she teased, and raised herself on one elbow to look at him.

  “I don’t have the strength to think of anything else.” He flicked her a glance and smiled tiredly. “Not until I get something to eat.”

  “Then by all means,” she countered, “let’s feed you.”

  She rolled to one side and snatched up one of his T-shirts from a stack of fresh laundry. Holding it up in front of her, she asked, “Shall we dress for dinner?”

  Her short shapely legs peeked out from under the hem of the dark green shirt. She wiggled from side to side, giving him a tantalizing glimpse of her hips.

  “Nice wives don’t torture their husbands.”

  “As you’d already pointed out, I believe I prefer adventurous to nice.”

  His gaze narrowed. “Don’t toy with a hungry man, woman. Toss me those sweats.”

  “The honeymoon’s over.” She sighed dramatically and tugged on his oversize T-shirt. Then she picked up his navy blue sweatpants and crawled back on the bed to deliver them personally. Dropping them on his stomach, she sat back on her heels and grinned at him. “I dolove you, Jake Parrish.”