Page 59 of A Treasure Worth Seeking

“Yes, me. I don’t think I could ever do something like that.”

“Is there anything else that kept you from aborting my baby?” His tenacious grip on her shoulders indicated his urgency.

“No,” she answered safely. He didn’t believe her.

“Yes, there is, Erin. Tell me.”

“No.”

“Tell me, dammit!” he shouted.

“Because I love you!” she shouted back.

The words bounced off the walls of the still house as the two people, breathing agitatedly, stared at each other.

Then she was crushed against him. One arm held her like an iron band across her back while the fingers of his other hand buried themselves in her short dark curls and pressed her head into his chest. She could feel his lips moving in her hair.

“Erin, Erin, do you know the hell we’ve put each other through? To think you were alone all this time when I should have been here with you. I wanted to be. God, how I wanted to be, baby or not.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and wished he could absorb her into his flesh. “What are you saying, Lance?”

“When you left me in San Francisco, I thought I’d die from wanting you. Loving you.” He lowered his head a

nd kissed her fervently on the neck. “But I had to let you go. When you had the chance to tell Stanton about us, you didn’t. I thought you wanted to come back with him and forget about me.”

“Oh, Lance. You were so sarcastic and cruel, so remote. I thought you had used me for entertainment and was glad Bart was conveniently relieving you of me.”

His arms tightened around her, telling her how wrong she had been. “My hatefulness was only a defense mechanism. I fought loving you every step of the way and was afraid you’d know I’d fallen in love with you. I imagined you and Stanton having a good laugh at my expense.”

He brushed his lips across her fragrant shoulders. She pulled the shirttail out of his waistband and slipped her hands under it, kneading the muscles of his back.

“Do you remember Higgins?” he asked. “He’s the guy here in Houston I had check up on you that first day. I’ve had him keeping an eye on you. I knew you hadn’t married Stanton.”

“Then why didn’t you come to me sooner?”

“I know you probably won’t understand this, but I couldn’t come to you until I had something to offer.”

He released her and walked toward the couch and sat down, clasping his hands between his knees. “When I met you, you were successful and far wealthier than I. I admired you for it. I’m not nearly as chauvinistic as you accused me of being, Erin.” He grinned up at her, then grew serious again. “But I couldn’t declare my love and propose marriage when I didn’t even have a home to take you to, other than a dusty apartment in D.C. I really didn’t have a future, none I’d offer you. I couldn’t come to you until I was established and earning more money.”

She sat down next to him and stretched her arm across his broad shoulders. “That made no difference to me. It never did. I told you that.”

“Well, it made a helluva lot of difference to me.” He took her in his arms and drew a deep breath. “Will you marry me, Erin? I’m not rich like Stanton by a long shot, but I—”

She placed her fingers against his lips. “You’ve given me what I wanted most in the world.” Taking his hand, she placed it over her stomach and smiled tremulously.

“For years now, ever since Joseph’s death, I’ve been searching for something. I worked obsessively, thinking professional success was my goal. That wasn’t it. Relentlessly I tracked down Ken, and I’m overjoyed at having known about his life with Melanie. Thanks to you, the questions that plagued me about the woman who gave me birth have been answered. I’m at peace about why she left me at the orphanage. But, Lance”—here her voice changed and cracked with emotion—“I really didn’t know what I was searching for until I found you.”

He kissed her then, closing his mouth over hers and delighting in that taste that had never been far from his mind. She opened her mouth to his greedy passion and matched it.

When they pulled apart, he said, “I’ve been looking at houses in Georgetown, but I like this one.” He wasn’t looking at her house. He was looking at her chest and tracing the neckline of her dress with his fingers.

She tried to suppress her sudden excitement. “Would this be…? I mean, could we live here with your business?”

“All I need is a business telephone and an airport,” he grinned. “When can I move in?”

She knew this might be a tremendous sacrifice for him professionally and psychologically. He was doing it for her. She loved him all the more for it. In answer to his question, she said, “When you make an honest woman out of me.”

They kissed deeply again. His hand disappeared under the soft fabric of her dress and caressed her thigh.

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