"But?"

Taylor chuckled. "How do you know there's a but but in there?" in there?"

He smiled down at her as they stepped onto the elevator that would take them up to their suite. "Because I'm beginning to know you, Taylor. With you, some things are easy to figure out."

She wondered at that. Had he figured out how much she wanted him? Or even worse, had he figured out that she had fallen head over heels in love with him? She had been bordering on the edge since the first time they had made love, but had gotten a pretty big shove when he had seen how much she'd been worried about Cheyenne and had chartered a plane and whisked her to the island where her sister was, to calm her fears. She didn't know too many men who would have done that. Most would have been annoyed that she was letting worrying about her sister infringe upon their time with her.

"You're right, there is a but. but. However, the last thing I plan on doing is getting into Cheyenne's business. I let my sisters deal with their own issues, but they know I'm there if they need me." However, the last thing I plan on doing is getting into Cheyenne's business. I let my sisters deal with their own issues, but they know I'm there if they need me."

Dominic nodded. "You must be exhausted. When we get up to the room, I'll run bathwater for you. A good hot soak will do you good."

She turned toward him and placed her arms around his neck, glad they were the only people in the elevator. "Um, that sounds nice, but what about you?"

He smiled and that full smile on such a pair of sensual lips that showed beautiful white teeth started a slow, aching throb in her center. "I'll take a shower later."

She shook her head. "We agreed that the next time you got in the shower I would be there with you."

He chuckled. "Yes, but you're too tired tonight and I understand."

She knew he did understand, and that's what made him so beautiful in her eyes. He had such an understanding spirit when it came to her. "But I'm not too tired for that, Dominic," she said softly.

What she didn't add was that she needed him tonight in a way she had never needed him before. Now that she knew that she loved him, she wanted not only his seed to get her pregnant, nor just his body that always gave her pleasure. What she wanted more than anything was everything that was him. They had only five days left and she wanted to spend each and every moment intimately with him.

"Are you sure?" he asked, staring down at her. His eyes had changed to a soft green and were looking straight into hers.

"I'm positive." When it came to him, there was no way she could or ever would be not sure of anything. He was the first man she could admit to loving and probably would be the only man she would ever love. It was just her luck that the one man who had finally captured her heart would be someone who was dead set against ever marrying again, a man intent on not allowing his heart to ever belong to another woman. A man who was still in love with his dead wife.

"Why are you frowning, cherie? cherie?"

His gaze burned into hers with an intensity that seared her skin, made her want him just that much more. "No reason, other than I need to make sure it's what you want, too," she decided to say. "After all we've done today, are you sure you're not too tired? If you are, then I can certainly understand."

She suddenly found herself whisked off her feet into strong arms and when he leaned down and kissed her, he practically drew the breath from her lungs. The scent of him surrounded her, practically oozed from wall to wall, panel to panel, in the elevator. It was warm, musky with a whiff of the sea that still clung to him, as well.

Only when he withdrew his mouth from hers, leaving the taste of him on her tongue, did she allow herself to breathe. And only when the elevator door swooshed open to their floor, and he stepped out, still carrying her in his arms, did she speak, barely breathing his name against his neck.

"Dominic..."

When they stopped in front of their door and he shifted her in his arms to pull out his pa.s.skey she realized that something hot, heavy and pa.s.sionate was taking place between them, had been taking place since they had arrived on the island. Shivers of antic.i.p.ation raced down her spine, sensitized every nerve and sent an uncontrollable urge to her brain, making awareness flow rapidly through her body.

When he opened the door, placed her on her feet before closing and locking it behind them, she released a long, ragged breath. It was past midnight already, but time was not a factor here; it could never be a factor between them. The only thing that mattered was that she was about to make love yet again to the man she loved.

He leaned back against the door and stared at her and she felt it like an intimate caress. She may not have his love but she definitely had his desire. And it was a potent thing, like a stimulating drug that actually had hot blood flowing through her veins, making her head spin, logical thoughts disintegrating and making the throb between her legs become an ache that he needed to take care of.

Only him.

Without thinking about what she was doing and knowing that he was watching her every move, she began undressing as she slowly walked backward toward the bedroom. First came her top and she tossed it aside. She paused long enough to kick away her sandals before continuing her trek backward. By the time she reached the bedroom door her clothes laid a trail on the floor and only her panties remained.

He stood there, still leaning against the door, not having moved an inch. But something on him had definitely grown...not that it hadn't been big before. She had felt it when he had picked her up in his arms and again when he had slid her body down his when he had placed her on her feet. But now as her gaze zeroed in on the crotch of his shorts, she saw him enlarging before her eyes just the way she wanted. And just the way she needed.

"Dominic..." She breathed out his name on a sigh, and that's when he moved, slowly walking toward her, pausing to undress, as well. By the time he reached her in the bedroom doorway, he was totally and completely naked.

It was then that she watched as he got down on his knees to remove the final piece of clothing from her body-for the second time that day-a pair of skimpy black lace panties. But he didn't stop there once he had removed them and had tossed them aside.

Dominic felt the need for Taylor all the way to the bone. He knew her scent, and after spending an afternoon making love to her on the boat, his tongue was practically drenched with her taste. He leaned forward and rested his face against the warm skin of her thigh and inhaled the essence of her femininity, so close to his face.

He felt the hands she had placed on his shoulders as if she was depending on his strength to hold her up. In his position, kneeling on the floor in front of her, he was just where he wanted to be, up close and as personal as he could get.

Not really.

There was this one thing that immediately demanded his attention, something his tongue was throbbing to do, something he hadn't gotten enough of doing earlier that day. He shifted his head and found the spot he wanted, gripped her hips and letting his tongue go to work, tasting her with a hunger that he knew she had to feel. He pushed her legs apart even farther so he could delve deeper, his tongue could penetrate farther, taking on a life of its own inside her.

He heard her moans, gloried in her groans. Felt the way her fingers were digging hard into his shoulders, the way she was arching the lower part of her body to lock in on his mouth. His heart rate began racing. His thirst for her taste was unquenchable. The more he got, the more he wanted, and he was letting her know it, feel it. There was just something about kissing her this way that made everything inside him react, summoned all his inner resources.

Moments later he felt her body jerk beneath his mouth and heard her scream, but he ignored the sound and kept doing what he was doing. He had the ability to climax just from tasting her, and was fighting like h.e.l.l not to do so. He wanted to take her in the shower, while the force of the water beat down on them. At that point when it happened, he wanted something else other than his tongue inside her. He wanted to explode inside her, to give her the very thing that would give her his baby, if he hadn't already done so.

Dominic pulled back, quickly stood and scooped her up into his arms. He felt her go limp and knew if the water didn't revive her, something else definitely would. He stepped into the shower and quickly turned on the water. A soon as the water was warm he stepped under it and eased Taylor out of his arms to stand in front of him and then brought her close to him as he lifted her off her feet.

"Wrap your legs around me, cherie, cherie," he said in a deep, husky voice.

She did what he asked and before her mind could register what he was about to do, he swiftly entered her. Water poured down on them, blurring their vision, soaking their hair, but nothing could stop him from backing her up against the tile wall and pumping in and out of her like a man pushed over the edge. A man who wanted to die remembering how it was to be inside her this way.

And just in case those other times they had made love didn't quite do the trick, he grabbed hold of the hips that cradled his pelvis, drove deeper into her the exact moment he felt his entire body explode, forcing himself to hold still while feeling her muscles clench everything out of him, and he still kept coming, filling her to capacity in a way he had never done any other woman.

He showed no sign of even thinking about releasing her after becoming fully spent, totally drained. Like before, he wanted his body to remain connected to hers so he adjusted his stance, braced his legs apart and kept her pinned to the wall.

While the water was still cascading down on them, he lifted his head and met her gaze. The look in her eyes did something to him. There had been a sudden flash of something that had pa.s.sed through the dark gaze holding his. He was certain of it. But what?

Dominic refused to take time to figure anything out. Not now and not here. He felt his body getting hard inside her all over again. He reached up and turned off the water before opening the shower door. And with her still in his arms, her body intimately joined to his, he stepped out of the shower.

With warm water still soaking their skin he managed to grab a big, thick towel off the rack and wrap it around them before leaving the bathroom. He reached the bed and then tumbled onto the snow-white bedcovers with her in his arms. And then he straddled her body and stared down at her, not understanding the sudden obsession and possession he felt. It was more than the fact that she could even now be carrying his child, a Saxon heir. Nor was it about the way his body was able to respond to hers, and kept responding in ways it had never done to other women. But it did have something to do with the warm p.r.i.c.kling sensation that was running over his damp skin and the fire that was flowing in his blood. And for one pulse-stopping moment he felt as if he was going through an addiction. One part of his mind was telling him that the one thing he needed to do before getting in deeper was to pull back and take the stance that if she hadn't gotten pregnant by now, then too bad. He couldn't run the risk of letting her get under his skin, wiggle her way anywhere near his heart.

But he couldn't summon the strength to do that or think that way. At the moment he was just where he wanted to be: inside her while her muscles clenched him tight, milked him for all she could get. She had a strong hold on him as he had a strong hold on her and it seemed neither of them was going anywhere or wanted to handle whatever was happening right now any differently.

So he began doing what he enjoyed doing-moving inside her, thrusting in and out of her with long, leisurely, slow strokes, while watching her facial expression with each stimulating ma.s.sage. Just as she was watching his. He was certain that his need, this unexplainable, overwhelming desire, was there, clearly visible on his face for her to see, as hers was fully exposed to him. Like all the other times before, he was putting everything into this mating, all of himself, everything that was in him he was giving to her. Freely and unselfishly. For her it seemed he could do nothing less.

And then he leaned closer to her mouth, needing the taste of her. And when his tongue began mating with hers in that same tempo their bodies were mating, something hot and urgent flared through him, uncoiled within his stomach and he increased the rhythm and began pumping madly, with a raw, primal need that had him locked in its grip. In the deep recesses of his mind he heard her scream out his name, automatically triggering something inside him and his body bucked hard at the same time that he screamed out hers.

And then it happened again, as it always did with her. He felt a scorching sensation throughout his body, shivers pa.s.sing through every nerve, as he shot an abundance of life-creating fluid inside her while breathing in her scent, their scent. And he knew that if he lived to be over a hundred, he would never get tired of making love to Taylor Steele.

And as he leaned forward and cradled his face in the crook of her neck, he decided that to think such a thing was simply too disturbing to dissect at the moment.

Chapter 9.

Taylor stood at the window and looked out at the beauty of the island and the way the ocean seemed to come to peace when the waves. .h.i.t the sh.o.r.eline. For the rest of her life she would always remember this place. It held so many memories. Memories she would cherish forever.

It seemed so unfair that the week had come and gone so quickly and it was time for her and Dominic to leave with hope that together they had created a life, a life they would ultimately share over the years. In the beginning the thought of them doing so wasn't a problem. That was when she was only interested in a baby and not a relationship...and certainly not love.

Love.

There was no doubt in her mind that she loved Dominic with every sense of her being. It was love not l.u.s.t. She hadn't gotten the two confused as she had tried convincing herself a number of times over the past few days. She loved him in bed or out, although she had to admit they had spent more time during the past week in bed.

Because they were so sure she had conceived, they had talked about names for their child and had decided if it was a boy they would name him Amaury and for a girl, she wanted Dominique. From the look that had appeared on his face when she had made her request, she could tell he had been touched that she wanted to name their daughter after him. And then he had asked something of her that was unexpected. He wanted to be there when she found out if she had gotten pregnant and asked if she would let him. She had agreed that he could and was touched that he even wanted to be.

Suddenly, her senses went on full alert. He hadn't made a sound but she knew the exact moment he had entered the room. She could actually feel his body heat getting closer as he crossed the room toward her. And then he was standing directly behind her. She could feel the warmth of his breath coming into contact with her neck. Instinctively, she leaned back at the same moment he wrapped strong arms around her waist, holding her tight. Her bottom was cradled snug against his center and she immediately felt the huge bulge she had gotten used to.

"See what you do to me every time," he whispered in her ear. "It's totally insane for me to want you so much."

"Mmm" was the only thing she could manage to murmur as she closed her eyes, knowing memories like this would have to sustain her forever. In a short while they would be leaving to return to America-and their lives apart. She would return to her world and he would return to his. Their week-long visit to the island, their procreation vacation, would be something of the past, something they hoped, they truly believed would show results.

She refused to open her eyes when she felt his lips at the base of neck, then moving slightly to taste the area beneath her ear in one warm lick. Shivers ran through her body. He was making her want him and he knew it. "How much time do we have?" she asked, without opening her eyes. Instead she leaned back farther and angled her head in such a way that his lips could explore her more. Now he was kissing her cheek, the fine line of her jaw.

"As much time as we want. Martin has arrived with the plane but we fly out when I say we do."

She opened her eyes knowing just what that meant. They wanted each other again. Hadn't gotten enough. And before leaving they would make time.

She slowly turned in his arms and their gazes met. No further words were needed. There was nothing left to be said. After today there would be no reason for them to come together like this.

But today. For now. There was a reason. One that was old as time and as primal as mankind. And they would share it...one last time.

He began taking slow steps backward and she followed, not that she had a choice, with his arms still around her waist. She thought of all the things they had shared, all those different positions they had tried and those others he had thrown in-had introduced her to-for good measure. Over the past seven days she had definitely become s.e.xually educated. Had graduated a star pupil.

Now she intended to put that education to work.

"I want to taste you all over, Dominic," she whispered, just inches from his lips. "And then I plan to ride you until you say you've had enough."

"I'll never say it's enough," he murmured back hotly, taking his tongue and flicking it out to moisten her lips.

"We'll see." And then she pushed him back on the bed and began going after him with a hunger and urgency that surprised even her. She pulled off his clothes, actually sent b.u.t.tons flying in her haste and then she shifted to remove her own clothing. When they were both naked she went after his mouth, pressing hers to his, sinking her fingers into his scalp.

Three hours later when exhaustion finally claimed the two of them, he admitted it was all he could handle in one day, but had been quick to say it still wasn't enough.

"So, do you think you're pregnant?"

Taylor pondered Vanessa's question before opening her mouth to speak. Then without saying anything she closed it. Vanessa, who was sitting across the table from her, lifted a brow. "Well?"

The two had made plans to meet for lunch when Vanessa had called earlier in the week to say she would be flying to D.C. to attend a three-day seminar hosted by the Public Relations Society of America.

Taylor smiled. Vanessa had a way of getting any information out of you by doing something called "digging in." It was better to go ahead and give her an answer without subjecting yourself to such torture. "Yes, I know I'm pregnant."

Vanessa blinked. She knew that Taylor hadn't been back from her island rendezvous a full week yet. "You skipped a period already?"

"No, not yet, but I don't need that to confirm what I already know." She didn't add that Dominic had been too thorough for her not to be pregnant.

Dominic.

Had it been only five days since she had seen him last? Five days since he had kissed her when he had dropped her off at the Reagan National Airport before continuing his flight to Los Angeles to visit his parents? Five long miserable days where her body seemed to be going through some form of s.e.xual withdrawal when she would wake up during the night to reach for him and he wasn't there?

Vanessa slanted her a look. "For you to be so sure of something like that means Dominic Saxon is one h.e.l.l of a potent individual or that he was pretty good at what you wanted him to do."

Taylor could only smile again. "Both. Enough about me and Dominic. How are things going with the wedding?"

For the next thirty or so minutes over lunch she listened while her sister told her how the wedding plans were coming and how Vanessa's best friend, Sienna, had been hired to remodel Cameron's home in Charlotte, the house where the couple would be living. Because Cameron's business took him just about anywhere in the world, he had homes in other places, as well, including a beautiful one next door to Cheyenne's in Jamaica.

"And you are coming home to Marcus's high school graduation in a couple of weeks, aren't you?" Vanessa interrupted her thoughts by asking.

"I wouldn't miss it." What she wouldn't say, because of the promise she had made to Cheyenne, was that Vanessa would find out in two weeks that she would be an aunt twice over. It was a definite that Cheyenne was pregnant, and by that time Taylor would know if she was pregnant, as well.

A week later Dominic still found that he was in that same melancholy mood. He walked through his home thinking how he had turned down several dinner invitations from friends. A woman who was someone he would often sleep with when he got the urge had called-several times-blatantly inviting him to spend the night with her and he had turned her down, as well. He knew Ivy was pretty p.i.s.sed at the thought that he had ignored her not once but twice, but he hadn't cared enough to even send her flowers to smooth things over.

The only woman he could think about, the only woman he wanted was Taylor. He was convinced that during the week they had spent together, he had gotten bewitched by her beauty or her ability to please him in bed. He was totally taken by the entire package, which included those things and a lot more. Without even trying, she had left a mark on him that no other woman could wipe away.

And he didn't like the thought of that one d.a.m.n bit.

He was a single man, and one with a strong s.e.xual appet.i.te. So why was he denying himself the company of beautiful women, women who would want more from him than just a baby? But he knew the answer to that one.

There was no woman who had the ability to literally charge the air between them the moment she walked into a room other than Taylor Steele. No other woman who could bring him almost to his knees with just one kiss-a kiss he had taught her how to perfect. And then there were the times he would be inside her...

Just thinking about it made his entire body ache for something he couldn't have but desperately wanted. When he reached the kitchen he pulled open the refrigerator and decided he needed a cold gla.s.s of water. He'd been dreaming again about Taylor, about them making love. The dream had seemed so real he had awakened in a heated sweat.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Dominic glanced over his shoulder at Ryder. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why aren't you in bed?"

"I just got in from the gym."

Dominic glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall. "This late?"

"Yes. This late."

He watched the huge hulk of a man slide into a chair at the kitchen table. Not for the first time he wondered about Ryder, the man who had been his bodyguard, his confidant and friend for close to twenty years now. Ryder never mentioned a family, although Dominic knew there was some special woman back in France and he left to return there every chance he got. At least Dominic figured it was a woman since whenever Ryder came back he had a better disposition. More than once over the years he'd tried inquiring about Ryder's other life and if it included a family, but the man had effectively and intentionally changed the subject, letting Dominic know any discussion about him was off-limits.