Dynasties Collection

Her hand moved over his back, sliding across his shoulders and down the length of his spine. Every touch inflamed him until his body was so hard and tight, he could hardly think beyond the need hammering at his mind, his heart.

He slid his hand down over her belly and past the nest of curls to find her center. She gasped and lifted her hips for his touch. He obliged, sliding his fingertips across those heated folds, finding her damp warmth and realizing that she was as ready for him as he was for her. He dipped one finger inside her and stroked those inner muscles until she whispered his name with a hunger that matched his own.

“Christian, don’t wait. Take me now, be inside me now. I need this. I need you.”

“No more waiting,” he promised and shifted to cover her body with his. He knelt between her thighs and parted them wider, opening her up to his gaze.

She twisted beneath him. “Christian,” she said, licking her lips, “please. Now.”

“Now.” He pushed his body into hers with one long stroke and instantly experienced the wild rush of being a part of the only woman who mattered to him.

She was tight and hot and caressed his length every time he withdrew only to surge forward again. Her legs came up, wrapped around his middle and took him deeper on every stroke. She curled her fists into the blanket beneath her and lifted her hips, rocking into him, following the rhythm he set and matching him move for move.

“Open your eyes,” he ordered, staring down into her face as he took her. Her eyes flew open and met his. He read his own desire reflected back at him and saw in those amber depths the passion he’d waited too long to see.

She released the blanket so she could touch him, scraped her palms up and down his chest, up and over his back and dug her fingernails into his shoulders as he increased their pace. Hips pistoning, he took her higher, faster than either of them had ever been before.

Together, they raced toward a completion that had been waiting for them for weeks and together, they crashed over the edge and fell.

Nine

Erica was spent.

Every cell in her body was whimpering with release and pure pleasure. Her legs were trembling and her arms felt as if they weighed a ton. Christian was sprawled on top of her and though he was heavy, she didn’t want him to move. Didn’t want to lose this connection they had. She wanted to keep his body joined to hers for as long as possible.

Staring up through the thick branches overhead, she spotted small slices of a deep purple sky. The sun was down and the first stars were coming out. Beside them, the river rushed on, and here, on this blanket, the world was standing still.

“I want to roll off of you,” he muttered, his voice muffled against her skin. “But I don’t think I can move.”

She smiled, delighted that she’d brought such a man to his knees, so to speak. Christian was more than she’d thought when she first met him. Then he’d seemed so locked away, so suit and tie and cool distance. Now she knew what he kept hidden beneath that very businesslike exterior. And she didn’t ever want to lose him.

“I don’t want you to move anyway. I love the feel of you against me. In me.” Love.

Erica’s breath caught in her chest and she smiled to herself as she realized it was true. She did love him. Why hadn’t she realized it before? It all seemed so simple now. So clear. It didn’t matter how fast it had all happened. It was as if she’d been heading here. To Colorado, to him, her whole life. Days, weeks, time had nothing to do with it. When it was right, it was right, she told herself firmly and gently stroked her hands up and down his broad, muscular back.

He groaned and lifted himself up onto his elbows. Looking down into her eyes, he rolled his hips against hers and she sucked in a gulp of air. His body stirred inside her, thickening, hardening. She sighed at the sensation and suddenly she was more than ready for him.

“You touch me and I can’t think,” he admitted, moving again, slowly, pushing deeply into her.

But in a heartbeat he went perfectly still and stared down into her eyes. “Can’t think. Didn’t think. Erica, we didn’t use any protection.”

She gasped, stunned that the thought had never even occurred to her. She’d never done anything so irresponsible in her life.

“I’m sorry. I should have—Damn it.”

“Stop,” she said quickly, reaching up to cup his face with her palm. “It was my mistake as well as yours. But as long as we’re both healthy, it should be all right.”

“I am, I swear,” he said, concern etched on his face. “But are you sure you won’t get—”

“Pregnant?” she finished for him. “I can’t be absolutely positive, of course, but it’s the wrong time of the month, so …”

“Good. That’s good.”

But he didn’t sound relieved, she thought. He sounded almost … sorry.

“But we shouldn’t risk it again.”

“Probably not,” she admitted, “but if you pull out of me now, I’ll have to kill you.”

He grinned, lowered his head and kissed her. “I’ll risk it if you will.”

“Oh, yes,” she said, sliding her hands up and down his back, over his shoulders and down the front of his chest. “Thinking’s overrated anyway.”

“Right,” he murmured, dipping his head for a kiss. “Just feel. Just experience.”

“Experience is good,” she agreed, already feeling the fires burning, building within.

“New experience is even better,” he said and leaned back, wrapping his arms around her, drawing her up with him, keeping their bodies joined. He sat back on his heels, with Erica on his lap.

She gasped and threw her head back, loving the feel of him impaling her so deeply. Instinctively, she twisted her hips, grinding her body against his, increasing the friction between them until he groaned her name and clamped both hands at her hips, holding her still.

In the soft light of the early evening, Erica looked down at him. Cupping his face in her palms, she took a kiss and then one more before sliding her hands down his neck to his shoulders. Then she moved on him, easing herself up and down in a slow, lazy rhythm, driving them both relentlessly onward. His hands at her hips, he kept his gaze locked with hers as she moved, taking him deep, releasing him, only to reclaim him again.

Over and over, as tension built, as need spiraled inside her, she moved, rocking, swaying, twisting her hips at their joining. Her hands at his shoulders, she felt it when he neared completion and surrendered to her own climax. As the first, electric ripples of pleasure dazzled through her, she heard him shout her name just before he let go and gave himself completely to her.

It was perfect.

What could have been hours passed before Christian said, “Are you cold?”

A chill swept along her spine, but it had nothing to do with the cold. It was his deep whisper resonating in her ear that affected her so. “No. Not cold.”

“Still.” Christian reached across her, grabbed the edge of the blanket and drew it up over her.

Erica snuggled into his side and laid her head on his chest. Running one hand across his warm skin, she tangled her fingers through the soft dark hair until he laughed and the rumble sounded loud in his chest. “Touch me like that and we’re not going to ever go back to the Manor. I’ll have to keep you here all night.”

“Not a very good threat,” she admitted with a smile. “It actually sounds fabulous.” She tipped her face up to look into his eyes. “I don’t think I could ever have enough of you.”

He lifted his head, gave her a quick, hard kiss, then lay back down again, one arm tightening around her, holding her close. “I don’t know what to say to you.”

“Say you don’t regret it.”

“I’d be a damn fool if I did,” he muttered.

She smiled to herself and sighed a little, enjoying the moment. The soft wind rustling through the trees, the grumbling river just a few feet away and the soft summer night close around them. It was all perfect. Her life finally felt … right.

“Not that I’m complaining,” he said, “but how did you know to find me here?”

“Hmm? Oh, Melissa suggested it. She said you came out here a lot on clear nights.”

His hand on her arm stilled and Erica sensed that something had changed, though he hadn’t said a word. Silent tension spilled out between them and though he was still beside her, Erica knew that he was already pulling away. “Christian?”

He scrubbed one hand across his face, released her and sat up to stare out at the river. “Melissa? Melissa knows you were going to come to me?”

“She knows I was looking for you, sure.” Now she was cold. Despite the warmth of the evening air she felt as though ice crystals were settling on her skin. She tugged the edge of the blanket around her and stretched out one hand to touch his back.

He flinched at the contact.

“Great. That’s just great.” He stood up, grabbed his jeans and tugged them on. Then he snatched up her clothes from where they’d fallen and tossed them to her. “Get dressed.”

Hurt and feeling at a complete loss, she only stared at him. “What is wrong with you? Why are you acting like this?”

“Unbelievable.” He muttered something else under his breath, but she couldn’t catch it.

Erica grabbed the clothing he’d tossed her. She slipped her bra on, then tugged her T-shirt on over her head. When she stood up to pull on her panties and skirt, she turned her head to look at him. He was searching for his shirt and finally found it hanging from a tree limb where he must have thrown it earlier.

Disgusted, he snatched it down and Erica was more confused than ever, so she blurted, “What is going on?”

He pulled his shirt on then ran his fingers through his hair. Glaring at her he said, “I told you, I couldn’t be with you. I work for the Jarrod resort. You’re a Jarrod. Word of this gets out, I’ll lose everything. And what do you do? You tell your sister.”

Erica inhaled sharply, feeling as though he’d slapped her. This was what had him so tense? Knowing that she’d spoken to Melissa? Was he really that worried that someone might know they were together? Was his job really that important?

Stung to her soul, she snapped, “Your reputation’s safe, Christian. Melissa didn’t know why I wanted to see you. It’s not like I advertised or printed a pamphlet alerting the residents of Jarrod Ridge that I was going to try to seduce a man who’s been trying to keep me at arm’s length!”

“Damn it, Erica …”

“Relax,” she told him hotly. “You don’t want people to know you were with me? Rest easy then, because I’m in no hurry for anyone to find out about this moment.”

He faced her and though his teeth were gritted, he still managed to say, “It’s not that I don’t want them to know. I can’t let them know.”

“Oh.” She nodded and gave him a wry smile. “Big difference. Thanks for clearing that up.”

“You don’t get it, do you?” He stood, legs far apart, arms folded across his chest as if he were trying to hold himself in place. “I’ve worked my whole damn life for what I’ve got here. I won’t risk it. Won’t lose it. You can’t understand because you’ve always had this …” He threw his arms wide as if taking in all of Jarrod Ridge. “With either the Prentice family or the Jarrods, you’re one of them. I don’t have that. I made my way on my own.”

“And I haven’t?” She snorted in disgust. “You saw my office in San Francisco. Bottom of the food chain. You know why? Because my father never wanted me involved in the Prentice family business. So what I had I made. On my own. And coming here didn’t change that.”

“Erica—”

“No, you had your say. Now it’s my turn. I told you what it was like where I grew up. Never accepted. Never let into the inner circle. It’s only here that I’ve begun to find my way and even then, I wasn’t exactly met by a ticker tape parade.”

He shook his head and sighed. “That’s different. Whether the Jarrods were happy about it or not, you were one of them. You belonged. Like I said, you don’t get it.”

“I’m not one of them. I might be. One day. I hope so. But if that happens it’ll be because I made it happen,” she countered. “I wasn’t handed anything. You think it was easy to come here? It wasn’t. I walked out on the only family I knew. I gave up my job, my home, my life to try for something new. Something better.”

“I’m not going to argue with you,” he told her quietly.

“Of course not,” Erica muttered. “You might lose.”

“I’m doing what I have to do and you’ll never understand it.”

“Oh, I get it,” she said softly. “Finally I get it. You’re a coward.”

He took the two steps separating them and grabbed hold of her upper arms. His hands were strong, each of his fingers digging into her skin as he dragged her up on her toes, so they could be eye to eye. “I’m no coward and you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, I do,” she said. Erica wasn’t afraid of him. Even with his eyes nearly glowing with fury, he wouldn’t hurt her. It wasn’t in him. He was a closed-up man hiding a passionate nature, but that passion didn’t include brute force. “I can see it in your eyes. You’re already pulling away from me, from what we found, planning on how you can avoid me in the future.”

He let her go instantly and backed up, muttering under his breath. Then he said, “When we’re around others, nothing has to change. We just won’t be doing … this again.”

“Oh, is that all?”

God, how was she breathing? Everything inside her was still and cold. Her lungs, her heart. Even the blood running through her veins felt icy.

Erica grabbed her sandals and hopped on one foot then the other to tug them on. Once she was dressed completely, she threw her hair back from her face and stared daggers at him. “After what we just experienced you can actually stand there and say to me that you don’t want us to be together? That you’ll walk away from this? From what we might have?”

* * *

No, Christian thought wildly, he didn’t want to say that. Didn’t want to think it. With Erica, he’d found more peace, more excitement than he’d thought possible. When he held her, she was the world. He couldn’t imagine never having her with him again. Couldn’t even see his life without her in it.

These last few hours had been more precious than anything he’d ever known before. From the moment she’d approached him, it was as if they’d stepped into some dream world where they were the only two beings in existence. He’d forgotten his hard and fast rules. He’d turned his back on what he’d made of himself over the years and lost the essence of who and what he was in her. The magic of her.

But magic wasn’t real.

And eventually, dreamers woke up.

He wanted her desperately. But if he acted on what he wanted, then he stood to lose everything he’d ever worked for. Everything that had made him what he was. How could he turn his back on his life? On the man he’d become? If he did, what would he have left?

Who would he be?

“You’re going to do it, aren’t you?” she whispered. “Even after everything that happened tonight, you’re going to be the good corporate drone and go back to your cubicle.”

He sighed. What the hell could he say to her? He couldn’t even explain it to himself. “Erica …”

“No, don’t bother.” Her voice was low, almost lost in the roar of the river. But somehow he heard every word and felt the power of them hit home as if each one was a blade.

“You’re going to regret tossing me aside,” she said.

He stared into her eyes and couldn’t quite bring himself to tell her that he already did regret it. Standing here, so close and yet so far away from her, he felt as if all the life was draining out of his body. But he couldn’t say what she wanted—needed—to hear.

“You’ll regret it, but it’ll be too late. I feel sorry for you, Christian. Because I would have loved you forever.” With a sad shake of her head, she turned and walked away from him.

Christian watched her go and felt his heart go with her.

She was gone the next morning. Back to San Francisco on the family jet. According to Melissa, Erica was only going back for a visit, but Christian couldn’t help but wonder if he’d managed to drive her away from her legacy.

Two days later, he felt on edge. He was miserable. He hadn’t slept. Couldn’t close his eyes without seeing her. Work wasn’t the salve it had always been. He couldn’t concentrate on any single task because his mind kept drifting to Erica and the way she’d looked at him just before she walked away.

He never should have let her go.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

Christian shook his head and glared at Trevor. They were in Trevor’s office and had been working on the layout for the gala and somewhere in there, Christian’s mind had taken a sharp left turn. “Nothing. Can we just finish this? I’ve got other things to take care of.”

“You know what? Never mind. I’ll finish it myself.”

“Good.” For the first time in years, Christian wasn’t interested in Jarrod Ridge or its gala. He didn’t care about the tourists flocking to Aspen or the businesses depending on the Ridge to increase their profits. He was damn sick and tired of living his life by the wants and needs of the Jarrod family.

Hell, he was still following Don Jarrod’s edicts even after the man was in his grave. So Christian’s life had now come to the point where a dead man was controlling his actions.

Was he really going to allow this to continue? Could he really risk losing the only woman who’d ever gotten under his guard?

Would he give up his future to assuage his past?

Furious with himself and the whole damn situation, Christian turned to go, but stopped when Trevor spoke up again.

“What’s eating at you, man? You’ve been terrorizing the staff and me for the last couple of days.”

Yeah, he had. Wrestling with your demons didn’t make for a good time and there were bound to be innocent bystanders caught up in the fight. But Trevor wasn’t his enemy and it’d be best to remember that.

Christian looked back at his friend and said, “I’ve got some things on my mind, that’s all.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“Not really,” he said. He had to get things sorted out for himself before he could speak to any of the Jarrods about this.

Trevor stared at him, then nodded. “All right. I figure a man’s entitled to his secrets. But if you change your mind, I’m here.”

“Appreciate it.” And he did. He had friends here, Christian knew that. What he didn’t have was Erica. “I’ll see you later.”

Blake walked in the door almost at the same instant and jumped out of the way before Christian could crash right into him. “What’s his deal?”

“I don’t know. He won’t say. Clearly something’s bugging him though.” Trevor sat down at his desk, ready to dive into the paperwork again.

“I know how he feels,” Blake said.

The tone of his voice more than anything else had Trevor looking up. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“Not sure. But I just saw Melissa with Shane McDermott. They looked … cozy. Have you heard anything?”

Trevor leaned back in his desk chair. “No. But if our friendly neighborhood rancher is interested in our little sister, I suggest we keep an eye on things.”

“Just what I was thinking,” Blake agreed.

Three days holed up in her old condo in San Francisco and Erica was no closer to knowing what to do than she had been when she arrived. She’d cried herself silly for the first several hours until her sorrow had faded into fury. Anger was so much easier to deal with.

Erica stood up and moved to the balcony off her living room. She had a view of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge and she’d spent most of her days with the sliding glass door open to let in the frigid wind blowing in off the ocean.

After so much time in Colorado, with the sky so wide and open and so much space around her, she felt … caged in the very home she’d once loved so much.

Strange. She’d only been gone three weeks but this place no longer felt like home. She looked at the soft, pastel paintings on the walls and couldn’t figure out what she’d seen in them. She wasn’t the same woman who had lived here. She’d changed. Grown. She’d reshaped her life to suit the woman she’d become.

Now Erica knew what it was to finally find her place. She had discovered what it was like to love someone and lose. She knew what it was to go on with your heart breaking and not have a clue what to do next.

She’d found more than a home in Colorado.

She’d found herself. And the woman she was today needed answers to questions she was no longer afraid to ask. She hadn’t run from Christian; she’d run toward her past. After leaving him at the river, Erica had realized that she couldn’t enjoy a future without first dealing with her past. And so she’d come back to San Francisco. To tie up the loose ends of her life so that she could return to the place she belonged.

Okay, yes, she hadn’t immediately gone to face her father. But she was going to. She’d simply needed a few days to sort out her own feelings. That didn’t mean she was turning tail and running. And she certainly wasn’t going to hide here in a condo that wasn’t really hers anymore.

She was going back.

Just as soon as she found what she needed to know.

Ten

The very next morning Erica marched into her father’s office and faced him, for the first time not as his daughter, but as an adult who demanded respect.

“Erica,” Walter said, standing up and moving out from behind his desk. “You didn’t tell me you were coming.”

“No.” She studied his familiar features and saw with surprise that he looked older than she remembered. And not as intimidating, either. Was it her imagination? she wondered. Or was it that she was no longer looking at him as a child would?

“Are you all right?” He came to her, gave her a brief, awkward hug, then stepped back.

The embrace was over so quickly it was almost as if it hadn’t happened at all. Erica felt the sting of tears in her eyes and inwardly groaned. She fought to hold those tears at bay as she asked, “I need to know something, Father, and I need the truth.”

“Of course.”

“Did you ever love me?”

“What kind of question is that?” His eyes narrowed and his scowl deepened. “Is this what they’ve been telling you in Colorado? Those Jarrods have been filling your head with nonsense and you’ve been listening?”

Shaking her head, Erica felt her heart sink. “They haven’t said a word about you, Father. This is something I need to know. Did you love me? Ever?”

His mouth tightened into a straight, grim line as if he were deliberately holding back the words she needed to hear.

Walking past him, she dropped her cream-colored leather bag onto the nearest chair, then turned to face him again. “I’m tired, Father. And hurt. And a little miserable, too. I’m finally figuring out who I am, but to finish doing that, I have to know who I was. Was I ever a daughter to you?”

As if all the air had left his body suddenly, Walter Prentice seemed to shrink in size right before her eyes. His shoulders slumped, his head dipped until his chin met his chest. Tiredly he lifted both hands to rub his face, then dropped them again and looked up at her.

She walked toward him, drawn by the naked pain on his face. Erica had never seen this side of her father. Never known him to be emotional at all. She took a shallow breath and held it.

“You’re more like your mother than you know, Erica. You have her beauty, but more important, you have her heart.” Leaning forward, he took her hands in his and held them gently. “I do love you, child. Always have. I couldn’t love you more if you were my own blood.”

A great weight eased off her heart and Erica took her first easy breath since walking into his office. “Then why? Why have you always kept me at a distance? Why would you never let me get close? You wouldn’t even let me work here, Father. I thought you believed I wasn’t good enough to join the family business.”