Free Across the River of Yesterday by Iris Johansen Page B

that was already bewitching her.
    “Heat can be a terrible thing.” He was widening her legs gently, and she suddenly felt terribly vulnerable. “It can rob you of breath.” His fingers trailed further up her thigh. “It can make your muscles knot.” His hand suddenly moved up to the apex of her thighs and settled there. She shuddered. She could feel the warm heaviness as if the scrap of material didn’t exist. “It can cause you to hurt.” He rubbed gently. “Can’t it, Serena?”
    He didn’t wait for an answer. His hand was suddenly gone and he was pulling down her skirt. “Remember, every time I look at you I’m feeling that same heat.” He added softly, “Just like you. You want me. Thank God for that.”
    “I’m a woman and I have the usual responses,” Serena said. “You’re a very attractive man.”
    “You’re quibbling.” His voice was impatient. “Look at me, dammit.” His fingers were beneath her chin, forcing her to face him. “Now,
tell
me. You want me, right? Not just any attractive man.
Me.
”
    His gaze was holding her own with irresistible force. “Why should I—” She broke off and answered him honestly. “Yes.”
    He expelled his breath in a long sigh of relief. “Whew, you had me scared for a minute.”
    “You certainly didn’t show it,” she said tartly. “I feel as if I’ve been run over by a steamroller.”
    He chuckled and released her chin. “I guess I can be a little aggressive on occasion. Just shrug it off and tell me to go to hell. That’s what Ross does.”
    “Not very often, I bet.”
    “Now that I think about it, he hasn’t done it for a long time.”
    “I imagine he gets tired of being flattened.”
    For an instant Gideon appeared uncertain, then thoughtful. “I suppose I’ll have to see what I can do about that.”
    Serena threw back her head and laughed. “Here we go again.”
    His expression was indignant. “Why are you laughing?”
    “I can just see you plumping and pumping to unflatten Ross. I think he’d prefer you to let him stay flattened.”
    “The easy way isn’t always the best way and ifRoss needs—” His lips quirked. “You think I’m too pushy?”
    “It has occurred to me.”
    “I’ll try to tone it down.” He added half beneath his breath, “On the unimportant things.”
    Serena chuckled and shook her head. “Hopeless.”
    The limousine had pulled up to the front porch of the two-story stone house and Gideon opened the door and got out. He helped her from the car and whispered in her ear, “Never. There’s no one more hopeful than I am.”
    A hot shiver chased down her spine and she looked away from him to the wide stone porch that fronted the house. “This house looks very old. When was it built?”
    “The turn of the century.” His glance flew to her face. “You don’t mind old houses? I had this one thoroughly restored, and installed all the modern conveniences. I just think old houses have a special ambience.”
    “I think so too. My friend, Elizabeth, owns an old mill that has a wonderfully warm atmosphere.”
    “Do you want it?” Gideon asked. “Shall I buy it for you?”
    She looked at him in surprise. “She’d never sell it. It’s her home.”
    “I’ll find a way.”
    He probably would find one, if she didn’t get him off the track. “Back off, steamroller, perhaps you didn’t hear me. She’s my friend, and you don’t bulldoze friends into the ground.” She sighed with exasperation. “Why are we even discussing this? We’re talking as if we’re going to be together for the next fifty years.”
    Gideon smiled with satisfaction. “We are, aren’t we?” He took her elbow and they climbed the stone steps. “I like that.”
    “Well, I don’t. One week, remember?”
    “I remember,” he murmured. “Do you like the leaded-glass casement windows? They didn’t come with the original house but I thought they fit.”
    “I think they’re beautiful.”
    A brilliant smile lit his face.