Free Bearing It All by Vonnie Davis Page A

be me woman. Mine and no one else’s.” His piercing eyes never left hers as he sipped his hot chocolate. “So make sure of how much yer feelings match mine before ye come to me bed and crawl between me arms.”
    Well, no one could blame him for not being blunt.
If
he was being honest. Yet, he could have made love to her earlier in bed. It wasn’t as if they had to worry about company coming or a meeting to attend or a spouse to deceive. They were snowbound and could spend hours having sex. Maybe he didn’t have any condoms. She was on the pill, but had forgotten to pack them in her survival kit. What woman would have expected to meet a man who could make her panties damp with one fiery look or the sound of his deep voice? She should still be safe; she’d only missed today’s dose.
    Commitment was the last thing on the minds of men she dated from time to time. A fun evening out, followed by sex and a hurried exit. Meaningless. Rather empty. Cold. But Ronan looked fierce, almost feral, when he’d stated she would belong to him. Exclusively. But for how long? Until he met the next woman who turned him on?
    Yet, he’d put the decision into her hands, given her the power. How nice to meet a man who wanted her, but on her terms. Really, what difference did it make? Who knew how much longer she’d have to live? Or him, if the coalition or the CIA sent planes to blow up this cabin. Her heart rate increased and she began to panic with a dozen different scenarios playing through her mind. She’d been trained enough to know how these situations worked.
Oh, dear God. I don’t want him hurt.
    “No. I’m more afraid of my reaction to you than anything you would do to me.” She sipped at her hot chocolate. “Oh, this is just like
Mère
used to make on days I felt sick. I don’t know how accurate her stories were, but she used to tell me Queen Antoinette had hot chocolate every day. And since I was
Mère
’s little princess, I should have it, too, as a special treat.”
    Anisa closed her eyes to force back the tears of homesickness. She wished she could talk to her mother about Ronan and how he filled her heart with love. Her
mère
would be delighted Anisa had finally found a decent man.
    What was her family thinking of her now? Were they embarrassed? Angry? Disappointed? What would the distorted news of her actions do to her grandfather’s blood pressure? She’d written a note of explanation and given it to her cousin Gaston, making him promise to deliver it to her mother and grandfather, who shared the same house, in two days. By now, they would have it. How would they handle the shame of all the television reporters publicizing her as a defector and terrorist? Who would they believe?
    “What is it, luv? Ye are fighting tears like Colleen fights sleep.”
    She wiped them away. “You watch me too closely. It’s as if you can sense my moods.”
    He took off a pair of black narrow-rimmed glasses she hadn’t noticed he’d been wearing earlier to read. Dear God, they made him look sexier, if that were possible.
    He laid the book on the coffee table and the glasses on the open page, his gaze never leaving hers. “I’ll get better at it, too, once ye are well and truly mine. Fer ye will be me primary focus in life and beyond. I’ve waited all me life fer ye. In fact, I didna think a woman existed who could hold me heart in the palm of her hands the way ye do. Now that I’ve found ye, do ye think fer a moment, I will allow ye to hurt?”
    His feelings almost mirrored hers, but he had a more romantic way of expressing them. She sipped at her hot chocolate again and gently smiled. She’d read somewhere that Scots were poets in their blood.
    “Come here, Frenchy
.
Bring yer cup and sit on me lap. We’ll enjoy our drink in front of the fire and talk.” After she settled on his legs, he kissed the chocolate off her upper lip and she squeezed her thighs together to settle the throbbing that slow, long kiss created.