Free Pregnant In Prosperino by Carla Cassidy

exciting, so…beautiful. Her body still tingled with the residual warmth of what they’d shared, and for just a moment, as their gazes had locked like their bodies were locked, she’d felt their connection had been more than physical.
    He looked at her now, the flames gone from hiseyes, but still a tenderness remaining. “Are you okay?”
    â€œI think so.” She laughed suddenly. “My goodness, Chance, I never dreamed it would be so…so good.”
    He grinned, an open, wonderful grin that reminded her of the Chance of her childhood. “You mean even when you were young and thought you were madly in love with me, your fantasies didn’t overrate me as a lover?”
    â€œMy fantasies were so innocent, I never got further than a kiss.” She smiled teasingly. “But you kissed very well in those flights of fancy.”
    â€œNaturally,” he replied, looking devilishly handsome and boyish with his hair all tousled. “And what about in reality?”
    â€œLet’s just say my fantasies didn’t begin to live up to the reality.”
    He touched the tip of her nose with an index finger. “You were always a sweet kid and you’ve grown into a sweet woman.” He rolled away from her and onto his back and stared at the ceiling thoughtfully. “That year I spent at the Coltons’ place was the best year of my life.”
    Lana raised up on one elbow, loving the sight of him with the candle glow painting his body. She would be perfectly satisfied to lie here and look at him for hours. “It’s been a long time since you’ve seen Meredith and Joe, hasn’t it?”
    He nodded. “Years. Whenever I came back here, I only stayed until I couldn’t stand being around my dad any longer.” He frowned. “Usually by the endof the first day, I was ready to hightail it out of here. There never seemed to be enough time to visit with anyone else.”
    â€œWhy don’t you go over there and see them now?”
    His frown deepened. “After listening to you and Maya talking about Meredith, I don’t want to see her. I’d rather remember them like they were.”
    A bitter laugh escaped him and he sat up. “Hearing the way Meredith and Joe have fallen apart merely proves what I’ve always believed.”
    â€œAnd what’s that?” she asked softly.
    His eyes glittered with a harsh light. “That there is no such thing as lasting love, and anyone who believes otherwise is just a fool.”
    â€œSurely you don’t really believe that,” she protested softly. “What about my parents? They are as in love with each other today as the day they married years ago.”
    â€œThey are the exception, not the rule. And even if I did believe in love and marriage, I know it isn’t for me.” He rolled off the bed and grabbed his jeans and quickly pulled them on. “I’ve got to get back to work.”
    Lana sat up and grabbed the blanket around her, suddenly feeling cold and naked. “What about lunch?”
    â€œI’m not hungry.” He picked up his shirt and headed out the door.
    She pulled the blanket more firmly around her. How quickly he transformed from passionate and tender to hurting and defensive. His actions andwords served to remind her that she couldn’t fall into any fantasy where he was concerned.
    It would be easy, with the flush of their lovemaking still on her skin, with the residual heat of his touch still coursing through her, to believe that they might have a future together. It would be so easy to lose herself in the softness she’d seen momentarily in his eyes, and to believe that he might fall in love with her.
    But to do so would be utter foolishness. She absolutely, positively could not allow herself to forget for one minute that this marriage was nothing more than a temporary arrangement.
    Â 
    Jackson, Mississippi. Meredith Colton stared out the