Free A Man to Remember by Mary Tate Engels Page A

he murmured, "I've wanted you from the first time I saw you, Alyse."
    "I know."
    "You knew all along? And still you agreed to everything."
    "Yes. From the first you intrigued me too." She reached over to touch him. Her hand rested on one rounded muscle of his chest. She rubbed the flat male nipple, scraped her fingernails along his chest, traversed his taut male form past the ridges of his ribs, past the flat planes of his firm belly. Her hand halted on his thigh.
    His breathing was strained, his every muscle tense. A slight quiver raked through him.
    "Jake?"
    "Yes?"
    "You said you'd let me make the first move." She paused, holding her breath. Then her hand moved boldly over him, caressing, stroking. "How's that?"
    He turned on his side, and she felt his aroused heat radiating beneath the cool sheets. Reaching out to her, eagerly. Fervent and hot. Barely under control. Exciting.
    He could barely speak. "Ummm, good move." His hand covered one firm breast, squeezing the nipple, then moved to the other mound. Oh, God, how he'd wanted to touch and kiss her there. He ran his tongue over each nipple, and she arched sensually.
    As his lips closed over each taut pink nipple, his leg crossed hers, separating them. She responded with a flood of warm passion that rushed through her, leaving her heated and limp. His hand started down her body, admiring, tickling, brushing with rough fingertips. He paused at the delta of her femininity. And stopped.
    It took her a minute to realize he had purposely halted. He stopped moving over her. He held his breath.
    " Ohhh, Jake… come on." Alyse struggled from her passion-induced haze.
    "Quiet," he directed.
    Jake had heard the noise in the hall several seconds before she did. He bolted at the light knocking on their bedroom door.
    The male voice from the hall was Spanish-accented and vaguely familiar. "Jake? We must talk."
    Alyse could have screamed. The spell was broken. The magic between them was gone. And so was Jake.
     
     
    Chapter Six
     
    Instantly Jake was on his feet. He bounded to the end of the bed and dug furiously into his abandoned clothes. He hesitated just long enough to check the item he withdrew from his pants pocket.
    The intruder pounded again on the door, louder this time. "Jake? Are you in there? You must come, pronto!"
    With a stealthy sweep Jake's large, shadowy form moved to the door and stood with gun poised.
    Alyse bolted upright. Gun? OMG! Jake had a gun! He held the gray steel weapon in a readiness position as if he were quite accustomed to doing so.
    Alyse pulled the sheet up to cover her bosom and felt her heart pulse wildly through her entire body. It sounded like a bass drum in her ears, and for a moment she wondered if Jake could hear it too.
    How many times had she read about situations like this in her mystery books?
     
    Bristol Bordeaux flattened herself against the door, gun poised, waiting for the intruder .
     
    But that was fiction. This time it was real—and Jake was the one with the gun! Someone could get shot. If Jake had a gun, the other party probably did too!
    Frozen to her spot in the bed, Alyse watched, trembling with fear. It didn't occur to her that she could be one of those injured if an altercation occurred.
    Questions about Jake and the weapon he carried popped into her head. Why did he have that gun in their bedroom? When had he planned to use it? And why did he think he would need it now?
    The knock on the door was deliberate, someone looking for him, someone coming just for him. Suddenly, she remembered his words of last night: "There are things about me that you would abhor." Now she knew one thing she didn't know before. He had that gun and she hated them!
    Jake hadn't bothered to dress. He stood completely nude beside the door, the gun poised in his right hand. Damn hot! Even in her confused state of mind, Alyse observed that his body was lean, muscular, and extremely masculine. And he had almost been hers to take and enjoy.
    His voice