A Wife for a Westmoreland by Brenda Jackson Page B

I really don’t know what to think.”
    He made a slow move and inched closer to her face. He then leaned over and whispered against her ear. “Invite me in and I promise you won’t be thinking at all.”
    And that was what she was afraid of.
    She drew in a deep breath, thinking she would beable to handle him. She opened the door and stepped back, hoping at that moment that she could.
     
    What the hell am I doing here ? Derringer wondered as he brushed by her. He had caught a whiff of her scent the moment she had opened the door, and as always it was playing hard on his senses.
    He turned when he heard her close the door behind him and his gaze studied her. For some reason he didn’t have the strength or inclination to tear his eyes away from her. What was wrong with him? When had he ever let a woman affect him this way? She was standing there leaning back against the door in her bare feet and a pair of leggings and a T-shirt. Her hair was back in that signature ponytail. She looked comfortable. She looked sexy. Damn, she looked good enough to eat.
    He cleared his throat. “What are your plans for tonight?”
    She shrugged. “I didn’t have any. I was just going to watch a movie on Lifetime.”
    He was familiar with that channel, the one that was supposed to be for women that showed romance movies 24/7. His sisters used to be glued to their television sets, and in Bailey’s case, sometimes to his.
    “How would you like to go roller skating?”
    The glow from a table lamp captured the expression of surprise on her face. “You want us to go out again?”
    He noted that there was a degree of shock in her voice. There was a note of wariness as well.
    “Yes, I know I should have called first, and I am sorry about that. And just to set the record straight,when I left home I didn’t have a date. I didn’t have any plans for tonight. I got in my car and I ended up here. What I said earlier was true. I needed to see you.”
    Serious doubt was etched in her features. “Why, Derringer? Why did you need to see me?”
    It should be so easy to use this moment and come clean and say because I know who you are. I know you are the woman to whom I made love in what should have been a weak and crazy moment, but it ended up being the one time I slept with a woman that I remember the most. That no matter what I do or where I go, your scent is right there with me. You are responsible for the lust that rages through my body every time I think of you, whenever I see you. Even now there is a throbbing in my groin that you’re causing and I want more than anything to make love to you again.
    “Derringer?”
    He realized at that moment that he hadn’t answered her. Instead, he had been standing there and staring at her like a lust-crazed maniac. He slowly crossed the floor, pinning her in when he braced his hands on both sides of her head, and leaned in close to her mouth.
    “I really don’t know why I needed to see you tonight,” he whispered huskily against her lips. “I can’t explain it. I just needed to see you, be with you and spend time with you. I enjoyed Saturday night and—”
    “Could have fooled me.”
    He noticed her voice had barely been audible, but he’d heard that, and he’d heard the hurt in her tone. He hadn’t called her. He should have. He had wanted to. But he had fought the temptation. If only she knew to what degree he had fought it. A part of him knewbeing here with her now wasn’t good; especially when he was thinking of all the things he wanted to do to her right now—against the door, on the floor, on her bed, the table, the sofa, every damn place in her house. But even more important was that he knew more about the situation than she did. He had yet to tell her that he knew about her visit to his home that night.
    He had spent the last few days going over the video time and time again. It was evident from viewing the footage and seeing how she had merely stuck her head in the door that initially