BRANDED BY A CALLAHAN by Tina Leonard

Ana sound asleep on top of the denim coverlet. Her blond hair fell over her shoulders, her black sweater clung to darling breasts, her hips in dark jeans half-turned toward the ceiling.
    The headache and sleepiness disappeared just as the wedding gown had. He looked at the gift in his bed and felt as awake as the morning sun.
    Sleep was overrated. Way overrated.
    He had much better things to do.

Chapter Seven
    This time he wasn’t going to mess up. And he sure wasn’t going to let the moment slip away again. He crossed to the bed. “Ana.”
    She opened her eyes. “Hi.”
    “You all right?”
    She smiled. “Yes. And no.”
    God, she was beautiful. He was indeed as lost as Tighe. Could he hang himself out on the ledge again without giving her a chance to get there with him? No. “Heard you were heading back to South Dakota.”
    “Sure thought about it.” She watched him, her eyes luminous and soft in the lamp’s gentle light. “Hope you don’t mind I came here instead.”
    He swept a golden strand away from her face. The feeling hadn’t changed for him. He still felt like an angel had dropped right into his bed, on loan from heaven. He was pretty certain that he could marry this woman, if he was the marrying kind, and fifty years from now he’d still feel like heaven had gifted him with something amazing and extraordinary.
    He sank onto the bed. “So now what? You got a flight out in the morning?”
    She shook her head. “I wanted to talk to you first.”
    “About?”
    “I wanted you to know some things.”
    She was in the mood to talk. This was good. At least he thought it was. It would be much more to his liking if she was in the mood to try seducing him again, because he sure would let her. Right? He wasn’t that big a dummy to let her slip through his hands twice. “I’m listening.”
    “Okay. Dante—”
    He waited, letting her take her time.
    “I’ve kind of had a little thing for you for a while.” She watched to see how that registered with him.
    “A little thing?” He’d been hoping for a big thing. He sure had a big thing for her.
    “I feel like if we’d met in another time—”
    This wasn’t good. This was the kill-you-with-kindness goodbye. He’d heard about these, and they were killers on the man, who was supposed to be left with his ego intact but instead ended up with his heart shattered.
    He wasn’t going there. Ana opened her mouth, and Dante didn’t let her get one more word out. He kissed that goodbye right off her lips, and then he proceeded to show her just how he felt about her, inch by glorious inch.
    * * *
    A NA AWAKENED IN THE NIGHT , realizing Dante was wound around her. She smiled—for a moment. It was amazing being with Dante, just as she’d known it would be.
    “Hey,” Dante said to her, nuzzling her neck, “why are you awake?”
    “I need to go,” Ana said, curling into his arms.
    “I thought we discussed that.” He kissed down her neck, settling in the curve of her throat.
    “Did we?” It was hard to think with Dante kissing her. Wild, sensual emotions swept her, making her wish for things that couldn’t be.
    “Mmm. I made love to you, and you liked it.”
    “I did.” She kissed him back, falling a little further in love with him.
    “And so you decided that taking off for parts unknown was not in your best interest. You realized there were things around here you’d miss too much to leave.” He moved over her, and Ana’s breath caught.
    “There are things I like,” Ana said, and Dante said, “I’m going to give you something else to consider before you make your final decision about leaving,” and then he was making love to her, and Ana let herself get lost in the moment.
    * * *
    “H ERE ’ S THE DEAL ,” D ANTE said as dawn broke over the New Mexico skies. “You stay here at Rancho Diablo. I’ll do my best every day to convince you that I’m the man for you.” He kissed her hand, raising it to his lips, working his angle. Surely Ana