If Only by Lisa M. Owens Page A

for being so concerned about him when she was the one riding an emotional roller coaster. She was trying so hard to stay strong for his sake, but her hormones were going crazy, she was becoming self-conscious about her appearance, and to top it all off, she couldn’t recall the first year of their marriage! She was obviously stressed out and completely overwhelmed, and his foul temper and stubbornness wasn’t doing anything to help the situation.
    Bree scowled at him as she angrily wiped another tear away. “What are you smiling at?” she questioned.
    He brushed his hand softly against her face, wiping her tears away with his fingertips. “The most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”
    “You are so full of it,” she retorted with a grin.
    Without another word, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her gently onto the mattress, her back pressing against the coolness of the sheets. He reached out for her titian tresses, winding a few tendrils around his finger as he gazed down at her. “You are the prettiest, sexiest, most intelligent woman I have ever met,” he declared, his tongue stroking the inner curve of her ear. His hands wandered down the length of her long body before stopping to stroke the slight curve of her abdomen. He raised her pink sweater slowly, his mouth leaving a gentle rain of kisses down the bare expanse of her stomach. “I don’t care if you weigh one hundred pounds or one thousand, you are carrying my child, and that makes you even more beautiful to me.”
    Bree grinned as tears began filling her eyes once again. She threw her hands up into the air in silent surrender. “Damn it,” she cursed. “What the hell is wrong with me?”
    “Nothing is wrong with you, baby,” he stated as his lips caressed hers.
    She groaned at the feeling of his lips on hers. If her husband kept this up, they’d be spending the entire day in bed. On second thought, that didn’t sound too bad. It didn’t sound too bad at all.
    He leaned back against the headboard, staring at her intently as he propped his dark head up against his arms. “What are you smiling about?” he questioned, a slow smile spreading across his handsome face. “You look like the cat that swallowed the canary.”
    She nibbled on her lower lip as she looked over at her husband with a mischievous smile on her face. “I was just thinking, instead of us going out in this freezing weather,” she proposed as she snuggled her body erotically against his, “we could just stay inside and try to find other ways of keeping ourselves warm.” At his suggestive wink, she laughed. “So, what do you think?” she asked with a flirtatious grin as she ran her fingertips playfully along the length of his collarbone.
    To Bree’s chagrin, her husband chose that particular moment to roll ungracefully out of bed. He walked over to their bedroom door and removed his leather jacket from the doorknob. “Nice try, gorgeous, but I have the rest of our day planned.” Giving her a curious look, he continued, “Unless you’re planning to spend the entire day in that big, empty bed all by your lonesome.”
    Releasing a frustrated groan, she grabbed one of the decorative pillows off the floor by their bed and aimed it directly at his stubborn head.
    He clucked his tongue and pointed a single finger at her as he sidestepped the pillow and then left the comfort of their bedroom, his laughter ringing in her ears.

Chapter 6
    Bree struggled to keep a straight face as her handsome husband attempted to ice skate. Attempted was the key word. She crossed her arms as she watched him. She shivered as a chill overcame her, and she buttoned her pale lavender coat, fastening the tiny pearl buttons. She blew on her hands before finally deciding to slip on her white gloves, which she had stuffed into the pockets of her coat earlier that morning. With her attention focused back on her husband, she couldn’t help but grin as Scott tried to approach her, his steps faltering