“I think I can spare your feet,” Blake murmured.

Before she realized what he intended, Blake bent and whipped Meredith off the ground, carrying her close to his chest without any sign of strain.

“Gosh, you’re strong, Daddy,” Sarah remarked.

“He always was,” Meredith said involuntarily, and her eyes looked up into Blake’s, full of memories, full of helpless vulnerability.

His arms contracted a fraction, but he didn’t look at her. He didn’t dare. He could already feel the effect that rapt stare had on his body. If he gazed at Meredith’s soft, yielding face, he would start kissing her despite the small audience of one watching them so closely.

He put her down on the sidewalk without a word and moved to the bench to sit down, leaning back and crossing one booted foot over his jeans-clad knee. “Well, sit down,” he said impatiently. “Sarah, play while you can. This place probably fills up in an hour or so.”

“Yes, Daddy!” Sarah said and she ran for the swings. Meredith sat down beside Blake, still glowing and warm from the feel of his arms and savoring the warm, cologne-scented fragrance of his lean body. “She’s already a different child,” she commented, watching Sarah laugh as she pumped her little legs to make the swing go higher.

“She’s less wild,” Blake agreed. He took off his hat and put it next to him on the bench, pausing to run his hand through his thick black hair. “But she isn’t quite secure yet. The nightmares haven’t stopped completely. And I’ve had less time to spend with her lately. Business goes on. A lot of jobs depend on the decisions I make. I can’t throw up my hands and stay home every day.”

“Sarah likes Amie, doesn’t she?” Meredith asked.

“Amie won’t be here for several weeks, Meredith,” he said impatiently. “That’s what I’m worried about. Monday morning I’ve got a board meeting. What do I do with Sarah, take her along?”

“I see your problem.” Meredith sighed, fingering the face of her watch. “Well…I could keep her for you.”

He didn’t dare let himself react to that offer, even if it was the second time in a day that she’d volunteered to spend time with Sarah. It wouldn’t do to get his hopes up too high.

“Could you?” he asked, and turned his head so that his green eyes pinned her gray ones.

“All I have to do is the autographing,” she said. “And that’s next Saturday. The rest of my time is vacation.”

“You’d need to be at the house,” he said with apparent unconcern. He pursed his lips, watching Sarah. “And considering how late I get home some nights, it’s hardly worth rousing Bobby and Bess to let you in just for a few hours. Is it?”

She colored. “Blake, I don’t care if this is the nineteen eighties, I can’t move into your house….”

He glanced at her and saw the rose-red blush. “I won’t seduce you. I told you that Wednesday, and I meant it.”

The blush deepened. She averted her gaze to Sarah and her heart shook her with its mad beat. “I know you won’t go back on your word, Blake,” she whispered. “But it’s what people would think.”

“And you’re a famous author,” he said, his eyes narrowing. “God forbid that I should tarnish your reputation.”

“Don’t start on me.” She sighed miserably and got up. “This isn’t a good idea. I shouldn’t have come…!”

He got up, too, and caught her by the waist, holding her in front of him. “I’m sorry,” he bit off. “I’ve never given a damn what people thought, but I guess when you aren’t looked down on to begin with, reputations matter.”

She looked up at him with soft, compassionate eyes. “I never looked down on you.”

His jaw clenched. “Don’t you think I know that now?” he asked huskily. He pulled her hand to his chest and smoothed over the neat pink nails, his eyes on her long fingers. “You were always defending me.”

“And you hated it,” she recalled with a sad smile. “I always seemed to make you mad—”

“I told you,” he interrupted. “I wanted you, and I didn’t know how to handle it. I knew it was impossible to seduce you, and I’d given my word that I was going to marry Nina.” His shoulders lifted and fell. “It wasn’t conscious, but afterward when I thought about what I did to you that day, I thought maybe it would be easier for you if I made you hate me.” He looked up into her gray eyes with quiet sincerity.

Her face felt hot. She searched his hard expression for a long moment. “I suppose in a way it was,” she said finally. “But it undermined my confidence. I couldn’t believe any man would want me.”

“Which worked to my advantage,” he whispered, smiling faintly. “Because you weren’t tempted to experiment with anyone else.” The smile faded. “You’re still a virgin. And your first man, Meredith, is going to be me.”

Her heart stopped and then ran wild. “That’s the most chauvinistic—”

He stopped her by simply lowering his head until his lips were almost touching hers. She could taste his coffee-flavored breath and the intimacy of it made her knees feel rubbery. “I am chauvinistic,” he whispered. “And possessive. And hard as nails. I can’t help those traits. Life hasn’t been kind to me. Not until just recently.”

His hands were on her shoulders, holding her in place, and his eyes were on her mouth in a way that made her breath rustle in her throat.

“Sa-Sarah Jane…” she stammered.

“Is facing the opposite direction and doesn’t have eyes in the back of her head,” he murmured. “So just give me your mouth without a struggle, little one, and I’ll show you how gentle I can be when I try.”

He felt her mouth accept his with the first touch, felt her body give when he drew her against his hard chest. She sighed into his mouth, and his brows drew together tightly over his closed eyes with the sheer pleasure of holding her.

She reached up under his arms to hold him and her body melted without a vestige of fear. Even when she felt the inevitable effect of her closeness on his powerful body, she didn’t flinch or try to move away. He was her heart. Despite the pain and the anguish of years ago, he was all she knew or wanted of love.

His hands smoothed her hair as his hard mouth moved slowly on hers. She’d dreamed of this for so many years, dreamed of his mouth taking hers with exquisite tenderness, giving as much as he took. But the dreams paled beside the sweet reality. Her nails scraped against his back, loving the way the muscles rippled under her fingers.

His mouth lifted a fraction of an inch, and his breath was audible. “Who taught you to do that?” he whispered huskily.

“Nobody. I…guess it comes naturally,” she whispered back.

His hands slid up her back to her hair and tangled gently in it. “Your mouth is very soft,” he said unsteadily. “And it tastes of coffee and mint.”

“I had Irish mocha mint coffee,” she said.

“Did you?” He searched her eyes slowly. “Your legs are trembling,” he remarked.

She laughed nervously. “I’m not surprised,” she confessed. “My knees are wobbly.”

He smiled, and the smile echoed in his eyes. “Are they?”

“Daddy, watch how high I can go!” a small voice called out.

Blake reluctantly loosened his hold on Meredith. “I’m watching,” he called back.

Sarah Jane was swinging high and laughing. “I can almost touch the sky!” she said.

“Funny, so can I,” Blake murmured. He glanced at Meredith, and he wasn’t smiling.

She looked back, her heart threatening to burst. He took her hand in his, threading his fingers through hers so that he had them pressed in an almost intimate hold.

“To hell with your reputation,” he said huskily. “Move in with us for a couple of weeks. Nobody will know except Bess and Bobby, and they’re not judgmental.”

She wanted to. Her worried eyes searched his. “Your company is an old and very conservative one. Your board of directors wouldn’t like it at all.”

“My board of directors doesn’t dictate my private life,” he replied. “We could sit close on the couch and watch television at night with Sarah. We could have breakfast together in the kitchen. If Sarah had nightmares, she could climb in with you. You could read her stories and I could listen.” He smiled crookedly. “I don’t remember anybody ever reading me a story, Meredith,” he added. “My uncle wasn’t the type. I grew up in a world without fairy tales and happy endings. Maybe that’s why I’m so bitter. I don’t want Sarah to end up like me.”