The Bachelor (34 page)
“We have many awkward run-ins for the rest of our lives. I’ve made my choices, Charlotte. I want them to include you, but
they’re final either—”
She cut him off with a sizzling kiss that had been too long in coming. His tongue met hers and he thrust deep inside her mouth,
taking possession, letting her know she was his now and forever. She felt the words and the thoughts in every movement he
made. And though she’d started as the aggressor, she soon found herself in the opposite position, flat on her back, clothes
on the floor, and Roman devouring her with a wicked gleam in his eyes. “I realize we have details to work out.”
“They can wait.” Her breaths came in sudden pants.
He struggled to divest himself of his shirt while she unzipped his jeans and wrapped one hand around his thick, hard length.
“God.” The word came out a sharp exhale. “Give me a second or I’m going to explode.”
Charlotte laughed and let go, not wanting to ruin the fun before it began. Was this the lifetime she had to look forward to?
she wondered as she watched the man she loved undress. Suddenly a commuter-type relationship didn’t seem half bad. Not when
it involved Roman.
Just as suddenly, she was able to understand her mother a bit more. Why she’d held on to the man she loved despite the distance
and her own inability to move with him. Perhaps she and Annie weren’t so different after all, and perhaps that wasn’t such
a bad thing, Charlotte thought.
Roman resettled himself on top of her, then reached for the bowl of ice cream. “Remember I said I was hungry?”
Charlotte tipped her head to one side, unrestrained desire in her green eyes. “I remember promising to feed you,” she said,
a sassy note in her voice.
He dribbled the melted ice cream down her skin. The cool liquid had her belly quivering and she felt the need pulse low and
deep between her legs. “Ah, yes.” She let out a low moan. “Rick was right, you know,” she said to Roman.
“About what?”
She met his molten gaze. “I do love you.”
“I love you too.” And he proceeded to show her how much, starting with the ice cream that had pooled on her belly. He took
a warm lap with his tongue. The heated contrast to the cold ice cream caused her stomach to ripple and her legs to quiver,
as need built inside her.
And as he bent his head to take care of that need, Charlotte thought that she could indeed handle Roman’s kind of life. For
the rest of hers and beyond.
C
harlotte lay naked on top of white sheets. Sunlight filtered through the sheer curtains, but privacy wasn’t an issue. Their
hotel room was on the fifteenth floor, with no other high buildings surrounding them. As Roman studied her, he was struck
yet again by the beauty she possessed inside and out, as well as his complete and utter good fortune.
How had he almost tossed this gift aside, thinking he didn’t want long-term? How had he ever thought he could be apart from
her as a way of life?
He leaned over and dangled a cluster of grapes enticingly. She plucked one into her mouth with her teeth, then grinned. “You’re
spoiling me.”
“That’s the point.”
“How can a girl argue with that? What’s on today’s agenda?” she asked.
They’d seen castles in Scotland and the home of the Loch Ness Monster. “I was thinking we could call the travel agent and
add a quick trip to California on the way home next week.” Roman held his breath for her answer because he’d already booked
the trip. Wanting more time to gauge her reaction, he’d waited before springing it on her. He could always cancel and they’d
fly straight home to Yorkshire Falls, check on her mother and his, as well as the shop, before starting their life in D.C.
He hoped she’d want to see everything Hollywood had to offer, but he couldn’t be sure whether the memories would still be
upsetting despite the reconciliation with her father.
“I thought you’d be anxious to get home to Raina by now,” Charlotte said.
“You know as well as I do, heartburn never killed anyone.”
“Then I’d love to see Hollywood with you. Maybe Russell can give us a tour.” Her green eyes glittered with pleasure.
That was the surprise plan, but Roman didn’t reveal all now. “Maybe.”
She fell back against the pillows and laughed. “I
still
can’t believe the lengths your mother went to in order to get you boys married off.” She was obviously thinking of Raina’s
antics again.
“Thank God I figured it out. All that tea and Maalox were the first clue she was dealing with indigestion more than a heart
ailment; so were the over-the-counter acid-killing medications. But she also exhibited the classic symptoms of a bad liar.”
He shook his head, remembering, “She’d never look me in the eye when I questioned her about her health, and when she thought
I wasn’t around, she took the stairs like a sprint runner.” He rolled his eyes at the memory.
“Not to mention the fact that she forgot to hide her exercise clothes?”
He chuckled. Before his trip to D.C., he’d tossed in a load of laundry and found his mother’s damp sweats and T-shirt in the
wash. No way he’d been looking at anything other than freshly worn exercise clothing. He’d wanted to strangle her when he
put the facts together, but he’d needed his story confirmed first.
It had been easy to corner Dr. Leslie Gaines and pretend his mother had confided in him about her condition. He led the doctor
to believe he knew his mother’s health problems weren’t serious, but was concerned that liquid antacid wasn’t too healthy
either. Dr. Gaines had agreed that gastric reflux wasn’t as severe a problem as the heart attack they’d thought Raina had
the night she was brought into the ER. The doctor assured him she was still monitoring Raina’s heart anyway, and said she’d
consider stronger prescription medication for her reflux.
“How could your mother not realize she was dealing with Chandler men with inherited reporters’ instincts?” Charlotte asked.
“Because she was dealing with sons who put love and concern first and never once thought to look beyond.” Hell, if Roman hadn’t
lived with her, he’d never have caught on.
“And you’re sure you’re doing the right thing not telling her you know?”
Roman grinned. “She thinks she’s got the start of a winning track record. Why ruin her good mood? Besides, once I got over
the shock and anger, I paid her back, didn’t I?”
Charlotte stretched against the mattress, her lean body tempting him as much as the first time he’d laid eyes on her. “By
telling her she wouldn’t be getting grandchildren anytime soon because we want time alone together first, I know. And I still
feel guilty lying to her.”
“She deserves payback,” he murmured. “And I don’t know if I deserve you, but I’m going to enjoy you anyway.” He dipped his
head to trail lazy kisses around her breast, teasing her with quick darts of his tongue, but never latching on to the nipple
that begged for his touch, his tongue, his teeth.
Charlotte arched her back and moaned, a supplication and a plea for him to put her out of her misery and latch on to that
distended tip. He’d come to know her body signals and signs well within the last few weeks and he’d never tire of learning
more. “Not yet, sweetheart.”
“We need—”
“I know exactly what we need,” he said, his groin throbbing and ready to enter her slick body. He tormented her with his fingers
first, gliding them between her legs and slipping one into her slick folds.
She squeezed her legs together tight, trapping his hand between her thighs and stilling any more movement. “We need to let
Chase and Rick in on her condition.”
Roman groaned. “
How
can you think about anything at this moment, including—or should I say especially—my brothers?”
“It’s called prioritizing, and it isn’t easy, believe me. Don’t you think I’d rather be making love to you instead of rehashing
this?”
They’d had this same argument before, Charlotte telling him it was unfair to keep Chase and Rick in the dark about Raina’s
decent health. “Honey, when we get home, we’ll talk about telling Rick and Chase. In the meantime, the longer we keep them
in the dark, the longer they’ll be at Mom’s mercy, and the better chance they have of finding the happiness we have together.”
She sighed. “Maybe you’re right.”
“I know I am.”
“Then why do I feel so guilty?”
He grinned. “Because you have too much time to think. Which means I ought to distract you completely.”
Roman raised himself up and over her, settling himself on top of his wife. His
wife.
The word, which once would have sent him running abroad, now filled him with complete satisfaction. And all because of Charlotte.
She not only loved him, but she adored his family and looked out for them the same way she did for her own. This beautiful,
caring woman was his, and would be forever. And he intended to enjoy every living, breathing moment of married life, while
making all Charlotte’s dreams and fantasies come true.
His groin pulsed against her soft feminine mound. “Open for me, Charlotte.”
Her lips turned upward in a sexy smile at the same time her thighs parted wide. She was already wet and ready for him, and
he thrust inside her easily and quickly, but there was nothing quick about how he intended to make love to her.
Her sigh of satisfaction was complemented by her body’s reaction, as she clenched and closed herself around his hard erection.
“Oh, yeah,” he muttered, the slick heat filling him not just with hot need, but also with a deep emotional warmth. His bachelor
days were long and happily behind him.
“I love you, Roman,” her lips whispered against the skin on his neck.
“I love you too, Charlotte,” he said. And then he proceeded to show her just how much.
Award-winning, bestselling author Carly Phillips is an attorney who tossed away legal briefs in favor of writing hot, sizzling
romances for Harlequin and Warner Books. Since her first sale in 1998, Carly has sold a total of eighteen books. She lives
with her husband, two young daughters and a frisky Wheaton Terrier who thinks he’s child number three. When not spending time
with her family, Carly is busy writing, promoting, and playing online! She loves to hear from her readers, and you can write
to her at: P.O. Box 483, Purchase, NY 10577 or email at [email protected].
No one can resist … a Chandler man! Meet all three Chandler brothers! For excerpts, contests, and more information on her
fun, sexy trilogy from Warner Books (
The Bachelor
,
The Playboy
, and
The Loner
), visit www.carlyphillips.com.
~
The Infinite Appeal of Small Towns
by Carly Phillips
S
mall towns have always held a special appeal for Americans. They form the very heart and soul of the country in everyday life
and in fiction. Why? Probably because many of us live that small town life and even those who don’t recognize that at its
core, small towns represent simplicity and escape from the pressures and hectic pace of big cities and everyday living. This
appeal was underscored by the popularity of American illustrator Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), especially with his 322 covers
for Saturday Evening Post. His paintings of everyday, usually small-town people almost always tell stories, often humorous
ones. His use of careful observation and technical skill portray homey incidents, well–defined character, and a wealth of
supporting detail. As an author, that is what I aspire to accomplish with the written word.
Most of my books deal with families but with the Chandler brothers and Yorkshire Falls, I undertook small towns at their best—
the ideal of home and hearth, of being able to go back to where you started and begin again, even if you were born and bred
in the city. Small towns represent a space where everyman can escape the pressures and grind of everyday life. They are a
place where life proceeds at a slower pace and where the things we take for granted mean more–such as the glow of a fading
sunset or the whispered conversation with a loved one on the proverbial porch. At its heart, small towns are a place where
honesty shines through. Since practically everyone is supposed to know everyone else’s business in a small town, little remains
undercovers and what does, runs deep.
Yorkshire Falls began as just another small, upper New York town in my imagination, but it developed into far more. For the
Chandler brothers trilogy, it became a theme that threads the brothers together beyond just family ties. For youngest brother
and globetrotting journalist, Roman, in The Bachelor, Yorkshire Falls represents the small-mindedness and boring existence
he wants to escape in his early years, only to discover later that having roots makes him stronger. That, which he ran from
at a young age, represents hearth and home later on.
Middle brother and town cop, Rick, in The Playboy, sees the town as a place he loves and protects, but can’t truly be a part
of until an outsider shows him how to overcome his past.
Chase, the eldest and editor/owner of the town newspaper, in The Heartbreaker (August 2003), has dedicated his life to the
newspaper his father owned, making him the heartbeat of the town, but discovers that he can’t continue to live for everyone
else. Yet no matter what, the brothers live and love in their small hometown.
Then of course there are the unusual characters we come to know and love as part of the fabric of Yorkshire Falls. They are
the unique pattern woven into the tapestry of a small town that make home, unlike any place on earth. There are Pearl and
Eldin, an elderly couple who’ve lived together for so long, that no one can remember them apart, and yet they’ve never married.
There is also Samson, the town eccentric, whose heart of gold makes him richer in friends than anyone else — as much to his
surprise as everyone else’s. You’ll also find Raina Chandler, the meddling mother whose busybody antics are the root of the
Chandler brother’s adventures and whose style is the epitome of every small town mother who has made a career out of arranging
the lives of the people around her.