Page 125 of The Trouble with Tigers
With a frustrated sigh, he relented, unable to resist her pleas. When he felt a quiver course through her body, his arms came up around her, gentling her. “Shh. It’s all right. I’ll stay right here.”
She nodded, snuggling deeper into his arms.
A hot rush of tenderness swamped him. There was no way he would let this fiercely loyal, brave, utterly foolish vixen marry James.
“Kitty?” Collin called from the hall sounding irritated. The doorknob rattled.
In his arms, Kitty went tense as a bow string.
Zeke tilted her face up with the crook of his finger. “Calm yourself,” he murmured. “I locked it.”
She closed her eyes in evident relief.
When the doorknob rattled again, she raised her voice. “Collin, I’m not quite finished with my toilette. Be a dear and go ahead. I-I’ll meet you in the dining room in a few minutes.”
“Very well,” her brother replied. “But do hurry.”
After a moment, Kitty traced the side of his face with her fingertips.
Jesus. Helpless to stop himself, he lowered his head, dropping tiny kisses across her cheek, making his way to her earlobe, then down the column of her neck.
“I don’t think you should…we should…be…” she stammered, tilting her head back to give him greater access, despite her protests.
He chuckled and bent to nuzzle the swell of her breasts above the half tied décolletage of her gown. “You see?” he asked, laying her back on the bed. “See how good I make you feel, sweetheart?”
“I know,” she breathed. She agreed readily enough, but she still hadn’t conceded the bigger point.
He closed his eyes briefly and played his ace. “Have you forgotten you might be carrying my baby? There’s no way in hell I’ll let another man raise my son.”
She spoke in a soft rush. “I’m not pregnant. So you can stop worrying about the possibility of a baby. Because there isn’t one.”
He ignored the punch to his gut her words caused. “You can’t know that. Not yet.”
Except there was one way she could know. He stared into her eyes and waited for her to offer that unerring proof.
When she lowered her lashes, a tiny flicker of hope ignited in his chest. “Kitty, don’t play games with me. Not about this.”
She nibbled at her lower lip. “It was only the one time.”
He stifled his laughter. “Yes,” he said, going for a serious tone, “very often, that’s all it takes.”
Her sooty lashes fluttered upward. She looked dazed, as if she truly hadn’t considered the possibility. “I promise if it turns out I’m carrying your baby I’ll send for you.”
“The hell you will.”
She blinked several times. “Zeke, what are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’m not leaving your side until I know for certain, one way or another. If it turns out you aren’t with child, I’ll do the gentlemanly thing. I'll bow out and let you ruin your life to save your miscreant brother. Until then, you’re stuck with me.”
***
“Define stuck with me,” Kitty said to the two hundred plus stone of gorgeous male currently pressing her into the mattress.
He glanced at the ceiling as if giving her question serious thought. “Stuck with me. As in not leaving this hotel until you leave.” He paused to toy with a lock of her hair. “As in traveling to wherever you travel when you do leave.”
He grinned at her. “Basically, I’ll be shadowing your every move until we get this resolved.” He slid a hand between them and caressed her belly.
“That’s ridiculous,” she sputtered, and shimmied out from beneath him before his magic hands could distract her from her point.
