By the time she’d reholstered her Glock and returned to the guest bedroom, the dog was sitting on the floor at his master’s feet with a terribly guilty expression in his sad eyes. “Did Laddie do something wrong?”
Marc shook his head. “He has a thing for this bed. No matter what I do to discipline him, he thinks the bed belongs to him. That’s one of the reasons I try to keep him outside in his doghouse at night.”
“Well, at least he doesn’t sleep in your bed,” she teased. “Wouldn’t that be worse?”
Marc raised his chin and shot her a smoldering look. “If you don’t keep the door to this room closed tonight, you’ll find out. In fact, you may decide you’d rather bunk with me.”
God, what had possessed her to talk about his bed? Judging from their one mind-blowing kiss, plenty of women had shared his bed. He was too good a kisser not to practice—a lot. She decided belatedly that she had to be the professional here and watch what she said.
But this whole relationship thing was beyond her experience. As an undercover agent, she had always carefully phrased every word—every gesture. She simply never sent unintended signals to the men she dealt with. Right from the beginning with Marc, however, she’d let too much of her true self out for him to see.
Well, no more.
So what if her heart pounded in her throat every time he looked at her? She was good at undercover work, wasn’t she? From now on, she would just play the part of someone who didn’t care that he had the power to tear her heart out with one touch of his lips.
“Let the dog stay inside,” she told him. “We can use all the extra protection we can get.
“And you go on to bed now,” she added casually. “I’ll set the alarms. I’m a light sleeper, so you don’t have to worry about anything. I’ll handle it. Get a good night’s sleep. You’re going to need it.”
He cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. “Right, sugar. I’m all for getting a good night’s sleep.”
Marc slowly walked toward her as she stood frozen in the doorway. The closer he came, the more she felt like running. But she stood her ground. In the next instant, however, he destroyed all her good intentions about remaining noncommittal.
Reaching over, he ran a finger lightly down the side of her cheek and then rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip. “But if you find Laddie too much of a handful…I’ll keep a warm place for you in my bed.” He winked and grinned with a sexy twist of his lips. “Just in case.”
Dropping his hand, he sauntered toward the master bedroom. But before rounding the corner, he turned his head to see if she was still glued in place watching his cute backside. Which she was.
He grinned one last time and disappeared into his room.
She was in big trouble.
Marc spent a couple of hours tossing and turning in his bed. He’d lost his edge with Dana. And after promising himself he wouldn’t let another woman get under his skin.
But there was something about the woman that stirred his soul. Sighing, he tried pounding the pillow into submission for the eighteenth time and finally gave up.
After spending a sleepless night in jail, he’d been sure he would sleep like a rock in his own bed. But that was before a gorgeous woman with big, brown doe eyes moved in down the hall.
His traitorous body was not going to let him get any rest tonight. He rose and tugged on his robe, deciding to go to the kitchen. Maybe something warm in his stomach would help him relax.
When he opened the bedroom door, he noticed that it felt rather chilly in the rest of the house. Perhaps he should turn on the electric heat—or maybe build a fire in the fireplace.
October in Georgia could be deceiving. Days were usually hot and sticky. Leftover summer rains splashed down in puddles one minute that were sun-dried the next. But the nights could turn quite chilly. Last year they’d had frost on Halloween.
Creeping down the darkened hall, he passed by the partially opened door to the guest room. He guessed Dana had left the door open so she could hear what happened in the house during the night. A smirk lifted the corners of his mouth as he thought about her spending the night with Laddie sprawled out over that barely-room-for-one bed. She should’ve taken him up on the offer of spending the night in his bed. There would’ve been a lot more room.
It didn’t take more than a moment for that image to register on his body. With her luscious body in the same bed, he was positive neither one of them would’ve gotten any sleep. Shoving those images into the recesses of his mind, he swallowed hard and tried not to think at all.
Marc went straight to the living room fireplace without turning on any lights. He opened the glass doors to the hearth and picked up an armload of precut pine logs from the wood box. After placing the logs on the grate, he set fire to the twigs he’d put under them.
He sat back on his heels in front of the hearth and used a poker to stir the kindling to flames. Concentrating on bringing the fire to life, he began to think about how he wanted to bring Dana’s body to life. He would use just the right kindling touches and just the right firestormed kisses. With only one kiss, she’d proven that she was capable of becoming everyman’s sexual fantasy. She’d been vibrant and erotic under his touch.
Lost in the memory of their sensual haze, Marc was jolted when the table lamp behind him switched on with a blinding glare. He nearly fell on his butt with surprise.
Instead, he caught himself and swiveled around to see what was going on. “What the hell…?”
Dana stood there, holding her gun loosely at her side. With the other hand, she kept a tight grip on Laddie’s collar. “Couldn’t sleep?”
Marc’s heart was racing as the adrenaline of surprise churned through his veins. “No.” He coughed and found his voice. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. I was cold and wanted to light the fire.”
Laddie lowered his head and made a distinctly unfriendly sound deep in his throat.
Dana let go of Laddie’s collar and whispered something in his ear. The dog sat back on his haunches and his tongue lolled out of the corner of his mouth. He’d obviously found a new friend in the beautiful FBI agent. The big traitor.
“You didn’t frighten me,” Dana said quietly. “But Laddie insisted that we make sure you were all right.”
She briefly checked the gun and placed it on the table beside her. “Is there anything I can do to help you sleep?”
Oh man. Was that a leading question.
He turned back to the fire before he slipped and told her exactly what he had in mind. “No, thanks. I was planning on making myself some hot coffee just as soon as I got the fire going.” But at the moment, a good stiff shot of bourbon sounded like a better deal.
“Do you have any chocolate mix? I always think hot milk is better than coffee in the middle of the night.”
“There’s probably some in the pantry.”
“Good. I’ll go find it.” She left the room and that bewitched devil dog, Laddie, trotted along at her heel.
A couple of lousy hours with Dana and man’s best friend had turned on the hand that fed him. It wasn’t the first time Marc had lost a best friend to a woman. But it still hurt. You’d think he would’ve learned a lesson the first time.
The fire snapped as the heat blazed against his hands and face. He replaced the poker and closed the glass doors, all the while thinking of how Dana had looked, standing there with his former best friend beside her.
She’d had on a gray sweatshirt that was a couple of sizes too big. The V-neck had slipped down one shoulder, revealing the curve of one of her creamy golden breasts. She obviously