The Best Man's Bride. Lisa Childs

shook her head. “I don’t know why I said that to you. I guess I did have too much punch.”

      “How old are you?” he wondered aloud.

      “Twenty-three.”

      Too young to be haunted by all the regrets that he had.

      “What do you know about guilt?”

      “Too much,” she murmured, as she stepped onto the sidewalk and into the shadows cast by the canopy of tree branches overhead.

      “Are you like your sister?” he asked as he followed her along the path. Moonlight streaked through the trees and glittered in her eyes as she stared up at him.

      “Molly? No, Molly and I are nothing alike,” she assured him. She sounded apologetic now, as if she felt she didn’t measure up to her older sister. He understood idolizing an older sibling. Maybe if he hadn’t idolized his own brother so much, he would have realized that Bruce was in trouble.

      While he tried for a teasing tone, his voice betrayed him, going hoarse with emotion as he asked, “So you’re not feeling guilty for breaking some poor man’s heart into a thousand pieces?”

      “Nobody’s ever loved me that way,” she said, her voice echoing the longing and loneliness he sometimes felt himself…

      He shook his head in disbelief, then reached out to take her hand and tug her to a stop. “I knew there was a reason I didn’t like this town.”

      “What?” she asked.

      “All the men are fools.”

      She emitted a laugh, shaky with nerves. “You better hope Clayton didn’t overhear you saying that. You’ll lose your bed for the night.”

      He’d rather be in hers. The dangerous thought staggered him. Then she staggered him as her hand slid into his hair and pulled his head down to hers. Her lips, soft and sweet, touched his, tentatively at first, and then they moved surely, as passion ignited the air between them.

      Nick threw his arm around her, pulling her so close that not a breath separated her body from his. He drew her in, deepening the kiss. His tongue slid between her lips, tasting her, teasing her, full of promise.

      Colleen’s lips made promises, too, melding against his in a kiss so hot his skin nearly burned. His heart beat hard and fast, blood rushing in his ears and lower, pulsing through his body. He groaned, wanting her so much he hurt.

      Pain nagged at the edge of Colleen’s pleasure, pulling her away from the intensity of his kiss. Her knees shook and her body trembled all over. She’d never before experienced emotions like these, the fierce desire quivering deep inside her. She wanted him so badly, but the pain deepened, drawing her out of his spell. Her keys—he held them in the hand pressing against her back—dug through the thin material of her dress and into her skin.

      That was the price of passion, the price of love. Pain. She knew it well, remembering all the nights she’d listened to her mother cry over her father. Colleen pulled her hand away from his silky hair and wedged it between them, pushing against his chest. Muscles rippled beneath her palm, and his heart pounded hard against it, echoing the furious beat of hers.

      She tore her mouth from his, gasping for air. Gasping for words. “Nick…”

      His lips slid down her cheek, nipping at her ear before kissing her throat. “Colleen, let me share your bed,” he murmured.

      She steeled her trembling knees and quelled the urges running riot within her body. She’d spun so many fantasies around this man; fantasies she’d considered safe, since she thought they’d never come true. He would never notice her. He would never touch her. Kiss her. Make love to her.

      She reached around, pulling her purse and keys from the hand he held against her back. “No. This wasn’t what you think…”

      She hadn’t been thinking at all. She’d only been acting impulsively. She’d worked so hard to overcome that impulsive nature—to act only after she’d considered all the consequences of her actions. But she hadn’t considered any consequences when she’d pulled Dr. Nick Jameson down for a kiss. She hadn’t realized how much just a brush of her mouth against his could make her want him. Need him.

      “You didn’t kiss me?” he asked, pulling her back into his arms.

      “It was nothing.”

      Anger flared inside Nick, burning nearly as hot as his desire for her. He’d started this game, wanting to charm her sister’s whereabouts out of her. But then she’d blindsided him.

      “That was nothing?” he scoffed. “Let me show you…”

      A horn blared and tires squealed as a car careened past them, distracting Nick. She pulled away from his arms, her heels clicking against the sidewalk as she ran.

      He would have chased her. The passion humming in his veins, the tension hardening his body, compelled him to go after her and persuade her to finish what she’d started between them with her kiss. But he didn’t have the strength to do more than watch her run away.

      She hadn’t had to kiss him to start anything. The moment he’d caught sight of her he’d felt something he’d never felt for any other woman before.

      Love.