Daniel felt his temperature rise. “So you smell like this all…” His imagination flashed a vivid picture of Sara, wet, scented and nude, in a bathtub.
“All over,” she finished in a slightly husky voice. Then she cleared her throat. “About that coffee.”
“Yeah.”
Sara looked at him expectantly. “I, uh, need my hair.”
Still reluctant to let go, he grinned and tangled his fingers deeper into her hair. “So do I.”
“Are you flirting with me?”
“I’m trying.” His grin grew. “Is it working?”
Too well. Her pulse racing, she tamped down the urge to rest her head in his big hand. Instead she tried to distract him. “I have some hot chocolate.”
“And marshmallows?”
A little boy when it came to food, she concluded. Darn if that didn’t make her like him more. “Yes.”
He loosened his fingers and leaned closer. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Still entangled in his gaze, Sara gave a quick shake of her head and backed away. “I’m not going to.”
For several moments he looked at her hungrily.
“Guess I’ll have to keep trying, Miss Sara.”
Distressed, she lifted a hand. “Please don’t.”
“Why?”
She bit her lip and knitted her fingers together. “We’ve already talked about this.”
Daniel nodded. “I know. First you said I should leave you alone because of Carly. Then you said you didn’t think you were good at male-female relationships.” He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. “So what is it tonight?”
“You’re not making this easy for me.”
“And you’re not making it easy for me either.”
She refused to let his persistence wear her down. “Daniel, you’re a good man. And I’m not—” she groped for the proper words “—I’m not good for good men. I ruin them.”
He gave a burst of laughter. “You’re nuts,” he said. “You’re sexy as hell. But you’re nuts. You couldn’t ruin a peapod.”
She sucked in a harsh breath. “How about a senator?”
His laughter faltered. “What?”
She shook her head. There were some things she simply couldn’t discuss, even for the sake of Daniel Pendleton. “I don’t want to go into it, so just trust me. Two men, two good men, lost everything because of their relationships with me. I don’t want the same thing to happen to you.”
Daniel scratched his head. “Now, let me get this straight. You think you’re responsible for the downfall of these two men.” He waved his hand. “That it’s somehow related to you.”
“Definitely,” Sara said in a solemn voice.
“And,” he continued, “you think that if you get involved with me, you’ll ruin my life.”
Sara nodded.
He rolled his eyes and tugged his tie loose. “I gotta tell you, Sara. That’s the biggest bunch of bull I’ve heard in my life. And with Troy as my brother, I’ve heard a hell of a lot.”
Sara stiffened. “I’m sorry if you don’t believe it, but it’s true.” She turned and headed for the kitchen.
Daniel followed after her. “You really expect me to believe that you lure good men down the road to perdition? How did you do it, Sara? Did you put a magic potion in their hot chocolate? Did you sprinkle fairy dust on them when they slept? How did you do it?”
She gritted her teeth together, took the milk from the refrigerator and poured it into a pan. “It’s a little more basic than that.”
Completely baffled, he shook his head. “Then it must be one of the top three ways to a man’s heart—money, food or—”
Sara whipped around, her eyes shooting off enough sparks to set the kitchen on fire. “Sex.”
Daniel fell silent. He cleared his throat, never easing his gaze from hers. “You want to explain that?”
Sara sent up a silent prayer for deliverance from men with violet eyes, broad shoulders and too many questions. “I thought it was self-explanatory.” The milk began to simmer, and she turned away to reach for the cocoa.
In an instant he was behind her, staying her arm and turning off the burner. “The chocolate can wait. You can’t just say something like that and go on like you’re discussing the weather.”
Oh, Lord, he was going to make her say it. He was the kind of man to expect complete honesty, and something about him made her want to deliver what he expected. Maybe if she tried to explain it, she told herself, he would understand and stop this insanity.
Where were the words? Sighing, Sara stared at the clock on the stove. The second hand made jerky little movements that seemed to echo the beat of her heart. “They said I was good at it. The first man who—” she swallowed “—who taught me said I seemed to have a natural propensity for it. He told me,” she continued with irony, “that I had a talent for making a man hot. Back then I was so stupid, I thought he was paying me a compliment.” She took a deep breath. “My husband concurred.”
She felt a ripping sensation inside her. Exposing herself this way left her raw and vulnerable. Covering it as best as she could with a tight smile, she turned. “So here I am with my little bag of feminine tricks and talent.” It would have been more accurate to say that here she was with all her feminine need and unquenched desire, but she wouldn’t say it.
She turned toward Daniel and made herself look at him, determined to do the right thing. “You tempt me, Daniel Pendleton. Yes,” she said, seeing the sensual recognition in his gaze, “you make me think about what I’m missing. You make me think about what it’s like to hold and be held. To spend a night so lost in pleasure that night turns to day and day turns to night.” She bit her lip, appalled at all she’d revealed, horrified at what she’d admitted. She shook her head. “But you’re a good man. And I’m not going to ruin any more good men. I’m not going to ruin you.”
Several seconds passed in thoughtful silence. Daniel watched Sara and felt even more determined to have her. That she wanted to protect him was precious; ludicrous, but precious. That she thought he was an angel was a problem. “What if I’m not all that good?”
Tension eased from Sara at his response. After her desperate confession, she’d expected something more condemning. “If being responsible were a crime, you’d get life in prison for it.”
“Don’t rub it in.” He pushed his hands into his pockets and turned away in frustration. “Do you have any idea what it’s like being the oldest of eight? My father nearly lost it after my mother died. That was right around driving age for me. You know, the time when guys play on the football team, take the girls out on Saturday night, and see how far they’ll let you go in the backseat. Well, if you’re busy trying to cover your old man’s butt, then there’s no time for that stuff. Carly was little, and when she wasn’t crying, she was stuttering. Garth was always getting into trouble. I would have been raising a little hell myself, but—”
Sara began to understand. “But you were too busy raising a family.” She sighed. “Did you ever get to choose, to do what you wanted?”
He slowly turned and met her gaze. “Not until now.”
Sara’s stomach tightened. “See,” she said in a softly accusing tone. “I told you you’re a good man.”
Daniel shook his head.