Drake Sisters 06 - Turbulent Sea

hair as he pressed his ear to her stomach and then rubbed another caress over her. 'You are so insane. I told you, I'm on birth control.'
    'Does birth control work for Elle?'
    She frowned and, with her fingers curled into his thick hair, yanked to bring his head up. 'I am not Elle.'
    He flashed a small grin. 'No, but I am - well -the masculine version of her, and I'm feeling life here in your womb. I felt it the first time I ever made love to you.'
    Joley gaped at him. It wasn't true. A baby? She put her hands on her belly. Could she be pregnant with a baby? His baby? That little boy with dark curls who would never hide in a corner trying to make himself small? She imagined Ilya carrying the child on his shoulders, laughing. Ilya needed to laugh; he needed to see a childhood the way it was meant to be. Secretly, she thought she might like the motherhood thing - with one child - but there would be no admitting it to him.
    'You'd better be wrong. That would be like a fate worse than death. I'm not having seven children. Do you know how many times I'd have to be in labor?'
    He nuzzled her stomach. 'Not if we did it two at a time.'
    She sat up, pushing his head away from her. 'Did I say I missed you, because if I did, I was sadly mistaken.' She pointed across the room. 'Go over there and sit down.'
    He grinned at her, unrepentant. 'I think we should have at least one girl, too. I want to find her trying to get out of windows when she's been naughty at school.'
    Joley groaned. 'Don't wish that on us!' She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him back to her. 'Seven sons, for real? You'd better be really good at the daddy role.'
    'I'll do my best,' he promised, nuzzling her neck, 'but I intend to be dynamite at the husband role.' He kissed her several times, unable to stay away from her soft mouth. 'And thank you for the way you lit up the house when I returned, the fire in the fireplace, the candles - it was so beautiful and made me feel unlike anything I've ever felt. It was perfect.'
    Joley's hands smoothed through his hair lovingly. T didn't do that,' she whispered, knowing the truth. 'The house recognized you and welcomed you home.'
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    by Christine Feehan Available in September 2008 from Berkley Books!
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    'Lara, let's get out of here,' Terry Vale said. 'It's getting dark and there's nothing here. Look below us. There's caves crisscrossing the entire mountain. Take your pick.'
    Lara Calladine didn't bother looking away from where she was scanning the mountainside for the smallest crack that might signal the presence of a cave. She wasn't wrong - not this time. Power surged and crackled the moment she set foot on the upper slopes of the mountain. She took a deep breath and pressed a hand over her pounding heart. This was it. This was the place she had spent her life searching for. She would recognize that flow of energy anywhere. She knew every weave, every spell, her body absorbing the gathering power so that veins sizzled and her nerve endings burned with the electrical current building inside of her.
    'I've got to go with Terry on this,' Gerald French agreed. 'This place gives me the creeps. We've been on a lot of mountains, but this one doesn't like us.' He gave a nervous laugh. 'It's getting dicey up here.'
    'No one says "dicey,"' Lara murmured, running her hand along the face of the rock about an inch from the surface, looking for threads of power.
    'Whatever,' Gerald snapped. 'It's getting dark and there's nothing here but mist. The fog is creepy, Lara. We've got to get out of here.'
    Lara spared the two men an impatient glance and then surveyed the countryside around them. Ice and snow glittered, coating the surrounding mountains with what appeared to be sparkling gems. Far below she could see castles, farms and churches in the distance despite the gathering dusk. Sheep dotted the meadows and she could see the river running, filled to capacity. Birds cried overhead, filling the sky and dive-bombing toward her, only to break off abruptly and circle again. The wind shifted continuously, biting at her face and at every bit of exposed skin, tugging at her long thick braid, moaning and wailing all the while. Occasionally a rock fell down the slope and bounced off the ledge to the hillside below. A trickle of snow and dirt slid near her feet.
    Her gaze swept the wild countryside. Gorges and ravines cut through the snowcapped