Santa Fe Fortune & How to Marry a Matador

exploring the subtle lines of her nape, waist, and back. He’d ached to investigate further and taste that delectable neck, trailing his kisses down even farther. Heat tore through him like a wildfire out of control. He gripped the saddle with tense thighs and steadied the reins in one hand, unzipping his jacket with the other.
    Gwen loved him. She’d said it as much with her eyes as with her words. That knowledge gave wings to Dan’s heart and caused it to soar. He couldn’t recall ever feeling emotion this intense for a woman. Gwen was gorgeous and funny and smart. She had a hard-edged sass about her but could be sweet and sensitive too. She likely employed those skills as a schoolteacher, allowing her to be both firm and kind to her students. Dan thought of his Paradise campers, positive they would adore Gwen. She’d be good with them too.
    Dan swallowed hard at what he’d been thinking. He wasn’t just dreaming of sleeping with Gwen; he’d mentally started planning their future. Dan glanced back over his shoulder at the main house, its windows warmed cheerily from the lights indoors. He’d built that place as a bachelor pad but now was starting to envision it as something more. In his mind’s eye, Dan saw children there, and not ones from the camp. There was a pretty, curly headed little girl rushing into his arms and calling him Daddy.
    “Whoa there, buddy!” Dan said aloud, as much to himself as to his horse. Rascal obediently came to a halt, and Dan dismounted. Could he really be thinking about marriage and kids with Gwen? Dan had been forced to confront those thoughts with Elena, and they’d pained him deeply. Feeling as if he might be pinned to a woman he didn’t love for the rest of his life had filled him with an overwhelming despair he feared he’d never escape. He’d hoped that over time, and in the common interest of the child, things between him and Elena might change, that he’d somehow grow to love her in an appropriate and respectful way. Then again, he worried he might not. It was to be an uphill climb with those unrelenting memories of one very kissable cowgirl hovering over him for eternity.
    Dan glanced back at the main house, wondering if the idea of having a family with him had crossed Gwen’s mind. He understood how hard it was for her to trust somebody again. She’d been through a horrible marriage, and it had taken her all this time to recover. She’d let down her guard and allowed him into her heart, nonetheless. It was written in those beautiful brown eyes every time she looked at him. Nothing in the world could disguise it, and nothing in the universe made Dan happier.
    Yes, he wanted her, damn it. He wanted her not just with his heart and soul, but with his body too. He swore that if he got that woman under the covers with him, it would be about a week before they ever came up. Dan would have to call in a cook and housekeeper as reinforcements. He’d be mighty obliged to arrange it too. But was being with Gwen now in that way the right thing? She’d endured so much hurt for such a long while. Dan didn’t know whether she’d kissed a man since her ex. He had an even stronger suspicion she hadn’t slept with one. This made it all the more important that if Dan and Gwen were to get together in that way, Dan had to make damn sure the moment and circumstances were right.

Chapter Twelve

    Gwen nervously checked her hair in an oval mirror surrounded in New Mexican tile. It hung in the passageway leading from the great room to the kitchen and stood beside the coatrack over which she’d draped her leather jacket. Her cheeks were still flushed pink from the night air, and her hair had been tousled by the wind. Gwen’s skin warmed at the memory of Dan’s touch. His fingers had raked through her curls, then traced the line of her back as his hungry mouth overtook hers. She recalled barely having the strength to stand in his arms. If there’d been a place for him to take her and lay her on the ground, she would have let him. Gwen strode to the kitchen and fixed herself a glass of water, her face and chest flashing hot.
    She hadn’t felt these yearnings for a man in such a while, she couldn’t name the last time. It had to have been with Robert, and back at the beginning. That beginning was so hazy now, she felt as if she were examining it through a clouded glass. Even if she’d wanted Robert then, those impulses had nothing on the raging pull she was experiencing