Silver Linings

look after themselves.”
    His mouth crooked. “You're not exactly a soft little city girl, are you?”
    “Tough as nails,” she assured him.
    Hugh grinned briefly. “Well, I wouldn't go that far. Parts of you are very, very soft. Come here, soft little city girl.”
    She walked into his arms, and they closed around her. “I'm so glad it's over, Hugh. The time I spent waiting for you in that cavern were the worst hours of my life.”
    “It's over, babe. It's finally over.” His hold tightened. He turned her face up to his and kissed her with the old, familiar white-hot passion.
    Mattie gloried in the sheer, overwhelming honesty of the embrace. Hugh loved her. She was certain of that now. All the tension that had set her nerves on edge for the past few weeks was finally gone, leaving behind a wondrous sureness and a sense of rightness that would last for the rest of her life.
    Mattie's fingers went to the buttons of his shirt. She undid them slowly, letting her hands slip inside to feel the warmth and hardness of his chest.
    “Babe,” he whispered in an aching tone as her fingertips found the fastening of his jeans. “Babe, you don't know what you do to me.”
    “Tell me again that you love me, Hugh.”
    “Damn, but I love you. More than anything else on the planet.” He was unbuttoning her shirt now. “Believe me?”
    “I believe you. I should have understood months ago when you first started concocting schemes to see me.”
    “You can say that again. Wasted a lot of time, babe. But I'll let you make it up to me.” He grinned, the wicked smile full of sensuality and loving promise.
    “Wait, Hugh.” Mattie trembled with desire as she felt his hand glide over her breast and down to her waist. “There's something I have to tell you.”
    “You're pregnant?” he asked eagerly.
    Startled, she looked up at him. “Well, no. Not that I know of.”
    “Too bad. Maybe tonight, huh?” He pulled her down onto the sand and rolled over on top of her. He unzipped his jeans.
    “Hugh, I am trying to talk to you about a serious matter.”
    He kissed her throat. “If it doesn't have anything to do with something really important like you getting pregnant, it can wait until later.” His hand moved down to her hips and he tugged at her slacks.
    Mattie abandoned the effort to talk to him. When Hugh Abbott made love, he gave it his full attention. She found herself crushed into the soft, warm sand, her clothes stripped from her in a few swift movements.
    And then there was nothing of importance in the whole world except the weight and feel of the big man looming over her, blocking out the moonlight, covering her, sheathing himself in her, filling her completely.
    “ Mattie .”
    She clung to him as he carried her away on the wild, passionate ride into ecstasy. It would always be like this, Mattie thought fleetingly, a whirlwind of shattering excitement, a flashing, thundering, crashing, elemental explosion. A wild, free run with a wolf in the silver moonlight.
    And she would never, ever tire of it.
    A long time later Mattie felt water on her toes. She stirred beneath Hugh's heavy weight. “Hugh?”
    “What's the matter, babe?” he asked in that tone of lazy satisfaction he always had after he'd made love to her.
    “I think the tide's coming in.”
    “It's okay. I can swim.”
    She gave him a clout on his arm. “Smart ass.”
    “Ouch.”
    “Oh, my God, was that your wounded arm?”
    “No, but it could have been.”
    She relaxed as she heard the laughter in his voice. “Hugh, I really do have to talk to you.”
    He groaned into her shoulder. “This is about Seattle, isn't it?”
    “Well, yes, as a matter of fact. In a way it is.”
    “Babe, I really don't want to talk about it just now.”
    “We have to discuss this, Hugh. This is our future we're dealing with here.”
    “Our future is with each other. Everything else will work out. Eventually.”
    “You keep saying that.”
    He raised his head reluctantly and looked down into her eyes. His own gaze was shadowed and intense. “I mean it. I've been thinking about it, babe, and I realize there's only one way to handle the problem we've got.”
    “There is?”
    He nodded. “I'm selling Abbott Charters to Silk. I'm moving to Seattle. For real. I just finished talking to Charlotte, and she says the job is full time if I want it. I told her I did.”
    Mattie looked up at him and knew he was telling her the truth. “Oh, Hugh.” She framed his hard