The Pirate & The Adventurer & The Cowboy

did you try to buy him off?"

    "That's none of your business."

    "You did, didn't you?" Maggie sat up abruptly, glaring down at him. "Rafe, I warned you not to try that."

    He studied her breasts in the moonlight. She had beautiful breasts he told himself, trying to be objective about it. They fit perfectly into his palms. "Don't worry, we got the issue settled."

    "What issue?"

    "Winters's paintings are for sale, but he isn't," Rafe explained succinctly.

    Maggie flopped back down onto the pillow. "I told you so."

    "Yeah, you did, didn't you? Has anyone ever told you that's a nasty habit?" Rafe asked conversationally.

    "Saying 'I told you so'?" She turned her head and gave him a sassy grin. "But I'm good at it."

    He gave her an affectionate slap on her sleek hip and yawned. "You're good at it, all right. I'll have to admit it looks like the Cassidys are going to have an artist in their ranks."

    "You're beginning to like Sean, aren't you?"

    "He's okay."

    "And you're going to tell Julie you like him and approve of him, aren't you?"

    "Probably," Rafe admitted. He was feeling too complacent and sensually replete to argue about anything right now.

    Maggie giggled delightfully in the darkness. "I love you when you're like this."

    "Like what?"

    "So reasonable."

    Rafe felt a cold chill go through him. The satisfaction he had been feeling a few seconds ago vanished. He thought of the file in his study and the moves he had instructed Hatcher to make that morning. He levered himself up onto one elbow and looked down at the woman beside him.

    She sensed the change in him instantly. "Rafe? What's wrong?"

    "What about when I'm not reasonable by your standards, Maggie?" he asked. "Will you still love me?"

    She searched his face, her eyes soft and shadowed. "Yes."

    Rafe inhaled deeply and told himself she meant it. "Say it straight out for me. I need to hear the words."

    "I love you, Rafe." She touched his shoulder, her fingers gliding down his arm in a gentle caress. "I never stopped loving you although I will admit I tried very hard."

    Rafe fell back onto the pillow and pulled her down across his chest. He drove his fingers through her tangled hair and held her head clasped in his hands. "I love you, Maggie. I want you to always remember that."

    "I will, Rafe."

    He lay there looking up at her for a while and then the tension went out of him. His good mood restored itself. "Does this mean we're finally engaged?"

    She smiled slowly. "Why, yes, I guess it does."

    "You're sure?" he pressed. "You're willing to set a date?"

    Maggie nodded. "Yes. If you're very sure you want to marry me."

    "I've never been more certain of anything in my life." He used the grip in her hair to pull her mouth closer to his own. When he kissed her, she parted her lips for him, letting him deep inside where he could stake his intimate claim. Rafe growled softly as he felt himself start to grow hard again.

    Maggie giggled.

    "What are you laughing at, lady?"

    "You sound like a big cat when you do that."

    He rolled to the edge of the bed, taking her with him. Then he stood up with her in his arms. Maggie laughed up at him as she clung to his neck. "What are you doing? Where are we going?"

    "Swimming."

    "But it's two in the morning."

    "We can sleep late."

    "We're both stark naked."

    He grinned and eyed her body appreciatively. "That's true."

    "You're impossible, you know that?"

    "But you love me anyway, right?"

    "Right." Maggie looked down as he reached the pool. She glanced up again in alarm as she realized his intentions. "I don't mind a late night swim, but don't you dare drop me into that water, Rafe."

    "It's not cold."

    She gave him a quelling look. "All the same, I do not like entering swimming pools by being dropped into them."

    "Think of this as just another little example of simple frontier justice."

    "Rafe, don't you dare. What justice are you talking about, anyway?"

    "This is for trying to set me up at that gallery this evening."

    Her eyes widened innocently. "But you agreed to go to the show with no strings attached. You said you liked Sean after you got to know him."

    Rafe shook his head deliberately. "That's not the point. The point is you tried to set me up. Tried to manipulate me into doing exactly what you wanted. If you're going to play games like that, Maggie, love, you have to be prepared to pay the price." He opened his arms and let her fall.

    She yelled very nicely as she went into the water. When