The Ties That Bind

to be kept in cotton wool."
    He groaned, holding her close. "Be patient with me, sweetheart. My instincts are pretty strong where you're concerned. The need to protect you is one of those instincts. I'll try to be reasonable."
    "And when you're not being reasonable?" she teased gently.
    "Then I suspect you'll let me know it."
    "Umm. I see some trouble ahead," she murmured.
    "A few marital squabbles are only to be expected."
    Shannon laughed. "You sound very philosophical about marriage, all of a sudden."
    "I'm a believer in marriage under certain circumstances. Have you forgotten that lecture I tried to give Annie and Dan the night you invited me to dinner?"
    "I'll never forget," Shannon said in heartfelt tones. "I almost wrote you off as a complete and utter social disaster that night."
    "But instead you gave me another chance." He spoke with supreme male satisfaction.
    "I couldn't help myself. From the beginning I've had this incredible compulsion to get to know you. Every time I told myself I should just give up the whole project, I'd find myself pushing again, trying to get closer to you. And after I'd realized I was in love with you..."
    "Speaking of which, you are going to marry me, aren't you?" He looked down at her intently.
    "Yes, Garth."
    "I don't really think of you as helpless or incompetent, you know," he added softly. "If I ever had any illusions on that score you cleared them up last night when you managed to fight off an intruder and rescue that damn bid package!"
    "That impressed you, huh?"
    "I'll say. I hope to hell you don't have to impress me like that again."
    "I hated having that stupid bid package in the house, but I realized you'd left it with me to prove something. I couldn't let Wes or anyone else have it, Garth. It was a symbol of the fact that you trusted me. And I was responsible for it."
    "You could have saved yourself a lot of grief by simply handing it over to Wes that night."
    Shannon shook her head. "Impossible. There was no way I would have willingly done that."
    He tightened his hold on her. "I know. I'll always trust you, Shannon. No matter what happens. You're the one person in the world I believe in. I need you to believe in me."
    "I do."
    "Just promise me you won't get yourself in any more situations in which you're required to go to such dramatic lengths to impress me with your valor and dedication," Garth said, smiling. "I don't think my aging constitution will stand the shock another time."
    "I'd much rather impress you in other ways." Shannon's eyes shimmered with love as she looked up at him. "I love you so much, Garth." She tightened her arms around him, pressing close to the warmth and strength he offered, giving him her own feminine version of the same things.
    "What about the peanut-butter crackers?" he asked, his voice tinged with sensual amusement.
    "They'll keep."
    "I'm glad they will," Garth said as he lifted her into his arms. "Because it's becoming obvious that I won't. Not for much longer. You have a profound effect upon me, honey. I don't know whatever made me think I could get through five days a week without having you in my bed."
    Garth carried her down the hall to the bedroom and settled Shannon in the center of the bed. Then he came down beside her and slid his hand under the collar of her shirt. "Love me, Shannon. Whatever happens, don't stop loving me. I need you so much."
    "It works both ways," she whispered, drawing his mouth down to within an inch of hers. "I need you, too. And I'll never stop loving you. You may be destined to make your living as a businessman, but I've got news for you, Garth Sheridan. I was right the first time I saw you. You have the soul of an impassioned poet."
    "Is that right?" He began undoing the buttons of her shirt.
    "Oh, yes," she assured him. "It takes one artsy type to recognize another, you know."
    "Maybe that's why I couldn't resist you, right from the start. We're soul mates."
    "Exactly."
    His mouth closed over hers, and Shannon surrendered to the passion and the love that she knew would always exist between herself and Garth. Just before the mounting excitement captured her completely, she mentally sketched two fancifully decorated initials, an S and a G. They would be done in the Carolingian style with beautiful birds and shimmering dragons woven around them.
    Then there was no other reality but the heated fire of their mutual love. Shannon touched her lover with wonder, reveling in the aggressive power of his