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  “Sahara, you tell us what you need and we’ll make sure it’s delivered,” Errol assured her.

  “First, you’ll have to promise me you won’t say a word to anyone where this information came from.” If it got back to her employer that she’d sabotaged the deal her career would be over.

  The three men nodded.

  “Tell Andie to look at the Clarions’ blueprints.” When she saw Nick heading toward them she almost panicked. “There’s an old stone cross erected in the middle of their land. Tell her.”

  “Sahara, are you going to introduce me to your friends?”

  “Nicolas Schroder, may I introduce Harold Adair. His son-in-law is my brother’s boss, the sheriff of Whispering Cove. These two gentlemen are Harold’s closest friends, Errol Wilson and Byron Mitchell. Now if you will excuse me, nature calls.”

  When Sahara closed the stall door inside the bathroom her heart was pounding like war drums. She literally collapsed on the commode. Please, she silently prayed, please let Andie decipher my cryptic message.

  By the time she exited the restroom the Community Center was packed. She moved to the front of the room to join Nick and Stephanie. Her breath caught when she saw Devon front and center. The frown on his face screamed he wasn’t happy. What was she thinking? Then again, he wore the same expression as everyone in the room.

  Nick nodded and she took her place at the podium. Looking across the townsfolk of Whispering Cove she had never felt so much of an outsider as she did that moment. “Good evening. Thank you for allowing Moyer, Moyer & Schroder the opportunity to speak with you.”

  “Didn’t leave us much choice,” someone yelled from the back. Some people chuckled, but most held on to their steely expressions.

  “I’d like to introduce Stephanie Dunn, Lead Council, and Nicolas Schroder who is a partner within Moyer, Moyer and Schroder. I’m Sahara Caan.”

  “We know who you are, girly. Now go home,” another person yelled.

  Sahara’s throat tightened. Her vision waned. Please don’t pass out. She clutched the podium and willed herself not to look at Devon.

  “I know the first thought of a resort in your beautiful town may not feel like it would enhance your lives, but if you’ll please provide us an opportunity to speak, we’ll be more than willing to hear your thoughts and ideas.” She turned to her boss. “Mr. Schroder.”

  When she stepped aside, her gaze unintentionally went to Devon’s. His face was flushed. His hands fisted. Harold said something to him, but he seemed more concerned with staring a hole through her and it was working.

  As Sahara stood beside Stephanie, her mind wandered. She didn’t hear a word Nick said. The next thing she realized, Devon stood and approached the podium. Her heart felt like it would jump from her chest. His mouth opened, then snapped shut when Andie entered holding a laptop. The room grew so quiet you could hear a pin drop. It wasn’t a pin but her heels that echoed throughout. She didn’t pause or take a seat. Instead she walked right to Devon, whispered something to him. He nodded and returned to his seat.

  “Mr. Schroder, Ms. Dunn and Miss Caan, I would like to welcome you to our fair town. A town rich with history and one of the reasons there will be no resort constructed on Clarion’s land.”

  Nick frowned, pinning Sahara with a sharp glare. “What’s going on?”

  “I-I don’t know,” Sahara held her breath, hoping it meant what she thought it did.

  Without clarifying her statement, Andie began to connect her laptop to the projector, which displayed on the screen behind her. The first picture that appeared was a gray-and-white, tarnished picture of the Clarion’s mansion before it had burned to the ground.

  “Captain James Clarion founded Whispering Cove in 1842. He built his home, raised his family on the very piece of land on which you wish to build your resort. The problem is the Captain was also the first seaman lost at sea.” She touched a key on her keyboard and another old picture depicted a stone cross. Offset from the old photograph was a current-day snapshot of the same old stone cross. “To honor the Captain, this stone cross was erected in the middle of Clarion’s land.”

  “Good God, no,” Stephanie groaned.

  “Due to the grave and marker’s location, age and the fact the Captain was the first sailor lost at sea from Whispering Cove, Whispering Cove’s Historical Committee has deemed the area a landmark, which means the land can’t be disturbed.”

  Sahara inhaled a shaky breath, trying to keep her emotion at bay.

  They had done it.

  Nick turned to Stephanie. “Is this true?” When she nodded, he narrowed his sight on Sahara. “Why wasn’t this detail uncovered before now?”

  “Nick, I’m sorry. I thought my research was thorough—”

  “Well, it wasn’t.”

  Talk about bittersweet. In one fell swoop she had saved a town and destroyed her career. And, it just got better when her boss turned his back on her and walked out, Stephanie hot on his heels. For a moment, she couldn’t move.

  Never in her life had she felt so utterly alone.

  Well sonofabitch.

  Devon had expected to feel vindicated. Instead he felt conflicted. Happy for the outcome, but remorse dimmed his joy as he watch Sahara’s boss reamed her in front of everyone. What bothered him the most was that she stood quietly and let the damn man berate her without responding. The woman Devon thought could conquer the world stood alone, looking as if she had lost everything. To stop himself from going to her, he turned to leave, but Harold stepped in front of him.

  “Don’t be telling me you be letting the lassie suffer.”

  “She made her bed, Harold.” Devon hated himself the minute the cruel words left his mouth.

  “Damn you, boy,” Errol growled.

  Byron looked past the crowd surrounding Andie to congratulate her. “Tell him, Harold.”

  “But I promised.”

  Devon didn’t like the sound of this. “Promised what, Harold?”

  “The lassie made us promise not to tell.”

  Lassie? Sahara?

  “Tell what?”

  When Harold hesitated, Errol growled again. “She single-handedly saved our town.”

  Devon felt his eyes widen in disbelief. “What?”

  “Where you be thinking that little tidbit of history came from?” Harold asked.

  “Sahara?”

  The elderly man shook his head, before he looked at his friends like Devon was the densest person in the room.

  “Looks as if she’s lost her job because of it.”

  Byron’s words added salt to the wound already gaping wide in Devon’s chest. Had he misjudged her? Leo had said she thought the town would be happy. Had she only had their interest in mind?

  “Dammit, lad. Don’t let this one get away. If I were you I’d go to her now. Nothing like a public declaration of love before God and the town to mend the tiff between two lovers.”

  “Why you dirty rotten scoundrel,” Errol grumbled, while Byron laughed.

  “Go lad. Tell her you love her. You can’t live without her.”

  Devon’s head was spinning. The old man must have been reading his mind.

  When Sahara headed for the door, it was Byron who gave him a little push. “Go, Devon. Some opportunities come around only once in your life. Don’t let this one slip away from you.”

  Byron was right.

  “Sahara?” Devon said as he attempted to push through the crowd. When she didn’t stop, he raised his voice. “Sahara! I love you.”

  She jerked to a stop and the room grew deathly quiet. The crowd parted like the Red Sea, allowing him access to her, until he stood behind her.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Sahara slowly turned around, and when she did her eyes were moist with unshed tears. “Say it again.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “No, before that.”

  “You mean, I love you?”

  She nodded.

  He reached for her and she came
willingly into his arms. “Could you bear to give up your big city life? Share mine in Whispering Cove, because I don’t think I can live without you?”

  When a couple tears raced down her flushed cheeks, he didn’t know if it was a good or bad sign.

  “Boy, whoever taught you about women should walk the plank. Kiss her.” Errol laughed.

  And that’s exactly what he did.

  Damn. He’d missed the softness of her lips, the sweet taste of her caress. He kissed her hard and long as if one would never satisfy him. When the crowd’s silence turned to chatter, he broke their kiss.

  “Take me home, Devon,” she murmured against his mouth.

  “Really, Sahara?” He didn’t want her coming home with him, unless it meant she’d stay with him. “I’m not rich. I can’t get you the things your father can. But I can love you, take care of you.”

  “That’s all I need Devon. Now let’s get out of here.”

  Before they made it to the door, Brody and Andie stopped them. “Thank you, Sahara. I don’t know how we missed this. It was right in front of our noses.”

  “I missed it too, Andie. It was my assistant who brought it to my attention.”

  “Please thank her for us.” Andie gazed up at Brody. “For all of us.”

  “I will.”

  “Honey, I think these two are attempting to escape,” Brody said.

  Embarrassment followed surprise across Andie’s face. “Sorry. Guess you better hurry.”

  With a palm in the middle of her back, Devon guided her outside and to his truck. Before he opened the passenger side door he trapped her between him and the vehicle. “I’m sorry. I thought you were using me to advance your career.”

  “And I thought everyone, including you, would be happy with progress. I see now it would have smothered this town. I’m sorry.”

  “Before we leave I need to clarify my intentions.”

  Nervous laughter seeped from between her beautiful lips. “Should my father be here?”

  “He probably should, but I can’t wait.” She tensed and Devon wondered if he’d misread her once again. What the hell. He would ask and let the chips fall where they may, because the alternative he couldn’t live with. “Marry me? I couldn’t bear you leaving me again.”

  “You want to marry me?” Sahara asked as if she couldn’t believe it.

  “Woman. I never want you out of my sight. So? Will you marry me?”

  She nodded rapidly. “Yes.” A big grin spread across her face. “Yes. I’ll marry you.”

  Before she could change her mind, he sealed her lips with his, pressing his entire body against hers. She sighed and he captured it with his mouth.

  “Devon?” Her voice was soft and dreamy.

  “Hmmm,” he hummed as he trailed kisses down her sweet, slender neck.

  “Do you have a blanket in the back seat of your truck?”

  “I might.” He nibbled on her earlobe. “Why?”

  “Because I don’t think we’re going to make it to the cabin.” She giggled. “Let’s go.”

  They made it past the turnoff to his cabin before she forced him to pull over. Maybe force was too strong of a word, because his body was demanding the same. When he looked in his back seat, he found a blanket he’d wrapped Sky and Leo’s mantel in. As he spread the blanket out in the bed of his truck, she started to undress. When her pencil skirt slipped past her hips, her thighs, pooling around her ankles, Devon’s groin hardened.

  Fumbling with the buttons on his dress shirt, he released an exasperated breath. “Leave the heels and thigh-high nylons.” He pulled apart his shirt, buttons popping in all directions. Before he could get his shoes, socks and pants off, she stood naked before him with only her nylons and heels on. He couldn’t believe she was really here with him.

  “Damn, baby, you’re gorgeous.”

  “Shut up and get over here,” she growled.

  The sexy sound sent his mind spinning like a Tilt-A-Whirl. When he was as naked as she, he went to her. She opened her arms to receive him. The air was crisp, but the heat of her body against his was enough to start a forest fire. He loved the feel of her diamond-hard nipples burrowing into his chest.

  “I’m afraid this might be a quickie,” he warned, unashamed. He wanted her and already he had waited too long. The tingle between his thighs grew as come filled his testicles and they rose into the shelter of his body.

  “I want hard and fast, Devon. Please. Don’t make me wait.”

  Raising her off her feet, he slammed her against his truck. She released a soft cry, but locked her ankles behind his back. Without any foreplay, he angled his hips and thrust to find her wet and ready. As he plunged forward, she released another whimper.

  Flames licked at his groin as he fucked her hard and fast. The sound of their bodies coming together was something he had missed, but he needed to be deeper. Needed her to understand she was his and only his.

  Placing her on her feet, he turned her to face the truck. He thrust, entering her from behind. As she bent over to accommodate him, he plunged forward, filling her completely. When he rammed into her again, he felt the back of her sex and fire exploded at the base of his cock. Holding his breath, he willed himself to hold on, but the truth was he wouldn’t last long.

  He fucked her hard and fast as he promised before he reached between her legs and found her clit. One stroke, two strokes and she cried out, jerking forward. Placing the palm of his free hand on her abdomen, he held her flush against him before he increased the rhythm of his finger.

  “Devon! Oh God. Please.”

  Grinding his hips against her ass, he felt the back of her sex once again. It was such a sweet spot that he worked his erection, rubbing and teasing the sensitive head until his knees turned to rubber.

  Out of nowhere his climax slammed into him like a battering ram. He cried out and she followed. It felt like a lightning bolt ripped through him as he tightened his hold on her and rode out the waves of heaven rippling around him. All too soon he was left breathing hard, with trembling legs, and pressed against the most wonderful woman he had ever held.

  Her head hung between her shoulders, a beautiful cascade of strawberry locks covering her face. When he stepped back, slid from her core, he picked her up in his arms and carried her to the bed of his truck. He set her down. She scooted back and he joined her, lying on his back.

  Resting her cheek on his chest, she cuddled up to him. “Promise me we can do that every night.”

  “Every night? Hell. What about every morning too?”

  The sweetest laugh flowed from her lips. “Works for me.”

  For a moment they lay there, basking in the moonlight. Then he pulled her on top of him so they were face to face. “I love you, Sahara.”

  “I love you too.”

  “When are you going to let me make an honest woman of you?”

  “In a hurry?”

  “Yeah. I want to tie the knot before you change your mind.” He said it half jokingly, but a thread of truth was weaved within.

  “Devon, I won’t be changing my mind.”

  “But will Whispering Cove—me—be enough?”

  “More than enough.” She kissed him softly, passionately. “I want to go home now.”

  “New York? Or our home?”

  “Our home.”

  That’s when Devon realized Sahara was truly his. He planned to make her his wife soon, but for tonight he would settle for having her in their bed—in their home.

  About the Author

  A taste of the erotic, a measure of daring and a hint of laughter describe Mackenzie McKade’s novels. She sizzles the pages with scorching sex, fantasy and deep emotion that will touch you and keep you immersed until the end. Whether her stories are contemporaries, futuristics, fantasies or westerns, this Arizona native thrives on giving you the ultimate erotic adventure.

  When not traveling through her vivid imagination, she’s spending time with three beautiful daughters, three devilishly
handsome grandsons, and the man of her dreams. She loves to write, enjoys reading, and can’t wait till summer. Boating and jet skiing are top on her list of activities. Add to that laughter and if mischief is in order—Mackenzie’s your gal!

  To learn more about Mackenzie McKade, please visit www.mackenziemckade.com. Send an email to Mackenzie at [email protected] or catch her on her Facebook (www.facebook.com/MackenzieMcKade) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/MackenzieMcKade) sites.

  Look for these titles by Mackenzie McKade

  Now Available:

  Six Feet Under

  Fallon’s Revenge

  A Warrior’s Witch

  Lisa’s Gift

  Lost But Not Forgotten

  Second Chance Christmas

  Black Widow

  Merry Christmas, Paige

  Blue Moon

  Irresistible

  Sand Angel

  Ties That Bind

  Bound for the Holidays

  Bound by the Past

  Bound by Desire

  Bound by an Angel

  Wild Oats

  Take Me

  Take Me Again

  Whispering Cove

  Wild

  Bold

  Stockings

  Where there’s smoke, there’s trouble.

  Stockings

  © 2013 Mackenzie McKade

  Whispering Cove, Book 8

  Tempest Sky has forgotten how to stop running, but when her RV breaks down on the way to a huge Winter Craft Show, she has no choice. Repairs require cash. Getting it means setting up shop on the spot to sell her hand-blown glass.

  It’s not too surprising that one of Whispering Cove’s finest has a problem with that. Behind the sexy cop’s sizzling scrutiny, the truth is loud and clear. “Her kind” isn’t welcome here.

  Officer Leo Caan can smell trouble a mile away, and it’s rolling off Miss Sky like the smoke from her RV’s blown engine. The crowds gathering around her impromptu studio are a public nuisance. Privately, her sassy, bold sexiness is an uncomfortable surprise. If he didn’t know better, he could swear he’s attracted to the woman.