Nathan's Child by Anne McAllister Page B

from frightening her away, the pressure of his arousal incited and encouraged her own. Her own hunger, unsatisfied for so long and now awakened, was ravenous. She deepened the kiss, couldn’t stop herself, needed it, needed him!
    And then quite suddenly, Nathan wrenched himself away.
    Carin stared at him, stunned, the night breeze cold on her burning flesh.
    â€œThere,” he said raggedly, “I’d say that pretty much proves it.” His breathing came quick and harsh. The skin over his cheekbones was flushed and taut.
    Dazed, Carin shook her head. “Proves what?” She ached, abandoned and bereft.
    â€œI said you wanted me once, Carin. You still do. We’ll start from there.”
    Â 
    â€œSo,” the gruff voice on his cell phone said the minute Nathan answered it. “When’s the wedding?”
    â€œDad?”
    Douglas Wolfe was the last person Nathan expected to hear when he’d grabbed the phone off the bedside table. And yet, the moment he heard his father’s unmistakable baritone, he didn’t know why he was surprised.
    Just because the old man had never rung him on his cell phone before—and as far as Nathan had known, didn’t even have his number—didn’t mean that Douglas wouldn’t have it and use it when he chose to.
    â€œOf course it’s me. Who were you expecting?” Douglas gave a huff of impatient indignation. “So, did you set the date?”
    How his father even knew he’d proposed was a mystery to Nathan. But Douglas Wolfe hadn’t run an internationally respected company for thirty years by being unaware. He had tentacles everywhere.
    â€œThe old man’s an octopus,” Dominic had once said, a note of respect and awe in his voice.
    Nathan hadn’t given a damn then about his father’s far-reaching tentacles; they’d had nothing to do with him. Now they did. He raked a hand through his hair, wondering if the old man had the house bugged or if he could just read minds.
    If so, he ought to try reading Carin’s.
    â€œNo,” Nathan said flatly. “We didn’t set a date.”
    â€œWhy the hell not? You dallied around a whole year just getting down there.”
    â€œI had obligations.”
    â€œYou have a daughter!”
    â€œI know that,” Nathan said roughly. “And I didn’t want to come and have to leave again right away. I took care of my responsibilities elsewhere, and now I’m here. I spent this evening with my daughter.”
    â€œAh, you met her? Isn’t she a peach?” Douglas’s whole tone changed, and Nathan could hear his father’s obvious delight. “Pretty as a picture. Reminds me of your mother.”
    There was just a hint of wistfulness in his father’s tone as the older man recalled Nathan’s mother who had been the love of his life. “Beth would have loved her,” Douglas said. “She’s smart as a whip, too, that girl. Got a good head on her shoulders. Polite, too. Wrote me a thank-you letter after I, er, stopped to see her in the spring.” He said that rather quickly, as if he wasn’t sure he ought to be admitting to having visited his granddaughter.
    â€œShe showed me the camera you gave her,” Nathan said so his father would know he was aware of the visit. “Thanks.”
    â€œMade sense to give her one,” Douglas said briskly. “She was interested.”
    â€œShe’s taken some pretty nice shots.”
    â€œFigured she might. Reckon she comes by it naturally, what with you being a photographer and her mother an artist.” Douglas paused again. “That Carin’s got talent.”
    â€œYes.”
    Douglas waited for him to amplify. He didn’t.
    Finally, impatiently, Douglas demanded, “So when are you going to set the date? Dominic will need to know in order to set aside some time, and Rhys will have to apply for leave.”
    â€œSorry. Can’t