No Red Roses: A Loveswept Classic Romance (Santa Flores) by Iris Johansen

started down the circular driveway. “As I recall, it’s about a thirty-minute drive.” He patted the steering wheel affectionately. “And Ole Dobbin knows the way home.”
    She had to smile at the absurdity of comparing this sleek, futuristic monster with a farm horse, and she leaned her head back obediently on the headrest. The motion of the car wassmooth and effortless, and the powerful motor purred with the hypnotic growl of a jungle cat. It was rather like its owner in that respect, Tamara thought. Sleek, compact, graceful, and very, very danger.…
    Aunt Elizabeth had definitely put too much starch in the pillowcases and they had a strange musky odor, most unlike their usual fresh, outdoor scent. Worst of all, the pillow was hard and lumpy. Tamara burrowed deeper into its depths, but it was really impossible to get comfortable.
    “If you don’t stop that infernal squirming, my brotherly attitude is going to undergo a radical change, sweetheart.” Brody’s amused voice reverberated beneath her ear.
    She was so deeply enwebbed in sleep it didn’t even surprise her to discover that her pillow was Brody’s hard, muscular chest and that the car was now parked in front of the white picket fence that bordered Aunt Elizabeth’s house.
    She lifted her heavy lids and noted inconsequentially that his lean jaw was already faintly shadowed. She wondered idly if he were one of those men who had to shave twice a day. Heprobably was, she thought, faintly annoyed. The man was almost aggressively masculine.
    “Your blackmail isn’t going to do you any good, you know,” she murmured drowsily. “I’m not going to sleep with you.”
    She felt his lips brush the top of her head as he chuckled. “You’ve already slept in my arms. How big a step is it to sleep in my bed?” Then, before she could reply, he put her back into her own seat and opened the door. “Sit still.”
    He was around the car and opening the door in seconds. To her surprise, instead of helping her out of the car, he scooped her up in his arms and strode down the flower-bordered walk to the front door. After the first startled moment of protest, she lay docilely in his arms. If Brody wanted to act the macho male, she wasn’t going to protest. Besides, she was finding it extremely difficult to keep her head from nodding once more onto that warm, solid chest.
    After he’d set her gently on her feet on the porch, he took her evening bag, extracted the key, and deftly unlocked the door. She was almost asleep on her feet as he took her once morein his arms and held her for a long, peaceful moment. His hand stroked her dark hair gently.
    “Is it true what Celia called you?” he asked suddenly. “Are you illegitimate?”
    She felt a thrill of shock jar her abruptly awake. She lifted her head warily. “Yes, it’s quite true. I’m not only illegitimate, but my mother deserted me a few months after I was born. I don’t have any idea who my father was. Does it matter?”
    “Yes,” he said simply. “I’m glad you don’t have anyone else. It makes you more mine. I told you I was very possessive.”
    “I have Aunt Elizabeth,” she protested.
    “Ah, yes. I’m beginning to be very grateful indeed for dear Aunt Elizabeth,” he said, slightly mocking. “Now close your eyes, sweetheart. I’m not accustomed to behaving like a big brother, and I’m feeling the strain. I want something for myself.”
    He didn’t wait for her to comply before he swooped down and enfolded her in an embrace that was anything but brotherly. Holding her to the strong muscular column of his thighs, hecovered her lips with his in a kiss that was almost bruising in its passionate intensity. From drowsy security, Tamara was flung headlong into a blaze of flaming need that turned her both boneless and mindless in his arms. His lips left hers to move hotly in a series of quick, fervid kisses that followed the line of her cheek to her ear, and then returned to ravish the softness of