The Widow Read online

  He managed to pull himself together. “We’re not going anywhere,” he said sternly. “I’m going back to Australia.”

  “If ‘we’re’ not going anywhere then why are my shoes and my bra in your suitcase?” she asked in a dulcet tone.

  He started to shrug, but his shoulder screamed in pain. “Souvenir?” he suggested. “I like to keep a little something from every woman I’ve nailed.”

  She crossed the room, coming up to him. She looked beaten down, exhausted, nervous and uncertain, and more alive than he’d ever seen her. She flashed him a bright smile. “Sorry, pal. It’s not that easy. You promised me we’d have days to make love once we got out of that tomb, and I expect a man to keep his promises.”

  “I was just trying to distract you,” he said.

  “Consider me distracted. You’re not getting rid of me, Maguire. Let’s face it, I’m a cold-blooded, heartless woman and you’re the only man who’s ever managed to turn me on in my entire lifetime. I don’t intend to let you get away.” Some of her bravado faded slightly. “Unless, of course, you don’t want me?”

  He was within two minutes of taking her on the floor of his apartment with most of their clothes pulled out of the way. But he wasn’t going to give up without a fight. “Do I really have to support you?” he countered.

  “Just while I’m having babies,” she said. “The rest of the time I can cook. You’ll have to marry me, though.”

  “I like a woman who can cook,” he said thoughtfully.

  “I’m a very good cook.”

  “I like a woman who steals cars. Molly would have approved. Sometime I’ll tell you about her. She would have liked you.”

  “Do I need to be jealous?”

  “Not of Molly, love. Where did you leave the car?”

  “It’s in the alley. I don’t ever want to drive that junker again,” she warned him.

  “We won’t need it in Australia. We’re better off with a four-wheel drive. I like a woman who isn’t afraid to say what she wants.”

  “I’m here,” she said. “And I want you.”

  “Charlie,” he said, pulling her up against his body, ignoring the pain in his shoulder, “you’ve got me.”

  And he bent down and kissed her, letting the computer disk drop in the trash.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-2918-5

  THE WIDOW

  Copyright © 2001 by Anne Kristine Stuart Ohlrogge.

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  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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