Geri Krotow - The Billionaire's Colton Threat

* * *

Alastair knew he was coming off a bit too heavy-handed, especially for a man who’d been totally at Halle’s mercy only an hour earlier. He took a step backward, gave Halle room as he stepped to her side, in front of the small fire.

“I’m sorry—that was presumptive. I wish I could blame it on the cold water but I have a bad habit of telling others what’s best for them.”

Halle stirred the dirt with a stick she’d picked up off the ground. “I get that. When you have to rely on your instincts for so long, it’s easy to think your way is the right way.”

“I don’t know you well, Halle, not as well as I’d like to. But is it fair to say that you’ve done little, probably nothing, for yourself since your father died?”

Her lids lifted and revealed the depths of pain she’d walked through. “At first I didn’t want to do anything. I think I stayed in pajamas for the first two days after the funeral. But then, then I knew I owed him more. Daddy didn’t raise me to be a slacker, and this land was everything to him.”

“You need a break. We all do. Sometimes when I’m travelling for weeks on end I plan a quick trip to a resort or island to escape. Believe it or not, I go completely off the grid from time to time.”

That got a grin out of her. And a beautiful grin it was. He loved how her entire expression lit up like the Highlands did when the heather bloomed.

“That might have been a good decision today.”

“Although, if I had, you may have never had the privilege of seeing my bum.”

“Never, Alastair?”

Halle wasn’t flirting or teasing. The heat in her eyes wasn’t a reflection of the fire, either. She was a woman boldly expressing her want, and Alastair had never been more turned on.

* * *

Halle turned toward him and didn’t know who moved first, but the tiny space between them disappeared and Alastair’s lips were on hers. He stamped her mouth with his, and her senses were on overload with his musk and the coolness of his tongue. The pent-up sexual attraction they’d fought against each and every hour on the trail had won. Halle surrendered to her desire and the relief was as sharp as her sexual response to him. When his tongue licked around her lips and insisted entry, she opened her mouth fully and took him in. He tasted as good as she’d imagined. Tea, honey and Alastair. Tea she’d given him to warm up. She pushed against his chest, breaking their contact, their gasps loud and harsh in the still Texas night.

“You could have died. Are you up for this?” They both laughed at her question. His erection, which he ground against her pulsating center, answered it.

“Outside or in your tent?” He growled the words as he sucked gently at the skin on her throat, his hands moving up and under her shirt, on her waist, cupping her breasts through her sports bra. When he tweaked her nipples Halle groaned.

“Tent. You’re still at risk from the cold.”

They half walked, half stumbled into her tent. Alastair was definitely feeling better as he pressed her shoulders onto the sleeping bag and rose above her. “I want to make love to you in so many ways, Halle. But later. This time I don’t want to wait or draw it out. I need you now. Pure and simple.”

“Yes.” Amazing she could force the word out, as turned on as she was.

“Condoms?” His Scottish accent made the request seem as gentlemanly as it was.

“In the zipper bag, here—” She reached to the small pouch in the tiny tent where she kept first aid items and condoms. She’d had clients request them, clients she’d envied who’d decided to take her trip as a honeymoon or lovers’ vacation. But she’d put them there as an afterthought, after she’d made him tea at the house. Somewhere inside of her she’d hoped this might happen. Alastair and her, together in the most basic way.

Alastair grasped the wrapper as soon as she plucked the small packet from the bag. “You’re moving awfully well for a man who was just on the brink of hypothermia.” She tried to think, tried to focus but the way he so quickly donned the protection and then lifted her head to deeply kiss her again allowed her to only think of the incredible sensations his touch brought.

“Halle.” He said her name as if she were the Holy Grail. Dispensing with any illusion of a romantic buildup, Alastair entered her in one powerful thrust and Halle met him, eager to match him, their need mutual. As they moved together it occurred to her that it had never been this natural, this raw, this perfect the first time with any other man. Not just the first time—any time with another man.

Then the delicious sensations that pushed her over the edge of her most satisfying climax ever blew any vestige of rational thought out of her brain. Alastair’s matching release, punctuated by his deep shout, was all she needed.

Chapter 4

Three months later

“Thanks for taking them in, Charlie.” Halle handed off the leather lead shanks to her ranch hand, hoping he didn’t notice her excessive sweat. She had to make it back to the house before she threw up in front of him.

“No problem, Boss.” Charlie walked toward the stables with Elvis and Buttercup. She’d already worked Buster and two other geldings. It lifted her mood to see how well cared for her mounts were. As much as Bluewood was in the red, she’d managed to squeeze out enough to keep the horses healthy.

Unlike the majority of her cattle, which she’d had to sell off to keep things running. That had hurt, but not as much as she knew the next few minutes would. Going into the house, she made straight for the bathroom as her loyal herding dogs followed her. She looked at the stick she’d peed on before her anxiety got any worse.

The plus sign stared accusingly at her. Her weight loss from the constant worry over Bluewood’s survival hadn’t left her body fat too low to warrant missing menstrual cycles. That had been her excuse the first month she’d skipped her period.

Her attempts to deny a second month without a period, however, were met with her swollen, tender breasts and her constant exhaustion. The last few days the nausea had caught up to her. So she’d done what millions of women did every year. Last night she’d purchased a home pregnancy test at the Shadow Creek drugstore. She’d left it in the bathroom overnight, in case her cycle started by morning. She’d taken the test first thing upon waking.

Somehow, the protection she and Alastair had used had failed. She was single, near bankruptcy and pregnant. No time to process it all right now, though, as her stomach did what it was becoming too good at doing.

Halle threw up.

It was time to tell the father, but she felt horrible even thinking about calling Alastair. She’d ignored his persistent attempts to contact her the first few weeks after he’d left Texas. It was a nonstarter, any kind of relationship with the sexy billionaire. Halle was a native of Shadow Creek, Texas—fun for a diversion or maybe even some real dating. Until Alastair realized his jet-set lifestyle wasn’t enough to get her out of Texas. And Halle was as dedicated as ever to Bluewood. It’d have to be as a single mom now, was all.

Wrapping a towel she’d soaked in cold water around her neck, she went to find her phone.

* * *

Alastair Buchanan frowned at his cell phone. Halle Ford had called three times in the past two days, but never left a message. Desire startled him as it slammed into his gut and made a direct line to his crotch. Halle.

It’d been such an incredible time with her in the Texas Hill Country. The sex, yes, but so much more. Her. The way she listened. He’d really thought more might come of it. He’d been ready to convince her more should come of it, that with his resources that included a private jet they’d make the miles and hours between them manageable.