A Wife for a Westmoreland - Brenda Jackson [40]
Emotions he had never felt before stirred in Derringer’s stomach. He should leave and not come back and not care if he ever saw her again, but for some reason she had gotten in his blood and making love to her again hadn’t gotten her out. Instead the complete opposite had happened; she was more in his blood than ever before.
“I’ll give you time to think about what I said, Lucia.” He turned to leave the room knowing she was right on his heels as he moved toward the living room.
“There’s nothing to think about,” she snapped behind him.
He turned back around after snagging his Stetson off the rack. “Sure there is. We will be making love again.”
“No, we won’t!”
“Yes, we will,” he said, moving toward the door. “You’re in my blood now.”
“I’m sure so are a number of other women in this town.”
There was no point in saying that although he’d had a lot of women in the past, none had managed to get into his blood before. When he got to the door, he put on his hat before turning back to her. “Get some rest. You’re going to need it when we make love again.”
“I told you that we—”
He leaned forward and swiped whatever words she was about to say from her lips with a kiss, effectively silencing her. He then straightened and smiled at the infuriated face staring back at him and tipped the brim of his hat. “We’ll talk later, sweetheart.”
He opened the door and stepped outside and it didn’t bother him one bit when she slammed the door behind him with enough force to wake up the whole neighborhood.
Chloe leaned forward and kissed Lucia on the cheek. “Hey, cheer up. It might not be so bad.”
Lucia covered her face with both hands. “How can you say that, Clo? Now that Derringer knows how I feel, he’s going to do everything in his power to find a weakness to get me back in his bed. I should never have told him.”
“But you did tell him, so what’s next?”
She lowered her hands and narrowed her eyes. “Nothing is next. I know what he’s after and it’s not happening. And just to think he knew I was the one who slept with him that night, when silly me thought he didn’t have a clue. And now he wants to add me to his list.”
Chloe raised a brow. “Did he actually say that?”
“He didn’t have to. His arrogance was showing and that was enough.” She doubted she could forget his exit and his statement about their talking later. She was so angry with him. The only good part about his leaving was the mesmerizing view of his backside before she slammed the door shut on him.
“I’ve known Derringer a lot longer than you, Chloe, and he doesn’t know the meaning of committing to one woman,” she decided to add.
Chloe shrugged. “Maybe he’s ready to change his ways.”
Lucia rolled her eyes. “Fat chance.”
“I don’t know,” Chloe said, tapping her finger against her chin. “Of the three die-hard-bachelor Westmoreland men who hang tight most of the time—Jason, Zane and Derringer—I think Jason will get married first…then Derringer…and last, Zane.” She chuckled. “I can see Zane kicking, screaming and throwing out accusations all the way to the altar.”
Lucia couldn’t help but smile because she could envision that as well. Zane was more of a womanizer than Derringer. Jason didn’t have the reputation the other two had, but he was still considered a ladies’ man around town because he didn’t tie himself down to any one woman.
“Derringer is so confident he’s getting me back into his bed again, but I’m going to show him just how wrong he is.”
Chloe took a long sip of her iced tea. She had been out shopping and had decided to drop by Lucia’s. Unfortunately, she had found her best friend in a bad mood and it didn’t take long for her to get Lucia to spill her guts about everything.
“Now, tell me once more your reason for not wanting to sleep with Derringer again.”
Lucia rolled her eyes as she sat back on the sofa. “I know how those Westmoreland brothers and cousins operate with women.