Hidden Pleasures - Brenda Jackson [30]
“Yes, I’m early,” she found her voice to say. “I didn’t need to shop for as many items as I’d thought I needed.” She felt butterflies in her stomach flapping around. She hadn’t known until him that a man’s presence could do that to a woman. The idea slid over her and for some reason she felt good about it. Maybe what she’d heard about his abilities was true. A part of her hoped so. She would hate living the rest of her life denying the part of her that was woman.
She came to a stop in front of him. A combination of soap and man plus the scent of cactus gave him a masculine aroma. She studied his face. There was a firm set to his jaw, and the smile on his lips, best described as predatory, only added to the activity going on in the pit of her stomach.
“Come on in. I’ll get your things later,” he said, stepping back to allow her entrance. “First, I want to show you around and then I want you to relax.”
She glanced back at him. “Relax?”
“Yes, you’re uptight. I can feel it.”
Brittany didn’t understand how he could feel anything, but he was right. She was uptight. Who wouldn’t be under the circumstances? She had dated Samuel Harold a full six months before they’d slept together and Gilford even longer than that. And here she was, contemplating sharing Galen’s bed when he was a virtual stranger. It didn’t matter one iota that their paths had crossed six months ago. That time meant nothing and the words they’d spoken to each other had been cross ones.
“I promise not to bite.”
A thought occurred to Brittany and she had to fight not to laugh out loud. But she couldn’t stop her gasp when she stepped over the threshold and looked around his house. If she’d thought the outside was beautiful, the inside was downright gorgeous. The Venetian plaster ceiling along with the hardwood hickory and stone flooring looked extravagant in a rustic sort of way. And the design of the travertine stairway was an artistic dream come true.
He led her from the formal foyer into a huge living room with a fireplace. She glanced up. The Venetian ceiling in this room was dome shaped and the back wall was made of glass, a wall-to-wall window that provided a forever view of the majestic Black Mountains and the pristine northeast valley.
“There’s a fireplace in all the bedrooms,” he was saying. “And a view of the Black Mountains can be seen from every room.”
He glanced over at her when he said, “But my bedroom gives the best view of all.”
Brittany kept looking around, refusing to acknowledge what he’d said. Had he added that tidbit for a reason? She followed while he gave her a tour of the downstairs, which included a spacious kitchen with granite countertops and stainless-steel appliances, a wine cellar, a huge family room, three guest bedrooms, three bathrooms and an office.
Brittany was impressed with his furniture as well as how orderly everything was. She followed him up the stairs and tried not to concentrate on what a nice backside he had in his jeans. As soon as she reached the landing, she let out a sigh. A huge floor-to-ceiling window in the hallway afforded a panorama of the mountains. The view was breathtaking and one you captured as soon as your feet touched the landing.
She could only stand there and stare out.
“I know the feeling,” Galen said, smiling. “Sometimes in the evenings I stand in this very spot and watch the sun go down. The rugged terrain makes you appreciate not only the land but the entire earth.”
He gestured to a telescope that was mounted in front of one of the windows. “Normally on a clear day you can see up to ten miles with the naked eye, but I use that when I want to see farther than that. I’ve seen a number of bobcats, mule deer, coyotes and fox. It’s quite interesting to observe them in their habitat.”
“I can just imagine,” she said. Back home she’d seen plenty of sunsets over the Gulf of Mexico. It, too, had taken her breath away. But the only wildlife she’d seen were the ones at Busch Gardens.
She turned her attention away from the view and back to Galen. She hadn’t known