Thorn's Challenge - Brenda Jackson [45]
“Damn,” Stone said, with disbelief on his face. He’d never known his brother to send flowers to any woman before, and that included Patrice. Everyone knew Thorn hadn’t really loved Patrice, but had merely considered her as his possession, and when it came to the things Thorn considered his, he had a tendency to get downright selfish and wasn’t into sharing. Being in love was a totally new avenue for Thorn, and Stone couldn’t help wondering how his brother would handle things once the discovery was made. Knowing Thorn, he would be a tough nut to crack, but he agreed with Dare; Tara was just the woman to set him straight. In Thorn’s case she might need a full-fledged nutcracker.
“Hey, guys, I bet there will be a wedding in June,” Stone said to his brothers.
“I think it will be before June. I doubt he’ll wait that long. I’ll say sometime in May, close to his birthday,” Chase threw in.
Storm rolled his eyes. “Love or no love, Thorn is going to kick and scream all the way down the aisle. He’s going to be difficult, that’s just his nature, so I bet he won’t be tying the knot before September.”
All three glanced at Dare to see what he had to say about it. “All of you know I’m not a betting man.” A smile touched his lips. “But if I were to bet, I’d have to agree with Chase. Thorn won’t last until June.”
Tara walked down the busy hospital corridor, glad she was finally able to take a break in her hectic schedule. It only took a few minutes to slip into the small chamber that led away from the crowded hallway lined with patients, as she made her way toward her office.
Once inside she closed the door behind her, walked across the room and collapsed into the chair behind her desk. She had been at the hospital since six that morning and had agreed to make it a fourteen-hour day instead of a ten. One of her fellow doctors had asked her to cover for her while she treated her husband to a special dinner for Valentine’s Day. Since Tara hadn’t made any plans for the evening herself, she decided she could be flexible and help her co-worker out.
She leaned back against her chair and closed her eyes and immediately remembered what had happened two nights ago when Thorn had come to see her to let her know of his change of plans.
After days of little sleep, her body had needed the release he had given to it, and she had been sleeping like a baby since. But now she was feeling downright guilty at the thought that in a few weeks, after the race, she would be letting him down. He thought he would be getting an experienced woman in his bed, when in truth he would be getting the complete opposite.
Twice she had thought of calling him before he left to tell him the truth, so he could make additional changes in his plans if he needed to make them. Chances were, after a two-year abstinence, he would want to share a bed with a woman who would know what she was doing. And the truth of the matter was that she didn’t know squat. At least not enough to handle a man like Thorn Westmoreland.
He would be leaving sometime tomorrow for Daytona, so today was her last chance to come clean. Somehow she had to tell him that she’d never thought things would actually get this far. She’d assumed from the get-go that she would get him to the point where he would have to choose between her and celibacy.
That day in her bedroom hadn’t even put a dent in the situation. He had merely given them a couple of days’ breathing space then he had called to take her out, but he’d made sure the two of them had never been completely alone in her house again. And except for the other night, they hadn’t been.
Okay, so she’d been stupid to count on such a thing happening, but she had counted on it, and now she was in a real fix. Delaney would be just the person to talk to about her dilemma, and to help her look at things more objectively,