“Yes, I do,” he replied deeply. “But you’re going to need a lot of time that I can’t give you when I’m out of control,” he murmured darkly. “You won’t enjoy it.”

“Are you sure?” she whispered.

He lifted his head. His eyes were hot and hungry on her body. His hands had pushed up the red shirt and the bra, and he was staring at her pert, pretty breasts with aching need. “I am absolutely sure,” he managed.

“Oh.”

The single word and the wide-eyed, hopeless look in her eyes broke the tension and he started laughing. “That’s it? ‘Oh’?”

She laughed, too. “Well, I read a lot and I watch movies, but it’s not quite the same thing...”

“Exactly.”

He forced himself to roll off her. “If you don’t mind, could you pull all this back down?” he asked, indicating her breasts. He averted his eyes. “And I’ll try deep breaths and mental imagery of snow-covered hills.”

“Does it work?”

“Not really.”

She pulled down her shirt and glanced at him with new knowledge of him and herself, and smiled.

“That’s a smug little look,” he accused.

“I like knowing I can throw you off balance,” she said with a wicked grin.

“I’ll enjoy letting you do it, but not until we’re used to each other,” he replied. He pulled her close. “The first time has to be slow and easy,” he whispered, brushing his mouth over hers. “So that it doesn’t hurt so much.”

“If you can knock me off balance, I won’t care if it hurts,” she pointed out.

His black eyes twinkled. “I’ll remember that.”

She lay back on the sofa and looked up at him with wide, wondering eyes. “I thought it was all over,” she whispered. “That I had nothing left, nothing to live for...”

“I felt the same way,” he returned, solemn and quiet. “Thank God I decided to make one more attempt to get through to you.”

She smiled gently. “Fate.”

He smiled back. “Yes. Fate.”

“Where are you going? Come back here.” She pulled him back down.

He pursed his lips. “We need to discuss things vertically, not horizontally.”

“I’m not going to seduce you, honest. I have something very serious I need to talk to you about.”

“Okay. What?”

She pursed her own lips and her eyes twinkled. “Cow abductions.”

He burst out laughing.

They were married in the Methodist church two weeks later by Reverend Blair. Michelle wore a conventional white gown with lace inserts and a fingertip veil, which Gabriel lifted to kiss her for the first time as his wife. In the audience were more mercenaries and ex-military and feds than anyone locally had seen in many a year.