“What?”
“Respect for each other and a sense of caring. I do care for you, Lucia, or I wouldn’t be here.” There. He’d painted her the picture he intended for her to see. She loved him and had admitted to doing so and he had no reason not to believe her. But he knew a woman’s love went deep and things could get rather messy if she expected or anticipated those feelings in return. She wouldn’t get them.
“Are you willing to accept being the only woman in my life in a long-term exclusive affair, Lucia?”
She stared at him, not saying anything and then as if to be certain she’d heard him correctly and clearly understood the perimeters of what he’d proposed, she asked, “And during that time you won’t be involved with any woman but me?”
“Yes, I give you my word on it. Something I’ve never given any woman I’ve been involved with in the past. You are the first woman.” It was on the tip of his lips to add, Just like I was your first man.
Lucia sat there, staring at Derringer and searching his face for any signs that he was being anything but aboveboard. Was he giving her a line? She drew in a deep breath. He had given her his word, and most people knew that the Westmorelands’ word meant everything to them. But could it withstand temptation? What if he got tired of her and was tempted to test the waters elsewhere with someone else?
“And if you change your mind about this exclusivity thing, you will let me know? I wouldn’t find out from others?”
He shook his head. “No, you wouldn’t find out from others. I wouldn’t do you that way, Lucia. If and when I get ready to end things between us, you will be the first to know.”
He paused for a moment and then inclined his head. “So, if you fully accept those terms, please come over here for a second,” he murmured in seductive invitation.
She hesitated, still uncertain. She knew there was sexual chemistry between them, she could feel the snap, crackle and pop even now with the distance separating them. On what was probably the coldest day in Denver this year, he was sitting over there looking hotter than any man had a right to look, and he got finer and finer each time she saw him. His dark eyes were pulling her in, mesmerizing her down to her panties. And that luscious mouth of his seemed to be calling out to her, tempting her in ways she really didn’t need to be tempted; especially when she went to bed each night dreaming of him.
She would be the first to say that his offer of an exclusive affair surprised her because she knew that’s not how he operated. In fact, that was not how any of the single Westmorelands handled their business with women. So why was he treading off the beaten track?
One thing was for certain; his blatant honesty about the kind of relationship he wanted with her had caught her off guard. He wasn’t promising love, although he was well aware of how she felt about him. Instead of offering her love in return, he was offering her an exclusive affair.
Suddenly something happened that she hoped she didn’t live to regret. At that moment, she began listening to her heart and not her mind. Her heart was telling her that she loved him too much not to take him up on the offer he’d laid out to her. She would be entering the affair with both eyes open and no expectations except one. He would give her advance notice when he was ready to end things between them.
That meant that while things lasted she would spend all the time with him she desired. She would be the only woman sharing his bed. The one and only woman claiming Derringer Westmoreland’s full attention. She glanced down at her hand and accepted the fact that the only drawback was that he would never put a ring on her finger.