She drew in a deep breath. If it got much more interesting, she’d go into sensory overload. “You’re sure we can just land the plane on the lake in front of your cabin?”
“I’m sure,” he said. “It’s fitted with pontoons especially to land on the water. The house belonged to my grandfather when I was young and I’ve been flying up to the Adirondacks since I was sixteen.”
“You certainly look like you know what you’re doing,” Kelsey said.
A smile flashed briefly on Jared’s face, as he turned the plane. “Trust me.”
Kelsey smiled, looking out the window as she realized she did trust him, more certainly than she had the other men in her life. She’d married him, tied herself to him legally and here she was allowing him to spirit her away to some isolated cabin in the mountains of upstate New York.
Legally. The word vibrated in her head for a minute, tickling a memory. “Jared! We never signed the prenuptial agreement.”
He glanced over, his expression unruffled. “So?”
“Well—I thought-- Under the circumstances…,” she stumbled over the words. Surely, he had to see his own best interests in the situation. He knew business better than she could ever hope to, and like it or not, marriage was business.
“Don’t worry,” he recommended, steering the plane into a banked turn. “I trust you.”
Kelsey stared at him for a moment, unprepared for the wash of warmth his words brought. He trusted her not to bilk him. It was undoubtedly foolish for a man in his financial position, but…she blinked back the sudden moisture in her eyes, fiercely promising herself not to make him regret his faith in her.
It was odd, this mixture of emotion. Tenderness, desire, fierce protectiveness. Connection.
She had friends, of course. Several who earned the title of “best.” And she’d had lovers—though certainly none like Jared—but still, it wasn’t his sexual prowess that left her with the sensation of…commitment to him. It was everything. He made her feel different. Special. Determined never to let him down.
And she was sure that everything was going to be all right. Ever since she’d walked down the aisle yesterday, it had seemed as if her most forbidden dreams had come true. She’d never felt so cherished in her life and she wanted to cling to the moment, even if it wouldn’t last.
Kelsey sighed contentedly. Beyond the plane’s window spread an array of rumpled landscape, green and brown hills with faint mist clinging to the hollows. It seemed littered with lakes and ponds.
In no time, they were circling round a small lake, Jared maneuvering the aircraft to skim lower and lower over the water until a spray across the windows indicated contact. On the shore, Kelsey could see a house. Large and low, built of weathered logs, it didn’t look like any cabin she’d ever seen before.
Jared positioned the plane at the dock and tied it up. He turned, offering his hand to help her climb out.
She stood on the dock, surveying the place. Around them stretched water, forest and sky. Not another human habitation was within eyesight.
A week alone in the Garden of Eden with a man who made her bones melt…and her heart laugh.
She turned, hoisting a bag.
“Come on,” Kelsey invited, hearing the husky note in her own voice. “We’ve got some exploring to do.”
***
Jared put down the book he’d been reading and looked at Kelsey lying asleep on the deck chair beside him.
In the last weeks since he’d taken the gamble of proposing, he’d discovered much about her. Every piece of information wove together. She was an exuberant, joyful woman, vibrant and sexual in a way that called him like a siren. But she’d had her heart under lock and key.
That much he’d known from the start of this adventure. Now he knew why. What kind of girl, intelligent and sensitive, could live through such a tumultuous childhood without developing some kind of protection?
He’d thought about all those stepfathers as he lie awake last night after they’d made love. She must have felt lost amid all the shuffle of father-figures. What amazed Jared was how important she was becoming to him in a way he hadn’t expected. He’d envisioned a beautiful, sexy wife and a pair of children—a secure, yet exciting family life.
This emotion, the wealth of feelings that clustered in his chest when he looked at her, he hadn’t expected that. Even the blinding, cataclysmic lovemaking surpassed his anticipation. His heart was involved, he knew.
She’d never have to be alone again, if he had his way, never again flounder for someone to love her.
Still, he had a year. Only fifty-two weeks to win her heart—or she’d be gone.