The Parks Empire: Secrets, Lies and Loves. Marie Ferrarella

felt like this,” he told her, skimming the covers aside and gently pressing her onto the bed. Lying beside her, their bodies in full contact, he wondered if life had ever been this good or felt so right.

      She touched his face so tenderly, he felt humbled by it and by the passion he felt for this woman, his childhood friend and long-lost sweetheart. When he smiled, she did, too. It did something to his heart, causing a strange ache inside that unpredictable organ.

      Sara had never been so consumed by physical need, so driven to explore and excite another with every caress. A spark of wildness ignited her blood, and she writhed and moaned in his embrace, loving his masculine touch, the sensation of every part of her touching every part of him.

      “Come to me,” she demanded after hours, days, eons had passed in hot, desperate kisses.

      He caught her wandering hands and held them captive against the mattress. “I will,” he promised. “Give me a minute.”

      This time he was prepared, she saw, as he removed a packet from his jeans and affixed the condom in place. She held her arms up to him when he turned back to her.

      “I didn’t plan this far in advance,” he murmured, joining her again, “but I wasn’t sure I could stop again if things got heated between us.”

      She nodded in understanding. “This time I don’t want to stop.”

      He would have loved her for her honesty if nothing else. But there was more between them than the moment. A lifetime, he thought. A lifetime of waiting for her.

      He moved over her, stroked her intimately, then slowly entered. Her quick inhalation told him how much pleasure she experienced as they merged into one.

      “Yes,” she whispered. “Cade, yes!”

      Everything became centered on the two of them after that…sweet words, sweet kisses, then bliss…sweet, sweet bliss…

      Feeling her climax, Cade let go the reins on his own passion and took his fill of her, thrusting again and again until he was spent, and even then he didn’t want to stop, didn’t want it to end. He felt her tense beneath him, then heard her little gasps of ecstasy as she responded to him yet again.

      Pleasure, so deep and primitive it rocked his soul, shot through him. He wanted to shout in triumph as a sense of primal possession rolled over him.

      After they regained their breath somewhat, he turned them to the side, still holding her close.

      Sara laid an arm across him and rested her head on the pillow beside his. Outside the wind off the ocean blew around the cabin, but inside they were snug and safe.

      “I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything like that,” he said, kissing along her temple.

      He turned the lamp off and pulled the covers over their cooling bodies. She was glad. The dark hid the tears that slipped unbidden from her closed eyes.

      “See how easy it is,” Stacy shouted, looking back over her shoulder at the two adults who trailed behind her.

      Sara nodded without loosening her grip on the reins or the saddle horn. Beside her, Cade chuckled.

      “Try to relax,” he encouraged. “You’re hinged in the middle. Let the movement come from there.”

      “That’s easy for you to say, but your muscles haven’t frozen in position.” She flashed him a quick smile as he laughed, then went back to concentrating on her horse’s movements while she hoped the mare wouldn’t make any sudden decision to run or something. “I may not be able to walk when I get off.”

      “The lighthouse isn’t far,” he said.

      The Point Reyes lighthouse was their destination this morning. Stacy had knocked on her door at seven o’clock and told her they needed to get on their way in order to beat the crowd.

      Sara had been startled out of a deep sleep and relieved to discover she was alone in bed. She’d slept so soundly she had no idea when Cade had left her side.

      A funny, warm thrill ran over her as she thought of the night and the passion. The closeness afterward had been a surprise, an unexpected gift….

      “Stop thinking like that.” Cade’s deep, quiet tone broke into her wayward musing.

      He reached out and stroked her cheek as heat rose to her face. His smile was solemn even though a flame burned in his eyes.

      She lifted her chin and told him, “I was wondering about the lighthouse and how lonely it must have been for the lightkeeper to live there day in and day out for years and years.”

      “Often a wife and family lived there, too.”

      During the ride, she questioned him about the ranch and how he’d come by it. He told her he’d used a legacy from his maternal grandparents as a down payment.

      “Against my father’s advice,” he added ruefully. “He thought it was a waste of money, but Stace and I needed a place to stretch our legs.”

      “And to have the horses and dogs,” Stacy had chimed in, circling back to them, then racing ahead again. She was a fearless rider and good at it.

      Sara nudged the conversation to the jewelry business. By listening and asking a few questions, she learned the family wealth had come through his mother and her mother before that.

      “Did you know my father and yours were in a partnership when we were little?” he asked.

      A jolt of guilt hit her at the question. “I vaguely recall they were planning something.”

      “According to my father, they wanted to go after the really wealthy crowd—the crowned heads of Europe, billionaires and those types.”

      “That sounds rather ambitious. Did they have the assets for it?”

      He frowned as he considered. “I suppose together they could have swung it. They were planning to make the most expensive necklace in the world out of matched, flawless diamonds. Unfortunately things didn’t work out.”

      “My father drowned. I guess that ruined the plan.”

      She heard the bitter undertone, but couldn’t take the words back. If her father had invested all his money in the diamonds and Walter Parks had kept them upon Jeremy’s death, that would explain where her family’s wealth had gone.

      The mare tossed its head as if catching her agitation. Cade rubbed the animal’s neck, which calmed it down.

      “Aboard a yacht that belonged to my grandfather originally,” Cade continued her thought. “I’m sorry for that, young Sara.”

      He spoke with such tenderness and compassion that the anger melted, leaving her feeling wounded and raw with guilt for wanting revenge.

      Nodding, she urged the mare to a faster gait as Stacy waved impatiently for the two laggards to hurry. A few minutes later, they tied their mounts to a low branch on a scraggly cedar and walked to the crest of the hill.

      From there the full vista of the sea spread before them like a painting. Seagulls wheeled overhead. Far away loomed the darker silhouettes of islands, barely visible on the horizon. A young couple walked down a long flight of steps toward the lighthouse on a promontory.

      A park ranger stood beside a low building to her right. He smiled and spoke to them. A sign declared the area to be the Point Reyes National Seashore.

      “Let’s go down,” Cade suggested. “Stace, hold the railing and don’t run.”

      Sara held on, too. The stairs were steep and narrow. She noticed resting places at intervals along the side. “It’s a long way down,” she said over her shoulder to Cade.

      “Three hundred steps. Just wait until we start back up.” His smile felt as warm as the sun that caressed her shoulders as they descended.

      They, along with the couple, explored the well-kept lighthouse