“Hang on just a little longer….”

“Now,” she whispered. “Please, now…”

She heard his deep moan just as he pulled out just a bit. Then he said, “Come for me now, baby.” And he drove himself into her, hard, fast, deep. Again and again and again, until she cried out, cried his name, came apart over and over and over. “Like that,” he said. “Just like that. Lose control. Just like that…” And he joined her, letting it all go in a blast so powerful that it left him shaking.

He held her for a long time, keeping his weight from crushing her. Their lips met in a series of short, sweet kisses while they calmed. “You feel a little too good,” he whispered. “I might’ve forgotten something….”

“I realized that too late,” she said.

“You’re not on the pill, are you?”

“Why would I be?” she countered. “There hasn’t been anyone.”

“It’s okay, honey. We can get ahead of it. That’s something we should talk about anyway. Being together, staying together, maybe having children together.”

“I thought that ship had sailed,” she said. “I’m already thirty-six….”

“Me, too. And there’s still plenty of time.”

She laughed in spite of herself. “That was really the lamest marriage proposal I’ve ever had. Also, the first. Can this possibly wait till morning? I mean, later morning?”

“As long as you tell me one thing,” Aiden said. “Tell me if you care about me half as much as I care about you.”

She touched his cheek with her palm. “Probably twice as much,” she whispered. “I love you. I think it’s crazy, but I’m in love with you….”

He let out his breath as if he’d been holding it. “Then we can manage anything.”

A few hours later, Aiden rolled over to an empty bed and the smell of coffee. He sat up, found his boxers on the floor and dragged them on. He ran a hand through his hair and followed the smell. He found Erin sitting on the leather sofa in the great room, a cup of coffee on a tray on the leather ottoman beside her, a sheaf of papers in her hand. She looked up as he entered. The expression on her face was troubled.

“Aiden, how could you not know this wasn’t a final decree?” she asked.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know. The lawyer said it was all I needed, that it was done, she was blessedly gone and I was in residency, working a hundred and twenty hours a week. I was sleep deprived and…” He groaned. “Y’know, it never crossed my mind to have a second lawyer check my first lawyer’s work. Besides, the check cleared…”

“Check?” she asked. “Payment to the lawyer?”

“No, to her. She wouldn’t leave without a big, fat buy-off.”

“There’s nothing in here about a settlement,” she said. “Jesus, who the hell handled this for you?”

“Obviously some idiot,” he answered hotly. “Erin, she was f**king crazy, all right? I gave her money to go away! It was the best I could do at the time! Now I have to clean up the mess!”

“Don’t get mad,” she said, standing up and facing him. “You don’t have a mess to clean up, Aiden. You have to start over.”

“What?”

“This is an application for a dissolution of marriage, and it’s eight years old. There’s nothing about a settlement, so no record of a payment…”

“I have the goddamn canceled check!”

“Please,” she said as calmly as possible. “I realize you have the canceled check, stored in a ziplock bag in your strongbox. A check made out to Annalee Somebody—not Riordan—and deposited in a third party’s bank account. I’m afraid that isn’t going to mean much. If she isn’t incredibly cooperative—like a woman who wants out so she can get on with her life—you’re going to need—”

“That isn’t what she wants,” he said. And in spite of himself, his face took on a dark flush. “But she can’t be trusted, you have to understand that.”

Erin swallowed. “And what does she want?”

He fidgeted uncomfortably, his lips pursed. “She said she wants to reconcile. It’s nonnegotiable. I was done with her eight years ago and I’m more done now.” He took a step toward her. “Erin, ask Luke about her. He saw her in action when she was totally out of her mind. Luke’s the one who took her out of my apartment, put her in a hotel and gave her a fistful of bennies to keep her away long enough for me to find a lawyer. It might’ve taken me a while to be convinced she was completely crazy and dangerous, but Luke saw it in less than a half hour.”

Erin let the pages fall against her thigh in utter frustration. “Why’d you marry her if she was so crazy?”

“I told you—it was a mistake!”

“You’re raising your voice again,” she calmly pointed out.

“It was a mistake,” he said more calmly. “I was desperate for a little female company, met her at the officers’ club, drank a little too much and ended up in bed with her. It wasn’t until after that that I found out she was enlisted personnel assigned to my hospital. That kind of liaison is not allowed. Ever watch 60 Minutes? Fraternization is considered a crime in the military—court martial is usually followed by dishonorable discharge—and all this was after I’d invested years in the navy. All this right before my residency—the navy’s commitment to me—was just starting. I had to marry her to make it all look decent. Legal.”

Erin was appalled. “After one slightly tipsy roll in the hay?” she asked, stunned.

He couldn’t respond right away because he knew how it looked, how it sounded. In fact, he absolutely believed Annalee had taken all that into consideration when she picked him out, stalked him, blew his brains out with mind-bending sex that he’d been totally starving for, for a couple of years, and…He groaned. “It was more than once, but not much more. And before I could run for my life, it leaked, and it seemed everyone knew about our relationship. My boss gave me two choices—come up on charges for sexual harassment, fraternization and dishonorable discharge, which would make me look real goddamn desirable as a civilian woman’s doctor. Or just make it legal so it looked like true love, not something nasty and sordid. I saw my life flash before my eyes.”

“And your family? They know about this?” she asked.

“Sort of,” he said. “My brothers know. Luke and Sean were involved. Colin and Paddy heard about it. It’s not the kind of thing you explain in detail to your widowed mother.”

“Oh, man,” she said, shaking her head. “I wish I’d known this before you forgot that condom,” she muttered.

He’d moved on her too fast, he realized that. But this was only the second time his life flashed before his eyes—the first was Annalee and hysterical fear, the second was now, when he’d finally found the woman he’d always wanted and she was so close to denying him. A few hours ago nothing mattered but them being together, maybe forever, and now she was regretting that absence of a condom—the little slip that could possibly begin to build them a family.

He grabbed her upper arms, feeling scared and desperate. “Listen, she’s nuts, she’s a liar and she probably just wants more money to go away. Finding out the divorce wasn’t final was probably the best news she’s had in years—she can cut a deal all over again and make me pay. Erin, I love you! This woman—Annalee—she’s just a con artist! I’ll get this fixed! I swear to God, I’ll get this—”

“Aiden, Aiden,” she said softly. “Please. You’re hurting me.”

He let go at once. “God, I’m sorry,” he said, backing off. He crossed the room before he turned back to face her. “Listen, do you see?” he said. “I’m standing here in my underwear trying to make you believe that she’s the crazy one. That I couldn’t possibly have made this many stupid mistakes unless some huge con was in place—which cost me a lot of money and the respect of my colleagues. Come on, Erin, I’m smarter than that mess indicates. You have to give me the benefit of the doubt.”

She took a deep breath. She put the stapled sheaf of papers on the leather ottoman and picked up her coffee cup. “We have an attorney in the firm named Ronald Preston. We call him Arnie Becker after that divorce shyster on the old series L.A. Law. He’s completely within the law as far as anyone can tell, but the deals he manages to pull off are pretty amazing…and incredibly good for his clients. Here’s me—giving you the benefit of the doubt. I wouldn’t want someone like Ron handling my divorce unless I was divorcing a completely unscrupulous, greedy, horrible, dangerous person who was trying to get me before I got him. Ron’s in Chico, but he has a fairly far-reaching clientele. And a full stable of assistants, secretaries and investigators.”

After a moment of silence he said, “Thank you.”

“Well, if you’re being completely honest with me, you’re welcome. If you’re not telling me the whole truth, I’m sure I won’t be able to go any further with you.”

“I swear, Erin. It’s all true. Especially the part about loving you.”

Erin didn’t want to obsess about how Aiden was handling the complications in his life, but it was impossible to blank out her mind. After giving him Ron Preston’s name, phone number and directions to her law office in Chico, he said he’d call, but feared this whole effort would take up a lot of time he’d rather be spending with her. She told him the time would be well spent. She was sure she wouldn’t ever be able to change her feelings about him, but she did think it would be in her best interest if he tidied up his personal life before they got any more serious.

The larger question was—if this didn’t turn out well, could she ever forget him? For all the lack of romantic intrigue in her life, she’d never had her heart broken. Oh, there’d been disappointments. That seemed inevitable. But in the grand scheme of things, they were very small. There had been a man who suggested they weren’t very compatible, that there wasn’t true chemistry. She’d actually agreed, but was sorry they weren’t going to give it more than a couple of dates to figure out. There was another whose ex-fiancée returned to the picture when they’d barely started dating. Yet another found her far too unavailable with her demanding legal practice and family responsibilities—he was looking for a woman who’d be there first for him.

These were not broken hearts but mere pinches. Minor letdowns. Besides, she’d known she’d been settling for less than her heart’s desire with each one. They hadn’t set her blood on fire, made her weak in the knees, caused her to lose control. She had long wondered if she was too fussy or just plain impossible to please.

Then came Aiden. He’d taught her how to have fun, how to enjoy the real companionship of two people who seemed perfectly suited. Then he’d taught her how to crave intimacy, something she’d pretty much been able to do without. Doing without it now, doing without him, would be very hard. She missed him so much in just a day.

He’d called twice. He’d been to an appointment with Ron in Chico; Ron had collected what Aiden described as a very large retainer for the job. Once back in Virgin River, Luke and Shelby were just bringing the new baby home, and his family had once again amassed. “Tomorrow,” he said to her. “Nothing will keep me from you tomorrow.”

A couple of days and she was aching for him. She’d never felt quite so vulnerable. Not quite a week since the Fourth of July and already she was hurting for him. He had definitely burrowed under her skin and—

She heard a car and for a second her heart leaped. She realized that if it was Aiden she would be hard-pressed to even ask him if he’d resolved anything. She’d probably throw herself at him and smother him with kisses.

It was not Aiden. It was a young woman in a very fancy car—a model Erin had actually looked at once. A classy and expensive pale blue Lexus—a fully loaded hybrid. That might be a hundred-thousand-dollar car. And the woman—very young, beautiful and tiny, but with enviable curves, stepped out and closed the door.

Erin stood in the cabin doorway. The woman smiled as she came closer. “You must be Erin,” she said almost shyly.

“That’s right,” Erin said, and her gut began to twist because she had an ill feeling about who this might be.

“I hope you’ll forgive this intrusion,” she said. “This isn’t something I ever thought I’d do. My name is Annalee Riordan and I’ve come here to ask you to give me back my husband.”

That slight twist turned into a terrible clamp around her insides; she nearly doubled over with the pain. She called upon many years of practice at never letting anyone see her sweat. “I don’t have your husband,” she said.

“You’re not the woman involved with Aiden?” she asked, looking very surprised. “Oh, I’m so sorry—you must think I’m an idiot. I thought it was you. I apologize. I’ll go now.” And she turned away.

“Why are you here? What is it you think I can do for you?”

She turned back and flipped her beautiful, thick blond hair over one shoulder. She shook her head dismally. “So, you are the one. Well, I’m not even sure. Tell him you’re no longer interested in him, maybe? Tell him to give his marriage another chance? I mean, we made a lot of mistakes, me and Aiden—and I take responsibility for at least half the problems—but shouldn’t we try to work it out, since there was some complication with the paperwork and we’re not actually divorced? I took it as a sign. Maybe now, older and wiser, we can do better…”