Georgie's Heart by Kathryn Brocato Page A

Gant.”
    â€œNow, Zane, if you weren’t present, I’d be sawing those trees down myself. Throw me that rope.” She laughed up at him, enjoying the way he tried to take care of her, even though anyone could see she didn’t need it.
    â€œGeorgie, you’re about to witness some of my unreasonable behavior brought about by your failure to follow my orders.”
    â€œWhat is it with doctors? They seem to have a problem with thinking they can snap orders at people when they aren’t in a medical setting.”
    â€œThis is a clinic, isn’t it?”
    â€œIt won’t be a clinic until the dedication ceremony one week from today.” Georgeanne gazed up and marveled again at the picture he presented.
    â€œThis was a medical clinic, and it is about to be a medical clinic again. This is a medical setting, and I am a medical doctor. I have the degrees and the years of penal servitude to prove it. Therefore, when I speak, underlings such as yourself should hop to obey.”
    â€œSez who?” Georgeanne put her hands on her hips and came to stand directly beneath him, grinning.
    Zane seized a pair of ropes that were slung over tree limbs in his large hands and grinned back at her. “Sez me. Punishment for this insubordination awaits. Look out below.”
    To Georgeanne’s astonishment, he used the ropes to rappel down from the roof as he spoke. The next instant, he was beside her on the ground. He let go the ropes and grabbed for her.
    Georgeanne did the only thing that occurred to her. She broke and ran, laughing with newfound joy and excitement.
    Zane followed on her heels. Georgeanne soon realized that he was letting her escape capture long enough to reach a secluded spot among a grove of tallow trees lining one of the rice fields. The moment she was out of sight of the clinic, Zane’s big hands closed around her waist and he jerked her off her feet.
    Georgeanne shrieked with surprise. She was no lightweight, but Zane didn’t appear to know that. No man had ever actually lifted her off her feet before. It was a novel sensation, to say the least. The next thing she knew, she lay full length on a grassy area behind the trees, with Zane stretched out beside her.
    The afternoon sun behind his head cast a halo and made him look like a particularly handsome angel. The dark angel, she decided dizzily, as she stared, mesmerized, into his smoky eyes. She saw the promise of pleasure there, along with a raw, masculine power that was all too human.
    His pupils had dilated and he was gazing at her in a way Georgeanne instinctively responded to. Her breathing quickened and every muscle she had tightened with excitement, because the man she desired found her desirable.
    Zane gazed on her as if she was the most beautiful woman in the world. That excited her further, and she bent one knee to turn more fully toward him. Her breasts rose and fell with her rapid breathing, breathing that accelerated when he leaned toward her and cupped her chin with one hand.
    â€œI’ve been wanting this for the past week,” he said, “ever since I first saw you. Almost from the first letter you wrote me. Georgie, kiss me.”
    Georgeanne wouldn’t have dreamed of not kissing him. She reached for him automatically, bringing his face down. His lips touched hers, and he made a strangled sound before his tongue thrust into her mouth, claiming her. She wrapped her arms around his neck to bring him closer during the deep, searching kiss they exchanged.
    The feel of Zane’s big body against hers did something to Georgeanne. She reacted in a way totally unlike herself, but she was too involved in sensation to be shocked at her own behavior. She arched her back, mutely encouraging him to explore her with his hands while he kissed her.
    Zane wasted no time in answering her unspoken desire. He ran his hands down her sides then back up to cup her breasts. The wildly passionate sound she made