Marooned with a Millionaire by Kristi Gold

right.”
    â€œI bet you go for anything but simple women.”
    â€œLike I said before, I don’t want any complications.”
    Lizzie’s heart sank at the same time the boat took a considerable dip. Jack tightened his arm around her.
    â€œNo complications tonight, Ahab. Just some sleep, okay?”
    â€œI’m not sure I can sleep.”
    Lizzie took a chance and kissed his cheek. “Sure you can. Close your eyes and count sheep or bottles of rum or whatever sailors count at night. Or we could count our blessings that we made it through this.”
    He sighed. “Yeah, but we’re farther out to sea and we’re still not sure when someone will find us.”
    Lizzie lifted her head and stared at him. “I don’t want to hear that. Someone will find us soon. We’ll be back on land before you know it.”
    She caught a flash of a smile in the diffused light. “If you say so, Dorothy.”
    â€œYou can take that to the bank, Ahab.”
    And Lizzie realized that when they did return to civilization, it would all be over, regardless that she didn’t truly want it to be. But even if Jack disappeared from her life, she would still have her baby—and an empty space in her heart that she knew only time would close.
    Right now she needed to concentrate on closingher eyes, taking to memory these moments in her strong, silent sailor’s arms…in case they never came again.
    Â 
    Sleep continued to evade Jack long after Lizzie’s breathing grew calm and steady. She’d barely moved for a long time—until she managed to toss her bare leg over his thigh. He remained as still as a corpse, an apt description since rigor mortis had set into one very sensitive part of his body. It was all he could do not to crawl beneath the covers to kiss those long limbs and slide his mouth upward to find out if she tasted as sweet and warm as she felt against his hip.
    But he wouldn’t do that. She was pregnant and she needed her rest. She needed much more than he could give her beyond an incredible bout of lovemaking. And he knew it would be incredible between them, just as he knew she would awaken in the morning with the same sunny smile that made his emotional fortress crumble a little more each time he saw it.
    He settled for holding her closer knowing that when this was over, they would say their goodbyes. She would return to her life and the promise of her child. He would return to the sea with nothing but his seclusion.
    Still, he would never regret having her with him, even for the briefest time. He would never be sorry that she’d landed on his boat and in his life.
    He might be sorry that he didn’t have more to give her in terms of permanency, that he didn’t have the guts to open himself up to the possibilities. But theystill had some time together, hopefully not more than a day or two, for Lizzie’s sake.
    As for him, he would try to be strong, resist her body, resist what she had been so willing to offer.
    And that could be the hardest thing he had ever done in his life.
    Â 
    Lizzie woke not knowing how long she had been asleep. She did know that her arms were now empty due to Jack’s disappearance from the bed. She raised her head to find him staring out the windows that hit him chest high. The first signs of dawn cast the sky outside in a light pink-and-blue panorama, revealing subtle details of Jack’s breathtaking back. Lizzie tracked the line of his strong arms dangling at his sides from broad, well-defined shoulders. But when her gaze reached his elbows, she made a little detour to study the path of his equally strong spine that dipped beneath his trim waist. And below that, a sight that could stop a stock-car race—firm, taut buttocks that looked as if they had been calculated to provide hours of entertainment for a pair of eager, feminine hands. Her hands, to be exact.
    The realization that Jack wasn’t a stick-around