"Hmm, so am I," Natalie replied, her gaze never leaving the baby in her arms. She pressed a finger against Jennifer's tiny palm and the little girl instinctively clutched Natalie's ringer in her sleep. Natalie sighed, the sound rife with longing. "Isn't she just the sweetest thing you've ever seen?"

Leaning close, Noah nuzzled Natalie's neck, inhaling deeply of her warm, feminine fragrance tinged with the scent of baby powder. "After you, yes."

She shivered and cast him a look filled with sensual promise-for later. "You know how to say all the right things, don't you."

He grinned rakishly. "I speak the truth."

She rolled her eyes and returned her gaze to Jennifer. "Just look at her, Noah. She's so perfect."

"That's because she's sleeping," he said, a teasing inflection in his tone. "You obviously haven't been on the receiving end of her crankiness. Jen takes after her mother. When she's in one of those moods she reminds me of Jo when she's ticked off." He shuddered for effect.

Soft laughter escaped Natalie. "You are so bad." She met his gaze, suddenly growing serious. "Holding her in my arms, I realize that I want a big family someday, especially since I was an only child and didn't have any siblings. I want that, for me and our children."

Our children. Oh, wow. Her reference to them having babies together struck him square in the chest, toppling him a bit off balance emotionally. He wanted things with Natalie that he'd never dreamed possible, never allowed himself to believe could be his. A wife. Babies. A family of his very own. It all seemed so close, so within his reach-yet they were living a lie, and their relationship was still precarious at best.

"What about you, Noah?" she asked, her question definitely calling for an answer, especially since she believed they were engaged to be married and a discussion about kids would be perfectly normal. "Do you want a big family?"

He swallowed hard and dredged up the most honest response he could put together. "Yeah, when the time is right, I would love a big family."

She gave him a soft, lingering kiss on his lips. "I'm glad we agree on that."

Minutes later, Jo and Dean came up to the table, breathless and looking like newlyweds themselves, and Noah was grateful for the interruption, which distracted Natalie from more talk about babies.

"I think us old married folk are going to head home and put the little one to bed," Dean said.

Noah witnessed a shared look between the couple, and saw Dean's excuse for what it was-the chance to spend a romantic evening with his wife. Noah understood, because he couldn't wait to get Natalie alone, either.

Natalie brushed her lips over Jennifer's brow, then glanced up at Jo. "If you ever need a baby-sitter, just let me know. I absolutely adore her."

"Thank you for the offer. And judging by how content she looks, I think the adoration is mutual."

Dean gathered up his sleeping daughter while Jo collected the baby paraphernalia on the table and dumped it into the diaper bag. With one last goodbye, the trio exited the party, leaving Noah and Natalie sitting alone at their table.

Just as the band switched to a slow ballad, Noah picked up Natalie's hand and caressed his thumb over her knuckles. "How about one last slow dance before we head home, too?"

She nodded and stood. "I would love that."

He led her out to the parquet floor where only a handful of other couples were enjoying the music, and pulled her tight into his embrace. She wrapped her arms around his neck and flowed into him, breasts to chest, thighs to thighs. He splayed a hand at the small of her back and aligned their hips, too. Their bodies brushed with every movement, heightening the awareness between them.

Natalie looked up at him, her gaze searching his in the dim lighting. "Noah-when are we getting married?"

Her unexpected question startled him for a moment. Then frustration settled in. It was getting more and more difficult to keep up the pretense between them, to continue to let Natalie believe something that just wasn't real, no matter how much Noah wished otherwise. "We haven't set a date yet."

"Maybe we should," she said, smoothing her hand beneath his suit jacket, her palm coming to rest over his rapidly beating heart. "That way I can have something to look forward to and start planning."

He hated denying her anything, but refused to put such a life-altering change into motion when their engagement was based on fabrications. And more and more he wanted their relationship based on reality, truth and trust. "When your memory returns we'll talk about it," he said, giving her at least that much. "I promise."

She released a soft sound teeming with impatience. "There you go again, coddling me."

He allowed a slight smile to make an appearance. "I'm not coddling you. I just think that discussing a wedding date isn't as important as making sure you're better and your memory is back to normal."

It was obvious by her determined expression that she disagreed. "All right," she finally relented. "But just for the record, I don't have to like your way of thinking."

He chuckled at her bit of defiance and tucked her head against his chest. "I didn't expect you to, sweetheart."

As the music played, she softened against him, as much a part of him as the steady beat of his heart. And that's when he knew that he couldn't go on Like this, deceiving her with their relationship, playing with her emotions. The complete truth had to be told, their circumstances and feigned engagement explained, even at the risk of losing her.

But first he wanted one last night with her.

Chapter Ten

Less than an hour later, Noah shrugged out of his formal jacket, tossed it onto the chair in the corner of his bedroom and locked gazes with the woman who made him hard with wanting. "Have I told you how incredibly sexy you look in that dress you're wearing?"

With a sensual smile curving her lips, she closed the distance between them, tugged his bow tie loose and dropped it to the floor. Then she started in on the buttons of his dress shirt, her warm lips kissing each inch of skin she bared. "Yeah, you have, and I do believe you made mention of wondering what I'm wearing beneath it, too."

"So I did," he said huskily, helping her as she pushed his shirt off his shoulders, down his arms and off. "Is that an invitation to find out?"

Laving one of his nipples with the flat of her tongue, she unbuckled his belt, pulled his zipper carefully over his enormous erection, and let his trousers fall to pool around his bare feet. His briefs followed, which he promptly kicked aside, leaving him completely naked while she remained fully dressed.

"Consider it an invitation, a dare, a challenge."

She knelt in front of him, her palms sliding down his hair-roughened thighs as she went. "I'm game for any or all three."

He chuckled at her playful reply, then groaned as she wrapped her fingers around his aching shaft and stroked him from base to tip, drawing a bead of clear fluid from the head of his penis. Pulling the clip from her hair, he tangled his fingers in the spill of silky strands and dared her to indulge in a more carnal intimacy.

He watched his fantasy unfold as her lashes drifted shut, her lips parted, and she enveloped him in the wet heat and suction of her mouth. She teased him with her tongue, drawing him deeper still, and when she moaned in the back of her throat, the sound vibrated along his shaft and threatened his control.

Effortlessly, she'd taken over the reins of tonight's seduction. She pushed him to the brink, testing his restraint not once, but twice, before she finally stopped, leaving him full and throbbing for release. Refusing to go there without her along for the ride, he pulled her back up and captured her mouth with his, taking over with a challenge of his own.

Their tongues tangled and mated as he tugged the sleeves of her dress all the way down her arms. With a helpful shimmy of her hips, the sweater material slid the rest of the way off her body. When he finally stepped back and looked his fill of her, standing there in a strapless bra, barely there string-bikini panties and silky thigh-high stockings, the first thought that filled his mind was that she was a sexy centerfold come to life. His own personal playmate to enjoy and devour.

"This was definitely worth waiting for," he murmured appreciatively.

Dipping his head, he traced the full swells of her lush breasts with his tongue while reaching behind her to release the catch on her bra. The garment fell to the floor, and he latched onto a taut nipple, suckling her as his name tumbled from her lips. He cupped her other breast in his palm, fondling the warm, resilient flesh until the dual assault had her body twisting against him and her fingers digging into the muscles of his back.

He straightened, and with a hot, deep kiss he guided her back toward the foot of the bed and onto the center of the mattress. He didn't join her just yet, too enthralled by the sight of her lying there. Her blond hair haloed her head, her breasts rose and fell with each deep breath she took, those insubstantial panties covered her feminine secrets, and the provocative stockings encased her long, slender limbs.

Hooking his fingers beneath the thin strings at the sides of her panties, he dragged the damp scrap of fabric down her legs while his lips pressed hot, moist, openmouthed kisses up her thighs. His tongue tasted, his teeth marked her, and she writhed and moaned under his ministrations.

Once her underwear was off, she automatically opened her stocking-clad legs, issuing him the final invitation to come inside her. He did, using his tongue and fingers to make love to her and take her to the edge of orgasm. Again and again, he teased and tormented her with the promise of an explosive climax, just as she'd done to him.