Brenda Jackson - Surrender

T here was just something about a good-looking woman, Marine Colonel Ashton Sinclair thought as he sat alone at a table in the back of the restaurant called Sisters. The owner of the establishment, a beautiful and breathtaking woman by the name of Netherland Brooms, had captured his gaze and was holding it with an intensity that he did not find unnerving. In fact he found it to be an enjoyable experience, especially since he intended to marry her.

The woman, however, had other ideas about that.

He shrugged. There was nothing wrong with her having other ideas except when those ideas placed limitations on the future he intended to have with her no matter what obstacles she placed in his way.

He leaned back in his chair as he continued to watch his wife-to-be. Even from across the room he saw her soft skin that he knew would feel like silk. Her hair, a dark black, had a gloss to it as it cascaded around her shoulders. He could even imagine her scent, a warm, musky fragrance that was exclusively hers. Fantasizing about how she would taste when he kissed her, as well as how good she would fit in his arms, sent everything male about him into overdrive. Then there was the way she walked and talked as she moved around the room, greeting the customers who frequented this restaurant of hers. She had nice rounded hips with even nicer curves, and her breasts, which lifted high and pushed against the fabric of the blouse she was wearing, were a total turn-on.

A male smile touched Ashtons lips. He had known, from the first time he had seen her a few years ago, that she would be his one and only love. Thanks to his African-American heritage, which included ancestors that had been fierce tribal medicine men with mystical powers, and his Cherokee Indian heritage that had included a great-great-grandfather whod been a shaman, he had been delivered a vision. In fact there had been two visions, and both indicated it was a foregone conclusion that he would marry Netherland Brooms sooner or later.

He preferred sooner.

She preferred never.

She was a stubborn woman, but then he was a stubborn man.

She thought her mind was made up about him, absolutely closed. But on that same note, he knew he was going to enjoy every single minute it took to make her change her mind, open it.

This assignment would be difficult. He had to convince her to accept the love he wanted to offer her. He would have to show her how the two of them could be good together. He would have to prove to her that she was indeed the woman for him and that he was the man for her. She couldnt see what he already knew, what the visions had shown himtheir destinies were entwined. She would be the one person to give him an all-consuming love, a meaningful life and three sons, triplets. One who would grow up to be a doctor, one a lawyer and the other, he thought smiling, an Indian chief. That had been one of the visions that he could not repute. One of his sons would do what he himself had not done and that was to rightfully take his place among his fathers people in the Cherokee tribe.

But there could be no babies until he was able to bind the woman to him that would one day be his sons mother. He knew he had a challenge on his hands, but a smart man prepared himself for the difficulties ahead.

And there was no doubt in his mind that Netherland Brooms would be difficult. She was acting the part already.

The first step was to get rid of her negativity concerning military men. It wouldnt be easy but then nothing worth having was, and as far as he was concerned, Netherland Brooms was definitely worth having. He wanted her complete surrender.

And he intended to get it.

H es here again tonight.

Netherland Brooms inhaled deeply as she watched the man enter her restaurant. Not waiting to be escorted to a table by a hostess, he moved across the polished floor and took a seat at one of the vacant tables in the rear. His overwhelming presence demanded attention. And he was getting it.

Sheer panic made Netherland take another breath, an even deeper one. Ashton Sinclair was intent on breaking her resolve and making her do the very thing she had never done in all her twenty-eight years, which was to lust after a man. But then, after glancing around the room, she concluded that lusting after Ashton Sinclair wasnt such a hard thing to do when she noticed she wasnt the only female suffering from that same dilemma. She could tell by the way the other women were licking their lips that, unlike her, they didnt think lusting after him a serious problem. After all, he was the epitome of everything male and then some.

Half African-American and half Native American, the man was jaw-dropping, stomach-churning, eye-crossing handsome. And to top that off, he exuded strong male animal sexuality that was seductively dangerous. He was tall, almost six-four, and beautifully proportioned. His hair, which flowed freely down his back and around his shoulders, was coal-black and framed dark eyes, high chiseled cheekbones, a strong nose and full lips. At the moment, it was his dark eyes that were giving her the most worry because they were focused dead on her. They were piercing, compelling and challenging. The last of which was what she resented the most since the challenge in them was always directed at her. Whenever he looked at her, it was as if he saw something he intended to have.