“Alexandra.”
He followed. Why? Why couldn’t he just lether alone to deal with her pain and misery?
“Alexandra.”
She stopped in her tracks, feet digging intothe soft sand. She turned. Faced him. Opened her mouth to tell himto go away, but the words clogged in her throat.
Why are you here, Nicholas?
He stepped closer. “Please listen,Alexandra.”
She pressed her lips together to keep thetears and a sudden rush of anger at bay. “Why? So you can unburdenyourself again and not feel guilty?”
“No. Because I have something to say to you.Only to you.”
She crossed her arms. Waited.
“I’ve been doing everything my whole life toplease my father, to be the best duke he wanted me to be.Pretending my whole life…”
He took another step toward her. She held upher hand.You’ve made it clear, you don’t want me. Fine. Nowleave me alone.
“I am to marry the perfect woman, awell-connected woman who will add value to the Rutland’s prestigein assets and power,” he said, each word slashing like a knottedwhip. “My life is built on it and it’s a good life and it’s alwaysbeen the life I wanted.”
And she was a nobody who could not give himan heir.
She blinked back another rush of tears. Shewould not shed another. She would not let Nicholas have thesatisfaction he so needed. Ridding himself of guilt at her expensewasn’t a road she wanted to travel. Not again. She’d fooled herselfwhen she knew full-well what could never be.
“Then I arrived here and I got a glimpse ofa freedom on this island. I don’t have to pretend a life in which Ican be truly alive.” He took a step closer. “How can I go back topretending when I know what this feels like?”
Nicholas bridged the gap between them,grasped her face in his hands. “I want you, Alexandra.Onlyyou.”
Tears coursed down her cheeks. She couldn’tbe certain of anything other than the searing pain in her heart andher raw fear of the immense power in this man, a potency he triedhard to keep leashed.
“We were meant to be together. We can nomore stop it than the sunrise.”
She shook her head, the tears she’d sovaliantly held in suddenly erupting like a geyser. Giant sobs camefrom somewhere deep inside.
He closed the space between them, gentlywiping away her tears as they fell. “Alexandra, love,” he whisperedtenderly. “The longest journey is taken a step at a time. My lovecan wait, but it will neither yield nor change.”
“I do not want to love you, Nicholas. Icannot love you. I cannot bear your children.”
“You think that matters to me? Mycourageous, wonderful Alexandra. You fill my whole world. And thenhe hauled her into his arms. He drew her up to him, holding hertight in his embrace, as if shielding her with his body against allthe torments, the fears and loneliness.
Cocooned within Nicholas’s arms, Alexandraclosed her eyes and drank it all inthe man, the millions of ways hemoved her. He lifted her ever so gently and carried her beneath theshade of palms, reverently laying her on the sand. She buried herface against his throat, so conscious of where his warm fleshtouched hers.
He brushed her hair with his callousedfingertips. “Your hair ripples and shines like a cascade of goldenwaters.”
The air lay thick with the heat of day. Shedared to glide her hands down his shoulders, chest, andmidsection.
He grabbed her hands. “Slowly,” he warnedher, watching her with hunger.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Helocked his eyes with hers, commanding her complete attention. Hewas giving her a way out. A choice to stop. But how did she tellhim to stop?
Alexandra swallowed. Who knew how long theywould be on this island. Perhaps an eternity. But what if they wererescued…she didn’t want to think…to go back to southern England, toan endless void of lonely days. The reaffirmation of all she knewto be true and cruel about life, about her own existence, destinedfor precious little happiness. “I want you, Nicholas.”
She sensed his vulnerability and reached upto stroke his cheek, awed by the splendor of the moment, yearningfor so much more.
Alexandra remained silent as he lay besideher. She thought she could speak, that there would be many morewords to share. But there were no more words. Nicholas reached outto her, the heat and passion forged in his body, so great shetrembled, for she really did not know what to do.
