"Perhaps you could best answer that question, Elyse. Is it unsafe to meet a man in a secluded place? After all, you are to be married soon. What would people say if they knew you were meeting me like this?" He smiled maddeningly.
"And don't forget about Jane's Folly. She ended up marrying the King."
"Meeting you!" Elyse flung back at him. "You followed me!"
"Actually, you're right," he conceded. "I did follow you. And it was fortunate I came along when you needed me."
"If you hadn't pursued me, I wouldn't have fallen. Exactly why did you follow me?" Her fingers slowly entwined about the reins. If she could just get control of the stallion.
His gloved hand closed over hers. "I explained that before; I wanted to see you again. After all that was quite a memorable greeting you gave me the other evening. It intrigued me. Where was it you thought we might have met?"
"I explained that it was all a mistake."
As Zach easily loosened her fingers from the reins, something very near a memory filled his thoughts.
"You should never ride without gloves," he said, and carefully spread her fingers, exposing lightly callused skin. Tenderly, he kissed the palm of her hand, his lips brushing the raised flesh.
In spite of the growing warmth of the morning sun, Elyse shivered. Her fingers curled tightly as something deep inside knotted and tightened at that innocent contact. What was the matter with her?
She'd been kissed before. But never in her life could she remember being kissed with such infinite tenderness. It was like a breath of wind across her senses, like a whisper of something once remembered but now forgotten. As her startled gaze met his, her fingers clenched protectively over her exposed palm.
"I'll ride whenever and wherever I please, and without gloves. I certainly don't need your approval," she informed him coolly. "Now, if you don't mind..." She drew her hand from his. "I should be getting back. If my horse returns before I do, my grandmother will be terribly worried."
Zach snapped ramrod straight in the saddle, saluting her. His gaze darkened and became unreadable.
"Absolutely! And if anyone questions me about this morning, I'll deny anything happened."
"Deny what? For God's sake, what are you talking about?"
Elyse turned, her hand still tingling where his lips had touched it. Her breath caught at the nearness of his face. As her gaze fastened on that slash of black satin across his eye, she was suddenly seized with a desire to pull it away and see him fully. She stared at the arrogant sensuality of his mouth, only inches from hers. She wet her lips, for they were suddenly dry at the memory of the exquisite heat of his mouth when he'd kissed her the night of the ball.
The arrogance in his gaze shifted to something equally unsettling. "I'll never tell a living soul that I took advantage of you in a secluded, dark place. I'm afraid your reputation could never stand the rumor and speculation. Nor could mine for that matter."
"Took advantage?" Elyse almost laughed at him. She would have if she could have breathed. She fought to control the wild hammering of her pulse. "I think your reputation will survive anything you do," she whispered, mesmerized by the downward turn at one corner of his mouth, forgetting whatever else she'd intended to say.
Staring into those wide blue eyes, her lithe body against his, Zach felt everything about him slip into some nether world as if everything had ceased to exist except for this moment, except this woman, whose slender body enticed even when disguised in masculine clothes. He wanted to kiss her and then walk away from her without regret, just as he wanted to believe he had done the night of the ball. He needed to prove to himself that she was nothing but a pawn he would use to get to Barrington, that she meant nothing to him. But staring into her soft blue gaze he felt something quicken deepen inside, betraying all his well-intentioned plans. Never before had he lost control with a woman—never, until this moment and this woman.
Everything suddenly seemed changed. They were no longer in a shaded hollow of the forest, nor were they in any dimension of time or reality. It was just the two of them, as there had always been.
Elyse's eyes closed at the touch of his gloved hand against her cheek.
"Lovely Lys."
The mocking laughter was gone from his voice. It was as if the game were suddenly over and they the last two players. The stallion stood quietly beneath them. And time seemed to stand still.
Zach ran his fingers through her disheveled hair, slowly stroking the silken mass.
"You promised you'd always wear your hair long for me."
An inexplicable fear made her shiver. "Please don't." She tried to pull away from him.
"I don't want... "
His hand gently brushed her chin, angling her face toward him. Any further protest was cut off as he kissed her.
Elyse jerked away. "No!"
She tried to retreat further but there was no escape, confined by the saddle. She was trapped and she knew it.
