Then why? He squashed the question even as it begged an answer.
“I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I’m all right. It’s just, I suppose, it was easier to think you were simply being greedy...” She shook her head.
“Oh, but I am.” Because he wanted her. She’d rejected him over and over, and yet he still wanted her.
“You are no such thing.” She brushed her hand across her eyes again.
“And yet you are crying.” The makings of the female mind—particularly this female—were a mystery.
“Because you’re being too nice to me. I don’t deserve it.” She sniffed and made a half-laughing sound at herself. “It’s just that you’re such a terribly good person, Emerson. Everything about you. Your family. Your beautiful estate.” She smiled tremulously down at the food. “Even this, after today, is just too… nice.”
She turned her head away.
He hated seeing her so forlorn.
“Ah, sweet.” When she turned to meet his gaze, gravity won.
He crawled around the picnic to sit beside her and pulled her into his arms. She did not resist him.
“You deserve nice things,” he murmured into her hair. “You’ve been perfectly honest with me, and I haven’t been fair. Forgive me?”
If anything, this evoked even more tears.
“Only if you forgive me,” she said.
“Forgive you? Damn it, sweetheart. I only wish I knew what for.”
And when she lifted her lashes to meet his stare, he broke. He simply broke.
One last kiss. He needed one last kiss.
And damned if she didn’t taste even better than he remembered.
Just Once
Priscilla’s last tenuous shred of resistance fled.
One more kiss. She’d always want one more kiss with him. Had she known this all along? Because kissing this man felt as vital to her as breathing.
A sigh, a flutter, she inhaled his very essence, memorizing him, imprinting this moment on her soul.
She and Chloe were leaving tomorrow. How would she keep herself together in that moment when the coach carried her away from him?
Forever was a very long time.
She couldn’t think about that. Not with his arms around her.
All that mattered was this moment. She’d learned long ago that joy was fleeting and to embrace it when offered. Her hand was on his chest, and the racing beat of his heart matched hers.
“Yes,” she whispered in surrender, and he pressed her back so that she was lying on the cool sand. “Yes,” her soul breathed when he covered her with the warmth of his body.
She widened her knees, welcoming his weight, making room for him in the folds of her gown between her thighs.
His hands gentled over her curves, and she clung to him, imagining she’d never let go. And when guilt tried nudging in, she squeezed her eyes shut instead.
Nothing mattered but this.
