“Th-Thank you.”
“How often does this happen? I don’t remember seeing you this way before.”
She still stood before him, his arms around her, holding her hands on the railing. His chest pressed to her back.
“Not often.”
“Is this something new for you?”
She nodded, and his eyes fixed on the back of her neck. That place he’d promised himself he would kiss every day when they were married.
“I’m better now, thank you, Nathan.” She turned, but he didn’t step back. Suddenly there she was, the woman who had once been his. Those lips he’d kissed more than was appropriate, and the sweet curve of her jaw he’d trailed his fingers over. His eyes drank every inch of her face in.
“Nathan, I…” Her words fell away as they looked at each other.
“Why?” he whispered, leaning closer, so close that the exhale of her breath brushed his lips. “Just tell me that?”
“I cannot.”
“Tell me, damn you.” He pulled her closer. Her breasts were now pressed to his chest. “Why did you leave me?”
“It was nothing to do with you, Nathan. Or the love we shared.”
“You expect me to believe that when tonight I watched you falling all over yourself to please Valentine? Was I not a big enough catch for you?”
“And I saw you enter with that woman on your arm!” she fired back at him. “It appears you too have moved on.”
“My cousin,” he snapped.
She looked away. “I’m sorry. Now, please, I-I can say no more.”
“Is this the true Miss Bethany Carlow I’m seeing? Were you acting before so I would fall in love with you? Or did you want to get close to my brother the earl? Was that your goal all along?” He didn’t know where the words came from, just that suddenly they were there. Everything he’d tamped down rose to the surface.
“No! How can you say such hateful things to me?”
“How?” His laugh held no humor. “How can I not? You reappear as if you never left and throw yourself at Valentine.”
“I loved you!”
“Then why?” His eyes ran over her face, settling on her lips.
“I can’t say.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
The nights he’d dreamed of her, nights spent aching to kiss her, suddenly had him lowering his head. The temptation of those lips just inches from his was too much. Pressing his to hers, he felt it again, that wonderful connection they’d shared. The fierce need he’d always felt to possess her.
He tasted their desperation and desire. He took her mouth in a deep, savage exploration of need. His head swam, his body was hard in seconds, and he wanted more. Only with her did he feel like this. No woman before or since had made him experience this reckless rush of need. He’d always controlled it… until now.
She clung to him, her arms around his neck, hands digging into his scalp. Each kiss grew fiercer. His hands swept her body, pressing her curves into chest. He wanted to feel her skin. Wanted to stroke her until she was hot and wet. Then do what he’d always dreamed of, make her his. Drive into her slick, tight heat and brand her as his own.
“No.” She eased back pressing fingers that trembled to his mouth. “No more, Nathan.”
“You wanted that as much as I did,” he rasped when she stepped back and out of his arms.
“Yes, I will not lie and state otherwise. B-But it cannot and will not happen again.”
This time she moved to the right and farther away from him. He wanted to follow and grab her. Haul her back into his arms and make her stay with him. He could do it, they both knew that, but he wouldn’t.
