“Oh, Katrina,” he muttered. He rolled her on her back as he loomed over her. He swept his tongue inside her mouth, and she copied his strokes. Her hands moved over his back in soft caresses, sending tingles through him that spread like wildfire. All he wanted was to make her happy—to make him happy. To be with her all the time. To laugh, to love, to kiss... to never stop kissing!
Breaking the kiss, he trailed his lips down her neck, making her arch once more. She muttered his name in reverence, but then continued to whisper disjointed words.
“Felix, I must tell you.” She took a deep breath. “The truth.” A moan escaped her throat. “About me.”
It was like cold water being dumped over his head. He stiffened. Rising up on his elbows, he looked down at her. Eyes still closed, she smiled. His heart sank the longer he watched her. She appeared to be enthralled in passion, yet her words were most disturbing.
“What truth?” he asked in a low voice.
“Hmm...” she sighed. “Felix. I’m not... real.”
Pain like shards of glass cut through his heart. He knew she wasn’t asleep, but she wasn’t fully awake, either. Yet it didn’t matter. There had been something on her mind that she’d wanted to tell him. In the pit of his stomach, he knew it wasn’t good.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not... who you think... I am.”
“You lied to me?” he asked, continuing to keep his voice low.
“Yes.”
Tightness consumed his chest, making it hard to breathe. Why had he let his guard down? Why had he convinced himself that Katrina was different from the other women? Once again, it was proven to him that women lie to get what they want. Did they even know how to tell the truth? Did they know what kind of agony men went through when they lose their hearts?
Without a second thought, he moved away from her and left the tent. Today’s journey would go quicker than normal because he now couldn’t wait to deliver her to her father—and make her stay there!
* * * *
KATRINA STIRRED AWAKE, feeling very disoriented.What a strange dream!
Blinking, she yawned and opened her eyes. Morning had come too early. She didn’t want to wake up.
She smiled and curled on her side, looking toward Felix’s bedroll.
Gone.
She sat up and stretched, wondering why she hadn’t heard him leave. It must have been that wonderful dream she’d had. Just remembering made her face heat up. In her dream, he’d taken her in his arms and kissed her so passionately. In her dream she told him about her true identity, and he accepted her. Then the dream ended rather abruptly, and coldness filled her chest. That’s when she’d come awake.
Oh, she prayed things would go that smoothly when she told him for real. She hoped he would not be put off because of her circumstances in life.
Moving to her pack, she dug through it to find fresh, clean clothes to wear. As she pulled off her shirt, she detected a man’s scent. She brought the material up to her nose and sniffed. Why did it smell like Felix?
Warm shivers cascaded over her, reminding her of the dream again. She peeked over her shoulder at his bedroll. For some odd reason, it wasn’t that wrinkled. Not like hers...
Panic surged through her and she moved to her bedroll, sniffing the blanket. Her breath caught in her throat.Felix!Had he cuddled with her during the night? Her dream couldn’t have possibly happened. Or had it been a dream at all?
She placed a hand to her fiercely beating heart. What were the odds that she and Felix really did kiss that passionately? Gingerly, she touched her mouth. The roughness from his unshaven face still tingled on her lips. Warmth spread down her neck and rested in her bosom. He had kissed her! So, did that mean she’d also told him the truth?
Hastily, she yanked off her clothes and pulled the clean ones on. She didn’t dare ask him if he had been holding and kissing her during the night, because that would just make her appear foolish—especially if they hadn’t been doing what her dream had suggested. Hopefully, she’d be able to see it in his gaze, and hear it in his tone of voice to know if they really had been intimate during the night.
Once dressed, she crawled to the opening of her tent and exited. Raised voices greeted her, but not in a good way. The men in the camp appeared irritated and confused. As she stood, Felix’s voice boomed louder than the others as he issued commands.
She looked his way and noticed he had changed into clean clothes, too. He paced the length of their camp in long strides, talking to Carlos as he motioned with his hands furiously. Obviously, something was wrong, and she didn’t dare ask for fear of being yelled at.
Without being told, she began taking down her tent, preparing to leave. Some of the others were doing that as well. Her stomach rumbled with hunger, and she glanced at the low burning fire in the middle of camp to see what was cooking.
The embers in the pit were covered with dirt, and unfortunately no food was nearby.
Grumbling, she realized that whatever had upset Felix this morning had thrown off everyone’s routine. Perhaps the best course of action should be to make breakfast herself.
