‘How had you been stupid, Jo?’ His voice sounded raw and uneven, but the way his tongue curled around her name triggered a terrifying response in her body. ‘You’re hot,’ he breathed wonderingly as a pink glow suffused her from head to toe. ‘Did I. . . ?’
She was suddenly tired: tired of pretending, tired of denying the obvious. ‘I can’t help it.’ She raked her quivering
lower lip quite savagely with her teeth. ‘I thought I could do this,’ she moaned half to herself. Her silky hair lashed against her cheek as she shook her head from side to side. ‘But obviously I can’t.’
He reached down and brushed away a strand that had adhered to the film of moisture that covered her skin. ‘Tell me about your unrealistic dreams, Jo.’
‘I thought I could make you fall in love with me.’ She hunched her shoulders defensively.
‘That’s not something you can engineer, it just happens. Did it happen to you, Jo?’
His pursuit of the truth seemed unreasonably cruel but part of her was relieved to be able to finally confess. ‘Yes. . . yes. . . yes!’ She tried to cover her face with her hands, but cruelly he took her wrists.
‘No,’ he said firmly as she struggled, ‘I think you’ve hidden from me for long enough. Look at me!’ he ordered quietly.
Something she couldn’t quite identify in his tone made her obey without thinking. One large tear trembled in the corner of her eyes before it slowly slid down the curve of her cheek as she stood transfixed by what she was seeing. All thoughts of escape disappeared. Caution had become a habit and she found she couldn’t accept what she was seeing.
‘Shall
I
confess something?’ There was an expression in his eyes she’d only ever seen in her dreams, and it was better—
so much
better in real life.
Jo nodded her head vigorously. She had a sudden blissful feeling she might quite like what she was about to hear.
‘If you’d stayed at that door a few moments longer you’d have heard me tell Dad the only reason I’d married you was that I loved you. I loved you and I couldn’t bear the idea of living without you. I thought that was what
you’d heard. I thought that was what made you so disgusted. Would you believe I was relieved when I realised you’d got the wrong end of the stick—as usual?’
‘You love me?’ she echoed stupidly. All that pain and anguish and he’d loved her all along. It wouldn’t sink in. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ she cried.
‘If you let your mind wander back you might realise that I was trying to! You didn’t make it easy. It’s very awkward to discover you want to tear the clothes off the back of someone you’ve treated like. . . ’
‘One of the lads. . . ?’
‘Your sex has never been in dispute. Your taste in men, now that’s another matter.’
‘Yes. . . well.’ The bubble of confidence inside was expanding until she was floating on a cloud of euphoria. ‘I was a bit jealous myself.’
‘I made up the Suzanna, in the letters.’
‘She looked pretty real to me!’ She closed her eyes and rubbed her cheek lovingly against his arm. I’m not dreaming, she told herself. This is real. A wondering smile curved her generous lips as she opened her eyes.
‘Oh, I borrowed the name without even realising it because the real Suzanna was getting in my hair at the time, being a damned nuisance as it happened. God, that woman’s persistent! She’d put together a financial package and she was convinced it would all fall apart if I didn’t stop dragging my feet. I wasn’t being deliberately hard to get, I just wasn’t prepared to commit myself to anything I hadn’t thoroughly researched.
‘The idea of me getting married before I’d finished polishing up the script nearly gave her an apoplexy. I shouldn’t be ungrateful—they’re paying me an indecent amount of money and I’ve already been offered an advance on my next book.’
So long as Suzanna only wanted his literary talent Jo could feel quite benevolent about her. ‘Why would you do a thing like make up a woman?’ Amazingly she found she could smile at his stupidity. Liam loved her, she could smile at just about anything! ‘Were you trying to make me jealous?’ she asked, indignant at this sudden possibility.
‘I might have tried it if I’d thought it would work, but my motivation was much less complex. I went away with every intention of forgetting our night of unbridled passion—as instructed. Sensible plan, only I couldn’t seem to get my head around it. I was as anxious as you were to preserve our friendship and I was sure if you suspected I couldn’t stop thinking about. . . ’ His eyes were hot and sultry as they sought hers. ‘Do you know you give this little cry—real deep and husky when. . . ?’
He took the fingers she’d hurriedly placed over his lips into his mouth and slowly ran his tongue over each one, watching her eyes darken and glaze as he did so. ‘Yeah, that’s the one,’ he agreed huskily. ‘Just thinking about it makes the hair on my neck stand on end.’
‘What else does it do to you, Liam?’
‘I’ll show you very shortly,’ he promised huskily. ‘I created Suzanna to stop you suspecting I was getting a mild case of obsession.’
‘Only mild?’ Her lips pursed provocatively in mock dissatisfaction.
‘You want your pound of flesh? Fine. I’m talking sleep deprivation, loss of appetite and the attention span of a flea. Satisfied?’
‘Do fleas have a problem with concentration, then?’ From the instant he’d mentioned flesh—specifically his—her brain had been reminding her of exactly how perfect the texture of Liam’s was.
‘How the hell should I know?’ he exclaimed indignantly.
‘Do you know the skin on your back feels quite different from your stomach?’ Her heavy, slumbrously sexy gaze ran down his body. When she moistened her dry lips with the tip of her tongue and sighed Liam let out a low moan. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked anxiously. ‘Are you in pain?’
‘Definitely!’
‘Is there anything I can do to help?’
‘I can bring several things to mind offhand,’ he admitted throatily.
‘Is this one of them?’ On tiptoe she reached up and took his face between her hands. Her parted lips trembled against his and as his tongue thrust deep into the velvety darkness of her mouth her bones liquefied. ‘I’ve missed the taste of you—you can have no idea, Liam! I’ve dreamt of your kiss, my love.’
He tasted warm and spicy, and she breathed in the fragrance of his warm body greedily. His teeth closed over the fullness of her lower lip and he tugged before allowing his tongue to trace the inner full curve of her sweet mouth. Her hands slid open-palmed down his chest and a low series of noisy gasps emerged from her parted lips.
He took her face almost roughly between his hands and examined her delicate features hungrily.
‘I can’t imagine why I didn’t realise how shamefully beautiful you are years ago.’
‘I’m not beautiful, Liam. My mouth is too big, my—’
‘I want to get something straight right now,’ he said, placing a finger to her lips. ‘Have you forgotten what I said? You’re only allowed to stay if you accept my terms and the first one of those is when I tell you you’re beautiful and desirable there will be no arguments.’
‘Whatever you say, Liam,’ she said meekly.
‘I could throttle you when I think of the past few months.’
‘That might be counter-productive,’ she suggested gently as she wove her fingers deeper into his hair.
‘You’ve got a point there,’ he agreed, as the top button on her blouse popped open.
‘When did you realise you loved me?’
Liam removed his gaze from the shadowy promise of her cleavage reluctantly. ‘Now isn’t that just like a woman, as my old dad would say?’
‘Are you avoiding the question?’
‘I’m warning you this isn’t your standard romantic reply. It wasn’t when the sunlight turned your hair into a burnished halo or anything like that.’
She got hold of his shirt and pretended to shake him. ‘I want to know.’
‘It was when you’d been so sick that evening at your place. I walked in and you were sitting there on the floor and you looked up at me. You looked like death,’ he recalled with inappropriate accuracy, but Jo forgave him because the wonder he’d felt then was still fresh in his eyes for her to see now. ‘Your eyes seemed to fill half your face and there were black circles under them. Your skin was so white I could have counted your freckles.’ A slow smile curved his lips and he shook his head incredulously. ‘I just looked at you and thought, I want to look at that face every day of my life. I felt incredibly stupid that I’d not realised it before.’
‘Who told you you’re not romantic?’ She sniffed.
‘You.’
‘I think I’m going to cry.’
‘Kiss me instead.’
Being an obedient wife, Jo did just that.
‘Is he asleep?’ Liam whispered.
‘I think so.’ Jo strained to see the features of their young son in the pale dawn light. He lay between them in the king-size bed.
‘Shall I put him back in the crib?’
Jo flicked on the bedside light. ‘Yes, he’s sound asleep.’ She smiled, looking at the face of cherubic innocence. ‘He’s a miracle, isn’t he?’
‘A miracle with excellent lungs, I’m happy to say.’ Liam carefully placed the sleeping infant in the crib at the foot of the bed.
Jo watched him covetously. Her husband slept naked and the sight of his beautiful, streamlined body made her unconsciously lick her lips.
‘I think I prefer the simplified sleeping arrangements,’ he said.
‘You might not be so enthusiastic after a few more sleepless nights.’
Liam slid back into the bed beside her and placed his rangy frame up against her. ‘A man on his honeymoon doesn’t expect to sleep.’
‘Is that where we are?’
‘I don’t know about you, love, but I’m in heaven.’ He reached out for her and gathered her pliable, warm body to him. ‘You’ll get overheated with this on.’
‘You’re probably right,’ she murmured as the nightshirt was tossed across the room.
‘I missed so much.’ His head rested against her shoulder and his hand was spread out over her belly.
The deep regret and loss in his voice brought a lump to her throat. ‘I wanted to share it too, Liam. I wanted you to feel our baby move.’
‘Our baby is here and so are you; that’s all that matters to me, Jo.’ His hand moved slowly down her quivering
body from shoulder to flank. ‘You’ve forgotten something, though.’
‘I have?’ she said thickly, allowing her tongue to trace a damp trail over his shoulder. She’d forgotten about feeling unattractive. Liam made her feel the most desirable woman on earth.
‘I said you’d have to do the asking.’
‘And if I don’t?’
‘I’ll have to be inconsistent and make love to you anyway.’
‘In that case,’ she said smugly as she insinuated a leg between his thighs and applied a gentle amount of pressure, ‘will you please allow me to stay with you, Liam, and share my body with you? My heart I throw in for free,’ she offered generously. She yelped as he flipped her over onto her back without warning.
‘Is that an unconditional offer?’ he growled
She smiled with sultry sincerity into his eyes. ‘You’d better believe it, my love.’
Liam did.