The Wedding Party And Holiday Escapes Ultimate Collection. Кейт Хьюит

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СКАЧАТЬ sliver of air separated them, and it hummed with his need for her. “First and last, and all the ones in between.”

      “No.” She whispered her denial through softly parted lips.

      “Marrying Adam is a mistake. For you. For him.” He could see the rise and fall of her breasts as she drew in shallow, ragged breaths. “Don’t do it.”

      “No. I’m not,” she whispered.

      Her response didn’t quite make sense, but the pull of her overwhelmed him. He was leaving. For forever if he had to. But heaven help him he was going to kiss her.

      Just once more.

      One kiss to prove she shouldn’t marry his brother, one kiss to prove he was as depraved as the tabloids painted him.

      He lowered his head, his face so close to hers that her breath caressed his lips. Whatever happened, whether he kissed her or not, he couldn’t win; he would regret the decision for the rest of his life.

      Lexie closed her eyes. So young. So innocent.

      Calling on reserves of strength he didn’t know he had, Rafe pulled away.

      Her eyes flew open, locked on his for a timeless second. He tried and failed to back away. “I’m not marrying Adam.” Her words rushed out. And suddenly it was her hands in his hair, pulling him down, and Lexie rising up to him, pressing her lips to his.

      Her mouth fitted perfectly against his. She tasted of sweetness and sunshine. For long, exquisite moments there was just that simple joining, lips to lips and somehow soul to soul.

      He broke the kiss. “Say that again.” He needed the words that made sense of everything.

      “I’m not marrying Adam. We broke it off.” She reached for him again and her kiss was everything he needed and wanted in the world. She was his perfection.

      Still kissing her, he moved with her into her room, shut the door behind them. Lexie sighed against him as she melted into him, an echo of his own surrender.

      And he lost himself in her kiss.

      Thought deserted him, overwhelmed by sensation.

      “When?” he finally asked, minutes later.

      “After I kissed you the last time. I knew then that—”

      He pulled her against him, hip-to-hip, her yielding softness against his hardness. His hands desperately learning her shape, sliding beneath the silk of her blouse, touching heated skin smoother than the silk, tracing her contours, the flare of her hips, the curve of her waist, filling himself with the feel of her, her taste, her scent. Imprinting her against him, within him.

      Her tongue danced with his, an erotic twining as they each teased and explored. Nothing sweet, all heated desire. He cupped the soft weight of her breast, his thumb caressing the lace-covered nipple.

      “Why?” He heard his own doubt. Felt his desperation.

      She hesitated. “Because I don’t love him. I can’t love him. Not the way I want to.”

      Could it be the insanity telling him he heard the words he needed to hear? The relentless grip of his ungovernable need for her? He undid the top button of her blouse.

      “He was very gracious about it.”

      Showed what a fool his brother could be.

      “I think he was secretly relieved.”

      Not half as relieved as Rafe was. He undid the second delicate button. “Why are you still here?”

      “For Adam.”

      He frowned, his fingers stilling on the third button. “You do still have feelings for him?”

      “No. I told him I’d stay and attend any engagements I’m expected at. If I left so soon it wouldn’t look good. There would be all sorts of speculation. I leave after the christening.”

      Rafe’s hands resumed their exploring.

      “It turns out he was mainly going through with this to please your father and the country. Apparently, a wedding, any royal wedding, will be good for the country’s morale. Funny how no one thought to mention that to me.”

      “You’re not angry with him?”

      She shrugged and he felt the movement beneath his fingertips. “I was hardly in a position to take the moral high ground.”

      He undid the fourth and final button and, with a profound sense of achievement and victory, pushed apart the sides of her blouse, revealing a strip of creamy skin and partially uncovering the swell of lace-covered breasts.

      His breath caught in his throat.

      He arranged the blouse to his liking and traced a finger along the edge of the lace. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

      “Because I didn’t want this to happen.”

      He paused. “Why are you telling me now?”

      “Because now…now I want this to happen. I can’t bear it any longer. The wanting you. I didn’t break up with him because of you. We’re supposed to be keeping it a secret, but…”

      He didn’t need buts. She wasn’t engaged to his brother, and the realization filled him with euphoria, swamped any other thought.

      He cupped her sweet face in his hands and kissed her again. He could no more have stopped himself than he could from taking his next breath. He wanted to know her, every inch of her.

      She wasn’t marrying Adam. She didn’t love his brother. His brother didn’t love her. That was all he needed to know.

      Wrapping his arms around her, he held her to him, drowning in the sensation of her, in the shape of her and how she fit against him, body and mouth and soul.

      Her hands slid from his shoulders to his head, her fingers threading through his hair, her touch becoming fevered.

      He kissed her lips, her eyes, her jaw, her throat. His hands learned the exquisite shape of her body as he led her to the broad bed in the center of the room. He eased the sides of her blouse farther open, kissed her breast above the lace of her bra, moved lower till his lips covered the nipple beneath the lace.

      Sweet Lexie arched into him.

      He pushed her blouse from her shoulders. Her skin was so pale, so beautiful. He found the single button at the back of her skirt, a short zip, and the fabric slithered to the floor. She stood before him in delicate scraps of lace and her shoes.

      Almost perfect.

      He unpinned her hair, let it cascade over his hands as it came loose. He undid the clasp of her bra and her breasts spilled free. He tossed the lace aside and then drew her panties down her legs. Breathless, he looked at her, his fantasy complete.

      Now she was perfect.

      And СКАЧАТЬ