The Wedding Party And Holiday Escapes Ultimate Collection. Кейт Хьюит

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      That was her name, of course.

      “Yes, please.”

      He passed the sleeping child to Lexie. They had to stand close, almost chest to chest, only Emma between them, hands bumping and sliding.

      “Babies aren’t your thing?” Lexie asked, not looking at him, as she took Emma’s weight, held her to her chest.

      “Not at all.” His standard answer came to him. And yet he’d felt the strangest reluctance to let go of the small bundle. The child who had fallen asleep in his arms.

      “You’ll be a great father. Once you give yourself permission to love,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be scary.”

      Oh, but it was.

      She couldn’t leave soon enough. It was torture seeing her. Seeing her hope, her optimism.

      As Karen approached, Rafe took a flute of champagne from a passing waiter. He saw one of his few remaining bachelor friends and headed to talk to him. Preferably about polo or something equally safe, equally shallow.

      Lexie rested her hands on the rough stone of the windowsill and looked out through the tall, narrow window. The day room was at the top of the castle’s southernmost turret. Rafe had mentioned it once, mentioned its forever views and its isolation. After navigating corridors and climbing endless winding stone stairs, Lexie could see why it was so was so seldom used. But the views over the manicured palace grounds and the rolling countryside beyond were worth the effort. The sky was a clear, bright blue, taunting her. It should be dreary and miserable to match her mood.

      The room was just as she’d imagined. A contrast of textures and centuries. Leather couches, shaped to fit the circular space, lined the small room. A plush rug lay in the center of the floor.

      She’d escaped the christening, escaped the sound of Rafe’s laughter with his friend, to come here. She’d lost track of how long she’d been standing, looking out and trying not to think, when the heavy door opened behind her. She turned as the man she’d been trying not to think about stepped into the room. He paused, clearly not expecting to see her here. “Is the party over?” she asked.

      “Still going.” He gave a half smile. “I bailed. Thought I’d come up here for a little time-out.”

      Lexie took a single step away from the window. “You stay,” she said. “I was just going.”

      But as he crossed to her she didn’t seem able to move any farther.

      “It’s so beautiful up here,” she said.

      “Yes,” he said, his gaze never leaving her face. He stopped in front of her and brushed a thumb across her cheek. Did that mean he’d seen the telltale tracks of her tears?

      “I’m leaving.” She didn’t know whether she spoke the words for his benefit or for hers. The only thing she did know was that the prospect of her departure was a dark, yawning chasm. The thought of leaving San Philippe forever. The thought of leaving Rafe. Forever. It weighed almost unbearably on her.

      “I know.” He lowered his head and placed the gentlest of kisses on each of her cheekbones. And then he pulled her into his arms and she went willingly. He held her tightly to him and she absorbed the sensation of being pressed against him, tried to commit it to memory, tried to detail each part of her that touched him and where and how, the feel of his cheek resting on her head, his arms around her.

      She tilted her head up to look at him, to study his face. He returned her scrutiny for the longest time. And then he kissed her. Soft and gentle, the knowledge of her leaving in his kiss. She tasted the faint trace of champagne on his lips.

      What started out soft and gentle grew heated and hungry. Breathing hard, Rafe lifted his head. “We shouldn’t. I shouldn’t.”

      She pulled his head back down. “We should.” She smiled against his lips, heedless. “I’m leaving anyway. What can it hurt now?”

      “It can hurt you. You deserve better. Someone needs to look out for you, and if you won’t protect yourself from me then I have to do it.”

      “I deserve this. After all you’ve put me through, I deserve this.”

      But still he backed away.

      Lexie pulled the silk ribbon that held the front of her dress in place and the dress fell open. “Don’t go.”

      “That’s a low trick, Lex.” Rafe stopped dead. “It wouldn’t be humanly possible now.” He walked slowly back to her. “Have I told you red is my favorite color?” He looked into her eyes as he pushed her dress from her shoulders, smiled as it pooled at her feet, then trailed his fingers in its wake to touch the red of her bra, and then her panties. “Do you know what you do to me?”

      “I’m hoping it’s something like what you do to me.”

      As he slid his hands to her waist, and slowly up and round, she trembled beneath his touch. His fingers found the clasp they sought, and her bra whispered to the floor.

      She gasped as he knelt before her and pressed a kiss to the center of her panties. And then he drew the fine lace from her hips, over her thighs.

      One more kiss, and another gasp. He trailed more kisses upward, another to her belly, between her breasts, her neck. With her eyes on him he undid his buttons. He discarded his shirt, his pants, his boxers. No pretence, no barriers. Till he stood before her, bathed in golden sunlight, strong and proud and hers.

      For now.

      Him. Her. Nothing else.

      He reached for her hair, ran his fingers through its sun-warmed length, ran his hands over the curve of her shoulders, down her arms till his hands founds hers.

      Holding her gaze, he lifted her hands and pressed a kiss to the back of each. Then, lowering his hands, he slid his fingers between hers, stretching them apart. Palms touched, breath mingled.

      And then he touched his lips to hers, with a gentleness born of constraint.

      She moved. Closed the gap between them till her breasts pressed against his chest and her belly pressed against his erection.

      He pulled her closer still, hard against him, deepening the kiss at the same time, and they moved together, legs twining, hands searching, all the while each drinking in the taste of the other.

      Kissing, they made it as far as the center of the room and then no farther. Dropping to their knees on the rug, hands and lips had free rein.

      Lexie pushed him back and he pulled her with him. She straddled him and then sheathed herself on him, loving the feel of him in her, under her. Loving him.

      He was hers.

      For now.

      He lifted his hands to her breasts, caressed and kneaded. He pulled her forward so he could take a nipple in his mouth. His hands shifted to her waist, her hips, and he was pushing into her deeper, pulling her onto him harder.

      She rode his thrusts, and he drove her higher, further, into darkness and light. And then СКАЧАТЬ