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The inevitable had happened. He’d kissed her. Or rather she’d kissed him. And he hadn’t stopped her. But for a brief moment of “what the hell?” he hadn’t even tried.
He’d mulled over how it would feel should he relent. Strange? Pleasant? Knock-your-socks-off fantastic? Check box three. And now, God help him, he couldn’t help thinking about later, because Laura was going to want far more than lip service tonight.
“I was thinking I might come up and see you tomorrow,” Grace said down the line while Laura made herself comfortable in one of the winged armchairs positioned beside a window view in her office.
“I’d like that, Grace, but Bishop and I are going into Sydney. The ballet’s on.”
“You’re going out? Do you think that’s wise?”
“Oh, Gracie, not you, too!” How many times did she need to tell people she was fine? A bit of a foggy memory didn’t count.
“Learn to live with it,” Grace returned. “I care about you.”
Laura laughed softly. “I got that.”
“Will Bishop be staying in town?”
“Tomorrow night? Why do you ask?”
“He’s a busy man. I thought he might want to stay down rather than drive out again Monday morning to the office.”
“I don’t think so.” Laura concentrated on the chess piece, thinking back. No, she was certain. “He didn’t say he would.”
“How is Bishop?”
Laura put on a suspicious tone. “Why this interest in Bishop all of a sudden?”
“Just making sure he’s treating my little sister right.”
“Always and always.”
“Really?”
A prickle of annoyance rolled up Laura’s spine and she held the receiver tighter. “Grace, I know you thought we married too soon. And maybe you were right,” she admitted, knowing she’d thought the same herself yesterday in the hospital. “Maybe we should have waited a little longer to iron things out. But we love each other. That’s what gets a couple through.”
“I take it you’re going to tell him you don’t want to adopt?”
“I brought it up yesterday.” And again today. “We’re going to work it out, Grace.”
Her sister sighed down the line. “Oh, sweetheart, I hope you’re right.”
Six
Laura cooked a roast dinner with all the trimmings and rosemary cream gravy. When Bishop took himself off to his office after dessert, Laura steeled herself against disappointment. He was avoiding her. Or, rather, avoiding that touchy subject.
But as she finished packing the dishwasher and headed off for a shower before bed, she put herself in her husband’s shoes. Analytical. Methodical. He was divorcing himself from her until he thought she was completely well, as well as settle in his own mind the conundrum of adoption versus conception. If he thought she needed rest and he needed to be left alone, she would accommodate his wishes.
Up to a point.
As she’d told Grace, they were going to work this problem out. And if he didn’t want to talk … Well, she’d simply have to grab and hold his attention some other way.
Before her shower, Laura removed the bandage from her head. She fingered the raise and shadow of a bruise in the gilt-framed vanity mirror. Barely a scratch. No sign of a headache. Quite honestly, she thought she ought to have done more damage given the six-foot distance off the bridge to the river rocks she must have landed on.
After a long, hot shower, she took care drying off, dabbing Bishop’s favorite talc powder in all the right places, then slipping into the negligee she’d worn on their honeymoon in Greece. She mustn’t have worn it since then. She’d found the mauve silk pushed to the back of her drawer behind other negligees.
Moving into the bedroom, she glanced at the clock: 8:43. She filled her lungs and, confident, sashayed down the hall.
But a few moments later she discovered that Bishop wasn’t in his office. She found him out on the eastern porch, leaning against a column, seemingly counting the stars, and given tonight’s luminous night sky, there must be more than a trillion.
Crossing to stand behind him, she filed her hands around his waist and set her cheek against the broad expanse of his back. His unique scent filled her lungs, burrowed under her skin. Her eyes drifting shut, she circled her nose over his shirt between his shoulder blades and imprinted the smell … the moment … onto her memory forever.
He must have heard her coming. He didn’t move when she embraced him. Now, however, as her fingers trailed up his shirtfront and her palms ironed over his ribs, his hands covered hers and tightened around them.
“It’s chilly out here,” he said in that rich, smooth voice she loved.
She grinned against his back. “I hadn’t noticed.” Then she twined around and stood between her husband and the view of slumbering mountains. He opened his mouth, but she cut him off by placing a finger to his lips. “I don’t want to hear about doctor’s orders. I’m not cold.” She threaded her arms around his middle. “Not while you’re near.”
As a breeze rustled through the leaves, in the shadows he focused on her brow. “You’ve taken your bandage off.”
“I’m hoping to take off more than that.” She found his hand and shaped his palm over her shoulder until the strap of her negligee slipped down. Then she angled her head to press a lingering kiss on the underside of his wrist. “I love you so much, Bishop,” she whispered as her lips brushed his flesh. “So much … sometimes it hurts.” She dropped tender kisses on his palm then on each fingertip in turn. “How long has it been since we made love?”
He exhaled. “Too long,” he said.
Arching her neck back, still holding his hand, she skimmed his fingers down her throat. “I feel as if you haven’t held me in an age.”
Without her help, his hand continued over her shoulder then down the line of her back until it reached the rise of her behind. Laura sighed as the million sparks zapping through her blood caught light. Humming out a smile she grazed her lips over the hot hollow at the base of his throat and placed his other hand on her breast.
“Bishop, take me to bed.”
As she pressed softly into him, familiar, simmering heat condensed high in his thighs.
Bishop grit his teeth but, although he knew what he ought to do, he didn’t release her. His hold—on her breasts, on her behind—only increased while in his gut he felt an almighty battle raging, a war so fierce, the pull of yes-no threatened to tear him apart. If he did as she asked … if he took her to bed … they would each win and both lose. They wanted this, they’d always been electric together in the bedroom, but this time there’d be a heavy price to pay.
Unless her memories of that time before were lost forever.
His heartbeat pounding in his ears, Bishop searched her eyes and challenged himself again to do what Laura would want him to if she could only remember. But all he could see was pure clean love glistening in her eyes, pouring from her face. At this moment, she truly loved and believed in him. If he made an excuse this time it would only hurt her. And yet, if he complied …
Breaking, Bishop groaned and brought her closer.
What the hell. If she got her memory back during the night, she could hang him in the morning.
His head dropped lower and as his mouth claimed hers, he swept her up in his arms and headed inside. When he reached the foot of their bed, he released her lips and set her gently on her feet. While his pulse hammered through his veins, his gaze drank in the heavenly sight of her standing in the moonlight flooding in through the bedroom’s ten-foot-high windows.
She raised her arms and, understanding, he folded the light fabric up in his hands and eased the negligee over her head. Before the silk and lace hit the floor, his head had lowered over hers again. He felt her dissolve in his arms as she happily, completely surrendered.
Laura trembled inside and out as her hands wandered over the granite of his chest and muscled sides. Then, only half aware, lost in the kiss, she was helping him tug the shirttails from his belt, unbuttoning the front, winding the fabric off his shoulders, down his arms. His kiss was so skillful, thoughtful, and at the same time, demanding. An avalanche of stirring sensations … of memories … rained down and filtered through her. When his mouth left hers to feather a tingling path over the sensitive curve that joined shoulder to neck, the energy, already so strong, multiplied. Intensified.
Laura’s head rocked back.
She reveled in the feel of him. Her senses reeled at his clean male scent. As her palms sculpted over his shoulders and biceps, her mind visualized those hot mounds of steely flesh—how she loved to cling to them when he thrust above her—and she smiled.
His thumbs rubbed mesmerizing deep circles high on her arms as his mouth trailed her collarbone then dipped lower until the warm wet sweep of his tongue twirled and teased one nipple. Every atom of oxygen in her lungs evaporated. Gasping back air, she drove her fingers through his hair while tiny brush fires flashed and ignited through her veins. And the slow burn only grew, second by second, with every heartbeat and breathtaking loop of his tongue.
Light-headed, she tugged at his belt and murmured into the shadows, “We don’t do this enough.” His teeth nipped and tugged the bead at the tip of her breast and she sighed. “In the beginning we’d spend entire weekends in bed.”
“I remember,” he groaned, then drew her deeply into his mouth.
He’d heeled off his shoes. Now he tugged and stepped out of his trousers. When he hooked her under each arm and laid her upon the bed, she moaned with barely contained anticipation and delight. Like a big cat on the prowl, on all fours he edged up until he hovered over her. His head slowly dipped to kiss her mouth, her brow, the shell of her ear, as her back arched higher and his erection throbbed and grew.
“Should we flick back the quilt?” she asked between breath less kisses and running her leg over his. “Get beneath the covers?”
His palm, large and slightly rough, scooped under her hip. In a slow, languid movement, his muscular body grazed up against hers, drawing an urgent gasp of want from her lips. His knees nudged between hers. When his tip found her moist … silky, swollen and ready … he grinned against her parted lips.
“I’m good,” he said, and eased in more. “How about you?”
In answer, her pelvis tilted up at the same time his came down and he drove three parts in. The thrust hit a hot spot so bright she gasped for air. Her nails dragged up over rippling tendons as she swallowed loving words from his mouth. Making love with Bishop had always been wonderful, but this time …
This time was something beyond incredible. With the iron ruts of his abdomen grinding against her, his mouth sipping from her throat and strong fingers curling through her hair she felt consumed by a blanket of heat. The burn lifted her to a place no woman had ever flown to before. He felt so deliciously heavy on top her … so delectably, alarmingly male.
Smiling into the shadows, Laura held tight to the feeling.
He still wanted her. Of course he did. The same insatiable way she wanted him.
The slow, steady friction soon turned to leaping flame. As the energy—the raw imploding power—built and pulsed, she clung to his arms as her muscles contracted around him and every particle shivered, focusing on the indescribable magic awaiting her only a heartbeat away.
Perspiration slicked his skin; he slid and ground against her, making her burn wherever they touched. A rumbling groan sounded in his chest and in the shadows she saw him set his jaw. And then, without warning, he rolled away.
Working for breath, it took a few seconds for her to realize he wasn’t coming back. She pushed up onto her elbows, worried.
“What’s wrong?”
Stretched out on his back, out of breath, he laced his fingers over his brow. “We need protection.”
Protection?
Laura fell back. She wanted to say just this once, couldn’t they forget it? But there wasn’t a chance he’d listen to that. Unprotected sex could result in an unwanted pregnancy. Unwanted on his part, anyway.
So she waited for Bishop’s side drawer to open, for her husband to reach in and fish out a foiled packet from the place he always kept them. But he didn’t move. Not an inch. And as the stillness eked out, the cool in the room compressed and settled upon her.
He’d been so insistent. After being concerned about her welfare last night and today, finally he hadn’t wanted to stop long enough to pull back the covers. And yet now …
She pushed higher. “Bishop, what’s the matter? They’re in the drawer, right there beside you.”
Another few seconds ticked by before he rolled onto his side away from her. Laura watched the long powerful line of his silhouette moving, heard the drawer slide open then his grunt.
She sat up a little. “What’s wrong?”
“Condoms. They’re there. A whole pack.”
Grinning, she brushed her lips against his shoulder. “We don’t have to use them all in one night.”
“I just …” He shrugged and exhaled. “Never mind.” She heard him remove one before he turned back. Once again his mouth slanted over hers and instantly any chill was gone, replaced by the heat he so effortlessly brought out in her. The embrace intensified, the kiss deepened and the need to join in the most fundamental way grew again. When her palm filed down the hard trunk of his thigh, his own hand mimicked her move, curving down her spine then sliding between her legs. He began to stroke her, tease her, and as he kissed her thoroughly she knew this night wouldn’t end without that ticking bomb deep inside of her exploding at least once.
Teetering on the edge, she murmured against his lips, “I love when you kiss me. Anywhere. Everywhere.”
As if she’d given the golden command, he began moving down, his mouth roaming, suctioning here and there, over her ribs, her belly, around the ticklish dip of her navel. And every kiss took her that much higher, drew her that much nearer. Had her falling that much more in love.
In the dark recesses of his mind, Bishop knew he’d lost the plot. When he’d found a box of sealed condoms in the drawer where he’d always kept them, he’d sent up a prayer of thanks then had plowed on. He’d expected Laura to have ditched the contraceptives long ago, but like the wedding photo and rings, she’d left them alone. Because she couldn’t bear to touch them? Because she’d secretly wished for her husband back?
Hell, at this precise moment in time, he was way too pumped to wonder.
He’d succumbed to Laura’s wiles and, God help him, he couldn’t regret it. Particularly now as his mouth trailed an unerring course over her flat stomach and lower. When he reached those soft, moist curls, his brain stopped working altogether.
While her hips slowly rotated, he nuzzled down. After dropping a few barely there kisses on her inner thighs, he got more comfortable and, using his fingers and his tongue, exposed more of her. Her sigh of pure pleasure heightened his own, and as he made love to her with his mouth—with everything he was or had ever been—he understood that this time was beyond compare. Because it was forbidden? Or because they’d denied each other for too long? He only knew she’d never tasted sweeter and his desire for her had never been stronger.
It seemed like he’d only begun when he sensed the intensity building inside of her. Wanting to give her an experience without equal, he held her hips while his mouth covered her and he did what he knew she liked best. Her spine pushed down and she trembled, barely noticeably at first. But as the rolls of energy grew, she began to shudder and moan.
He stayed with her, adoring her fingers bunched in his hair and the series of contractions that urged him not to stop. When she was still floating down, he moved away just enough to open that foil wrapper and rolled down their protection.
When he joined her again, her eyes were closed, her head was slanted to one side and a fan of fair hair was flung over her face. Sighing, she clung to him as he eased in.
With one arm curled over her head, he gazed down at her face, more beautiful than any woman’s alive. As he moved above her, found just the right rhythm, he wanted to tell himself to go slow. Make this last. Tomorrow he might not be welcome in Laura’s life much less her bed.
As the heat of the inferno licking through his veins intensified, so too did his pace. Still, as his lips traced down her cheek and he stole another penetrating kiss, he was certain he could hold out. This was simply too good to let go yet. But then she quieted and a heartbeat later bucked beneath him, peaking again and riding another orgasmic curl. The push was too much.
Murmuring her name, concentrating on the delicious burn and how glorious she felt surrounding him, he drove in again and jumped off into the firestorm that consumed him inside and out. As white-hot flames swirled though him, Bishop held on tighter and for the first time hoped she didn’t remember too soon.
The next morning Bishop sat on the eastern porch, gazing blindly out over the hills, listening to the early morning laughter of kookaburras and wondering what the hell had possessed him last night.
What had he been thinking? Sleeping with Laura once had been a bad idea. Sleeping with her again, and again, had to be moronic. Sure, it’d felt great. Unbelievably fantastic! But that wouldn’t save him when her memory returned and she demanded to know why he’d taken advantage of the situation like he had. Never mind that she’d as good as drugged him with her words and her touches and her smiles. When the real Laura returned she wouldn’t listen to a word of it. That Laura wasn’t in love.
No more than he was.
Nothing could obliterate the words they’d exchanged during their roughest patch. The things they’d said to each other would crush the worthiest of loves. It had certainly killed his.
But love aside, clearly he still had feelings for her. He was still smitten by her scent, her voice, the cute sway of her hips whenever she walked. Laura affected him at his most basic primal level. Even when he’d sworn he never wanted to clap eyes on her again, he’d been on the verge of forcing her to hush by kissing her senseless. There’d been a time after they’d split when he thought he never wanted to sleep with another woman, the tough times had affected him that much. Truth was, until last night, he hadn’t broken the drought. Although, he’d been heading that way with Annabelle.
His elbow on the outside chair armrest, he held his brow and rubbed his temple.
What was he going to do about that? He and Annabelle weren’t in a relationship, as such. They’d seen each other a few times. They seemed to like the same things, got each other’s humor and respected each other’s space. But after what had happened between him and Laura last night …
His hand dropping from his brow, he blew out a breath.
Clearly, he wasn’t anywhere near ready to even think about getting involved with Annabelle or any other woman.
Shifting his hip, he dug the cell out of his back pocket. A moment later the recipient’s soft voice drifted down the line.
He straightened in his chair. “Annabelle. It’s Samuel.”
