[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
manipulate her this time. Sex had been very effective, but even if she wanted to, she didn't know if she
could make love again today.
"If you don't mind," she said, stepping down on to the wet lawn, "I don't want to hear it right now."
"Dammit, don't clam up on me!"
Her pulse jumped as she heard him come after her, but she wasn't going to run. There was nowhere to
go, anyway.
He caught her hands, shackling her wrists gently but firmly. "Come inside, Sam, it's still raining and you're
getting wet." His voice was pitched low, the entrancing roughness a cajoling purr that somehow still
managed to seduce her senses.
She jerked against his hold. "Don't you dare try andsoothe me."
He was barefoot. He hadn't bothered to fasten his shirt, and it hung open, clinging transparently to his
broad shoulders where the misty drizzle had dampened the gauzy fabric. Diamond droplets of moisture
were forming on the dark hair covering his chest. Not so many minutes ago her breasts had nestled
against that rough pelt. She could see small red marks on his skin, marksshe had made.
Her cheeks heated. Carter had to know what they'd spent the last few hours doing. All of Gray's people
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
probably knew. No doubt it had been in theplan .
His hands tightened briefly; then he released her. "I'm sorry you were upset by what you heard. I used
you, but I couldn't see any way around it unless I kept away from you, and that wasn't an option. I'd
stayed away for sevenyears, I sure as hell wasn't staying away for another seven."
"You don't have to explain," she said remotely. "I understand why you did it." Even if it hurts that I'm
way, way down on that cold list of priorities you have, she said to herself silently. Even if it demonstrates
that I may never be first on that list. "Did you organise the photographers?"
He inclined his head.
"The clinch looked good. It went well with the headline."
"The clinch wasn't planned."
"Just convenient.And the seduction scene?Can you tell me our relationship has nothing to do with setting
this trap?"
"No," he said curtly, "because our relationship has everything to do with it. You were already at risk.
Harper had a file on you. It was inevitable that the second he knew we were together, you would join me
at the top of his hit list. I've done what I've had to do to keep my family safe to keep you safe." His
voice dropped, roughened. "And that was no seduction scene. You wanted what happened as much as I
did. I've never needed a woman the way I need you. I meant what I said, Sam. I want you with me. I
want to marry you. If you don't want any part of that, you'd better say so."
In that moment Sam wished she could say just that, but she couldn't. The unadorned truth was that she
wanted any part of Gray that he was willing to give her.
The singular strength of that notion was like a cold wave slapping her in the face. She loved Gray with a
depth and intensity that stunned her. If she could have only a small part of him, then she would take it.
She accepted in that moment that he would probably never love her as she wanted him to.
Sam closed her eyes. "You want everything."
"Yes."
The risk, the shattering vulnerability, of her position shook her. If she had been stripped bare and staked
beneath the merciless glare of the midday sun, she couldn't have been more defenceless. He was asking
too much, but it was already too late. She loved him, and she hurt.
But what did she have to lose?she thought fiercely. She knew the terrible events that drove Gray, the
long years he'd isolated himself from the people he cared for most from the life he should have been
living in order to protect them.
She was one of those people.
That streak of ruthlessness had probably kept him alive in places and situations she could barely imagine;
it was an essential part of the man she loved. Even though she was bruising herself against it, she couldn't
wish it gone.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
She lifted her chin and met his gaze coolly. "I said I loved you. That hasn't changed, nor is it likely to. I'll
go to Sydney, move into your house, I'll even marry you if that's what you really want "
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]