Come Lie With Me - Linda Howard [79]
“It’s real, all right,” he muttered, sliding his hand along her ribcage until a warm, full breast filled his palm. He studied the sheer perfection of her softly veined flesh, the taut little cherry tip that responded instantly to his lightest touch, and his body began to tighten with the familiar need that he could never quite satisfy. Gently he began to ease her down into a supine position. “I don’t mind a long engagement,” he said absently. “Two weeks is plenty of time.”
“Blake! I was thinking in terms of months, not weeks!”
He looked up sharply; then as he saw the frightened uncertainty in her face, his gaze softened and his mouth eased into a smile. “Then name the day, darling, as long as it’s within six months and you don’t pick either Groundhog Day or April Fool’s Day.”
She tried to think, but her mind was suddenly fuzzy, entirely preoccupied by the rough, wonderful rasp of his hard hands over her body. His finger slid between her legs and she gasped aloud, a hot twinge of pleasure shooting through her body. “May Day,” she said, no longer really caring.
He was disconcerted, too, his senses caught by the rich beauty of the woman under his hand while he tried to make sense of her words. “Mayday?” he asked, puzzled and a little shocked. “You’re asking for help?”
“No…May Day, not mayday,” she explained, exaggerating the two words so he could hear the pause between them. “The first of May.”
“What about it?” he murmured, dipping his head to taste the straining nipples that had been tempting him. He was rapidly losing all interest in the conversation.
“That’s when we’re getting married,” she gasped, her body beginning a slow, undulating dance.
Those words made sense to him, and he lifted his head. “I can’t persuade you to marry me before then?”
“I…don’t know,” she moaned. Her nails flexed into his shoulders. He could probably talk her into anything he wanted, the way she felt now. Though they had made love only a short while before, the need that was filling her was so urgent that it might have been years since he’d taken her. She turned to him, her sleek, soft body crowding him, and he knew without words what she wanted. He lay back, his hands guiding her as she flowed over him and engulfed him. She was wild when she loved him like that, her long black hair streaming down her back, falling across his face when she leaned forward. She worshipped him with the ancient, carnal dance of love, and the ruby heart lay on her breast like a drop of liquid fire.
For two days nothing intruded on the spell of happiness that held them enthralled. Everyone was pleased with the engagement, from the taciturn Miguel to a bubbling Serena. Alberta was as satisfied as if she’d arranged it all herself, and Angela hummed all day long. Serena passed along Richard’s best wishes; evidently a wedding was just what everyone wanted, and Dione almost forgot why she’d been so cautious in the beginning.
On the third day Serena arrived for dinner, alone and pale, though she was composed. “I might as well tell you, before someone else does,” she said quietly. “Richard and I are separated.”
Dione stifled her gasp of shock. They had been getting along so much better for the past several weeks that she’d stopped being concerned with their situation. She looked swiftly at Blake, and was shocked again at the change in his expression. She had known him as laughing, loving, teasing, angry, even afraid, but never before had she seen him so deadly and intent. Suddenly she realized that she’d never really felt the force of his personality, because he’d always tempered his actions with consideration for her. Now the steel, the sheer power, was showing as he prepared to protect his sister.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked Serena in a calm, lethal tone.
Serena looked at him and even smiled, her eyes full of love. “Nothing,” she said simply. “This is something I have to work out with Richard. Blake, please, don’t let this interfere with your working relationship with him; this is more my fault than it is his, and it wouldn’t be