Magnificent Folly - Iris Johansen [26]
“More than their lives?”
He nodded gravely. “Trust him, Lily. He cares a great deal for you.”
“Did he ask you to speak to me?”
“Andrew fights his own battles.” He grinned. “And now I have to pry my wife away from your daughter and take her home before she decides to kidnap Cassie. Just look at them together.”
Lily’s gaze went to Quenby Nilsen, whose face was illuminated with joy and affection as she laughed at Cassie. “I hope you and Quenby will come again soon,” she said impulsively. “I work in the mornings, but most afternoons we come down to the beach.”
“We’d like that,” Gunner said. “Andrew’s been keeping the two of you to himself for far too long.” He lifted his hand in farewell as he started across the beach toward Andrew, Quenby, and Cassie.
Their lovemaking that night was wild, erotic, and nearly brutal in its intensity.
Andrew couldn’t seem to get enough of her, and Lily found herself responding on an equally primitive level. They came together time after time, until exhaustion finally overtook them and they could only lay clinging to each other, breathing in short, harsh gasps.
“Why?” she asked when she’d gained enough breath to speak. “Something’s … different.”
He didn’t look at her as he rolled away from her and began to dress. “Did I hurt you?”
“No.” She slowly sat up. “Did you mean to hurt me?”
“No!” He turned to look at her in horror. “Lord, no, I’d never want to hurt you. I couldn’t hurt you.” His lips twisted in a mirthless smile. “I suppose you don’t believe me, after what just happened.”
“I wasn’t exactly fighting you. I think … I … I liked it. I was only curious. It seemed out of character, and you were upset with me this afternoon.”
“That doesn’t mean I’d become violent.”
“But you don’t deny—”
“I wasn’t angry. I was frustrated.” He located her nightgown and handed it to her. “I’m still frustrated, dammit. You won’t see what we have together, and we’re running out of time.”
She froze. “You have to go away?” She moistened her lips with her tongue. “I don’t know why I’m surprised. I knew you couldn’t stay forever.” She pulled the nightgown over her head and settled its cotton folds around her hips. “After all, you have a job to return to, and Cassie and I will be going back to San Francisco in a few weeks anyway. Maybe it’s just as well that—”
“It’s not just as well,” Andrew interrupted with barely controlled violence. “Stop backing away from me, dammit. Face what we have together. It’s not sex alone that draws us to each other, and it’s not Cassie alone either.”
Lily hurriedly stood up. “I have to leave.”
“Listen to me, Lily.” Andrew’s face was set and stern in the moonlight as he rose to his feet. “Time has been against us from the very beginning. I can’t let it keep separating us.” He kicked the beach rug at his feet. “Lord, I haven’t even slept in a real bed with you. We’ve never sat down at a table for a meal or done any of the intimate, commonplace things men and women do together. I go back to the cottage and see Gunner and Quenby together and I want what they have so badly that it twists inside me and makes me—” He broke off and drew a deep breath. “It’s been too long. I can’t take it anymore. Tell me what the hell you feel for me.”
“I don’t know. Do we have to talk about this?”
“Yes,” he said flatly. “I know you want me. I know you like me. What else do you feel? Do you think about me all the time when you’re not with me? Do you want to protect and cherish me? Because that’s the way I feel about you.”
Lily could feel the tears sting her eyes. “Andrew, I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Then don’t hurt me. Tell me you care for me. I know damn well you could if you’d lower those barriers and believe I’m not a bastard like Baldor.” His voice became a whisper of urgent persuasion. “You don’t have to give me your complete trust now. Just give me a little today and then a tiny bit more tomorrow and then a little more the day after that.” He smiled with an effort. “Maybe in a couple of decades we