Stormy Vows - Iris Johansen [81]
She flowed into his arms, and pulled his face down to hers. Michael's eyes were blank with shock, and his body was stiff and still as he looked down at her. Then her lips touched his, and he crushed her to him in a convulsive embrace that left them both glowing and breathless. Her hands moved down from his shoulders to caress the hair-roughened muscles of his chest as she spread a multitude of joyous little kisses over his jaw and chin. “Oh, Michael, I do love you so much!” she breathed. “I'll love you forever and ever, do you know that?”
A deep chuckle rumbled from the chest under her hands. “If you don't stop that, you're going to be asked to prove it,” he said dryly, his blue eyes twinkling. “And as much as I lust after that luscious young body of yours, I still think we need to talk.” He drew her down on the couch, and pulled her around so that she was half-sitting, half-lying in his arms. He kissed her lingeringly.
“Do we really have to talk?” Brenna asked yearningly, one finger lazily tracing the well-defined curve of his upper lip. He caught her hand and held it firmly.
“We do,” he said with determination, his mouth twisting. “I want everything clear, all cards on the table. We're not going to have any more problems due to misconceptions. We've wasted too much time already.”
She sighed deeply, and his gaze was drawn irresistibly to the delicious curve of her breast under the melon silk shirt. His hand reached out, as if to caress those tempting mounds before he stopped with an effort.
“I think we'd better talk very quickly,” he said huskily. “Who'd ever have guessed you'd turn out to be such a passionate little witch. You're a constant temptation to me, love.”
She smiled, her eyes embracing him with such a dazzling wealth of love that he caught his breath. “Only for you,” she whispered. “I only want you, Michael.”
“It had better stay that way,” he threatened jokingly, his hand tenderly stroking her hair. “I've been wild with jealousy since the moment we met. That actor at the theater, Paul Chadeaux, even Jake.”
“Not Jake,” she said unbelievingly. “You know Jake would never violate your friendship.”
“With my mind, maybe, but my emotions were another matter. I know, better than most, what a rake he can be, and women fall for that devil's face of his like a ton of bricks. You wouldn't be the first to develop a passion for him without Jake even making the effort.”
“Yes, he is utterly devastating,” Brenna agreed teasingly. “I can't think why I prefer ugly, bad-tempered Irishmen.”
“Shall I tell you,” he asked mischievously, and bent to whisper in her ear.
A blush crept over her, but she met his eyes challengingly. “Promises, promises,” she taunted.
“Exactly,” he said succinctly, and she flushed again, her fingers playing with a button on his shirt as she avoided his eyes.
“Did you really know you loved me that first day?” she asked curiously.
He nodded, his face suddenly serious. “It was as if the roof fell in. I didn't know what hit me. At first, I thought it was just lust, but before you left that day I knew it was a hell of a lot more than that.” He closed his eyes, and said slowly, “It was tenderness, and passion, and a crazy kind of nostalgia.” He opened his eyes, and they were dark with feeling. “A longing for home, and you were that home. I wanted to cherish and protect you till the day you died.”
Her eyes were brimming with tears. “Yet when you offered me our bargain, you said it would only last until you grew bored and told me to go,” she said.
“That meant forever, because I could never tell you to go,” he said quietly.
She swallowed hard over the lump in her throat, and said lightly. “That's all very well, Donovan, but you could let a girl know.”
He touched the tip of her nose lightly. “You haven't been exactly communicative yourself, brown eyes. How could I confess eternal love to you, when you didn't even trust me enough to tell me about the baby?”
“Randy?” Brenna asked, puzzled, “but you knew…”
“No, our baby.” Donovan interrupted impatiently. “Don't you think it's