She’d felt his arm along the back of the white leather sofa behind her, so close to her body, and she’d trembled. Every time he looked at her, the intensity and heat of his dark gaze turned her inside out.Sylvia didn’t want to think about it now. Or why she’d not only noticed his favorite flower in a lush garden, but she’d also picked a Sylvia for him and placed it in water.Looking up from her book, she noticed the dark-haired, plump young housekeeper struggling to carry a table across the beach to a spot overlooking the surf. Relieved to leave the lanai and lounge chair and all her disconcerting thoughts behind her, Sylvia got to her feet and hurried down to the beach. “Wait! Can I help?”The housekeeper, who looked only a few years older than Sylvia, shook her head, even though she looked as if she were fighting back tears.“Really?” Sylvia bit her lip. “Please, Mrs. Vadi, won’t you let me help?”“No,” the woman said, then burst into tears. Within minutes, Sylvia had learned the w
Sylvia dumped some spaghetti on each plate, then looked down at her cold, rather unappetizing concoction. She had hoped the food will come out looking better but she could tell she had been wrong.She’d had to improvise for ingredients. She’d used rice noodles for pasta, and since she hadn’t found a handy can of marinara sauce or even tomato paste, she’d improvised by smashing fresh tomatoes into a rudimentary sauce. She’d added a mishmash of chopped mystery meat she’d found in the fridge with whatever spices she could find in the kitchen, and hoped for the best.All right, so she wasn’t always the best cook—except where candy was concerned—but even she couldn’t ruin something as simple as spaghetti, she hoped.She took a bite, and discovered she was wrong.It was awful. And cold, in the bargain. She nearly choked it out, then covered up her gag reflex with a cough before she managed to swallow it down. “Wow,” she managed to say.Xavier took a bite and blanched. Standing up, he threw
Her breathing quickened as his gaze fell to her mouth. He was going to kiss her. She could feel it. He stroked her cheek, tilting her head up toward his, and she could barely hear the roar of the ocean over the rapid beat of her heart.“I’ve never met a woman like you before,” he said softly, his black eyes searching hers as he stroked her bare forearm lightly with his fingertips. “You…amaze me.”This honeymoon cottage, so remote in the middle of a wide, distant ocean, seemed like their own distant world. His handsome, rugged face, the powerful curve of his body as he leaned toward her, the light feeling of his touch against her skin, made her brain stop working. She trembled, licking her lips. Would she fall into his arms when he kissed her? Would she fall into his bed? He glanced down at her half-empty plate. “Are you finished?”She stared up at him, unable to even say yes.He smiled, then took her hand in his own. “Come.”He led her from the kitchen to the large sitting room and s
You deserve better than a man like me.The next morning, Xavier woke up stiff and sore from sleeping alone outside in the hammock on the beach. He still couldn’t believe it.He’d had her. Naked and ripe for the taking. He’d seen it in her body’s reaction to his touch, in the quiver of her neck and shoulders beneath the stroke of his fingers, in the flush of heat on her skin.He’d had her. Getting her to release him from his promise, luring her into just gasping out the words kiss me would have been the easiest thing in the world.It had taken slightly longer than he’d thought it would, but he’d finally succeeded in getting her where he wanted her. Bedding Sylvia last night would have been at once his revenge—and his reward.And yet he’d let her go. He’d stumbled away from the bathtub, and her body covered with bubbles, without a word. Once outside, he’d stripped off his dusty clothes and dived naked into the sea to clear his body of dust. To clear his soul of desire.You deserve bette
Standing before her in yesterday’s T-shirt and jeans, Xavier held himself still. His hands clenched with the effort it took not to kiss her. “Why were you thinking about me? Why do you even care about me? You shouldn't because I kidnapped you.”“You try to pretend you’re selfish and cruel,” she said softly. “But I keep thinking about you and coming to one conclusion. You’re a good man. You are just in a bad situation and you need to save yourself desperately. You were placed in a terrible position by Arnold and I understand your actions.”He gave a low laugh, like thunder reverberating across the dark sky. “I am not good. I am the good man you think I am and I want you get that thought out of your head.” Something snapped inside him and he reached for her shoulders, looking down into her eyes searchingly as he whispered, “But you…you are. You have the purest heart I have seen in a while.”“Oh.” She blushed. “I’m not so very good. I’ve been feeling quite stupid, actually, driving you
Xavier leaned his head against the cool marble of the shower, then turned off the water. He got dressed in khaki shorts and a snug black T-shirt.He threw a tortured glance toward the lanai where she waited. Yes, he was hungry. But not for food.He took a deep breath. Could he ruthlessly seduce a woman like this—a woman with such a kind soul that she believed the best of everyone, even him? Could he really make his desire come before his integrity? Could he let his desire take over him?She’s not some innocent virgin, his lust argued. He would make sure she thoroughly enjoyed their affair. She would have nothing to regret.And yet he knew she would. A woman like Sylvia didn’t take lovers easily. She couldn’t have done. She wasn’t jaded enough. If he took her to bed, she wouldn’t just give him her body; she might give him her heart.But he wanted her. She would be with him for days, maybe longer. How would he keep himself from taking her? He didn’t have any practice at resisting desire
Desperate was the right word, but he did not wish to be reminded of his latest failure. “And you?” he said bitterly. “Are you desperate to be back in Arnold's arms? Don't you wish to be far away from me? To be treated like royalty and enjoy his wealth?”She whirled back toward him, her blue-green eyes widening in shock. “You know I am not! How could you accuse me of that? You know very well I had no knowledge of his tricks and I would never sell myself for money."He knew that, but Sylvia believed the best of people. Could she, in time, grow to forgive the baron as well? The thought made him cruel.“You should know,” he said brutally, “that you were not the first woman he took as his lover since his marriage. He has quite the reputation of sleeping around.”She licked her lips. “I wasn’t?”“He’s had five or six.”She set her coffee cup down on the table with a trembling hand. “You must think I’m the biggest idiot in the world,” she whispered, blinking fast. “Believing Arnold would a
Sylvia heard his harsh intake of breath. It was all she could do to not to release his arm. Heat suffused her cheeks at her bold words.But she’d said it. She’d actually said the thought that had been pounding in her heart all night as she lay alone in the large bed. The question that had built inside her all morning as she made breakfast.She’d realized Xavier would never go back on his word not to kiss her. If she wanted him, she would have to beg.He turned to her now, cradling her face in his strong hands as he looked down at her with such hot intensity that she felt lost in it.“If I kiss you,” he ground out, “it won’t stop at a kiss. I will not be able to control myself."Wouldn’t it? She hadn’t thought that far ahead. All she knew was that if he didn’t kiss her soon, she thought she would die.This is madness, Sylvia’s mind was frantically trying to tell her. But her body had long stopped listening to her brain.“It will destroy your relationship with Arnold forever,” he said q