* * *
Hours later she woke.
For a moment she didn’t know where she was. And then it came to her: Noah’s house. The clock by the bed said it was ten after two in the morning. She stared up into the darkness and wondered what had awakened her.
Then she heard a light tap on the door.
And she knew: Noah. She threw back the covers and switched on the lamp as she reached for her robe. Tying the belt as she went, she raced to the door and yanked it wide.
She caught him in the act of raising his hand to knock again. “Noah...” He looked so fine he stole her breath. How could he be even hotter than she had remembered?
“Okay. It’s true,” he said in that wonderful gruff tone that always made her pulse race. “I caught a midnight flight because I couldn’t wait to see you.” His gaze ran over her, hot and slow, from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. “You look amazing.”
“All squinty eyed and half-asleep, you mean?”
“Exactly.”
She scraped her hair out of her eyes and resisted the urge to launch herself at him. “How long have you been standing out here?”
He braced an arm on the door frame and leaned in close. “About ten minutes, knocking intermittently. I was trying to wake you up without freaking you out.”
“Ah. Very...thoughtful.”
“You’re staring,” he whispered, and stared right back.
“Oh, I know. I can’t seem to stop. It’s just so good to see you.” The urge to jump on him and kiss him senseless kept getting stronger.
With slow, deliberate care, he lifted a hand and guided a wild curl of hair off her temple and behind her ear. The light touch struck hot sparks on her skin. “I don’t know what’s happening to me,” he said in a wondering tone. “Standing outside a woman’s bedroom door at two in the morning, patiently knocking at measured intervals... It’s not really my style.”
She yearned to touch him, yet she felt strangely shy. And that had her casting madly about for something at least reasonably intelligent to say. “How did your business meeting go?”
“It was a success.” Those blue, blue eyes tempted her down to drowning. And oh, she wanted to go there with him, to sink beneath the waves of shared desire, to lose herself in the heat and hardness of his body. He whispered, “I invested.”
“In?”
“A new company. They stream television shows. It’s an interesting start-up—though I have to admit, today I could not have cared less. I had a hell of a time concentrating in the meetings. I kept thinking that you were on your way and then, in the afternoon, that you must be here. I kept wishing
I
was here. I couldn’t get back fast enough.” He said the last softly, a little bit desperately. “And why am I telling you all this? It’s nothing you really need to know.”
“Of course I need to know that you’re thinking of me, that you want to be with me,” she told him sternly. “It’s important that I know.”
He chuckled then. “Ah. That’s it. I’m telling you because you need to know.”
She had no trouble understanding his desperation. She felt it, too. “I’m glad you came back early. Glad that you stood here in the hallway patiently knocking until I heard you and woke up....”
“I love this....” He touched her cheek beside her mouth.
She had no idea what he was talking about. “This...what?”
He made a low disappointed sound. “You frowned. Gone.”
And then she knew. She smiled. “Dimples. You love my dimples?”
“There they are.... Yeah.” He touched each one, a matched pair of quick, sweet caresses. And then his finger strayed. He tapped the tip of her chin and traced the line of her jaw, raising little shivers of awareness as he went.
“I spent the afternoon and evening with Lucy,” she said. Her voice came out sounding husky and a little bit breathless. “I love her already.”
“I knew you would.”
She shook her head and gently scolded, “You know she’s not happy with you right now....”
“She’ll get over it.”
Alice wasn’t so sure. “She seems pretty determined to get going on her own life.”
Twin lines formed between his brows. “She’s not strong enough yet.”
“
She
says that she is.”
“Wishful thinking. She’s always been a dreamer.”
“Noah. I believe her.”
“She can be convincing, I’ll admit.”
“No. Honestly, if I didn’t know she’d been sick, I never would have guessed that she spent so much of her childhood in bed.”
“That’s because she’s better, a lot better. And all I want is for her to stay that way, not to push too hard and end up flat on her back again. In time, yes, she’ll get out on her own. But at this point, she still needs taking care of. And why are we talking about this right now?”
“Because she matters. Because you love her. Because she has a right to her own life—and I saw her portfolio. She obviously has talent, a great deal of it. How can you ask her to miss her chance?”
“Alice, come on.” He’d changed tactics; his voice had turned coaxing and his eyes were soft as a summer sky. He put a finger to her lips. “Enough about Lucy.”
Alice longed to say more. But maybe not now. Not in the middle of the night, when he’d flown home on a red-eye just to be with her, when she was so glad to see him she felt like a moonbeam, weightless and silvery, dancing on air.
She reached up and laid her hand on the side of his smooth jaw. He smelled of soap, all fresh and clean. He must have showered before he came to find her. That touched her, the way he cared so much to please her. So much so, evidently, that his housekeeper had gotten fed up with his endless demands and been forced to take him down a peg. “I like Hannah, too.”
He turned his head enough to breathe a lovely, warm kiss into the heart of her palm. “She’s the best.”
She let her touch trail lower and tugged on the collar of his polo shirt. “And did I mention it’s
so
good to see you?”
“You did.” He leaned closer. His warm breath touched her cheek. “And I have a question....”
“Mmm?”
“If you’re that happy to see me, how come you haven’t kissed me?”
She wrapped her hand around his neck and pulled him down to her. “You’re right. I need to fix that....”
His lips were so close. “Do it.” It was a command, one she was only too happy to obey.
Their lips met.
Paradise.
She slid her other arm up to clasp around his neck and he reached out and reeled her in. Her breasts pressed against his hard chest, and oh, my, down against her belly, she felt how much he wanted her.
And it was so good. So right.
She really had missed him. Three weeks since that first day when she had mistaken him for a stable hand. In three weeks he had become...special to her. Important. Almost a necessity. Like air and water and her beautiful horses.
Now that she had him in her arms again, now that she had his mouth on hers, she didn’t want to stop kissing him. She didn’t want to let him go. She wanted his kiss, his touch, the heat of his body so close to hers.
She wanted everything.
All of him.
Tonight.
He deepened the kiss, wrapping her tighter in his powerful embrace. She pressed her body closer to his heat and his strength.
It wasn’t close enough.
With a little moan, she surged up closer still. He took her cue and caught her by the waist, lifting her. She responded instinctively, wrapping her arms and legs around him.
She gasped. He groaned. She was all over him like a fresh coat of paint, and it was marvelous. The hardest, hottest part of him pressed insistently against the soft womanly core of her, with only a few layers of clothing between.
He tore his mouth from hers and his eyes burned down at her, blue fire. “Alice?”
She knew exactly what he was asking. And she knew she wanted to answer yes.
At the same time, she hesitated. The new Alice, the more cautious Alice, nagged at her to put on the brakes.
And the old Alice, the
real
Alice, was having none of that.
How could she call this magic wrong? It
wasn’t
wrong.
All right, yes, she did realize that they had a long way to go if they hoped to carve out a slice of forever side by side. She had to know him better, trust him more.
And
he
had to learn to trust
her,
to count on her.
They both had to find a way to reach for each other with open hearts, to be guided by each other, to hold on, to share support, to count on each other when things got rough.
It’s too soon.
Her wiser self kept after her.
You know how you are, always leaping before you look.
She needed to be more careful. She needed to keep from getting swept away in the heat of the moment.
But no.
Being more careful was the
last
thing she needed right now. At least, her heart thought so. With every swift, hungry beat, her heart seemed to insist that it wasn’t too soon at all.
In the weeks apart, when they’d talked and texted constantly, something had been changing. Being so far away from him had actually brought them closer.
So that now, tonight, when he touched her at last, when she heard his voice so low and tender, something special happened. All her doubts melted to nothing. And she knew a deeper truth.
She knew that it would be wrong to send him back to his own bed. It would be wrong and it would be false.
And cowardly, too.
What was that lovely thing Rhia had said to her?
That she was a bold person, someone who lived by her instincts. Rhia had said that she should stop trying to be otherwise, stop second-guessing and being overly careful, stop working so hard to be someone she wasn’t.
“My God.” Noah’s eyes blazed down at her. His wonderful mouth was swollen from kissing her, his eyes feral with need. “Alice?”
And she did it. She took the plunge, gave him the answer they both longed for. “Yes.”
“Alice...” It came out on a groan and he claimed her mouth again, harder and deeper even than before.
She kissed him back. The choice had been made and she was bound to glory in it. She wrapped her legs and arms all the tighter around him, pressing her hips against him, feeling him there, right where she wanted him, tucked so close against the feminine heart of her.
“Alice,” he whispered once more, so tenderly now. “Alice...”
And then he carried her over the threshold into the shadowed bedroom, pausing only to kick the door closed before striding straight for the bed.
Chapter Seven
N
oah hardly dared to believe.
Now. Tonight. All night.
Alice, in his arms.
They had far too many clothes on. He needed to deal with that. Fast.
And he did. He took her by the waist and lowered her to the rug by the bed, groaning a little at the wonderful friction as her body slid down the front of him until her bare feet took her weight.
She gazed up at him, eyes lazy and hot, soft mouth parted. “Noah...”
He clasped her waist tighter, not wanting to let go, locking her in place. “Do. Not. Move.”
She laughed, full-out as always, and husky, too. The sound played over him, making him hungrier, harder. Even more ready than before. She said, “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good.” He let go of her and started ripping off his clothes, shirt first. He bent and reached with both fists over his shoulders, gathering the knit material up in a wad, yanking it off and away.
She remained right where he’d put her, looking like an angel in a white robe that seemed spun of silk and cobwebs, her hair wild on her shoulders, her eyes full of promises he fully intended to see that she kept.
He had his zipper down and his trousers dropped when he realized how he’d messed up. A chain of swear words escaped him.
She laughed again. “Oh, come on, Noah. It can’t be all
that
bad.”
He bent and yanked his pants back up. “I’ve got to go get condoms,” he confessed with a groan.
“Condoms.” She looked at him levelly. Calmly. Regally.
He felt like a complete idiot, a dolt of epic proportions. “I’ll run all the way to my rooms. I won’t be a minute, I swear.”
She reached over, pulled open the drawer by the bed and came up with a box of them. “Will these do?”
The woman amazed him. “You brought condoms all the way from Montedoro?”
She tipped up her chin. So proud. So adorable. “I believe it’s best to be prepared and responsible. We’ve had more than one unexpected pregnancy in my family. Those pregnancies ended well, in good marriages and wanted babies. But still, I prefer not to take that chance.”
He felt better about everything. “You
were
planning to have sex with me. God. I’m so glad.”
Her chin stayed high. “What I
planned
was to be safe
if
I had sex with you.”
He wanted to grab her and kiss her senseless, but he had a feeling he’d be better off at that point to fake a little humility. “Yes, ma’am.”
She shook the box at him. “Not that I had any intention of using them so soon....”
“Oh, hell, no. Of course you didn’t.”
And you damn well better not change your mind now.
Her dimples flashed. He knew then that it would be all right, that she would let him stay with her. That he would have her, hold her, claim her as his own.
Tonight.
She opened the box, took one out and set it on the nightstand. Then she dropped the box back into the drawer and pushed it shut. “Please. Proceed.”
And he did. He proceeded the hell out of getting naked fast. When he tossed away his second sock and stood before her in nothing but a little aftershave, she was all softness and sweet, willing woman again.
“Oh, Noah,” she whispered, and she stepped in close. She put her hand on his chest, right over his breastbone. “Oh, my...”
He bent and took her mouth. Incredible, the taste of her. No woman ever had tasted so good.
She was a lot more than he’d bargained for when he went looking for his princess. A whole lot more. And he was absolutely fine with that.
He framed her face in his two hands, threading his fingers up into the tangled cloud of her golden-brown hair. And he went on kissing her, feeding off that tender, wet, hot mouth of hers until he was so hard he started worrying he might lose it just standing there naked at the side of the bed, his mouth locked with hers.
No way could he let that happen.
He got to work getting her undressed, first tugging the tail on the bow that held her robe together. The silken tie slithered off and down to the rug. And the robe fell open, revealing a lacy copper-colored cami and a pair of very tiny matching tap pants. He pushed the robe off her shoulders. It fell with a soft airy sound, collapsing around their feet.
Then he pushed down the tap pants, taking longer about that than he’d intended to. But the feel of her skin under his palms, the glorious smooth curves of her hips, the long, strong length of her flawless thighs....
He kind of got lost in the sheer beauty of her. What red-blooded man wouldn’t?
But eventually, she stepped out of the tap pants, and he took the lacy hem of that little camisole and pulled it up over her head and away.
And that was it. They were both naked.
And she was so beautiful he almost lost it all over again. Not fragile, not Alice. Uh-uh. All woman, and strong, a true horsewoman, with more muscle than most, with shapely arms and round, high breasts, a tight little waist and lean hips. And those legs of hers...
He couldn’t wait to have them wrapped around him good and hard again.
He scooped her up and laid her down. She didn’t argue, only sighed and pulled him down with her, offering that tender mouth up to him once again. He took what she offered and kissed her, a hard claiming kiss.
And he went on kissing her, letting his hands go exploring, loving the feel of her skin, the lilies-and-musk scent of her, those hot little cries she made when he cupped her breasts and teased at the nipples, when he spread his fingers across her belly and rubbed.
It got to him, got to him good, to imagine that tight stomach of hers softening, slowly going round and then turning hard all over again—with his baby. He wanted that, to watch her get bigger with their child. He’d done what he had to do in his life to care for his sister, to make a place in the world that no one could take from him or anyone he claimed as his.
Now he had that place. He had the power and the money to earn what mattered—and more important, to hold on to what he earned, to mold the future for his children and his children’s children. He had enough to offer a woman like this one, enough to make her his. To give her everything.
To keep her safe and happy and having his babies.
He let his hand stray lower. He parted the closely trimmed curls at the top of those beautiful thighs. And he dipped a finger in.
Wet. Hot. Silky.
She cried out against his lips and caught his face in her two hands. “Noah...”
He dipped another finger in. “Like this?”
“Yes,” she whispered. And, “Yes,” again.
“So soft. Hot...”
“Noah. Oh, Noah...”
He liked that. More than anything. The way she said his name like he counted, like she couldn’t any more get enough of him than he could of her, like he really was the man he’d worked so hard to become—and that other guy, too. The one in the old jeans and the battered boots, sweeping out the stable, dreaming of the day he might have something to call his own. She liked that guy, too, even if she’d been pissed off at him for misleading her.
She reached down between them, wrapped her fingers around him. And then she started stroking.
He was sure he would die. And he knew it would be worth it.
Too bad he couldn’t last if she kept that up. He had to reach down between them and capture her wrist.
Her eyes flew open. “Too much?”
His answer was a hard groan and another deep, hungry kiss. She wrapped both arms around him and held him so close.
He wanted to taste her, in the heart of her, where she was so hot and wet. But it had been too long for him. He feared he wouldn’t last long enough to feel her sweet body all around him.
So he groped for the night table and found the condom. He had it out of the wrapper and down over himself in a matter of seconds, and then he lifted up on his hands to position himself.
She gazed up at him, eyes dazed, mouth so soft and willing. And she ran her hands over him, across his shoulders, down his chest. Slowly, she smiled, a knowing, wicked smile, those dimples of hers making naughty little creases in her velvety cheeks.
And then she got her feet braced somehow and she was turning him—turning
them.
She must have seen that she’d surprised him, because another of those throaty killer laughs escaped her.
He found himself on his back, staring up at her. “What?” he asked in a growl, though he had a pretty good idea of what—and he didn’t mind in the least.
“I want to be on top, that’s all.” She folded those muscular legs to either side of his waist and sat up on him.
“Be my guest,” he managed on a groan. The view was amazing. He couldn’t resist. He cupped her breasts, teased the tight dusky nipples with his thumbs.
And then she lifted up again. She reached down between them and she took him in her hand.
They both groaned as she lowered her sleek, strong body down onto him. She did it slowly, drawing it out, making him suffer and clearly loving every minute of it.
He grasped her waist, trying to take a little control, trying not to lose it when they were so close.
But she just kept right on at her own pace, slowly claiming him, surrounding him with her wet heat, her silky softness, owning him, taking him in. It went on forever, and every second he knew that he couldn’t hold on, couldn’t last a second longer.
And yet, somehow, he did hold on. For that second. And the one after that, and even the one after that.
Until she had him fully within her.
She stilled. He followed her lead, holding himself steady, though his whole body ached with the need to move. He stared up at her and she gazed down at him through another sweet, endless space of time. He knew he would explode.
Finally, when he was past the point where he couldn’t take it anymore and yet, through some dark miracle, kept on taking it without losing it after all, she started to lift up again.
He still clasped her waist and he grabbed on hard—and pulled her back down. She moaned at that and let her head fall back. So beautiful, her long slim neck straining, her hair falling over her shoulders, her mouth open in another cry, a silent one.
After that he lost track of everything but the pure, perfect sensation of being held tight inside her. She rocked those hard little hips on him and he rocked with her.
It was forever and only a moment. Light exploded behind his eyes, and then he was reaching for her shoulders, pulling her down onto him, tight and close. He let his hands glide along the fine shape of her slender back to grasp the twin curves of her bottom and he held her good and tight and rocked up hard against her.
She took him, she pushed right back. A shudder claimed her and he knew she was almost there. Inside, she closed and opened on him in rhythmic contractions. She cried out.
That did it. He was so ready, and now she was going over. He didn’t have to hold out any longer.
He lifted his head enough to claim her mouth. She opened for him, her tongue sliding over his, welcoming him with a keening little sigh as her body continued to pulse around him.
So good. Exactly right. Doubly joined to her, he kissed her and he let it happen, let his climax rise to meet hers. No stopping it now. It rolled up through the core of him, a long wave of heat and energy, spreading outward so that everything—his body, her body, the whole of the world—seemed to shimmer, to open.
He surged up harder than ever into her, still holding the endless kiss they shared. She breathed his name into his mouth. He drank it. Drank
her,
as the end shuddered over him in a spinning-hot explosion of burning, perfect light.
* * *
Curled on her side facing the bedside table, Alice woke from a deep, peaceful sleep.
The clock by the lamp said it was almost ten in the morning. Daylight glowed around the edges of the drawn curtains.
She rolled onto her back and eased a hand out, feeling her way across the sheet to the other side of the bed. Empty. Frowning a little, she turned her head.
Gloriously naked, feet planted wide apart on the cream-colored rug, Noah lounged in one of the sitting-area chairs, watching her through hooded eyes.
Alarm jangled through her. Was something the matter?
She bounced to a sitting position, instinctively pulling the sheet against her bare breasts, pushing her hair out of her eyes. “Noah, what...?”
He got up and came toward her. Her heart rate spiked. He really was one magnificent-looking man, wide shouldered and broad in the chest, with lean, hard arms, a sculpted belly and sharply muscled legs nicely dusted with burnished gold hair. She found herself staring at the most manly part of him. It really was every bit as breathtaking as the rest of him, even at half-mast.
Halting at the side of the bed, he stood staring down at her.
She blinked up at him, vivid images from the night before flashing through her mind. It had been wonderful. They’d used three of her condoms and made love till near dawn, finally falling asleep wrapped up in each other’s arms. “Um. Good morning.”
He held out his hand. “Come here.”
She frowned, tipped her head to the side and tried to figure out what exactly was going on with him. “Is everything...all right?”
He nodded. He really was looking so very serious. She kept having the feeling that something terrible must have happened. But what?
He prompted, “Take my hand.” He still had it outstretched to her.
And she thought of that night at the palace when she’d first learned he wasn’t a poverty-stricken stable worker after all, and she’d been so angry with him. He’d offered his hand to her then. And she couldn’t bear not to take it, couldn’t leave him standing there, reaching out to nothing. She just had to reach back.
She took his hand. His fingers curled around hers, warm and strong and steady. And her heart gave a little lurch of pleasure. Of hope and happiness. “Last night was so beautiful, Noah.”
“It was,” he said softly. “Let go of the sheet.”
Why not? She’d never been all that overly modest, anyway. And he’d seen every inch of her last night. Plus, he was naked, too. They were naked together. A ragged little sigh escaped her as she let the sheet drop. He tugged on her hand. She swung her bare legs over the side of the bed and stood.