“I’m deeply attracted to you, Danielle. I want you as my wife. For me, not because of Monica. But if after the baby’s born you still want to leave, I won’t stop you.”
At one time she would have told him to go to hell for being so manipulative, but now…after knowing he had tried to protect her…after hearing the way he’d spoken to Monica…she realized he did care for her.
Perhaps more than he wanted to.
“And I owe you an apology for something else,” he said without inflection, but the tautened skin of his cheekbones belied the deceptively quiet statement.
A crease formed between her brows. “You do?”
A muscle ticked in his cheek. “Seeing Monica in action just now and the way she used everything in the book to emotionally blackmail you, I finally understood why you so badly crave your independence.”
Emotion welled in her throat as the tension eased inside her. Having Flynn fully appreciate what she’d gone through meant so much.
“And I suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg, right?”
For several more seconds he held her gaze. She wanted to look away but couldn’t. “Yes,” she admitted.
His eyes glittered with something so strong, so palpable, she felt a shiver roll down her spine. “Tell me about your marriage.”
She drew a calming breath, glad to be able to talk about it. “It was a mistake almost from the start, but I tried to pretend it didn’t matter. After a while I couldn’t even do that anymore.”
“Did you love him?”
“I thought I did, but I soon found out his idea of marriage was different than mine. He wanted unconditional love and I…well, I just wanted to be free.”
“Yet you fell pregnant to him,” he pointed out, his eyes detached but she knew he wasn’t.
“Not on purpose, Flynn. I would never have wanted my child to be brought up in that sort of atmosphere.” She took a shaky breath, trying to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach at the thought. “No, it just happened. I was finally ready to leave Robert, but he convinced me not to walk out on our marriage and to give it one more try. I knew I didn’t love him anymore. I knew he was probably being manipulative but…” She swallowed hard. “He said things would be different from now on, only he never got the chance to prove it. He was killed in a car accident a week later.”
Slowly Flynn’s shoulders looked less tense. “I’m sorry for what he did to you. For what they both did to you. If I could take away your pain, I would.”
Sudden tears sprang to her eyes. No matter what had passed between her and Flynn, no matter how angry he’d made her feel, or what accusations he’d thrown at her or how arrogant he’d become, he’d given her so much.
“You already have,” she murmured, blinking back her tears. “Oh, Flynn, when we made love, you made me feel like a woman again, instead of a poor example of a wife.”
His dark eyes deepened in color. “You would never be a poor example of anything. Never.”
She swallowed hard. “Thank you.”
Just then the wail of a siren could be heard coming closer, and the real world intruded. She saw a shutter come down over Flynn’s face.
He reached for the door handle. “Rest now. I’ll see to this.” He opened the door then looked back at her, his eyes bleak. “I’ll be moving into the bedroom next door. You need have no fear of being smothered by me any longer.”
“Oh, but…” His words clutched at her heart, making her aware that she suddenly didn’t like this wall he was putting between them. “Flynn, I don’t want you to use another bedroom. I want you to share my bed. I—” it was hard for her to say this “—need you right now.”
He froze, his dark eyes riveting on her face. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” She moistened her lips. “So…will you be coming back?”
His eyes searched hers, reading her thoughts. “You can count on it,” he said brusquely, then left the room.
She sat there for long moments after he’d gone, exhausted but incredibly relieved by his words. No matter how apprehensive she was about their relationship, no matter that it had progressed to another deeper level, it was somehow important to have Flynn by her side, if only until the baby was born.
After the ambulance left, Flynn went into the study, reached for one of the unopened bottles on the bar and poured himself a large measure of whiskey. It should have burned going down but it didn’t. He was already burning inside. Burning to take a certain dead man by the throat and rip his heart out.
And Monica. She was certainly a piece of work. She’d admitted having her daughter-in-law kicked out of the penthouse and then tried to dump everything on Danielle’s slim shoulders. It was just as well the older woman was on her way to a psychiatric hospital. She needed help and he doubted she would be released for quite some time.
Danielle must have gone through a living hell with those two. The thought of it appalled him.
But what appalled him even more was that he had been doing the same thing to her, telling her what to do and smothering her independence just as surely as Robert and Monica had done, not to mention accusing her of all sorts of things she hadn’t done.
He’d found that out after Connie had called a half hour ago with the report he’d ordered on Danielle and Robert Ford. She’d unearthed the personal information that had made him feel sick at heart.
He now knew all his accusations had been unfounded. Danielle wasn’t a gold digger. And she hadn’t spent the money from the loan. And the penthouse hadn’t been offered to her by an ex-lover. Nor had she wasted her husband’s inheritance and frittered away a fortune of his money. The looking to buy a secondhand car for her and the baby had been genuine.
She deserved a medal for what he’d put her through.
Yet she forgave him.
And she still wanted him in her life.
He swallowed another measure of whiskey. It had taken a blond-haired, blue-eyed temptress to remind him that the world did not exist for the sheer pleasure of Flynn Donovan. He felt humble and that was a feeling he hadn’t felt in a long, long time.
Nine
T he next morning Danielle woke to find herself in Flynn’s arms, her back up against him. Last night he’d come to bed, pulled her into his arms and explored her mouth with his tongue, stamping her with his kiss. Then he’d growled, “Get some rest,” rolled over and slept with his back to her.
She’d lain there, aching for him, knowing he was awake, knowing he was wanting her as much as she wanted him, but aware he was thinking of her health. Yet she’d merely have to reach out and touch him to change all that, only she couldn’t quite bring herself to do it. It was as if she’d made the first move, she would have been truly lost.
But that didn’t stop her from giving a little sigh and moving her buttocks against him now, then freezing when she felt his arousal.
“It’s no use pretending,” he murmured, his face buried against her nape.
“Er…pretending?”
“That you’re not awake.”
She released a breath. “Who said I was pretending?”
He went up on one elbow and rolled her onto her back. “Awake or not, you won’t stop me wanting you.”
“What will stop you wanting me?” she said, her voice husky.
“Nothing,” he muttered. “Not a bloody thing.”
“Oh, Flynn,” she whispered.
His eyes filled with a hot, sensual look that made the very air pulse with desire. “Say my name like that again and I’ll just have to make love to you.”
Her bones melted at those words, at that look, and all rational thought went with them. She moistened her lips. “And I have no say in the matter?”
“None at all.” A predatory gleam entered his eyes, then his gaze slid downward, pausing a moment on the swell of her breasts under her cream nightgown before they returned to rest on her heated face. “Your body wants me to make love to you.”
She tried to hold back a moan but some
how it escaped, making his eyes darken, making him look even more devastatingly attractive. And dangerous.
“If I don’t have you soon, there’ll be hell to pay,” he growled, lowering his lips to her bare shoulder beneath the spaghetti straps, making her jump. He inhaled deeply. “You’re wearing the perfume I gave you.” And then he began grazing his way along her collarbone, up the column of her throat, along her chin. “I’m going to kiss you now.”
Suddenly she had no will of her own and her lips parted ever so slightly. His mouth took possession of hers, and she shuddered with pleasure, her defenses downing as if they were bowing to a master craftsman. Everything inside her welcomed him as she responded to each plunge of his tongue across hers. She quivered and slid her hands up to his shoulders, holding on to him in case this turned into a dream and he suddenly disappeared.
He broke off the kiss, breathing heavily, his eyes smoldering for her, the intensity in them making her heart thud against her chest. Something had strengthened between them that went beyond sexual desire.
And then with great care he stripped the nightgown from her body, kissing every inch of bare skin as it was exposed to his view. Tears stung her eyes at the precious way he made love to her.
“Danielle?” he growled, lifting his head from the slope of her breast.
She blinked back the tears. “Yes?”
“Are you okay?”
“Please don’t stop. This is so…wonderful.”
He gave an almost feral groan. “I have no intention of stopping,” he said, then kissed her hard on the mouth. “Enough talk. Let’s enjoy each other.”
She couldn’t have spoken anyway because after that he set her blood on fire, scorching her with a passion that set her world on fire. And when he was inside her, she tried to ignore the possessive glitter in his eyes that said this time he’d made her his own.
Two weeks later, Flynn had to go to Brisbane on business for a couple of days and Danielle soon found she missed him. Nothing was the same without him. Yesterday had seemed duller and longer. The house seemed empty, the bed big and lonely.
She tried to tell herself it was just as well, that eventually she’d have to get used to not having him in her life again, only she couldn’t summon the energy. It was as if she were running low on batteries and she needed Flynn to recharge her.
“You miss him, don’t you?” Louise said as she served Danielle a late dinner on the patio, the dazzling sunset casting a golden hue over the landscaped swimming pool and cascading waterfall.
“He’s only been gone one night,” Danielle teased.
Louise sent her a wry look. “You’re fooling yourself, you know.”
Danielle’s cheeks reddened. “Flynn—”
“Needs you. And the baby. I can see how happy you make him, Danielle, and that makes me happy. I remember him as a child and he was a very sad little boy.”
Danielle’s heart squeezed tight at the thought of Flynn’s childhood. She could just picture him as a dark-haired boy picking up after his drunken father, making them something for dinner, from the meager scraps in the cupboard, his clothes threadbare.
“Why didn’t anyone help him back then, Louise? He was so young.”
“We all tried, but his father was a proud man and wouldn’t accept help and somehow the authorities never seemed to take any action.”
How could any parent make their own children suffer in such a fashion? In any fashion?
“How did his mother die?”
“In childbirth.”
Danielle gasped. “Flynn’s mother died having a baby?”
“Yes, but it won’t happen to you,” Louise quickly assured her. “She died a long time ago. They have much better medical treatments now.”
Danielle sat there, stunned. And he hadn’t told her? For a moment an incredible hurt clutched at her throat.
Then she realized that perhaps he had told her, but not in words. There had been his seeming anger when he’d found out she was pregnant and living alone. He’d stayed away from her, not because he’d thought she was trying to trap him as she’d suspected, but because the child she carried was a painful reminder of how his mother had died. An agony he didn’t want to deal with every day.
Yet here they were now.
“You love him, Danielle,” Louise said, interrupting her thoughts. “I know you do. I can see it in your eyes every time you say his name.”
Danielle blinked. “That’s ridiculous. You’ve got it all wrong.”
“No, I haven’t.” With that, Louise picked up an empty dish from the table and went back in the house.
Danielle sat back in her chair and stared after her. Louise was wrong. So totally wrong. She didn’t love Flynn. She wouldn’t let herself fall in love again, no matter how attracted she was to the man. She was stronger than that. Stronger and…a fool.
A fool in love.
Something unfurled inside her, came full circle and completed what had begun the day she’d met Flynn. Louise was right. She loved him. The thought staggered her, sent her reeling. Thank goodness she was sitting down.
She loved Flynn Donovan.
Oh, my God! She’d been too blind to see it before. Or maybe she just hadn’t wanted to know. Because loving Flynn meant making a commitment. And commitment meant something inside her had changed.
But had she changed enough to lay everything on the line and marry him? Certainly if he learned to love her, too, the rewards would be great. But if it all went wrong? The pain would be unbearable.
She swallowed hard. Could she marry a man who may only lust after her for the next twenty years…if that long? Dear God, she just didn’t know.
Suddenly her skin prickled and her heart began thudding in her chest. Her gaze shot to the patio door. Flynn stood there, his look so captivating in the fading light it sent a tremor through her.
“Flynn!”
In one fluid movement, he came toward her, tilted up her head and kissed her with a thoroughness that made her heart roll over. She melted into him, letting him take her lips as an offering of her love.
“You’re pleased to see me,” he murmured, easing back, a purely masculine look of satisfaction in his eyes.
She tried to act nonchalant. She needed more time. “I was bored. You break the monotony.”
The corner of his mouth quirked upward as he straightened. “I’m glad I’m useful for something.”
She moistened her lips. “Have you fixed the problem at the Brisbane office already?”
“No. I fly back first thing in the morning.”
She frowned. “So why are you here?”
His gaze held hers. “I wanted to see you.”
For a heart-stopping moment she savored the words. Then she released a slow breath. “Thank you for your concern, but I’m fine.”
His expression held a note of mockery but before she could catch her breath, his eyes turned probing. “Tell me. Do you still think I smother you?”
All at once she realized something. His concern wasn’t about stifling her. It was about caring for her. And he wasn’t someone who wanted to control her for his own purposes, but someone who wanted to protect her because he genuinely had her welfare at heart.
No wonder she had fallen in love with him.
Her throat closed up and it took a moment to speak. “No, I don’t feel smothered by you. Not anymore.”
His eyes darkened. “I’m glad.” Then he turned to face the pool and, if she didn’t know better, she’d have said his movements were somewhat jerky. Because of her? Or slight jetlag?
“I could do with a swim,” he said, loosening his tie. “Want to join me?”
The thought was far too tempting, but she didn’t know if she’d be able to control her words if she was in his arms right now. She might blurt out she loved him.
“Er…no. I’ve already been for a dip today.” She watched as he started stripping off his suit. “Um…what are you doing?”
He gave a half-smile, full of
confidence again. “Taking off my clothes.”
Heaven help her. “But Louise?”
“Is in the kitchen making me dinner. Don’t worry. I’ll leave my underpants on. I’d hate to shock her.” But his eyes said he knew it wasn’t just Louise he wanted to shock.
As if mesmerized, Danielle watched as he stripped, then walked over to the pool, the garden lights having turned on automatically as dusk descended, the palm trees and ferns almost hugging him as he stepped onto the edge.
He stood there for a moment, looking down at the crystal clear water, his tight black underpants leaving little to her imagination as the underwater lights reflected his superb physique, all sinew and muscle, giving him a commanding air of self-confidence.
He plunged into the water as he had plunged into her heart, surfaced, then began to swim up and down the pool with long, powerful strokes that sliced through the water as he sliced through life, determined to thrust through any obstacle in his way to get to where he wanted.
Or to what he wanted.
He wanted her.
He’d told her so with words, with his eyes, with his actions. The thought both thrilled and frightened her, because now she knew his wanting her made her stronger, not weaker. To belong to Flynn in the truest sense of the word would be wonderful.
She swallowed. Oh, God. She wasn’t ready for all these feelings overwhelming her. She had to think.
Pushing herself to her feet, she ignored the ache in her back and went into the kitchen, hanging around while Louise prepared steak and salad for his dinner. She could feel Louise’s knowing eyes on her while Thomas chatted on about their nephew’s new job.
Ten minutes later Flynn strolled into the kitchen and fell into conversation with the older couple. He’d wrapped a white towel around his lean hips, his tanned skin beaded with water. Danielle wanted to lick every drop off him, smooth her palms over the dark springy hair on his chest, rip that towel away and touch lower.
Make love to him.
She gave a silent moan and made for the door, intent on going up to the bedroom, putting some space between them.
He stepped in front of her, stopping her from leaving. “Come talk to me while I eat dinner.”
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