Illusion of Love
Page 17
Luke closed his eyes. 'It was the hardest thing I'd ever done in my life, leaving you like that, but I knew you would hate me if we made love—you seemed to hate me.'
'I was afraid of you,' she admitted, her eyes meeting his.
'Why?' Surprised, he_touched her cheek, his long fingers gently stroking her skin, a lover's caress.
'You turned my safe happy world upside down. Every time you looked at me . . . every time I looked at you, I wanted you,' she admitted, soft becoming colour flushing her cheeks.
Luke laughed, low and exultantly, his arms tightening until she could hardly breathe.
Stephanie thought for a moment, then said, 'So my visit to England . . .?'
'The solicitors helped me. It was the only way I could think of to get you away, I was even willing to tolerate Sangster in my house if it meant that you were there,' he admitted with an unrepentant smile.
'You didn't plan what happened between him and Carina?'
Luke shook his head. 'I wouldn't have hurt you in any way.' His eyes held hers.
'And what about Carina?' Stephanie probed, her -mind spinning with all he had told her.
'What about her?'
'Well .. . well, she told me that . . . that the two of you were practically engaged,' Stephanie revealed, reluctantly.
Luke swore under his breath. 'There was never anything between us,' he told her truthfully. 'Oh, I took her out a few times, but it meant nothing. I was a friend of her father's—your father's, that's all. I guess she must have realised how I felt about you and tried to put a spanner in the works.'
'She's in love with you,' Stephanie said quietly.
'No—in love with my money, maybe, but not with me. She's in Scotland with Wayne at the moment. They say it's a big romance.'
Stephanie smiled, glad for Wayne. 'Really?' She wasn't just asking about Scotland.
'Really.' Luke touched his mouth to her forehead.
She looked into the glittering green depths of his eyes and believed him. He had never lied to her, she knew that now. Everything was so perfect, so beautiful, she could hardly believe it.
'Oh, Luke, I thought you'd not carried the business
of my father's embezzlement any further because of Carina,' she told him jealously.
'It was for you,' he said simply. 'Everything was for you.'
She smiled up at him and heard him catch his breath. His mouth parted hers tenderly, his kiss becoming deep and drugging and hungry as he felt her response. Stephanie clung to him, drowning beneath the pleasure of his mouth. Long minutes later, he reluctantly raised his head and stared down at her with smoky, unsmiling eyes.
'Tell me,' he muttered with harsh urgency. 'I want to hear you say it.'
She touched his face. 'I love you, Luke,' she whispered, the truth of the words shining in her eyes. 'I'll always love you.' She watched the muscles in his brown throat contracting as he swallowed.
'And you'll marry me?'
'Yes, I'll marry you,' she agreed, her mouth very gentle, very beautiful.
Luke sighed, heavily as though he had waited for ever to hear her say those words. 'Ah, Stephanie,' he murmured against her silken hair. 'You've been driving me out of my mind the past couple of months! I can hardly believe that you're finally mine.'
Stephanie laughed, the radiant happiness inside her coursing through her veins like champagne, the world full of rainbows.
'I was confused and unsure of myself,' she whispered against his throat. 'I knew I loved you, but after finding out what Dean was like, I had no confidence in my own judgment. I thought I loved him once.'
Luke smiled, his jealousy gone. 'You were only a child then,' he said gently. 'Your love for him was an illusion. He was your father, your brother, but never your lover or your husband.'
'I know that now,' she said, sliding her hand beneath his shirt and tangling her fingers in the hairs that roughened his chest.
Luke groaned, his eyes darkening passionately. 'I love you,' he said deeply. 'I'll love you until the day I die. And I need your love.'
Shaken by his intensity, Stephanie reached up and put her mouth to his. 'Take me to bed,' she murmured provocatively against the firm warmth of his lips, 'and I'll show you how much I love you.'
Luke lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed, arching over her and parting her lips with a hunger that beat flame through her whole body.
In the seconds before she was completely lost, Stephanie suddenly remembered the restaurant.
'Oh no,' she whispered worriedly, 'I'll have to get in touch with Francoise—she'll be worried.'
'Later,' muttered Luke, pushing the blouse from her shoulders.
'And I'm supposed to be having dinner with Philippe tonight,' she told him breathlessly, gasping as his mouth touched her breasts.
'The hell you are!' Luke told her possessively, his tongue tracing erotic circles against her bare skin.
'The hell I am,' she agreed, on a soft moan.
'Luke ' Her fingers clenched against the unyielding
muscles of his shoulders, desire roaring in her veins.
'I love you,' he told her again as his lips claimed hers, a powerful magic spell that made her shiver in his arms. It was all she would ever need to know, it was everything she wanted.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN