But Cassandra couldn’t help wondering now, after seeing just how estranged things were between Jonas and Peter, just how many other Christmas gifts Jonas had received. If any. He was so much a loner here, and any friends he might have were obviously in America——Which advanced Cassandra to questioning whether or not there was a particular womanfriend there… He hadn’t brought a woman with him when he came back to England nine months ago, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t someone, that another woman wasn’t the reason he had gone back to America so suddenly last week.
But Cassandra had told him she didn’t care who shared his bed before or after they were married, and, knowing Jonas, he would take her at her word! Strange how curious she suddenly felt about that faceless shadow of a woman who was probably Jonas’s mistress…
Her cheeks felt hot as she realised Jonas was still watching her disparagingly, one of her hands moving self-consciously to the brooch pinned at her throat. ‘I thought Father Christmas delivered them?’ She looked at him challengingly.
‘Touché.’ He gave an acknowledging inclination of his head before turning fully in his seat to look in the back of the car. ‘Bethany?’ His quietly firm voice easily attracted the little girl’s attention from her play, and Bethany looked up at him curiously. ‘How would you like it if your mother and I got married and I came to live with you all the time?’
Cassandra gave a choked gasp at the bluntness with which he had put the situation. Left up to her she would have tried to broach the news a little more gently than that. Although, from the ecstatic look on Bethany’s face as she sat forward on her seat to beam up at them, that would have been a waste of Cassandra’s time—and her concern that the situation be handled as delicately as possible!
‘Really?’ Bethany’s eyes glowed deeply golden. ‘You would really come and live with us forever and ever?’
Jonas smiled at her description. ‘Forever and ever,’ he nodded.
Bethany sat forward even more to throw an arm about each of their necks. ‘That would be wonderful!’ She hugged them both tightly before sitting back to clap her hands gleefully. ‘Father Christmas did bring my other present after all!’ she grinned happily.
Cassandra frowned at her beaming daughter. ‘What other present?’ she asked warily—already knowing she wasn’t going to like the answer!
‘Why, that Uncle Jonas should come and live with us, of course,’ her precocious daughter answered instantly.
Cassandra was stunned; she had had no idea——!
‘Of course,’ Jonas murmured mockingly at her side.
Cassandra deliberately didn’t look at him, knowing she would scream if she had to look at the triumphant expression on his face. ‘And just when did you ask Father Christmas for this particular present?’ she asked Bethany drily; she had sat and helped Bethany write her letter to Father Christmas earlier in the month, and there had certainly been no mention of Jonas coming to live with them in that—she would most certainly have remembered it!
Her daughter still grinned from ear to ear, having no idea that her mother wasn’t as happy as she was with the idea of Jonas coming to live with them forever and ever! ‘We had to write a letter to put in the school post-box for Father Christmas, and as I had forgotten to put in my other letter about Uncle Jonas coming to live with us I asked the teacher to help me write it in this one.’
Cassandra couldn’t help wondering what Mrs Grayson had made of that!
‘Father Christmas has a lot to answer for,’ she muttered disgustedly.
‘Look on the bright side,’ Jonas chuckled at her side. ‘She could have asked for something really impossible.’
Until a week ago Cassandra had believed the idea of her marrying Jonas and his coming to live with them forever and ever was impossible!
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘NEXT week!’ Marguerite gasped disbelievingly, having initially been thrilled at the announcement that Cassandra and Jonas were to be married—until she had learnt the speed with which it was to take place!
Jonas had waited until they were all seated around the table for lunch, Joy and Colin, Marguerite and Godfrey—the elderly man had spent Christmas with the family for as long as Cassandra could remember—Bethany, Jonas and Cassandra, before telling the rest of the family they were engaged to be married.
Joy had given Cassandra a smile of knowing mockery, Colin had congratulated them, Godfrey still looked dazed by the whole thing, and Marguerite—well, her first reaction had been something that looked a little like relief, quickly followed by the pleasure—so quickly that Cassandra wondered if she could possibly have imagined that initial response… Because now her mother just looked horrified!
‘We can’t possibly organise a wedding for next week!’ she protested now, shaking her head.
‘We aren’t going to,’ Jonas informed her quietly, his hand possessively on Cassandra’s as it rested on the table-top. ‘Cassandra and I are both adults, perfectly capable of organising our own wedding,’ he stated abruptly.
Marguerite frowned at this dismissal of her help. ‘But surely I—’
‘Besides,’ Jonas added firmly, ‘it’s going to be a very quiet affair. Cassandra and I both want it that way.’
Cassandra would like it kept so quiet that no one actually knew about it!
Her mother shook her head dazedly, lunch completely forgotten. ‘It’s all very sudd—There isn’t anything I should know about, is there, dear?’ She looked worriedly at Cassandra.
Cassandra returned her gaze searchingly, wondering if her mother had begun to understand her at last, that she actually realised—and cared!—that there was something decidedly odd about this sudden marriage to Jonas. But what she read in her mother’s anxious expression disgusted her rather than filled her with relief.
‘There aren’t any little Hunters on the way, Mother, if that’s what you’re so delicately implying,’ she drawled hardly. ‘Jonas and I have another reason entirely for marrying so hastily—’ She broke off abruptly as Jonas’s fingers tightened painfully about hers, biting back the relieved sigh as that grip loosened now that it had had the desired effect of silencing her.
What had he thought she was going to do—blurt out the truth, throw herself on the mercy of her family? She knew better than to even try to do that!
‘We’re in love, Marguerite,’ Jonas drawled. ‘We want to be together. I’m sure you know how that feels.’
‘Don’t make such a fuss, Marguerite.’ Godfrey beamed at the ‘happy couple’. ‘I’m sure you must remember how you and David felt in those early days together.’
Cassandra knew that her parents had had a good marriage, that her mother had been devastated by her husband’s death, but she certainly couldn’t ever imagine her mother in those first heady days of being in love, when all that seemed to matter was being with the person you loved. Jonas in that role was even more unbelievable!
‘Well, of course.’ Her mother was still slightly flustered at the speed with which things were happening. ‘But even so it does seem—’
‘It’s what we both want, Marguerite.’ Jonas’s voice had hardened now, although he remained outwardly relaxed, his hand lightly clasping Cassandra’s.
‘May as well accept the inevitable with good grace, my dear,’ Godfrey told Marguerite affectionately. ‘Men like Jonas don’t want to be messing about with long engagements, and then yards of lace and orange blossom!’
‘I couldn’t have put it better myself, Godfrey.’ Jonas smiled at the older man, knowing he had found an ally. ‘Now I suggest we all eat our lunch before it gets cold.’ He looked at them all pointedly, obviously welcoming no more criticism of his plans—or receiving any! Jonas had said they should eat their lunch, and that was just what they all did.
Cassandra wished she could have enjoyed the perfectly cooked Christmas lunch with as much gusto as the others seated at the table seemed to do, the conversation noisy, Bethany allowed to get up and pull everyone’s cracker with them, more o
ften than not ending up with the gift that had been inside too. As far as her daughter was concerned, all was right with the world…
Whereas Cassandra wasn’t sure her world would ever be right again!
‘Well, I think everyone took the news very well, don’t you?’ Jonas said with satisfaction, the day over, the three of them back at Cassandra’s house now, Bethany asleep upstairs, having been carried up there by Jonas after falling asleep in the back of the car on the drive home, the excitement of the day having finally worn her out.
Jean had already returned from her sister’s house, where she had spent her usual Christmas day, and gone to bed by the time they got in, and Cassandra had assumed that once Jonas had carried Bethany upstairs he would leave so that she could go to bed too.
But as usual Jonas had his own ideas about how he should behave, and by the time Cassandra had settled Bethany in her bed for the night Jonas had gone downstairs to the sitting-room and lit the fire before making himself comfortable in one of the armchairs beside it, warming a glass of brandy in the lean strength of his hands, then sipping it appreciatively, giving no impression of leaving in the immediate, or even near future.
Cassandra sat down in the chair opposite him, well aware of how cosy and homely they must appear sitting here together—when all the time she felt like crying. In fact, she was going to do just that if Jonas didn’t leave soon!
‘Yes,’ she finally answered him huskily; she hadn’t expected any dissenting voices from her family when they were told she was to marry Jonas!
Jonas looked across at her searchingly, black gaze enigmatic as he took in her too pale cheeks and over-bright eyes. ‘Cassandra?’ he prompted softly.
She swallowed hard, fighting back the tears that had been threatening to fall all day. ‘It’s late, Jonas. It’s been a long day, and I—I’m tired.’
He stood up to slowly cross the short distance that separated them, coming down on his haunches beside her to raise her chin with gentle fingers, looking deep into the shadowed depth of her eyes. ‘What is it, Cassandra?’ he finally asked gruffly.
She gave a choked laugh, her throat full of tears too now. What was it? It was everything! The day. Her family. Jonas. She had spent the day surrounded by the people closest to her—her daughter, her family, the man she was going to marry—and she had never felt so alone and lonely in her whole life!
All of it—the unwrapping of gifts, the family lunch and tea, the congratulations of her family on her forthcoming marriage, Bethany’s heady excitement with the day, Jonas’s brooding presence at her side—in fact, everyone had behaved today exactly as she had thought they would. So why did she feel so depressed about it?
She shook her head self-derisively. ‘I’m just being silly,’ she dismissed ruefully, the tears thankfully receding with this realisation.
Jonas’s mouth twisted. ‘That isn’t an emotion I’ve ever associated with you,’ she murmured drily.
Cassandra was very conscious of his hands still resting against her jaw, lightly caressing now, like tiny electric shocks against her skin. ‘Oh, believe me, Jonas, I can be silly. Very silly,’ she added with heavy emotion. It would pass, she knew it would pass, but until it did…
He gave a puzzled frown at the strangeness of her mood, coming to sit on the arm of her chair, tilting her chin up now so that she looked straight into the brooding darkness of his face. Only it wasn’t brooding or dark at this moment; his eyes were gentle with concern, his harsh features softened into a questioning frown as he still looked searchingly into her face.
Cassandra barely had time to blink her surprise at this unexpected emotion before his head began to lower slowly towards hers, every bone in her body seeming to melt completely as his mouth claimed hers in the most piercingly sensual caress she had ever imagined.
For a moment, only a brief stunned moment—to her everlasting shame it was very brief!—Cassandra neither responded nor resisted. And then her lips began to move against his, her arms moving up about his neck as she pulled him down to her, pleasure singing through her veins as she felt truly alive for the first time today.
Jonas slid down the side of the chair, both of them sitting in the well of it now, the whole length of their bodies touching from shoulder to knee. Cassandra felt her breasts crushed against Jonas’s chest, but it was a near-pain she welcomed, loving the hard pressure of Jonas’s body against hers as their kisses deepened, no longer gently searching but becoming increasingly fevered as passion soared and took over from any other emotion. In fact, no other emotion existed!
She felt heat against her bared flesh as Jonas pushed aside her jumper, but it wasn’t the fire that warmed her but the heat of his own body as he pressed even closer to her, disposing of his shirt as if it were an old rag rather than the silk it really was, only the thin wisp of Cassandra’s bra separating their bared torsos now.
And still Jonas’s mouth played havoc with her senses, drinking deeper and deeper, moist tongue probing, searching, flitting over teeth and tongue before plunging down, down, hands cradling either side of her flushed face as his tongue possessed her in the way his throbbing need told her he wanted to.
Without moving his mouth from hers, Jonas gently pulled her down on to the rug in front of the fire, his arms moving about her body now, those hands caressing the slender length of her back, the gossamer silk that had separated them disappearing as if by magic, Cassandra’s breasts tautly free; she gasped low in her throat as one of his hands moved to cup her there, the thumbtip moving lightly over the already hardened nipple, each caress intensifying the burning ache she felt between her thighs.
His lips left hers now to travel the length of her throat, down over the silky flesh to the upward thrust of her other breast, Cassandra watching as if mesmerised as his tongue flicked out to wet that nipple, licking slowly, tantalisingly over the fiery tip as she felt her body arching towards him for more, much more, her hands moving up to cradle the back of his head as he at last drew the nipple fully into the moist cavern of his mouth, alternately sucking and licking the throbbing tip until Cassandra cried out with a deeper need.
His hands caressed now, stroking up and down the length of her spine, coming to rest on the slenderness of her hips, pushing aside the clothing there as if it was of no consequence at all, touching her naked thighs and legs, groaning low in his throat at the feel of her silken flesh beneath his hands.
Cassandra touched him too, hands moving over the firm flesh of his broad shoulders, marvelling at the play of muscles beneath the tanned skin; then her hands moved down his back, feeling a tautness in him that matched her own.
Her movements seemed awkward and clumsy as she tried to rid him of his clothing too, wanting to feel him fully naked against her, desperate to know the feel of that silken hardness of his thighs as they throbbed against her. Their breathing was ragged now as desire was heightened by naked flesh against naked flesh, hands questing, mouths searching.
Jonas’s body looked magnificent in the firelight, hard golden flesh, all light and shadow; he was beautiful!
‘Touch me!’ he groaned as he saw the hunger in her flushed face. ‘For God’s sake, Cassandra, I need you to touch me!’
As she needed to touch him, needed it so badly that she trembled with the desire, hands and fingertips once again moving caressingly over the hard contours of his body, touching the hard muscles in his back before moving down further to his hips, his buttocks, hesitating in her caresses as he gave a low, strangulated groan at the caress of her silken fingertips on his tautly hard flesh.
‘Don’t stop!’ he groaned now. ‘Oh, God, don’t stop, Cassandra. I need—I want—Oh, God!’ He shuddered in ecstasy-pain as she gave him what he wanted, the hardness of his thighs leaping almost out of control now. ‘I want to give you—you need—I don’t think I can wait any longer, Cassandra!’ he moaned as he gathered her into his arms and crushed her against him, burying his face in the length of her silken hair as he breathed deeply of its perf
ume, fighting for control, for the time to give her pleasure as she had given it to him.
But Cassandra didn’t want to wait any longer either, wanted the deeper pleasure from him that his caresses promised, a burning pleasure that she ached for, that every particle of her body cried out for. ‘Now, Jonas,’ she pleaded huskily. ‘Please make it now!’
His gaze held hers as he lowered her to lie back on the rug, black eyes burning into gold as the firelight flickered across her body in a golden caress of its own and he slowly lowered himself to her, entering her, slowly, filling her in a way that drove everything else from her thoughts but the feel of Jonas pulsating inside her, moving now, slowly, surely, stroking the flames inside her higher and higher even as his mouth closed over hers, swallowing up her low moans of ecstasy.
Bodies moved together in perfect harmony, flicking tongues matching it, accompanied by low moans of pleasure that neither was aware of making as the crescendo inside them rose to a pitch that couldn’t be controlled, skin damp from their heated contact now as they moved moistly together in a rhythm that was as beautiful as any ballet.
Cassandra felt the ache building inside her to an unstoppable heat that reached every muscle and nerve-ending, down to her fingertips, to the tips of her toes, lids flying wide open as she looked up into the dark beauty of Jonas’s face at the moment she felt the fire burst out of control, holding him to her as she felt totally possessed, enveloped, Jonas reaching that same heady plateau with her; she watched him, the taut ecstasy in his face, his throat arched, every muscle straining against her as their pleasure exploded together, tremor after tremor continuing to rack their bodies long after their heady gasps had quietened to low groans of release.
Jonas collapsed weakly against her, his face buried in her perfumed throat, his breathing ragged and deep as he lay against her, their bodies still entwined, one of her hands slowly caressing the damp hair at his nape.
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