“Want me to disclaim it?” His breath altered. “I can do it first thing tomorrow.”
“Stop talking nonsense, Alistair Connor,” Alice’s demeanor darkened, and her temper flared when she noticed Lachlann’s disappointed grimace.
“Alice—” Leonard started, just to be interrupted by his wife, “you’ll regret it when you have a son—”
“Enough!” Alistair roared, banging his open hand on the sofa arm, heaving. He looked around staring at each one in the room, but avoiding Sophia’s gaze.
“Enough.” He repeated in a lower and more controlled voice. He was squeezing their fingers so hard that it hurt Sophia.
An awkward silence ensued for a few seconds before Sophia offered as a change of subject. “Do you hunt here, Lachlann?”
“Only if no one is near.” Leonard immediately grasped the opportunity to make things light again. He winked at Sophia. As she looked at Leonard, puzzled, he explained, “Lachlann never manages to hit anything, so he hunts with Erskine. Erskine makes the shot, and Lachlann brings it back saying he shot it. Alice shoots better than he does.”
Lachlann laughed. “It’s you who has poor aim, Leonard.” He eyed Sophia. “Do you hunt?”
“I’ve never had the opportunity,” Sophia answered, and she could feel Alistair’s body slowly relaxing.
He turned to her. “Do you know how to shoot?”
“No.”
“We can go tomorrow, if you want,” Lachlann suggested. “One of the trails goes through the forest. It’s very beautiful this time of year. And the roebuck season has just started.”
“I can teach you to shoot. It’s not difficult,” Alistair offered.
“Nae,” said Tavish, with a weird expression on his handsome face. He lifted from his place and walked toward the door, limping noticeably. “It’s no’ difficult, Sophia. In fact, it’s amazingly easy tae kill a living being.” He paused on the threshold. “Count me out. I’ll stay with the kids. Good night.”
Even though he closed the door softly behind him, it seemed like a loud bang was heard in the room.
Lachlann sighed and turned to Sophia, “I’m sorry, my dear. Tavish Uilleam is moody sometimes.”
Both of your sons are, Lachlann. “Please,” Sophia waved away his apology. “It will be nice to explore the forest, even if I don’t do any shooting.”
“Very well.” Lachlann rose from the sofa. “So we’ll change our schedule for tomorrow. We can go riding in the afternoon, since they’re easier to find at dusk. We can leave here around six. We’ll be at the trail in an hour or so.”
Leonard stood up too and turned to his father-in-law with a smile. “Is Erskine coming too, Lachlann?”
“Sophia, I’m counting on you to bear witness to my good aim.” Lachlann made a face at Leonard. “Next time Leonard says anything, I’ll call on your testimony.”
“My pleasure, Lachlann,” Sophia agreed.
“See you at breakfast, then,” Alice said, entwining her fingers with Leonard’s as they exited the room. “Good night, everyone.”
Alexander and Domitila also bid their goodnights.
When the library door closed, Alistair rose from the sofa and poured himself a whisky, “Want one?”
Sophia shook her head as she watched Alistair drink his whisky neat, in one gulp, and poured himself another, his stiff spine revealing the tension in him, despite his controlled expression. He leaned against the edge of the huge mahogany desk sipping his drink.
“You’ve seduced me all evening in this dress of yours,” he managed to force the words past his tight throat.
Oh, please, Alistair Connor. Sophia almost rolled her eyes heavenward at his futile attempt to dismiss the topic that he knew she was going to broach. She joined him by the desk. “I think I want a whisky after all.”
When he handed her the glass, she gulped it down as he had done and put the glass down with a defiant thump.
He raised an eyebrow at her and she stepped closer, looking up at his eyes.
“They don’t know, do they?”
He didn’t ask what she was referring to. He just thinned his lips and shook his head. Everything in him indicated he didn’t want to talk about the subject, but Sophia was as stubborn as him and persisted. She had to know what he thought about her wish to have more children. “Why are you so set against having an heir?”
“I told you, I’m sterile.” His voice was icy and he bent his head to kiss her, intent on changing the subject.
Despite the heated kiss, Sophia would not let him digress. “So? Are you opposed to adoption or artificial—”
“Sophia.” He put his hands on her hips and pulled her flush to his body. His eyes glued to hers, he recited, “Heirs to the Craigdale dukedom are only thus considered if they are male heirs of the body lawfully begotten. No adoptions or donated semen could supplant what I can’t do anymore.”
Oh! Sophia, you are so stupid. “So your children…if adopted or…would never—”
“Never.” His eyes clouded briefly and then blazed green flames. Before Sophia could comprehend the emotion that flickered there, he spun her around and bent her down over the desk.
She gasped as he stepped closer and his hand grabbed a handful of her dress throwing it over the small of her back.
“I will have you on this desk. Open your legs.” His thick thigh nudged her legs open from behind and he pulled down her panties and opened his trousers. He pressed his torso onto her back and the tip of his erection brushed her.
“No foreplay, Sophia.” His hot breath fanned her cheek and he brushed her hair away to nip her earlobe and her neck.
“The door,” she protested, as desire pooled in her body.
“Fuck the door. Fuck everything.” He grabbed her hair in his fist and angled her head so he could kiss her.
Sophia closed her eyes in pleasure as he pushed, firm and sure, prying her body open. The pressure of him inside her, gliding forward and then back, in shallow thrust was pure heaven and made her moan in delight, “Ah!”
He paused instantly. “Am I hurt—”
“Don’t stop.” Sophia’s fingers gripped the edge of the table to steady herself as Alistair pressed her against it, holding her hips, as he pushed himself deeper still.
Sophia clutched the desk, turned on by the possibility of their being discovered.
With a hard jerk and a loud groan, he plunged to the hilt inside her, only to yank roughly back and inside again.
His arousal hit deeper than ever inside her body and she cried low, “Alistair Connor!”
Anyone can open the door at any moment. Never had a man taken her like this, so hard, wild, and dangerously. Even wilder than at the greenhouse. And she was loving every moment of it.
His labored breaths turned to soft groans as he moved in and out, harder, faster. “Come, Sophia.”
Alistair shifted, pulling her backward from the desk with him deep inside her. He grabbed her hand and put it on her clitoris. “Pleasure yourself.”
Desire built, the ache of oncoming climax growing.
“Alistair,” she cried. “Harder, faster.” She was so close to her release, and he pumped faster and harder, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of her curved hip as the other tugged again at her hair to slant her mouth to better accommodate his invading tongue.
His lips muffled her scream, her whole body tensing as wave after wave of delight took control of it.
Alistair shoved forcefully inside her once more, grunting his orgasm through clenched teeth, crushing her on the desk with his torso as he relaxed on her back.
Moments later, he withdrew and composed himself. He cleaned her with his handkerchief, redressed her and arranged her dress while she recovered from the lethargy that always came over her in the aftermath.
“Alistair Connor,” she whispered.
Lifting her in his arms, he moved to the sofa with her on his lap. “You okay?”
“Mmmm.” Lazily, she lifted her arms and plun
ged her hands in his silky hair, pulling his head down to kiss him leisurely. “You are turning me into a wanton woman. I want more. I want something different.”
This gets better every day. He laughed and murmured on her lips, “As you wish, my lady.”
Chapter 14
Ethan Ashford’s Penthouse
Friday, April 2, 2010
2:23 a.m.
Ethan stared gloomily out the window of his living room into the London night. His heart and soul were in complete turmoil.
He knew that what he felt for Sophia was not simply lust or a passing infatuation.
He wanted her, yes. There was no doubt about it. However, it was not his libido that made him obsessed. It was love. But, he wouldn’t take what wasn’t willingly given, and the last thing he wanted was to cause her pain.
He braced his forearm on the cold window and rested his forehead on it. I should rid myself of this madness. He looked up to the almost full moon as if hoping for an answer. I just don’t know how.
The sound of the soft footsteps on the stairs reached him.
Barbara climbed down the last step and her eyes searched the moonlit room for Ethan.
He turned and saw her standing in the shadows, wearing a diaphanous black negligé. I need Sophia.
His unfocused gaze was so frightening that Barbara froze and the room went deathly quiet for many seconds before she whispered, “Ethan?”
He shook his head as her voice took him out of his reverie.
Sometimes, Ethan lost himself in a dark place within his mind. He cleared his throat and turned his back on her, waving her away. “Go back to sleep.”
Even though he was her employer, hearing the torment in Ethan’s voice hurt Barbara in a way she hadn’t thought possible.
“I woke up and you weren’t in bed,” she said barely above a whisper, approaching him. She hugged his waist and laid her head on his back. “It’s late, my dear. Come back to bed.”
Sophia had been the sweetest pleasure he had ever tasted, but having had her and knowing she was now forbidden to him, worse still because of his own bad choices, was an agony beyond any wound he could receive.
As Ethan turned and crushed Barbara’s lips in a hot kiss, his last coherent thought was that he needed Sophia back in his life.
Ells Hall
7:03 p.m.
The party dismounted and tethered their horses to trees in the clearing. The forest was bathed in the last rays of the sun. The sunset in that part of Northumberland was a sublime spectacle; the mist, the colors, and the changing light were a wide field for Sophia’s romantic imaginings.
Everyone was carrying rifles, but Sophia. She had declined, as she had never shot before.
“This way, Sophia,” Alistair said in a low voice. “They usually appear near the stream.”
“Watch your step. It’s a bit slippery,” Lachlann murmured, and immediately Alistair grabbed her hand.
They walked silently through the woods until they reached a good spot to observe the stream; a small hilltop just above it. Moments passed and a young deer appeared to drink.
Sophia peeked at Alistair.
He shook his head and murmured, “A halfling.”
A few minutes later, his stance changed abruptly, and he mouthed to Leonard who was a few feet away with Alice, “Mine.”
A striking buck had emerged from behind some trees. His antlers were rather opened and straight, with the fourth and fifth tines forming a crown giving him a regal aura. His hide glinted dark-red under the last sunrays that peeked through the trees.
Alistair positioned his rifle until his hand curled around the stock. He placed his finger on the trigger and took aim.
Icy prickles danced up Sophia’s spine, tendrils of wariness clinging to her like a vine, sweat running down her back in spite of the cool weather.
The stag lifted his head from the stream, proudly raising it to its full height, and looked directly at her, his black, almond-shaped eyes so endearing, so lovely that her heart constricted in her chest and her throat closed.
It was pleading. It was begging her to spare his life.
A male voice shouted loudly in her mind, ‘Don’t lose hope, Sophia!’
Suddenly the sun set and she wasn’t in the woods anymore.
Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Avenida Niemeyer
Friday, February 29, 2008
2:56 a.m.
Light rain was falling.
Streetlights flashed quickly by as Gabriel drove them home from São Conrado to Ipanema in their Porsche Cayenne.
Sophia looked at the clock on the dashboard. Almost three in the morning.
It was late, and she was tired but incredible happy. She took off her sandals and sighed.
Gabriel glanced at her and smiled, entwining his fingers with hers.
The bar-mitzvah had been cheerful and lively. They danced the whole night long.
She put her head on the headrest and looked at the huge waves splashing on the rocks below.
The sky was dark; the waning moon nowhere to be seen.
She closed her eyes.
A very loud sound of brakes and crashing came in through the closed windows and a flash illuminated the night.
Abruptly, Gabriel released her hand.
The car swerved on the wet road and stopped.
Sophia opened her eyes, scared.
In front of them, two black cars were blocking the road, six men all dressed in black, armed with AR-15 rifles and .45 pistols stood outside.
Gabriel put the car in reverse, but before they could escape, he slammed on the brakes again.
Sophia looked back and her whole body froze. The car driven by their bodyguards had crashed against the rocky wall and was on fire. And two other black cars had appeared behind them, impeding their progress.
“Oh, my God,” she gasped.
More armed men got out of the cars.
Gabriel took both her hands in his and squeezed as he spoke quietly, looking into her eyes, “Don’t panic, Sophia.”
“Oh, Gabriel,” she heaved, her whole body filled with dread. “What are we going to do?”
“Everything will be okay.”
The men advanced on the Cayenne, surrounded it and took aim.
Gabriel pressed the speaker and said, “I’ll leave the car in peace. Don’t shoot.”
“Please, don’t go. Please, Gabriel, please,” Sophia begged him in a scared whisper.
“The armor will never hold against that kind of ammunition, Sophia.” He opened the door slowly and got out of the car, arms raised. “Don’t leave the car.”
The men crowded closer around the car and one of them holstered his gun, yanked her door open and ripped her out of the car, shouting for her to stay quiet. He dragged her behind him in the direction of the cars.
She freaked out and struggled.
The man turned and slapped her hard, splitting her lip.
Without thinking, she flung her knee high and hit the man squarely on the groin, sending him screaming away.
He cursed foul words and shot her.
Once.
Twice.
Three, four times.
The first bullet missed her, but the second hit the center of her left upper arm and she staggered to the side. The third one tore a few inches lower through the outside of the same arm, and she fell.
“Sophia!” Gabriel yelled, and ran to her only to be held back by two huge men.
She fell on the pavement, clutching her bloodied arm. Another man pulled her up by the hair. She stood unsteadily and stumbled, dragging behind, but it didn’t stop his firm stroll to the cars.
“Please, don’t, please,” she screamed, pleading with him, but the kidnappers just laughed and sneered.
“Stop. STOP!” Gabriel shouted for them. “You are making a mistake. I’m worth more than she is! My ransom will be bigger.”
The guy dragging Sophia halted and turned slowly.
“She is already shot and will surely die
without medical attention. You won’t receive a cent.”
The man looked at Gabriel and back to the others. “He’s right.”
“Take me instead,” Gabriel shouted again. “Release her.”
The criminals started a heated argument, but concluded that Gabriel’s alternative was better.
“No. Gabriel! No.”
Sophia was flung violently on the ground and the man kicked her ribs and stomach calling her lewd names. She stayed down on the wet tarmac, crying and hugging her arm. “Gabriel, please! No!”
They started to haul Gabriel toward the two cars at the rear but he managed to free himself and rushed to Sophia’s side, dropping to the ground on his knees.
“I love you.” He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. “You’re the best thing that happened in my whole life.”
Sophia grabbed his wet shirt, sobbing, imploring to him, “Don’t go with them, please. Let them take me.”
“Fucking ridiculous,” another man laughed and pulled Gabriel from Sophia.
“Help! Someone help us,” Sophia screamed and received another hard kick in the ribs.
“Don’t lose hope, Sophia!” Gabriel shouted as two men hauled him into a car and zoomed away as she struggled to crawl back to the Cayenne.
“HELP!”
Sophia collapsed on the ground before she managed to reach the door. The rain increased and she watched as rivulets of her diluted blood ran down the sloping avenue.
Sobbing, Sophia embraced darkness, falling, falling in an endless abyss.
Chapter 15
Ells Hall
Friday, April 2, 2010
7:17 p.m.
When Sophia opened her eyes again, she saw worried forest-green eyes looking at her.
She heard someone crying and realized it was her. She was wet all over and she shivered in the chilly air.
She was gripping her left arm with so much force her nails were digging into the flesh. A soft delicate hand pushed her hair off her face. She looked around trying to make sense of where she was.
A beautiful red-haired woman with green eyes was kneeling beside her and she was in the arms of a dark-haired handsome man with the same green eyes. She knew he had said something, but couldn’t hear above the ringing sound in her ears.
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