With Regrets Adam

by Adam (lit)

  “I take it the marriage hasn’t been all tea and roses.” Kara had been a hellion to live with when she was much younger, when she was a teenager, when she was in college. Seemingly, she hadn’t changed.

  His mouth twisted. “You tell me.”

  “Sorry. I’m not a psychic or seer who can look into the past or the future of people I don’t know and see what is or what should have been.”

  He was across the room and in front of her before she realized he’d moved. He slammed his glass onto the table beside hers, yanked her from the couch and into his arms.

  “You heathen. You.” He stopped, his strong arms wrapped around her, and he covered her mouth with his. The kiss was hard, ravishing, forcing her lips apart.

  She couldn’t breathe. As her lips parted, he thrust his tongue in her mouth, holding her so she had no room to struggle. She tasted the wine he had sipped. His lean, hard body ground into hers, one hand slid down to cup her bottom and hold her against him. Her mind went blank, her heart stuttered, stopped, then raced at ninety miles an hour. Heat. Power. All that heat and power in the arms locked around her stopped her breath and set her world spinning. She shouldn’t be feeling this, shouldn’t have this reaction to the punishing mouth covering hers. Trembling started in the pit of her stomach and raced through her. Her nerves went haywire, her senses routed.

  He can’t do this to me. He mustn’t!

  He released her so suddenly she stumbled and would have fallen had he not steadied her. He stared, his harsh breath the only sound he made. She licked her lips, tasted blood, and backed away from him.

  “Aaron always had a knack for picking the perfect woman.” Adam’s gaze raked her and raised chill bumps along her spine. “You don’t fit the picture somehow.”

  The bones liquefied by his kiss became brittle. He shouldn’t be able to make her respond to the demanding kisses. She was his captive with no chance of escape. No chance of convincing him she was not her sister. And Lyn had never claimed to be perfect.

  Taking several deep breaths helped steady her. She crossed her arms over her chest and faced down her enemy. “I’m sure I don’t fit in with your group photo ideas, Adam, but then I’m not the logical subject. Kara is.” She held up her hand as he started to speak. “I don’t know your plans for me, only that whatever it is, you’re making a mistake. Let me go home now before you go too far with it. I won’t bring any charges of kidnapping against you if you’ll let me go tomorrow.”

  He smiled that smile that said she didn’t have a chance of convincing him. “Aaron won’t let you bring charges against me, Kara. I know that much about my twin: He’s very protective.”

  Unable to stand any longer on her weak knees, Lyn dropped onto the couch, put her head into her hands.

  “You must be tired,” Adam said, his voice gently contrite. “Let’s go to bed.”

  Her head jerked up. “I’m not sleeping with you.”

  “Yes, you are.” His voice calm, he held out a hand to her. “Aaron and I always shared. You’re no exception. I’m sure if he can’t have you, he’d just as soon I did. Keep it in the family, so to speak.”

  Horror widened her eyes, and she shook her head. “No. No, you can’t mean that.”

  “On the contrary, I certainly do.”

  It was a nightmare she couldn’t wake from. She had somehow been transported into an alien world where nothing was as it should be. Here is a handsome man, apparently single, wanting to sleep with her. The problem was he was doing it to hurt, not to comfort or love, but to coldly strip her of pride, to bring her to her knees. Not her but Kara.

  Where the hell are you, Kara? It has only been two weeks since you were here, and you can’t be far away.

  Of course, she could. In two weeks, traveling in a brand spanking new sports car you could be to the northern tip of Canada or the end of Key West. Anywhere.

  Oh, yeah, and traveling with my driver’s license and credit cards.

  “Adam, listen.” Lyn stood, arms wrapped around her. She was so cold. Her blood had stopped flowing, she was certain. “You’re an intelligent person.”

  “Thanks.” He took both her hands and held them at her sides.

  “I mean, you’re smart enough to realize I could be telling you the truth, that I’m really Lyn, not Kara.”

  Adam bent his head, placed his mouth on hers and nibbled at her lips. His tongue ran lightly along the seam of her lips she tried to keep closed. He urged her closer when she would have pulled away.

  “No,” he murmured against her mouth. “Kiss me back.”

  She tried to shake her head, but he slid one hand beneath her hair and held her so she couldn’t turn away. Her squirming body didn’t help her situation any, and it was damned sure making his arousal evident.

  A couple of years ago, there had been a rash of attacks on women around the hospital area. Lyn had enrolled in a self-defense course just in case she ran into trouble. Well, she was in trouble now.

  She fought. Her hands came up, shoving against his shoulders. She turned her head to avoid his mouth, tucked her head beneath his chin and rammed upwards. She heard his teeth crack.

  He swore, got his arms beneath her shoulders and legs and yanked her upward. A few long steps and he slammed her onto the bed and fell on top of her. Breathless, she stared into his face, saw the strained look, heard his quick breathing. For a moment, her hands were free. Unexpectedly, she arched her body and threw him off guard. Her arms were up, and he caught them to pull them down. She elbowed him in the chest, satisfied when he grunted. Her open hand, fingers extended in stiff claw-like ways, she brought them down across his face.

  “She-devil,” he rasped. “Damn you.”

  He caught her hands, slapped them down beside her, and brought his mouth hard against hers. His teeth cut into her lips, and she tasted blood. Then she felt the warm moisture on her cheek, and opened her eyes. She had left a trail of blood down one cheek. It dripped on her. She didn’t care.

  Good for her. Her mouth freed, she twisted, she bucked until she was out of breath. Her eyes closed, and her body quieted. Fighting losing battles had ceased a long time ago for her.

  Adam’s mouth traced her chin, her cheek, moved over her throat, licking as he went. She shuddered. Her body reacted all on its own, warming, following the heated path of his kisses.

  “Kara.” It was a mere whisper, something desperate in the sound.

  Her eyes flew open. “Lyn,” she shouted. “My name is Lyn.”

  Adam’s head lifted and gray eyes turned black with passion stared into her dark blue ones. “If Lyn tasted like this, I’d be tempted to marry her myself.” For a moment, he laid his cheek against hers, then he rolled away from her and sat up. He passed both hands over his face, looked at the bloody trace left on one of them. His expression grim, he leaned over her once more.

  “You’ll be sorry you did that, Kara. You can have first blood, but be careful how you fight because I fight back. You should know that by now.”

  He stood by the bed, watching her for a moment. “The first round might be yours, but there are still eight more to go. You’ve been warned.”

  Chapter Five

  Her breath slowly quieted, but Lyn didn’t move from where Adam left her on the bed. Her fingernails had skin from his face underneath them. For a moment, she was sorry, and then she thought of what he’d done to her. He deserved more than a scratched face. If she had been able to get a good karate hold on him, she’d have broken open his head. She regretted not being able to do that.

  In the bathroom, she studied her face. Her hair was tousled around her face, her cheeks pale, her lips swollen from Adam’s kisses. She touched her lips with two fingers. They burned where he’d crushed them, and she winced. Her fingers were sore, drops of blood under her fingernails, and she held them up to study the damage.

  Would Adam’s face show scratches tomorrow? How would he explain them to Garth? Or Hana? Or perhaps Adam never explained anything to anyone. He was
above having to explain his actions or what happened to him. He couldn’t even explain why she was here, why he believed she was Kara when she denied it so vehemently. Anyone can fake IDs. Adam had to know that. He worked in a heavy duty, action packed, sometimes dog-eat-dog business world where disguises were often used. Why could he not see she was telling the truth?

  If she could only make him listen, realize she had nothing to gain by continually denying she knew where Aaron was if telling him would set her free. There was very little she knew about Adam or Aaron, only from Kara’s bragging did she know they were high society, plenty of money, great business interests in Texas, Arizona and New Mexico, as well as overseas. The brief time she’d spent with the couple when they married hadn’t been one of enlightenment, possibly because she wasn’t interested. She didn’t care how rich they were and was happy that Kara had finally found a man with enough money to keep her in the style she wanted to become accustomed to. Without having to work as a nurse in the Mabry family business. Kara had gotten what she wanted. Lyn had not envied her.

  All the problems Kara had caused her, all the painful situations she’d blamed on her, the petty jealousy, the constant taunting that she was lovelier than Lyn – all of it paled in light of the present situation.

  How could she prove she was Lyn if all the identification she had said she was Kara? There had to be a slip up somewhere, had to be something that would show she was not Kara. If she could talk to someone at Lovelace Hospital; if she could telephone.. But Adam had warned her she wouldn’t be allowed to use a telephone.

  The knock on the bedroom door startled her. She turned but stayed in the bathroom, leaning against the dressing table. The knock came again.

  “The door is locked from the outside. If you don’t have a key, sorry, guess you can’t get in.”

  The door opened slowly, and Garth took two steps inside the room.

  “Kara?”

  “Kara isn’t here.”

  He walked far enough into the room that he could see her standing in the bathroom.

  “I brought you a bedtime snack. Adam said you didn’t eat much dinner.”

  “Thank you.” She didn’t move.

  Garth placed a tray on the table by the bed. “Adam said he might be gone when you get up tomorrow, but to amuse yourself with books or movies or television.”

  “That’s very kind of Adam.”

  Garth grinned. “Actually, it is. He was rather ticked off at you for the marks on his face and actually thought about letting you go hungry.”

  Curious to see what Garth would say about the scratches, she took a few steps into the room. “I’m surprised he’d admit I did that.”

  “He’s the one who was surprised. He isn’t used to women not welcoming him into their beds, and you caught him off guard.”

  “Then we’re even because he certainly did the same to me when he kidnapped me and dragged me up into the mountains.”

  He studied the pale face, the slender arms crossed over her breasts. “Tell him, Kara. Tell him why you and Aaron are separated. He never thought your marriage would last, but he expected you to find an expensive and determined lawyer to get everything you could from Aaron before you divorced him.”

  Lyn shivered. How cold and calculated he was about his twin brother’s marriage. “I’m surprised he didn’t talk Aaron out of marrying her if he was so against it.”

  “There had been some sort of uprising where Adam was at the time, and Aaron’s messages didn’t get to him until too late. Weather grounded planes and the business he was to conduct was postponed, and he was gone longer than anyone had expected.” He turned toward the door. “I don’t know why I’m telling you things you already know. When Aaron would have gone to see Adam and help him in the business deal, you pitched such a fit that Aaron gave in to satisfy you.”

  No wonder he hates me.

  She wandered over to the bed and sat on the edge of it. “Tell me how to get Adam to check some other means of identification in order to prove I’m Lyn.”

  He was at the door. “I’m sorry. Adam has all the identification he needs to prove who you are.”

  “No, he doesn’t.” She yelled at a closed door because Garth had already gone through it. She heard the key turn in the lock.

  Frustrated, she lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. There would be a lot of frustrated staring in the next few days if she didn’t get someone to listen to her.

  After a while, she got up and checked the pretty silver tray on the bedside table. There was a chicken salad sandwich with pickles and olives on a tiny silver plate. A bottle of water and two aspirin. A grin parted her lips as she looked at them. Maybe, under all the hostility, someone had a sense of humor.

  Yeah, she had a headache all right. And its name was Adam.

  The food was good, and she ate most of it. Exhausted, emotionally and physically, she took a quick shower, put on a long gown. Whoever had packed her suitcase had the foresight to see she’d need something warm to sleep in.

  Sleep didn’t come easy. The digital clock on the radio showed one forty-five the last time she flounced over and stretched her legs.

  Odd that the next thing she did was dream of Adam. Not the Adam who baited her, accused her and condemned her all in one breath. This Adam was gentle. His hands on her shoulders merely rested there, not much pressure. His breath warmed her cheek just before his lips touched hers. A tender brush, the soft questing of his tongue as he sought to enter her mouth. She opened for him and sighed. Her arms crept up around his neck, and she let her fingers slide through his hair. So comforting, so sweet, and yet passionate. He wanted her.

  Lyn curled her body up to his, pulling him down, tasting him, the mint from toothpaste with just a hint of coffee. His words comforted, soothed, awakened desire she’d forsaken long ago.

  If only in real life he would ….

  She opened her eyes and stared into Adam’s, his face shadowy in the faint light coming from the hallway.

  “You’re sweet when you’re asleep and not dreaming destructive dreams, Kara.”

  She bit him.

  He swore, and the hands were no longer gentle.

  “She devil.” He shoved her back against the pillow.

  “He devil,” she hissed back at him.

  He straightened and rubbed his mouth. “At least, you didn’t draw blood.”

  Lyn scooted back on the pillow out of his reach. “Perhaps I should have my teeth sharpened.”

  “Never mind. See if you can’t calm down before I get back tonight.”

  “Why should I?”

  “If you’re still up to playing rough, I’ll see if I can’t accommodate you.” He strode to the door. “Don’t give Hana a hard time.”

  As if I could. That woman would give the devil a hard time if he thought of disobeying you.

  Later, it was Hana who knocked on the door. Lyn had been studying the pristine landscape while her mind replayed the dream of Adam making love to her and her rude awakening. It had been wonderful, being loved for just herself, not having to justify her existence. Too bad it was only a dream. She turned from her view of the snow-covered back yard to see the woman look her over with that ever-present disapproval tightening her mouth.

  Lyn thought of the dream, the kiss from Adam that had awakened more than a sleeping woman. It had awakened feelings, sensations that she thought she’d buried long ago. Biting him had given her a pretty good feeling of satisfaction. He deserved it.

  “Breakfast is ready. Come before it gets cold. I serve at regular meal times, not at your whim.”

  Lyn almost smiled. “I wasn’t aware I had a whim. You’ll have to pardon me, Hana, until I learn all the rules. After all, I’ve only been here one day and one night.”

  “Hmph.” Hana snorted, tilted her chin, turned and marched down the hall.

  “Well, humph to you, too,” Lyn murmured as she followed the stocky figure to the kitchen. Garth was already seated in the breakfast nook.
>
  He looked up. “Good morning, Kara.” He stood, pulled out a chair, and waited for her to sit. “Did you sleep well?”

  “No, but thank you for asking.”

  Over by the stove, Hana made some sort of sound. Lyn shrugged. What difference did it make if the unfriendly woman disapproved of her? So far, it was three for three with the inhospitable house members. None of them liked her and the feeling was mutual.

  “What was the problem? Not warm enough in the suite for you? Too warm?”

  “None of the above. It’s comfortable enough for a prison.”

  Garth grinned at her. “Bet inmates at the state house of correction would exchange places with you.”

  Lyn made a pretense of eating. Actually, the bacon was just right as was the scrambled eggs. Her stomach just wouldn’t settle down to accept much food.

  “When will Adam be home?”

  “Around six or seven, I think.”

  It was a long, boring day stretching ahead of her. And all she could think about was yesterday morning’s kiss. Better she should think of the fact that she was a prisoner in some modern-day log home, way back in the mountains of New Mexico.

  Lyn studied the book titles, selected a cookbook and a book on the nursing profession, and sat in the recliner facing the sliding doors. Heavy gray clouds hung low along the tree tops. Snow whirled in nearly transparent flakes, settling on the yard shrubbery and nearby trees. The temperature, according to a thermometer near the door, was a temperate 70 degrees inside and 24 degrees outside.

  How in the world would she entertain herself all day long? She opened the cookbook and stared at the delectable pictures of food. At home, she seldom cooked big meals. When she did, she fixed individual plates from them and froze them. Days when she was so tired she couldn’t stand the thought of preparing a meal, all she had to do was put one in the microwave and voila, she had a balanced meal. It wasn’t a lot of fun cooking for one and eating alone.