by Mary Lyons
‘No...no, you’re quite...quite wrong,’ she protested. He was now standing so close to her that she could see the long, black eyelashes over his gleaming blue eyes, and the faint flush of arousal beneath the tanned skin stretched tightly over his high cheekbones and formidable jawline.
‘Isn’t it about time you stopped trying to fool yourself, Amber?’ he drawled, raising his hand to run a finger lightly down the side of her face. ‘What’s the point of continuing to deny your own needs and desires?’
She could feel her heart beginning to pound at the feel of his soft touch on her skin. ‘No, you’re quite wrong about me,’ she retorted breathlessly, desperately trying to pull herself together. But it was proving almost impossible to bring her weak mind under control, to stop herself trembling in response to the warmth of the long, muscular thighs pressed against her own, or to ignore the hand now trailing down over her neck, gently caressing the hollow at the base of her throat. ‘You’re making a great mistake...’
‘God knows, I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my life. But this definitely isn’t one of them,’ he told her with a husky laugh, quickly sweeping her up in his arms and carrying her protesting, wriggling figure along a wide corridor to his bedroom.
‘No, Max!’ she gasped as he tossed her down on to the huge bed before swiftly trapping her beneath the weight of his strong, hard body. ‘Let me go!’
‘Stop fighting me,’ he growled, the sound of his hoarse voice echoing in her ears as his blue eyes blazed down at the girl lying beneath him. ‘It’s no good trying to fool yourself, Amber. I know you want me as much as I want you. Every kiss...every movement of your body betrays that fact. My God, you nearly drove me wild last night! I could almost tangibly feel the heat of your desire as you trembled in my arms. Why continue to deny what we feel for one another?’ he whispered thickly as his dark head came down towards her.
Once again, from the moment his mouth hungrily claimed her trembling lips, all the past years seemed to vanish as if they’d never been. The stark impact of their mutual desire, the force of his kiss and the hands swiftly pulling off her dress before possessively clasping her full breasts, were a potent reminder of the strong physical bond between them. Even now, as she moaned in protest, there seemed nothing she could do to stop herself from being swept along on a fast, rushing tide of heated desire and passion, helpless against the shivering excitement of his warm fingers moving enticingly over the flimsy barrier of thin silk covering her swollen nipples. And then, as the hard and angrily demanding pressure of his mouth softened, his lips and tongue now gently bewitching and beguiling her senses, she realised that he was right.
It was pointless to deceive herself any longer. Almost fainting with a tremulous, aching need for his possession, she knew that this was what she’d wanted—and had been fighting against with increasing desperation—ever since his return to Elmbridge. She wanted...she needed to feel his mouth moving sensually over her lips, the excitement of the hard muscular body pressed tightly against her own and the erotic, scorching touch of the hands now setting fire to her flesh.
Raising his head, his breathing as ragged and unsteady as her own, Max stared down at her with eyes that blazed fiercely in the grey light of the unlit bedroom. ‘Tell me, Amber,’ he rasped, the hoarsely demanding, imperative note in his voice causing a fierce knot of desire to burst into flames in her stomach. ‘Tell me that you want me.’
A deep, helpless shudder rippled through her body, her arms closing about him, her fingers curling into his thick dark hair. ‘Yes—yes, I want you,’ she whispered, oblivious of everything except her long years of emotional starvation and the driving, desperate compulsion to surrender to his possession, her desire and need of him so intense that it was like a deep physical pain.
Gripped by a primitive force that was completely beyond her control, she barely heard his low, husky laugh of triumph as he swiftly removed both his clothes and hers before tossing her back against the pillows. They both seemed possessed by a raw, animal hunger that had been repressed for far too long. Her emotions spinning wildly out of control, Amber felt no shame or regret as her hands moved over the strong contours of his body, feverishly savouring the breadth of his shoulders, his deep chest and flat stomach, the taut hard muscles of his thighs, the tanned flesh beneath her fingers so achingly familiar, despite the long years since she’d last held him in her arms.
If seemed as if Max, too, was possessed by a need to devour every inch of her bare flesh, the increasingly erotic, sexually explicit touch of his mouth and hands causing her to feel as though she were on fire, burning and melting with rampant desire. Overcome by the dynamic, potent force of her love and need for him, she cried out loud, the breath rasping in her throat as she panted for release from the tension that seemed to fill her whole existence. Absorbed by her own emotional needs, she barely heard his low, deep groan at the hard, driving thrust of his body as he finally entered her, responding to the pulsating rhythm of his powerful body with a wanton, erotic intensity that devoured them both, the white-hot heat of their passion exploding in a shimmering starburst before they fell shuddering into a deep, dark abyss of mutual joy and satisfaction.
* * *
Later, as they lay warmly and drowsily entwined together, Amber felt his fingers gently turning her face towards him. ‘It’s just as well we’re going to be married in ten days’ time,’ he murmured with a wry smile. ‘There’s no way I’d be able to keep my hands off you for much longer than that!’
‘Umm...?’ she blinked sleepily up at him. Still dazed by her own frenzied response to his fierce, hungry possession and the overwhelming passion that had flared between them, it was a moment or two before she managed to comprehend exactly what he was saying. ‘No...no, we can’t possibly...’ she muttered wildly as she broke free from his embrace. ‘I must go back home...I shouldn’t have left Lucy...and there’s my mother, too...’
‘Relax, darling,’ he said huskily, firmly pulling her back into his arms. ‘Surely you must realise why I deliberately brought you down here to my apartment in London.’
Not having any idea of what he was talking about, she stared blankly up at him, surprised to see a faint flush of embarrassment spreading over his tanned cheeks.
‘Oh, Amber...how can you be so dim?’ he groaned. ‘Can’t you see...there was no way I could make love to you in your own home without the risk of upsetting or disturbing Lucy, who doesn’t yet know that we’re to be married. On the other hand, I knew that I’d go stark, staring mad if we didn’t make love tonight. Which is precisely why we’re here in my bed! And don’t worry,’ he added quickly. ‘I borrowed the Range Rover, so even if the roads are covered in snow, I could guarantee to get you home before breakfast. OK?’
‘Of course it’s not OK,’ she retorted tearfully. ‘I...well, I’m grateful for your thoughtfulness. But as far as I’m concerned, this has been a really...really terrible mistake!’
‘Making love to you was never a mistake,’ he said thickly. ‘My one great error was not to have married you before I left for America all those years ago. Which is why I intend to rectify that mistake as soon as possible,’ he vowed, his hands sweeping possessively over her trembling, quivering body. ‘Because it’s you I want—and it’s you I’m going to have!’
Amber shivered at the flat, hard, determined note in his voice. All the barriers she’d erected over the years had fallen too fast, too violently, and she was frightened at how clearly she had given herself away. She might love this tough, difficult man, but she had no real clue to his innermost feelings, no certainty that he felt anything for her other than a strong, sexual attraction.
‘But...but it won’t work. I need more time....’ she muttered helplessly, her flesh quivering beneath his dominant touch on her naked body.
‘Time for you to think of some puerile, weak excuse? Sorry, Amber, but I’m not feeling that generous,’ he drawled with silky menace, his fingers gently brushing the hard, swollen points of her breast
s with such a slow, enticing sensuality that it was all she could do not to groan out loud as fierce, wild tremors of pleasure flashed through her body like forked lightning. ‘So, you’re going to promise—here and now—to marry me in ten days’ time. Right?’
Quivering with ecstasy, her senses spinning out of control in a frenzy of delight and excitement beneath the overwhelming mastery of his touch, Amber could only give a deep, helpless sigh as she abandoned herself to her fate. ‘Yes...’ she gasped helplessly before sinking beneath great waves of overwhelming desire and passion. ‘Yes, Max, I...I’ll marry you.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
ALTHOUGH she’d spent some anxious moments wondering how to break the news of her impending marriage, Amber realised that she needn’t have worried. Now, four days after agreeing to marry Max, and with only a week to go until the wedding, everyone in the town seemed to be fully aware of what was going on and delighted to hear that the Hall wasn’t going to be sold after all.
Everyone, she reminded herself, except ‘Gloomy Glover’—clearly regretting the loss of his commission on the sale of her home—and Cynthia Henderson, who’d suddenly decided to leave an assistant in charge of her shop before swiftly departing on a month’s cruise around the Caribbean. Unfortunately, today’s post had also included a letter from Philip Jackson, who clearly wasn’t at all happy about her decision, either.
Sighing as she gazed down at the letter lying on her desk, Amber made yet another attempt to decipher the squiggly writing, which looked more like an inky trail left by a demented spider than heartbroken outpourings full of doom and gloom from the young doctor.
She’d been amazed at the speed with which the news had raced through the small town. When she’d told Max how much she dreaded having to tell everyone, he’d merely grinned. ‘Just leave everything to your mother and some of her old cronies. I guarantee that the story will be around Elmbridge and back to you inside twenty-four hours!’ He’d been quite right, she acknowledged ruefully, thankful that she’d taken the precaution of telling her own friends first of all. Sally Fraser, for instance, would have been mortally wounded if she hadn’t heard the glad tidings from Amber’s own lips.
While she could only marvel at how everyone seemed to have swallowed Max’s romantic fairy tale lock, stock and barrel, she’d been determined to tell her old friend, Rose Thomas, the truth about her secret love affair in the past and the reasons behind the announcement of her wedding.
‘Oh, Amber, I’m so happy for you!’ Rose had cried joyfully, jumping up from her kitchen table and rushing over to throw her arms about her friend. ‘None of us ever guessed that you’d had a romance with Max all those years ago. Or that you were carrying on one during these last few weeks, for that matter! Although, now I come to think about it, I wonder why it never occurred to me that you two would be perfect for each other?’ She beamed at her friend. ‘And what’s going to happen about the sale of your house? Are you going to take it off the market?’
‘Well, it’s no longer for sale, of course, but I expect we’ll probably own it jointly,’ she explained. ‘Actually, I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment because Max is insisting on paying the full asking price into some sort of investment account for me. He says that he wants to make sure that I always have some private money of my own.’
‘How kind and generous. He must be crazy about you!’ Rose exclaimed, grinning as the other girl’s cheeks flooded with colour.
‘I’m not sure...’ Amber muttered with a helpless shrug. ‘I know that he wants to make sure Lucy has a proper father, but I’m really not certain about anything else. We’ve got all that past history between us, of course, but it’s different now....’ Her voice trailed unhappily away.
‘Look, whatever took place in the past happened to two young people who’ve now grown up,’ Rose told her firmly. ‘You’re not the same person you were then, and neither is Max. You’ve both made mistakes—haven’t we all!—but now you’ve got a chance to start a new life together. And if you think he’s marrying you just because he feels a deep sense of responsibility towards Lucy—I reckon you must be out of your mind! Quite frankly, Amber,’ she added with a wry laugh, ‘Max didn’t strike me as someone who’d allow himself to be pushed into doing anything he didn’t want to. So, my advice is to forget all the unhappiness of the past. It’s the here and now that’s important, for both you and Lucy.’
‘Yes, I know you’re right. It’s just that it’s such a big step, and I can’t help being nervous. However, I really don’t want anyone else to know the full story,’ Amber cautioned her friend. ‘Quite apart from anything else, I wouldn’t like there to be any gossip about Clive, who was so very good and kind to me.’
‘You’ve no need to worry. I won’t breathe a word,’ Rose promised quickly.
‘Over the years, there were so many times when I longed to be able to tell you everything,’ Amber sighed. ‘But somehow I just lost my nerve at the last minute. However, for everything to come out now...well, it could be very awkward,’ she added quietly. ‘Especially as far as Lucy and my mother are concerned.’
‘Well, for Heaven’s sake, whatever you do, don’t tell Sally!’ Rose grinned. ‘All the same, I do wish that you had taken me into your confidence. If only because it can sometimes be helpful to talk over one’s problems with a friend. And I know that your life as a single parent can’t have been easy.’
‘It was really tough at times,’ Amber agreed. ‘You want to do the very best for your child, but it’s basically a no-win situation.’
‘Well, I think you’ve done brilliantly. Especially since you also had to cope with your mother’s problems, as well. However, I must say that I’ve never seen Violet looking so fit and sprightly, while Lucy appears to be over the moon with excitement. I take it that she fully approves of both Max and your wedding plans?’
‘That’s an understatement! She’s totally thrilled at the idea of having a real father like all her other friends. On top of which, she and Max don’t just look so much alike, they also seem to instinctively understand each other, as well. Quite honestly, I can’t think why I got myself into such a state.’ Amber smiled and shook her head, remembering how she’d almost worried herself sick, desperately anxious that her daughter should be happy with the idea of her mother’s remarriage. But, once again, Max had taken charge of the situation after Amber, almost trembling with nerves, had spent a considerable amount of time alone with the little girl, carefully explaining the plans regarding their future.
‘The fact is, Lucy,’ he’d said with a warm smile as he joined them in the sitting room, ‘I’ve always been madly in love with your mother. However, she—very sensibly, I may say—chose to marry your father. Clive Stanhope was a good, kind, very caring man, and there’s no way I can hope to take his place. So, I’m not going to even try, OK? On the other hand,’ he added with a grin as the small girl had given him a cautious nod, ‘I think we could have a lot of fun. There are so many things we can all do together as a family, which maybe your mother didn’t have time for in the past. Such as the three of us going off, straight after the wedding, for a Christmas skiing holiday in Switzerland. Only don’t tell anyone, because it’s supposed to be a big secret. OK?’
‘OK,’ Lucy had grinned, obviously pleased to be trusted to keep such an important item of news to herself.
‘However,’ Max had continued more seriously, ‘I reckon that the most important thing I have to tell you is that I promise to do my best to make your mother very happy.’
Lucy had regarded him silently for a moment. ‘Mummy told me that you’re a very clever businessman. Are you very rich?’
Max had shrugged his shoulders. ‘Yes, I guess I am. But as your mother will tell you, money doesn’t necessarily buy happiness. Loving and caring for people is far more important.’
‘Well, Mummy needs a new car ‘cos the Land Rover is always breaking down. And she ought to have some nice new clothes,’ the little girl pointed out firmly.
‘Can you afford to buy her lots and lots of really glamorous dresses?’
‘As many as she wants—and all of them absolutely dripping with glamour!’ he’d agreed with a grin, ignoring Amber’s strangled protest at the down-to-earth, almost mercenary attitude that her daughter seemed to be taking over her mother’s proposed marriage.
‘And...um...can I be a bridesmaid?’ Lucy asked hopefully.
‘Of course!’ Max laughed. ‘Anything else on your shopping list?’
‘Well...did Mummy tell you that I’ve been wanting a pony of my own for simply ages?’ Lucy gazed up at him with wide, guileless blue eyes. ‘If Mummy is having a new car, will you buy me a pony?’
Almost cringing with shame, Amber had held her breath as Max regarded his daughter blandly for some moments before giving a deep chuckle of amusement.
‘No, you crafty, hard-bargaining, artful little girl! I’m not giving you a pony. Not straight away. You’ll have to wait until the morning of your eighth birthday,’ he’d said firmly, smiling as Lucy had dissolved into a fit of giggles before throwing herself joyfully into his arms.
‘It wasn’t at all funny at the time. I nearly died with embarrassment!’ Amber said as her friend laughed at the story of Lucy’s bargaining session with her new stepfather.
‘Except, well...he isn’t her stepfather, is he?’ Rose pointed out gently. ‘I mean...’ she hesitated, ‘isn’t it going to be a bit of a problem deciding when and how to tell her that Max really is her father?’
‘I’ve been worried about that,’ Amber agreed with a sigh. ‘Especially as she looks so much like him. However, Max feels that we shouldn’t rush into telling Lucy too much, too soon. He seems to think that a warm, loving family life will make the fact that he’s her real father more or less irrelevant. I can only hope he’s right.’
‘I’m sure he is,’ Rose had said firmly. ‘Just as I’m quite sure that he’s the man for you. I was never too happy with the idea of your marrying Philip Jackson. To tell the truth, I always thought he was the sort of person who takes himself far too seriously.’