by Smith, Bobbi
The siren's song of sorrow led Adam to a small rise overlooking the pond. He paused at the crest, and it was from there that he caught sight of her for the first time. The moon had just made its full appearance, frosting the land in silver light. Lianne, sitting on the bank before him, looked like some magical, gilded goddess as she wept, her head bowed in supplication to some unseen deity.
Adam stared at down at her, startled. His heart wrenched at the keening sound of her mournful cries. A spear of pain stabbed his liquor-sodden conscience at the realization that he was the one responsible for her distress. He had taken her home, he had refused to sell it back and he was in the process of virtually throwing her off the place.
Adam wanted to ignore the guilty feelings that were assailing him. He could no longer afford to be a gentle man who was concerned with others' thoughts and emotions. That part of him had died when Elise had been injured. He told himself that he had to be cold and callous if he was to succeed in what he was doing.
Still, Lianne's obvious grief touched him as nothing else could at that moment. He recognized that her dreams had been crushed just as completely as his had been all those months before. No longer was she the invincible Valkyrie holding him off with a shotgun or attacking him with a vengeance for crimes she imagined were his. Now she was woman . . . vulnerable . . . fragile . . . in need of help . . . in need of protection.
A warm surge of tenderness washed through him. Suddenly Adam wanted to comfort her. The hard protective shell he'd built around his more gentle emotions crumbled, destroyed by Lianne's tears.
He spoke her name, his voice hoarse. "Lianne . . ."
Lost in the dark world of her own misery, Lianne heard a man's voice, but thought she was imagining it. There was no one who would come to help her. No one who cared. She gave a soft sob, not yet aware of Adam's presence.
"Lianne" Adam repeated, drawing nearer.
Her head snapped up as she realized she was no longer alone, and she got quickly to her feet, angrily dashing the tears from her cheeks. "You! What are you doing here?"
"I heard you crying."
"I'm fine." Lianne lied, trying desperately to pull herself together, but it was useless. Her defenses were down.
"Lianne, you're far from fine." Adam watched her as she attempted to regain her composure, and when she failed he took a step closer. "Can I help?"
His offer of help struck her as tremendously ironic. Why did he want to help her now? "Sell my home back to me," she demanded flatly.
"I can't do that."
"Can't or won't?" Lianne interrupted him angrily.
The tenderness that filled him refused to let him be drawn into a pointless argument with her. She was in no condition to fight with him or he with her, he realized.
"Lianne . . ."
His tone was gentle and coaxing as he said her name, and it went over her like a velvet caress. A thrill of sensual shock ran through Lianne as her gaze collided with Adam's. In the moonlight, his handsome features appeared even more so. She stared at him in confusion. She wanted to deny the breathlessness that threatened. She hated him! How could she feel this way about him when she despised him completely? Lianne argued with herself not to be fooled by this caring, comforting disguise he was presenting. Didn't she know what he was really like? Didn't she hate him for all that he'd done?
But in this moment of total vulnerability, her heart was ruling. For once, she wanted to believe that a gentle and tender side really did exist in Adam. Her gaze explored his, reading in its depths a degree of warmth she'd never before believed possible for him.
Lianne grew totally bewildered. Dazedly, she wondered how it would feel to rest her head against the broad width of his shoulder, to feel his arms protectively around her instead of threateningly. A coil of emotion tightened deep within her, and a single tear coursed down her pale cheek.
"Lianne, let me help," Adam said huskily as he reached out and wiped the tear from the soft curve of her cheek.
It was a simple, yet intimate contact, and Lianne felt it to the depths of her being. It was the first time Adam had ever touched her in kindness, but she knew she would remember it forever. She was mesmerized by the power of that caress.
The almost casual action sent a lurch of excitement surging through Adam, and he gazed down at her, unsettled. The desire he'd known when she'd been fighting him in the study had been fiery and powerful, but the desire that filled him now was different and somehow even more overwhelming. It pulsed through him creating a burning hunger for her, urging him to draw her close and hold her in his arms.
"Lianne . . ." He lifted his hand to cup her cheek fully in a loverlike gesture.
The searing heat of his touch burned its way to the very center of her resistance.
"No . . ." Lianne murmured in protest. She knew she should move away and break the contact, but the strength of the attraction she was feeling held her immobile. She was helpless to deny herself that which she needed most . . . a moment of affection . . . a moment with someone who cared about her . . .
Adam was moonstruck as he gazed down at her. In the delicate shadows of the night, he found Lianne even more lovely than ever before. Her hair tumbled about her shoulders in glossy, silken disarray, and Adam longed to comb his hands through the red-gold mass and feel the glory of it against his skin. Her emerald eyes were wide, and he could read the fear and confusion there in the tear-sparkled depths. It only made him want her more. He wanted to erase those fears. He wanted to soothe the sorrow he felt responsible for. His gaze dropped lower to the sensuous curve of her mouth, and he noticed the trembling there.
"Ah, Lianne, you are so beautiful . . ." The words escaped him in almost a groan as he raked his hands back through her hair at her temple and tilted her face to his. He sought her lips with his own, capturing their soft sweetness in a kiss that was surprisingly gentle considering how badly he desired her.
Lianne's first reaction was to draw back. This was the arrogant Adam Trent . . . the man who'd taken her home and who'd treated her in such a condescending manner. The man she hated. Even as she fought inwardly to deny what was happening, his lips broke down the last fragments of her resistance. She gave up her struggle to refuse his kiss.
Adam knew the instant she stopped fighting him, and he slipped one hand down to the small of her back and urged her fully against him.
Lianne gasped at the unexpected sensuality of being pressed so tightly to the alien hardness of his hips. Her pulses were racing and a strange inner excitement began to build. "Adam . . ." She whispered his name in hushed wonder as a shudder passed through her.
Adam claimed her lips once more, this time parting them and delving into the dark, honeyed sweetness of her mouth. Lianne's knees threatened to buckle beneath her at this previously unknown intimacy. She clutched at his shoulders for support. Crushed to his chest, her senses were reeling.
Adam could feel the firm thrust of her hard-tipped breasts against his chest even through the layers of their clothes. The desire to caress those satiny orbs was near to overpowering, but he held back. He did not want to frighten her. He had only meant to comfort her. Yet, as his mouth continued its exploration of hers, tasting and teasing, taunting and arousing, Adam's passions spiraled. As much as he gave, she returned full measure. Her eager response fired his already flaming need. He wanted her —oh, how he wanted her.
Lianne felt transported as she gave herself over to Adam. His devouring kisses had driven all thoughts of reality from her. In this moment of her life, this was all that she wanted . . . to be held and loved by him. It felt good to be in his arms, to feel cherished. When he sought the softness of her breasts, she was stunned by the unexpected sensations the caress provoked. Currents of desire coursed through her.
"Adam . . ." Mesmerized by her feelings, she cried out his name.
At her encouragement, Adam lifted her into his arms and lay her upon the bed of grass. Some distant vague part of Adam called out a hushed warning, telli
ng him that this was wrong, that there was something he should remember, but he paid it no mind. Lianne's beauty, plus the moonlight and bourbon, had conspired to render him a creature of instinct.
With infinite care, he continued to press kiss after passionate kiss on her waiting lips as his hands began a foray over the inviting curve of her bosom. Lianne arched into his touch, and Adam groaned in excited anticipation of finally seeing those pale, succulent mounds. His hands were unsteady as he unfastened the bodice of her dress and parted the fabric. Impatiently, he pushed her chemise aside to bare her breasts to his gaze.
Adam's breath was hot and strangled in his throat as he looked upon her tender, burgeoning woman-flesh for the first time. Her alabaster breasts were full and ripe, and the dusky pink peaks were a taut reflection of her desire. He gave a gutteral moan as he bent his head to capture one pert bud with his lips.
Lianne had been lost in the web of sensual excitement. Adam had woven about her. Willingly, she'd lain in his arms matching him kiss for ardent kiss, craving his heated caress. When he'd unbuttoned her gown, she'd closed her eyes in embarassment. No man had ever taken such liberties with her before. Yet even as she knew a maidenly shyness over his boldness, she was anxious to know more of his lovemaking. It was only as his hot, wet mouth closed over her nipple that Lianne went rigid with shock. She had never known a man would do such a thing, and she was torn between bewilderment and wild, erotic joy.
"No . . . please . . ." Frightened by the intensity of what she was experiencing, Lianne tried to push him away.
"What is it, love?" he questioned huskily as he drew back for a moment. "Am I going too fast for you?"
"No . . . I —I never felt this way before."
"Relax, sweet. Let me love you. Let me show you how beautiful it can be between a man and woman . . ."
When Lianne went still and made no further protest, Adam lowered his head again and trailed fiery kisses down her throat, pausing briefly at her pulse point and then dipping even lower to reclaim the swollen, throbbing rosebud. Pleasure radiated to the very core of her as he suckled erotically at her breast.
Innocent that she was, Lianne was helpless before his practiced expertise. Swept away by passion for the first time in her life, Lianne was his to do with as he pleased. When Adam stripped off her clothing, she murmured no protest, but gloried in the heat of his big body over hers. As he teased her to greater and greater heights, her timidity faded, and she began to return his caresses.
Adam's hands were everywhere, tracing patterns of fire upon her willing flesh. He stroked her legs and hips, readying her for his even more intimate caress. Moving ever closer to the center of her need, he lifted his head to watch her expression as he finally sought that womanly sweetness.
Lianne tensed as he would have explored her innermost self, and she closed her legs against his intrusion.
"Easy, love, easy. I won't hurt you."
His tone was so earnest and sincere that she forced herself to relax a bit. She remained still as he gently breached that which no man had ever touched before. With knowing pressure, he searched out her pleasure point and began a rhythmic massage that left her panting and writhing beneath him.
"Adam!" It was a hushed cry that broke from her lips as she reached that which she'd unknowingly craved. She clung to him as the ecstasy of her release took her to bliss and beyond. Nothing mattered but being in Adam's arms. Nothing mattered but the explosive joy he'd just given her. Nothing mattered . . . She lay breathless and pliant in the haven of his arms.
Knowing that he'd pleased her only heightened Adam's own need. With deliberate intent, he began to arouse her again, seeking out her most sensitive places with his ardent touch. To Lianne's complete surprise, she found herself responding, and this time she held nothing in reserve. With a hunger that amazed her, she drew his head down to her for a flaming kiss. Compelled by her age-old womanly desire, she began to unbutton his shirt, anxious to feel the heat of his hard chest against her bared breasts.
Adam broke away only long enough to shed his shirt and then returned to cover her body with his. It was a scorching, heart-stopping contact, and they were so caught up in the moment that they could only gaze into each other's eyes in awestruck wonder.
"I want you, Lianne," Adam confessed. He kissed her again with explosive delight, his tongue meeting and dueling sensually with hers.
Lianne knew there had to be more, and she threw caution to the wind in her need to learn of completion. "Please, Adam . . ." she encouraged him.
That little urging was all he needed to destroy his last thread of restraint. He moved slightly away to free himself from the rest of his clothing and returned to her.
Lianne had never seen a completely naked man before. Shamelessly, she regarded Adam with open interest. His shoulders were broad and strongly muscled, his chest wide and deep and covered with a dark mat of curling hair that tapered to a V at his navel and lower. His hips were slim, his belly flat, his legs long, straight, and thickly muscled. Her gaze lingered with obvious curiosity on that which made him a man, and she wondered in virginal confusion whether all men were so well-endowed. She thought him most magnificent, and her heartbeat quickened at the thought of being possessed by him. When Adam came back to her, she welcomed him with open arms.
Adam was moving in a liquor-ladened haze of sensuality as he knelt before Lianne and then moved possessively between her soft, parting thighs. She was perfect, every inch of her. In the moonlight, her skin glowed with a pale translucence that seemed to beg for his touch. Her breasts were swollen and throbbing, their darker crests taut with desire. In her passion, she was responding to him as no other woman ever had, and he knew he had to possess her fully. He wanted to bury himself in the tight, hot sheath of her. He wanted to love her.
Positioning himself, Adam thrust forward into her wet, welcoming warmth. The slight barrier that was her innocence was rent asunder by his powerful move, and Lianne could not prevent a cry of agony at the sudden, shooting pain. She had not known there would be pain.
Adam was stunned by this proof of her virginity, although he realized that he should have known. He thought briefly of stopping, but knew it was too late. He was beyond control, his body demanding satisfaction. He began to caress her once more even as he started to move in a sensual tempo.
Lianne had been too taken aback by the agony of his impalement to respond immediately. Yet as Adam kissed her and touched her again with gentle, arousing persistence, her reluctance disappeared. In its place, a hot, throbbing desire blossomed.
Although the coolness of the night surrounded them, they moved together in blazing inferno. Striving for the pinnacle, aching for completion, they soared to the peak of love's delight. Passion exploded, shattering the glory of their cresting ecstasy. Waves of pulsing pleasure surged through them both as they lay wrapped in each other's arms, their limbs intimately entangled. Their joining was a sharing, a moment of perfect joy.
Adam had never known such ecstasy. He cradled her close, savoring the sensations that remained with him in the aftermath of their soul-shattering lovemaking. He closed his eyes, blotting out all that might threaten this moment. He felt blissfully at peace. He was for that instant content.
Lianne, too, remained unmoving in his embrace. She had never known complete sensual satisfaction before, and it left her dizzy with the ecstasy of it. She felt cosseted and safe, wonderfully warm and totally protected. She wanted to stay in the refuge of Adam's embrace forever.
Lianne closed her eyes, refusing to think, allowing herself only to feel. A great sense of tranquility filled her, and she sighed. Open and vulnerable, she started to drift off to sleep, thinking only of how perfect their lovemaking had been and how marvelous it felt to be held this way.
Chapter Ten
The forlorn call of a single water thrush split the night's silence, and at its call the protective liquor-induced haze that had enveloped Adam's senses suddenly vanished. In confusion, Adam went rigid as h
e found himself still linked with Lianne in passion's most precious embrace. Reality returned with a vengeance, burning the truth of all that had happened into his soul. What the hell had he done!
Adam wanted to deny it all, but the cold, hard, undeniable fact of Lianne lying passively in his arms smashed any protests he might have uttered. A tangle of guilt-ridden emotions filled Adam. What had he been thinking of? How could he have betrayed Elise this way? The serenity that had been his for that brief period was gone.
At his sudden movements, Lianne murmured his name softly. The sweet, love-husky sound of her voice sent a thrill through Adam, and he stifled a groan of renewed desire. Lianne opened her eyes to look up at him adoringly, and their gazes met and held.
For just an instant as he stared down into her eyes, Adam almost succumbed to the temptation to remain here in her arms. He found that he didn't want to leave her. Her nearness was intoxicating, and it was that jarring realization that drove him from her arms. Adam knew he had to get away. His movements were jerky and awkward as he tore his gaze from hers and disengaged himself from her warm, willing embrace.
"Adam? What is it?" Her voice reflected bewilderment as he shifted his weight from her and released her from that intimate bond, all the while refusing to look at her again. She watched in confusion as he snatched up his clothing and began to dress.
"Nothing. Just get dressed," he bit out tersely, keeping his head averted. He didn't want to look at her for fear that the wildfire of desire that had erupted between them might reoccur. There was something about Lianne that affected him as no other woman ever had. She meant trouble, and he vowed to himself to stay as far away from her as he could from this moment on.
"But Adam . . . have I done something wrong?" was all Lianne could say, for she was stunned by his coldness. She suddenly felt chilled to the bone. Was this the man who just a short time before had cradled her in his arms and taken her to the heights of ecstasy? The beauty of what had happened between them was a rapidly fading memory. It its place came doubts, and confusion, and finally anger when he didn't respond right away.