"Yes, I read it. Very informative, your letter. It made everything quite clear to me."
"You understand why… after I found out about Guillaume—"
"Oh, I understand," he said silkily, taking off his coat and flinging it in the corner with such savage force that she quivered in reaction. "I understand exactly how much you trust me… and exactly what you think of me."
"Alec, I love you, but I couldn't stay after—"
"Love." He sneered. "Don't offer that as an excuse. If what you did today was out of love, then I don't want it. I don't need any part of it. I've known about your brother for weeks, Mira… and all about what he did to Holt."
"You couldn't have," she gasped, her mind reeling., with confusion. "Not during all those nights that you… all the times that we…"
"I found out during that last trip to London with;| Carr. I wasn't certain if you knew what Guillaume haddone or not. But that didn't seem to dampen my ardor for you, did it? You seem so surprised, Lady Falkner."
"You still wanted me after you knew? I don't understand… you have every right to despise me for what my brother did… and what my mother—"
"I have every right to horsewhip you for sneaking off like a coward, without giving me a chance to talk to you. Your faith in me is rather negligible, isn't it? You were so goddamned certain that I would blame you, so certain that I wasn't worthy of your trust—"
"It wasn't like that!" Mira cried. "I was doing it for you… of course I wouldn't expect that you would want me after reading that letter—"
"Then what the hell do you expect of me?" he demanded in a black rage. "What in God's name were you thinking of? You let your brother blackmail you, you left me, intending to deny me the opportunity of ever seeing my son or daughter… all because you think I can't love you unconditionally. What makes you think that your capacity for love is greater than mine? I told you once that I would never judge you. I told you that I would always take your side. I told you that I needed you, and you…" Suddenly his voice cracked, and he turned away from her with a curse, his broad shoulders rigid with tension, his black head bowed. "I was afraid I'd never find you," he said hoarsely.
Mira made her way to him slowly, her eyes wet, her face flushed with hope, and relief that was dizzy-sweet as it coursed through her, and love that was so intense it felt like pain. Suddenly she saw how much she had hurt him, she understood that he did need her, and she understood what a terrible mistake she had made. Any woman would sell her soul to be needed so much. "Alec," she said unsteadily, "it broke my heart to think that I would never see you again." He kept his back to her, his fingers whitening as hishands clenched into fists. "How could you have left like that?" he muttered.
"I didn't understand… I didn't realize how you'd feel. I want you to be happy. I thought you'd be happier without me. It was cowardly, but I didn't want to face up to what I'd lost… what I thought I'd lost. But from now on, everything will be different. You know all of my secrets, and there's nothing I'm afraid of anymore."
"Don't ever leave me again," he said roughly.
"I won't, I swear it."
"Next time there'll be hell to pay."
"There'll never be a next time."
"I'm going to hold you to your promises."
"I'll keep them," she promised tearfully, and suddenly he turned, and his mouth was on hers, and she was held so tightly that she could barely breathe. His arms were hard and crushing, shaking from the force of his passion. Her thin nightgown was soaked by the cold rainwater that saturated his clothes, her fingers were sliding through the wet obsidian of his hair… she didn't feel the cold, she was burning from inside. Welcoming the punishing kiss, she parted her lips and offered him the sweetness of her mouth, and he took it, not with appreciation or gratitude, but with a fierce demand for more. His lips parted from hers and slid down her neck, and she trembled underneath his plundering mouth, words escaping her lips in a fragile whisper. "Take me to bed," she sighed. "Alec… I need you… I need to feel you inside me."
Silently he lifted his head and stared down at her, his arms tightening around her slim body. In a lithe movement he picked her up and carried her to the bed. His eyes, blazing with desire, fastened on her as if he were afraid she might disappear, and his gaze did not waver from her as he shed his clothes. He dwarfed the small bed as he pulled her to the center of the mattress. She caught her breath as he ripped her deli-cate white gown down the center, too impatient to unfasten the tiny buttons that held it together. Brushing aside the remnants of the gown, Alec lowered his body over hers, and she felt hot and cold shivers run down her spine as his naked flesh covered hers. He was as sleek and strong as a panther, demanding that she satisfy his hunger, unaware that there was any other world outside the small room. His bare flesh was damp with rainwater, and soon her skin was moistened from it as well, and she pressed her open mouth against his skin. He tasted like rain, like the storm, and she licked at the dampness with delicate flutters of her tongue.