Forever My Love(19)

"Then I don't know what you mean," she replied sharply, raising a trembling hand to her forehead in order to ease a pounding headache. She was tired of the verbal battles with him, she was tired of constantly having to defend herself. Something inside her seemed to break… because of him … he had the power to hurt her when that entire room of people had not.

"I'm complimenting your courage. You don't lack mettle, whatever else you may—"

"I felt like a trained monkey on display," she inter­rupted harshly. "I despise the lot of you. None of you are fit to judge me. Tell me, why should my sharing Sackville's bed make me a person without feelings? Why should I be forced to entertain you all at the whim of some shallow woman, as if I've sold my mind and my soul as well as my body?" Her eyes blazing, she stepped closer to him, clenching her fists. "Why are you here?" Her breath rasped in her throat. "Why did you come after me? Not to compliment me. Go on, say anything you like—sneer if that's what you came for! I don't care about anything that you have to say, not you"—she struck his chest with her fist—"or anyone else!" She hit him again, her wrist half-numbed by the blow against the steely surface of his chest. "I don't care!"

And then suddenly she was in his arms, her body racked with trembling. She tried to pull away, but she could not stop shaking, and she let him draw her into the shelter of his powerful form. Instinctively she clung to him, her face pressed against the velvet collar of his

coat until she moved her cheek and felt the warmth of his skin through the material of his shirt.

Alec sat down on the deeply shadowed turret steps, cradling her in his arms. "This is why I came after you," he murmured, his dark head bending over her as she shuddered and moved her arms around his neck. She closed her eyes tightly as he murmured incomprehensible phrases into her hair—his tone was soothing, low and gentle, inconceivably tender.

"Don't mock me," she whispered dazedly, unable to believe that he had changed into this soft-voiced stranger.

"No, I won't hurt you… shhh…"

"I don't need you to—"

"I know you don't… just shut up for a minute and let me hold you."

She obeyed him, letting the warmth of his body seep into her skin, into her flesh, into her very bones, until the trembling stopped. His brutal strength was no longer something she had to contend against… no, all at once it had become her protection, bent around her in a shield. The familiar fragrance of him sur­rounded her… the clean masculine scent of his skin, the smell of expensive clothes, the faintest touch of bay rum… she breathed deeply of it. She would never be this close to him again and she wanted to remember… she had never felt so safe, comforted, protected.

"They were all laughing at me," she whispered, her teeth chattering.

"No, they weren't. They would have if you had been afraid of them—"

"I was."

"No one could see that. Not even me."

"I would have run away if I could have."

"It's all right now… it's all right."

Giving a broken sigh, she rested her head on his shoulder while his broad chest rose and fell steadily

beneath her. She did not know how much time passed by as she relaxed against him, but gradually it seemed that she had floated into the middle of the sweetest dream imaginable. His lips touched her forehead, send­ing an exciting chill down her spine, and his muscled arm tightened under the back of her neck as he eased her head higher.

Mira kept her eyes tightly closed, afraid that soon she would wake up. But for now her world was secure, filled with shadowy darkness and pleasant scents and with the warmth of Alec's body engulfing hers. Plea­sure crept through her body, pleasure more potent than an addictive drug. It made her helpless with desire, eager to yield to him, craving his touch, want­ing his lips on hers. She felt his hot, moist breath against the softness of her neck… his seeking mouth brushed her skin, then moved lazily across her throat. Weakly Mira turned her face against his shoulder as Alec's raven head lowered over her, his tongue flick­ering against the most sensitive parts of her neck.

"Mira…" he muttered, his mouth moving over her skin hungrily. "I want you… I want to make you feel things you've never dreamed about…" Her eyes fluttered open, and he became lost in the bewildered darkness of her gaze. "You don't belong to Sackville," he said thickly.

"I promised him—"

"To hell with whatever you promised him. It's not right for you to be his. He doesn't want you as I do. You can't say he satisfies you, not when you respond to me like this. You're starving for a man who will take the time to please you in bed, someone who will see to your needs as well as his own. A strong, young man in his prime—"