Marriage Without Love & More Than a Convenient Marriage(28)

‘Won’t we be living here any more?’ he asked her suddenly, his forehead puckering. ‘Will we be going away like Gina?’

‘Perhaps. Now come on. Which story shall we read tonight?’ she asked him.

She tucked him up in bed with one of his books while she went to wash her own hair and shower, towelling her thick curls briskly before pulling on a thin robe and padding back to his bedroom.

She had just reached the end of the story when the bedroom door opened and Kieron walked in, pulling off his jacket which he flung across the bed, loosening his tie, the oddly intimate gesture tightening her throat with tension.

Kieron smiled briefly at Nicky, who was watching him round-eyed and uncertain. Briony closed the book, not surprised to see that her hands were shaking. There was something she had to do now which would cause her the most bitter agony, but for Nicky’s sake she must. Bending over the bed, she said softly to her son:

‘Look who’s here, Nicky—it’s your daddy.’

There was a tension-filled moment when she felt Kieron’s incredulous stare and Nicky’s uncertain one, and then Kieron was sitting next to her on the bed, his eyes on his son’s face as he said huskily, ‘Hello, Nicky.’

When she closed the bedroom door behind her, there were tears in Briony’s eyes. She couldn’t remember a time when anything had caused her quite so much pain, unless it was the discovery of Kieron’s deceit, and she had to bite her lip to prevent herself from crying out loud. What was Kieron saying to Nicky? Was he trying to poison the little boy’s mind against her?

She went into her own bedroom, plugging in her hair-dryer and brushing her hair, the activity helping to disperse her restless thoughts.

They could not be held back for ever, though, and she was on her knees, her head in her hands, the hairdryer whirring away unregarded at her side, when Kieron walked in.

He was beside her before she was aware of his presence, her eyes moving slowly along his lean length, as he gripped her arms to pull her upwards.

‘Thanks,’ he said softly. ‘That was a very generous thing you did.’

‘Nicky?’

If he heard her anxiety and guessed the reason for it, he gave no sign.

‘He’s asleep.’ His fingers touched her cheek, and when he turned them over they were damp with her tears.

‘Oh, Briony,’ he protested softly, gathering her up against him, ‘is marriage to me so abhorrent to you that it makes you cry?’

‘I’m not,’ she retorted, but the words were lost against his chest. She hadn’t cried in years and she hated herself for the weakness that made her do so now, but now she had started it didn’t seem possible to stop. She wanted to tell Kieron to let her go, but her body seemed to mould itself treacherously to his as though drawing strength from his masculine frame while Kieron’s soft reassurances were murmured into her hair. As though her tears were the melting ice which had frozen her heart, she could feel her body coming to life beneath his stroking hands, sensations she had completely forgotten surging up inside her. Kieron’s hands found their way inside her robe, caressing her quivering flesh, emotions dammed up for years clamouring urgently for satisfaction as she yielded mindlessly to his touch, her will-power overridden by a primeval need that nothing could stem.

She reached blindly towards him, tracing the heard bones of his shoulders, barely aware of him shrugging impatiently out of his shirt and lifting her to carry her to the narrow bed.

Her mouth parted on a soft groan, her whole body shuddering deeply in response to his kiss, her body moving passionately against him, until he cupped her hands and held her away from him, his voice husky and unsteady.

‘No one’s touched you in years, have they?’ he demanded incredulously. ‘It’s all been waiting there, dammed up behind the ice, just needing a touch to set it free. Well, it’s free now,’ he groaned against her skin, pulling her against his hard body, ‘Feel what you’re doing to me, Briony. I want to make love to you, but this time without deceit. I’m not going to be accused of that twice.’

His words shattered through the partition she had erected between her mind and body, forcing her mind to accept the actions of her flesh, and she cringed back from him immediately, her face white and sick.

‘What the hell?’ Kieron stared down at her. ‘Don’t tease me, Briony,’ he commanded. ‘I don’t like it, and you may find out you’ve bitten off more than you can chew. For a moment there you were a woman. You can’t wall her up for ever. Some time or other she’s going to break through and play havoc with your emotionless little world.’