Marriage Without Love & More Than a Convenient Marriage(58)

‘Of course I’m not going to torment you,’ he replied harshly. ‘I’ll have Héloise bring him to you, and then you must try and sleep.’

Nicky was subdued but so plainly safe and well that she wanted to cry again. She ran her hands over his sturdy little body, and he tried to wriggle away, but she could not resist the desire to touch him and assure herself that she wasn’t dreaming.

‘Oh, darling,’ she whispered huskily, hugging him to her, her eyes bright with tears as they met Kieron’s across the room.

‘Go with Héloise now, Nicky,’ Kieron said calmly. ‘Mummy needs to sleep.’

‘Yes, I know. ‘Cos she’s been very, very ill!’

‘I’m all better now, darling,’ Briony said softly, releasing him to Héloise. It was long past his bedtime, but the Frenchwoman explained that the doctor had said that Briony might come out of her fever during the day and they had kept him up knowing she would want to see him.

‘Why did you think I would want to punish you?’ Kieron asked abruptly when they were alone. Briony had expected him to leave the room with Héloise and Nicky, but he had stayed, going to stand by the window where he had stared out to sea, before turning to confront her with the question.

‘Did I?’ she asked huskily, wetting her dry lips. ‘I.…’

‘In your dreams…during your fever.…It was constantly on your mind,’ Kieron said harshly. ‘You kept begging me to forgive you and pleading with me not to hurt you any more.’

‘I was frightened you’d blame me for not taking proper care of Nicky,’ Briony admitted breathlessly. ‘Will you leave me now, please, Kieron? I…I’m…rather tired.’

She could not endure any more of his questions. If he continued to probe and press like this she would be bound to betray herself and admit that it had been his love and understanding she had been pleading for.

When he had gone she couldn’t sleep. She had a shower and went back to bed, counting sheep until at last exhaustion claimed her.

She had the dream again. The one where she woke up and Kieron wasn’t there, and in her fear and pain she called his name endlessly between her frantic sobs, unaware of the fact that she was not alone until she was shaken awake to find herself in Kieron’s arms, his face drawn and harsh.

That he must have been in bed with her for some time was obvious, for the alarm clock showed three o’clock in the morning, and the bed held a heavy warmth which spoke of shared closeness of more than merely a few minutes.

‘Briony.…’

‘Don’t touch me,’ she sobbed bitterly, still held by the memory of the dream. ‘You don’t care about me, only Nicky holds your heart.…’

His hand was smoothing her hair back from her heated face, and it stilled suddenly, his eyes penetrating.

‘And you want to?’

She froze from the question, her heart thudding under the hand he had slid down to cover it, one arm curving her against him so that she was resting against the strength of his body.

‘Do you want to, Briony?’ he prompted. ‘Was that what it was all about down on the beach, mm?’ His lips were touching her shoulder and her body ached to respond, but she remembered how he had cruelly rejected her and stared up at him with fear-shadowed eyes.

‘Were you really giving me the gift of yourself, sweet Briony,’ he whispered softly, ‘and not just teasing as I thought?’ There was a new deep timbre to his voice, his lips teased her skin gently.

Her body quivered against him, and although she tried to hide it from him she knew he had felt it. His tongue stroked gently along the delicate skin behind her ear, arousing all manner of delicious sensations, and her lips had to be clamped tightly together to prevent her small moan of pleasure escaping. His hands were stroking slowly along her body, pushing aside the thin silk of her nightgown and laying bare the satin flesh. His mouth touched her throat and then slid lower.

This time it was impossible to deny her reaction. Her throat ached with tension, her head falling back against the pillows as she begged him to stop.

He laughed softly, the sound feathering along her nerves. ‘You don’t really mean that, do you?’ he murmured against her. ‘That tantalising creature who came to me from the sea can’t have disappeared entirely.’ His arms wrapped round her, holding against his hardness, his mouth coaxing hers into slavish, mute subjugation as it parted for him.

His groaned satisfaction set off an answering chord deep inside her, and despite the promise she had made herself, never to betray her feelings to him again, she was reaching despairingly for him.