The Purest of Diamonds(78)

                ‘How am I supposed to resist you?’

                ‘You’re not.’

                She held him off for a moment with both hands flat against his chest. ‘Seriously. How can it ever work between us, Raffa, when we’re worlds apart?’

                ‘We’re worlds colliding,’ he argued, still teasing her lips with his.

                ‘Why won’t you admit I’m right?’

                ‘Because I’m always right.’

                She gave a small growl of warning to this, which made him smile. Leila was a passionate mother-to-be, high on hormones, which made her more beautiful than ever to him. She was like a lioness that, having tested her boundaries, had found them infinite, and had made the leap to freedom from a self-imposed cage. Quiet Leila had been temptation enough for him, but this new, bold version of the same woman was more than enough for him.

                ‘You’ll be a wonderful mother, Leila, but right now that’s not uppermost in my mind.’

                ‘How can you want me when I’m heavily pregnant, wearing my brother’s cast-off work shirt?’

                Her mention of Tyr threw him for a moment, and he longed to put her mind at rest, but a pledge was a pledge, and his honour was non-negotiable too.

                ‘On you it could only be high fashion,’ he teased, drawing a veil over the confidence he had sworn to keep for Tyr.

                His body ached for Leila, and when he kissed her he felt a tremor of need run through her. Drawing back, he tested his theory. ‘Still mad for sex?’

                ‘What sort of question is that, Raffa? Of course I am.’

                Losing no more time, he swung Leila into his arms. ‘Your bedroom?’

                ‘Under the eaves.’

                ‘Perfect.’

                It was perfect. Leila’s bedroom was a warm, safe nest. If only he’d been able to think of her here while he’d been away, he wouldn’t have worried about her half as much. No wonder she had wanted to come home to Skavanga. With the snow tumbling down outside the big windows that framed the lake, the mountains and the heavily snow-laden trees, it was paradise outside, and paradise inside. This was one haven he would never want to leave.

                ‘Watch out! The room’s too small for you,’ she exclaimed as he ducked his head to avoid a beam.

                ‘The room’s perfect for me, Leila,’ he said as he lowered her carefully onto the bed, kicked off his boots and lay down beside her.

                ‘Mind reading’s never been one of my many skills, but I do have others,’ she said, toying with the buttons on his shirt.

                ‘I remember them well,’ he said as he started to undress her.

                ‘Why are you smiling as you kiss me, Raffa?’

                ‘You taste so good.’

                ‘Anxiety and pregnancy taste good to you?’

                ‘What are you anxious about, Leila?’

                ‘That I can still do this—I mean, with this mega-sized bump.’