LITMIR.BIZ

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woman?’ She challenged him, hurt blazing a trail through her as she remembered the time she’d first said words of love to him, fooled by their desire into letting him know that she was emotionally committed to him in a way he’d later made clear he didn’t want.

      ‘I think that you do.’ He brushed his lips over hers again and just as moments ago a soft sigh escaped her. She didn’t want to respond, didn’t want to convey her compliance with his wishes to him quite so emphatically, but she couldn’t help herself. The bold, teasing woman was gone, the passionate woman who loved him had returned. Whatever it was between them was still there, so didn’t that make staying married for the sake of the baby easier? If passion had once brought them together could it now bind them once more?

      ‘I’m not so sure,’ she said in a soft provocative whisper and smiled at him. ‘I think you might just have to prove that to me.’

      It was just like that night two months ago, the night her baby had been conceived, all over again. One kiss, one caress and she became a melting puddle of need at his feet. She hated herself for wanting him, for wishing it could be more, but surely two parents who got on like this would be better than a family torn apart, living very different lives. Her own childhood had been like that and she didn’t want the same for her baby.

      ‘I do, do I?’ He laughed softly, a sexy deep sound that didn’t quite mask the words he’d just said to her, words he’d said once before but hadn’t truly meant.

      ‘Yes, you do.’ She pushed all her misgivings to the back of her mind. They had agreed on being together until New Year’s Eve and maybe that was just enough time to convince him there was more to their marriage—more to them—than passion.

      ‘In that case...’ He swept her from her feet and headed for the bedroom and the excitement in Lisa’s body intensified. She loved this man, wanted him with a passion, and all she had to do was break through his barriers and make him see that, make him feel it.

      She looked around her as he placed her on the large bed covered in a festive throw and on the wall above it a trail of twinkling lights. Parcels done up with bright red ribbons adorned the window sill and beyond the cottage the darkness of the night was sparkled with stars. It was all so perfect, so romantic and she couldn’t help but lose herself in the moment. There might never be another like it, not with this man, the man she’d given her heart unconditionally to the day they’d met, the man who even now still held it—and always would.

      She looked at him, deep into his eyes. ‘It’s Christmas Eve, Max. I want to forget everything else, to enjoy the magic that’s here in the cottage. Tonight all I want is you.’

      ‘How can I resist that?’ The feral tone of his voice left her in no doubt that he wanted her too.

      ‘Then don’t.’ She reached up and touched his face, belatedly realising what a loving gesture it was and sliding her fingers into his hair instead. To hide the rising emotions within her, she kissed him. Hard. Demanding his response. When it came, it took her breath away.

      ‘Never,’ he said against her lips, sending her heart-rate soaring. His arms pulled her close and, to cover up the love that was threatening to erupt within her, she slid her hands down his chest, to the suit jacket he wore, and pushed it off his shoulders as she had done with his overcoat.

      This time, the heat of his body scorched her palms, pushing her on in the increasing heat of the dance of desire. As she kissed him, her tongue entwining with his, she pulled off his tie and opened his shirt buttons, until her hands touched the firmness of his chest.

      He broke the kiss, with words of Spanish she didn’t understand, but she couldn’t allow him to see her face, couldn’t allow him to look into her eyes, not if she wanted to conceal the truth of her feelings for him. Whatever else happened tonight, he must not think she still hankered after love and happy ever afters with him. Keeping that to herself would give her strength and badly needed control.

      ‘I have no idea what you just said,’ she teased as she pulled back from him, glancing briefly into his desire-filled eyes before she pressed her lips to his chest.

      ‘That you are a temptress and, I might add, you are wearing far too many clothes.’ The deep guttural sound of his voice sent razor-sharp pins into her heart and at the same time set loose the heavy throb of desire from deep within her.

      ‘In that case...’ She moved back, flirting wildly with him. Anything other than let him see what she really felt. Then with a coy smile at him, she undid the buttons of her cream silk blouse. She could feel his eyes on her, feel the heat of his need coming from him in an electrifying mix of desire and command.

      It gave her power. Power to hide her love. Power over him.

      * * *

      Max could barely contain himself as Lisa let the cream silk of her blouse slip to the floor, revealing the lacy cream bra that did nothing to conceal the peak of her nipples. His body hardened even more in response. Hell, he wanted her as he’d never wanted any woman before. She was his wife.

      He watched as she slipped off her heels and then unzipped her skirt. The sound of the silky lining as it slipped to the floor around her feet was so loud in the charged atmosphere of the bedroom it raised the tension to almost explosive levels.

      ‘Stop,’ he said and moved toward her as confusion rushed over her face. ‘That’s enough—for now.’

      Before she could remove her underwear he took her in his arms, pressing her near nakedness against his bare chest. He could feel the flatness of her stomach, where concealed within was his baby. The child he would do anything for.

      Whatever happened, he had to win Lisa round, had to show her he could give her and the baby so much, that he would be there for his child in a way he himself had never known when he was younger.

      ‘For now?’ She breathed the question against his lips.

      He pushed her gently back onto the bed. She didn’t resist and neither did she take her gaze from his. ‘I want to kiss you all over, to caress every bit of you. I want to show you how good we are together.’

      ‘But...’ she whispered and then hesitated.

      ‘Do you really expect me to walk away from you, Lisa, when you are carrying my child?’

      Her green eyes filled with the sparkle of tears, but he knew he had to set things straight between them, do what he hadn’t done before they’d got married.

      ‘It’s not what you wanted, is it?’

      ‘No, but now that you know more of my past, maybe you can understand my reaction, understand why I feel I can’t be a father—a good father—to my child.’

      ‘Feel?’ Her lips trembled and he wished he had chosen another time to have this discussion. It was spoiling all he’d achieved with his Christmas gift. ‘You make it sound like it’s still that way.’

      ‘My past has shaped who I am, Lisa, determined who I can be. Do you really want that for your child?’ The pain of his father’s rejection was unstoppable.

      ‘What about a mother who has never known a happy childhood, who ran with the wrong crowd as a teenager in order to hide from her past? One who grew up in a bad part of town? Do you want a mother like that for your child?’

      The passion and pain in her words reached him on a level he thought impossible. He wasn’t the only one unable to stop the secrets of the past from intruding. ‘That was your childhood?’

      ‘Yes.’

      He’d never have guessed, never have known she’d led anything other than a happy life. She seemed so calm, so in control of herself. Words, he decided, were not enough and he joined her on the bed, wrapping her in his arms, pulling her close in an attempt to show her he understood. The heat of her near-naked body transformed that understanding into passion and he claimed her lips, demanding a response from her.

      She kissed him so hard it was intense and fevered. It heated

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