touch.
Alex laughed. “Ye have always been a poor liar.”
“That is no a bad quality,” she said, stiffening.
“Aye, ’tis one of your charms,” he said, giving her a smile that sent a wave of desire through her. “I have a proposition for ye.”
“A proposition?” Her life had changed the last time he had said that to her.
“Come sit with me, and I’ll tell ye what it is.”
He was not angry and yelling at her. Alex was his old, lighthearted self, so without stopping to ask herself why, she went to stand beside him. Instead of trying to pull her into his lap, he ran his finger slowly up her arm. She could hardly push him away for such a small gesture, and yet the slow, light touch set all her senses alight. Her entire being focused on the course of his finger sliding up her arm under her loose sleeve.
When his hands enclosed her waist and lifted her onto his lap, no word of objection would come out of her mouth. She longed to close her eyes and lean against his solid frame. Why, why, why could she not just accept his nature, take the good with the bad? Alex could not help that women were drawn to him like flies to honey. He was who he was.
And yet, Glynis wanted to be the only one. She had to be.
“This is no so bad, aye?” he asked, as he played with her hair.
She bit back a sigh when his fingers grazed her neck. Finally, she remembered to ask, “What is this proposition?”
“I know ye miss me in bed,” Alex said. “And God knows, I miss you.”
He missed her. It should not please her so much to hear him say it.
“That’s not enough,” she said—though at the moment, it nearly was.
When she said it, she thought she saw a flash of pain cross Alex’s face, before he covered it with another easy smile.
“I’m a sentimental man,” Alex said, as he brushed his knuckles across her cheek. “I think we should have one more night together to remember each other by.”
“Nay” caught in her throat when she felt his breath on her ear.
“I know how to please ye,” he whispered.
When Alex nuzzled her neck the way she liked, Glynis leaned her head back. Alex did know how to please her. She ached for him to touch every valley and crest of her body.
His nearness worked an enchantment upon her. She could form no clear thoughts while his hands slid over her and he lowered his mouth to hers. When his lips touched hers, she sank into him. Everything about him—his smell, his kiss, his heat—was familiar and filled the empty spaces he had left inside her.
Alex moved slowly, as if he were afraid of waking her from her dream. She was so lost in him that she barely noticed when he carried her to the bed. He touched her with a tenderness that made her heart bleed. No matter what he did with someone else, she knew he did care for her. It was in the way he held her.
They were naked without her knowing or caring how it happened. He said her name over and over as he ran sweet kisses down her arms and pressed her palm against his rough cheek. With his gentleness, he shattered every defense she had erected against him. She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling too much to bear looking into his face.
Even while he was in her arms, she was grieving for the loss of him. She hurt inside, and she knew she was hurting him badly, too, but she didn’t see a way to stop wounding each other except by leaving.
Glynis held him tightly to her, her deep need for him filling her with a quiet desperation. If he told her now that he loved her, she would believe him.
“Ye won’t forget me,” he said before he thrust inside her.
“I could not,” she whispered. “Not ever.”
“Ye will think of me in the night.” He held her face between his hands and forced her to look into his eyes. “And ye will wish I was there.”
“Aye.” She wrapped her arms and legs around him and clung to him as he moved against her. She dug her nails into his back as her need for him grew until she felt as if she would burst with it. Tears rolled down the sides of her face as emotions too big to contain swirled inside her. She felt as if she were drowning in her love for him.
Why didn’t he love her? Why did he not care
As her body shook with the force of her release, she felt as if she touched both Heaven and Hell.
“Oh, God, Glynis, how can ye leave me?” Alex said just before he exploded inside her—and she knew he had not meant to make this last, heart-wrenching plea.
Afterward, he held her with his face buried in her hair. She wanted to give in, to tell him what he wanted to hear, to stay in the warmth of his arms and never leave. If he had ever once said he loved her, she would not have held out. But he did not.
* * *
When Bessie came in the next morning, Glynis sat up quickly and dried her face on the bedclothes.
“Tormond is ready to take ye in the war galley,” Bessie said. “’Tis no my place to say it, but what are ye doing leaving such a fine man? ’Tis no making ye happy.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” Glynis admitted. “I haven’t even told Sorcha yet. I suppose I was waiting until I was certain I wouldn’t change my mind.”
