He frowned. ‘You think I should be saving myself?’
‘No.’ Her voice became suddenly clipped and hard. ‘Of course I don’t. I’m just saying that for you loving’s easy.’
‘And it’s not for you?’
‘No, Dr Ethan, it’s not.’ There was no mistaking her anger now and he felt a mounting anger in return. Who was she to judge him? What did she know of his love life?
And what did he know of hers? ‘So Cady’s all the family you ever intend to have?’
‘That’s right.’
‘What’s that got to do with me? Why does it make you angry?’
She stared at him and her eyes were suddenly baffled. What did it have to do with him? Nothing, she thought. Nothing at all. And why had she lashed out at him? And why was she even talking about where she wanted to go in life?
It was all too much. She was too tired to think this through. ‘I’m going to bed.’
‘Don’t let me stop you.’
‘Fine.’ She glared but her glare didn’t quite work.
‘Gemma…’ She’d walked part way into the room but was backing out now and she looked… For heaven’s sake, she looked as if she was afraid of him. ‘Don’t…’
‘Don’t what?’
‘Don’t act as if I’m an ogre.’
‘I’m not.’
‘So if I walk towards you, you won’t back away.’
‘Of course not.’ But as he stepped toward her it took a huge effort to keep her feet still. Her brain was screaming ‘
Her brain was stupid. Nate was no threat. Of course he was no threat.
He was close now-too close for comfort. So close that her heart was hammering in her chest like she’d just run a three-minute mile. Which was really, really stupid.
‘Gemma…’
‘What?’ Why did she sound breathless?
‘I told you. You don’t have to be afraid of me.’
‘I’m not.’
Nate lifted his hand and traced the fine line from the corner of her eye down to the side of her mouth. It was a feather touch. A touch of reassurance. Nothing more.
So why did it send a tremor right through her?
‘Um… I need to go to bed.’
‘Of course you do.’ But he made no move to leave, and neither did she. He was right there. His chest was almost touching her breast. Behind them the last of the fire crackled and hissed, and it was crazily, wonderfully intimate. Crazy…
‘Please…’
She wasn’t sure what she was asking for. She was no longer sure she even knew what she was doing. All she knew was that he was right there by her, that he was big and warm and…and Nate.
Silence.
The silence went on and on, stretching into the night. Neither of them knew what it was that was being asked-or decided. All they knew was that there were currents running between them that were as old as time itself.
Time is. Time is yet to come.
Gemma knew what Nate was going to do before he did it. She guessed. Or rather she felt his intention in a part of her body that had nothing to do with consciousness. And everything to do with the need between a man and a woman.
He kissed her. How could he not? She was so…
He hardly knew what she was, but she was there, and her face was looking up at him, her eyes were wide with wonder and her expression was mutely waiting-wondering. And when he bent and kissed her it was like the coming together of two halves of a whole.
She was so sweet. She was so…right!
Gemma.
They knew each other not at all-yet so well. Each curve of their bodies fitted together with a sureness-a rightness that couldn’t be argued with.
Nate felt his body stiffen in shocked recognition. He knew this woman. He knew her! His mind numbed as his mouth tasted the woman in his arms.
Because suddenly, shockingly, nothing had ever felt so right before.
And Gemma…
For a moment she didn’t respond at all. She couldn’t. And then, as though responding to a force beyond her understanding, she opened her mouth to him. But more than that.
She opened her heart…
Nate felt her lips move beneath his as her body melted into his. Chest against breast-man against woman- aching-wanting-welcoming, as a woman welcomed a man home after battle. Home to hearth and to heart.
There were forces at work here that neither could recognise-forces that were stronger than both of them.
Unconsciously Nate’s hands fell to pull her body tighter against him-loving the way her breasts moulded themselves against his chest. His kiss deepened and so did the wonder. His mouth was tasting her-searching- wanting-seeking to know how this could be-that he’d found wonder in such a place. With such a woman.
The woman he was holding was like no woman he’d ever kissed. She felt…right.
Why? She was nothing like the other women he’d known! She wore no trace of make-up. Her clothes were stained and old, her hair twisted haphazardly into a hastily arranged braid, she was too thin, too tired, too weighed down by the encumbrances of her world.
How could she be filling this need-this need he’d never been aware he had?
In the end it was his shock that made him draw back-to pull away and hold her at arm’s length to see what it was about her that was so amazing-to see who it was that he was holding. He hardly knew, and what he saw confused him still further.
She was such a slip of a thing-a waif. She held not a candle to the likes of Donna and Fiona.
What was he thinking of, kissing her? What had he done? She’d threatened to run because he’d tried to leave his baby with her. And now… Now he’d kissed her. Would she run now?
For a long, long moment they stared at each other, their confusion mirrored in each other’s eyes.
‘Gemma…’ His voice was damnably unsteady. Hell,
‘Don’t…don’t apologise,’ she managed. Dear God, it needed only that. For him to kiss and apologise.
‘I don’t-’
‘You don’t understand. Good. That makes two of us.’
‘I never meant…’
‘And neither did I.’
‘So…’
‘So I’ll go to bed.’ Then, as he made to move toward her again-to gather her in his arms again because that was what they both wanted and he knew it-she held up her hands as if to fend him off. ‘No.’
‘But you want-’
‘I don’t know what I want,’ she said in a jagged whisper. ‘The only thing I do know is that I need to go to bed. Right now. You said you wouldn’t jump me, Nate Ethan. You said Fiona did all the running. So why don’t I believe a word you say?’
And that was it. She turned and ran down the corridor without a backward look.
Why did Gemma unsettle him so badly? What was it with the woman? And why the hell had he kissed her?
Nate lay awake almost until dawn. Hell, he usually slept like a log-but something about Gemma Campbell was
