“Are you laughing at me?” Terel asked in horror.
“No, of course not. I would never laugh at you. I—” Nellie couldn’t say any more because Jace had taken her hand from his chest and begun nibbling at her fingertips.
“You don’t know men like him, Nellie,” Terel was saying. “He is a…well, he’s a seducer of women.”
Jace was biting the inside of her wrist, and she could feel the tip of his tongue on her skin.
“Nellie! Are you listening to me?”
“Yes,” she said dreamily.
“You cannot trust men like him, and Father was right when he forbade you to see him again.”
Jace paused in kissing Nellie’s hand for just a second when Terel said that, but he continued. Besides kissing Nellie, he wanted to hear what the lying bitch had to say.
“Father told you about his flirting, and I myself saw him at church. He merely wants as many women as he can get. I don’t know why he chose you as one of his…his conquests, but he has. Nellie, don’t you know that we care about you and want what’s best for you?”
Nellie could barely nod. Her sleeve had been pushed up to wash dishes, and now he was kissing the inside of her elbow.
“All the man wants from you is entry into Grayson Freight. He wants to be Father’s partner. He would have tried to seduce me, but he knew I know too much about men to fall for his scandalous ways. I would never have let him humiliate me in public as he did you. So, knowing he couldn’t get me, he went after you, and Nellie, you believed every word he said to you. Tell me, did he tell you you were beautiful?”
Nellie looked into the pantry at Jace. He looked up from her arm and nodded. “Yes,” Nellie whispered. “He told me I was beautiful.”
“There, you see. That proves he’s a liar.”
At that Jace dropped Nellie’s arm and started out of the pantry, but Nellie put her hand on his chest and gave him a pleading look while Terel turned around to get a glass out of a cabinet.
“Terel, why don’t you go upstairs and lie down? I’ll bring your luncheon on a tray.”
“Yes, perhaps that would be better. It has been a very trying day. You can’t imagine the gossip I’ve had to listen to about my own sister.”
Nellie started to pull away from Jace, but he wouldn’t let her, so she stood where she was and gave Terel a weak smile. Sighing, Terel left the room.
Immediately, Nellie turned to him. “Mr. Montgomery, you cannot—” she began, but she couldn’t say more because he pulled her into the pantry and into his arms.
He kissed her. At first Nellie was so shocked that she just stood there, her eyes open, his strong arms around her as he pulled her close to him.
“Nellie,” he whispered as he moved to kiss her neck, “don’t you understand that I’m not interested in your father’s company? It’s you I’m interested in.”
She barely heard him as his lips moved down her neck. His big hands were on her body, and Nellie could feel her knees growing weak. He moved back to her mouth, kissing her gently at first; then, as Nellie relaxed against him, his kiss deepened. The tip of his tongue touched hers. At first she started to draw away from him, but he held her close.
It was some minutes before Nellie began to truly react to his touching her. She had no idea how much longing and desire were pent up inside her. She was a loving woman who had had no outlet for her love. Her hands moved from her sides to encircle him and pull him closer, and her breath came harder and faster as he continued kissing her.
“Nellie,” he whispered, and he began to run his teeth and lips across her neck. She moved her arms up to bury her hands in his hair. She kissed his cheeks, his neck, running the tip of her tongue along his skin and feeling the whiskers. He smelled good; he felt good; he tasted good.
Within minutes Nellie could no longer see or think. She was all feeling, a great, huge, red mass of feeling.
“Nellie,” Jace said, trying to pull away from her but finding it very difficult, “we have to stop.” He lifted his head to look at her. Her face was flushed pink, her eyes closed, long, thick lashes against her soft cheek, and her lips were soft and full and parted invitingly.
“Nellie,” he said again, and this time the sound was a groan. “I can’t bear any more. We have to stop.” He kissed her once gently, then pulled away. “I think your family might be a little shocked if they found us making love on the floor of the pantry.”
Slowly Nellie opened her eyes and looked up at him. They were intimately pressed together, his leg between hers, and she remembered how wantonly she’d just behaved. “I…I’m sorry, Mr. Montgomery,” she mumbled, releasing him. “I didn’t mean…” She didn’t know what to say.
“Quite all right,” he said, smiling as though nothing had happened, but there was a glow of sweat on his brow.
Nellie was quite suddenly very embarrassed, and she started backing out of the pantry, her face red.
“Nellie.” He caught her arm and pulled her close to him, but she pushed at him and gained her freedom.