When he finally lost control Patrick’s hands tightened on her hips. His rhythm altered and that subtle change was sufficient to boost Hayley over the same precipitous edge until both of them were tumbling, spinning, falling through a kaleidoscope of sensations.
Hayley had long since lost track of time but eventually Patrick dragged his mouth from hers and dropped his head to her shoulder, his breath warm against her neck. ‘That was…’ His voice husky, he struggled to finish his sentence. ‘Sublime.’
She lay there, too drugged to move, her body still trembling. It was only when he shifted above her that she felt the hardness of the kitchen table pressing into her back.
Patrick registered her wince of discomfort with a wry smile of apology. He hauled her upright in a decisive movement and scooped her into his arms as if she weighed nothing.
Hayley wound her arms round his neck. ‘You’ll do yourself an injury.’ Eyeing her jeans on his kitchen floor, she wondered whether she was destined to leave clothes in every room this man inhabited.
‘You don’t weigh anything.’ He took the stairs that led to the bedrooms, pushing open the door that led to his room. As he laid her down on the bed, Hayley realised that he was still wearing his coat.
‘One of us has the dress code wrong,’ she muttered. ‘Either you’re wearing too much or I’m wearing too little.’
‘We’re both wearing too much,’ he drawled, his eyes glittering like sapphires as he shrugged off his coat and reached for the buttons of his casual shirt.
Her mouth dried. ‘Patrick—’
‘Hayley?’ The shirt went the same way as the coat and his fingers slid to the snap of his jeans.
Her eyes were on his board-flat abdomen and then he was on the bed beside her. Reaching out, he dimmed the lights and then pulled the duvet over both of them. ‘Now—where were we?’
Hayley lay still in the darkness, feeling the warmth of his arms around her. He hadn’t bothered to close the blinds in the bedroom and tiny lights glowed like stars in the fir trees outside the barn. Through the thickness of the glass she could hear the dull roar of the beck as it raced down from the fells.
‘You’re very quiet.’ Patrick’s voice was low and masculine. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘What makes you think there’s anything wrong?’
‘Because normally you don’t stop talking,’ he said dryly, curving her against him in a possessive movement. ‘I’ve learned that when you’re quiet, it’s time to worry.’
‘That isn’t true.’ She resisted the temptation to snuggle into him and heard him sigh.
‘Hayley, I can tell there’s something wrong. Do I have to put the lights on and interrogate you?’
‘I’m fine, Patrick, really.’
‘Why are we whispering? We’re on our own in the house. Apart from the kittens, of course, and I don’t suppose they’re interested in us.’
His words hastened the deflation of her happiness. It was like going from a slow puncture to a blowout, she thought miserably. Her emotions crashed and with it her desperate attempt to keep her feelings to herself.
Hayley shot out of the bed but his arms caught her easily and he pulled her back.
‘Leave me alone, Patrick,’ she muttered, her voice thickened by tears she desperately didn’t want to shed.
‘Hayley, now you’re really worrying me.’ His voice concerned, he flicked on the bedside lamp and shifted above her, his eyes fixed on her face. ‘Tell me what’s wrong.’
‘I just hate myself, that’s all.’ Hayley turned her face away from the light, aware of the tension in his powerful frame.
‘You hate yourself? For spending the night with me?’
‘Yes!’
Her confession was followed by a long silence and then she heard his slow, indrawn breath. ‘Did I hurt you?’
‘No.’ Her face was burning and she wished she’d stayed silent or given him a neutral response to his original question. ‘It was fine. Can we just forget it?’
His fingers slid around her face and he forced her to look at him. This time there was no trace of humour in his eyes. Just serious intent. ‘Hayley, don’t avoid this—I thought it was what you wanted. Was I wrong?’
‘No, you weren’t wrong! Of course I wanted you—that must have been pretty obvious to you from the moment I dropped my knickers on your bedroom floor the first time.’ Her voice rose slightly. ‘And I wasn’t exactly fighting you off tonight, was I? So it’s a little unfair of you to rub in the fact I can’t say no to you.’