A muscle tightened in his cheek.
‘I agree. We need to move on but what’s holding us back is not some vows we made. It’s this thing we have. This incredible need for one another. I’ll “divorce” you, if that’s what you want. But you need to accept that no piece of paper, or whatever it is you’re hoping to get, is going to bring you physical closure.’
Prudence felt herself frown. What he was saying made sense. Being unaware of her marital status hadn’t stopped the memory of him casting a shadow over her sexual relations with other men. A light blush spread over her skin. Their touches, their kisses, had seemed like insipid, inferior copies of the fierce, primal passion she had shared with Laszlo. But how was she ever to move on if she couldn’t stop this burning want she had inside her for him?
She shook her head. ‘I don’t understand. Are you saying you do want a divorce?’
His eyes darkened. ‘The divorce is irrelevant. You have to face the truth. We want each other. And that want is holding us back from living freely.’
‘What are you suggesting?’ she asked slowly.
He studied her face. The air was suddenly thick between them.
‘I think we should keep on sleeping together,’ he said softly. ‘The truth is we both want to. And maybe that’s what we need to do to get each other out of our systems for good.’
She stared at him, stunned into silence not just by his words but by her body’s instantaneous response to them.
Finally, she shook her head again. It wasn’t worth the risk. ‘So your solution to this mess is to make our lives more complicated? What happened at the cottage was understandable—’
‘It was incredible,’ he corrected.
Ignoring his comment, and the traitorous heat rising up inside her, she forced herself to concentrate. ‘Understandable,’ she repeated firmly. ‘But it was spontaneous. A one-off. What you’re suggesting would be deliberate and repeated. We can’t do that.’
‘It’s nothing we haven’t done before.’ He spoke quietly but his eyes were fierce.
She blinked. ‘No. Laszlo. I haven’t done this before. Had an affair with my estranged husband, who doesn’t even like me and also happens to be my boss! It’s just wrong on so many levels.’
His gaze flickered over her face and he smiled a smile that lit up his eyes like the sun, spreading radiance and warmth over her.
He shook his head, his eyes glittering. ‘No. What we share could never be wrong, Prudence,’ he said softly. ‘I agree, it’s not a conventional arrangement, but what we have is so extraordinary, so overwhelming. Look, I don’t know if it’ll work, but when I’m holding you in my arms it feels like we know everything about each other. It’s like our own perfect private communion.’
Gazing up into his face, Prudence felt herself wavering. She knew she should turn him down but the pull of his words was so powerful. She could no more resist him than the tide could resist the tug of the moon.
Laszlo let out a breath. His heart was pounding. Looking down, he saw with surprise that his hands were shaking and he wondered why. He gritted his teeth. It was frustration, he told himself. Two days spent thinking about Prudence’s delectable body and his own body was hovering on the edge of meltdown. Particularly with her standing so close, looking so desirable.
And she was so very beautiful. Her eyes were shimmering like beaten silver and he could smell the sweet honeyed fragrance that clung to her skin and hair. But truthfully it wasn’t just about her beauty. It wasn’t even about the sex. Her bright enthusiasm for art, her doggedness in getting back her job, her sweetness with his grandfather—all charmed him, delighted him.
‘It’s not just the physical,’ he said finally. ‘I like spending time with you.’
Prudence swallowed. Her grey eyes flashed with reproach. ‘Only when it suits you.’
Seeing the indecision in her eyes, he was on the verge of simplifying everything by pulling her into his arms and melting her resistance with the heat of his kisses. But something held him back—some confused idea that this was not the moment for passion.
Besides, he had something better in mind.
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘COME WITH ME. I have something I want to show you.’
He held out his hand and after a moment Prudence took it. They walked slowl
y together over the rough, springy grass until finally they reached a copse of stunted, low-branched trees and he stopped and gently disengaged his hand.
‘What are we doing?’ she asked.
‘We’re meeting him here,’ he said, turning to face her.
‘Meeting who? Where? We’re in the middle of a field.’