She wouldn’t cancel her trip; she needed it, now more than ever. She wouldn’t try to convince him that they could be more than short term. She wouldn’t lay open her vulnerable heart and tell him the things she wanted to tell him—that she not only wanted to be his lover but his wife, the mother of those children he so obviously wanted and expected of a marriage…
She couldn’t give him those children and she couldn’t risk seeing the light in his eyes dull to disappointment when she told him.
She should back off now, tell him it had been fun then pack up and go to Brisbane for the last week until her flight left from there, and never see him again.
But with the party next weekend, she couldn’t let Melissa or Jared down now and Jared had paid her up front to do the job.
She’d never been a quitter, she told herself, ignoring the little voice saying, Except where Jared’s concerned. And the thought of never seeing him again was too painful, what with him standing within touching distance, larger than life and twice as thrilling. Twice as precious.
‘So what are you trying to say?’ she asked his back. She didn’t want to know. She had to know. Better to know now…
For the second time, he didn’t answer her. Turning around, he didn’t give her time to read his expression, just swept her into his arms and carried her towards the bedroom like an impatient man claiming what belonged to him…
They didn’t talk at all, they made love. Tumultuous lovemaking of the deep and dark and desperate kind that satisfied the flesh but resolved nothing.
Jared didn’t give her time to refuse or argue or demand. He wanted her now—all of her—heart, body and mind—all, and with an urgency he’d never known.
And she gave him everything. He felt it flow from her like a fast-flowing stream. Momentarily sweeping away those earlier doubts and questions on a tide of emotion he struggled to contain.
After, he held her trapped within his arms, breathing in the musky scent of their own creation. Revelled in the silken rain of ebony hair that cascaded over his shoulder and down his chest. His words had dried up like cockles in the sun. He couldn’t remember a single one. One look at her when she’d opened the door all mussed and flushed and sleepy and all he could think was, Home. All he knew was that he wanted her. In every way. Whatever the cost. Whatever the sacrifice, whatever the risk.
But how would she respond if he opened his heart and told her? Would she be willing to make that sacrifice too, and take that risk with him? Was he even ready to find out?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
ON THE following Saturday night Sophie put the finishing touches to her make-up and stood back to check her reflection. She’d chosen a sapphire-blue dress that left one shoulder bare and had an asymmetric hemline. But tonight wasn’t about her, it was Melissa’s big night.
The past week had been hectic. She’d stored what she wasn’t taking. The rest spilled out of two open suitcases on her living-room floor.
The time had also given Sophie an opportunity to get better acquainted with Melissa. She was a complex girl but she obviously adored her big brother. It was just that, according to Lissa, she was feeling suffocated.
Sophie understood Melissa wanted to test her independence. Having a protective brother, while a wonderful thing, could prove stifling—or so Sophie imagined, thinking of her own long-lost sibling. Lissa wanted her own place and she’d said Jared needed his privacy too.
Sophie agreed. She added a pair of silver drop earrings to complete her look. But Melissa knew Sophie was leaving so why the conspiratorial smile when she’d mentioned his need for space? Did she think she and Jared were something more?
Did she maybe think Sophie was coming back sooner rather than later? Sophie stared at her eyes in the mirror. No regrets, remember.
She and Lissa had come to an arrangement. Lissa was taking over Sophie’s apartment. The landlord was satisfied. Jared had accepted the inevitability with only minor reservations. Everyone was happy…except Sophie. Oh, she was happy. She told herself so every day and smiled at her reflection to prove it. Who wouldn’t be, with the trip of a lifetime so close she could almost smell it?
Because there was Jared.
Her smile slipped away, her heart contracted and a brief mist clouded her vision. Jared, with that adorable crease in his cheek and something deep in his eyes that told her he had secrets he wasn’t going to share with her.
She was leaving and she knew he cared for her more than a little. His sister was moving out after she left and he’d be on his own for the first time. A man who loved having his family close and enjoyed companionship. Sophie wondered how he’d deal with that.