The sudden spontaneous kiss stopped him dead in his tracks. He fell into a daze, unable to think or react for a while. Clinging onto him, somehow she lost her balance and lurched back a few steps, bringing him with her. She laughed against his lips when her back hit the wall, and he braced his hand against the wall on either side of her shoulder. The sweet, silvery sound snapped him back to his mindfulness.
He tore his mouth from her, starting back several steps. He was shaken by his own visceral response to her, which he found difficult to control or resist. Immediately he wiped his lips with his fingers as if to rub the taste of her off his lips.
Her eyes dimmed at the gesture and a shadow crossed her face.
"It appears that my husband is not the only one who found me stale."
"You know that it's not true."
He said quickly.
"Things are not quite the same now, Amanda. I will be getting married soon."<
Actually she had known who Amanda was, but she wanted to know what she was to him. She wanted to know what he would call her."Mrs. Chapman? I've known her long time ago. My estate bought dairies from her father's farm and she came to deliver them every morning.""So I see."She turned to get a clean towel set on the side table. Giving him a sharp look, she handed it to him. He took the towel and began to rub his hair. Painfully aware of her icy stare, he averted his eyes and moved away, pretending to search for his comb on the dresser."You don't usually converse with the likes of her."He just found the comb when she said that, and his hand immediately stilled at her remarks."What exactly do you mean by the likes of her?"He retorted, surprised to find himself quite vexed by the way she mentioned Amanda. She winced at his tone, but deliberately ignored it."We bot
"It's one thing I can't tell you. Some things are best kept secret."The words haunted him throughout the rest of the day. He never had any suspicion about it before, but now when the idea occured to him, her sudden disappearance seemed to make a whole lot sense.He'd heard rumors. The servants murmured about it for weeks. Her family said she went to France. It was rather curious. He wondered how her father could afford it, both financially and mentally. The old man was well-known all over the country for his frugal existence.He should have suspected about it earlier, the real reason behind her leaving. It never occurred to him before, because it seemed like her to come and go as she pleased. She was notoriously wanton, though he constantly disregarded that undesirable fact. There had never been a promise of fidelity between them, and when they were having an affair, he knew she was engaged in the same sort of relations
Her back instantly tensed at that, and he tried to see her expression in the frosted glass but he could only get an obscure view of her reflection. He wondered if he was only imagining it, but somehow he could hear her sharp intake of breath. His heart was beating painfully hard as he waited to hear a word pass her lips, but it was the long silence that voiced what he was afraid to hear."Good Lord." He hissed with a shaken voice as a cold, sickening feeling roiled his stomach. "Why didn't you let me know?"She turned around to face him, a suspicion of sorrow in her eyes. "I decided to keep it. If I ever let you or your family know, we both know what was likely to happen. I would have been forced to terminate it.""I would have never done that.""Even so, there was nothing you could do about it. At the time, you were still too young to deal with that."He couldn't deny it. Even n
With so much thoughts weighing on his mind, all he really wanted was a moment of solitude, but he had failed her last night, he couldn't let her down again tonight. Not after the heated tension between them not so long ago."Sure."He replied, knowing that to decline was not an option. The clicking sound of the door as it closed mocking him. Now that he was alone with her for the rest of the night, he knew exactly what to be expected. He'd never imagined that he could ever feel this way, but at the moment he had no appetite for that. The sight of the lush, welcoming bed in the middle of the room held no appeal. Moving away in an unconscious gesture of reluctance, he sauntered toward the side table and poured himself some wine.Watching him sipping his wine slowly as he rested his gaze somewhere away from her, Ava felt a cold touch of abandonment. Apparently he found the flame in the hea
When his passion was back under control, he began to move slowly within her. Waves after waves of pleasure rolled through his skin to his nerve endings, dispelling all troubles that had been eating away at his mind all day."Oh," She startled when an unexpected ripple of delight began to tingle from where their bodies fused into one. Before she could think of anything, the tingling sensation suddenly broke into wild, uncontrollable spasms. She cried out, shuddering all over as pleasure spilled over her in waves. Only then he gave way to his own pleasure. The release came crashing through and he lost utterly in its grip. He sank into a blank, peaceful oblivion where there was nothing but sheer bliss.She waited in silence as he rested his forehead on hers for several moments, bracing himself with his elbows on either side of her shoulders to keep his weight from crushing her. After a while, finally he withdrew from her and pushed himself up,
The bold, sudden advances caught him momentarily off guard. Her sweet, alluring scent surrounded him as her soft, warm body pressed deliciously against him. He turned his gaze away from her face, only to be confronted with the enticing view of her breasts, her caramel colored nipples peered beneath the filmy chiffon. To his mortification, his traitorous body instantly responded to the tempting sight. With a great deal of painful restraint, he attempted to reply."I did not follow you.""Liar."She purred and licked his ear, swirling her tongue in its shell. When he caught at her wandering hand, she laughed and bit his earlobe. "I remember your one weakness. You can't resist when I touch you here.""Get off of me, Amanda."He summoned just enough strength to rid himself of her and stood up. Just then a sudden rap sounded on t
The loathing in her voice was like another slap on his face, and his hand fell away when she wrested her arm free. Standing still, he let her sidestep him and storm out the door, walking away from him, because he knew it was no use holding her back. He could take her under coercion, but she would only hate him more.Besides, there was no need to rush after her. He knew one thing was for sure. She wouldn't leave without her maid. By now she must be waiting for that friend of hers in the hotel lobby.Walking to the sidetable, he grabbed the half-filled glass and downed its content in one quick swallow. Setting down the glass on the table, his gaze fell to the crystal decanter within inches from his hand, the burgundy-colored liquid in the vessel tempted him to drink the night away. But he knew he would need a clear mind to deal with this.So he hauled a chair to the window and sat there for hours, waiting until the first l
Another sleepless night, another interminably long day to survive. The dull, tedious cycle started to become Ava's new reality. It was almost noon by the time she woke up. She turned to the window and gazed outside, into a day as dull and gloomy as her heart. She glanced at the mantle clock on the commode, startled to see how late it was. Suddenly she realized, Polly had done all the house chores and her job since they returned home. With a little pang of guilt, she rolled out of bed and washed her face. She stepped out of her room to find that the kitchen had been cleaned and lunch was already served. Across the room, Polly was kneeling in front of the hearth, trying to start the fire."Drat! It won't start. There's not enough sticks in here."Polly wiped out a mist of sweat on her forehead with the back of her hand, smudging ashes over her damp skin."I'll get them." Ava put on a shabby cloak and a pair of old leather