Forever My Love (Berkeley-Faulkner #2)(104)

“I asked you to marry me,” he pointed out, his voice cutting. “You turned down the offer. It’s that simple… but you’ve been trying to complicate it with talk, empty worries, fears of—”

“It’s clear that you haven’t heard anything I’ve said. You haven’t listened to me at all. My worries are real. You haven’t…” To her horror, Mira felt tears of frustration welling up in her eyes, and she bent her head, trying to suppress them. Once again she had losther control in front of him, but this time her anger and misery were too strong to hold back, and her shoulders trembled with an escaping sob. She heard him say her name, sensed that he was walking toward her… but she turned away blindly, wanting to escape him and run back to Berkeley Hall. After the first step, her toe caught in a curling root and she fell to the ground with a cry born more of fury than pain.

The destruction of her pride was complete, she thought numbly, wrenching herself to a sitting position. There was a throbbing of pain in her ankle. “If you have one shred of kind feeling for me, you’ll leave,” she said hoarsely. Her hair, falling free of the pins that had confined it in a precarious chignon, concealed her face with a dark, shining curtain as she bent her head. Taking her slipper off, she concentrated fiercely on her ankle. Alec walked over to her slowly, his steps unusually light for such a tall man. She could feel his gaze raking over her, and she felt a renewed blaze of anger. “Go away and leave me alone… go back to your laystall, you brandy-faced—”

“Yes, I know, I know… name of God, any sailor would be proud to have such an extensive vocabulary. Is your ankle sprained?”

“No,” she said reluctantly.

“Here, take my hand. I’ll help you up.”

“I don’t want your help.”

“Mira,” he warned, “I don’t have much patience right now.” He extended a commanding hand to her, and she turned her face away, refusing to accept it. Suddenly she gasped as he bent and scooped her up swiftly, holding her stiff body against his chest and carrying her to the sloping boulder.

“I don’t…” she began in feeble protest, but he silenced her with a burning stare, his arms tightening to let her know that he had had more than enough of her comments. “You’re going to crush my…” she started once more, and his grip tightened even more,causing Mira to fall silent with an indignant sound of discomfort. Alec, she reflected inwardly, was not presently in a mood to be argued with. “Please…” she dared meekly, and his arms loosened at once. So this was how he wished to play it, she thought, and decided to keep quiet, suddenly interested in what more her temporary submissiveness might bring.

Alec sat down on the boulder, cradling her in pleasantly hard arms and looking down at her with those silvery black-lashed eyes. She had never felt the ache of longing so acutely. God help her, there was nothing that would ever feel as good as this… being held by him, being near him. Unable to meet his penetrating gaze, she lowered her head to his shoulder, pressing her face into the warm golden skin of his neck. The minutes drifted by at a lazy pace while Alec waited. The color returned to Mira’s face in a pink glow and her body conformed to his.

A cooling breeze swept through the woods, rustling leaves together and producing the sound of waves. Slowly Mira lifted her face from Alec’s shoulder, sensing his intent before he had even begun to move. Her lashes fluttered upward, and she saw his mouth descending to hers… she closed her eyes and her lips parted, eagerly accepting the warmth, the promise of his kiss. His hand slid to her hip and clasped her lightly, his finger resting on the curve of her buttock. Alec shivered slightly, and his mouth slanted more firmly over hers, his jaw flexing as he kissed her with the hunger that only she could assuage. Dimly Mira realized how easily the fire between them had been struck, how little effort it took for him to bend her to his will. Somehow she managed to tear her lips from his, her lungs contracting and expanding in an unsteady rhythm.

“Not again… not again…” she murmured brokenly, her hands clenching in the loose folds of hisbuckled tearfully. “Now tell me that you’ll marry me.”

“What if I’m not any good at being Lady Falkner?”

“You won’t have to learn everything at once. And I won’t ask anything of you that you can’t give.”

“We are bound to quarrel often. Will you still feel the same about me if—?”

“In between the times that we quarrel, I will worship you. And I will love you as no man has ever loved his wife. Now give me an answer.”

“Your family… will they like me?”

“My sweet, they don’t even like me.”

“Will you promise… to give me many children?”

Alec smiled at the shy glance she gave him. “Yes.”

“Several?”

“My exasperating brat… if you’ll give me an answer, we can start on the children right now.”

“Alec, no.”

“What?”

“Yes, I will marry you… but no, we can’t do that… not here.” As she spoke, she felt the back of her gown loosen… he had unfastened it while they had been talking. He pulled it down until her shoulders were bare and her breath caught in her throat. “Alec…”