Forever My Love (Berkeley-Faulkner #2)(88)

“Would you like me to go in with you?”

“No… please don’t. I told Canning that this is a private matter.”

“Well, then, what should I do? I can’t go back into the ballroom—I’m supposed to be with you.”

“Could you manage to stay out of sight for a while?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll meet you here at eleven o’clock.”

“Good luck,” Mira said, watching as Rosalie slipped inside the room. Venturing down the hallway, she tried a few of the doors until she found one that opened. Peering inside, she discovered that it was a small portrait gallery filled with scarlet-cushioned furniture and heavily ornamented frames. The dull gleam of gold was apparent even through the murky dimness of the room. It would be a perfect place to hide until Rosalie’s meeting with Canning was over. She stepped inside and started to close the door, but abruptly it trembled on its hinges and stopped. The tip of a spur-leather boot was wedged firmly against the bottom of the door.

“Alec,” she whispered without even looking at his face. He shouldered his way in without answering, closing the door with the back of his heel. The paneled portal squeaked slightly in protest as he propped his broad back against it and bent one knee in a relaxed posture.

“What the hell is going on?” Though his pose was careless, his voice was rough.

“I… You… Rosalie is going to… You’re spying on me!”

“I don’t give a damn about the little plots that Rosalie Berkeley is hatching, or your involvement in them,” Alec said with barely leashed violence. “I’m talking about Carr.”

“Carr?” she questioned stupidly. “Your cousin?”

“Yes, my cousin. Stay away from him.”

“Why? Is he so corruptible that a few minutes in my company would prove harmful to his character?”

“You’re using him.”

“You may think that I’m not good enough for him,” she said, feeling a blaze of anger spreading through her body, “but you can’t always have everything your way. Unfortunately, Lord Falkner, I enjoy your cousin’s company, and he seems to enjoy mine, and I intend to spend much more time with him, and there’s not a thing you can do about it.”

“The next time I see you with him, I’ll wring your neck,” he promised savagely.

“You couldn’t. I’m Berkeley’s ward,” she said triumphantly. “I’m not some helpless nobody who—”

“Berkeley can go to hell. I’m warning you away from a boy who isn’t capable of defending himself from you.”

‘You’re defending him from me? Just how do you think I could hurt him?““By using him as a substitute for the man you really ant.”

She stared at him with disbelief, and then a dry laugh broke from her throat as she started to walk away from him. “What unbelievable arrogance.”

Alec’s control snapped as she turned her back toward him. He moved too swiftly for her to react, pinning her to the wall and jerking her wrists over her head.

“It’s the truth,” he said, his voice rasping as he stifled her struggles with the pressure of his body and crushed her against the wall. His entire being was focused on the small slim form in his arms. “You knew what would happen if you started encouraging him while I was there to watch. You knew how I’d feel—”

“I don’t give a damn how you feel,” she gasped, writhing against him in the darkness. “Liar. You knew what you were doing.” “Let me go—”

“—holding yourself just outof reach,” he said unsteadily. “You can play your games… but I won’t let him have you… I won’t let anyone—”

“You’re mad,” she choked, and then as she realized the extent of his wrath, she changed her tactics abruptly, trying to plead with him, trying to soothe him. “Alec… please, have you forgotten where we are? Remember… what we said to each other…” Her frantic struggles slowed as she felt his muscled thighs press against hers, his powerful arms subdue her. “I wasn’t playing a game,” she said, fighting to stifle a moan as she felt the fiery heat of his masculinity pulsing between her legs, burning between their clothes. “Alec, you’ve got to stop…” Her face was almost pressed into the strong column of his throat, and she was light-headed with the scent of his skin. “I can’t think, and you don’t know what you’re doing—”

“Nothing has changed,” he said hoarsely, pressing every inch of his body against hers, his hands tighten-ing around her wrists. “I knew I could forget about you… I knew it would only take time… but it’s only worse now, it’s worse than before… and some nights I want you so badly I can taste you, I can feel you, even though it’s someone else I’m holding—”

“Oh, stop… don’t say anything else,” Mira groaned, tears welling in her eyes. The thought of him holding someone else, making love to someone else, made her want to die. “I don’t want to know. I don’t want to care. You’ve got to let me go—”

“I need you. I’ve needed you for months… and what we had—”

“We’re never going to have that again.”