Stranger in My Arms(98)

“Oh, Hunter… downstairs… for a moment I thought you were hurt… or dead…”

“Don’t” He held up a hand in a silencing gesture.

Utterly miserable, Lara held her tongue. How could they have been so intimate only a few days ago, and now stand before each other as strangers?

She loved him whatever his name was, no matter whose blood ran in his veins, no matter what he believed or wanted.

Just so long as he wanted her. But as she stared into his fathomless dark eyes, it seemed an impossible task to convince him.

“Stay with me,” she said, extending a beseeching hand. “Please.”

He looked as though he hated himself. “Don’t ask that, Lara.”

“But you love me. I know you do.” “That makes no difference,” he said bleakly. “You know why I have to go.”

“You belong with me,” she persisted. “For one thing, you have a duty to take care of the child you helped to create.”

“There is no child,” he said flatly.

Lara approached him, closing the distance between them. Carefully she reached for the large hand that was held so stiffly at his side, and tugged it to her stomach. She pressed his palm there, as if she could make him feel the truth of her words. “I’m carrying your baby.”

“No,” he whispered. “You can’t be.”

“I wouldn’t lie to you.”

“Not to me,” he agreed bitterly, “only to the rest of the world. For my sake.” His other arm slid around her, and he held her as if he couldn’t stop himself. A shiver went through his body, and he dove his face into the loose sheaves of her hair. She heard his breathing change, and she realized his mask was shattering, revealing the despair and frustrated love beneath the surface.

“Lara, you don’t know what I am.”

“Yes, I do,” she said urgently, reaching around his back to hold him tightly. “You’re a good man, even though you don’t realize it And you’re my husband in every way that matters.”

A shuddering laugh broke from his throat “Dammit. Don’t you understand that the best thing I can do for you is get out of your life?”

Lara drew back and pushed at his head, forcing him to look at her. His dark eyes were glittering with tears, and his mouth shook with the emotions he had always suppressed until now. She drew her hands over his beautiful hair, his beloved face, as if she could heal him with her touch.

“Stay with me,” she said, trying to give his massive shoulders a shake.

His large body wouldn’t budge. “I won’t hear another word about it.

I don’t see why we should live apart and suffer when we have the chance to be together. if you don’t feel worthy of me, you can work on improving yourself during the next fifty years.”

She gripped the loose folds of his shirt and pulled herself hard against him. “I don’t want a perfect man, anyway.”

Hunter looked away, struggling to control himself.

“You damn well haven’t got one.”

Lara gave him a wobbly smile, hearing something in his voice that gave her a fficker of hope. “I’m offering you a life you want,” she said.

“A life of meaning and purpose, and love. Take it Take me.” She pressed her lips to his hard mouth, stealing a swift kiss, and another, coaxing and enticing until he groaned in response. He crushed his mouth over hers with a raw desire that suddenly raged out of control.

He searched her with his tongue, a primitive masculine sound coming from his throat, and pulled up her nightgown in frantic handfuls.

Lara twined a bare leg around one of his, offering herself with a willingness that seemed to drive him wild. He scooped her in his arms and carried her to the bed, and Lara’s weariness vanished as her blood raced with excitement. “I love you,” she said, pulling him down to her, and she felt the responsive tremor that ran through him. He tugged at her nightgown until it tore from her body. His lips sealed over her nipple and sucked firmly, while his fingers spread over her belly and hips. Lara moaned and cradled him with her arms and legs, needing him more than she had thought humanly possible. He raised himself higher and took her mouth again, in deep searching kisses that stole her breath away. Gasping, she tugged at his clothes and tried to unbutton his shirt.

“I can’t wait,” he muttered, reaching down to his trousers and jerking them open.

“I want to feel your skin,” she whimpered, still struggling with his shirt.

“Later… oh He spread her legs wide and drove inside her with a demanding push. The heavy, sweet pressure filled her until she cried out, her body overcome with exquisite sensations that raced along every nerve. She arched upward and trembled in pleasure as he moved gently inside her, prolonging the delight. His thrusts deepened, a sliding, teasing rhythm of impact and withdrawal. He made love to her as if he were feasting on her, every movement carnal and deliberate. Lara reached beneath his shirt and grasped the hard muscles of his back, urging him to finish quickly. He took his time, however, seeming to relish her low moans.

“I can’t… I’m too tired,” she said. “Please, not again “Again,” he said hoarsely, deepening his thrusts until she writhed in another cl**ax, this one almost painful in its intensity. Hunter buried himself inside her and let her inner contractions bring him to his own release, his teeth clamping together as the storm raged through him.