Sicilian Nights Omnibus (34 page)

Panic galvanised her.

She backed away from him, uttering a half-choked, ‘No!’ that had him frowning and flustered her into hurried speech.

‘That is—I mean—there’s no need to carry me. I have to go and check on Ollie anyway.’

‘I’ve already done it. He’s fast asleep.’

There was to be no escape. He was bending towards her. Annie closed her eyes.

Perhaps if she couldn’t see him it would be easier for her?

Big mistake. With her eyes closed, and thus denied the sight of him, her other senses were immediately flooded with an increased awareness of how much she loved him.

She loved him and she wanted him, now and for ever, in her life as he was already in her heart, holding her, loving her, sharing with her the wonderful magic of her sensuality that he himself had shown to her.

Annie opened her eyes.

They’d reached the bed, and Falcon was leaning down to place her onto it. Another few seconds and the contact between them would be broken. Another few seconds and the opportunity now facing her would be gone. Was she brave enough to seize it and risk the consequences? Consequences that could easily include rejection?

She could feel the mattress beneath her. Falcon was releasing her. Already it was nearly too late. Another heartbeat and she would miss her chance. He had wanted her; he was marrying her; he would be Ollie’s protector and guardian. Why shouldn’t he be her lover, as well? Even if he could not and did not love her? She had enough love for both of them.

Annie took a deep breath, inwardly begging for time to smile on her as she reached up to clasp her hands behind Falcon’s head and pull him down towards her.

His, ‘No!’ cracked through the room like a pistol-shot.

Annie could feel him tensing against her, and she could see the darkness in his gaze. Once such a rejection would have had her releasing him immediately and cowering back in humiliated, shocked pain. But Falcon himself had taught her to take pride in her sexuality. He had even advised her to use her sensuality to choose herself a mate. But of course he had not had himself in mind when he had spoken those words to her.

His hands had left her body and his arms had dropped to his sides. He was standing at the end of the bed, held there by her embrace, whilst she kneeled on the bed facing him.

She could feel a wildness racing through her, smashing everything in its way, filling her with a surge of powerful female determination.

The hands she had clasped around his neck stayed there and tightened together. Her heart, her mind and her body were unified in their purpose.

‘Yes.’ She rejected his denial fiercely.

And then she reached up and placed her lips against his. Just for a second she allowed herself to savour their heart-wrenching familiarity as her own softened and moulded to them.

She could feel him resisting her, mentally and emotionally fighting her, denying her. But, incredibly, his silent hard muscled tension only increased her determination to achieve her goal.

She kissed one corner of his mouth, and then the other, and then lovingly, with great sensual pleasure, she slowly traced the sharp cut of his upper lip with her tongue-tip, and the full curve of its partner.

In the silvered darkness her own accelerated breathing sent her pulses racing, whilst her heart thundered in a wild, passionate tempo. What she was doing thrilled her and shocked her in almost equal measure.

Her tongue-tip stroked the closed line of Falcon’s mouth and then probed it.

Falcon groaned and then seized her, kissing her with a passion that drove her back onto the bed, his body following her own and pinning her there, his hands tangling in her hair whilst he held her mouth beneath his own. His kiss was all that she had longed for and more, and she responded to its command with euphoric delight.

His capitulation had been so swift it had been like ice cracking and splintering, taking them both down deep into the darkness of the passion they were now sharing.

Their clothes, her nightdress and his robe, were removed with urgent hands. Falcon’s hands were steady and knowing on her nightdress; her own were eager and excited on his robe.

Just the act of inhaling the scent of his skin was enough to send her over the edge and make her mindless with sensual arousal and longing.

This should not be happening, Falcon told himself. But he couldn’t stop it. He was helpless in the face of his own love and longing—unable to deny Annie the control she had taken.

Her face was ablaze with joy as she touched him. ‘I want you so much.’ The words spilled from her as she opened herself to his possession, wanting it with a sharply sweet immediacy that could not be ignored or delayed. Her whole body quivered with delight as she felt Falcon answer her need, and then flamed with heat when he thrust slowly into her, then faster and deeper, taking her to that place where there was only him and their shared need for one another. All she could do was hold on to him and cry out her delight as each powerful thrust of his body took her pleasure higher.

It was over quickly and fiercely, leaving them both breathing heavily.

‘That shouldn’t have happened.’ Falcon’s voice was terse.

‘I’m glad that it did—because I
wanted
it to happen,’ Annie told him defiantly.

Falcon made a small restless movement, pulling away from her. ‘That is because sex is a newly discovered pleasure for you. That is all.’

His casual dismissal of what they had just shared pushed her into saying fiercely, ‘No, it isn’t. What happened wasn’t because I’m like some kind of suddenly sex-crazed teenager. It was because I love you and I wanted to show you that love. Because I wanted to create for myself another memory of sharing the intimacy of lovemaking with you to have for the future. I know you don’t want my love, Falcon, and...’

Annie took a deep breath. She had come to a very important decision. ‘And you don’t have to marry me. Because...because what you’ve shown me and taught me has given me the strength to be the woman you told me I could be. I’m not frightened of Colin any more, and I’m not going to burden you with the responsibility of me or Ollie. Loving someone means wanting the best for them, and wanting their happiness above your own. You’ve given me freedom from my past. I want to give you freedom to meet someone and fall in love with them....’

‘I already have.’

The pain was so intense that after the blow had fallen she thought she was going to pass out from the agony of it.

‘You’ve met someone you’ve fallen in love with?’ Her lips felt slightly numb, unable to form the words properly.

Because they didn’t want to do so. Because she didn’t want to confront what speaking them meant.

‘Yes. And I love her more deeply and passionately than I ever imagined it was possible to love anyone.’

‘That makes you even more admirable for offering to marry me.’

It was the truth, after all—even if saying the words nearly choked her.

‘Offering to marry you doesn’t make me admirable at all, Annie. It makes me selfish and weak, and subject to all the flaws I was so ready to criticise in your stepbrother. What was my offer of marriage other than an attempt to control your life and take away your freedom?’

‘You wanted to protect me.’

‘I wanted to keep you for myself. I wanted to bind you to me and keep you with me.’

Annie could feel her heart starting to race again.

Falcon had moved closer to her.

‘I wanted all the things with you that a man wants with the woman he loves. But I was acquiring them—and you—through dishonesty. I thought myself so noble and dutiful, but the reality is that I was no such thing.’

‘You were wonderful,’ Annie told him passionately. ‘You
are
wonderful. Oh, Falcon, do you mean it? Do you really love me?’

‘You are stealing my question to you,’ he answered softly, and she could see in his eyes the light and the love that were glowing there. ‘But I am the first man—your first man. I don’t want you to mistake...’

‘Lust for love?’ Annie supplied for him, shaking her head as she told him, ‘I’m twenty-four, Falcon—not sixteen. I could have broken out of my Colin-imposed cage of fear a long time ago if I’d really wanted to. But I didn’t want to. Not until I met you. That first time we met in the hotel foyer, the minute you touched me, I knew that something inside me had changed.’

‘It was the same for me,’ Falcon admitted. He had taken hold of her hand, and his fingers were now entwined lovingly with hers. ‘Although I didn’t recognise what I felt for you at first as love. Had I done so, I would never...’

‘Have become my sexual teacher and healer?’ Annie suggested.

‘That is what I should say—but I cannot do so since I have no idea if it is true. Where you are concerned I have no control over my feelings.’

‘You certainly seemed to be able to control them earlier,’ Annie pointed out.

‘That wasn’t control, it was desperation. I knew that once I touched you I wouldn’t be able to stop. You are far too good a pupil—irresistible, in fact.’

He was reaching for her, and Annie happily snuggled closer to him.

‘Mmm...’ she encouraged him. ‘How irresistible, exactly?’

EPILOGUE

‘Y
OU
MAY
KISS
the bride.’

Annie’s face was alight with joy and love as Falcon raised the traditional lace veil which was a family heirloom back off her face and kissed her reverently.

The church was filled with Leopardi family and friends, all come to witness and celebrate their marriage—arranged so hastily, Falcon had put it about, because of the precarious state of the old Prince’s health.

Annie smiled a secret smile of private happiness. She might not as yet have the same bloomingly pregnant figure as the wives of Falcon’s two brothers, but her and Falcon’s baby was already growing inside her—had, she was sure, been conceived that very first time they had made love.

‘I love you,’ Falcon whispered to her.

‘I love you too,’ she whispered back.

* * * * *

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ISBN: 9781460303917

SICILIAN NIGHTS

Copyright © 2013 by Harlequin Books S.A.

The publisher acknowledges the copyright holder of the individual works as follows:

THE SICILIAN BOSS'S MISTRESS
Copyright © 2009 by Penny Jordan

THE SICILIAN'S BABY BARGAIN
Copyright © 2009 by Penny Jordan

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