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‘But not in the way he needs,’ he said as he poured himself another drink, wincing slightly as the alcohol stung the cut on his lip. ‘I haven’t been able to protect him.’
Hayley came over and took the glass out of his hand, her fingers curling around his as she looked into his dark, shadowed gaze. ‘What do you mean?’ she asked.
His eyes began to flash with hatred. ‘His stepfather is an absolute bastard to him.’
Hayley felt her stomach clench in anguish. ‘You mean he’s …’ she stumbled over the word ‘… violent towards him?’
He gave her a grim look. ‘I’m probably going to have to ward off an assault charge after this evening, but it will be worth it.’
‘You got into a fight with Miriam’s husband?’
‘I didn’t throw the first punch, but I sure as hell wanted to,’ he ground out.
‘Is that what the phone call at the restaurant was about?’ she asked.
‘Miriam rang me to tell me Daniel had run away,’ he said through clenched teeth. ‘She’s been covering up for that violent bastard. She was too frightened to say anything in case he took it out on Daniel.’
Hayley stared at him in shock. ‘Why didn’t you tell me this before?’
‘I told you it’s none of your business. It’s my mess—I have to deal with it.’
‘You can’t keep shutting people out of your life, Jasper. How long has this been going on between Daniel and his stepfather?’
‘I didn’t know anything about it until recently,’ he said. ‘Daniel too was trying to keep it quiet. I guess he felt he should be able to handle it on his own.’
‘He’s just a kid,’ she said, frowning. ‘He shouldn’t have to cope with that sort of stuff. No one should.’
‘He only told me because of the threats Martin made.’
‘Threats?’ Her eyes widened. ‘What sort of threats?’
Jasper gave himself a mental kick. He had come way too close to letting the truth out, which reminded him all over again of how dangerous it was to let Hayley slip under his radar the way she had. He hadn’t intended things to go this far but somehow she had wormed her way into his emotional no-go area. It was going to take a massive effort on his part to get her out but he was determined to do it.
‘Bribes over money, that sort of thing,’ he said, which was as close to the truth as he could comfortably get.
‘I’m sorry for misjudging you, Jasper,’ she said. ‘I’ve spent most of my adult life criticising you, so I don’t blame you for not trusting me now, but I do love you. I even wonder if Gerald suspected what my feelings were the last time I visited him. Looking back now I seem to remember he wasn’t all that impressed when I announced my engagement to Myles. I put it down to the fact that he was feeling so poorly, but now I can’t help feeling he didn’t approve and set to work to make it difficult for me to go ahead with the marriage, rewriting the will at the last minute. I think he wanted me to marry you. He wanted me to teach you how to love and trust again.’
Jasper put his hands on her shoulders, but instead of pushing her away as he’d intended, he brought her into his chest, burying his face in the fragrant cloud of her hair. ‘I wish I could give you what you need, Hayley,’ he said. ‘But I can’t risk ruining any more lives.’
She pulled back so she could look at him. ‘Do you feel anything for me?’ she asked, her blue-green eyes bright with moisture. ‘Anything at all?’
He felt something rough and hard lodge in his throat and swallowed against it. ‘I feel a lot of things, baby girl,’ he said, blocking the pathway of one crystal tear with the pad of his thumb as it rolled down her cheek.
‘Are you going to tell me what they are?’
He looked down into her beautiful face and wondered if he should tell her the truth about Miriam Moorebank. It might help her to understand his motivations, but then he reasoned it wouldn’t really change anything in the long run. The fewer people who knew the truth, the better, especially at this delicate stage; Daniel had enough to deal with without any last minute complications.
He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the middle of her forehead. ‘You deserve better than this, sweetheart. You really do.’
‘But I only want you,’ she insisted. ‘I don’t care for how long, just let me love you. Please?’
He sighed as she pressed herself into him, her softer contours against his harder ones making his blood instantly quicken. God, how he wanted her! Was this hot rush of desire never going to go away? He had thought it would have run its course by now, but instead each time he drove himself inside her he felt another tight little gear shift in his chest.
‘Please, Jasper,’ she whispered as she brought her mouth to his, the gentle stroke of her tongue salving his swollen lip in an achingly intimate gesture that made speech difficult and thought impossible.
He swept her up into his arms and carried her to his bedroom, kicking the door shut with his foot before laying her on the bed. He looked at her with desire burning in his eyes as he tore the clothes off his body, his heart rate going through the roof when he watched her begin to remove her own clothes. She did it with teasing slowness, each movement of her hands making him nearly explode with fierce, out-of-control longing. She cupped her naked breasts and sent him a come-and-get-me look that made his scalp lift in anticipation.
There was no time for preliminaries, he was inside her and thrusting hard and urgently, her slippery warmth gripping him tightly, her gasping cries and panting breaths making him swell with male pride that he could bring her to such a point so quickly. She convulsed around him, her hips undulating under the rocking pressure of his, her mouth opening on a high cry of pleasure that he blocked with the flat of his palm in case Daniel could hear them.
