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‘Your head is full of romantic dreams that rarely come true in real life,’ he said. ‘Most couples fall out of love before the second anniversary.’
She raised her eyes back to his. ‘But true love does happen occasionally, look at the Hendersons.’
‘Perhaps now and again a couple might find a certain chemistry that lasts the distance, but it’s still extremely rare,’ he acceded.
The silence was so acute Hayley heard the soft sound of the sheets rustling when one of his feet moved in the bed next to her thigh.
‘You’re still young, Hayley,’ he said. ‘You’ll find someone else as soon as we divorce, someone much better than Myles, and certainly a whole lot better than me.’
‘It’s not easy meeting nice men these days,’ she said. ‘I thought I got it right with Myles but now I’m not so sure. How can I trust my judgement any more?’
‘So you’re finally prepared to admit you’re not in love with him?’
Her eyes came back to his. ‘He was the very first man to tell me he loved me. I guess I got swept up with the notion of belonging to someone.’
A small frown appeared between his brows. ‘Didn’t my father ever tell you how much he loved you?’
She shook her head. ‘Not in so many words, but I always knew he did. I guess he just wasn’t comfortable expressing it out loud.’
Jasper laid his head back on the pillows and closed his eyes. ‘You deserved better than this, Hayley. I still can’t quite figure out why the old guy left things so complicated. I know he was determined to pull me in line, but I don’t see why he had to use you to do it.’
‘It’s OK, Jasper,’ she said, touching his hand where it lay on the bed. ‘It’s not for long and then you will have what you want.’
He opened his eyes to meet hers, his expression hard to decode. ‘But what about what you want?’ he asked, his hand turning over to entrap her fingers.
Her breath locked in her throat as the warmth of his hand seeped into hers. ‘I guess what I want can wait a little longer,’ she said.
He gave her fingers a tiny squeeze and closed his eyes once more. ‘This is day one, only thirty more to go.’
Hayley looked at their loosely linked hands and suppressed an inner sigh. He was already counting the days until he would be free while she was treasuring each moment they were together, storing away the memories of each time he touched her to see her through the long lonely days ahead.
She longed to feel his mouth on hers again; the shifting moods of his lips and tongue fascinated her. He could kiss with such softness and yet with such hard determination, each stroke and glide of his tongue making her boneless and weak with desire. The press of his body against hers was now printed indelibly on her memory. Even looking at him lying supine on the bed beside her she could almost feel his hard, muscular chest against the softness of her breasts, and her nipples began to tighten with longing beneath the light fabric of her nightgown and wrap. Her eyes travelled lower to where the sheet covered his hips and pelvis, and her stomach hollowed as she recalled how he had felt fully aroused. It didn’t take too much imagination on her part to imagine how exciting and fulfilling making love with him would be. His mouth tasted of sex every time he kissed her, the heat and fire of his touch leaving her in no doubt of his sensual expertise.
She lifted her free hand to his brow once more, her touch soft as a feather in case she disturbed his slumber. He was still warm but not beaded with perspiration as he had been earlier.
She traced each of his dark brows with one of her fingertips, then over the mauve satin of each of his eyelids, marvelling at the length of his sooty lashes, which lay like twin fans against his cheeks. She travelled down the length of his nose before hovering near the temptation of his mouth for a moment or two.
She drew in a tiny breath that caught at her throat as she began to gently outline his upper lip, a tiny shiver passing over her skin as the soft pad of her fingertip encountered the sexy rasp of his evening stubble. Her finger moved to his bottom lip, lingering over its sensual fullness, her mouth tingling as she thought of how it had felt to have those lips burning against hers.
Almost without realising she was doing it, she leaned forward and pressed a whisper of a kiss against his lips, the tip of her tongue sneaking out to anoint his dryness with her moistness. She heard him groan softly and pulled back from him, her heart suddenly racing. But after a few more minutes sitting watching him she realised he was soundly asleep and her heart rate gradually returned to normal.
She stifled a yawn and settled down beside him, promising herself she’d wake before he did and go back to her room …
CHAPTER TEN
HAYLEY OPENED HER eyes just as dawn broke to see Jasper propped up on one elbow, his dark gaze trained on her.
‘How are you feeling?’ she asked, her voice coming out like the sound of a creaky door opening.
‘I’m feeling fine,’ he said. ‘How about you?’
She blinked at him a little vacantly. ‘Me?’
He brushed some of her wayward curls off her face. ‘Yes, you. I haven’t infected you, have I?’
She felt her spine loosen as his fingers secured her hair behind her ear. ‘Not so far.’
His eyes held hers in a silence that began to hum with erotic promise. Hayley was suddenly all too conscious of how close her bare legs were to his—her nightgown had somehow worked its way up around her waist and her wrap was on the floor where she must have discarded it during the night.
