Oh, but no…
She was locked in his gaze.
Suddenly he pulled her into his arms and pressed his mouth to hers. The feel of his moist, searing lips threw whiskey on the fire that had been simmering within her for weeks now. It burst into a roaring, raging blaze deep within. Her skin sizzled, and though she knew it was wrong, she couldn’t stop herself from reaching her arms around Adam’s neck and clutching him, finally allowing tears to spill over her cheeks.
He held her whole face in his hands and devoured her mouth. Madeline had fantasized what it would be like to kiss Adam passionately like this, but never could she have guessed it would be anything quite so astounding—white-hot and liquid, a luscious, pounding pleasure. It was unknown territory. Any physical sensation she had ever known before paled in comparison to this staggering, overwhelming attack.
She heard herself whimper, felt Adam’s fingers caressing the wisps of hair surrounding her face. His mouth was warm and wet and insistent. Soon she was swaying with a debilitating desire that pulled her closer to him until she was pressing her body against his, wanting to melt into him until they were one single thing. Indivisible. Seamless.
The power of her emotions obliterated everything else. It was all so new to her.
The sound of a door opening and closing upstairs yanked Madeline back into the physical world. Heart pounding, she pulled away from Adam and listened for Hilary returning.
The house was quiet, though Madeline’s blood was rushing noisily in her ears like a raging waterfall.
She gazed at Adam. His chest was heaving; he looked shaken. Agitated.
“We took this too far,” she said.
He closed his eyes, then slowly opened them. “Will you always put Diana’s feelings first, when she has never considered yours? You’re not her maid. You’re an independent woman. Don’t disguise what you’re doing as sisterly loyalty, Madeline. You’re really just afraid of caring for me because you don’t want to be hurt or rejected. You’re trying to make me think that you feel nothing for me, to drive me away, so you can leave easily without any regrets. But you can’t fool me. Thereispassion in you. I saw it just now, I felt it.”
“Please, Adam, there is so much for me to work out.” She heard Hilary’s footsteps upstairs, returning to Diana’s room. “You don’t understand.”
Madeline gazed up at the ceiling and thought of her sister and wished she could explain it to Adam. Yes, she and Diana had grown apart, but there was so much more to it than that.
“I know that Diana seems cruel sometimes, but she is still my sister. When I was very young, she used to read to me. And when you came calling, she would tell me all the romantic things you said to her. She would comb my hair and tell me that one day, I would marry my own prince charming. I cannot forget that, Adam. She was all I had. I cling to those memories. I’m sorry.”
Not knowing what else to say, she turned away from him.
“Madeline,” he called after her. She stopped in the doorway but would not face him. “You’re wrong to cling to something that no longer exists. You’re not a child anymore.”
His words burrowed deep into her consciousness. Benumbed by their sharp effect, all she could do was turn and hurry up the stairs.
Adam stood in the kitchen doorway and watched Madeline wash the supper dishes with Penelope. He remembered all the things he and Madeline had said to each other earlier that day, and wished he had been able to say the one thing that would convince her to let go of the past. Maybe it was selfish of him, but what could he do? He wanted Madeline more than he’d ever wanted anyone, even Diana all those years ago. This was different. The need for Madeline was deeper. Truer. She was meant to be with him and he knew it as surely as he knew his own hand.
I tasted the passion in your kiss,Adam thought with solid, angry certainty as his whole body grew hard with tension.You can’t pretend you are in control of your heart. At least not to me.
Suddenly he felt a great need to ascertain Diana’s wellness, for so much depended upon her recovery. He quietly climbed the stairs and knocked on her door.
“Come in!” Diana replied in a singsong voice.
Adam entered. Hilary was seated at Diana’s bedside, but as soon as the maid saw him, she lowered the book she had been reading aloud.
“Hilary, will you get us some tea please?” Diana asked in a polite voice.
“Yes, my lady.” The young woman set the book on the tall chest of drawers and left the room.
Adam moved to pick it up. “Clarissa, The History of a Young Lady.Samuel Richardson.”
He experienced the draining effects of melancholy, reading the title, remembering the night he and Madeline had discussed books in his study. She had wanted to read this, but she had never gotten the chance. She had been too busy caring for his children and making his house a home.
Diana shifted on the bed, sitting up straighter and fussing with her hair. “I sent Hilary downstairs for a book from your study. I hope you don’t mind. I told her to get the fattest one she could find.”
He set the book down again. “She chose well, then.”
“If I had known, however, that Clarissa would be confined to her room for the first five hundred pages, I might have instructed Hilary to choose something else, something more descriptive of the outdoors.” She smiled sweetly at him.
Adam moved toward the bed and sat in the rocking chair beside it. “How are you feeling today?”
