“I don’t understand.”
“I know you don’t. Tell me, Maggie, when you were making those plans of growing old without a man, did you never give thought to what you might be missing?”
“Of course, I did.”
Braden arched one brow. “Does that include what you just felt?”
Heat crept over her face. “I didn’t know about that. I mean, I knew about that, but I didn’t know...”
“What it felt like.”
She nodded.
He leaned his head forward until their foreheads touched, and he buried his hands in her soft, russet hair. It was all he could do not to touch her more intimately, because right then, being intimate with her was all he wanted.
Indeed, he wished he could just crawl inside her and stay there for eternity.
“What you felt, little blossom, is nothing compared to the pleasures to be had. And I wish to all that is holy that I could be the one who shows it to you.”
Maggie stiffened in his embrace. “Are you asking to marry me?”
Braden pulled back to see the indecision on her face. “Would you have me if I did?”
“Nay. I know you too well. You’re not the type of man to ever content himself with one woman.”
It was true and he knew it in his heart and with every fiber of his body. He couldn’t see himself coming home night after night to the same woman. He needed variety, spontaneity.
Worse, he could never give her his heart. That was one part of him that he refused to share with any other person.
And Maggie needed... nay, he corrected himself, she deserved a man loyal to her. One who would never break her heart and leave her weeping.
Still, his body didn’t listen. It craved her with such ferocity that he swore his groin would grow blisters from the heat.
“So, where does that leave us?” he asked.
“At a stand-off, I fear.”
“Nay.” He laid his hand on her shoulder. “Not a stand-off. We both know I can never have you.” Because I can never be the man you need me to be, and I would sooner die than hurt you.
“I know,” she whispered.
Braden kissed her forehead lightly, then pulled away and led her back to the camp. Both their moods were dark as they quietly tried to ignore each other. But it was hard.
On second thought, ‘twas impossible. Her taste and smell was branded into his memory and all he could see was her smile. All he could hear was her moaning his name.
And God help him, he wanted more.
The sweet bliss they could have together, but Maggie wasn’t the kind of woman a man made love to and left. She was the type of woman a man married.
You could....
Braden wouldn’t even let his mind finish that thought. He could never marry. Especially not a woman with whom he could see himself falling in love.
Ten
Maggie spent the entire evening trying to avoid Braden as best she could. But how did a person manage to avoid someone who meant so much to them?
Even now as he sat across the fire beside Sin, not even looking at her, she could feel his presence as acutely as if he sat directly next to her. The firelight played across his face, making his eyes appear a midnight black like Sin’s.
