“I’ve missed being touched by you,” he groaned, just as her hand moved lower, making the muscles of his stomach jump and contract beneath her cool fingertips.
And then she closed her fingers around his throbbing member, and all thoughts fled. Her touch was hesitant, unschooled, but he’d never known anything more sensual.
Knowing he was in danger of coming in her hand like a schoolboy, he suddenly took control, rising up above her and pressing her down into the mattress beneath him, sliding between her parted thighs and pressing deep into the core of her.
She cried out, raking her hands down his back, and he shuddered with the utter rightness of the moment. “Mine,” he whispered harshly, pulling nearly out and then thrusting as deep as she could take him. “You’ve always been mine.”
“Yes,” she gasped. “Always.”
He lost himself in her then, waiting only until he felt her contract around him before he let go, following her into bliss.
* * *
AS DAWN BROKE THROUGHthe window, Luke stared into the dancing flames of the fireplace, his fingertips lightly tracing something strange on Serenity’s soft stomach.Stretch marks. They were barely visible, and he hadn’t noticed them earlier, while in the heat of passion. But after she’d fallen asleep, he’d gazed upon her, marking all the ways the years had changed her.
At first, he hadn’t realized the significance, but then it had hit him like a sledgehammer to the gut. He’d had a few lovers over the years who’d had children. He knew what these marks meant.
Sometime in the years since he’d last seen her, Serenity had been pregnant.
She’d said there had been no one except him. Had she lied about that? Or had she simply meant that she’d neverlovedanyone but him? All those years she’d spent in Winters’ house... God only knew what she’d had to endure to survive.
But she’d said nothing of a child. Surely, if she’d had one, she’d have mentioned it, insisted they take the child with them. That horrendous housekeeper certainly wouldn’t have let her leave the child behind, not that he thought Serenity would do such a thing. Instinctively, he knew she’d be a wonderful mother.
Perhaps he was wrong. Perhaps the marks were from something else entirely.
Or maybe she hadn’t told him because the child was his. Maybe that was why his mother had intervened and sent her away.
He shook his head, banishing the crazy thoughts rushing through his mind.
He wanted to wake her up, demand the answers, but truth be told, he was terrified of what he might find out. For now, he was content to simply hold her, drifting in the happiness of having her in his arms again, trying to convince himself that her past didn’t matter. Whatever revelations today might bring, they could work through them. He’d find a way to make it right, to forgive, support... whatever needed to be done.
All he knew was that they belonged together.
* * *
SERENITY WOKE AGAINto find a bright shaft of sunlight streaming through the window, giving the dusting of dark hair on Luke’s broad chest a golden shimmer. She lifted her head and glanced at the clock on the mantle, seeing that it was half-past nine. After seven years of being a servant, the hour felt decadently late.
Lifting on one elbow, she stared at her handsome lover, committing his every feature to her memory. She blushed a bit as she thought of what had passed between them in the middle of the night. A slight twinge of discomfort as she shifted made her realize how very long it had been since she’d known such pleasure.
Her smile slowly faded as she thought of how impetuous and reckless she’d been. So lost in the moment, she’d given no thought to all the things that still stood between them. He still didn’t know the truth about why his mother had sent her away, and she shuddered to think of telling him.
She desperately wanted to stay here with him, to take full advantage of his wealth and protection, let him set her up once again in the cottage, officially becoming his mistress. But the thought of that, of giving herself to him completely, only to know he could never truly be hers, seemed more painful than letting him go for good.
Her heart couldn’t take that last blow. And neither could her pride.
Before she could even think it through, she slowly eased out of bed, leaving Luke sleeping peacefully beside her. Panic clawed in the pit of her stomach as she gathered her things from the floor of his room and crept back out into the sitting room.
She dressed hastily, freezing at every sound, her heart hammering in her chest. She had to get out of here. The enormity of what she’d done, the foolishness of allowing herself to fall under his spell once again, overwhelmed her.
Nothing has changed.
All the things that had stood between them in the past remained. He was still an earl; she was an upstairs maid. The secrets she harbored, the pain of the past... there was no way they could ever have a future together. If he ever found out what happened, the tragedy that had befallen them both—though he’d never known it—he’d never forgive her.
Much as she’d loved being in his arms once again, she’d only made this even more difficult. He was determined to help her, to pull her into his world once again, and she knew if she waited for him to wake up, if she stared into his eyes as he asked her to stay, she’d be helpless to refuse him.
But she couldn’t go down that road again. Her heart still ached from the last time. If she let herself fall for him, he’d only break her heart again. Irrevocably this time.
And so, she fled. She took the small bag of her things, leaving even the clothes he’d bought her last night, and stole out into the cool gray dawn, heading for the train.
