Page 84 of His Wicked Charm

“I can imagine.”

“But it frightened me, too. As it poured into me, the rain outside turned into a storm. I tried to fight it, to push back the energy, but I couldn’t. I felt as if it were going to consume me, smother me. Then it exploded, flooding out of me like water breaking through a dam. That’s when the window broke and the storm rushed in. I don’t know what happened after that because I fainted.”

“It must have terrified you.”

“It did. I didn’t wake up until the next afternoon. My father came into my room, and—oh, Con, the expression on his face.” Unconsciously Lilah squeezed his hand. “He was happy and relieved, but also shocked, even a bit awestruck. Beneath it all was fear. And that frightened me even more. After that, he never looked at me the way he had before. It was as if he loved me, but I was a stranger to him. A dangerous stranger.”

“I’m so sorry, love.” Con reached out, pulling her into his lap. He cradled her, his head against hers. “He was worried about you, afraid for you, not of you.”

“Perhaps. But he gave me to Aunt Helena.”

His arms tightened around her. “I’m sure he thought he needed to get you out of this house for your own protection. You’d been walking in your sleep, and then this wild séance rendered you unconscious for hours. No doubt he feared that if you stayed, something even worse might happen to you. If you were away from this ‘force’ and under the care of your aunt Helena, not his sister, Vesta, you would be safe.”

“You’re kind. But there’s no need to feel sorry for me. My father and I had never been close before that either.” She sighed, nestling into him. “How could I have forgotten such a thing? I thought I remembered it, but it was all wrong.”

“You had a horrifying experience. You wanted to forget it. So you created a better memory.”

“I don’t know what to think anymore. I feel as if I’ve built my life on a foundation of sand. Has everything I’ve believed been wrong? Who am I really? What if this thing overtakes me again? It controls me. I cannot keep myself from walking in my sleep. I have no power over it or over myself. I fear that it will consume me, and I—I won’t exist anymore. That I will be nothing but an empty shell, a body, and inside me will be only...it.”

“Nonsense,” Con said crisply, taking her by the shoulders and looking into her eyes. “Being mistaken about a childhood memory doesn’t make you someone else. Whether Lilah, Delilah or Dilly, you are and always have been you. You have spine. You have principles. You’re steady. You’re calm. You’re skeptical. You think things through. None of that changes.”

“I sound a dull sort.”

“Anything but. You’re also clever and beautiful and adventurous.”

“Adventurous? Really, Con...”

“You are,” he insisted. “You’ve just tried to avoid that the last ten years.” He curled his arm around her again, gently pushing her head back against his shoulder. “Nothing is going to take you over. You are stronger than any force. And if it tries to harm you, I won’t allow it.”

Lilah smiled. “Ah, well, then, I feel better.” Her voice was teasing, but the truth was, she did feel better. She trusted Con. And somehow she believed him—with Con beside her, she could fight any battle. It felt so good, so right, to rest here in the circle of his arms, as if...as if she belonged here. That was a thought that should have shaken Lilah to the core. But strangely it did not. What she felt was freed. Even buoyant.

She had been much ruled by her mind these past few years—her memories hidden, all her actions, her attitudes devoted to creating a personality of reason and control. Perhaps it was time she let her instincts have their way.

She sat up and looked at Con, taking in those leaf-green eyes, the mobile, sensual mouth, the jet-black hair that tumbled around his face. His morning beard was showing through, giving his well-modeled face a hint of roughness that made him even more desirable. Lilah reached out to cup his cheek.

Con’s eyes widened when she touched him, but he said nothing, his body utterly still beneath her. Lilah stroked her thumb across his cheek, following its path with her eyes. She caressed his lip in the same way, luxuriating in its velvet smoothness. She could see the pulse leaping in his neck. She dragged her thumb down his neck to rest on that hard, fast pulse, awakening an answering throb deep inside her.

She leaned in to kiss him. Con’s fists clenched in the fabric of her gown, his body taut and unmoving, but his mouth welcomed her. Warm and soft, hungry but patient, his lips moved on hers. Lilah thought she could sit here all night kissing him. But she wanted more.

Lilah pulled back and gazed into his eyes. “Take me to bed, Con.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

IT WAS A wonder he didn’t choke on his lust. It surged in him so hard and fast. Con wanted nothing more than to do as Lilah asked. No, as she commanded—which made it all the more arousing. For a few minutes, she had been almost broken, her confidence shaken, but here she was, Lilah once more, sure and compelling. The depth of his need for her was frightening. It was also almost unbearably erotic.

“Lilah, no...” he murmured. How the devil was he supposed to resist this?

“Don’t tell me you don’t want to.” She wiggled her hips, proving her point as his traitorous flesh leaped in response.

“You’re upset. You’re acting impulsively.”

Her lips curved up in a knowing way that staggered him. “I am.” She stood up and stretched her hand out to him. “Come.”

Con followed her. They climbed the stairs, Lilah before him, and Con could not look away from the sway of her hips, the delectable curve of her derriere. It would be wrong of him to make love to Lilah. He’d promised her, and Con never broke a promise. But he’d never before been faced with a force as strong as the desire clawing at him now.

At the top of the stairs, the door to Lilah’s room stood ajar, the dark interior beckoning. He was having more and more trouble remembering why he could not do this. Con paused in the doorway. Stepping inside seemed to be crossing a line, an action he could never call back. “Lilah, no. I promised you I would not.”

“I release you from your promise.” Lilah gave him that soul-stealing smile again and laid her hands on his chest. Their heat seared through his shirt; he ached to feel them against his skin.