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‘You look worn out,’ he said flatly. ‘I’ll show you the bedroom. Let you get some sleep. Tomorrow is another day.’
He pushed himself up from the sofa, rounded the coffee-table, took her hands and helped her onto her feet.
Tomorrow, she thought. Will I be different tomorrow? Will I remember things that appear to be best forgotten?
He led her into what was obviously the master bedroom. Her bags were already there.
‘You’ll find the en-suite bathroom through that door,’ he said matter-of-factly, pointing it out to her.
‘Where are you going to sleep?’ she asked, turning to him with anxious eyes, not wanting to disappoint, ready to agree to whatever he wanted even if she wasn’t fit to do much more than lie in his arms.
‘There’s a divan in my study.’
Her hand fluttered to his chest in both appeal and protest. ‘I don’t want to turn you out of your bed, Damien.’
He touched her cheek tenderly. ‘You need a long rest, Natalie. You wouldn’t get it if I were in bed with you.’
His hand dropped to her shoulder and trailed slowly, caressingly down her arm, transmitting a need to touch that quivered through her skin. She saw the conflict rage in his eyes, felt the tension of fiercely imposed control.
‘This may not be very appropriate action right at this moment,’ he said huskily, ‘but I’ve been waiting a long time.’
His hands enclosed her waist with a steady, sure, purpose. His eyes were locked on to hers, compelling her acceptance. The powerful force of his desire stirred a turbulent restlessness inside her. She didn’t know if she moved towards him or he towards her. Her hands slid over his shoulders, around his neck. Her head tilted back. She felt her body poised for what was coming, every nerve alive with anticipation. Her lips parted.
His mouth seemed to explode into hers with a hungry passion, wild for the taste of her, demanding a response that matched his need. From deep inside Natalie came an overwhelming surge to satisfy him, to please herself, to lose herself totally in the excitement of knowing all they were capable of feeling together.
Fatigue was forgotten. If there was pain from her bruises when Damien pressed her closer to him, she didn’t feel it. She was completely possessed by the yearning to feel his body against hers. She revelled in the hard strength of him, the power that embraced her, enveloped her, kept her captivated in absolute thrall to the sensations he aroused.
Her head swam with the intoxication of a kiss that was no mere mingling of mouths. It was a fierce claim on all that she was, a driving, heart-pounding, unbridled search for what was, and what could be between them, a giving and taking that sent streams of exultation bursting through her. Yes, she wanted this. Yes, she wanted him. All of him. Yes, it felt wonderfully, beautifully, gloriously right. He was the man for her, the man who could share this with her and so much more. She wanted everything.
Natalie was still awhirl in her vibrant inner world when Damien started to draw away from her. Not abruptly. His lips lingered over hers. His arms relaxed to a gentle hold. His hands caressed, no longer pressing her to him. He lifted his head and she heard his fierce intake of breath, felt the swell of his chest.
It took her several moments to realise he didn’t intend to go on. Dazedly she opened her eyes. She had no idea what he saw in them, but in his was a look that seared her soul, compelling recognition and acknowledgement of what had just happened between them, and for which he had been waiting all these years. She belonged with him. To him. He would not accept anything less, and from the response he had drawn from her, the response she had ultimately and uninhibitedly given him, he had every right to expect it to be the same in the future.
He knew. The knowledge blazed in his eyes.
He said nothing.
Natalie could not find her voice to speak.
There was no need for words anyway.
He knew and she knew. The knowledge throbbed between them, irrefutable. They were in intimate accord in wanting each other. There could be no going back to whatever their relationship had been before the revelations of those last few moments.
He stepped away from her, his arms dropping to his sides. She stared at him, realising he meant to leave her alone in his bedroom to rest, to wait for tomorrow. She almost cried out for him to stay, yet in some strange sense the knowledge was enough for now.
She watched him go, watched the door close behind him. The last door, she thought. Tomorrow they would go away somewhere together and there would be no doors between them.
Except the door to her memory.
But it wouldn’t matter if that opened or remained shut, Natalie decided confidently.
Damien Chandler was the man for her, and nothing could shake or change that decision.
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘NORTH or south?’
Damien’s question was accompanied by a smile. It was evident he didn’t care where they went. His eyes glowed with anticipation for what would come at the end of their journey. In the meantime, they were together, sitting side by side in his car, ready to leave for whatever destination Natalie chose.
