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She wasn’t going to get into her family with a stranger. “Yeah, with my brother.”
“I have two older brothers,” he volunteered, and helped himself to a slice of the lemon drizzle cake that she knew Barbara had made.
“I have a few more than that.” When he raised his brow in question, she glanced across the hall and met the angry eyes of Dante before she turned back to Sean, and added, “Six, one of which is my twin. The one I live with in New York.”
“That’s a pity because you’d sure brighten up my life around here.”
She smiled in return and watched him while he talked to Barbara, who had seen him take a slice of her cake. The older woman never missed an opportunity to meet the new arrivals in town. Even if she hadn’t seen him with her own eyes, she knew because Dante had told her.
Sean was a handsome man. Not as tall or with a body as well cared for as Dante’s, but he appeared harmless, and boyishly cute with the way his blond hair flopped into his eyes.
“I want a word with you,” Dante hissed, and wrapped his hand tightly around Emelia’s elbow. “Excuse us.” His fingers dug into the flesh of her arm as he dragged her out of the hall and through the cold snow back to his cabin.
Chapter Twenty-Two
As Dante watched Emelia flirt and chat with Sean, he lost all reason. He might be a priest but he was a man, and he knew what Sean had been thinking. Dante couldn’t let it carry on.
Emelia was his and no other man would touch her or flirt with her. His blood pounded though his veins at the thought and at what he’d witnessed. If he let her go, then he’d have to watch that repeatedly until she found a man to call her husband.
No. No. No. No!
He slammed the cabin door, pushed her up against it and slammed his mouth down on top of hers. He held her head in place while he devoured her mouth. His tongue pushed for access, and when she gave it, they both moaned in pleasure as their tongues swirled as one, in a passion he hadn’t experienced before.
Emelia gripped his waist, and kept him close while his hands roamed down her sides to grip her hips. He rubbed his aroused flesh against her, and tried to get closer. He needed to touch skin. He needed to feel her arousal. Taste it.
His mouth watered…
She’s a virgin.
He groaned and forced himself to break from the kiss and placed a chaste kiss to her lips. “Not against the door,” he told her when she whimpered, wanting more. His forehead rested against hers while he tried to catch his breath. “Our first time isn’t going to be against a door. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“There’s going to be a first time?”
He couldn’t blame her for asking, but the minute he’d completely lost all reason back in the hall, he knew that there would be. “There is going to be a first time, and there’s going to be a lot more. I can’t be two people anymore, Em.”
“I was going to leave you to your church tomorrow and head back to New York. I didn’t want you to hate me for making you choose between us,” Emelia softly cried.
“I’d have followed you.”
Emelia shook her head and wrapped herself around him while he held her close against his hard body.
She belonged with him, and as long as he had her by his side, he knew that everything would, one day, be okay.
“Em, listen to me.” He moved her away so that he could look into her face. “I want you to pack a bag. Enough for two nights.” He kissed her on the forehead, knowing that if he went for her lips they wouldn’t be going anywhere. “Hurry. It’s a couple of hours drive, and then I’ll have you all to myself with no interruptions.”
He smiled at the bemused expression on her face, and admitted quietly, “I’m not sure what’s going to happen in the long run with me and the church, but one thing I do know is that I’m not prepared to lose you to someone else. You’ve always been mine, and that’s the way it’s going to stay...Now, quickly go pack a bag. I’ll leave a note for Barbara and then grab my own.”
“Okay.”
She hesitated before dashing the rest of the way upstairs as he watched her go.
His body ached for her and, but for the fact that the cabin belonged to the church, he’d have had her under him in his bed. He couldn’t do that. He’d made the decision to be with Emelia, and he knew just the place to show her what she meant to him. If he didn’t get a move on, she’d be ready to leave before he’d even gotten to his office.
With a smile on his face, he made his way to his office and sat behind his desk to write a quick note to Barbara. He let her know that he’d taken Emelia up into the mountains. As he sat there, his eyes landed on the photograph that was taken seven years ago of him with the bishop.
Dante would miss the church, and the people of Frederick who had always made him feel welcome, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to stay. Not if he wanted to start something new and lasting with Emelia. Although he’d have to put a request in via the bishop to Rome in order to leave the priesthood, he could still be of use to the community at large with Emelia by his side, wherever they settled. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to walk away from a life of religion, and he knew that Emelia would support him in whatever he decided in the future, just like he would her.
Collecting the photograph, he placed it inside his desk drawer and quickly wrote the note for Barbara, which he would take with him and leave in her mailbox. She was the only one who would worry if he weren’t around for a few days. He had Mass Tuesday evening, so he’d have to be back for that.
