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“Until you realized that I wasn’t going to become a millionaire overnight. The daughter of Lazarus Stephens wasn’t able to live without the comforts of wealth. You couldn’t wait for me, could you?”
“Now who’s twisting the truth?” she charged.
“Damn it, Ashley, this isn’t getting us anywhere.” His fist crashed into the warm rocks of the fireplace and then he swore, wincing against a sudden, blinding stab of pain.
Ashley’s anger fled and was replaced by concern. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“Trevor.” She touched his arm. For a moment her fingers brushed his wrist and his blue eyes sought hers, unspoken questions in their stormy depths. Her throat tightened. He rubbed his forehead before letting his head fall backward to stare at the open rafters supporting the roof. “Dear God, Ashley, I wish I understood you.”
His plea sounded earnest. A lump formed in her throat when she considered what she might have shared with Trevor. Had she waited, as he had asked, would all of the happiness of their youth have blossomed into a deep, selfless love? Could they have shared their lives? Would she have eventually borne his children, comforted him when he needed her, shared his deepest agony?
As if he had read her mind, he asked the one question he had been avoiding for three days. “Why did you come here, to the cabin?”
She withdrew her hand and tears filled her eyes. “There were a lot of reasons—I needed a rest, there was work I could do here, I wanted to get out of the office, but there was something else,” she admitted with a wry frown. “I came here because of you.” Sea-green eyes met his. “It seemed that every time I turned around, I was reminded of you. Just a few weeks after Senator Higgins’s death, your name became a household word. Then there were the bribery charges—the newspapers . . . television . . . you were everywhere.
“When Dad died, all I heard about was what damage you would do if you were elected. Now, just lately, your accident hit the front page. I couldn’t get away from you.” Her voice softened. “I thought that if I came here for a couple of weeks, I could think things out, sort out my feelings.”
“And have you?”
Her smile was frail and filled with self-mockery. “I thought I had.” Her lips pursed into a thoughtful pout. “Now I’m not so sure.” Emotions she had thought long dead were reawakening. She couldn’t help but remember the feel of his hands against her skin, or the way his eyes darkened in passion when she smiled suggestively.
The rustic room seemed to shrink and become more intimate. Ashley had to concentrate to keep her thoughts from wandering dangerously to a distant past.
He stared down at her, attempting to look past the innocent allure in her eyes. She had always been a puzzle to him, enigmatic and beguiling; the only woman he had ever let touch his soul. He had vowed never to make that mistake again, and he had been able to keep that silent promise to himself until tonight, when he gazed into the intelligent complexity of her eyes. At this moment he wanted her more desperately than he had ever wanted anything in his life. “Do you want me to stay?”
She didn’t avoid his penetrating gaze. “Yes. I’ve missed you, Trevor.” Giving up all the thin pretenses, she faced what she had tried to deny for eight solitary years. “I’ve missed you so badly.”
He forced himself to look past the tears welling in her eyes. “Not badly enough to come back.”
“I couldn’t.” She shook her head and fought the tears. “I think you understand that my pride wouldn’t allow it.”
“I’ve never been able to understand anything about you.”
Standing, she faced him. “Only because you never really tried.”
Slowly his strong arms encircled her waist and pulled her body gently to his. There was a restraint in his touch and torment in his gaze.
“I must be out of my mind,” he muttered to himself as his head lowered and his lips brushed hers. The pressure of the kiss increased. Ashley sighed through parted lips at the power of his arms and the warmth of his mouth covering hers. The faint taste of wine passed from his lips to hers and the familiar taste brought back memories as bittersweet as the past they had shared together.
Her knees seemed to melt with the warm persuasion of his embrace. She touched him lightly on the shoulders and could feel the tightening of lean, corded muscles beneath her fingertips.
His tongue rimmed her lips before slipping between her teeth to explore the secrets of her mouth. It touched her familiarly, sliding seductively against the polish of her teeth.
Trembling with a wave of passion, her fingers dug into the firm flesh of his shoulders. The forgotten ache of womanly need uncoiled wantonly within her, forcing her blood to race wildly through her veins and pound in her ears. Her breathing became rapid and shallow. With each flickering touch of his supple tongue against hers, her desire for him increased and the uncontrollable yearning became more heated; a throbbing distraction demanding release.
He lifted his head from hers, but continued to press her body against his, letting her feel the taut rigidity of each of his muscles straining against his clothing. “I want you,” he whispered hoarsely against her hair. It was a statement as honest as the cold mountain night. “I want you more than I’ve ever wanted a woman.”
She swallowed against the dryness that had settled in her throat. “And I want you,” she murmured.
His penetrating eyes studied the mystery of her. “With you it’s more than passion or lust. It always has been.”
Her heart nearly missed a beat. If only she could believe that he loved her . . . just a little. “You’ve always had a way with words, Trevor. That’s why you’ve done so well in politics, I suppose.”
“Are you accusing me of distorting the truth?” His voice was thick and slightly mocking. A hint of laughter danced in his eyes. Ashley was captivated by his smile—the slightly off-center grin she had grown to love that summer eight years before.
“Stretching the truth,” she corrected.
