AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I allowed myself a moment to relax, automatically shifting the soft weight of the woman in my arms so she would be more comfortable. The movement made me acutely physically aware of her. The press of her rounded breasts against my chest. The curve of her rear settling against my groin.
Soft. Hot.
She smelled of something fragile and sweet, like magnolia blooms or rose petals, with an exciting, delicately musky scent beneath it. A scent that was all her and intrinsically feminine, appealing on a base level to the male in me.
Desire flared inside me, always so strong, and I found myself looking down at her, at the line of her cheek and the upturned tilt of her nose. She wasn’t a typical beauty, not like her mother, but she had a warm, vital sensuality of her own that was even more attractive to me.
I’d assumed my marriage to Olivia would include sex, since children were part of the deal, but I hadn’t felt any physical desire for her. We’d come together when we wanted to conceive, and perhaps for some release, but nothing more.
If she’d wanted to find passion elsewhere, I’d have had no problem with it, since she’d certainly never find it with me.
But... I couldn’t do that with Jenny.
There would be no ‘coming together’ for the purpose of children, or even for release. My control had to be perfect, and she undermined it too much.
I should never have touched her at all, for example, let alone dragged her down into the grass and taken her like an animal the way I had three months ago. A moment of madness, that was what it had been. That and four years of holding her at arm’s length, and the pressure of a constant hunger, a need I hadn’t been able to get rid of.
A hunger I’d been fighting since the day I’d noticed that, at eighteen, she wasn’t a little girl any more, but a soft, lush woman, with generous curves and the kind of eyes a man could fall into and lose himself gladly, the kind of mouth that could wreak havoc on his body.
And what made it worse was that it was a hunger that went deeper than merely curves and eyes and a soft, pouty mouth. Those I could find anywhere, with any woman. But her gentle warmth and kindness and empathy, the understanding that shone in her eyes whenever she looked at me, that smile... Those I could only find in one person: her.
It was shocking, that feeling. Appalling. Because Jenny was untouchable, pure. She was a bright light that had somehow never been dimmed by living in my father’s house, and I couldn’t be the one to extinguish it.
Distance was required, which meant our marriage would stay in name only. My self-control was equal to the task, I was sure. Sex was something I could easily do without.
What about her? What if she wants passion? Will you permit her to find it with someone else?
Somewhere deep inside, the beast roared in fury and denial, and I found myself holding her even more tightly, as if something or someone was trying to take her from me.
I gritted my teeth. This was why I had to be so very careful. I couldnotallow my possessiveness, my intense nature, to get free. It was an all-consuming thing if I didn’t control it, and it would consume her if I let it.
But I wasn’t going to let it.
Which would mean that my expectations of marriage would have to change.
Olivia and I had both decided that our lives would be more or less separate, even if we lived together. She had a company of her own, and while she’d needed my financial help to repay some of her late father’s debts, I’d imagined that once the debts had been paid her main focus would lie with Wintergreen. As my main focus was Silver Inc. I’d envisaged us ostensibly living together, but that work and travel would mean we wouldn’t spend much time together. And when we had children we’d no doubt parent separately.
However, Jenny didn’t have a company. She worked in a shelter for the homeless. I had no idea about her living arrangements and whether they would be suitable for a child. There was also the question of her safety. Domingo had been a ruthless businessman and had earned himself many enemies.
I had tried to mitigate the damage he’d caused wherever I could, but I hadn’t managed to prevent everything he’d done. Business deals he’d ruthlessly manipulated, companies he’d torn apart, people he’d fired...
There were people out there who hated me as much as they hated him, people who thought I was like him.
Aren’t you, though? Didn’t he tell you as much?
I ignored that thought completely.
I didn’t care about people’s opinions of me, but reputation was important, and the reputation of Silver Inc needed managing. I’d been planning to start improving that soon, but it would take time, and I didn’t want Jenny to be adversely affected.
Jenny and our baby.
Something raw rippled through me at the thought of our child, another echo of that intense, possessive feeling. I ignored that too. Both of them would need to be protected, which meant I couldn’t allow her to live separately from me.
I had to be there to protect her.
One lock of dark hair had fallen over her forehead and I reached up to push it back, then realised with a jolt that felt like a gut-punch that her eyes were open and she was looking up at me. In the darkness they looked black, gleaming from beneath her lashes.
‘Where are we?’ she asked huskily. ‘What’s happening?’
