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But what he hadn’t expected was the dread that had gripped him the moment they’d stepped out of the limo. The dread that centred on Glory and something happening to her. Something he couldn’t prevent or save her from.
He’d tried to brush it off, tried to ignore the cold fear the way he’d been ignoring all his emotions for the past twenty years. But it didn’t work. And the longer the night went on, the more the dread tightened its grip until he could hardly breathe.
He had to ground himself somehow and her kiss was what he needed, her warmth and her touch, to keep that dread at bay.
You know why you’re so afraid. You feel something for her.
Castor kissed her deeper, harder, fighting the truth. The truth he’d tried for the past two weeks to ignore, that made him feel like a man sinking into the ocean, and dragged down to the bottom, unable to get free.
He’d thought her so ordinary that she wouldn’t be in any danger, that she’d be instantly forgotten, a nameless, faceless woman he could divorce in a year or so and no one would ever even be interested.
But he was wrong, as he’d been wrong about so many things. She wasn’t ordinary, not in any way, and if he could see that, then so could others.
They could threaten her. They could take her from him. They could make her disappear like Ismena had disappeared, and if that happened a second time, he knew he wouldn’t survive it.
Then you know what you have to do, don’t you?
Oh, he did. And he’d have given anything not to feel this, not to care, but it was already too late for him. There was only one way out.
But first, he could have this.
Her mouth was soft under his and so very hot, her hands lifting to cup his face, and suddenly the most intense desperation filled him.
He pushed her harder against the wall, wanting her taste in his mouth, her soft curves against his body, her scent everywhere. Because there was only one way to save her and he just didn’t want to do it. Not yet.
Castor broke the kiss, his breathing harsh in the small space between them. ‘I need you, Glory,’ he said roughly. ‘Now.’
Her eyes were very wide, her face flushed. ‘Here? But...’
He shoved himself away from the wall and took a quick look around, but it seemed as if no one had seen them. Good.
Without a word, he took her hand in his, headed to one of the exits and down an echoing corridor. A door stood slightly ajar and so he pulled her into the room beyond it, shutting the door hard behind them and locking it for good measure.
It turned out to be an office of some kind, not that he cared.
Taking Glory by the hips, he pushed her gently up against the wall and bent once more, brushing his mouth against her. ‘Mikri alepou, will you let me have you? I have to... I need...’ His breathing was getting out of control, the desperation winding in a tight band around his chest. Just once more to have her in his arms, once more to be inside her. Once more to hold her against his heart.
‘Please, Glory...’
She was frowning up at him, concern in her eyes. ‘What’s going on?’ Her hands were pressed to his chest and she was smoothing the cotton of his shirt absently as if trying to soothe him. ‘You’re upset.’
It felt like someone had grabbed his heart in their hands and were slowly squeezing it tight, and he didn’t know what to do. He should talk to her, explain himself, but right now there was only one thing he could think of that would help.
He kissed her again, feeling her stiffen slightly, then relax against him, her hands spreading wide on his chest, then moving up to his shoulders, creeping around his neck.
Theos, she was such a gift.
This is the last time.
It would have to be. He couldn’t put her in this danger, where associating with him would draw the wrong attention. And he couldn’t allow her to get any closer to him than she already was. That integrity of his emotional detachment was under threat and he couldn’t permit it to be weakened any further.
He should never have taken her on a honeymoon, never have spent the past two weeks with her. He should have walked away after their wedding and never seen her again.
The hand around his heart squeezed hard, making pain radiate throughout his entire body, but he ignored it.
Time to think about that later, now he just needed her.
Gently, he pulled her arms from around his neck, before dropping to his knees at her feet. Then he reached beneath the hem of her magnificent gown, his palms sliding behind her calves before moving higher, her skin smooth and warm and silky, drawing the hem of her gown up with it.
