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Grace bowed her head. “We were going to start the business together. We dreamed about it, planned it. She used to make the most beautiful stuffed animals. She’d call them her ‘baby dreams.’ That’s where the name for the store came from.”
“What happened,cara?”he asked gently.
“She died right before the contest.” Grace’s voice broke and she buried her hands in her face. “I wanted to open the store so much, to name it in her honor. It was wrong to deceive you, I know that. But at the time, all I could think of...” She shook her head, fighting for control.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he demanded. “When all the other deceptions were uncovered, why didn’t you come clean? Didn’t you think I’d understand?”
She crumpled his handkerchief in her fist. “You had all these wonderful, generous excuses for why I’d deceived you. But they weren’t true. I knew when you found out my motivation was greed, you’d hate me. I’m sorry,” she said, choking on the words.
He groaned, the sound low and rough. “Cara, don’t. Don’t cry. Of course I don’t hate you.” Crossing to her side, he swept her into his arms. Gently, he pushed her hair from her face and forced her to look at him.“Papàwas right about one thing. If it hadn’t been for that damned engagement ring, I wouldn’t have been able to keep my hands off you.”
“It was my mother’s,” she confessed. “I wore it as a reminder, to help me stay focused on my goal.”
“I’m so sorry, Grace.”
He kissed her then, kissed her with an urgency she couldn’t mistake, sweeping her into a firestorm of desperate need. She made a decision then and there. She loved Luc and she wanted him. If all he could give her were these few minutes, she’d seize them with both hands. “Luc, please,” she urged. “Make love to me.”
He studied her expression intently. “Are you sure?” he asked. At her nod, he eased back and dropped his suit jacket to the floor. Next came his tie. Yanking the knot loose, he stripped off the red silk and tossed it to one side. It ribboned through the air, catching on a lampshade.
Eager to help, Grace applied herself to the buttons of his shirt, wanting to feel the hair-roughened skin beneath her fingers. “You never told me why you came back this morning,” she said, dropping a string of kisses along his jaw. A minute later the shirt winged through the air, joining his jacket on the floor.
“Distracted. Forgot my damned briefcase.”
He unfastened his belt and whipped it out of the loops. At the harsh sound of his zipper, Grace froze. She stared at Luc, seeing the passion that marked his high, sweeping cheekbones. His breathing escaped, fast and irregular, his chest rising and falling as if he’d just run a marathon. Sensing her hesitation, he didn’t touch her, simply waited, giving her the opportunity to retreat.
She’d never thought she’d find herself in such a position, where she’d feel such an urgent need for a man, be filled with such an all-consuming love, be so ready to forsake the teachings of a lifetime. And yet she intended to do precisely that. All doubts gone, she reached out and stroked the taut, muscular ridges of his chest, exploring at will from shoulder to abdomen. Her hand drifted lower and she hesitated, reluctant to traverse into uncharted territory.
“Your turn,” he muttered, grasping the bottom of her sweater and pulling it over her head.
She emerged breathless and flustered. But the minute she looked at Luc, the minute she saw the intense yearning flare to life in his golden eyes, all doubt vanished. His hands slipped beneath the straps of her bra and he slid the narrow bands from her shoulders. As soon as he released the hooks, the scrap of lace joined his tie on the lampshade.
For a long time they stood without touching, absorbed in a visual examination. Then Luc reached out and gently cupped her breasts. Grace’s knees gave beneath her. He caught her in his arms and kissed her—fast, hot, desperate kisses. Shedding his trousers, he peeled off her slacks with a speed that left her gasping.
“Maybe we should go to the bedroom,” Grace suggested, tumbling back into his arms.
“The bedroom. Right.” He toppled her onto the couch and followed her down. “Too far.”
His mouth closed over hers again and his hands began a thorough, intimate exploration, each delicious caress driving her closer and closer to some sweet crisis, the intense pleasure almost painful.
“Luc,” she said with a gasp, squeezing her eyes closed. “I can’t take much more.”
“Grace?”
Luc’s voice seemed to float to her from a long distance. “What, Luc?”
He nuzzled her cheek. “I didn’t say anything.”
“I thought you said Grace.”
“Only before meals.”
“I’m too hungry to eat,” she muttered, winding her arms around his waist and pressing her mouth to the strong line of his neck.
“Grace?”
She frowned, slowly opening her eyes. “What?”
Luc nibbled her lips. “What?”
