Page 55 of Unknown Royal Baby

Her heart had bled for him this morning as she’d witnessed his grief and joy at remembering his father on that last day.

This man had the ability to wring her heart but it was too late to retreat. For she’d already surrendered hers.

She’d feared that would make her weak but now, watching his absolute focus as he closed in on her, like a man drawn by a power he couldn’t resist, she felt strong. Excited. Thrilled.

As if, for the first time, she was trulyseen. Not as an employee or a complication. Not as someone he was duty-bound to acknowledge. Nor as the bride he felt obliged to claim.

As a person in her own right. A woman he couldn’t relegate to a neat pigeonhole. A woman who got under his skin the way he’d burrowed under hers.

‘Why are you here, Isam?’

She had a fair idea but she had to be sure. Her experience with men was limited.

Because no other man ever tempted you. No one else made you feel this way.

‘I couldn’t stay away.’ He stopped before her and she angled her chin to hold his gaze. ‘I’ve been trying to hold myself back and give you space and a chance to rest. Each day it’s more difficult. And after last night...’ He shook his head. ‘I want you, Avril. I can’t concentrate, can’t work. I need to be with you.’

It was there in the tension honing his striking features. In the glitter of his eyes and the set of his shoulders. Avril felt it too, the ponderous beat of her heart and the melting between her legs.

‘You want to have sex with me.’

Tiny vertical lines appeared in the centre of his forehead. ‘Not just that but yes. Definitely, yes.’

If anything had been needed to banish last night’s fear that he’d brought her to climax simply to make her more amenable, it was the sight of Isam now.

Avril’s mouth curled into a smile that felt sultry with invitation. ‘Yes.’

He blinked, pupils flaring dark in that sizzling stare, and for a moment there was utter stillness. Then his mouth curved in one of those devastating smiles that had always gone straight to her heart.

‘Avril.’

Her name sounded like relief and joy. Acknowledgement and invocation. No one had ever turned her name into something so glorious.

His name formed on her lips but before she could speak he wrapped his arms about her, drawing her up against him and claiming her mouth.

His strong body and his embrace held her securely as her knees weakened. The taste of him, the urgency, undid her. The perfection of their kiss snapped the last ties of her self-control that had already been loosened by the realisation she loved him. How could she hold back?

She slid her arms up between them to lock her hands behind his neck, holding him to her as he dipped her back. There was a feeling of weightlessness, as if the world spun away, but she had no fear of falling from Isam’s arms.

This was where she belonged.

Avril kissed him back with an enthusiasm born of old fears and new hope. She was ardent and clumsy. Far from minding, his low growl hummed with approval. And was that possessiveness? Her heart leapt.

‘The nanny?’ he murmured against her lips.

‘Gone for the night.’

Isam lifted one hand to cup her jaw, the weight of those long fingers branding sensitive skin. Fire trailed from her throat to her breasts, her nipples budding. Even the scratch of skin against bra felt arousing.

‘The baby?’

Avril turned her head, catching his thumb between her teeth and biting down. His gaze heated and she felt the fire in her breasts arrow straight to her pelvis.

‘Asleep,’ she mumbled against his thumb. He tasted better than anything she knew. ‘I just put her down.’

His chest expanded hugely, pushing against her swollen breasts as he drew a deep breath. ‘I need you, Avril.’

She speared her fingers up to clasp his skull. Even the sensation of thick hair against her hands was an erotic assault, making her quiver with need. Her breathing was almost a pant as desperation rose.

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