Page 18 of The Dream of Love
She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss with equal intensity. She could be no other way with him. His lips were warm and his tongue felt delicious as it licked along the seam of her mouth. He did no more than lick lightly, perhaps not wishing to scare her with his passion. He was holding back, not giving his urges free rein.
That he feltanyurges with her was rewarding enough.
“Remi, stop thinking,” he said in an amused whisper against her lips. “Just feel the kiss. Let it flow through you.”
She wanted to tell him to do the same, for he was the one hiding from his feelings. Hers were so open and exposed, it was at times humiliating. But she wasn’t about to lecture him, not while she was wrapped in his muscled arms, her head resting against his hard, solid chest, and her lips hungrily probing and tangling with his.
She was trying to reach his soul.
He may only have been thinking of her body, but she wanted all of him.
Not that she minded surrendering only her body. She felt drawn into a fiery whirlpool of desire, her senses heightened and her heart eager to take all of him in. She had read those chapters on the five senses and given him top marks in each category.
The look of him was splendid, of course. Masculine and magnificent. The scent of him also stirred her senses. She inhaled the sandalwood and rugged outdoors scent of his skin. The taste of him, of the strawberry jam he must have eaten this morning and washed down with his coffee.
He growled low in his throat, the sound possessive and sensual as he ended the kiss. “Remi, I canhearyour mind racing.”
“No, Adam. You are mistaken,” she said in a whisper, hardly able to catch her breath. “You’ve left me mindless. I am feeling each sensation.”
“What do you mean?”
“The senses. I’ve gotten through the first four, sight, taste, hearing, and scent. I was just getting to the sense of touch, but you ended the kiss before I was finished.”
“You are still in my arms. How does my touch feel?”
“Do you really need to ask? I would stay right here forever if I could. I would hold on to you and love you all the days of my life if you ever let me.”
She recognized her mistake at once. She had mentioned love.
He stiffened and drew away.
Now out of his arms, she began to shiver.
He glanced at her and noticed she’d wrapped her arms around herself. “Bollocks. You’re shaking.”
“From cold,” she assured. “I am not about to cry because you don’t love me. I never dared hope you would be the one to marry me. Well, I did consider it. Dreamed of it. Then quickly squashed it. I have no intention of lying to you or to myself. If the choice were mine to make, I would choose you. I would not be choosing you for your good looks, either. Although we all know how stunningly handsome you are. I would be choosing you for your kindness. For your strength and compassion. For your ability to think for yourself and stand up for what is right.”
He removed his jacket and wrapped it around her. “Let me take you back to the manor house. The wind is cooling. You should not stay out here much longer. Lord, you look like a drowned water rat.”
He was staring at her, that stony, expressionless look she detested, even more so at this moment. He was hiding his feelings again, retreating behind that massive wall around his heart. As for her, she had never built any walls.
No, she was completely defenseless.Step right in. Trample my heart. Stomp on it. Stomp on it harder. Leave it in tatters.
“Remi, I–”
“If you dare tell me our kiss was a mistake, I vow I shall punch you in the face.” She curled her hands into fists, not that he would notice. His jacket was far too big for her, and the sleeves fell below her hands.
He laughed, and his gaze turned tender. “No, I would never say that. What I was going to say before you turned Valkyrie on me and threatened to beat me to a bloody pulp was, would you come help me at the vicarage tomorrow?”
She inhaled lightly. “Yes, of course. Why?”
“The church council wishes to plan something for Midsummer’s Eve. You’re more creative than I’ll ever be. Why don’t you come along and have a listen? Maybe offer a few suggestions.”
She wasn’t certain why he’d asked her, but she had only a few days to figure out her life and already knew that Adam had to be in it. If he wanted her at the vicarage, she would show up promptly at the scheduled time, dressed demurely, but not so demurely he would not notice her body and perhaps ache a little over it. “You are asking for my ideas?” She grinned at him. “They might be outrageous.”
He arched an eyebrow and grinned. “I am fully aware and am counting on it. You’ll offer something fun for all. Every year it is a stodgy, holier-than-thou event everyone must suffer through to prove how pious they are. As you know from the kiss we just shared–”
“Did you like it, by the way?”
