Page 17 of The Secrets He Keeps

Though he suspected he knew what she was referencing, he still asked, “We are?”

“Men. Always wanting what you can’t have.”

“Are you referring to my desire for you?” he asked in a low tone.

“Of course,” she replied with an elegant gesture and a manipulatively coy smile. “I can feel your hunger like heat in the air between us.”

“There is no reason to deny it. I made clear at our last meeting what I want.”

“That’s right. All of me,” she said sardonically as she sipped her brandy.

Setting his snifter to the side, he leaned forward—bringing the heat of his desire with him—until he could see the pupils of her eyes widen a moment before her lashes swept lower to conceal her reaction.

“Madam,” he murmured in a tone heavy with truth. “I am no longer a young man. There is more of my life spread out behind me than what I expect to encounter ahead of me. With that understanding comes a certainty about what I want to fill the time I have remaining. If you still believe my pursuit of you has anything at all to do with business, you’d be horribly mistaken.”

#

CALLISTA FOCUSED ONbreathing as the force of his words shot through her like white-hot lightning. For a moment, it felt like his declaration changed her intrinsically. Her cellular makeup felt altered by his words, which told her something unexpected—she had believed it was all a business ploy on his part, and now that she knew it wasn’t, everything was different.

Still, many years of self-preservation urged her to reply with sharp finality. “As I said previously,” she noted with a smoothly forced smile, “you cannot have me.”

“Not yet,” he murmured, repeating the words he’d spoken to her once before.

The man’s patience was awe-inspiring and irritating beyond belief. Now that she had been forced to acknowledge the truth and depth of his desire, which went beyond basic lust to something far more terrifying, she also had to admire his determination to stay the course of seduction with slow and steady intent.

Despite her constant resistance.

Callista glanced to the snifter cradled in her palm. She was due for another pour but realized she’d likely had more than enough already. She couldn’t exactly recall what had prompted her to share the man’s gift with him. Likely, it had simply been the desire not to enjoy the pleasure alone. But now that the lovely liquor had softened and warmed her body in such a delightful way and was starting to melt her insides, as well, she feared remaining in Mr. Maxwell’s presence any longer.

She was liable to starting rethinking this whole seduction thing and that would not be good for her.

And why was that again?

It didn’t matter.

Setting her glass aside, she rose to her feet in a graceful, sinuous motion. Unfortunately, she miscalculated the degree of her inebriation and her head spun for a moment as the world tipped precariously on its axis.

Maxwell noticed her slight loss of balance before she could correct it. Though still in the process of rising to his feet, he immediately grasped her waist to steady her. The heat and strength of his hands on her body, soaking through the thin layers of satin and silk, triggered a rush of desire through her blood. It swirled and spun then settled heavily in her center.

Foolish desire. Reckless need. Desperate longing.

Still holding her secure in his hands, he continued to his full height until they stood facing each other with bare inches between them. Callista knew real fear in that moment. Fear unlike any she’d experienced before because it touched a part of her she’d believed to be nonexistent.

“Shall I let you go?”

His low-spoken words could be taken as a request for assurance that she’d regained her balance. Or they could be taken as something else entirely. Callista chose to respond to the less detrimental option. Obviously.

“I won’t tumble to the floor, I assure you.”

He smiled. A devastating expression of subtle amusement and undeniable appreciation. Nothing seemed to dissuade this man.

His fingers tensed briefly against the muscles of her low back as his thumbs pressed firmly to her belly. Sensation erupted throughout her body, touching on every secret little corner of her being. Then he withdrew his hands, chilling her body with an intense sense of loss.

She shook it off.

“Although it’s been a lovely evening, Mr. Maxwell, I must be off.”

“I’ll escort you home.”

---