She had expected fierce resistance, not this quiet resignation. Perhaps he didn't love her as much as he'd claimed. Despair coursed through Aurora at the thought.
"You will forget me in time, Nicholas," she said, aching. "You will find someone who can be the wife you want."
"You think so?"
He lunged to his feet suddenly, no longer resigned. Covering the short distance between them, he reached for her, his hands closing on her shoulders. His velvet grasp was inescapable as he held her in a soft, dangerous embrace. "You think I could ever forget you, sweetheart? That I could forget what we shared?"
"It was just passion…"
"No. It was far more." His eyes blazed. "I love you, Aurora. Understand that. Taste it, breathe it…"
Without warning his mouth came down on hers. His kiss was fierce, demanding, harsh, as if to punish her. She was struggling for breath before he finally ended it.
When he drew back, the dark hunger in his eyes held a power and starkness that both frightened and compelled her.
She read the intent there, even before he swung her into his arms and carried her to the bed, letting her down none too gently.
Aurora tried to sit up but found herself pinned by his strong body. "Nicholas… we can't do this."
"We can." His whisper was wild and low. "You need to remember what you are giving up."
Flattening his hand alongside her head, he held himself above her, staring down. His eyes were ablaze with angry fire, consuming fire. The gentleness she knew in him was gone.
"Can your precious Geoffrey make you feel what I do?" he demanded. Deliberately he reached beneath her skirts and swept his palm along her bare thigh. "Can he set your blood on fire with just a touch? Can he make your nipples tighten, your skin flush? Can he make you grow wet… like this…?"
He found the center of her desire, hot and throbbing.
When he slid his finger into her, she gasped, straining against him.
It was all the invitation Nicholas needed. His eyes were fierce, naked in intent, as he fumbled with the buttons of his breeches.
"Nicholas…"
He kissed her again, to silence her protest. He had to make her feel the desire raking through his body, his fierce need.
He couldn't have anticipated the explosion of passion he unleashed from her. She gripped his head, her hands clutching his hair as she tried to draw his mouth closer, his tongue deeper.
When she frantically welcomed his devouring kiss, he shoved her skirts to her waist and moved over her. He could feel the pulse of fire lash through her as he sank into her, hard, deep, claiming her in a savage stroke of hunger.
It was like sliding into fire. She arched wildly beneath him and moaned into his mouth, a panicky, anguished sound of need. A sound that would haunt him forever.
Shuddering, he drove into her, feverish with intensity. She came almost at once, convulsing in his arms with a wild cry. Aurora sobbed his name as with one last strong plunge the peak burst on him, helplessly, savagely.
In the heated aftermath, the tortured sounds of their breathing filled the quiet room. Nicholas lay buried inside her, wondering if she could feel the desperation pulsing in hot waves through his body. He pressed his face into her shoulder, fighting the wildness inside him, the violent yearning.
Finally he lifted his head. "Don't do this, Aurora," he whispered, his voice raw and cracked.
Stirring, she opened her eyes to gaze back at him in agony. "I… have no choice."
He could see the torment in her eyes. She truly believed she was making the right decision. And perhaps she was.
He looked at her, aching and empty. He had lost.
Nicholas closed his eyes on the anguish and helplessness inside him. A man couldn't force love. He couldn't command a heart's surrender by sheer force of will.
Not trusting himself to speak, he rose from the bed and adjusted his clothing.
Grieving, Aurora remained totally still. Nicholas's vulnerability was infinitely more powerful than his anger. There was such bleakness in his face, she wanted to weep.