‘You paid a far higher price than me. But we can’t go on paying, Kate.’ He kissed her again, his hands sliding into her hair to hold her still. She leaned into him and he smoothed a hand down her face, his forehead against hers. ‘I want you so much,’ he said hoarsely, and she clutched him closer, aroused by the note of desperation in his voice.
‘Have you left Bran outside in the car?’
‘No.’ He put her away from him to look into her face. ‘He’s staying with Dad again tonight. Why?’
‘I just wondered.’ Kate relaxed against him again. ‘I’m so glad you know everything, Jack. It’s been desperately hard to keep the truth from you.’
‘You’ve never told anyone else? Not even the banker you were engaged to?’
‘Not even David. While Elizabeth and Robert were alive I couldn’t tell anyone.’ She paused. ‘Besides, you’re the only one I ever wanted to tell, Jack.’ And right now she also wanted him to pick her up and carry her upstairs to bed. She was trying to find a way to tell him that when Jack set her on her feet and stood up.
‘I should be going. You look tired, Katie.’
She pulled a face. ‘You mean I look like a hag.’
Jack smiled. ‘You look so much the opposite of a hag I’d better go before I do something you’ll regret.’
Kate looked him in the eye. ‘Do you want to stay the night?’ she said baldly.
With a groan of pure relief Jack picked her up and sat down with her on the chaise. ‘Of course I want to stay the night!’ he said roughly and rubbed his cheek against hers. ‘Not just to make love, though God knows I want that so much I ache for you, Katie. But I need to hold you in my arms all night most of all, to make up for all those other nights when you weren’t there.’
‘My thoughts exactly.’ She grinned as Jack stood up with her and set her on her feet. ‘Only my version had you carrying me up to bed. But don’t try it. The stairs here are too narrow.’
‘No romance in getting you black and blue,’ he agreed. ‘You go up first so I can enjoy your back view.’ He gave her a tap on the bottom and Kate gave him a smile of such radiance his eyes blazed in response.
‘I’ve missed you, Jack.’
‘I’ve missed you too.’
‘Then why did you keep away?’
He smiled crookedly. ‘Because I’m a stubborn idiot. I had to prove that I could, I suppose. But I’m here now.’
‘Only because you wanted to show me your mother’s photographs,’ she reminded him as she started up the stairs.
‘I had other reasons.’ He followed her up so closely she could feel his breath on her neck. ‘Some of them very pressing,’ he added huskily as he picked her up on the landing. ‘Even shorter journey this time,’ he said with satisfaction, and carried her into the bedroom. ‘In college a girl told me that carrying a woman to bed was the best foreplay of the lot.’
‘So that’s why you do it!’ Kate chuckled as he sat down with her on the bed, holding her on his lap. ‘And did it work with the lady in question?’
Jack shook his head regretfully. ‘I never tried it. She was a gorgeous Amazon, built on generous lines. Think of the damage to my ego—and other parts—if I’d dropped her halfwa
y!’
Kate let out a snort of laughter as she hugged him close. ‘She was right, though. It does appeal to the female in a woman.’
‘It helps when the female is a featherweight. Like you.’
‘You mean skinny,’ she said, resigned.
He undid the buttons on her shirt and peeled it off, then turned her away from him to unclasp her bra. ‘Definitely not skinny—just fine, delicate bones covered with silky skin,’ he said unevenly, and kissed the back of her neck as he caressed her breasts, taking deep satisfaction in her hurried breathing. Kate endured the exquisite torture for a moment, then twisted round and flung her arms round his neck and, with a relishing sound, he kissed her fiercely. Her hands slid under his sweater, tugging at it until he yanked it over his head and pulled her against his chest.
‘Wait,’ said Kate hoarsely, and stood up to kick off her suede boots and undo the zip of the tailored trousers she’d worn for the trip to Worcester. Holding his eyes, she slid them off, removing the strip of lace beneath at the same time, and Jack went down on his knees to kiss her scar. She stood as still as she could under the gentle caress, but the hurried frantic rhythm of her breathing gave her away as his lips moved lower and lower until his tongue penetrated moist heat to find the tiny secret part of her that quivered, erect in its hiding place, so exquisitely sensitive that when his caresses homed in on it she gasped and stiffened, her hands fisted in his hair as waves of sensation swept over her.
Jack got to his feet and laid her on the bed, looking down at her in such triumphant possession Kate felt a throb of fiery response in the place where he’d just caused such havoc. He stripped off the rest of his clothes and joined her, uttering a visceral groan of pure pleasure as their bodies came into full naked contact.
‘Firstly, I’ve now seen—and kissed—the famous scar,’ he said against her mouth.
‘Not only the scar!’ She thrust herself closer, her eyes gleaming in triumph as she felt his erection nudge against her.