Felix pinned Sally to the door and turned the key in the lock. “I thought you would never come.”
He brought his mouth down on hers before she could respond and kissed her hard and long, the way he had been aching to do for days.
Sally wriggled and he gave her room. “I wanted to talk to Ellicott,” she whispered.
“Ellicott?”
She nodded and moved away from him. “We never promised fidelity.”
“You and Ellicott?” Anger built in him. “So you said.”
“How can I marry one man when I am attracted to another?”
“It is possible to be attracted to more than one person at a time,” he suggested, still hoping she had not come to put an end to their affair.
“And if he discovers I am only attracted to one man particularly. How would that feel?”
“I do not understand.”
She wrung her hands and moved away. “I have not been as bold with him as I was with you. As I am with you still.”
Felix’s legs wobbled. “You have not shared his bed?”
“No. But he wants me to.”
A stupid smile swept over his face. He had the advantage if Sally kept coming back to him and turning aside her intended husband. “Is he pressuring you?”
“Not the way he might have done. I have managed to put him off. I told him I did not want to set a bad example for my sister, and he believed me.”
Felix perched on the edge of the bed. “He thinks you are innocent?”
“He suspects I am not, but I have managed not to tell him the truth.”
There was a wealth of pain underlying her word. Things that were his fault and could not be changed. “You should have told him about me.”
“I should have told him, and I do not know how to do it now or if it is better not to if I am having second thoughts.”
That was all he needed to hear. Felix tossed her over his shoulder and carried her to the bed like a barbarian. He was desperate to keep her in his life no matter what happened to his own prospects.
He deposited her gently on the mattress and threw himself down beside her. “I am glad. I cannot stand the fellow.”
And he meant that. Watching her on Ellicott’s arm had been painful. It was driving him mad the way he had spoken to her too.
She curled up on her side, facing him. “Well, I never imagined you could have reason to like him.”
“He is not right for you,” he told her, sliding his fingers along the edge of her face. “You are different around him.”
“I know.”
“Always be yourself with me.” He leaned in to kiss her softly. “I love the woman you are deep inside, but I can accept you might not want that anymore.”
She toyed with his shirt, rubbing the material between her fingers. “I do not know what I want anymore.”
“That is enough for me.”
“I missed you, Felix,” she whispered. “Why did I never see you again?”
He pulled her near. “I heard never seeing me was exactly what you wanted.”