Chapter 18
Where Passion Rules
Stepping through the grand doors of the library, Alexander stood a moment , lips pursed . The last time he had come here was with the clear intention of seducing his wife.
His very fiery argumentative and headstrong wife .
But now she was gone . He had killed her spirit.
He missed that Lizzie .
He wanted her and he wanted their friendship back .
But she on the other hand wanted to have nothing to do with him.
"Oh bother " .He heard an exasperated feminine tone which sounded very much like his wife.
There he went again obsessing about his wife .............was he hearing things now ?
Jerking upright, he spun towards the sound . There high on the ladder, stretching perilously towards an out of reach shelf was his wife .
Suddenly realizing her danger he sprang towards her .
Thunder boomed outside even as he moved . Startled Lizzie lost her precarious grip and began to fall. A despairing shriek followed her down .
"Oooooooooooooh!!"
Lizzie found herself sprawled on the floor . Eyes shut tightly against the enormous pain that was sure to follow.
There was nothing , nothing except the lumpy surface she lay upon. It was quite grinding into her side . Wriggling to find comfort she opened one eye .
Why she didn't appear the least bit mangled! Her hands were fine , her arms and legs moved easily.
Well quite an anticlimax to be sure , though she was thrilled to be undamaged , rolling over to push herself upward , she was surprised to find her hands pressed against a very hard , very broad male chest. Following the expanse upward she gasped !!
It was Alexander she had landed upon, and he did not look well at all, he lay distressingly still, obviously in some pain .
Frantic she scrambled up him to lay one hand on his cheek .
'My lord ? Oh , Alexander please be all right !" There was no response.
Just as she was about to rise , she felt his chest expand with a great sucking draw. Wheezing harshly ,he took one breath after another, while Lizzie perched on him , her eyes wet with gratitude.
"Lizzie ?" abruptly he said . "Lizzie , how could you be so foolish? What a careless thing to do ! What would have I done if you had broken your neck ?" On their own his hands reached for her , pulling her down to his chest , his relief at her obvious , making his heart pound even harder .
"I cannot breathe," came a gasp , and Alexander eased his panicked grip somewhat . Lizzie raised her head .
"Thank you ," she said politely, and pushed back her tumbled hair.
Alexander wasn't listening. He was feeling the waves of silky hair caress his neck and face, and breathing in the sweet , summer- breeze scent of her skin . Here was everything he'd recollected , fantasized about, and more .
In an instant his body had hardened to full attention, his erection so immense it seems there was no blood left for his brain.
Lizzie felt him swell beneath her and a half remembered warmth stole through her body. Some of it was the heat radiating from Alexander beneath her . His body always excluded warmth , but now it verged on combustion. But the rest , the sweet rest was her own lower body turning liquid in an answer to his hardness.
All of him was hard. Beneath her hands , his chest flexed like iron hands, and his manliness made her quiver inside.
Alexander couldn't bear it . Lizzie's hands were roaming on his chest , fingers digging gently , kneading like a cat, testing his tensed muscles and then stroking them over the planes of his chest, his shoulders and then back down her hands travelled.
Slowly she sat up, and he could see that her eyelids were half closed, her lips parted as her tiny hands examined him.
When her touch began to stroke her lower , his hips flexed , involuntarily, pressing him up into the junction of her thighs, and her hands tightened on his rigid stomach like wicked little cat claws
He had to know ."Lizzie?" The tense hoarseness of his voice would have dismayed him if he hadn't been past caring.
She didn't hear him . Her head hung down, with her hair failing across him, and she was feeling his erection pulse against her . Her breath came in startled pants, matching the rhythm of his heart beat.
And, at the same time, other bad memories were suddenly reasserting themselves too. Reminding her forcefully that she could not let this happen. That what remained of her taut control had to be maintained at all costs.
Because she was remembering the mouth, wet and greedy, fastening itself on hers. Hands dragging and tearing at her clothing. Her own voice, scared and muffled, saying. 'Alexander—no, please don't. You can't. Please don't—'The feeling that she was stifled, unable to breathe properly.
She remembered trying to struggle—to get him away from her, off her, and her instinct telling her that he wasn't paying any heed. That all her scared protests were going to be ignored.
And then the shock. The insult of a pain she'd never imagined as he thrust into her without tenderness or consideration.
And that was what men did, she thought as the anguish and rage came welling up in her all over again. That was where all the kissing led. What happened when the sweet talk finally turned sour, and they took what they wanted in any way available to them. Even by force.
But Lizzie had to be honest with herself, and the truth was stripped bare and evident as she looked at him, caught in his gaze as surely as a fly in a spider web. She felt the steel bands of his strong arms hold her easily—the heat of him soaking into her, surrounding her, while leftover pleasure still hummed through her body.
It was not fear that warmed her blood that made her feel so feverish and out of control. It was not fear that made her crave more of his hot mouth, his clever tongue, his masterful hands.
It was desire.
Plunging his hands into her hair , Alexander gently forced her to meet his eyes."Lizzie?"
She knew what he wanted. His grey eyes invited , requested , commanded. She could see the same dark need there as once before and this time he wanted her acquiesce. Almost all of her body screamed yes . YES . The ache nearly consumed her. It was her duty to give her body to him again , to try to let him make everything all right between them ........
She sighed . It would be so easy to pretend . There was fondness , she was sure. And this. She could take the golden fire of urgency in his eyes and call it love, just this once .
But once he got her with an heir , he would leave her unfulfilled and empty , craving more.
She knew she would have to give herself over some day, of course. He was her husband, and according to the law of the land, her body and her bed were his to command . He could take what he wanted , when he wanted and she would have to comply. He had done so before , he could do so again
But as long as she had the choice , she would not choose heartbreak.
Alexander watched and waited the turmoil on her face to end . He could almost hear her mind clicking away, and he knew he had lost even before the tiny , almost involuntary shake of her head.
He should not have asked.
He should have just swept her away . He wanted to make amends ,
He knew he could have made it good for her , and heaven for him
But he found he didn’t want circumstance to toss her into lust. He didn’t want the accidental press of their bodies to be the cause of her desire.