girl?” Katie tried for a carefree laugh, but couldn’t quite manage it. Jorlan could do what he pleased, with whom he pleased, and show interest in little redheads all freaking day if he wished. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Then allow me to remind you,” he said at last. Silently, he moved behind her, placed his fingers at the base of her neck and gave a gentle squeeze. He bent down, allowing his breath to fan her ear. “The girl found me desirable. Had I shown any interest, I could have had her sooner rather than later,” he said.
Lord, she both hated and loved his words. “You showed no interest?”
“Nay.”
Slowly, she released a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding.
“I should have been interested,” he added in a self-disgusted growl. “She was a woman who knew what she wanted and was not afraid to try and obtain it.”
“Just what are you implying?” Katie spun around to confront him. “That I’m too cowardly to go after what I want?”
He clasped a pale lock of hair from her ponytail and brushed the strands across his lips.
She shivered.
His gaze locked with hers. “That is exactly what I am saying, katya. You have been afraid of what I make you feel since the beginning.”
“That may be true,” she retorted, “but how dare you judge me? You don’t know me, not my likes, my dislikes or my past. You have no idea what made me the woman that I am.”
“You are right,” he said, his voice just as dark. “I do not understand you, nor do I know much about what makes you do and say the things that you do.” Then, “But I would like to.”
But I would like to, echoed so sweetly in her mind and so shocked her, she could only blink up at him. His tyrannical disposition she could resist. This…gentle caring she could not. Suspicions sparked in the back of her mind, like a candle in a shadowy room. “Is this a ploy to make me fall in love with you?”
He ignored her question. “From the moment I first appeared to you, you have driven me half-mad. I cannot explain the connection between us, but I do know that it is there.”
This was everything she’d ever wanted to hear from him, and yet self-preservation proved tenacious, clinging to her with a sharp grip. “What you’re saying is wonderful, and I want to believe you. I do. But how can I truly believe that you’re interested in me as a person and not just my love?”
“Can I not say the same to you?” he demanded quietly.
He could, she realized then. He really could. Since he first appeared in her garden, she had lusted after him like he was the last piece of chocolate in a PMS survival kit. She probably would have slept with him already if he’d claimed just once to love her or even that he would stick around for a while. But she’d never once stopped to consider the man beneath the brawn.
He lightly fingered her earlobe. “I want you to know about me, and I want to know more about you.”
“What do you know about me already?” She didn’t mean to sound so desperate, like a child pleading for assurance, but she just couldn’t help herself. Things were changing between them with every word he spoke, and she liked the changes. Maybe too much.
“I know that you do not smile nearly enough. I know that you were generous to allow me into your home when I had nothing to offer you in return. And I know that I hurt you by calling you a necessary burden.” His fingers released her ear, traveled to the base of her neck and lightly massaged. “For that, I am truly sorry.”
Katie stilled, absorbing the warmth of his hands and the glow of his apology. But surely she had misheard him. Surely this man, this warrior who took great pleasure in ordering her around, had not just apologized.
“Jorlan—”
“Nay. Say no more. I once thought taking only your body while remaining distanced was best. Not so now.”
And yet, she thought suddenly, he seemed more distanced from her than ever before. There was a flat tinge to his eyes that clashed with his honeyed tone. For the life of her, she couldn’t make herself care that this might be a ploy.
“You intrigue me,” he continued, “and I find myself constantly thinking about your thoughts and actions. Were I home, I would still wonder, and I would regret not knowing. We have this day, and only Elliea knows how many others, to learn of each other. If you wish.”
If she wished, Katie silently repeated. What did she truly want from this man who had no plans to stay? Just how much of herself was she willing to risk? The answer had seemed so clear only this morning.
“No alliance is one hundred percent secured,” he said. “In this, at least, we know the final outcome.”
He was right, of course, but that didn’t make her decision any easier. “Saying goodbye will be harder if we’ve initiated any type of emotional relationship.”
“Only if we make it so.”
So where did that leave her? She truly had tried to ignore her attraction to him, but it hadn’t gone away. It had only grown stronger. So strong, in fact, she had only to picture his face in her mind and bam! She desired him. Katie closed her eyes. Opened them. Gazed up at him. “Just give me a little more time, okay? That’s all I’m asking.”
He lightly pressed his lips to her collarbone. Flames uncoiled in her belly, and she almost blurted her capitulation then and there. But Jorlan pulled back, and said softly, “I remind you that time is our enemy, katya. Do not forget that fact.”
“How can I?” she answered, her tone just as soft.
A long, protracted moment passed. She stayed exactly as she was, afraid to sever—or perhaps afraid not to sever—the tentative bond growing between them. Then, suddenly, Jorlan stepped back and clasped his hands together, brisk and formal, as if they’d never shared such an intimate moment. “What labor would you have me do? I am eager to begin.”
The heavy sexual tension eased with the small distance between them, making her feel as if she had been released from some sort of captivity. “I need you to move the large rocks that line the edges of the driveway to the back fence. It’s a tedious and back-breaking chore, and I hate to ask you to do it, I really do, but you’re free labor, and I…” She shrugged.
The blue of his eyes twinkled. “Have I not told you before that I welcome the chance to exercise?” He turned and tossed his next words over his shoulder as he strode to the door. “Worry not, for I fully intend to lose myself in whatever physical task you place before me.”
With the sexual innuendo lingering in the air, Katie found herself alone.
Alone.
Time to think about the kiss, her mind shouted.
“No. I’m not ready,” she grumbled.
Kiss, kiss, kiss.
Realizing she could delay the inevitable no longer, Katie sank onto the scarred hardwood floor, rested her chin upon her upraised knees and remembered. When she’d first
