told me about the trick you pulled to get Freya out here.’
‘I was trying to save her from pain, and I was right. Dan behaved as badly as I knew he would.’
‘You were the cause of her pain. Dan would never have proposed in the first place if you hadn’t made him angry. Don’t try to play the saint, Amos. You thought of what you wanted and nothing else, and that’s why Freya got hurt. And now she’ll get hurt again, because you have to twist everything.’
‘Why should she be hurt again? Jackson’s a good man. He’ll make her a fine husband.’
‘Who says she’ll marry him? Who says she’ll marry any man? Don’t you understand that now she sees your sex in a completely new light and it isn’t a favourable one? And I can understand that. But you just can’t see anyone else’s point of view. This latest deception—’
‘My dear—’
‘Don’t call me that. I’m not your dear. I wonder if I ever was.’
‘I was only going to say that “deception” is pitching it too strong. I played a little trick, that’s all.’
‘One trick too many. You really are as unpleasant as people say.’
‘Don’t make a drama out of this. Perhaps I should have told you that I was pretending, but what would you have done? Helped me? I don’t think so.’
‘So anyone who dares to disagree with you is banished out into the cold?’ She gave a great sigh. ‘And that includes me.’
Amos waved his hands helplessly. ‘I didn’t mean it like that. Look, I’m sorry. But we can put it behind us.’
‘Perhaps you can. I’m not sure that I can.’
‘But I’ve tried to show you how much you mean to me. Look at those lovely jewels I gave you.’
‘Oh, Amos, you’re as blind to the truth about yourself as you’re blind to other people. That wasn’t a gift to me. That was a parade in the spotlight for you.’
‘You were in the spotlight too. Everyone said how marvellous you looked.’
‘I didn’t want the spotlight. It would have been nicer to be alone with you. But when we got back to our room you couldn’t wait to take the jewels off me and lock them away safely.’
He gave a grumpy sigh. ‘I don’t know what to say to you.’
‘You never did,’ she told him softly. ‘Let’s not talk about it any more now. I need to do some thinking about the future.’
‘What are you saying?’ he demanded. ‘We’re married. That’s the future.’
‘Perhaps. Let me think about it first.’
‘You’d do better getting some sleep. You’re tired. That’s what this is all about. Tomorrow none of it will matter.’
But he didn’t risk looking at her as he said it. She might have seen the fear in his eyes.
* * *
‘Perhaps it’s time we went back,’ Jackson said.
He hailed a horse-drawn carriage and helped her aboard. For a few minutes they sat enjoying the clip-clopping rhythm. He took her hand in his.
‘Freya,’ he said softly, ‘there’s something— I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to— Please understand and don’t hate me again.’
‘Hate you for what?’
‘This,’ he said, taking her into his arms.
At once she knew that she’d wanted this ever since that night. One part of her mind told her she should be cautious and resist him, but everything else in her knew that she would never have forgiven him if he hadn’t placed his lips on hers, tenderly but insistently.
Her response was beyond her own control, making her slip her hands up around his neck, then his head, drawing him closer so that her mouth could explore his more thoroughly. He made a soft, sighing sound and increased his fervour.
‘Freya?’ he whispered.
‘Yes— Yes—’
Somewhere at the back of her mind a warning voice tried to say no, but she ignored it. She would be sensible another time, but for now she could only allow her feelings to take over, driving her towards him, ever closer, ever more desirous.
‘I’ve wanted this ever since last time,’ he murmured.
‘But you said—friendship—’
‘I know. But I was wrong. I can’t help it. It’s there between us and I can’t make it go away. Freya—’
Whatever answer she might have made was silenced in the renewed pressure of his lips, moving fiercely over hers. Helplessly she abandoned all efforts at self-control and gave herself up to the pleasure that was coursing through her.
It was a kiss of discovery for both of them.
Jackson had followed her out in the hope of making this very thing happen, yet even he was caught off-guard by sensations and emotions. He’d imagined himself prepared for those feelings, but nothing could have prepared him for what was happening deep in his heart and his body.
Horus had warned him that he was falling in love, but even Horus didn’t understand everything. The road that stretched ahead was one that he must negotiate by himself. Perhaps with her help.
Freya felt as though everything was whirling about her. What was happening now was exactly what she had vowed she would never allow. But she seemed to have been transported to another world, one where her determination counted for nothing.
She had enjoyed Dan’s kisses, but she knew now that he’d never given her this sense of conveying a secret message from his inner self. Willing or not, she responded, moving her lips in soft caresses, sending her own message from a part of herself she’d never known before.
It was like becoming a different person with different thoughts and feelings in a different world. And she knew that she must become this new person—or refuse to become her to her own eternal regret. She must make the decision any moment now, but first she would allow herself to relish the joy that possessed her for one more moment—one more—one more...
‘We’ve arrived,’ Jackson murmured. ‘Let’s slip in quietly.’
They managed to cross the lobby and go up in the elevator without being seen by anyone who knew them.
At the door of her room she stood, hesitant.
‘Can I come in?’ Jackson whispered, moving closer.
Unable to speak, she nodded and opened the door. He followed her in, closed the door and immediately took her in his arms.
‘I’ve wanted this,’ he murmured. ‘I was sure our time must come—and now it has. Don’t you
