Lover Be Mine A Legendary Lovers Novel - By Nicole Jordan Page 0,45

toward her, Jack drew her against him and captured her mouth in a possessive kiss. To his gratification, Sophie sighed with gladness and returned his embrace with unmistakable fervor.

They both were breathing heavily when they finally drew apart.

Sophie remained standing in the circle of his arms, gazing up at him, studying his face. There was a new tenderness in her eyes that he hadn’t seen before—a softness that faded at his urgent question.

“Are you aware that Dunmore requested an interview with your father tomorrow?” Jack demanded.

“Yes.” She sounded distressed. “His proposal may come much earlier than expected. I thought you and I would have more time together.”

“I don’t want you to wed him.”

From her expression, she seemed torn. “If he asks, I don’t believe I can refuse.”

“You won’t be happy with him,” Jack insisted.

“I know, but sometimes duty must come before happiness.”

He locked his jaw as one thought reigned supreme in his mind: He couldn’t let Sophie go.

Bending his head, he kissed her more passionately. Plunging his tongue into her mouth, he guided her backward, until her back was pressed against the trunk of an orange tree. Jack knew she could taste his frustration, just as she could feel the rising tide of desire between them. He wanted to lay her down right there. He wanted to hold her and caress her until she melted against him and begged him to take her.…

His hands sank into her hair, pulling out pins haphazardly. With deliberation, he used his knee to part hers, pressing his thigh against her sensitive woman’s mound beneath her gown. In answer, Sophie twined her arms tightly around his neck, as if feeling his same desperation.

His kiss was hard and devouring. It was only when he reached down to lift the hem of her skirts that Sophie dragged her mouth away so that she could look up at him. “Jack … we cannot make love here.”

“We can. I mean to show you the passion you will be missing if you wed Dunmore.”

“You have already shown me.”

Set on preventing any further protests, he made to kiss her again, but she averted her lips and pressed her cheek against his shoulder.

“I should not have come here,” she murmured into the expensive fabric of his evening coat.

At her despondent tone, Jack shuddered and strove for control of himself. “Why not?”

“Because I have no willpower where you are concerned. You touch me and I melt.”

His response was to pull her even closer. “Sophie, love.… Your melting is a very good thing. You make me want to melt as well.”

His husky voice caressing her name made Sophie’s heartbeat quicken, as did his admission of weakness for her. Leaning into him, she breathed in Jack’s scent, absorbing the hard, warm strength of him, silently savoring the contact. She relished being alone with him like this—and yet her common sense was slowly returning.

In other circumstances, it would have been wildly romantic … Jack kissing her in this lovely garden setting, making love to her surrounded by roses and moonlight. And she hungered to be with him one last time. Yet she couldn’t let it happen here.

“Come to my room tonight,” she implored in a low voice.

Lifting his head sharply, he stared down at her, his eyes flaring with desire.

For an endless moment he held her captive with his dark gaze while Sophie struggled to resist his spellbinding intimacy. This utterly beguiling man was drawing her ever deeper into his enchantment. She couldn’t seem to defend herself. He was too seductive, too persuasive, too tempting.

And that was her greatest fear. Jack was wonderful and more than a little thrilling, but he was also supremely dangerous, for he was hell-bent on making her forsake her obligations when she knew she couldn’t give in.

“It is likely,” she said quietly, “that after I speak with the duke tomorrow, you and I can never be together again. But we can have one final night together … to say farewell in private.”

When the import of her words sank in, Jack’s expression darkened. The intensity on his face surprised Sophie, but then, he was a far more complex man than she had ever imagined.

Remembering the trauma he had suffered as a child, Sophie felt another surge of fierce compassion for him. She reached up to touch his face, using her fingertips to softly brush his cheek.

He apparently didn’t want her tenderness, though, judging from the way his jaw clenched.

“This won’t be our last night together,” he declared. Then he lowered his head