Lover Be Mine A Legendary Lovers Novel - By Nicole Jordan Page 0,91
and kissed him ardently.
For a moment, he responded just as she hoped, his mouth meeting hers in a breathtaking show of passion. But it bewildered her when he suddenly pulled back.
“You shouldn’t be here, Sophie,” he said, deliberately setting her away from him.
“I had to tell you my news, Jack. I am free.”
“What do you mean, free?”
“I ended my betrothal with the duke tonight.”
For an instant Jack’s eyes sparked with gratification, but his succeeding frown was completely unexpected.
“I thought you would be pleased that I found a way out of the engagement,” Sophie commented as she searched his face.
“But your parents still oppose our match.”
“Yes. Nothing has changed in that regard. But my father is being stubborn and unreasonable. I think my mother might be more forgiving, but either way, I am prepared to defy them if need be. I will marry you and live in Navartania with you.”
Jack shook his head. “I cannot let you make that choice, love. Not when it could lead to a permanent rift with your parents.”
Sophie could scarcely believe her ears. She was willing to follow Jack to a foreign country, even if it meant being cast out from her family; she had renounced the duke, and now he was retreating?
Her brow furrowed. “I don’t understand. For days you have been hell-bent on pressing me to accept your proposal. And just two hours ago you were asking my father for my hand in marriage.”
“I have reconsidered since then. You should not have broken your engagement to Dunmore, sweetheart.”
She made a sound of frustration. “It is too late now. I have burned that bridge. Besides, you were the one who told me I should make my own fate, and I did just that this evening. You were right. I needed to act instead of meekly accepting a future I couldn’t bear.”
A muscle in his jaw tightened. “I was mistaken, Sophie.”
“So you are just giving up on us?”
His jaw hardening completely, Jack looked away, effectively masking his expression from her. The walls were up once more, she realized. He was shutting her out again. But she wouldn’t allow him to continue, Sophie vowed. She had too huge a stake in the outcome.
“Jack … please, look at me.” When he complied, she murmured breathlessly, “I love you. It has been coming on for some time. I fought it at first, but I couldn’t help myself. I love you more than I can say.”
She wasn’t imagining the spark of fire that flared in his eyes, but when it was just as quickly extinguished, unease began to grow inside her.
“Jack … Earlier tonight you said you loved me. Even if you didn’t mean it, I still want to marry you. And I will understand if you can’t love me in return. Given your past, it would be difficult for you to love anyone.”
Jack shut his eyes, as if he were in pain. When he opened them again, they were midnight dark and glittering with everything he wouldn’t say. When Sophie met the burning intensity there, her breath caught in her throat, for she knew without a doubt that he loved her. The quiet fierceness in his eyes told her so.
Whispering his name, she moved into his arms and raised her mouth to his. Their kiss this time was heated and fraught with emotion, a shared hunger that required no words, along with a sudden, desperate urgency.
The same urgency was in Jack’s voice when he broke off and drew back. “I meant what I said, Sophie. I do love you. But I want your happiness more than your love.”
She stared at him in confusion. “If so, there should be no problem.”
“It is because I love you that I want to protect you. I won’t make you live in Navartania with me. I won’t make you an outcast from the family you hold dear.”
His tenderness was unmistakable, but she could also tell he was deadly serious. Sophie’s heart tensed in fear as she continued to stare at him. She should have expected this quixotic reversal from Jack. His bone-deep protective nature would allow him no other course. He was thinking of her, trying to shelter her from pain. And she loved him all the more for it.
Even so, she felt her panic rise. “Jack, there is no need for second thoughts. We could be married by special license tomorrow—”
“No, love. We cannot. We can’t marry unless we first resolve the conflict with your father and gain his permission.”