Awaken to Pleasure - By Nalini Singh Page 0,50

and this is what I get in return!"

Protect him?

"A big, brooding man who doesn't appreciate me. Who doesn't care that I'm just trying to keep the vultures happy so they don't peck at him! Who gets mad at me for noreason! " She opened her mouth to continue and unable to think of how else to stop her tirade, he kissed her.

She refused to cooperate, wrenching her head away. "No. Don't you kiss me when I'm angry, Jackson Santorini ! You're not seducing me out of being annoyed with you!"

Jacksonwas stunned speechless. No one had ever accused him of using sex to control. Then again, no one had ever wanted him with the passionate hunger of his wife. " Cara mia." He was appeased by her confession of protectiveness. "I did not know that was why you did it."

"Why else would I have done it? I was so worried for you, I didn't even think about Nick."

"You had no reason to imagine they would sink low enough to exploit a child."

"They're bottom-feeders." She folded her arms across her chest. "I couldn't let them turn us into something sordid. Our kiss would've had a hideous headline."

"I understand."

"We're not sordid." It was as if she were daring him to disagree. "We're special."

His heartbeat accelerated. "Yes."

"So don't you get angry at me for protectingus. "

"I will not."

She glared at him for another minute. Then she leaned over and hugged him hard. "I'm not Bonnie so don't you ever think of me in the same breath as her. Understand?"

He nodded. This spitfire was definitely nothing like his first wife."Apologies, mia moglie ."

"You know what you do to me when you sound so Italian," she accused, eyes softening already.

He knew. "What do I do to you, cara?" He kissed the pulse in her neck, warmed by the fire of her temper. She didn't love him but she was protective of him. It wasn't the devotion his primal soul hungered for, but it was a start.Santorini men were nothing if not determined.

She drew back. "What did she do to you?"

There was no question who she was talking about. "You know. Everyone knows." And that humiliation still hurt.

She shook her head. "There was something the papers didn't find out, something terrible. Tell me about it."

The memory turned his voice harsh. "If I don't?"

"I can't make you." She touched his cheek with a hand that was soft and so tender, he ached. "But, I want this marriage of ours to work, and to do that, I need to know who you are. I need to understand you."

What could it hurt?Jacksonthought. "Bonnie was pregnant with our baby when she overdosed and she knew it."

Taylor's eyes brimmed with tears. "That bitch ."

The short, sharp expletive shocked him less than the deep anger in her.Taylorhad a mother's instincts.

"Yes," he agreed, "that's what she became at the end."

"I won't give you platitudes - I can't imagine your grief. But," she said, eyes bright with unshed tears, "let me hold you tonight. Let me show you tenderness. I know it isn't very macho, but I think you have hurts that need to be healed and I need to try and heal them."

He was stunned at the quiet power of her. "Ah, piccola , when I am with you, I almost believe that there is true goodness in the world."

When she rose and tugged on his hand, he let her lead him out. And he let her stroke andkiss and make love to him with such feminine sweetness that he was lost. When she curled up beside him to sleep, her arms hugged him tight, keeping her promise to hold him through the night.

Despite her care, he lay awake through the dark hours of twilight, thunderstruck by the riot of emotion in his soul. With her unexpected tenderness, TaylorSantorini had demolished the blockade guarding her husband's heart.

He belonged to her completely.

After his experience atBonnie's hands, it wasn't a weakness he welcomed, but he was no coward. He accepted the powerful feeling and swore to do everything in his power to teach his wife to love him back, because damn it, there was no reason for her not to trust him with everything in her.

As usual, the papers were delivered to their home in the morning.Taylorwas up and about, whileJackson was in the shower. Nick was still asleep. Anxious to save her husband any unnecessary pain, she flicked through the pile until she found the tabloid carrying their photos.

For a long time, she