“Is it?” I lowered my gaze to his throat. A pulse beat sure and steady. He was sturdy, strong, so very tempting, and at the moment I felt weak, vulnerable. I wanted…I wanted him to hold me. I wanted to sink into his strength, and soak up his energy. “It doesn’t feel like it.”
“You don’t feel like you belong?”
I shook my head.
A robin chirped from a branch above, watching us curiously.
Gabe hesitated for a moment. “I never expected to be heir, you know.” He looked out across the snow-covered fields, as if lost in thought and in time. “It still seems wrong. Like a suit that doesn’t belong to me, that doesn’t fit.”
Exactly. How did he always know what to say? Why, did it seem as if he knew me better than any of my own family? He reached out and took a loose lock of my hair, twirling it around his fingers. His hands were bare, no gloves to protect them from the onslaught of cold.
“I lived here at one time,” I whispered. “This was my home. So why doesn’t it feel that way now?”
He released the lock, sliding his fingers down the side of my face. “Perhaps home isn’t a place, but…the people you associate with.”
What was he implying? That he, and he alone, could make me feel at home? Blast him! Why? Why had he come here? Why had he invaded, throwing everything into chaos when I’d been trying so hard to settle in, to be the sister they wanted, needed?
“Ginny, that night at Miss Lamier’s, I wasn’t going to claim you as my mistress. I was going to claim you as my wife. I was coming to marry you.”
The world around me spun in a blur of white. A thrill of hope raced down my spine, even as I told myself not to fall for his pretty words. He seemed so sincere. Looked so sincere. Dare I believe him? I wanted to. Damn it all. I could admit, at least to myself, that I wanted to believe him.
“You…you would have ruined your reputation. Your family name.”
He released a harsh laugh. “My parents and brother have done quite enough to ruin the family name. You, Ginny, would have only brought honor to our family.”
My knees went weak. He was drawing me in. Making me forget everything negative about our relationship; the way he’d hurt me, the way I’d hurt him.
I stepped back, needing distance. “Whatever we had is in the past, Gabe. It doesn’t matter anymore if your family would have accepted me. It’s over.”
“Is it?” He stepped closer, the snow under his boots crunching. A look of frustration crossed his handsome face. “Damnation, Ginny, it does matter.”
I shook my head. “Why?”
“Because…because… mistletoe.”
“What?”
He glanced up. “Mistletoe.”
I followed his line of vision. The plant hung directly above, as if to mock us. Shiny green leaves wrapped around a hawthorn tree. I blushed and met his gaze.
“Just one?” he whispered, with a quirk of his lips. “It would be wrong to refuse so ancient a custom.”
Temptation. It whispered on the breeze, nudging me closer to him. I knew Lilly and William had gone ahead. I could hear their voices out of reach. He was looking at me with such intensity, such heat, that I felt it all the way to my toes. I would be stupid to let him kiss me. A complete idiot.
Yet, a part of me was curious. Would I still feel the intensity I’d felt that year ago? Could he still control me with a touch, a brush of his lips? Excuses. They were excuses. I knew the truth, even if I wouldn’t admit it. I wanted him. I’d never stopped wanting him. Snowflakes fell, dusting his hair, his lashes, his collar. He stood perfectly still as a statue, waiting.
“Just one,” I said.
I saw the gleam of success right before he lowered his head. His lips brushed mine, a gentle kiss. A caress of a memory. A good memory. A wonderful dream. His lips brushed mine again. And again.
A shiver of heat raced through my body, leaving me breathless and throbbing between my thighs. Dear God, it was still there…that undeniable attraction. I’d thought it under control, but it had merely been lying dormant.
He would never leave me in peace. I’d forever be branded by his kiss, his touch, his scent. Forever want him. Need him. I sank into the man who had haunted my dreams for years, sliding my arms up his muscled chest, and