the top of his shoulder, down his arm to take his hand and press it to her heart. “I want you, Jack. I need you.”
She heard his sharp intake of breath; she could feel the same vibration humming through him. She had never doubted that he wanted her. She knew he was just trying to protect her health, doing what the doctor had ordered. Only the doctor didn’t know what was best for her. Jack was. She needed him. And now.
“Please, Jack. I can’t bear spending another night in that bed alone.”
SHE LOOKED LIKE an angel standing there in that long white gown. He’d never seen anything so beautiful. So sexy. So stirring. He could feel her gaze on him. A current ran through him, making him ache with need, filling him with a desire that threatened to drop him to his knees.
He ran a hand down her arm, over the silky fabric and drew back, telling himself all the reasons this was wrong. Then why did it feel so right?
He cupped her face in the palm of his hand and thumbed across her cheek to her lips. She turned her head to kiss the pad of his thumb as it skimmed over her cheek in a slow arc. He closed his eyes and groaned as she sucked his thumb into her mouth.
His eyes flew open. “Karen—”
She hushed him with her gaze and the slow shake of her head. As she stepped closer, his free hand cupped her slim waist, sliding to the small of her back.
She unbuttoned his shirt and slid it from his shoulders. It dropped to the floor. He slid his hand to her round, firm buttock and pulled her to him. Silk against his bare skin, her breasts, heavy and firm beneath it, pressed against him.
He dropped his mouth to hers. The kiss was hot and wet and when he pulled back, his body felt on fire. He let his gaze slide down her slim neck to the deep V of the gown. Rosy-pink nubs of nipples pressed against the fabric, straining as if begging for his mouth. He turned her in his arms, kissing the back of her neck, telling himself all the reasons he couldn’t do what his body demanded, pleaded he do. This side of her was just as tempting as the other, he realized belatedly as she pushed her wonderful round behind into him.
He heard her pleased chuckle as she confirmed that he wanted her as badly as she did him. She reached behind her to cup his jaw in her hand and turned with a dancer’s grace to face him again.
And oh, what a face she had. So sweet, her eyes liquid emotion, her lips full and soft and so inviting—
“I want to make love with you,” she whispered. “It’s unbearable being this close to you and not touching, not kissing you, not—”
He could smell her scent as she moved closer, her body warm beneath the gown, the silk slick and cool against his skin. Her body molded to him. Then her lips. Pure sweetness. Just a little taste. Like a dusting of powdered sugar.
He knew he should stop her before she turned up the heat. Before he got caught in the fire between them and couldn’t get out. But suddenly her kiss was pure sweet confectionery and he was warm taffy in her hands.
With a groan he pulled her even closer, kissing her as she had kissed him. Sweet and soft. Hard and hot. He’d never felt such desire. He’d never wanted a woman the way he wanted her.
She slipped a hand behind his head and drew him down to her breast. The nipple leaped at the touch of his tongue, straining against the thin fabric. He drew the rosy hard tip into his mouth and suckled gently. She moaned, her head back, the moonlight on her face.
“Jack, please, make love to me.”
He looked down into her eyes and knew he was lost. He knew what he was about to do was far worse than digging up graves but he couldn’t stop himself. He wanted her. He’d wanted her since the first time he’d seen her.
And he couldn’t have turned back, even if he’d wanted to. For in that instant in time, he believed his own lie. He swept his wife up in his arms and carried her to their bedroom.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Jack woke in the early afternoon with Karen in his arms. He looked down at her incredible face and