Sarah Morgan Summer Collection. Sarah Morgan
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so perfect, what was there to say?
She was shaking in his arms, her hair tangled and loose, her body deliciously naked.
And suddenly he wanted her again. And he knew that he’d want her again after that. And again.
He cupped her face in his hands, needing to communicate the way he felt but silenced by his natural reticence. ‘Kyla—’
‘Don’t say anything,’ she said shakily, her eyes shy as she looked at him. ‘Don’t say anything at all.’
And he knew that she understood and felt the same way.
There were no words that could possibly do justice to what they’d just shared.
He gently stroked her hair away from her face, noticing things that he’d never noticed before. Like the fact that her blue eyes were darker than he’d first thought and she had a few tiny freckles over her nose. He dragged his thumb slowly over her full mouth and she nipped at it, the look in her eyes reflecting his own thoughts.
He wanted her again.
But not here.
‘The sun is coming up.’ He spoke softly, even though there was no one around to hear them. ‘The storm is over.’
‘Let’s watch. I’ll show you where.’ She stooped and retrieved her clothes, dressing quickly in a series of graceful movements that he watched with masculine hunger. Then she reached forward and started to fasten the buttons on his shirt. ‘If I don’t do this, I won’t be able to leave you alone. I love your body—have I told you that?’
No. And he hadn’t told her that he loved hers, although their frantic love-making should surely have left her in no doubt. But her observation that intimate conversations hadn’t been part of their interaction to date was a sharp, uncomfortable reminder that this relationship was built on shaky, dangerous ground.
She took his hand and led him across a low stone wall and then sank to the grass and dragged him down next to her. ‘This is the best view on the whole island. And this is the best weather in which to see it. Just watch.’
Ethan sat, silenced by the beauty of the scene unfolding in front of him. And as he sat there, watching the sun come up over an angry, boiling sea, he suddenly understood.
Kyla reached for his hand and curled her fingers around his. ‘Do you think things happen for a reason, Ethan?’
‘What do you mean?’
Perhaps she heard the wariness in his voice because she smiled. ‘I mean that some things are just meant to happen. You came out of nowhere. Serendipity. You could have chosen to escape anywhere but you came here.’
Ethan felt coldness pour through his body.
It hadn’t been serendipity.
And he hadn’t come out of nowhere.
Her words were like a hammer blow to his conscience and the perfection of the moment was soured. ‘Kyla—’
She covered his lips with her finger, preventing him from finishing his sentence. ‘Not now. Now I just want you to kiss me again. And then we’ll go home and do everything again in slow motion.’
CHAPTER NINE
UNFORTUNATELY, fate intervened in the form of a little girl with an asthma attack.
Logan was still tied up with Fraser, who was now being sick and complaining of persistent headache, so Ethan had no choice but to leave Kyla on her doorstep.
Once again he seemed distant, remote and Kyla felt a twist of yearning for the unconstrained, passionate side of him she’d discovered up in the ruins of the castle.
For a moment he’d lost control and finally revealed himself to her but now he had retreated back into his shell.
‘I’ll see the Roberts child, come back here and change and then go straight to the surgery. Logan thinks he may have to fly Fraser over to the mainland for a CT scan.’
They might have been no more than colleagues, discussing their plans for the day. Visit here. Clinic there.
Where had it gone? Kyla wondered as she stared wistfully into his handsome face—that incredible closeness and intimacy that had held them both in its grip. Where had it gone?
‘On second thoughts, would you mind picking up a suit for me?’ He handed her his keys. ‘I can take a shower at Logan’s and change before surgery. It will be quicker than coming all the way back here.’
‘Of course.’ She took the keys and waited for him to say something that indicated he understood the way she was feeling. Something that acknowledged the power of what they’d shared during the storm. But he didn’t even look at her.
His handsome face was grim and serious as if he had a thousand things on his mind and none of them related to her.
‘That’s fine.’ She forced herself to speak normally and not show her disappointment. ‘I’ll bring the suit. Will I be able to find it?’
‘In the wardrobe in my bedroom. Just choose one. And Kyla.’ Finally he looked at her but there was a bleakness in his eyes that did nothing to alleviate the growing ache inside her. ‘This evening, we have to talk.’
Talk? She watched him stride towards his car, the lump in her throat as big as the weight in her heart.
She loved him, she realised with a sinking feeling. Somehow, over the past weeks, she’d grown to love this complicated man. And up until five minutes ago she would have sworn that he had feelings for her, too.
Had she imagined what they’d shared in the castle?
No. She definitely hadn’t. She was just being paranoid, she told herself as she turned and let herself into her own house. She’d shower and change and then collect his suit on her way to work.
She had nothing to worry about.
The fact that he was suddenly serious and detached was just Ethan being Ethan. He was thinking about work. That was what he did.
As she stripped off her clothes she was suddenly deliciously aware of the unfamiliar ache in various parts of her body and a soft smile touched her mouth. He felt something for her, of course he did. How, otherwise, could he have made love to her in the way that he had? She just had to be patient and allow him the space he obviously needed.
He wasn’t a man who opened up easily, she knew that.
She dried her hair, dressed in her uniform and picked up his keys.
Inside his cottage, she sprinted up the stairs, found the suit and carried it out of the house. It was only as she went to hang it in the rear of her car that she saw the letter that had dropped out of the pocket onto the road.
With a frown, she picked it up, intending to push it back into the suit pocket. And then a sentence caught her eye and she froze in shock. And started to read.
‘So are you going to transfer Fraser to the mainland for a CT scan?’ Ethan asked the question as Logan reached for the telephone.
‘Yes. I’m pretty sure he’s just displaying signs of concussion but I need to be sure. It’s best to play it safe because I don’t want any last-minute emergencies.’ He broke off as the door crashed open and Kyla strode into the reception area. ‘Oops. My sister obviously climbed out of bed on the wrong side.’
Ethan felt himself tense as she kicked the door shut behind her, dropped her bag by the reception desk and blew a strand of hair out of her eyes.
Then she looked at him.
And he saw that she knew.
There was contempt in her eyes as she stalked over to him and thrust