Modern Romance March 2015 Collection 1. Кэрол Мортимер

      He recalled the sense he’d had earlier that she was lying to him...

      ‘The man at the hotel...’ he spoke softly now ‘...he was your ex-husband, wasn’t he?’ It was a statement rather than a question. Because Xander didn’t need to ask the question when he already knew, instinctively, that he had guessed correctly.

      The man who had accosted Samantha at the hotel, and taken such a painful grip of her arm, causing her face to pale as he spoke to her so intensely, was Samantha’s ex-husband, and Daisy’s father.

      Sam turned on the sofa to look at Xander, intending to deny the statement, only to think better of it as she saw the implacability of his expression, and the challenge in the darkness of his eyes. As if he expected her to deny it, and was silently warning her against even trying.

      She drew in a deep and ragged breath before answering him.

      ‘Yes,’ she sighed. ‘Yes, he was,’ she repeated, her shoulders slumping as she sank back against the sofa, head resting back as she closed her eyes. ‘It was— I— It was such a shock because I haven’t set eyes on him for almost three years.’

      ‘Until tonight.’

      ‘Until tonight.’ She nodded.

      ‘It didn’t look as if it was a joyful reunion?’

      Sam didn’t open her eyes. ‘Not exactly the highlight of my day, no.’

      ‘Well of course not—that was coming into the church earlier and seeing how handsome I looked in my morning suit!’

      Sam opened one eye as she turned her head to look at Xander seated beside her, receiving a cheeky smile for her effort. ‘Your modesty is just overwhelming!’ she drawled as she closed her eye again.

      It didn’t help that Xander had looked gorgeous in his morning suit. Or that Sam’s heart had given a lurch as she had gazed down the aisle on her arrival at the church, and seen him sitting at the front, looking as handsome and golden as that Norse god he so resembled.

      The Sterne twins had made such a contrast as they’d stood up together at the sound of the Wedding March playing to announce Andy’s arrival outside the church, Darius so dark and compelling, Xander all mesmerising light.

      ‘Isn’t it?’ Xander teased lightly, relieved to see the smile now curving the fullness of Samantha’s lips, even if it was being forced for his benefit.

      Full and delectable lips that Xander had wanted to kiss since the moment he saw her in that red dress as she walked into the church earlier today.

      His thoughts drifted back to the hotel earlier, and what he had been able to see of the man he now knew to be Samantha’s ex-husband. He had been tall in an expensively tailored dark suit, his face strong in profile, dark hair peppered with silver at the temples. He must have been some years older than Samantha.

      But what did it matter what he looked like or how old he was, when Samantha claimed the man had been out of the picture, out of her life, for the past three years?

      And out of Daisy’s, too?

      Xander turned on the sofa, his thigh now gently touching the length of hers. ‘How does Daisy visit her father if you haven’t seen your ex-husband for three years?’

      Her mouth twisted. ‘She doesn’t.’

      Xander frowned. ‘But—’

      ‘I don’t want to talk about this any more tonight, Xander, okay?’ Samantha snapped as she sat forward with the obvious intention of standing up.

      ‘No, it’s not okay.’ Xander put his hand on her shoulder to prevent her from standing up. ‘I want to understand, Samantha. I need to understand.’

      ‘Why?’

      ‘Because for some unknown reason I care!’

      She gave a shake of her head. ‘You don’t even know me.’

      ‘But I’m trying to.’

      Samantha looked at him for several long seconds before giving a shake of her head. ‘No. I—I can’t do this.’ Once again she attempted to stand up.

      Unacceptable.

      Totally unacceptable.

      Samantha might not want to answer his questions right now, but that didn’t change the desire Xander had felt all day to take this woman in his arms and kiss her. And now he wanted to keep on kissing her, until Samantha could think of nothing and no one else but him.

      Was that even wise on his part, when the two of them were going to be living here together for the next two weeks?

      After all the upsets Samantha had already been through today?

      Oh, to hell with what was wise!

      Xander needed to kiss Samantha, more than he wanted to breathe, and as much as he wanted to eliminate the sadness from her lips and those deep shadows from her eyes. ‘Let me in, Samantha,’ he groaned achingly as he moved closer to her.

      Sam’s eyes widened as Xander’s face began to lower towards hers, the arm draped across the back of the sofa now dropping lightly down onto her shoulders, as she realised he was about to kiss her.

      ‘Xander—’ Her weak protest was cut short as Xander’s lips claimed hers in a gentle exploratory kiss.

      Her heart leapt in her chest at the first touch of those sensually sculpted lips against her own, her hand seeming to move up of its own volition to cup Xander’s slightly bristly cheek as he deepened the kiss, caressing and tasting, his arms moving about her waist as he pulled her body in close against him.

      Sam had no resistance to those heated kisses, each more passionate than the last, the desire thrumming hotly through her body as she pressed her breasts against Xander’s chest in an effort to try and ease some of the ache in her sensitive nipples.

      Her breath caught in her throat as Xander’s tongue now swept inside the heat of her mouth, with all the assurance of a Viking invader laying claim to his prize.

      Xander gave a groan as he pressed Samantha gently back, until she lay beneath him on the sofa, her breasts warm and soft against the hardness of his chest, his legs becoming entangled with hers as they lay together, the evidence of his arousal a throbbing ache between them.

      He murmured his pleasure as he felt Samantha’s fingers in his hair as his lips now trailed across the warmth of her cheek and down the column of her throat, teeth nipping lightly on the lobe of her ear, causing her to moan huskily.

      His lips moved lower, exploring the shadowed hollows at the base of her silky throat, one of his hands moving beneath her sweater against the heat of her skin. Samantha groaned low in her throat as one of his hands cupped her breast, its fullness filling his palm.

      It was Xander’s turn to groan as he felt the turgid heat of her nipple pressing against the material of her bra. He pushed her sweater up and out of the way as his lips trailed down to kiss the bared slopes of her breasts before unfastening her bra. He raised his head so that he could look down at her deliciously bared breasts.

      Completely bared breasts that revealed the tattoo of an eagle soaring on the upper slope of her left breast.

      ‘I knew it,’ Xander groaned achingly even as he lowered his head and his tongue traced the outline of that utterly sexy tattoo.

      He immediately realised his mistake in having spoken, as he felt Samantha tense and still beneath him, her fingers tightening briefly in his hair before moving down to his chest as she began to push him away.

      ‘Please, Xander,’ she groaned when he didn’t move. ‘You have to stop now!’

      ‘Why do I?’ he murmured distractedly as he continued to gaze down at those perfect breasts, tipped by swollen and aroused nipples. He was too turned on, too lost to the pleasure that was Samantha, to want to stop this