Page 20 of The Runaway Heiress
She went limp in his arms but only because she was still struggling to breathe. “What are you doing to me?” It was more a breathless plea than the furious question she’d meant it to be.
He buried his face in her hair, his lips warm against her ear. “Sophie.” The tortured whisper burned as it rasped over the open wound of her heart.
His chest was so strong and solid against her back that she couldn’t stop herself from reveling in it. She closed her eyes, causing tears to fall. It meant she was shameless and beyond any hope, but any chance she had to touch him was heaven to her and more than she could resist. And as his lips caressed her skin,she moved her head to give him better access to her neck. Only a moment more, she promised herself, only a moment to take with her for the rest of her life.
When he loosened his arms and moved a hand up to cup her face, she finally found the strength to pull away and bucked against him until she wrenched free and turned to face him. But he was persistent and grabbed her arms, pulling her close. Her hands settled on his chest and stayed there deadlocked.
“Don’t look at me like that.” His voice was hoarse. She was surprised to see the depth of pain in his eyes. “I can’t bear that I hurt you.”
She almost reached up to touch his face, to try to soothe the pain from his eyes, but then she remembered thatshewas the injured party. “You were going to let me get married,” she accused.
“No! That never would’ve happened.” To emphasize the words, he pulled her flush against him and his arms went around her. Sophie realized how useless her struggles had been, when she felt herself melting into him. “The wedding wasn’t supposed to happen, but for the latecomers it wouldn’t have got as far as it did. We’d hoped to arrest them before you even came downstairs, but LaSalle was determined to move things on as quickly as possible and we didn’t have a chance. I hate like hell that you were there. I didn’t think Sinclair would let you come in.”
“Who are you, Gray? I don’t understand what happened.”
“LaSalle, Beaudin, and a few others were supposed to be arrested. Sinclair’s been following them for years. They’ve been buying up land with mining potential, usually by forcing people to sell. He’s murdered some of them. There’s a whole slew of charges, but the wedding was an opportunity to get them all here in one place.”
“Who are you?” she asked again, needing to know that more than anything else.
“Everything I told you I was.” He spoke slowly, his gaze holding strong to hers. “Sinclair and Brand are deputy marshals. Cole and I are just helping out for the reward money and because I owe Sinclair a favor.”
“So you let me go all this time thinking I had to marry that monster?” She watched him swallow.
“I know. Be angry.” His fingertips touched her cheek. She pulled away, not yet willing to be placated and he let her go, his hand dropping to his side. He didn’t step back, however, leaving only inches between them. “I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t. We couldn’t take the chance.” His gaze searched hers, looking for redemption.
She couldn’t swallow past the lump that had lodged itself in her throat.
“Whatever else you think of me, Sophie, know this: I had decided you weren’t marrying Beaudin, no matter what happened today.”
“When did you decide that?”
“I think I knew it that day outside LaSalle’s study when you first told me. There’s no way I could let you go to him. I wouldn’t have done it.”
She believed him. The truth of his words moved through her like a balm, soothing every scrape and tear of the last month, maybe her entire life. She still found it difficult to reconcile the Gray she knew now, the one who had been on her side all along, to the Gray she had known then. The one she had come to love despite the fact that he worked for her uncle. Perhaps she had seen the truth of him all along.
He bridged the slight distance between them and reached for her slowly, giving her time to refuse him as he took her head in his hands. His fingers slid into her hair and curled, tugging itslightly in a way that made her scalp tingle. “Maybe you hate me now and I have no right to do this.”
His questioning gaze searched hers until he moved so close, his eyes closed and his lips covered hers. He kissed her with all of the pent-up longing of the past two weeks. The second his tongue brushed her lips, she surrendered to his kiss and the yearning it stirred deep within her. Her arms went around his shoulders, so there wasn’t a breath of space between them from breast to hip. And the kiss evolved into a heated, breathing thing of redemption and desire until he was drinking salvation from her lips. Finally he released her mouth, but still held her close with his forehead pressed to hers.
“When I watched you sleep that night, I knew I needed to keep you safe. When you walked away from me in the morning, I hated myself for hurting you. I never want to cause you pain, Sophie.” He closed his eyes and kissed the corner of her mouth and her brow before letting his arms drop and putting space between them again.
The action sobered her. She felt bereft suddenly without the comfort of his embrace. When he spoke, his voice was still gentle, but his tone was all business. “You should know that your uncle was shot pretty bad.” He took a breath as if forcing himself to say what he needed to say. “I doubt he’ll make it.” His brow knitted, as if he expected censure.
She tried but she couldn’t find any sadness. Jean had done terrible things to many people. “He died as he lived,” was all she could manage to say. “I don’t blame you for that.”
“Thank you.” Relief softened his features. “Beaudin can’t buy himself out of the mess he’s in, so he won’t be a problem for you anymore. You’ll be free now.”
But not free of him. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing would come out. Did he want to be with her? Was this his goodbye? She couldn’t tell.
Finally, she managed to voice a portion of what she wanted. “What of you?”
“I’ll find Alexandre for you,” he said without hesitation.
“And that’s it?” She held her breath locked tight in her throat.
He was silent, but she saw the struggle behind his eyes, saw his breath become heavy and his jaw tighten. “What more do you want? You can have anything. Everything.”
Only in that moment did she understand that he was as wary as she, half-expecting rejection, hopeful for more.
