Page 45 of Summer of Fire
Thoughts of the previous night when he kissed her so passionately in the barn filled her mind and an unfamiliar ache consumed her.
Would they have gone further if Pierre hadn’t interrupted them? She didn’t know. All she knew was she would give herself to him in a heartbeat if he wanted her like she wanted him. His heavy arm shot out to rest on her stomach and her heart galloped at his touch. Then he turned to face her and muttered, ‘Seagrove.’
Hearing his special name for her on his lips as he sleptfilled her with the boldness she had felt when they kissed. She reached out and ran her fingers through his black hair.
‘Raven,’ she whispered. ‘My raven.’ The feel of him made her want him more, and she looked at him, willing him to wake up. After not sleeping properly since he arrived in France, he was in a heavy slumber.
Lizzie sighed. She didn’t know what to make of their passionate embrace, but there was a nagging need inside her to be near him. And then she felt his arms reach for her and he pulled her closer.
He caressed her, and she wondered if he was properly awake. His mounting excitement was obvious, and she felt herself losing control and drowning in his touch.
The exhilaration of their mutual desire rocketed through her body and his eyes flickered open. He let out a loud groan full of need. And then they were kissing again, and the heat intensified between them, and they were lost in a fever.
Suddenly, Jack moved away from her and rubbed his sleepy eyes. ‘Lizzie. I thought this was a delicious dream. I swore to myself we wouldn’t do this again after last night. It’s too dangerous.’
Lizzie put her finger to his lips, her heart thudding. ‘Shhh, they’ll hear us downstairs. We’re supposed to be hiding in here, remember?’
He had woken fully now, and his eyes were alert. He raked his hand through his messy hair and shook his head. ‘We mustn’t do this, Lizzie. This is not how I can protect you. I hope you can forgive me for losing control like that. God knows, I want you, but…’
‘But what?’ she said, her voice laden with sadness.
‘But we can’t. We’re on a mission. And you’re a young woman in my care. I can’t take advantage of you like this. Drake would kill me if he knew. Never mind Val. She’d wring my neck with her bare hands.’
‘Well, I won’t tell them,’ Lizzie whispered, still reeling from the loss of his closeness. ‘Besides, you’re not taking advantage of me. I keep telling you, I’m not a child.’
Jack captured a lock of her hair and twisted it around his fingers as he looked into her eyes. ‘Having you in bed with me like this was too much. Against my better judgement, I lost control. You must think me a dreadful reprobate.’
‘No, actually, I think you’re a dreadful tease. There is only one bed in this room. Camille didn’t tell me we’d be sharing. You could have asked to sleep elsewhere if you didn’t want to share it with me,’ Lizzie said hotly, jerking her head, so the lock of hair unravelled from his fingers.
A lick of anger raced through her at his apology. It was humiliating.
Jack held up his hands as if surrendering. ‘You’re right, I’ve handled this badly, and should have slept elsewhere. Whatever I say will only make it worse.’
That wasn’t what she wanted to hear, and it aggravated her more. ‘Well, I’ll be gone tonight so you won’t have to share a bed with me ever again,’ she said, her tone stiff.
‘Don’t be like that, darling Lizzie,’ he said.
‘Like what? You kiss me and then reject me. That’s twice you’ve done it now. You won’t get another chance,’ she said, turning away and scrambling for her dress.
‘You’ve got the wrong end of the stick. It’s against all the rules for a superior ranking agent to get involved romantically with a subordinate agent in the field.’
‘Fine,’ she said. ‘Whatever you say. You are my superior, after all.’
‘Ouch,’ he replied, wincing at her biting tone. ‘You’re a tough nut, you are.’
‘Turn around, please. I’m changing,’ Lizzie snapped as she fought with her dress and washed her face at the sink.
‘I’m going downstairs,’ she said, feeling wretched thatthey had argued but unable to stop herself from lashing out after he rejected her like that.
Hannah was clearly the only woman he would bend the rules for, and she was going to have to come to terms with it, no matter how her heart ached.
CHAPTER 21
Lizzie entered the kitchen and found Camille darting in and out of the pantry. There was a twinkle in her eye when she greeted Lizzie and asked how she slept.
‘Have some coffee, and breakfast will be ready soon. We’re fortunate to have a good supply of eggs from the chickens, although the Germans take more than their fair share.’ Camille tutted as she boiled a pan of eggs and cut the loaf. ‘And flour is like gold dust. Goodness knows what we’re all going to live on if this war goes on much longer.’
Lizzie wanted to keep her mind off Jack and offered to help, but Camille wouldn’t hear of it and told her to make herself comfortable. ‘This might be of interest to you,’ she said, crossing the kitchen and retrieving a printed paper from a drawer in a big wooden sideboard.
