Silver Linings, стр. 14
“We did not have a great deal to say to each other a year ago. I doubt that anything's changed.” She began rewrapping the brie. The plastic wrap crackled under her fingers.
“Look, Mattie,” Hugh said with exaggerated patience, “you're stuck with me for the next few days. It's not going to kill you to relax and treat me like an old friend of the family or something.”
“You're hardly a friend.”
“Are you kidding? I'm the best one you've got at the moment. Who else is going to get you out of Purgatory in one piece?”
“That's blackmail. You want me to be nice and friendly to you because you're doing me a favor? Just how friendly am I supposed to be, Hugh? What will you do if I can't work up any warm feelings for you? Will you get mad and leave me behind when you find a boat?”
He moved so quickly she never had a chance to get out of range. One second he was half-sprawled on an out-cropping of stone beside her; the next he had his long, strong fingers wrapped around her wrist in a grip of steel.
“Hugh.”
His gray eyes were dangerously cold. “Another crack like that and I'll do something very drastic. Understand?”
“For heaven's sake, Hugh. Let me go.” She wriggled her hand in his grasp.
“Damn it, Mattie, I've spent eight months trying to see you again, and you've done nothing but evade me.”
“What was I supposed to do? You made it clear you didn't want me.” The old rage and hurt welled up out of nowhere. She wanted to lash out at him, hurt him the way he had once hurt her. “As it happens, I spent the past year coming to the conclusion that you were right.”
“About what?”
“You told me I was not your type, remember? I agree with you now.” Her chin came up proudly. “More important, you're not my type. I should have seen that from the beginning.”
“How do we know we're not each other's type? We haven't given ourselves a chance.”
“I gave you a chance,” she reminded him in a scathing voice. “I offered to follow you to the ends of the earth, remember? And you turned me down flat.”
“I've told you before, you've got lousy timing. And last year your timing was all wrong.”
She was incensed. “Oh, sure. Blame it all on me.”
“Why not? I'm tired of having you blame everything on me. And your timing is bad, babe. Look at the way you're starting this stupid fight while we're trapped in this goddamned cave in the middle of an island that's undergoing an armed revolt. Talk about lousy timing.”
“You started this, Hugh Abbott.”
“Is that so? Then I might as well finish it.”
He used the grip on her wrist to yank her into his arms. And then his mouth came down on hers with enough force to swamp her senses.
CHAPTERThree
Mattie clutched at Hugh's shoulders as he released his grip on her wrist to encircle her with his arms. He pulled her tightly to him and leaned back against the rocky outcropping. She was lying on top of him, her breasts crushed against his chest, her legs tangled with his. Her emotions were in chaos. She wanted to scream. She wanted to swear. She wanted to slap Hugh Abbott as hard as she could.
But most of all she wanted to let herself savor the heat of him and the fierce, hot, masculine passion she had known so briefly all those months ago.
“You feel like you've been waiting in cold storage for me, babe,” Hugh muttered. “There hasn't been anyone else this past year, has there?”
“No, damn you, no.”
“Yeah. Good. I told Charlotte to let me know right away if she saw any man moving in on you. Mattie…Mattie, babe, you've been driving me crazy.” His mouth shifted heavily on hers and his fingers kneaded her back with hungry impatience. He kissed her throat and then his teeth closed lightly around her earlobe. The small nip was wildly sensual. “Lord, you feel good.”
Mattie shut her eyes, inhaling the scent of him. His clothing smelled of sweat but his skin smelled of the sea. The stubble of his beard was like sandpaper against her cheek. She was vibrantly aware of the swift arousal of his body under hers.
“Kiss me, Mattie. Kiss me the way you did yesterday afternoon when you were grateful to me for getting you through those damn caves.” He lifted her chin and captured her mouth once more.
Mattie surrendered to the excitement this man seemed able to elicit so easily in her. With a soft little moan of passion she opened her mouth and let him inside.
He accepted the invitation instantly, his tongue plunging hungrily between her lips, his hands sliding down to her breasts. She felt his fingers on the buttons of her silk shirt and then he was inside, unhooking her bra, touching her.
There was a certain rough care in the way he cupped her breasts, as though he was almost in awe of her feminine softness. He touched her the way he would have touched a kitten, his big hands moving a little awkwardly, but cautiously on her. Mattie sighed as his callused thumbs glided over her nipples.
“It's been so long,” he breathed. His voice was husky with desire. “Too long. Why the hell did you keep ducking me this past year? We could have had all these months.”
His big, warm palms slid down her stomach to the fastening of her trousers. When Mattie heard the metallic hiss of the zipper she finally came to her senses.
The thing you had to keep in mind about Hugh Abbott was that he always moved fast. If a woman was going to say no, she had to say it quickly.
“No,” Mattie gasped, levering herself up and back. “No, damn it. What in the world do you think