Each Time We Love by Busbee Shirlee

Author:Busbee, Shirlee [Busbee, Shirlee]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, General, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9780380752126
Publisher: Avon Books
Published: 1993-12-15T08:00:00+00:00

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Part Three

Dangerous Desire

What's affection, but the power we give another to torment us?

Darnley Edward Bulwer-Lytton

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Chapter Thirteen

STUNNED, Savanna stared up at Adam's dark, unrelenting features, hardly able to credit his words. Her lips tingled from the force of his kiss and she was unbearably aware of the long, warm length of him pressed closely against her, but there was no joy within her. It would seem that Adam St. Clair was, unlike her father, she admitted sadly, an honorable man. He suspected that she might be pregnant and so felt compelled to offer marriage to a woman he might desire, and Savanna didn't doubt that he did desire her—at least, at the moment—but she was miserably certain that she aroused no deeper, finer emotions within him. The question of her father aside, what sort of a marriage would it be with him shackled to a woman far below him in wealth and social standing, a woman who under normal circumstances would never even have crossed his path? If there were love between them, they might overcome the chasms that separated them, but with only his desire for her body to bind them together, she could see nothing but unhappiness ahead for either of them if she were foolish enough to marry him. And then there was her father… would Adam or any of his family ever be able to look upon her and not think of Davalos and the horrible ordeal he had forced them to endure—and not hate her for it? For the sake of a child, could she bear to marry Adam, knowing the ugly circumstances that had brought them to this point; knowing that nothing but lust bound them together; knowing that her father had done grievous wrongs to his family? Surely, once his fascination for her body had waned, and Savanna never doubted that it would, he would hate her… and the child she might bear…

Savanna's heart clenched painfully. Adam's scorn and hatred for her she could withstand, but what about his scorn for their child? Hadn't she herself suffered because of Davalos's indifference? How much worse would it be when the father actually hated the mother, and that hatred included a child?

When she remained silent for so long, her eyes locked in his, Adam grew impatient. Shaking her slightly, he demanded, "Well? Are you going to marry me?"

Savanna took a deep breath and carefully extricated herself from his arms. Not looking at him, she brushed a leaf from her worn breeches and said softly, "No."

Adam stared at her incredulously, the unexpected ache in his heart at her answer almost driving him to his knees. "Excuse me?" he said in a dangerous tone of voice once he had gained command of himself. "Are you telling me that you refuse? That you're not going to marry me?"

Savanna nodded stiffly, unable to look at him for fear her resolve might weaken.

A wave of impotent rage swept through Adam and, his hard blue eyes boring into her, he wanted to curse, shake her senseless and kiss her into acquiescence all at the same time.

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