The Girl That Love Forgot by Jennie Lucas

Author:Jennie Lucas [Lucas, Jennie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Contemporary, Fiction, Romance, General, Adult
ISBN: 9781459219229
Google: -JtkYzGMMEIC
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

STEFANO RUBBED HIS HAIR with a towel as he got out of the shower. Lathering his face in front of the mirror, he shaved with a straight razor. He froze at the sight of his haggard face.

He’d had three days of staying away from Annabelle now. Three days of leaving her alone. Three days of telling himself it was all for the best.

Three days of hell.

Setting his jaw, he toweled off the rest of his body and left the en suite bathroom, padding naked across his bedroom to the closet. He was still furious with himself.

He should have known better than to kiss her in the forest. He’d tamed enough horses to know that rushing Annabelle into a kiss, after she’d just run away from him in blind fear, was a mistake.

And yet he hadn’t been able to stop himself.

What a kiss. When she’d kissed him back with her trembling heart-shaped mouth, it had been heaven. He’d very nearly ripped off her clothes right then and there in the forest, and taken her against the rocks. Against a tree. In the water. Anywhere.

Annabelle’s kiss had been so raw, so unpracticed, so real. She’d clearly taken very few lovers in her life, a chosen, sacred few. He’d felt it when he’d kissed her, in her shaking lips as they separated beneath the force of his caress. She did not surrender herself lightly. He’d felt her shock, her hesitation. Then, like a miracle, he’d felt her fire.

A man would die for a kiss like that.

Stefano should have felt privileged beyond imagination. Instead, he greedily wanted more. Hungered for it. Thirsted.

If once he’d been intrigued by her, now he was obsessed.

But Annabelle’s face had been so wan as she lay stretched out on the bed, her injured ankle extended and wrapped in ice. She’d looked up at him, her expression heartbroken as she’d whispered, “If you have any mercy in your heart, leave me alone.”

He’d sucked in his breath at the pain in her eyes.

“Is that truly what you wish?” he’d replied.

She lifted her chin fiercely, her gray eyes glittering with tears like melted ice.

“It is.”

“Then I give you my word,” he’d said in a low voice.

And he’d left her, when all he’d wanted to do was take her in his arms and kiss away the gleaming tears he’d seen in her eyes. It had been the first moment of hell, and since then, it had only gotten worse.

For three days, he’d had only glimpses of Annabelle as she photographed the ranch. He’d seen her laughing with the boys in the dining hall, even chatting with the elderly housekeeper about her grandchildren in the nearby village.

Annabelle Wolfe, an ice queen? He gave a single hard laugh. She was charming and warm with everyone.

Everyone, except him.

When she passed Stefano in the hall, if she met him in the stables, her eyes seemed to glaze over as if she saw right through him.

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