Twice the Temptation by Beverley Kendall Read Free Book Online

had been just as long for her.
    Logic and reason lay sprawled and breathless on the ground while, within insanity’s sight lay certain victory.
    “My intentions are honorable.” His lips moved from her neck to her mouth, meeting her lips in the barest feathering of a kiss. Never had succumbing to the demands of her body created such a lure to wipe clean certain memories of the past. It would be so easy…and incredibly stupid. And no one could ever accuse her of being that.
    Insanity gaped in disbelief as logic and reason struggled to its knees and stood on shaky legs. Insanity charged. One good push would send its nemesis down again.
    She lifted her hands to push him away, but he caught both in his grasp and pressed them to his chest. His mouth lifted the barest fraction of an inch, his breath like invisible ribbons keeping her tethered to him.
    With his softly spoken words, logic and reason toppled and with its final breath, conceded defeat. “I love you and I’ve come back to make you my wife.”

 
     
     
     
    C HAPTER F OUR
     

    C atherine jerked out of his embrace with a startled, “Pardon?”
    Lucas enjoyed the sight of her slightly unbalanced. He loved the look of her wide-eyed with surprise. God, he wanted her with an intensity that had consumed him those interminable months they’d been apart. And he was resolved to make her his—in every conceivable way. He’d have no peace until she was legally bound to him and he could call her his wife. Where they took their honeymoon would not matter as he’d scarcely let her out of bed.
    “There is nothing I want more than to marry you.”
    Catherine inhaled a deep breath. Lucas followed the rise and fall of her breasts. In his mind’s eye, he saw himself unbuttoning the back of her gown and peeling the pale-blue silk from her torso. He’d deal quickly with the cumbersome undergarments until her breasts were bared to his gaze. He’d take a rosy nipple into his mouth and circle it with the tip of his tongue.
    “But why?”
    Her voice broke through the fog of his lust. With her hand splayed against her throat, she appeared completely taken aback by his announcement, as he knew she would. 
    “Why would I not want to marry you?” he asked softly. Surely she was not ignorant of her appeal? And he spoke not merely of her outward beauty. She had so much more than that to offer a gentleman. 
    “I have not seen you in a year. You must understand my confusion over your sudden appearance and declarations of love.” She had retreated until her back met the shelf of the mahogany bookcase against the wall. 
    Lucas would not have expected less from Catherine. She had every right to be slightly wary of his intentions. No matter how she’d tried to hide it, he’d hurt her. “My greatest regret is leaving you as I did. And my only excuse is that I was confronted with an enormous dilemma. In all fairness, I knew I could not ask you to leave the sister you’d only just found and your family to come with me to America. At the same time, I had responsibilities there—my siblings, my business—and I couldn’t simply absolve myself of my duties toward them. In addition, your brother-in-law quite despises me. I couldn’t see a way to resolving the matter to either our satisfaction.” If Charlotte had not told her that she’d explicitly asked him to leave to save her marriage, it wasn’t his place to inform Catherine of that fact. 
     “Those obstacles still exist. What is so different now?” she asked, her expression guarded. 
    “When I finally accepted the true depth of my feelings for you—that I loved you beyond reason—I was willing to do whatever it took to be with you. My feelings for you were not going to go away no matter the distance between us, no matter whatever time elapsed. You are indelibly etched in my heart. And if that meant I had to move myself and my sisters to England, leave the running of my company to someone else, and face the wrath of