Josh frowned. That was a woman for you. All they could think about was love. It would be easy to tell her that yes, he had fallen madly in love with her and couldn't live without her. Then she would get all mushy and touched and would probably agree to marry him just to put him out of his misery. Josh would never tell a lie like that, though. He had no intention of falling in love with her, now or at any time in the future. Neither did he want her to think she had that sort of hold on him. "Well, no," he admitted, "but I don't think that's so very important…"
"Well, I do!" Felicity cut in, unaccountably stung and unreasonably disappointed. "Do you want to spend the rest of your life with someone you don't love? I certainly don't!"
The fact that she didn't love him either should not have surprised him, but somehow it did anyway. It was a remarkably unpleasant surprise, too. Josh found himself fighting a bitter disappointment and struggled to regain control of the situation. How could his plans have gone so far awry? He had thought that her desperate need for a home was more than strong enough to compel her to accept his proposal, but apparently he had been mistaken.
Her words echoed back to him in challenge, however, especially the words "the rest of your life." She considered marriage a lifetime commitment. He liked that, and he already knew she was everything he wanted in a wife. He'd be a fool to let her go. If reason could not convince her, if she demanded emotions, he could stir her emotions. Recalling the way she had surrendered, however briefly, to his kiss, he knew that with a few more kisses, he could make her think that she was in love with him. That love would be just one more link in the chain that bound her to him.
Felicity was regretting her hasty words. She had been so careful not to rile Mr. Logan up until now, and a good thing, too, judging from the strange look on his face. When he reached for her, she knew a moment of sheer panic. "Don't!" she protested in the instant before she realized his true intent. By the time she did realize it, she was unable to say anything.
His mouth came down on hers with determined force, not roughly but with a power she could not have denied, even if she had wanted to. For a moment she felt awkward, staring up at him with her eyes so close to his face. The feel of his mouth on hers was more alarming than exciting, but then he pulled her to him and her eyes closed of their own volition. Left in darkness, her body remembered their first kiss. She tuned in to other sensations, the hardness of his chest beneath the hands she had raised instinctively to ward him off, the strength of the arms embracing her, the gentleness of the hands caressing her back.
His lips shifted against hers, demanding a response. Without meaning to, she was suddenly kissing him back. Her hands slipped up and over his shoulders until she was clinging to him. Her breath came quickly, filling her senses with his musky, masculine scent and making her weak with some nameless longing. When he ended the kiss, she knew a deep regret.
Josh lifted his face a fraction of an inch from hers to draw a rasping breath. "Oh, Lissy," he whispered in wonder, instinctively reverting to the nickname she had revealed to him the first time he had ever held her. She was like warm honey in his arms, all liquid sweetness. When her eyes flickered open, he knew she was slightly dazed and hadn't a clue as to what he was doing to her.
She started to say something, but when her pink lips parted, he swooped down on them again. Taking advantage, he slipped his tongue inside, teasing first the sensitive skin inside her lips before plunging past her teeth to taste of her essence. Her startled gasp told him that he was the first to ever do so. He vowed he would also be the last.
Felicity knew what Mr. Logan was doing was wicked, but she didn't care. She should have pushed him away and slapped his face, as any properly brought-up young lady would have. She should have at least struggled free as she had before. Instead her hands were clutching at his shirt as if she would never let him go. In truth, she didn't think she ever wanted to.
She did try to push his tongue out of her mouth with her own, but she failed miserably. Instead of ending the peculiar invasion, she only encouraged it. As her tongue tangled with his in a moist duel, he groaned, pulling her closer still, until her breasts flattened against his chest and she could feel his heart pounding against her own. Someone made a funny sound, almost like a moan, but she could not have said which one of them it was.
His mouth left hers then, allowing her to breathe just in time. One more second of his passionate assault and she would have fainted dead away, but before she could fully form the thought, she was distracted by another assault. Tender lips trailed across her cheek to caress the delicate shell of her ear, exploring curves and hollows and sending delicious shivers coursing down the length of her body. Long fingers tangled in her hair, urging her head back to allow him access to the silken length of her throat, access she granted willingly. This time she knew the moan came from her own throat as she voiced her disappointment that the modest neckline of her dress barred him from other parts of her that ached for his touch.
Strong hands clutched at her hips, molding her to him, lifting her on tiptoe into the cradle of his thighs. He breathed her name again, calling her "Lissy," the name that those who loved her most always called her. Something inside of her began to melt.
The next thing she knew, the bearskin rug was against her back and he was looming over her. His hand was on her breast, where she knew it shouldn't be, but when she tried to push it away, he kissed her, drowning all her protests in a tide of new sensation. This time, when his mouth left hers, her body was pliant and yielding. She was only slightly shocked when his lips encountered no cloth barriers as they moved down the column of her throat. Cool air touched her chest, and she vaguely realized that he had unbuttoned her bodice. But when his breath warmed her, she no longer minded.
One strong arm cradled her while the other caressed. His large hand cupped first one tiny breast and then the other, slipping beneath the sheer fabric of her chemise to gently coax them. Instinctively, she arched into his touch, even while some distant voice of reason sounded a warning. This was wrong, even more wrong than his strange kisses had been. Feebly, with the last ounce of her free will, she pushed his hand away. He did not resist, but before she could register her victory, his mouth replaced his hand, capturing one pouting nipple in moist warmth.
Felicity gasped as the twinge started by his lips raced downward and spasmed between her legs. The melting that had begun earlier finished now, seeping out to dew the insides of her thighs. "No," she whispered, even as she buried her fingers in his silver hair to hold him to her.
The word was no more than a puff of sound, as quickly forgotten as uttered. She strained against his mouth, offering herself more fully to him. He suckled gently, teasing and tormenting first one pink tip and then the other until she was writhing with want.
She could no longer hear that warning voice. The blood pounding in her ears had drowned it out. The only sounds now were his rasping breath scorching against her tingling flesh and her own tiny cries of need. When his hand found her knee underneath the tangle of her skirts, she did not think it odd for him to be touching her like that. Instead she moved under his hand, inviting his caress and encouraging his further invasion.
Josh ran his hand up her thigh, touching at last the slender curves he had remembered so many times. He had only intended to kiss her a few times, but somehow a few kisses were simply not enough. The fragrance of her skin was like an opiate, singing in his blood, and like a true addict, he craved more. Much more. She fairly purred as he stroked her, snapping his tenuous hold on reason. His unfulfilled need became a searing agony, a descent into the dark pit of loneliness and despair. Only she could save him. He had to have her. He had to have her completely.