The insensitive jerk! She was fuming. And hurt. How could he think she would want such a casual, short-term affair? With anyone. “And what about my engagement?”
He clenched his teeth and his lips thinned at that reminder. “You never talk about your fiancé. Are you really in love with Elliott?” At least he’d used his name this time. “Do you really expect you’ll still marry?”
She glanced down at her ringless finger and realized that she’d failed to retrieve her engagement ring from Ignacio. How could she have not missed the symbol of her impending marriage? It was a telling lapse on her part. “In all honesty, no.”
“No what?”
“No, I’m not in love with Elliott. I care about him, but I’m not ‘in love’ with him. And, no, I won’t be marrying him now.”
The smile spreading across Rafe’s face was so beautiful, she gasped. Battling for self-control, she told him, “Elliott and I were headed for a breakup long ago. That’s probably why we’ve been engaged so long. But that doesn’t mean I’d want to… to…”
“Make love with me?” His lips were parted sensually, and he looked as if he might lean across the table and kiss her.
She tried to wrest her hand out of his grasp. He held on tighter and laced his fingers with hers.
“C’mon, Helen, live a little. Stop thinking about what’s logical and correct. Do what feels right.”
It was the most outrageous suggestion anyone had ever made to Helen in all her life, even if he was being bluntly honest with her. “I’ve got to admit, you stun me — ”
“Stun is good.”
She gave her head a rueful shake. ” — but the answer is — ”
He pressed his fingertips against her lips. “I promise you this, babe, you wouldn’t regret it.”
“I’m already regretting listening to you.”
“I’d make it last so-o-o long.”
She laughed. “Your humility is endearing.”
“You’d be so hot, you’d beg me to quench your fire.”
“Hah! You couldn’t even ignite a spark in me.”
He flashed her a knowing grin. Surely, he didn’t suspect the flames of desire that licked through her already?
“I’d teach you to come, over and over and over, till your tongue curls,” he promised.
Helen knew he was just trying to shock her, but she bit on her tongue just to make sure it stayed right where it should, uncurled.
“I’d take your screams in my mouth, and you’d take mine in yours.”
Screams?
“It might only be for the brief time we’re together, but it would be the best time of both our lives. That’s not bragging, honey, it’s a fact.”
He pulled her hand up to his lips and kissed her wrist.
She thought her pulse would jump through the skin.
He smiled coaxingly. “So, Helen, will you make love with me?”
She should have said no, instantly. Oh, Lord, I am so tempted.
She should have slapped his face. He looks so vulnerable. How can a man making an obscene suggestion appear vulnerable?
Molten need pooled between her legs, and suddenly she felt dizzy.
It must be a delayed reaction to the events of the past few hours, she told herself. She stood shakily, inhaled deeply, and almost choked on a huge draft of cigar smoke.
And then she fainted.
Groggily, Helen swam up from the bottom of a deep pool. The wetness of the water cooled her heated face and droplets ran down her neck. She opened her eyes slowly to the sun and saw, instead, a canvas roof. And Rafe!
She tried to sit up, but he forced her back down to the cot where she was lying. Dipping a cloth into a bucket of water, he leaned over her and gently wiped her brow. The expression of concern on his face would have touched her if she wasn’t so worried herself.
“Thank God,” he said when her eyes opened. “Are you okay?”
She nodded sluggishly.
“Boy, I’ve known women to swoon over the prospect of making love with me, but outright fainting? Damn, that’s a first for me. Do you faint when you come, too?”
She swatted his hand with the wet cloth aside and scanned her surroundings. Big John stood behind Rafe, wringing his hands. “It weren’t my fish what made ‘er swoon. No sirree, I don’t serve bad fish.”