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As his lips touched the pulse at the base of her throat, her body curved to his in instinctive invitation, and his hand went to her hips, holding her to him.

She felt the hardness of his body, and her own arousal became tinged with fear. But it was too late to stop now, far too late, for, while his lips began a slow journey down the val ey between her breasts, his hand was slipping inside the briefs she stil wore, pushing them down over her hips, over her thighs, until she was naked. And al the time he kept kissing her with that clever, knowing mouth, licking at the fine sheen of perspiration on her soft skin, reaching down as far as the flat of her stomach, then up again to briefly suck her swol en nipples and make her cry out with wanting once more.

He left her for a moment and Riona opened her eyes to see him standing by the bed, looking down at her. In that instant she felt no shame. She felt just love and desire, incalculable and inseparable. She watched as he removed his shorts and stil felt no embarrassment, only wonder at the powerful beauty of his body. When he lay down beside her again, she placed her hand on his muscled chest, tanned many shades darker than her own skin and covered with fine hair, damp with sweat. She fol owed the line of it down to his navel, then spread her hand across his flat abdomen as far as the coarser hair below. But she was too shy to touch him and he sensed it, as he laughed a little before lifting her hand to his mouth and kissing its palm.

‘This time’s for you,’ he growled softly, as he rol ed her back over on the bed to kiss her with gentle passion on the mouth.

And it was for her, that first time. He treated her like a virgin. He kissed her until she breathed his name. He held her to him until any fear was dispel ed. He touched her body until every part of her knew him and wanted him—and only then, when she was ready, did he take what she so wil ingly offered.

He treated her like a virgin, only she wasn’t. As he poised above her, his face blurred into another, younger, leaner face. She thought of Fergus—her first lover—and, at the very moment Cameron entered her, her eyes shut in pain at the memory.

He saw and misunderstood, and gathered her into his arms. ‘Oh, God, I hurt you. I tried not to. I shouldn’t have—’

‘No. No.’ Riona shook her head and before he could say more, say words she didn’t deserve, she found his mouth with hers. She kissed him hard,

urging him to go on, to make her forget there ever had been another man, and, as her fingers bit painful y into his shoulder, he pushed inside her once more.

He thrust hard and Riona whimpered in shock at the pleasure it brought. She arched towards him, and he thrust again, pushing higher, fil ing her,

drawing back as she moaned for him, lifting her to him, thrusting. Over and over their bodies moved in the rhythm of love, beautiful bodies glistening with sweat, perfect love offering al , prolonging pleasure until it was a sweet agony they could bear no longer.

For Riona, it was like drowning, losing herself inside him, losing who she was, who he was, even as they came together and she cal ed out his name

and he spil ed his seed in her. It was like dying, a complete release, floating bodiless, careless, leaving behind al the realities that made being with him an insanity.

She stayed in that state for three impossibly wonderful weeks. He told her he loved her time after time and she believed him. He wanted to take over her life and she let him. He had her give up her work in Inverness, dismissing her need for the money, and begged her to return to America with him, until, caught up in the dream, she agreed. But, worst of al , he made love to her continual y, everywhere and anywhere, made her need him like a drug, made her so obsessed that she could have died of sorrow when he left.

He gave her no warning. One morning he went to Glasgow to see the estate solicitors and failed to return. She waited a couple of days, fearing an

accident, then heard in the vil age store that the laird had flown back to America. She waited another two weeks, hoping every day would bring a letter, before she final y accepted the truth.

He’d gone and he wasn’t coming back.

CHAPTER FIVE

RIONA’S mind returned to the present and the baby now asleep in her arms. She carried him upstairs to the cot beside her bed and tucked him

under the quilt, then sat watching over him for a while. He was so perfect, so beautiful; it was hard to believe he’d come out of such pain.

Two months had passed before she discovered she was pregnant. She’d been too miserable to eat so she’d actual y lost weight. She’d also driven

herself hard, trying to ignore the needs of her body, ignoring the changes. She’d worked from dawn to dusk on the croft, pushing herself until she was too tired to dream, punishing herself for being so stupid.

Then one day the doctor had turned up at the croft, taken one look at her wretched appearance and insisted on examining her. She supposed she’d

known deep down.

At any rate, she felt little surprise when he announced, ‘Wel , lass, you’re pregnant. Coming up to three months, I’d say.’

She felt no joy, either, accepting his diagnosis in silence. She had no one to blame but herself.

‘I assume it’s Cameron’s,’ the doctor added wearily, and that
had
surprised her.

Neither she nor Cameron had advertised their brief affair. Much of the time they’d spent round the croft, in and out of bed. They’d gone to

Edinburgh for a few days, but had seen more of their hotel room than Scotland’s capital. She’d refused him only one thing, and that was to stay overnight in Invergair Hal , for there he was the laird and she his tenant. They’d kept their relationship a secret rather than have it the subject of gossip.

‘Why should you think it was Cameron Adams’s?’ She hoped the doctor was guessing in the dark.

He wasn’t. ‘I came up one day to check on that sprained ankle you had. You weren’t in the house, but the col ie found you for me... up in the

heather, you and Cameron. I didn’t see you, but I heard you laughing and came away.’

Riona’s face reddened. He obviously knew they’d been more than laughing.

‘Don’t worry,’ the doctor added, ‘I’ve no told anybody, and, as far as I know, there’s been no talk about the two of you... Is he coming back?’

She shook her head. She couldn’t say for certain. He’d put in a factor to manage the estate and there was talk of a woman coming down from

Edinburgh to help organise a knitting co-operative. He could be back tomorrow or he might never be back. The only thing she knew for sure was he

wouldn’t be coming back to her.

‘Right, wel , you’l have to write to him about this.’ He nodded towards her stil flat stomach.

She shook her head again. ‘I can’t,’ she said simply.

The doctor misunderstood, declaring, ‘Then I’l do it for you, lass.’

‘No, I don’t want him to know. It’s my problem, not his.’

‘Rubbish! It takes two to make a baby, and it’s his responsibility. What’s more, if Cameron’s half the man I think he is, he’l be back on the first plane to marry you.’

Riona’s eyes closed at the suggestion. The doctor might be a lovely old man, but he real y hadn’t a clue. The time had passed when couples married

because they had to, and she wouldn’t have wanted such a solution had it been on offer.

Cameron had made it clear from the start of their affair that he wasn’t ready for fatherhood. He’d dressed it up a little, saying she was too young to be a mother, that she’d barely begun her own life, that he wanted her al to himself for a while. At the time it had seemed his concern was mostly for her, but, when he’d walked out on her, Riona had realised the truth. It was Cameron who wanted no ties and had done his best to avoid them. No matter how spontaneously they had made love, he’d stil taken care that there would be no consequences. Even that first time he’d driven her down the next day to the doctor’s surgery so she might ask for something cal ed ‘a morning-after pil ’.

Only what had sounded commonplace and common sense to a man of the world like Cameron had been a matter of acute embarrassment when

faced with Dr Macnab. She’d hoped to get his younger partner, and instead found herself sitting across the desk from a man who had treated her like a favourite niece for as long as she could remember. She’d left the surgery with her sprained ankle professional y bandaged and that was al . She’d let Cameron believe otherwise and had al owed herself to become pregnant. In her eyes that made the baby her problem.

She hadn’t changed her mind, although the doctor had tried to make her do so throughout her pregnancy. Any time she was tempted to weaken,

she’d recal Cameron’s words, ‘Babies should be planned and wanted; otherwise they’re a disaster.’ Those words had effectively kil ed dead any idea of contacting him. For this wasn’t a wanted baby—not by Cameron, at any rate, when he’d been so careful to avoid its conception.

She stil felt the same, even now, when Cameron had returned. The baby was hers and hers alone. He might be the image of his father but the local

gossips didn’t know it, for she’d kept Rory away from curious eyes. Only Dr Macnab and Mrs Ross could betray her, and they wouldn’t. She just had to keep Rory out of Cameron’s way, and that should be simple enough if she stayed on the croft. She couldn’t believe he’d actual y come looking for her.

* * *

ten. She heard the sound of hammering on her door and knew instantly who was there.

She went through to the hal to check the lock was on. He must have heard her approach, for he cal ed out, ‘Open the door, Riona!’

She made no move to do so. She didn’t want him in her house. It would evoke too many memories.

‘Open it up or I’l bust it down!’ he threatened at her lack of response.

He sounded angry but in control. She remained silent, not believing he’d carry out the threat.

She was mistaken. He repeated, ‘Open up, Riona,’ in the same low, urgent tone, gave her about thirty seconds to answer, then responded

accordingly.

It was a foot he used, kicking hard against the lock. The first kick had little effect, as did the second, but the third splintered the surrounding wood.

‘Al right.’ She realised another kick might take the door off its hinges. ‘I’l open it. Just give me a minute.’

Her appeal worked. The attack on the door ceased. She ran upstairs to check on Rory.

He was sleeping, despite the noise outside. She closed the door of his room and raced back downstairs to the living-room. There was one picture of

him on the mantelpiece. She shoved it in a drawer.

‘Riona?’
Cameron’s voice came to her again, rising in temper.

She hurried to the door and final y opened it. He didn’t wait for an invitation but brushed past her into the house.

‘Where is he?’ His eyes ranged up the narrow staircase to her bedroom.

‘Who?’ she asked, although the answer was obvious enough.

‘The baby,’ he rapped back, and would have gone up the stairs if she hadn’t grabbed his arm.

Her grip was strong and desperate, but he could stil have shaken her loose, had he chosen to. Instead he turned to take hold of her by the arms,

dragging her close enough to see the fury in his eyes.

‘He’s mine, isn’t he?’ he growled at her. “The baby’s mine...’

‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘No, he’s not. I told you—’

‘You lying bitch,’ he cut across her. ‘I know what you told me, but that’s not what Macnab says.’

‘The doctor?’ Riona was shocked. Surely he hadn’t betrayed her? He couldn’t have. ‘You’re the one who’s lying. The doctor wouldn’t tel you

anything.’

‘Not outright, no,’ he rasped back, ‘but when I asked if you were getting support from Fergus Ross, he was stunned by the idea. Clearly he doesn’t

believe responsibility lies in that quarter, so that leaves me.’

‘There might have been someone else,’ Riona claimed wildly, then wished she hadn’t.

He came back with a brutal, ‘There might have been several, for al I know. You were certainly eager enough for it.’

‘Why, you...’ She tried to free a hand to slap his face.

But he tightened his grip and forced her back against the wal . ‘Come on, honey, let’s not go through the shocked virgin routine again. I’ve never met a woman with better moves. You had me wanting you every minute of the day.’

Riona’s face flamed as she remembered. The wanting had been mutual. They had been consumed with each other. What had gone wrong?

She looked up at him, her eyes a reflection of the hurt and bewilderment she’d felt at his sudden departure. Why had he left? Had it just been sex for him? Was it
her
love that had scared him off?

‘Don’t bother!’ He pushed her body away from his. ‘I don’t get taken for a sucker twice. The baby—that’s al I’m interested in. You want to guess

what the doctor said when I asked if I was the father?’

Riona shook her head. ‘He didn’t tel you. I know he didn’t,’ she insisted, giving herself away with every word.

‘Oh, he didn’t tel me,’ he echoed in agreement. ‘The old man said nothing—absolutely nothing. Which is exactly my point.’

Riona frowned. She didn’t see it.

‘Macnab might stil be fooled by your Little Miss Innocent act,’ he continued harshly, ‘but he wouldn’t lie for you. And it’s pretty obvious he
believes
I’m the father.’

‘So?’ Riona tried to bluff it out. ‘That doesn’t
make
you the father. Maybe I lied to him.’

‘Maybe.’ His lips formed a sneer. ‘You’re capable of it, at any rate.’

‘That’s rich,’ she threw back, ‘coming from you.’

‘Oh, yeah? When did I ever lie to you?’ he had the nerve to counter.

Riona stared at him in disbelief. Had he forgotten that once he had told her he loved her? Had he forgotten running out on her just days later?

She remembered. The hurt might have left her, but the bitterness remained.