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wrapping her up tight in his arms.
The one with the prosthesis was a little uncomfortable and she moved imperceptibly.
"Too tight?" Simon asked softly, and let up on the pressure. "Sorry. I'm used to the damned thing, but I
still can't quite judge how much pressure to use."
"It's all right. It didn't hurt."
He lifted his head and looked down into her eyes. "You're the only woman who's ever seen me without
it," he mused. "In the hospital, when it was a stump—''
"You may have lost part of your arm, but you're alive," she interrupted. "If you hadn't been found for
another hour, nothing would have saved you. As it was, you'd lost almost too much blood."
"You stayed with me," he recalled. "You made me fight. You made me live. I didn't want to."
She averted her eyes. "I know how much Melia meant to you, Simon. You don't have to remind me."
Secrets, he thought. There were so many secrets that he kept, that she didn't know about. Perhaps it
kept the distance between them. It was tune to shorten it.
"Melia had an abortion."
She didn't grasp what he was saying at first, and the lovely green eyes she lifted to his were curious.
"What?"
"I made her pregnant and she ended it, and never told me," he said shortly. "She didn't want to ruin her
figure. Of course, she wasn't positive that the baby was mine. It could have been by one of her other
lovers."
She'd stopped dancing to stare up at him uncomprehendingly.
"She told me, the night of the accident," he continued. "That's why I lost control of the car in a curve,
in the rain, and I remember thinking in the split second before it crashed that I didn't care to live with
all my illusions dead."
"Illusions?" she echoed.
"That my marriage was perfect," he said. "That my beloved wife loved me equally, that she wanted my
children and a lifetime with only me." He laughed coldly. "I married a cheap, selfish woman whose
only concern was living in luxury and notching her bedpost. It excited her that she had men and I
didn't know. She had them in my bed." His voice choked with anger, and he looked over her head. His
arm had unconsciously tightened around Tira, and this time she didn't protest. She was shocked by
what he was telling her. She'd thought, everyone had thought, that he'd buried his heart in Melia's
grave and had mourned her for years.
"The child was what hurt the most," he said stiffly. "I believed her when she said she thought she was
sterile. It was a lie. Everything she said was a lie, and I was too besotted to realize it. She made a fool
of me."
"I'm so sorry for all the pain you've been through." Her eyes filled with tears. "It must have been
awful."
He looked down at her, his eyes narrow and probing. "You were married to John when it happened.
You came to the hospital every day. You held my hand, my good hand, and talked to me, forced me to
get up, to try. I always felt that you left John because of me, and it made me feel guilty. I thought I'd
broken up your marriage."
She dropped her gaze to his strong neck. "No," she said tersely. "You didn't break it up."
He curled her fingers into his and brought them to his chest, holding them there warmly. "Were you in
love with him, at first?"
"I was attracted to him, very fond of him," she confessed softly. "And I wanted, badly, to make our
marriage work." She shivered a little and he drew her closer. Her eyes closed. "I thought... I wasn' t
woman enough.''
His indrawn breath was audible. He knew the truth about her marriage now, but he hesitated to bring
up a painful subject again when things were going so well for them. His lips moved down to her eyes
and kissed the eyelids with breathless tenderness.
"Don't cry," he said curtly. "You're more than woman enough. Come closer, and I'll prove it to you,
right here."
"Simon..."
His arm slid down, unobtrusively, and drew her hips firmly against his. He shuddered as the touch of
her body produced an immediate, violent effect.
She gasped, but he wouldn't let her step back.
"Do you feel how much I want you?" he whispered in her ear. "I've barely touched you and I'm
capable."
"You're a man..."
"It doesn't, it never has, happened that fast with anyone else," he said through his teeth. "I want you so
badly that it hurts like hell. Yes, Tira, you're woman enough for any man. I'm sorry that your husband
didn't... No, that's a lie." He lifted his head and looked into her shocked eyes. "I'm glad he couldn't
have you."
The words went right over her head because she was so shocked at what he was saying. She stared at
him in evident confusion and embarrassment, her eyes darting around to see if anyone was watching.
Nobody was.
"It doesn't show. There's no reason to be so tense." His arm moved back up to her waist and loosened
a little.
She drew in steadying breaths, but she felt weak. Her head went to his chest and she made a plaintive
little sound against it.
His fingers contracted around hers. "We opened Pandora's box together in your bedroom, on your
bed," he whispered at her ear. "We want each other, Tira."
She swallowed. "I can't."
"Why not?"
She hesitated, but only for an instant. "I don't have affairs, Simon."
"Of course you do, darling," he drawled with barely concealed jealousy. "What else do you have with
Charles Percy?"
Chapter 8
Tira stopped dancing. She wasn't sure why she was upset, because Simon had made no bones about
thinking she was sleeping with Charles. Apparently when he'd made light love to her earlier, he'd
thought her responses were those of an experienced woman. She wondered what he'd think if he knew
the truth, that she'd waited for him all these years, that she wanted no other man. "Go ahead," he
invited, a strange light hi his eyes. "Deny it."
She let her gaze fall to his wide, firm mouth. “Think what you like,"she invited.
"You will anyway. And I'll remind you, Simon, that you have no right to question me about Charles."
"No right? After what you let me do to you?" She flushed and her teeth clenched. "One weak
moment..."
"Weak, the devil," he muttered quietly. "You were starving to death. Doesn't he make love to you
anymore?"
"Simon, please don't," she pleaded. "Not tonight." The hand holding hers contracted. "Were you
thinking of him, then?"
"Heavens, no!" she burst out, aghast.
He searched her eyes for a long moment, until he saw her cheeks flush. His hand relaxed.
“I wasn’t the only one who was starving,” she murmured, a little embarrassed.
He coaxed her cheek onto his chest. “No, you weren’t,” he agreed. He closed his eyes as they moved
to the music.
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