Read Online Mac's Angels : Sinner and Saint. a Loveswept Classic Romance (9780345541659) by Sandra Chastain - Free Book Online

hair before.”
    That idea formed a knot in his throat and threatened to close off what little breath he was drawinginto his lungs. His thumb traced the edge of her ear as he fought the urge to bend down and kiss her. He was totally unprepared for the fire she kindled inside him.
    Unprepared and amazed. She should have been anxious, yet she wasn’t. When he caught her chin, lifting her face, she opened her eyes, their blue now the darker color of the sky before a storm. “What are you doing to me?” she whispered.
    â€œI’m not sure.” His own voice was tight with tension. “What do you want me to do?”
    â€œYou said you wanted me to wake up so that you could lie down beside me.”
    â€œThat was a fantasy, princess. This is real.”
    She took his hand away from her chin and clasped it between her own. “So we aren’t really lovers?”
    He was so surprised at her question that he couldn’t answer for a moment. “Would you want us to be?”
    â€œI don’t know what I want, but I think I wouldn’t refuse you. What do you want?”
    It took every ounce of control Niko had to pull his hand away and formulate an answer. He, couldn’t back down without losing what he’d gained. “I want you. I want to tear that robe from your body and take you, now, here on the kitchen floor. I want you as I’ve never wanted a woman before. But I don’t know that you could call that being lovers.”
    â€œBut suppose I’m willing?”
    â€œNo! Not until you remember.”
    â€œI remember, not everything yet, but some.”
    He forced himself to move behind her.
    â€œWhat do you remember? Tell me about your past.” He knew he was frightening her, that his voice was angry and harsh. “Tell me why nobody ever dried your hair before. What about your mother?”
    â€œMy mother was never the motherly type. She isn’t—wasn’t always well.” He saw her wince and regretted his outburst.
    â€œBut I dried hers,” Karen went on. “She had lovely red hair. I used to braid it so it wouldn’t get all mussed when she was sick.”
    â€œDon’t you want to let her know you’re all right?”
    She sat up straight and took back the towel. “No. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t. I’d only upset her. You know what Thomas Wolfe said, ‘You can’t go home again.’ ”
    â€œI know,” he agreed, finally beginning to get a handle on his emotions. “I learned that long ago. Looks like we’re both orphans by choice.”
    She looked over her shoulder at him. “You’re alone too?”
    â€œNot anymore. I’ve got you.”
    She turned her chair so that she was facing the table, ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it behind her ears, and smiled. “I’m glad.”
    Niko made his way to the stove to fill their bowls. He was reasonably sure that neither of them was alone in the world. He still had a father, though he hadn’t seen him since his sister’s funeral. And he was reasonably certain that Karen Miller-Middleton’s mother was still alive. He didn’t know what the storywas there, but that part of her past seemed to be a memory she wished she could forget.
    Still caught up in the gut-wrenching tension of the moment, he couldn’t explain his lack of honesty logically. Instead, he reverted to the very past he tried to deny by telling himself that Gypsies don’t always lie. Sometimes they just don’t tell the whole truth.

FOUR
    After midnight—Niko’s apartment
    They ate at small tables in front of a fire he’d built in his white ceramic fireplace with a chrome mantelpiece crowned by a silver-framed mirror.
    Karen ate the soup and drank the coffee as much to cover the turmoil inside as to satisfy her hunger. She was still weak, but she felt a vibrancy, a growing awakening that she couldn’t