Read Online Magic by Moonlight by MAGGIE SHAYNE - Free Book Online Page B

to resist.”
    “For me, either.” She leaned forward to kiss
him again, but he held her away.
    “Yet resist I must.” He closed his eyes, as
if in pain. “But if desire can kill a man, I’ll not live much
longer.”
    “Al, don’t...”
    “We mustn’t. It was my vow, long ago—the
code by which I’ve lived. I am your protector until you are safe.
And only that.”
    M. C. went stiff, staring down at him in
disbelief. “You’re kidding, aren’t you?”
    “If I make love to you now, Mary Catherine,
my thoughts will be of nothing else for days to come. I will be
distracted, even weakened by a desire this fierce, the memory of a
pleasure sweeter than any I’ve known. No ...I cannot.”
    M. C. rolled off him and got to her feet.
“Fine. That’s just fine with me, Al. I didn’t want to anyway!”
    “I have hurt you.” He rose and came to stand
behind her, his hands massaging her shoulders. “Make no mistake, ma chérie, were it not for my vow, for honor’s sake, I—”
    “Oh, to hell with you and your damned
honor.”
    She pulled away, busied herself dousing the
dwindling fire, scooping dirt over the coals.
    “You do not mean that.”
    “Let’s just get out of here, okay? Let’s
just find a phone, call the D.A., and set up the appointment.”
    He stood where he was. “This is as difficult
for me as for you, Mary Catherine.”
    She ignored him, embarrassed, downright
stung by his rejection. “We’ll have to find a car. Can’t use Aunt
Kate’s even if no one’s found it by now. The cops have probably
called her by now—they’d have traced the plate number and—”
    Mary Catherine stopped talking and bit her
lip. “Oh my God.”
    Al was beside her in a second, his hands
gripping her shoulders again. “What it is?”
    “The license plate. Oh, God, why didn’t I
think of this last night? Al, Guido saw that plate. He can probably
track down the car’s owner as easily as the police can!”
    “Your aunt?” he asked, looking worried.
    “She could be in danger. We have to call
her, Al, tell her to get out of the house and lay low for a while.”
She looked into his eyes, shook her head as a ball of dread formed
in the pit of her stomach. “And we’d better do it fast.”
    *
    The woman was a bundle of contradictions.
First she denied wanting him, a habit which had begun to make him
doubt himself for the first time in recent memory. Then she’d made
it all too clear that she did want him. And then she’d
become angry, unable, or perhaps—as stubborn as she
was— unwilling to understand his reasons. But all of that had
fallen by the wayside when she’d realized she might have
inadvertently put her aunt in danger.
    As they rode side by side, he watched her.
The way her eyes took on such intensity when she was worried. The
way the wind tossed her dark hair and the morning sun made it
gleam.
    He’d wanted many women, had most of them.
But never had he felt anything like what he was feeling now. It
wasn’t just stronger, it was different. An entirely new brand of
desire he’d never felt before. And it left him with the odd sense
that everything he’d experienced before had been only a faint
foreshadowing of this...this new and powerful feeling.
    Would it fade once they’d given in to its
demand and made love together? That was the way it usually worked
for Alexandre. But he had a feeling it wouldn’t be the same this
time. Nothing seemed the same this time.
    When they finally arrived back at the farm,
the farmer greeted them with a smile and a wave from his front
porch. Mary Catherine was off her mount almost before it came to a
stop, and heading up the steps. “Please,” she said breathlessly, “I
need to use your phone. I’ll pay you for the call, but—”
    “Sure, sure. Come on inside. So how was your
ride? The horses look none the worse for wear.”
    Mary Catherine didn’t answer, just hurried
past him and into the house. Alexandre watched as the farmer leaned
through the door and