Prologue
She was crying.
Oh, not the sobbing of some women, or the wailing of others. Not that. No, they were silent tears sliding down her silken cheeks. But tears that didn’t lessen her beauty one bit.
“Melanie?”
Her shoulders jerked and she hastily wiped both cheeks with her hands, turning even more into the dark corner of the silent room.
“Are you all right?” Spencer Hauk asked, taking a step closer.
“I—I’m fine,” she assured him faintly. “All the noise—I needed some peace and quiet.”
There was a lot of noise upstairs. The celebration of a much anticipated union. But he knew what she wasn’t saying. Her heart was broken. She was in love with Cal Baxter, his friend and the man who had married Jessica Hoya a few minutes ago.
“Mel, it’s okay. I understand.” He’d understood all too well. He’d been attracted to her for quite a
while, but her eyes had always been turned toward Cal. Even so, Spence hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind.
She turned to look at him, her blue eyes wide, her red cheeks the only color in her otherwise pale face. Then she looked away again. “I have a headache,” she said firmly.
He would’ve laughed at her stubborn response if he hadn’t feared he’d hurt her feelings. He supposed her pride had been one of the things that had drawn him to her. “Uh-huh. Well, my shoulder’s available if you need to rest that achy head.”
To his surprise, she took him up on his teasing offer. She leaned against him, resting her head, which fit perfectly on his shoulder. Automatically his arms settled around her, cradling her warmth against him. He couldn’t count the number of times he’d hoped—dreamed—to hold her.
She felt good. Smelled good, too—like spring when everything was young, fresh. His body stirred. Hell. It’d been a while since he’d been with a lady. And Melanie had been in his thoughts, his heart, for a long time.
He didn’t want to come on to her, not when she was mourning the loss of another man. He was supposed to be comforting her. But he couldn’t stop himself from letting his lips caress her warm, satiny skin just below her ear.
She shuddered, a delicious trembling that stirred him even more. Pulling her tightly against him, feeling
her all the way to his toes, he whispered, “It’s all right, honey. Everything will be all right.”
Barely shaking her head, she burrowed deeper against him. Her soft breasts pressed against his chest, and the longing to cup their fullness, to suckle them, to—Damn! If he didn’t stop thinking like that he’d lose control.
His lips returned to her neck, but suddenly she turned her head, and he found her lips instead. Like lightning ripping apart a sturdy oak tree, her kiss knocked him senseless. When he came up for air, it was only to gain strength for the next onslaught of desire as he took her mouth again.
Like an addict, unable to think, he lost himself in Melanie Rule. Just like in his dreams.
And she in him.