by Melody Anne
“I think nothing would make them happier than that,” his aunt said to the boy.
There was a moment of silence as the entire family came to terms with their loss, and then Frederick stood up and moved toward the piano.
“How about some Christmas songs before we turn in for the night?”
Liam stood up and joined his father. He sat down at the piano and started playing, and everyone joined in on a mesmerizing version of “Silent Night.” Frederick moved back over to the couch to sit between Ally and Brayden when Whitney walked over to sit on the piano bench beside her lover.
After a few rounds of Christmas carols, though, she noticed that her niece was nodding off. It was time for bed. The early morning light was starting to slip through the curtains, and they’d all be lucky to get a few hours of sleep before excitement got them out of bed again for a holiday breakfast and, yes, more gifts.
“I think we’ll get you tucked in now,” she told Ally. “When you wake up, it will officially be Christmas morning and we’ll have a lot more to do.”
“But I’m not tired, Auntie,” Ally said. A loud yawn belied those brave words.
“I know you’re not, but we’ll try to get some sleep anyway. I’ll read you another bedtime story.”
Ally rubbed her eyes and reluctantly agreed. Liam walked with them to Ally’s room. Before the story was even halfway finished, the little girl was sound asleep.
“You’ve done an amazing job with these children,” Liam told her as they paused together at her bedroom door.
“I love them more than anything. I wish my sister and Vincent could be around to watch them through the years, but I’m so grateful that at least I can help them grow since their parents can’t.”
“Don’t you see that their parents are here?” Liam told her. “They’re here each time the children laugh, each time something good happens, and even each time a tear falls. I know my brother would want no one to raise them but you. You’re incredible.”
“Thank you for giving us this healing Christmas,” Whitney said.
Liam reached down to brush his lips against hers.
“Thank you for showing me that there’s more to life than just work. And for helping me to heal the anger that’s been eating away at me for so long. That’s all because of you.”
“Do you really mean that, Liam, or did you just say it because you think it’s what I want or need to hear?” She’d never felt more vulnerable than she did now.
“I’ll admit that I’ve been confused, but I’m not just spouting lines,” he told her.
She stood there for several moments before taking a step forward and putting her hands on his face. How she loved the slight scratchiness of the stubble on his fine jaw.
“Please come inside with me, Liam.”
She whispered those words, but there was no doubt that he’d heard them. He opened her door without releasing his grip on her.
How could she possibly let go of this man? She had no earthly idea. But it was too late to dwell on that now.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Liam lifted Whitney into his arms and carried her to the bed. After laying her down, he gazed upon her, his eyes burning with a need that sent waves of pleasure through her. And he wasn’t even touching her now.
“I’ve so missed seeing you like this,” he said with a groan as he began stripping his clothes away. The sight made her mouth water.
“Then why haven’t you shared a bed with me in the last few days?” she asked in a voice that she’d hoped would sound casual. But she knew that she’d failed miserably.
“Because I wanted to show you — and myself — that this is more than just sex, that we can be more.”
She didn’t know how to reply to that. She felt the same way, but her fears prevented her from acknowledging it. Plus, now wasn’t the time to talk. It was the time to make love — to show how they felt, not speak about it.
Liam must have come to the same conclusion, because he climbed onto the bed and straddled her, trapping her legs and holding her captive. He gripped the bottom hem of her shirt and lifted it, blinding her for a moment as he pulled it over her head.
Next he unclasped the front of her bra, then slid the straps down her shoulders, trailing his fingers across her skin and leaving a blaze of fire in their wake. He tossed the bra aside and ran his hands back up her arms, across her neck, and downward, only stopping when he was cupping her swollen breasts.
“Mmm, you’re so responsive. I love the way your nipples reach for my palms, the way your legs quiver beneath mine. I love that hitch in your breathing, and the embers glowing in your eyes.”
He moved his hands lower to caress her stomach, but he quickly brought them back up and stroked her cheeks, and he leaned down, took her lips, and sipped at her deep sigh.
Before she could grab hold of him, he dragged his lips tenderly across her jaw and down her neck, and then he took his time licking each of her nipples. But he was drawn down inexorably to her flat belly.
While his lips worked their magic on her skin, he undid her slacks and began pushing them away, and he tasted her thighs, her calves, and even the soles of her soft feet while he freed her from the rest of her clothing.
He began kissing his way back up her body, slowly, reverently, thoroughly, leaving her quivering and weak. By the time he finally sucked one peaked nipple into his warm mouth, she was ready to explode. She arched up from the bed in ecstasy.
While he laved her breasts, her stomach tightened, her core heated and grew agonizingly wet, preparing her, tormenting her, and delighting her all at once.
“I want you inside me, Liam. Please.” She had no qualms about begging right now. She had to have him.
“Are you mine, Whitney — only mine?” he asked as he continued circling her breasts with his tongue and hands. She was most certainly his to command.
Her response was a moan of acceptance. She grasped at his back, and the fine sheen of sweat coating his skin from the heat of their foreplay turned her on even more — if that was possible.
She’d brought him to this state by only responding to him, and she felt desirable, wanted, and seductive.
But she wanted more.
She wriggled beneath him, opening her thighs and pushing upward. She needed him now, and he needed her.
“I’ve never wanted a woman as much as I want you, Whitney. Just you — only you,” he growled.
“Yes, Liam. Only you, too.”
He took hold of her hip and poised himself right at her core, and then he dipped inside of her, but gave her only an inch.
She whimpered in frustration.
Finally, he bent forward and kissed her with such tenderness, such … love, that tears sprung to her eyes. She reached for him, wanting to deepen the kiss, but he pulled back and looked at her with a burning passion.
She couldn’t speak past the lump in her throat.
Liam at long last pushed forward, slipping inside her in a slow, controlled thrust that opened her fully to him. She cried out when their hips were pressed together and the two of them became one.
“I can barely control myself when I’m with you, when I’m inside you,” he moaned. His eyes were dilated and his breathing heavy as he rested there within her.
“Then lose control, Liam. Lose yourself in me.”
His fingers tightened on her hip and he gave a low rumble from his chest. Yes, this was what she wanted. The slow and beautiful lovemaking had made her his again, and now she wanted to finish with heat and uncontrollable passion.
With a load groan, he pulled back and then thrust forward again, this time harder, shaking her roughly but exquisitely. She felt herself closing in on the ultimate pleasure. And then there were no more pauses; there was no more holding back. He began moving faster, plunging in and pulling nearly out before surging forward again.
Each time he sank within her, the pleasure intensified, bringing her higher and higher, closer and closer.
Greedy
now for more, greedy for it all, Whitney gripped his back and wrapped one leg around him as she met him thrust for thrust. She kept forgetting to breathe, but they found a perfect rhythm anyway.
And then they crashed together and her entire body went up in flames. Wave after wave of wild sensation washed through her and encompassed every atom of her body.
Yet he didn’t let up, and the explosions within her grew more and more powerful. A cry was ripped from her.
Liam’s shout of ecstasy joined hers as he slammed deep inside her, his body shaking from the power of his release.
Both of them were exhausted, and both of them well sated. They took a long while to get their breathing under control.
“I’m sorry. I have to be crushing you,” he murmured before turning over to lie beside her.
“That … that was … indescribable,” she whispered.
What was she feeling now? She had no idea. But she knew for sure that walking away from this man would mean leaving a piece of herself behind.
“I agree, Whitney. Give me a few minutes to recover and we’ll see what comes next.”
“I don’t think I could do that again,” she told him. “Though I’m willing to give it my best shot.”
He laughed, shocking her at the joy that seemed to be radiating from him.
“That sounded like a challenge, Ms. Steele,” he said before climbing back on top of her. “And I never could resist a challenge.”
He kissed her, this time hard and long. And to her amazement, and her utter delight, she felt his manhood hardening against her core.
“Yes …”
That was the last of their talking for the rest of the night.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
So this was home, at least for right now — this palace. It was indeed a new year, and Whitney couldn’t have been happier.
The children were off doing their school lessons, and Liam and his father were discussing business.
Just thinking of Liam set her heart to hammering and made her head feel fuzzy. And against all odds, against all obstacles, he seemed to feel the same way that she did. How was that possible?
A month ago, this would have seemed like a royal mistake. But the children were thriving, and the house back in Oregon was fraught with too many memories, with the constant sense of her sister’s loss. Her only problem, Whitney told herself, was having too little to do.
She’d have to remedy that somehow. Maybe get a job or finally finish her master’s degree. But for now she was just walking the halls. Perhaps she could get a ride into town, but she’d be wandering around all alone, just as she was now.
While strolling by Frederick’s office, she stopped when she heard her name.
“You and Whitney are spending a lot more time together,” she heard Frederick say. “I’m glad that the problems seem to have evaporated.”
Whitney smiled. She knew no good ever came from eavesdropping, but she couldn’t help herself. She would leave in just a moment.
“Yes, we have, Liam replied. “She’s been very good company, and she loves Brayden and Ally so much. She’s good with them.”
Okay, so it wasn’t a declaration of love, but it was still pretty nice.
“And have you stopped going after getting custody of the children?” Frederick asked.
Whitney froze. Ugh. That was her greatest fear come to light. She hadn’t known Liam had been actually trying to take the kids, though she’d figured he might think it best for them. She waited with bated breath to see what the two men were going to say next.
“Yes. She loves them, and I think there’s a way for us to work the situation out on our own,” Liam said.
Whitney’s heart thundered. What exactly did he mean by that? How did he expect them to work it all out? Did he want her to just give up the children to his family? She wasn’t sure that she wanted to hear anything more, but she still stood there in the hall.
“But back to the problem we were discussing,” Frederick told his son. “I really didn’t want her to attend the dinner party.”
“I quite understand,” Liam replied. “She’s utterly lacking in manners, she dresses inappropriately, and she seems to have no sense of how to behave at such a function.”
“I don’t know how she got invited in the first place,” Frederick said with a sigh.
“If only there were a way to uninvite her, Father.”
“Yes, it’s too bad that it’s impossible under the circumstances, son. We’ll just try to tuck her away in some corner. Perhaps she’ll be able to behave for one evening.”
“I suppose that’s the best we can hope for,” Liam told him.
Whitney stood frozen outside the door. She knew she was nobody special, but she felt she’d grown during the time she’d spent with the Feltons. Liam had never acted embarrassed to be with her. But maybe this was the biggest of their insurmountable troubles. It was huge.
Unable to listen for even a moment longer, she ran down the corridors to the safety of her room and locked the door. She lay there crying for a long while, but she somehow managed to pick herself up.
Dammit. Screw them all. She refused to shed another tear over this pack of snobs.
If they were simply tolerating her for the sake of her niece and nephew, she couldn’t stay there any longer. Maybe Liam thought of her only as an amusement, and maybe all the things he’d said to her in the last several weeks were lies. How freaking obvious. It was a way for him to work out the custody situation without taking her to court and — what was the expression? — airing dirty laundry.
How could she have been so wrong about him? She should have realized, though, that someone like him didn’t fall for girls of her social class. Her lack of class. That happened only in her romance books, not in real life.
Whitney started packing up her things, and that didn’t take long. She then went to find the kids. She didn’t know exactly where she would go when she left, but she knew she had to get out of this place. The children were clearly benefiting from being with the Feltons even if she wasn’t. So she’d have to find a place nearby. But that wouldn’t be easy, especially since things were so much more expensive on this side of the country.
Though being away from the kids for even a bit would rip her apart, she couldn’t take them away from here — they were doing so well. She’d get a place for all of them, and then, when the children were with the Feltons, she wouldn’t have to be around. The two men didn’t have to love her to love Brayden and Ally.
She found her nephew first. He was in his room, looking so handsome and so happy. He was smiling every day now, so she could never regret the time she’d spent at this mansion.
“Can I talk to you for a minute, darling?”
He beamed at her. “Of course, Aunt Whitney.”
“I have to leave for a little while, but I just want to let you know that you can call me anytime, and I’ll be back for you really soon.”
Brayden stared at her. “But why do you have to leave?”
“I have to get back to the real world. This place is amazing, but it’s not my home. This is your family, and you need time to bond with them, so I don’t want to take you away from that. But it’s not my family.” She was fighting tears as she spoke.
“It won’t be the same without you,” he said, and he sounded more like a child than the young man he was becoming.
“I’m so proud of you, Brayden. You’ve grown so much since we got here. I know your parents are looking down on you and feeling so happy.”
“I love you, Aunt Whitney. Please don’t go.”
“I don’t want to leave you. I really don’t. But right now this is what’s best for me,” she said. The ache was growing worse by the minute.
“Is this just because you don’t want us anymore?”
She clutched him to her and held on tight. This was the last thing she wanted him to believe.
“Never. I only ever want what’s best for you. I promise.”
He
was silent for a few moments, his young eyes full of too much knowledge of things he should know nothing about. Her heart was breaking all over again.
“Please promise, too, that you won’t be away for long,” he finally said.
She loved hearing those words. It made her feel as if she hadn’t completely failed. “I promise, Brayden,” she told him. “And that’s a promise I guarantee I will keep.”
“Aunt Whitney, you aren’t ready for dinner,” Ally said as she came into her brother’s room.
“I won’t be able to make it tonight, sweetie,” Whitney told her niece.
“Are you not feeling good?” the little girl asked.
“Not really, baby girl. But I’m working on feeling better.” What a lie, though it was a white lie. She was barely holding it together.
“Can I do anything to help, Auntie?”
“Isn’t that a question I’m supposed to be asking you?” Whitney said as she pulled her niece onto her lap.
“You’re the one who told me grown-ups need help sometimes too,” Ally reminded her.
“You are growing into such a beautiful young woman,” Whitney told her, hoping and praying she could take just a small amount of credit for that.
“I know something bad is happening.” A tear ran down Ally’s cheek and Whitney’s heart shattered the rest of the way.
“Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry. I have to go now, but I’ll see you really soon. Don’t worry.”
Whitney’s sanity was hanging on by a thread. She hugged both children and scurried away. If she didn’t leave this oppressive setting right now, she’d talk herself out of it, and it was obvious she wasn’t wanted.
She made it to the taxi she’d called and away from the mansion before she allowed any more tears to fall. Her heart was devastated, but she’d survived worse things in her life, and she would survive this too. The taxi pulled up at a cheap hotel nearby, and she took a handkerchief to her face as she walked inside her shabby little room. Maybe she should just go back to Oregon.
But she couldn’t believe that moving away was best for her niece and nephew. There really was nothing left there except for a house that held too many memories. Yes, most of them were good, but for now it served only as a reminder that two people they all loved were never coming back. It really was best for them all to find a new life on this side of the country. She’d be able to figure out the details without …
