He couldn’t believe she’d finally opened herself up to him. Even as she stood in front of him now he half expected her to bolt like a frightened doe.
He reached for her jacket, and slowly slid it from her shoulders. Beneath his hands he could feel the tremors that ran through her. Nerves, or desire, he wondered. Perhaps a mix of both. He fought with his own desire to rush this. To push their clothing aside and take her with the passion that had built in him each day he’d been here—the same level of passion that had lain semi-dormant since he’d rolled from their sheets and caught his flight back home to Isla Sagrado all those years ago. She was like a drug in his system. Once taken, forever desired.
But he’d waited this long for their reunion. He could tame his urge to hasten, and shower her with the gentleness and care she seemed to need so badly. It would be no hardship to take his time. Some things were best savored.
He smiled at Mia as he let her jacket fall to the thickly carpeted floor. Her blouse soon followed suit, although her gasp as his knuckles brushed the soft swell of her breast while he undid the buttons almost destroyed the vestiges of control he so stringently held.
Ben closed his eyes a moment, and took a breath, before opening them and feasting his eyes on her translucent skin, bound in delicate white lace.
“You are exquisite,” he murmured, trailing his fingertips over one faint blue vein to where it disappeared into the scalloped edge of her bra cup.
He bent his head and traced the line with the tip of his tongue. The scent of her skin invaded his nostrils, urging him to breathe her more deeply. His hands went to the snap at her waist, undoing it and then reaching for her zipper. The rasp as it slid open was a sigh on the air. Her pants fell to her feet and he supported her as she stepped free and kicked off the low-heeled pumps she wore beneath them.
He took a moment to drink in the sight of her, her curves lushly feminine, her secrets innocently hidden behind the white lace of her lingerie. Blood heated in his groin, sending an age-old message to his brain.
His. She was all his.
He reached for the clips that bound her hair in a twist and smiled again as the honey-blond strands fell to caress her neck and shoulders. She’d been stunningly beautiful the first time he’d met her, but there was a luminescence about her now that spoke volumes about the woman she’d become.
She took a tentative step forward, so close now that he could feel her warmth through the thin barrier of his shirt. Then her hands were at his clothes, except they shook so much she could barely undo each button on his shirt. He closed his hands over hers and pulled, sending buttons flying as they popped from the silk fabric. It took only a matter of seconds to toe out of his loafers, undo his belt buckle and drop his trousers.
For the briefest moment his reluctance to let her see his scars, to touch them, froze him, but then she dropped one hand to his boxer briefs and hooked the other around his neck to pull his face to hers and the last vestige of hesitancy fled.
She took his lips in a kiss that almost saw him lose it right there. In fact, when she lightly trailed her fingernails over the hard ridge in his briefs, he couldn’t stop himself from groaning into her mouth and thrusting his hands into her hair, holding her to him. Giving her full access to his mouth, his face, his throat. He backed her up against the bed, felt her knees buckle and her body drop onto the wide mattress before following her. Her skin against his was a sensation he’d totally underestimated. Every nerve in his body leaped to full life, doubly sensitized to her every touch.
Ben reached between them and stroked her through her panties. She flexed her hips upward, increasing the pressure of his fingers against her. She was already damp with desire and the knowledge made him feel stronger than he’d ever felt in his lifetime.
“I have dreamed of being with you again, querida. Over and over and over again until I began to fear I was a madman, obsessed with you,” he said, his voice shaking.
“I have dreamed of you, too. Too many times to count. But this—touching you, feeling you with me—is so much better than a dream and so much better than I remembered.”
Ben’s fingers slid inside the elastic of her panties and grazed against the nest of curls that protected her inner softness.
“Oh yes,” he said, “better, definitely very much better.”
He slid one finger along the wet crease of her core—back and forth, back and forth, until she squirmed.
“More, Ben, please more.”
He smiled and laid a trail of hot wet kisses down her belly.
“You want more?” he asked.
She nodded, her eyes glittering green pools in her exquisite face. As he watched her, he eased his finger inside her heat, instantly feeling her muscles clamp tight around him.
“Like this?” he asked again.
“More. I want you, Ben. All of you.”
“Not yet,” he said softly.
He eased another finger inside her, stroking her long and deep. Mia dropped her head back on the bed and closed her eyes, finally giving herself over to the sensations he aroused in her. Knowing her every focus was now on what he was doing to her he pressed his mouth against her mound, tasting her through the fine fabric of her panties and hearing her moan with uninhibited pleasure.
He blew a warm breath through the material then pressed another, firmer kiss against her. She pressed back against him, forcing his fingers deeper inside her, increasing the pressure of his mouth against her. He eased aside the damp fabric and fixed his mouth to the part of her he knew would send her skyward. His tongue flicked the hooded nub nestled in her blond curls and beneath him he felt her shudder, her internal muscles closing on his fingers, holding them tight, tighter. Alternately his tongue swirled then flicked, first slow, then with increasing tempo and he felt her body grow taut as her orgasm built and built but still remained out of reach as he refused to give her what she almost incoherently begged for.
He drew her out for as long as he could bear, relishing the sounds she made, knowing he had the power to drive her to this edge of sweet madness. It was time to take her over that edge. Ben closed his lips around her rigid bud, suckling it until, with a sharp cry, she tumbled—her body clenching and releasing as the waves crashed over her. He shifted on the bed, quickly yanking off his briefs before more gently easing Mia’s down her glorious long legs and then reaching behind her to unclasp her bra. When he took her he wanted there to be nothing between them. Nothing at all.
Her breasts spilled free of the restraining fabric and he could see the faint tracery of silver lines that were her badge of motherhood. If anything the markings only served to make him want her even more. Ben was even more amazed at what she’d achieved on her own.
He eased himself between her legs and positioned himself at her entrance.
“Look at me, Mia,” he demanded.
She opened her eyes and he saw the haze of satiation that blurred her vision. Slowly he edged inside her, the thick head of his penis probing bluntly past her inner lips. Her eyes sharpened, awareness flooding back into them. Awareness…and anticipation.
He sank into her welcoming heat, almost coming straight away. Mia wound her legs behind his, holding him close to her. His arms shook as he fought back his climax, as he tried to control the overwhelming urge to lose himself in her, but she began to move beneath him, a smile softly curving her mouth.
Her smile was his undoing. He had been determined to take it slow. To woo her body back to full consciousness before driving her into blissful oblivion again. But he was not strong enough to hold back another second. His hips pistoned against her, and she met his every thrust, until every cell in his body drew tight then released in a rhythmic flood of ecstasy.
She cried out again, and through his pleasure he felt her join him on the wave. Eventually he lowered himself onto her, then rolled slightly to one side and tucked her firmly against his body. He’d been right. Being with Mia again had broken through the barriers that had rendered him use
less after the crash. She’d brought him through the darkness and made him feel almost whole again.
Benedict nuzzled against the side of her neck and Mia relished the contact. Her body still fired with aftershocks of pleasure. What they had was amazing—like nothing she’d ever shared with anyone else. Their connection in bed was off the scale and she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sorrow that out of the grip of passion, all they seemed to be able to do was fight.
“You realize this changes things now, don’t you?” he said.
“Changes things? Why should it?”
“Now that I know that Jasper is my son, I want to be a part of his life. I’m his father. He has other family who deserve to know him also—Abuelo, my brothers. He has a whole other world waiting for him in Isla Sagrado.”
A shiver of fear ran across Mia’s skin. She snatched up the sheet that had tangled near their feet and wrapped it around her, desperate for some type of shield. She fought her way off the bed and struggled to her feet, clutching the bed linen in a tight fist.
“You’re going to take him from me?”
“That would not be the ideal solution.”
But it is an option, hung in the air between them.
“Then what is?”
Ben got off the bed and casually walked across the floor to where he’d dropped his pants. He shoved his feet inside the legs and pulled them up. Again Mia’s gaze was drawn to the scar tissue that ran in rivers across his lower abdomen. He’d nearly died. Again the realization struck her like a physical blow, and with it the solid truth that her feelings for him had shifted, had somehow irrevocably changed. That now he was far more important to her than she’d ever believed possible. She tried to push the thoughts from her mind, from her heart, but failed miserably.
All the breath sucked out of her body and she lowered herself back down to the edge of the bed. How much worse could this get?
Ben came and sat beside her, the warmth of his body penetrating the cold shell of disbelief that surrounded her. Deep inside she wanted to welcome that warmth—to share the burden of parenthood, to share the burden of rebuilding her family name and building a new business. But she’d done it on her own for so long the prospect of relinquishing control was as terrifying as it was appealing.
“I can make all your troubles go away, Mia. The press, your financial pressures. Everything. But I want you to agree to some things first.”
The very idea of allowing him to take charge of the rapidly degenerating situation that was her life was almost as seductive as the sensation of his breath against her neck. But, she reminded herself, a man like Benedict would have a proviso riding on something as far-reaching as “making her troubles go away,” and she had a fair idea of what that proviso might be.
She took a second to take stock. In exchange for him solving her problems with the media, etc., he’d have uncontested access to Jasper. A few days ago, she would have refused him outright, but everything had changed since then. Now she realized that she had misjudged Ben before. He was capable of being a good father, a man that Jasper could depend on. A man that she could depend on, if she would simply allow herself to do so. It sounded like a win-win situation no matter which angle she looked at it. And frankly, she knew when she was beaten. She didn’t know if she could fight back one more time.
“Anything. I’ll agree to anything.”
“First, I want Jasper to undergo a paternity test. It’s noninvasive and the results are available promptly.”
Mia nodded, “I have no problem with that.”
“My second condition hinges on the first. Once we have medical and legal proof that Jasper is my son, we will marry and return to Isla Sagrado. It is my home and it should be Jasper’s home, too.”
“No!”
The single syllable ripped from her mouth before she could stop it.
Ben narrowed his eyes. “It is not such an impossible thing to ask, is it? You agreed to my conditions just a moment ago, and I’m prepared to be generous with you—to give you my protection, my name and my home. I’m giving you a chance to get away from all the scandal and the unhappy reminders you have here. A chance to watch your son grow to adulthood in a secure and loving environment.”
Mia didn’t trust herself to speak. Her chin wobbled as she fought back the words she wanted to say—that she was taking everything back; that she’d rather face the media without his help rather than give up her home. Ben could obviously see the battle behind her eyes because he appeared to choose his next words very carefully.
“I would not like to be forced to assert my parental rights to Jasper by legal means, Mia. If such a thing happened I would seek full custody and I would bring the might of the greatest legal minds in family law, both here and in Isla Sagrado, to fight for what is my right as Jasper’s father. And I will win. You can be certain of that.”
Ten
“Why? Why would you do that to him? Why would you be so cruel as to tear him from the only home he has ever known—the only family he’s ever had?”
Ben huffed out a breath and pushed himself up off the bed before crossing the room to stand before the window. His shoulders were set in a straight line, his spine equally rigid.
“He has another family, my family. We are the last of a dying line, which makes him all the more precious. He’s a sign of hope for the future.”
“That’s a heck of a lot of pressure to put on one little boy, Ben. You told me you have brothers—that hardly seems like a dying line. Aren’t you being unrealistic about Jasper’s importance?” she asked, stricken by the heavy portent of his words.
“Not according to the curse.”
“Curse?”
Ben sighed. “Let me explain it to you fully. Three hundred years ago one of my ancestors took a lover—the governess whom he’d hired to teach his daughters. Over time, she bore him three sons—sons he needed to carry on the family name especially as his wife had borne him three more daughters. He raised the boys as if they were his own legitimate issue. When his wife died, his lover expected him to marry her. After all, he’d already gifted her with La Verdad del Corazon—the Heart’s Truth—a ruby necklace traditionally given as a betrothal gift to a del Castillo bride-to-be.
“But he chose to marry another and on the wedding day his lover broke into the celebrations and made an accusation before everyone assembled there that he had stolen her sons from her. My ancestor declared her mad and ordered her to be taken away. The stories say that she implored her sons to be true to their real mother, but they stood by their father and told her their real mother was dead. Before the guards could remove her from the banquet hall, the governess flung a curse upon the del Castillo family and swore that if in nine generations we could not learn to live our lives by our family motto of honor, truth and love, every branch of the family would die out.
“The guards took her into custody then, but she broke free and jumped off the cliffs onto the rocks below. Before she fell, she tore the necklace from her neck and threw it into the ocean screaming that only when the curse was broken would it be returned to the family again. Her body was recovered, but the necklace never was.”
Mia sat in stunned silence. Surely he didn’t believe all that. It was preposterous. A legend of what, three hundred years, having a bearing on her son? She cleared her throat carefully before speaking.
“And you and your brothers, you believe in this curse?”
Ben’s shoulders sagged momentarily. “No, we did not. But our grandfather most certainly does and it is for him that we have all agreed to marry and start families so that his final years can be happy ones, surrounded by the great-grandchildren who can prove to him that we are not cursed.”
“And here you are, with a ready-made family.” Mia could not keep the bitterness from infiltrating her words.
“Mia, this is not something of my own choosing. Each of my brothers and I made a pact, a vow of honor to one another that we are sworn to uphold. It may sound archaic to you, b
ut both Alex and Reynard have taken the first steps to make this right for our grandfather. Now it is up to me.”
“But why does it have to be Jasper? Why can’t you marry someone else and start a family with them?”
The second the words exited her body she was struck with a fierce shaft of jealousy such as she’d never experienced before. The mere thought of Benedict having children with another woman was poison to her mind.
He turned from the window and faced her before answering with words that suddenly robbed her of breath.
“Because I can no longer father a child.”
She didn’t even question the veracity of his statement; she could see it in his eyes. He told the truth and it was killing him inside.
“The accident? Your injuries? Is that why?”
He gave her a curt nod.
Suddenly it all made awful sense—why he’d been so adamant that Jasper was his son, why he’d wanted her to admit it and, now, why he’d insisted that she agree to paternity testing so he had irrevocable proof that he had a child of his own.
But she still couldn’t help feeling that Jas was being used as a tool in all this. Sure, she could understand that after being injured so severely Ben would feel justified in considering the discovery of his son as a gift. But the whole curse thing and the pact between the brothers? It just didn’t sit right with her. He’d said nothing of love, for Jasper even if not for her. How could she agree to her little boy going to a world he didn’t know, to have his life mapped out by a man who didn’t even love him?
But what else could she do? He literally had her over a financial barrel.
“Do we have to live on Isla Sagrado?” she eventually asked, her voice strained.
“It is my home and the home of my family. My business is there, as is everything else I hold dear.”
His words struck at her like pebbles thrown against glass. He couldn’t have made it clearer that she and her son were not a part of what he held dear. Not in any way, shape or form. Jasper was a means to fulfill a promise he’d made to his brothers. A promise that was designed to make the final years of an old man happy. And she was merely a step to acquiring that goal—a step that he could and would dispense with, if she persisted in refusing him.
For the Sake of the Secret Child Page 10
