Their Secret Baby by Kate Walker Page A

created by the pain of the memories she wanted to forget.
    ‘No talking.’
    Josh had said, ‘We have to talk.’ It was the way he had prefaced telling her the truth.
    We have to talk, he had said, but the fact was that Caitlin had hardly said a word. She had been too shocked, too devastated to open her mouth. And her tongue seemed to have frozen solid, incapable of movement.
    ‘Josh said we had to talk—and he talked all right! Oh, yes, he poured it all out—didn’t seem able to stop. How he had never meant to hurt me, but he hadn’t been able to help himself. How he’d just seen her and fallen head over heels—how he wanted to be with her…’
    She broke off abruptly as Rhys leaned forward, putting one hand over hers to stop the bitter flow of her words.
    ‘That’s talking,’ he said quietly.
    ‘So it is.’
    Her mouth twisted into a wry grimace.
    ‘I’m sorry.’
    ‘Do you want to tell me about it?’
    ‘I think I’ve already said more than enough.’
    It was sharp, vehement, emphatic. She didn’t want to revive those memories; didn’t want to recall them at all. For the first time she had put them behind her, out of her mind, and she wanted them to stay that way.
    ‘So what do you want to do?’
    She looked up into his darkly watchful face. She had been studying that face throughout the evening, opposite her, across the table, in the candlelight. The blue eyes, the long, thick lashes, the sensual mouth…
    She’d watched that mouth with a fierce concentration. She’d seen it smile, laugh, sometimes twist cynically. She’d seen him touch his napkin to it, raise his glass, and when it came away the firm fullness of his lips had been stained faintly with the rich burgundy of the wine.
    And it had been impossible not to wonder—to imagine the feel of it on her mouth, on her skin…
    ‘Caitlin?’
    ‘I want you to kiss me.’
    It clearly wasn’t the last thing he was expecting. His reaction showed no surprise, no hint of shock. Instead he just inclined his head slightly, those deep blue eyes widening, darkening, and the sensual mouth that had so fascinated her curled into the faintest hint of a smile.
    Leaning forward, he touched his lips to her cheek, soft and warm and enticing.
    ‘Like this?’
    Sanity begged her to say yes. To say that was what she had wanted. All she had wanted.
    That was the safe way.
    But safety wasn’t what she wanted. She had thought that she was safe with Josh and their future, but it had only taken a day or two to turn that on its head and leave her, even though she hadn’t known it at the time, standing with the ruins of what she had thought her life to be lying all around her.
    She’d had enough of safety. She didn’t believe in it any more. ‘No.’
    It was a moan of protest, of complaint.
    ‘No, that’s not what I want. Not enough.’
    She heard his breath draw in between his teeth, met the deep intensity of his gaze head on and read her fate in it.
    ‘Then tell me what you want, Caitlin. Show me.’
    It took the space of a heartbeat, the tiniest of movements, to turn her head until her mouth met his, until their lips were against each other, their breath mingling, their eyes locked.
    ‘I want this…’ she said and took his mouth in a slow, lingering kiss. ‘I want this—and more.’
    His only audible response was faintly muffled laughter, but his physical response was all she had wanted. His lips took the kiss from her and returned it with full force. Slow and sensual and growing in demand with each second that ticked by. His tongue slid out and ran along the opening of her mouth, promising, enticing, provoking.
    And Caitlin gave herself up to that provocation.
    Her mouth opened to him, a faint sigh of surrender escaping, turning into a sound of pure longing and need. And, hearing it, he reached out, enfolded her in his arms, holding her hard against him. A slight twist of his body, a hint of pressure on hers, brought her down onto the back of the