Phillip leaned back but only so he could look into her eyes. Without thinking about what he was doing he slammed his lips onto hers. The second their lips touched, Phillip felt her shift against him and became aware that he was holding on to her too tightly. Loosening his hold, Phillip allowed his lips to tease hers. They captured, sipped, peppered tiny kisses from one corner of her mouth to another. She gasped and clung to his shoulders when he tried to lift his head. He didn’t object. With any other woman he would have not welcomed her clinging. With Carlotta, he wanted to feel her need for him. He wanted to know that he wasn’t alone in experiencing this wild surge of passion and his battle to contain it. He wanted her to understand that if they battled through this new adventure together they were going to have to change their lives forever. Phillip growled and tugged her closer when a particularly strong breeze billowed around them. Neither noticed its strength as they explored. Hands devoured with as much ferocity as mouths as they stood on the blustery clifftop and surrendered to this special moment.
‘We have to stop,’ she whispered breathlessly when Phillip’s hands slid down to cup her derriere and lift her against him. She didn’t object to their intimate stance. It was the fact that they might be seen by someone walking through the woods that made her lean back. When she looked at him she was immediately aware that she could see him more clearly. The fog bank was lifting.
Phillip buried his face into her neck and sucked in a deep, fortifying breath. ‘I am sorry for that.’
Carlotta struggled for words. She wanted to dismiss what had just happened but it was so profound she couldn’t. Rather than answer, she stared mutely up at him. Before Phillip could speak, a loud blast of gunfire exploded in the woods beside them.
Phillip cursed and grabbed Carlotta’s bag and hand. ‘Hurry up.’
Diving for the retreating sanctuary of the fog, he tugged Carlotta with him but wasn’t fast enough to avoid the gunman who took another shot at them. The bullet buried itself deeply into the tree beside Phillip who cursed again and pushed Carlotta before him so any bullet that was fired at them would hit him not her.
‘Go.’
‘Which way?’ Carlotta gasped as she ran. Even though the fog had started to lift she still struggled to see properly. Carlotta still ran, but at some point she veered off the path because the undergrowth thickened considerably and slowed their flight.
‘To the left,’ Phillip hissed.
Carlotta jumped over a log and stumbled when her feet were immediately captured by the dense shrubbery.
Phillip landed next to her. He ducked when another bullet settled into a tree several feet to their right. ‘He doesn’t know where we are.’
Carlotta glared at him. ‘How can you say that?’
Another bullet landed in a tree several feet to their left.
‘Well he is either randomly firing into the woods after us in the hope that he can hit us if we are hiding or he is a really, really lousy shot.’ Phillip nudged her into a walk. ‘Take the route to the right.’
Dutifully, Carlotta began to pick a path that took them to the right.
‘Wait.’
Carlotta stopped. She had no choice. Her chest hurt from the exertion of the last few moments. She bent over and tried to get her breath.
Phillip stepped closer and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. ‘Stand up. If you bend over you will fall. If you stand upright it will make you less dizzy,’ he whispered.
They both winced when another bullet was fired.
‘How do you know that man isn’t after you?’
‘I don’t,’ Phillip replied honestly.
‘What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into?’ she whispered.
Phillip ran a hand through his hair. ‘We have to talk about that later. For now, let’s keep moving.’ He was aware that until he could get a good look at the gunman he had no idea if it was Haugham chasing them, one of the thugs from last night who accosted the Star Elite in Bladley Weeks, or the thugs who were after Carlotta. ‘Be honest, Carlotta. Might those thugs who called for you earlier want you dead?’
Carlotta wanted to say that they wouldn’t, but she really couldn’t be that hasty because she couldn’t forget the guns the thugs had carried. ‘I am not sure,’ she replied.
Phillip mentally cursed. ‘You must stay with me. If we stay together you will be safe.’
‘There really isn’t any option, is there? You have saved my life twice now,’ she whispered.
Phillip stepped closer and cupped her face in his hands. ‘Then trust me.’
Despite the danger that swirled around them, her questions about him, and the dishonesty that lay between them as thickly as the fog, Carlotta did. With a curt nod, she smiled at him only to have his lips settle over hers once more. This kiss was brief. It was over as soon as it began but its impact was devastating because Carlotta knew she was never going to be the same again. It was wildly reckless of her to allow him to kiss her at all, but she couldn’t find the strength to deny him.
With a wink, Phillip caught her hand in his and tugged her back onto the path. Together, they began to find their way to Bladley Weeks.
CHAPTER FOUR