A Contract for His Runaway Bride

She put the glass down on a nearby side table. ‘I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I seem to have lost my taste for champagne. I might just have a juice or mineral water instead.’

Lincoln got the juice for her and then sat beside on her the sofa, his body angled so he could look at her. She was dressed in casual clothes—a pair of black leggings and a grey sweater that had slid off one of her slim shoulders. Her hair was tied in a makeshift bun on top of her head and her face was free of make-up. He could have sat staring at her for hours.

‘You seem to have affected a truce with Morag,’ he said, to break the silence.

Elodie’s gaze drifted away from his to look at her glass of juice. ‘Yes, well...we’ve come to an understanding.’

‘You looked very chummy out there. What brought about the change?’

She tucked one of her legs under her and brushed away a stray hair from her face. ‘She thanked me for helping her the other night—not that I did much apart from panic.’ She shrugged and briefly met his gaze, and added with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, ‘I figure I only have to be nice for her for another few months, then I’ll probably never see her again.’

Lincoln held her gaze for a beat or two. ‘You do like reminding me of the time frame on our marriage.’

And for some reason he didn’t like being reminded—even though he was the one who’d put the timeframe there in the first place. Almost three weeks had already passed...soon it would be a month, then two, then three, and before he knew it he would be facing not only the death of his biological mother but the end of his relationship with Elodie.

He didn’t know which he was dreading the most.

Elodie gave one of her sugar-sweet smiles. ‘I wouldn’t want either of us to get carried away because of all the fun we’re having.’

He scooted closer to her on the sofa, reaching a hand to her face to stroke a lazy fingertip down the length of her cheek. ‘I missed you.’ His voice came out as rusty as a hinge on a centuries-old gate.

Something flickered in her gaze and the tip of her tongue slipped out to deposit a light sheen of moisture on her lips. ‘I missed you too...’ Her eyes lowered to his mouth and she snatched in a tiny breath.

Lincoln brought his mouth to hers, drawn to her with an almost unstoppable force. The softness of her lips beneath his sent a riot of sensations through his body. Heat, fire, throbbing lust. His kiss deepened, his blood thickened, his pulse quickened. His tongue met hers in a dance as old as time, a sexy salsa stirring his senses into manic overdrive.

He slid one of his hands along the side of her face, splaying his fingers against her scalp. Her lips responded to the pressure of his with equal passion and fervour, her soft moans of pleasure sending flames of heat through his body.

He lifted his mouth off hers, holding her face in his hands. ‘How long have we got before dinner?’

Elodie stroked his jaw, her eyes shining with arousal, her lips curved in a sultry smile. ‘How long do you need?’

‘Not long.’ Lincoln rose from the sofa and pulled her to her feet, settling his hands about her hips. ‘We can save time by going to my study. I seem to remember you liked having fun in there...’

Her pupils flared and she nestled closer, the contact of her lower body sending a wave of powerful need through him that almost knocked him off his feet.

‘Sounds like a plan.’

***

Elodie let Lincoln lead her to his study, a few doors down the long corridor. She went in before him, and once he was inside he closed the door and turned the key in the lock with a sharp click that sent a shiver racing down her spine.

She gave the room a sweeping glance, noting that it had also been redecorated, but stripped down rather than dressed up. It still had strong, masculine lines, with functional furniture—desk, chair and bookshelves and a modern lamp. There was a desktop computer, and a printer and scanner on a cabinet behind the desk. There were no items of sentimentality lying about, no photos or keepsakes. It was a reminder of the cool and clinical components to Lincoln’s personality—the inbuilt traits that made it difficult for him to show, let alone feel, sentiment or emotion.

‘New office furniture...’

Elodie trailed a hand along the top of his desk. A flood of memories rushed through her mind. Erotic memories of desk sex after one of their legendary arguments. Was he recalling those red-hot episodes? Remembering the explosive passion that had flared between them?

She glanced at him and added, ‘I suppose this desk’s been used heaps of times?’

Lincoln came towards her, his eyes blazing with incendiary heat. ‘Not the way we’re about to use it.’

His hands gripped her by the hips again, and he lifted her so she was seated on his desk. Elodie linked her arms around his neck, gazing into the bluey-green kaleidoscope of his eyes. ‘You mean you haven’t christened it with anyone else?’

‘No.’

She didn’t like to read too much into his answer, but it surprised her all the same that he hadn’t brought any of his lovers into this room. ‘Why not?’

His mouth twisted in a rueful grimace. ‘Lots of reasons.’

‘Give me one.’

His gaze dipped to her mouth and then moved back to her eyes. ‘I always associated this room with you. That’s why I changed it. I couldn’t look at the old desk without thinking of all the times we’d made love on it.’

Elodie brushed her mouth against his. ‘I’ll let you in on a little secret...’ Her voice was little more than a whisper. ‘I’ve only ever had desk sex with you.’

He stepped between her thighs and brought his mouth closer to hers. ‘Does it make me sound like an egotist to be pleased about that?’

‘Maybe a little.’

He smiled and closed the distance between their mouths in a searing kiss that made the hairs on the back of her neck tingle at the roots. His tongue entered her mouth with a silken thrust that set her blood on fire. Molten heat erupted between her legs, the heart of her womanhood swelling, moistening, aching and pulsing with primal need. His tongue tangled with hers in a dance of lust that made her desire for him escalate to a heart-stopping level.

He left her mouth after a few breathless moments, trailing his lips down the side of her neck to her bare skin, where her sweater had slipped off her shoulder. His hands lifted her sweater and she raised her arms like a child for him to haul it over her head. He tossed it to the floor behind him, then his hands were going to her leggings. She lifted her bottom off the desk to help him remove them from her body, her heart racing, her pulse pounding, her breath catching.

He devoured her with his hungry eyes, his hands running over the globes of her lace-covered breasts with toe-curling expertise. ‘I want you naked.’ His tone was deep and husky.

‘And so you shall have me...once we get things a little more even around here.’

Elodie began to undo the buttons on his business shirt, but she’d only got to the third one when he became impatient. With a grunt, he took over the job, stripping his shirt off and sending it in the same direction as her sweater. She slid her hands over his well-defined pectoral muscles, her blood ticking with excitement. She brought her mouth to his chest, licking with her tongue across each of his flat male nipples, then circling them in turn.