“Conceive me?” Even in the dim light, Roark couldn’t miss the color splashed over Elizabeth’s cheeks. “Unlike what we’re doing, I imagine she had sex with my father.”
Her lips thinned at his mild censure. “But how did they meet?”
Until Vance had entered his life four years ago with the tale that they were both sons of Edward Waverly, Roark hadn’t realized how deeply he’d buried his longing for a father. The hole in his psyche had gone unnoticed before he’d left for the marines, but he now understood that it had been a persistent ache he’d learned to ignore. After his military career ended, he’d focused his energy on the hunt for antiquities and used the thrill of success to keep all disquiet at bay.
“My grandfather collected coins, some of them extremely valuable. After he died, my mother decided to sell his collection. She approached both Rothschild’s and Waverly’s. The representative from Waverly’s convinced her to let him auction the coins.”
“You mean Edward Waverly.”
Roark thought back to the journal entry from that day. His mother’s normally bold, confident penmanship had wobbled. Her crisp, matter-of-fact recounting of the day’s events had become somewhat disjointed when describing her meeting with Edward Waverly.
“She never named him.” Roark thought about those passages. He’d scrutinized them over the years, looking for answers to his father’s identity. “A week later they were lovers.”
“So fast?”
“When he saw something he wanted, he went after it.” Roark caught Elizabeth’s hand and tugged her onto his lap. “That’s something we have in common.”
She made no attempt to hide her dismay. “Strictly business, remember?”
He bent down and kissed her tight lips. Almost immediately her spine lost its stiffness. Her hand crept over his shoulder and tangled in his hair. He smiled at her soft sigh of surrender. They’d been circling this moment for days, flirting with the attraction between them, testing the limits of restraint.
“Forget business,” he murmured against her lips. “I want you.”
Her body trembled. “I want you, too. But I’m not sure this is a good idea.”
“This is a great idea. I thought so from the first second I laid eyes on you. Somehow, even from across the room I knew it would be like this between us. So damned hot.”
He pulled her blouse free of her narrow skirt, fingers skimming past the silk hem. She gasped at the skin-on-skin contact. Her muscles tensed as he spread his fingers over her rib cage.
His lips fastened over hers, swallowing her groan. With tongue and teeth he explored her mouth. The taste of her, the abandon with which she kissed him back. He wanted more. So much more. And so did she.
Swirling sensation stole all rational thought. He focused all his attention on the woman in his arms.
Blood pounded in his ears, driving his need for her higher.
“Roark.” Elizabeth shifted on his lap. Her chest pumped as she sucked in an irregular breath. “Your phone is ringing.”
“I don’t care.” He nuzzled her neck and smiled when she quivered.
She got her hands between them and used his chest to lever herself off his lap. “What if it’s important? You should answer it.”
Cursing, he let Elizabeth back away, but held her gaze. “You’re the only thing that’s important to me at the moment.”
The phone stopped ringing before she could respond. They stared at each other for a series of heartbeats, anticipation building once again. His palms still tingled with lingering pleasure from the exploration of her lush curves. His chest burned from contact with her full breasts. If pressing against her drove him wild, what the hell was going to happen to him when he made love to her?
He might never be the same.
Roark took a single step in her direction and the silence was shattered by another round of ringing.
“See.” Elizabeth looked toward the phone. “They’ve called back. You’d better find out who it is.
He snatched up the phone. “Yes?”
“Good evening, Mr. Black,” said the doorman. “Sorry for the interruption but the FBI is here. They want to speak with you.”
Any hope Roark had of resuming their earlier activity vanished. “Send them up.”
Elizabeth was watching him with a frown. “Should I go?” Her fingers shook as she stuffed her blouse back into her skirt and smoothed her hair.