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tugging on it slightly at the roots. 'I was only '
'I know what you "were only", Crystal,' he returned. 'What concerns me is
why.' He frowned grimly, those fingers now entwined only tightly enough
about her hair to stop her moving away from him rather than hurt her. 'Does
it disturb you to have me touching you like this?' he probed.
Disturb her! She could barely breathe and her body felt as if it were on fire,
if that was what he meant!
'Of course not,' she denied, reaching up to release her hair from his grasp so
that she could sit forward. 'I think it's completely uncalled for and
certainly hasn't been encouraged but that doesn't mean '
'It does disturb you,' Sam said incredulously, eyeing her speculatively now.
'Crystal ' He broke off as she stood up.
She rounded on him angrily. 'Why do you persist in calling me by my full
name when everyone else calls me Crys?' she attacked, her whole body
tense with emotion.
'Probably because I prefer not to consider myself as belonging to "everyone
else",' he drawled dismissively.
'Rather arrogant of you, isn't it?' she returned scathingly, aware that she was
being incredibly rude but then, good manners had never been a particular
part of her conversations with Sam!
'Maybe,' he conceded, watching her with some amusement now as he
relaxed back on the sofa. 'But Crystal is too beautiful a name to be shortened
to just Crys.' His mouth quirked with distaste for the abbreviation.
'Perhaps I consider Samuel to be a nicer name than Sam!' She was being
completely childish now, she knew, but something inside kept driving her
on. A part of her was desperate to antagonise him at least she knew where
she was with him when he was being cutting and arrogant!
'Perhaps you do,' he smiled, apparently infuriatingly! completely
unperturbed by her outburst. 'And I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm afraid
I was christened just Sam.'
She had just made a complete fool of herself, Crys realised. For no reason, it
seemed. Because Sam wasn't in the least annoyed by her remarks. In fact he
looked more amused than ever!
'Well, Just Sam,' she bit out tautly, 'I thought we were going to watch a
video?'
'We are,' he agreed, still watching her thoughtfully, a faint frown-line
between his eyes now. 'Crystal, why are you suddenly as jumpy as a
newborn fawn?' he asked slowly.
Because that was how she felt! She was twenty-six, she had been
married very happily! and yet the awareness she felt for Sam was
completely new to her.
Perhaps it was the bracing Yorkshire air, after all. Perhaps all that good,
clean air had intoxicated her. Because that was certainly how she felt: a little
off- balance, her head buzzing, unable to put two coherent thoughts
together.
'I thought, despite our rather rocky start yesterday, that we'd had a good day
together,' Sam said in a slightly puzzled voice.
'We have! I have,' she corrected, unable to speak for Sam. 'It's just ' she
broke off with a sigh.
Just what? she questioned herself impatiently. That she didn't see Sam as
just Molly's brother? The man couldn't possibly be classed as 'just'
anything despite her earlier attempt at sarcasm concerning his name! He
was a man like no other she had ever met. Or was ever likely to meet.
And she didn't like the fact that she felt that way.
It was disloyal to James, to the time they had had together, to their marriage,
to their love. Physical attraction to another man for she surely didn't know
Sam well enough for it to be anything else! was a betrayal of what she had
shared with James. Wasn't it...?
'Crystal... ?' Sam stood up too, his expression quizzical as he moved towards
her.
She couldn't move! Her feet felt anchored to the carpeted floor, her legs
leaden.
'Crystal, this is not a good idea,' he protested huskily.
She felt like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car, completely motionless
as she watched Sam's head slowly bend towards hers, as his arms moved
strongly about the slenderness of her waist, his eyes wide open, his gaze
meeting her widely startled one as his mouth claimed hers in a deeply
searching kiss.
Crys gave a low sob in her throat even as her lips parted to receive that kiss,
her eyes closing now, her body suffused with warmth, her arms moving up
instinctively to his shoulders.
'You are so beautiful...!' Sam groaned seconds later, his lips moving warmly
down the column of her throat to the tempting hollow beneath.
At that moment she felt beautiful. Totally desirable. Totally alive.
That was it, she suddenly realised. After feeling emotionally dead for the
last year, with everything she did being done out of habit and routine rather
than any real desire to do it, Sam had made her feel alive again...
'Crystal?' He raised his head to look at her now, his gaze darkly searching as
he seemed to sense her total shock at this discovery of life of
love? flowing through her veins once more.
She swallowed hard, her own gaze fixed on the sensuousness of his mouth.
The mouth that had so recently kissed her own. 'Sam, I don't want to talk.'
'Tell me what you do want?' he prompted.
She trembled slightly within the circle of his arms, moistening dry lips with
the tip of her tongue before speaking. 'I want '
'Hello-ee...? Is anyone home?'
Crys's second shock, at the sound of that suddenly intrusive voice, was even
deeper this time. All colour left her cheeks and a look of total disorientation
clouded her features, her frown of confusion widening as Sam's arms
dropped from about her waist and he stepped away from her.
Who ?
The door to the sitting room was suddenly flung open, and a brightly smiling
Molly was standing in the doorway.
'Surprise!' she shouted happily, flinging her arms wide in greeting. 'I
managed to get an early flight back from the States this morning.' She
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