Free Legacy by Dana Black

caressed, and for a moment I felt shamelessly, wantonly excited to be alone with this man in this room.
     
    He was watching me. Could he see my excitement?
     
    I blushed. 'What were we talking about? Something made me forget. I think I'm a bit tired . . .'
     
    Unsteadily, I came over to the sofa and sat beside him, telling myself that I would only stay for a short while. I would excite him, too, as he had excited me, but then I would surely go . . .
     
    'Yes, where were we?' he was saying. 'I seem to recall a conversation about announcing our engagement at Brad's ball next week. As I recall, you were against the idea, being rather severe about it, too, I might add.'
     
    He looked so sure of himself, so confident of his own powers! It would be a pleasure to watch that cool self-assurance turn into passionate longing!
     
    'Oh?' I asked archly as I drew just a little closer to him. 'And have you anything to say in your own defense?'
     
    'Well, actually, by now it's all for nothing. Brad says I've got to be in Harrisburg all next week. I probably won't even be back until the morning after. So I couldn't have taken you anyway.'
     
    He smiled, reaching out to kiss me, and I let him come near me, let him touch my shoulders with his warm hands and draw me up to him, let him kiss me fully, lingering, savoring my lips like a sweet and heady wine.
     
    'Though God knows we ought to tell both of those old fools just exactly . . .'
     
    'Let's not talk now, Steven, shall we?' My lips moved against the smoothness of his cheek as I whispered. I breathed in the nearness of him, the, warm, masculine scent of his body that enfolded me like an intoxicating cloud. Again I felt the longing to touch him, to awaken his passion as he had awakened mine.
     
    He gripped my shoulders, his powerful fingers pressing into my flesh. He covered my mouth with his, and then again came the fierce pressure, the hard, sweet pangs that sent fires racing through me and blotted out all else. I wanted him with a certainty that made me tremble. Oh, I wanted him. The need for his touch, the heat of him, yes, all of him, was suddenly overpowering.
     
    I pressed him close to me, holding him tighter and tighter as I tried to will him away, wishing to escape somehow from this fierce intensity, but the longing only grew. And then he was lifting me up in his firm embrace, and I opened my eyes to see that his own were lit with the same urgent desire. Oh, and I have won, I thought, but the words came faint and small.
     
    Steven made love to me that night, and I thrilled to see him moan with his own pleasure. He brought me again to the brink of ecstasy, holding me helpless, shuddering, and I yearned for him never to release me. I was his, utterly, every fiber open to his touch, his caress, his demand.
     
    Yet something brought me back to my senses several hours before dawn. Silently, under the stars and the setting moon, Steven led me home so that I would awaken in my own bed that Sunday morning.
     
     
     
    Chapter Four
     
    When I did awaken Sunday, I had to wash and dress hurriedly so as not to miss church. I was still in a half-awake daze, still hugging the memory of last night to me in its warm, secret glow. I had time for a sweet roll and coffee in the kitchen. Then it was out to the open carriage to join my parents that lovely spring morning for the ride to the new cathedral.
     
    Fourth Street, the 'millionaires' row of houses', looked especially grand in the spring. The cherry blossoms were still pink and white, the dogwoods were in bloom, and everywhere, it seemed, there were azaleas, scattered splashes of red and violet beside the huge houses. The slender flowering trees, spaced apart on the wide lawns, muted the bright azaleas with their cool pastels and reminded me of a Japanese watercolor in their soft tranquillity.
     
    I rode to church that Sunday with no feelings of regret, even though I knew what havoc my secret might have caused. Father has sworn