Free A Wife in Time (Silhouette Desire) by Cathie Linz

Susannah knew, she was falling....

Four
    S usannah’s descent was abruptly halted by Kane’s half-naked chest—upon which she lay sprawled, momentarily at a loss for words. When she’d fallen on top of him, he’d gasped for breath. So had she.
    Before she’d lost her balance, Susannah had seen the startling flame of hunger in Kane’s blue eyes. Now she couldn’t see anything. Her eyes were closed but her other sensory pathways were wide open and being bombarded with intimate details. He’d already removed his suit jacket. The thin material of her borrowed nightgown and his rented shirt and pants did little to conceal the warmth emanating from their bodies—a warmth that was increased by the sudden awareness striking sparks between them.
    In an instant, the memory of his kiss earlier that evening came back to her with vivid detail. Her nose was pressed into the hollow of his throat and she could feel his Adam’s apple move as he swallowed. Her hands were trapped beneath her, sandwiched between her chest and his. She could feel the beat of his heart against her palm. It was racing. So was hers.
    She felt frozen, like an insect trapped in amber. Her mind knew she should move, should push away immediately, but her body seemed to lag behind—like a caboose on a long freight train. Her hips were pressed against his and there was no mistaking his very male reaction to having her sprawled atop him like this. Or had he already been aroused from watching her undress behind that screen?
    The thought sped up her reflexes. Using her hands to prop herself up, she found herself looking down at his face, directly into his eyes. They sloped downward on the outside corners, giving him a bedroom look. Of course, she was in a bedroom with him, on the bed with him, reacting to him. The expression in his blue eyes caught her and threw her off-balance as surely as his grip around her wrist had done moments before.
    Where had that hunger come from? Was she looking at him the same way? God, she hoped not! But chances were that she was. Because she felt the gnawing yearning to get even closer than she was, to lower her lips to his, to once again feel the sensual intensity of his kiss.
    She wasn’t sure if he moved, or if she did. She only knew that his mouth was covering hers. Whereas their previous kiss had been sudden and intense, this one was slow and sweet. She was drawn into it, became an equal participant in the seductive swirl of tongues.
    Wait, this couldn’t be, mustn’t be! She struggled to free herself from the magically hazy web that held her in its grip while forcibly reminding herself that Kane had accused her of having an affair with his brother. He thought she was a loose woman. He was not good for her. Something to be avoided.
    Avoidance was difficult to do while they were sharing this bedroom, however. The first step was to end this bewitching kiss. She did so immediately. Her eyes met his for a second before she tore her gaze from his, for the first time noticing the white mosquito netting draped from the canopy and tied back at the corners of the four-poster bed.
    Susannah’s thoughts of passion went out the proverbial window as another thought occurred to her—regarding windows without screens...mosquitoes...and yellow fever.
    “Wait a second.... When did they get rid of yellow fever?” she demanded of Kane even as she scrambled off the bed.
    “Wha-at?” He was clearly startled by her question. One minute he’d been holding a soft bundle of femininity in his arms, with brown eyes the color of chocolate and lips that could make a blind man see, and the next instant she was shooting questions at him about yellow fever. Did she think he was sick or something?
    Maybe he was sick—that would explain the fever he felt whenever she was near. She was getting under his skin. That first kiss back at the poker table had almost knocked his socks off. He could understand why his younger brother, Chuck, had fallen for