Free Lifelong Affair by Carole Mortimer Page B

curve of her hips, slipping knowledgeably beneath the lace to find the
centre of her passion-
    His
caresses knew no bounds now, and Morgan groaned into the warmth of his
mouth as her desire threatened to spiral out of control, flicking her tongue
enticingly along the edge of his lips as she pleaded for an end to his tortuous
caresses. Alex's mouth opened against hers, and he groaned, his thighs surging
wildly ist hers. Moments later he was pulling roughly away from her, breathing
deeply. 'We have to stop now,' he said raggedly.
    'No
.. .!' She gave a moan of sexual frustration. 'Alex, please!' She clung to him
in appeal.
    'Do
you think I don't want you too?' He held her arms at her sides. 'You know I
do!' he groaned. 'But not here, and not like this.' His eyes were a smoky grey
colour as he slowly regained control of himself 'And I don't think we should
cloud the situation with a physical relationship.' 'But you just said——'
    'I
know what I said.' He swung away from her, standing up, pulling on his shirt
but making no move to fasten it. 'I've changed my mind. We've just proved that,
physically, we're compatible. We don't need to go any further to know that.
Agreed?'
    Her
own control was slower in coming, the rapid rise and fall of her breasts
evidence of that. But the way Alex couldn't even bring himself to look at her,
staring down at the dying embers of the fire, was like a cold shower on her
emotions, and she pulled her dress back into place, feeling a return of some of
her dignity along with it. 'Agreed,' she said curtly. 'I wouldn't want to cloud the
situation,' she added tautly.
    Alex did turn now. 'Morgan        '
    'I can't marry you, Alex - '
    'You
haven't even thought about it!' 'I don't need to,' she spoke calmly. 'It
wouldn't work, Alex. All the problems that made Glenna so unhappy would apply
to me too if I were your wife.'
    'What
problems?' he bit out savagely.
    Just
to look at him unnerved her, his dark hair still ruffled from her caressing
fingers, his tanned hair-roughened chest still aching to be touched. She wasn't
aware of her own tousled hair, her lips bare of lip-gloss, still swollen with
the passion that had raged through her minutes earlier. 'Your mother, living
here, the fact that England is not my native country. We don't even have love
between us to help make it work.'
    'Granted,'
he acknowledged curtly. 'But that's precisely the reason I think it would work.
My mother is my problem, not yours. And you haven't seemed as if you dislike
England while you've been here. Besides, you'll still have your career.'
    She
frowned her puzzlement. 'I can still work?'
    'Of
course,' he replied, as if he had never considered she would do anything else.
'If the character of Mary-Beth is completely acting, as you say it is, then
you're too good to stop.'
    Morgan
flushed at the taunt. 'You might be surprised,' she snapped. 'But have you
considered the fact that if I continued with the series I'd be in the States
for six months of the—Ah,' she gave him an accusing glare. 'I understand
now. If I marry you Courtney stays here all the time, but / leave for six
months every year. No way, Alex!'
    He
looked down his nose at her with haughty arrogance. 'I believe I told you I
would make the move to the States if that's what you want. I want to provide a
stable background for Courtney, at any price.'
    Her
anger turned to confusion. He meant it about moving to the States, she could
see that in the determination of his expression. She only had to say the word
and he would leave this house and move his business to the States. She couldn't
ask that of him, and no matter how much she disliked Rita Hammond she couldn't
do it to the other woman either. The other woman had already lost one son; to
lose her other one, and her only grandson, was likely to break even the hardened
Rita Hammond.
    'Don't
think about it now/ Alex encouraged softly as he sensed her uncertainty. 'Go
back to the States tomorrow, think about it while