Free Resisting Her Rebel Doc by Joanna Neil Page A

him.’ He said it without rancour, as a statement of fact. ‘When David came along the world was a brighter place and my father expected me to watch over him and keep him safe.’
    She sent him a quick look. ‘You didn’t seem to mind doing that.’
    ‘I didn’t, not at all. We fought sometimes, we got into scrapes, but we were brothers. I think the world of him and I’d do anything for him.’ His expression became sombre. ‘My one regret was that I had to leave him behind when I left home. David didn’t forgive me for a long time. He hated that I’d left.’
    ‘I liked the way you took it on yourself to watch out for him. I’m sure he knew you weren’t left with much of a choice but to go away, back then.’
    She looked up at him as they stopped in the shade of a spreading oak tree. Moonlight filtered through its branches, casting them in a silvery glow. She leaned back against the broad trunk of the tree and he stood in front of her, sliding one arm around her waist.
    She’d always liked him—wanted him, even—but always there had been this wariness whenever she was with him. Perhaps it was her youth that had held her back from him in those far-away days, the knowledge that he was at odds with the world, always in trouble, yet he didn’t seem to care... There had been that element of danger about him. There still was. Being with him set her on a path of uncertainty—a path that could surely only lead to heartbreak because she still yearned for him. Even as she gazed up into his eyes and read the desire glittering in their fiery depths she recognised the folly of what she was contemplating.
    ‘Caity,’ he murmured, lifting a hand to brush her cheek gently. ‘You’re so lovely. You take my breath away.’
    He bent his head towards her, his face so close to her that his lips were just a whisper away from hers. She longed to have him kiss her but she was confused, her emotions a maelstrom of doubt and insecurity. This day had started off with so many echoes of unhappy feelings, she didn’t know how she could have come so far to wanting this...
    A soft sound drifted on the night air, a footfall on the path just a short distance away, and as she looked out into the shadows she became aware of Jenny and Matt walking along the path, talking quietly to one another. They paused and stopped to gaze up at the moon.
    Caitlin closed her eyes to shut out the image and then looked back at Brodie. His gaze was dark with yearning, smoky with desire; in that instant she lost herself, caught up in the flow of that heated current. She needed his strength right then, his powerful arms around her, everything that meant shelter and protection from the outside world. She ran her fingers up over his chest, lacing them around the strong column of his neck.
    His kiss was gentle, coaxing, a slow, glorious exploration of everything she had to offer. His lips brushed hers, the tip of his tongue lightly, briefly, tracing the full curve of her mouth, seeking her response. She kissed him in return and in a feverish surge of passion he drew her close, easing her into the welcoming warmth of his taut, muscular thighs.
    Her soft curves meshed with his hard, masculine frame and a ragged sigh escaped her, breaking in her throat. He kissed her thoroughly, desperately, his hands moving over her in an awed, almost reverent journey of discovery.
    ‘Brodie...’ She didn’t know what she wanted to say...just his name was enough. She wanted him, needed him, longed for him to make her his.
    And yet...wasn’t he too strong, too male, too much of a driving force that would sweep her up and carry her along with him until he had done with her and was ready to move on? Perhaps she had always cared too much... She’d cared for Matt and he’d walked all over her; she cared for Brodie and he would eventually push her away. Could she handle that rejection, that awful nothingness that was bound to come?
    But, then again, why shouldn’t she experience