He flinched. ‘You don’t think I know what’s real? While you were home I was out working in the real world. Not just tame work in some office. Out in vicious temperatures, remote wild places—it was hard. Harder than you can imagine; harder than you’ll ever have to experience.’
She stabbed her finger into his chest. ‘You have no idea what I’ve been through, Jacob Adams, and I don’t think you would know real life if you fell over it. What you described isn’t real! It sounds like some adventure a Boy Scout would go on—but when he gets home there are people there who need him to stay, not for him to find the next big adventure going.’
‘We needed money.’ His voice softened. ‘I needed to work.’ His hands relaxed their grip on her arms and he ran his thumbs gently along her skin.
Her body screamed for all the years of loneliness and neglect. She felt an unwelcome surge of excitement. Making love was the one thing in which they had been in total agreement and unison, and her loins ached at the thought. ‘I could have done with less, much less.’
He raked a hand through his dark hair and stared boldly into her eyes.
She held them.
Jake pulled her against his hard body and wrapped her in his warm embrace. She could feel his chin resting against the side of her head, hear him breathing in her perfume, her shampoo, her very essence, and her heart wrenched at the futility of it all.
She pulled back and searched his face.
He was intense, watching her lips.
Meg’s heart thudded against her ribs. The vulnerability in his eyes frightened her more than anything else.
He leant towards her and touched her lips with his. The caress was feather-light, sending her stomach into a wild swirl.
His kiss gradually deepened and she surrendered to the sensations running wild in her body. It was the goodbye kiss they’d never had.
His mouth moved over hers, devouring its softness, exploring and caressing, and a hunger attacked her. She responded like an animal, wanton and abandoned, and the pain of the past faded in the wake of the passion he was evoking in her.
She had an aching desire to retake what had once been hers, and the need overwhelmed her fears. She plundered his mouth and he responded.
He crushed her to his body.
Time melted away and it was the same as it had been. His lips and hers, dancing in unison. Electricity zinged between them like lightning, their arms and bodies interlocking in an embrace so warm, so hard, so hot that Meg could hardly breathe.
When Jake pulled back he tasted her lips again and again, as though he couldn’t get enough of her. Finally, he pulled away.
Her lips were still hungry, as her body was, and it was all she could do to stop herself crying out at his withdrawal.
The corners of Jake’s mouth twitched. He seemed to enjoy her struggle to capture her composure. ‘It’s still there, Meg.’
‘It’s not enough, Jake,’ she managed breathlessly. Her blood pounded wildly through her veins and an aching was aroused in her that she’d kept suppressed for too long. ‘I’m going home.’ She pulled out of his hold and snatched up her bag. She had to get away from him before she did something stupid.
‘Meg.’
His voice cut into her, straight to her core. She stopped.
‘You owe me a chance, Meg.’
She spun around. ‘What the hell gives you that idea?’
‘Damn it, Meg. You’re the one who ran away. I want to talk about this.’
‘I’m different and you’re—you’re…You’re you! I’ve grown up.’ She looked away to hide the truth. ‘I won’t live like that again, Jake.’ Never again.
She could barely suppress her temper. She wanted to tell him everything she’d been through, all the pain, the hurt, the loneliness, but the words died on her lips. He wasn’t any different now from the man she’d known three years ago—it would end just the same. ‘I’m not your wife any more.’
CHAPTER THREE
‘YOU may not wear my ring any more.’ Jake glanced at her bare finger and his gut lurched. ‘But we’re still married.’
Meg strode resolutely to the door and swung it wide. ‘Goodbye, Mr Adams.’ She lifted her chin in defiance.
Jake ignored the door.
She was still beautiful. Her large blue eyes and lush red lips spoke directly to his body. The spark in her voice fired his passion and her ivory skin called to him to touch her again and again.
Meg needed someone looking out for her. It could have been him if he hadn’t been blinded by work. He should’ve seen she wasn’t happy. Her leaving him like that had been confirmation of his greatest fear.
Marrying her had been right for him, but not for her. He’d taken advantage of her youth, her naivety, and paid for it with a gaping hole in his life.
But now he was back. He was worthy of her now. He had money, security, and was hell-bent on not making the same mistakes again. He was sure that, whatever her reason for leaving, he could make it right now.
Jake could barely restrain his need to make her his again. But he knew from Meg’s chilly reception that she wasn’t ready to let them pick up where they left off. She wasn’t even willing to see how much he’d changed. If only he knew why. Then he’d have some chance of sorting this all out.
A muscle quivered in his jaw. ‘I mean it, Meg. I’m not leaving your side until you tell me what happened.’
Meg crossed her arms over her soft, full breasts, her lips pressed together in a grim line.
The look on her face said it all. Jake knew it well. Hers was a look of defiance, as if she’d rather be struck dead than give in to him. He’d spent enough years coercing men to work to know he had to change tack or lose.
‘Let me start over, Meg. This has gotten all out of proportion. I came to find you so I could work out what went wrong. So…’ He paused, faltering in his course of action. She had to feel safe, see him differently. ‘So I don’t make the same mistakes with…’ His befuddled mind dredged up the name of the woman who had handled his company’s business logo and card designs. ‘With Vivian.’
Meg’s arms dropped to her sides. Her lips parted in surprise, her whole jaw slack, blank eyes staring at him.
Of all the rotten…Meg’s mind ran through a dozen expletives. The nerve! Coming to ask her to explain to him what he’d done wrong so he didn’t wreck his precious relationship with this Vivian. The only reason!
She clenched her hands by her sides. No wonder it had taken him so long to find her. He’d been waiting for a good reason. And her name was Vivian.
She walked stiffly back to her desk, moving around the expanse of timber, hoping for some barrier between them. This had had to come. She had known that it would eventually. Though she’d expected some document in the mail from his solicitor, demanding she sign divorce papers so he could marry some nameless, faceless woman. Not him in person. ‘I guess you’ll want a divorce, then.’ She ground the words out from between her teeth.
He looked taken aback for a moment. ‘Yes, of course. But I’m not going to sign anything until I understand fully what went wrong with us.’ He seated himself casually in one of her embroidered chairs and propped a foot up on his knee, exuding a calm that Meg wished she could find herself.
‘Then why the hell did you kiss me?’ She leant heavily on the desk, wishing she could spit fire and strike