Stay Through the Night Read online

  Rosa caught her breath. ‘That’s not funny.’

  ‘Hey, I know that.’ Liam regarded her with rueful eyes. ‘I’m no hero, Rosa. I had pretty horrific nightmares for—well, for months after it happened.’

  ‘Oh, Liam!’ She lifted his hand and pressed her lips to his knuckles, and he saw the tears glistening in her eyes. ‘It must have been awful.’

  Liam gave a concessionary nod, but he withdrew his hand from hers. ‘It wasn’t good,’ he agreed. ‘But I don’t want your pity.’

  ‘It’s not pity,’ she protested, staring at him. ‘I just don’t know what to say, that’s all.’

  Liam took a deep breath. ‘You could say you’re pleased to see me,’ he remarked after a moment, and Rosa’s shoulders rounded in defeat.

  ‘You know I am,’ she said huskily. ‘But—but when I thought you’d just called here on your way to London to see another woman—’

  ‘I was on my way to the clinic, actually.’ Liam sighed. ‘I didn’t tell you because it’s not something I’m particularly proud of.’

  Rosa supposed she could understand that, although as far as she was concerned he had nothing to be ashamed of. ‘And did you?’ she asked instead. ‘Check yourself into the clinic?’

  ‘Yesterday,’ he agreed. ‘Then I checked myself out again this morning and flew up here. But I have to go back.’

  ‘Oh!’ Rosa nodded. ‘That’s what you meant when you said you had to go back to London tomorrow.’

  ‘Yeah.’ Liam considered her pale face. ‘Do you believe me?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘There’s no “of course” about it,’ retorted Liam. ‘A little while ago you were accusing me of going to London to see another woman.’ He frowned. ‘How did you get to speak to Lucy anyway? She never said she’d had a call from you.’

  Rosa gasped. ‘Does she know about me?’

  ‘Oh, yes.’

  ‘You told her?’

  ‘She wheedled it out of me,’ said Liam drily. ‘My sister is nothing if not determined.’

  ‘Gosh!’ Rosa’s cheeks turned pink.

  ‘Gosh?’ Liam gazed at her disbelievingly. ‘My God, I’ve never heard anybody actually use that expression before. Do you say “goodness” and “oh, bother,” too?’

  Rosa stared at him for a moment, as if she didn’t know how to take him, and then she realised he was just teasing her. ‘Oh, you!’ she exclaimed, punching his arm but without any real desire to hurt him, and Liam caught her hand and pulled her against him.

  ‘That’s better,’ he said, his voice thickening with satisfaction. Then his mouth found hers, and for a long time he didn’t say anything at all.

  His kiss was hot and hungry, showing her in so many ways that only her recalcitrance and his self-restraint had kept them apart this long. He seemed starved for her, his hand sliding into her hair, angling her face to make it easier for him to deepen and lengthen what had become a wholly carnal possession. The erotic slide of his tongue against hers caused her to tremble uncontrollably, and she fumbled her arms around his neck and clutched a handful of his hair.

  ‘This was worth coming back for,’ Liam groaned, shifting to accommodate the sudden bulge between his legs. He sucked on her lower lip, biting her and tasting her, drawing the tip of her tongue between his teeth. ‘And I was afraid you’d never want to see me again.’

  ‘You didn’t really think that,’ whispered Rosa, tugging his ears reprovingly. ‘Or you wouldn’t be here.’

  ‘No.’ He conceded the point, and she thought he never looked more attractive than when he was pretending to be chastened. ‘Still, you can probably thank Lucy for part of that.’

  ‘Lucy?’ Rosa drew back to rest her forehead against his. ‘Your sister?’

  ‘For her sins.’ He nodded. ‘It was she who helped persuade me that I was behaving like an idiot.’

  Rosa’s eyes widened. ‘How did she do that?’

  ‘The way she usually does things,’ said Liam wryly. ‘She keeps on and on about something until you’re compelled to tell her what she wants to know if only to shut her up.’

  ‘And she wanted to know about me?’

  Liam gave her a measured look. ‘As if you didn’t know.’

  Rosa dimpled. ‘Go on. I want to hear what she had to say.’

  ‘Yeah, well—’ Liam pulled back now, cradling her face between his palms. ‘Before I tell you, perhaps you’d like to explain how you found out about Lucy?’

  ‘Oh…’ Rosa sighed. ‘Can’t you guess?’

  ‘Humour me.’

  ‘All right. All right.’ She sighed again. ‘If you insist on having your pound of flesh, I listened to the message she’d left on your phone.’

  ‘Ah.’ Liam’s lips twitched. ‘That wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that when I got the phone back it was chipped in several places?’

  Rosa gave him a defiant look. ‘You noticed?’

  ‘Oh, yeah.’ Liam’s thumbs stroked across her cheekbones, a sensuous caress that caused a shiver of helpless anticipation to slide down her spine. ‘Lucy pointed it out to me.’

  ‘And I suppose you both had a good laugh about it?’ said Rosa accusingly, but Liam shook his head.

  ‘No.’ His jade eyes darkened. ‘It gave me the courage to come back here and find out if you were just bugged because I ran out on you or because of something else.’

  Rosa shrugged. ‘Like what?’

  ‘Like—well, having listened to Lucy’s message myself, I had to admit it could be—misconstrued.’

  Rosa swallowed. ‘So now you know why I thought you were going to meet another woman?’

  ‘Yeah, I know.’

  ‘And I suppose you think it was lucky that Colin was there this afternoon when you came to meet me.’

  Liam gave her a strange look. ‘I wouldn’t put it quite like that.’

  ‘No, but it saved you having to ask me if I was still seeing him,’ Rosa declared tremulously. ‘I mean, when you walked out of the apartment you obviously thought I’d been lying—’

  ‘Don’t!’ Liam moved one hand to cover her mouth, preventing her from going on. ‘Don’t, baby,’ he said again, his eyes full of compassion. ‘I don’t need you to tell me what a fool I’ve been. God, I’ve been regretting not giving you a chance to explain what was going on ever since I left.’ He paused, removing his hand and briefly replacing it with his lips before continuing, ‘But try and understand, if you can. I know my faults, better than anyone. I know I’ll never win any beauty competitions. And I dare say you heard that the girl I was engaged to when I was attacked walked out on me when she discovered that, as well as looking like a monster, I might not be able to function as a man anymore.’

  Rosa gasped. ‘You don’t look like a monster. And—and you can—you know—’

  She broke off and Liam grinned. ‘Oh, yeah,’ he said humorously. ‘You know I’m not impotent. But as for the rest—’

  ‘Liam, you’re the only one who sees your injuries as anything more than a few fading scars,’ Rosa protested huskily. She lifted a finger and tapped his temple. ‘They’ve gone from your body, but you’re still keeping them in here.’ She leaned towards him and kissed his forehead. ‘You’ve got to let them go. They don’t matter, believe me. Not to me. Not to any woman worth her salt.’

  ‘Well, as you’re the only woman I care about, I suppose I’ll have to believe you,’ he murmured, nuzzling her neck. ‘But, if I’m honest, I’ll admit I was glad to see your ex again.’

  Rosa frowned. ‘You were?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Liam’s grin deepened. ‘If you must know, I’ve been itching to smack that bastard ever since he came to the apartment. Still,’ he added smugly, ‘I think he got the message.’

  Rosa felt a smile lurking at the corner of her own lips. ‘He got the message,’ she confirmed. ‘And there was I, worried sick that he might hurt you.’

  ‘Hey, after I was on my feet again, I attended a course on self-defence,’ said Liam c
omfortingly. ‘Hopefully, I’ll never have to face another maniac with a knife, but, compared to Craig Kennedy, Colin was a piece of cake.’

  ‘So I noticed.’ Rosa slipped her arms around his neck again. ‘Now, are you going to take off your coat?’

  ‘I will if you will,’ he replied teasingly, his fingers slipping beneath the hem of the sweater she’d worn to school. Then he groaned. ‘I should have known it wasn’t going to be that simple.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  Liam shucked his overcoat and jacket off his shoulders. ‘See—I’m just wearing a shirt.’ He grimaced. ‘I don’t know how many layers you’re wearing.’

  ‘As it happens, it’s cold in the classroom,’ said Rosa indignantly. ‘And I’m only wearing a vest under my blouse.’

  ‘Only!’ Liam was mocking. ‘So—take them off.’

  Rosa drew a shaky breath. ‘Now?’ She glanced towards the door. ‘Don’t you want to go into the bedroom?’

  ‘Not particularly.’ Liam’s eyes were dark and undeniably sexy. ‘I think we should christen the sofa instead.’

  Rosa’s breathing quickened. ‘You shouldn’t say things like that,’ she exclaimed reprovingly. ‘What if someone comes?’

  Liam arched dark brows. ‘Are you expecting anyone?’

  ‘N-o.’

  ‘All right.’

  Rosa’s tongue circled dry lips. She could do this, she told herself. Even though she’d never done a striptease for any man, least of all Colin. Her ex-husband had always behaved as if sex was something you did in bed and nowhere else, and she wondered now whether that had been his fault or hers.

  Her fingers went to the hem of her sweater and, taking a deep breath, she hauled it over her head. Her hair was probably all over the place now, she thought, but, refusing to worry about it, she started on the buttons of her blouse.

  However, she was all thumbs, and after watching her struggling for several tense seconds Liam brushed her hands aside and tackled the job himself.

  But the buttons proved just as resistant to his efforts as they’d done to hers, and after a moment Liam gave up. Taking hold of the neckline, he simply tore it open. ‘That’s better.’

  Rosa blinked at him. ‘You didn’t have to destroy it.’

  ‘I’ll buy you another,’ he said carelessly. ‘Something equally as unflattering, if that’s what you want.’

  Rosa bit her lip. ‘You’re too impatient.’

  ‘I’m getting there,’ he agreed mildly. He fingered the hem of her vest. ‘Does this have buttons, too?’

  ‘You know it doesn’t.’ Rosa was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe at all. Pulling the vest over her head, she cast it and the blouse aside. ‘Satisfied?’

  ‘By no means,’ he murmured wryly. Then, flicking the elasticated strap of her bra, he added. ‘You didn’t say anything about this.’

  Rosa trembled. ‘I’m sure you know how to take one of these off.’

  ‘I’m sure I do, too, but I want you to do it.’ His eyes caressed her. ‘Please.’

  Rosa shook her head, but her hands went obediently behind her back to release the catch. When the loosened straps tipped off her shoulders Liam completed the job by pulling them off her arms.

  ‘Beautiful,’ he said, just looking at her, and Rosa forgot all about being self-conscious in the sensual warmth of his eyes.

  He put out his hands and gripped her bare midriff, but although her nipples were aching for him to touch them, he only allowed his thumbs to brush the undersides of her breasts.

  His hands were faintly rough and unfamiliar, but their abrasion against her soft flesh caused a gnawing hunger down deep in her belly. She wanted him to touch her everywhere, most particularly between her legs, and the waiting was becoming as intolerable to her as it had been to him.

  With unsteady fingers she sought the buttons on his shirt, and he let her. Having more success with his larger buttons, she soon achieved her objective, and when she pushed the shirt off his shoulders he didn’t try to stop her.

  The only reaction she noticed was the sudden tenting of his pants as her fingers touched the hair that grew down the middle of his chest. And when he saw where she was looking he uttered a rueful groan.

  ‘Yeah, yeah, now I’m impatient,’ he said, giving in to the urge to lift her breasts with his hands. The swollen tips pushed provocatively against his palms and, unable to stop himself, he bent and took one into this mouth.

  But it wasn’t enough for either of them, and Liam’s fingers fumbled with the button at the waist of her trousers.

  ‘I’ll do it,’ she said breathlessly, and while she pushed her trousers and her panties down her legs, Liam did the same.

  For the first time, Rosa had the opportunity to see the scar that began low on his stomach and arrowed down the inner part of his thigh.

  He saw her looking, but he didn’t try to cover himself. ‘Ugly, isn’t it?’ he said roughly, half expecting to see revulsion in her face even now.

  But all Rosa did was bend her head and bestow a line of kisses from the harsh gash that marked the top of the wound to the more sensitive place between his legs.

  And by then Liam was breathing heavily. ‘Enough,’ he said unsteadily. ‘I want to be inside you when I come, and unless you stop right now there are no guarantees.’

  Rosa smiled. ‘So what are you waiting for?’ she asked, lying back on the sofa, one leg raised provocatively. She trailed a tempting hand down her body. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’

  EPILOGUE

  SIX MONTHS LATER, Rosa stood at the bedroom window, gazing out at the view that never failed to enchant her. It was spring, and Kilfoil was just beginning to burgeon with colour. There were daffodils and tulips growing in the lee of the castle wall, and last night Sam had shown her the first shoots of the orchids that she’d discovered were his secret passion, growing in one of the hothouses he tended.

  Standing here, watching the ocean that was today flecked with white foam, Rosa could hardly believe that she’d been married to Liam for over six weeks. Of course she’d been at Kilfoil since Christmas, except for the four weeks they’d spent in the Caribbean after they were married, but she felt as if she’d always lived here. Like Liam, she had no desire to live anywhere else. This was their home.

  But it had been an unbelievable six months since he’d turned up at the school that afternoon. In the beginning, Rosa had been sure she must be dreaming. The fact that Liam loved her had seemed too good to be true.

  Yet it wasn’t.

  Her family had been stunned when she’d first introduced Liam to them. Her mother had been doubtful that he could be serious about her elder daughter. ‘Now, if it had been Sophie,’ she’d said, in her usual unthinking way, ‘I wouldn’t have been surprised.’

  Rosa had weathered this, as she’d weathered all her mother’s unkind comments in the past, but Liam hadn’t liked to see her being hurt. ‘The trouble with your mother,’ he’d said when they were alone, ‘is that she doesn’t realise that although she’s got two beautiful daughters, only one of them’s a real woman.’

  Sophie herself had been surprisingly philosophical. Although it was in her nature to flirt with every man she met, she wasn’t offended when Liam teased her about it. She’d told Rosa that she thought Liam was a real dish, and that she wished it had been him who’d taken her to London, instead of that creep Jed Hastings.

  The only real fly in the ointment had been Kayla Stevens-Baja.

  Liam had had to return to the Knightsbridge clinic, and when she’d discovered he was in London, Kayla had thrown herself on his mercy, begging him to forgive her and telling him he was the only man she’d ever really loved.

  Of course Kayla had made sure it made headlines, and although Liam had been phoning Rosa every day, telling her how much he missed her, she hadn’t been able to help worrying that the other woman might persuade him to go back to her.

  However, a couple of days after the headlines about Kayla’s visit to
the clinic had appeared in the tabloids, Liam had turned up in Ripon again—this time with a ring.

  Their engagement had appeared in The Times the following day, and although Liam would have liked Rosa to resign from her job and return to Scotland with him, he’d agreed to wait until Christmas for her to join him.

  And now…

  She was drawing a tremulous breath when a drowsy voice said, ‘What are you doing?’

  Turning, Rosa saw her husband was awake, too. Propped up on his elbows, the warm quilt loose about his lower limbs, Liam looked wonderfully tanned and relaxed, and Rosa left the window to kneel beside him on the bed.

  ‘I was just admiring the view,’ she said, aware that the filmy nightgown left little to his imagination.

  ‘Mmm.’ Liam’s smile was possessive. ‘I know exactly what you mean.’ But he was looking at her, not towards the windows, and she pushed him playfully back against the pillows.

  ‘You’re impossible,’ she said, straddling his supine body so he couldn’t get up again. ‘But I’m just so happy to be home I’ll forgive you.’

  Liam arched his dark brows. ‘Didn’t you enjoy our honeymoon?’ he asked in a mock-wounded voice, and she pulled a face at him.

  ‘Our honeymoon was—heavenly,’ she told him contentedly. ‘I loved the Caribbean. You know I did. But this is where we live.’

  Liam grinned up at her. ‘You know, I didn’t know real redheads could go brown,’ he murmured provocatively. ‘But you’ve got a lovely peachy tan.’

  Rosa caught her breath. ‘Are you implying I’m not a real redhead?’

  ‘Oh, no.’ Liam’s eyes dropped lower. ‘I know you are. Who better?’

  Rosa couldn’t help herself. A faint colour touched her cheeks, and to divert him she said, ‘At least I’m not the skinny creature I was when we first met.’

  ‘No.’ Liam agreed with her, his hands curving over her hips, making her intensely aware of his morning erection beneath her bottom. ‘You’re fattening up nicely. Mrs Wilson will be pleased.’

  Rosa was horrified. ‘I’m not fat, am I?’ she protested, scrambling off the bed again and scurrying across to the adjoining dressing room with its long mirrored doors. ‘Oh, God, I am getting fat!’ she exclaimed, running anxious hands over her midriff. ‘I’ve got quite a mound here.’ She made a worried sound. ‘I’ll have to cut down on those chocolate puddings Mrs Wilson keeps tempting me with.’