A REASON FOR MARRIAGE

Could this also be the reason Sara’s self-confidence was so fragile beneath her veneer of derision? The reason she was so determined not to become involved with another man? Possibly also the reason she and Bruce had called off their wedding?

Simon could certainly believe the latter. Even on such short acquaintance Simon knew that Bruce was the sort of vindictive bastard who would never have let Sara forget about her miscarriage.

“It’s all right, Sara,” he assured her softly, speaking into the silky softness of her hair. “Everything is going to be alright.”

She gave a choked laugh. “Of course it isn’t.” No, as far as Sara was concerned perhaps it wasn’t…

“You are a beautiful young woman, with all your life still ahead of you. Not all men are like Bruce Bennet,”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“Thank goodness!” She gave a shiver of revulsion.

Simon looked down at her quizzically. “You really do not love him still?”

Sara straightened before attempting to stand up, but she was prevented from doing so as Simon’s arms tightened about her to keep her firmly sitting on his knee. Which was pretty embarrassing, now that Sara thought about it. In fact the whole of this evening had been embarrassing, she realized, now that she had got over her shock and calmed down a little. First of all she had completely flipped out when they’d arrived at Lincoln’s house. Then she had almost collapsed with surprise when she had realised Bruce was also at the party. Even worse, she had run from the room and been violently ill in the ladies’ powder room once she had seen that Bruce’s wife was pregnant.

An embarrassment that Simon had witnessed when he followed her. And now she had cried all over his white shirt, probably ruining it, no doubt giving him completely the wrong impression as to why she had become so upset in the first place. Not the best first date she had ever been on. She doubted Simon had ever had one like it before, either.

She gave a shake of her head. “I’m not sure that I ever did love Bruce,” she answered him honestly. “Not really. I was in love with the image I’d conjured up in my head,”

“And yet you almost married him…?”

Sara nodded. “We met at a party given by one of my brother’s friends. Bruce was six years older than me, and he seemed so mature and self-assured in comparison with my other friends-taking me out to the theater and wining and dining me at expensive restaurants.” She grimaced as she saw Simon’s raised brows. “I’ve had plenty of time to think about this, and I know now that I allowed myself to be dazzled by Bruce’s easy charm and self-confidence. I mistook being dazzled for being in love.”

Simon looked down at her quizzically. “It was a big thing to get engaged to him still,”

“Yes, I thought he was a good man and that he loved me. He and Scott had been rivals for a while and he was just trying to get back at Scott. He told me to keep our relationship a secret and stupidly, I agreed… because I was worried that Scott would stop me from dating him if he found out,” she explained at Simon’s questioning look.

“And I was right. He’d have stopped me and I’d have saved myself a lot of trouble. When Scott finally did find out, it was too late. He was pissed because he blamed himself. He’d not only been a brother to me, but also a father since our dad left our mother when we were still very young. I should have been open about it.”

Simon gave a pained frown as this further knowledge of Sara’s life only added to those reasons why she now felt so cynical towards love and relationships. His own childhood hadn’t been without trauma, when his mother and father had died so suddenly when he was only eight, but when he’d gone to live with his aunt and uncle he had been lucky enough to find another set of parents who had loved and cared for him as their own.

“You haven’t had an easy time of it, have you?” Simon observed.

Sara smiled bravely. “No worse than a lot of people.” She drew in a deep breath. “Simon , I seem to be doing this a lot recently where you’re concerned- but I really am sorry for blubbing all over you just now.”

“No apology is necessary.”

“What if I were to make it a “suitable” one…?” Sara quirked her brows at him as she pulled his bow tie undone, before starting to unfasten the buttons down the front of his shirt.

Simon regarded her warily. “I am not sure this is a good idea-”

Sara didn’t allow him to finish as she moved to lean into the hardness of his bared chest before pressing her lips against his.

Simon sat completely unmoving, his arms still lightly about Sara’s waist as those deliciously sensual lips moved softly against him, as light as butterfly wings. The lightness of her perfume was invading his senses, and he felt the heaviness of her breasts pressing against the hardness of his chest.

She moved back slightly, her palms hot against his chest, her breath warm against his lips as those brown eyes looked directly into his.

“Make love to me, Simon…”

His body reacted instantly to that husky invitation, his pulse racing, heart pounding, and his shaft becoming rock hard and throbbing in seconds. It was impossible for him to deny how much he wanted to accept that invitation.

But he wasn’t going to do so.

Sara might have stopped crying, but there was no forgetting how upset she had been earlier. And the reason for that distress wasn’t going to go away any time soon-which probably meant she wasn’t completely responsible for her actions right now. For Simon to make love to her under these circumstances would surely make him as much of a bastard as her ex-fiance. Even if he did literally ache to just pick Sara up in his arms and carry her to his bed!

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“Where are you taking me?” Sara’s arms moved up about Simon’s neck as he stood up with her still cradled firmly in his embrace.

His eyes were a deep, dark emerald as he glanced down at her. “Where would you like me to take you?”