Finding Forever by Melody Anne Page A

free.
    “Let go of me,” she said breathlessly. “Please. NOW.”
    He looked into her flushed face and groaned. Her eyes were dilated in passion and she was breathing heavily. It would be so easy to seduce her into continuing, but he wasn’t about to force her. Still, he had to say something in his frustration.
    “I don’t know why we keep stopping.”
    “Because this can’t go anywhere. That shouldn’t have happened again,” she told him. She turned and, once more, ran away from him.
    He wanted to chase her, but she was right. This couldn’t possibly go anywhere. It would be for the best if he forgot about her, forgot about this feeling inside him, and simply carried out his plans.

Chapter Fifteen
    L iam put his head in his hands, and though he fought it, he gave out a deep sigh.
    “Is everything all right, son?” Frederick asked as he entered the room.
    “Yes. I just …” Liam just bailed out with a sentence fragment. What could he say? Nothing. There was no rational solution. “It’s nothing. Too much work,” he lied.
    Two days had passed since he’d shared that kiss with Whitney in the cave. After that, she’d taken pains to avoid him, and his body had burned with need for her. The need extended beyond mere lust, though, beyond the hope for a simple exchange of bodily pleasure. The needs tormenting him were to talk to her, share with her, learn about her.
    And those sorry needs weren’t getting met.
    “I see,” his father said in a knowing voice, one that immediately grated on Liam’s nerves.
    It was time to change the subject. “Did you want me for something, Father?” Liam spoke far more sharply than he should have, but he didn’t want Frederick intruding into his personal life.
    “No, not really. I was just checking in with you. Whitney has a caller in the main hall,” Frederick said offhandedly.
    “A caller? What do you mean by that?”
    “A gentleman caller. A man has come to call upon her. Surely you know that expression. Do you remember The Glass Menagerie ?”
    It took a few moments for the meaning of his father’s words to penetrate.
    “I wasn’t aware she knew anyone here.” Liam was trying to seem casual, but feeling anything but that.
    “She apparently met someone at the market,” Frederick told his son.
    “She’s not staying. Why would she care to meet anyone?” Liam snapped.
    “This is a good thing, son,” Frederick said. “For her and for us.”
    Liam sent an irritated look his father’s way. “Why is it a good thing?”
    “Because if she falls in love with someone here, she will most certainly want to stay. Then we get to be with the children without our being monsters,” Frederick told him.
    “We aren’t monsters for wanting my brother’s children to have the best possible life they can,” Liam told his father. But he did feel like a monster for wanting to take the kids away from their loving aunt.
    “Your brother also stated, very clearly, that he wanted to have his children raised by Whitney. He spent many years with her. If he trusted her with the children, shouldn’t we?”
    “It’s not about trust,” Liam practically thundered.
    “Then what is it about?” Frederick asked.
    “We’ve spoken about this already, Father. It’s about the children having the advantages that come along with carrying the Felton name.”
    “They already carry the Felton name. Whitney hasn’t tried to change it to Steele. And there’s more to life than a name, or even money. It took me too long to learn that. Your brother figured it out and then was lucky enough to fall in love and have a family.”
    “And that family is also ours,” Liam reminded his father.
    “Yes. So, as I said, hopefully this suitor here to see Whitney is a charismatic man who sweeps her off her feet. Then we get the best of both worlds,” Frederick said.
    Liam was done with this conversation.
    “It would be rude if I didn’t say go and say hello to this suitor,” he told his