Moonflower by Leigh Archer

sides. Her mind raced with Clarice’s cautions, but her heart
seemed to egg her on to run to him so she could again know the
truth of how their bodies felt together, the certainty of his
breath against her lips, as if they shared one breath between
them.
    Then
Reuben was at the door, taking her hand, drawing her inside,
closing the door behind them. All the while she felt like a car
wreck inside; mangled, confused, insides twisted.
    'Is
something wrong, Sophie?' he asked, frowning down at her. Looking
worried, concerned.
    Sophie’s
heart melted like morning dew on the savannah.
    She said
nothing; shook her head.
    'I've
missed you,' he said, cupping her face in his hands so she had no
choice but to breathe in the scent of him—unique masculinity,
expensive earthy aftershave.
    He dipped
his head, touched his lips to hers. Played tenderly with her top
lip, then the fullness of her bottom lip. Sophie was breathing hard
by the time he slipped his tongue inside her mouth, and she was
desperate for the taste of him; intoxicated, making her head
spin.
    Sophie
shuddered as he pressed his hips to her centre. She tried to recall
Clarice’s words. Remember who she was before Reuben Manning had
taken over her body and now, it seemed, her mind. She knew there
was a bigger picture to her life. Long-term plans. She was Sophie
Kyle: conservationist, daughter, sister, friend. And what did she
really know about Reuben Manning, a man who seemed to present to
the world two faces?
    Sophie
pulled her mouth from his; brought her hands up to his chest and
began to push away from him.
    Reuben
stilled her hands, frowning down at her. 'Sophie?’
    She said
nothing. Looked to her feet, because if she had to see his face,
the navy blue eyes and sensuous lips, she would come undone and
give in to him.
    He
slipped a finger beneath her chin and gently lifted her face.
‘What's all this about, now?'
    Sophie
tried to see him as if for the first time, without any of the
emotions she’d begun to feel intruding on her assessment. He
returned her gaze, openly, but there was a storm brewing in the
deep blue eyes.
    She took
a deep breath and stepped away. 'I’ve just realised I'm not such a
big girl after all,' she said, and quickly left the
room.
     
    If Reuben
had allowed himself such weaknesses, he would have spent what time
he had brooding about Sophie's reaction to him this morning. He had
to admit he hadn’t seen it coming. Not long ago she had left his
bed a contented woman. He couldn’t believe she was still upset
about the question of hunting when he’d ruled there would be none
on his farm. So what was Sophie’s game?
    Was it a
childish reaction to her exclusion from dinner last night? It
couldn’t be. She knew the deal, and he'd only ever been honest with
her. They would spend time together when it suited them both; there
was no other place for her in his life.
    But as he
thought about these things, something niggled at the back of his
mind. What he liked so much about Sophie was not only her
fresh-faced beauty, but her integrity and lack of artifice. He had
become tired of the games sophisticated women played. Sophie was
practical, young but strong, with an extraordinary career ahead of
her. He had assumed that she was in no more of a hurry to entangle
her life with his, than he was to alter his path for her. It was
the reason the arrangement suited them so well. Could he have been
wrong about her?
    He felt
so damned guilty. Why had the fact that she was upset thrown him to
the extent that he spent moments of his scarce time trying to
figure out the cause of her unhappiness?
    And now
that he thought about it, if he were playing by his own rules—that
they were to be together only when circumstances were ideal—why
couldn't he walk past her without pulling her into his arms? He
certainly did not want his friends and business associates to know
that he had a sexual arrangement with his very young
conservationist.
    So why
did he risk looking at