“What happened?” she asked him.

“Um . . .” Nick’s bloodshot eyes darted to his brother.

Hudson paused with his glass halfway to his mouth. The look he shot Nick spoke volumes, not the least of which was “don’t you fucking dare.”

Allie let out an exasperated breath. The wall was back up. There was no way she was letting the subject drop indefinitely, but at the moment Nick’s injuries were her main concern. “Let me see.” She brushed his hair back from his face, trying to inspect the deep cut below his eye. “Do you think you need stitches?”

Nick winced and ducked out of her reach. “Nah, I’m fine. S’all good. Just need some soap and water.”

“I think it needs more than that.” She turned back to Hudson. “Do you have a first-aid kit?”

“He’s a big boy, Alessandra. He can take care of it.” The muscles in his jaw clenched as he glared at his younger brother. “Go to bed, Nick.”

“Ah . . . yeah. It’s been a long one.” Nick licked at the dried blood in the corner of his mouth.

“Well at least let me give you some ice.” Allie turned and reached for a clean dish towel, filling it with a handful of ice cubes. “Here, this will help with the swelling.”

He gave her a weak smile. “Thanks, Allie. Good seeing you again.”

“Yeah, you too.” She watched as Nick lumbered out of the room. He stumbled into the wall once but quickly righted himself before heading toward the stairs. Allie followed to make sure he made it down in one piece, then went to find Hudson.

He was in the living room, sipping scotch while staring out the window at the black shadow of Lake Michigan. Obviously he was upset by whatever he’d found when he went to get Nick, but what she couldn’t understand was why he was acting so cold toward the younger brother she knew he loved. Not to mention the anger she felt directed at her. Hostility rolled off him in waves, and part of her couldn’t help but wonder if it had something to do with his mood on the car ride home. Their weekend together had been perfect; but then everything started to unravel the moment they left the lake, and the closer they got to the city limits, the more she’d felt him pulling away.

When he’d drained his glass, he went to the kitchen to pour himself another. Allie waited for him to offer an explanation—or hell, say anything at all—but he merely turned on his heel and stalked out of the room.

She followed him into his office. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

He leaned against the corner of his desk and took a sip of the amber liquid. “How about you go first?”

“What do you mean?”

“This.” He gestured between them. “This farce. After all these years I’m still your dirty little secret, aren’t I?”

Allie stiffened. “Of course not.”

“Sure as hell been acting like it. Your mother saw us at the symphony and your first reaction was to run.”

“I couldn’t tell her the truth.”

“Right, because I’ll always be the kid from the wrong part of town. Doesn’t matter how much money I have, I’ll never be good enough.”

“That’s not true,” she said. Her voice was small. “I’m engaged, Hudson. You knew that from the beginning.”

He contemplated her words with narrowed eyes, then tossed back the rest of his drink. “Fair point.” His movements were smooth and methodical as he set the empty glass behind him and crossed his arms over his chest. When he spoke, his voice was menacingly calm. “Tell me, Alessandra, did he ask you to go with him to Paris? Two weeks is a long time to be apart. How many times has he called while he—”

Allie held up her hand. “Stop.” Enough was enough. She turned to leave but he caught her wrist.

“Not until you stop lying to yourself and end this charade.”

“It’s not that simple,” she shot back.

Hudson let out a harsh laugh. “Why, because the fucking invitations have gone out? Is that some rule of high society? No turning back once the announcement has run on page six? The rules you’ve lived by, the ones you had no say in creating no longer apply, Alessandra. If you continue to allow people to lead you down a predetermined path, then you’re not the woman I think you are.”

Tears pooled in Allie’s eyes. “I don’t know what you want from me.” She took an involuntary step backward as Hudson pushed away from the desk. He stepped closer until he stood before her, the bookshelf at her back. His proximity and the intensity of his gaze overwhelmed her, and she looked away, torn between the urge to run and the urge to wrap her arms around him and never let him go.

He cupped her jaw and gently turned her head. His blue eyes burned with sincerity. “What I want is for you to ask yourself what makes you happy. Not your parents, but you.”

A stray tear slid down her cheek and he caught it with his thumb.

“You have it in you to get what you want,” he said, his voice low and coaxing. “You have all along.”

Dipping his head, Hudson took her mouth in a tender kiss. His lips moved softly over hers, his tongue lightly tracing the seam of her lips until she opened for him. He entered slowly, reverently, teasing and tasting her with soft, shallow licks as her body melted into his.

He sighed deeply and let his forehead rest against hers. “I promised myself I wouldn’t bring this up till next weekend, but I can’t do this anymore, Allie. I can’t keep pretending two weeks will be enough.” His impassioned voice was barely a whisper. “The thought of you leaving tears me apart, a knife twisting into my soul.”

His confession burned through her like fire, igniting her body with a desperate need. She grabbed him, pulling him to her and kissing him with all the pent-up emotion of the past two weeks. Every feeling, every desire, every unspoken word poured into that one kiss.

“I won’t share you,” he murmured against her lips. “I can’t. And it’s not just male pride.”

Hudson leaned back to look at her, his eyes dark and smoldering. “The thought of another man touching you . . .” His hand smoothed over the curve of her waist. “Making love to you . . .” His fingers dug into her hip. “It’s unbearable.”

Grasping the back of her thigh, he lifted her leg, draping it over his as he placed his foot on one of the lower shelves. With a flex of his hips he pressed her against the bookshelf. “It’s either me or him.”

Her body moved of its own volition, pushing back against the erection straining the seam of his fly.

He watched her through hooded eyes. “If you can honestly tell me you want to walk away from this, I won’t stand in your way.” His fingers threaded with hers and he lifted her hand, pinning it above her head. “I’ll leave you alone if that’s what you decide.”

Allie felt her engagement ring slip from her finger.

“But tonight you’re mine.”

Hudson moved fast and swift, undoing his fly and shifting her panties. In one lithe movement he thrust inside her, emphasizing his words with the force of his body. She moaned, relishing the feel of him, but then all too quickly he withdrew. The emptiness she felt brought an unwelcome ache.

“More?” His voice was thick and husky.

“Yes.”

He groaned and drove to the hilt once more.

“Harder,” she breathed, wanting all he had to give.

Allie gasped as he surged into her, claiming both her body and her mouth. Over and over he took her, his tongue stroking hers with the same ferocious passion as his thrusts. Her senses were overloaded. The scent of his skin, the feel of his body, the taste of his mouth. She was surrounded by him, inside and out.

His arm banded around her waist, pulling her down to meet his punishing drives, and she tilted her hips, trying to take more of him. She clung to his shoulders and felt the muscles in his back flex as he gripped the shelf above her head. With his foot leveraged on the lower shelf, he powered into her, practically climbing the bookcase as he tried to get deeper and deeper inside her.