CC was trying to decipher the strained look on Noah’s face when suddenly he erupted in fury, his eyes narrowing to the forbidding silver expression she knew so well.

“Just what the hell do you think you were doing running around the streets like that?” Noah snapped harshly, staring at her garb.

“It’s none of your business what I was doing!” she countered, the last sweet fragments of her imaginings disappearing as wisps of fog before a cold, devastating winter wind.

“When you ran out in front of my coach, you made it my business!” he argued, not sure whether he wanted to shake her until she admitted the foolishness of her act or kiss her until she understood how frightened he’d been.

“Then I beg your pardon, Lord Kincade. Believe me, I had no wish to intrude on your evening, and I hope my untimely arrival didn’t ruin any of your plans…” she bit out ungratefully as she shook her head and allowed her hair to tumble free.

“I’m afraid you did ruin my plans…all of them…” he muttered softly, more to himself than to her as he stared at her in the dimness of the coach light. Even Noah’s anger, which was substantial, could not dampen the thrill of excitement he felt at having her so near, so unexpectedly.

Her upset was such that, even though his answer surprised her, it did not stop her from replying brashly, “Again, my apologies, although I fail to see how a moment’s delay in your busy schedule could ruin anything. Just stop the carriage and let me out. You can then be on your merry way.”

“Why? So you can try to kill yourself again?”

Wondering why he should even care, she glanced at him, puzzled, and time hung suspended as their gazes met and locked. They studied each other warily in the softness of the night shadows, his eyes, smoke-gray now, challenging and questioning hers as each dared to probe the other’s thoughts and emotions. Slowly, as if mesmerized by the gentle rocking and sweet privacy of the carriage, Noah leaned closer and, without touching her in any other way, let his lips meet hers. The moment was explosively enthralling as the gentlest of caresses sent shock waves of awareness through both of them. Noah moved back slightly to stare down at her in wonder, and he lifted one hand to tenderly touch her cheek.

“You’re very beautiful, CC…very beautiful…” His voice was low and filled with husky male desire.

CC felt as if she were drifting. The rough velvet sound of his deep voice and the tingling caress of his hand left her breathless and weak. All thoughts of hatred and distrust were banished. Languidly, as if she’d known for all her life that this moment would happen, she went into his embrace, whispering only “Noah…”

Noah gloried in her seeming willingness, and he wrapped his arms about her in a fiercely possessive hold as his mouth moved to claim hers, tasting and testing the joy to be found in that passionate exchange. Feverishly they broke apart for an instant and then melded again, the impassioned kiss a mere imitation of the mating their bodies so longed for.

CC felt Noah’s hands upon the buttons of her shirt, and she shivered in expectation. She remembered well the ecstasy of his hands upon her bare flesh, and a low moan of excitement escaped her.

Until that moment Noah had been holding a part of himself back, refusing with that one last shred of resistance to believe that she was coming to him without a fight, but the sound of her eager need cast the last of his doubts aside. Boldly he parted the soft material and slipped a hand within to push aside her bindings and cup the round fullness of one breast. Tantalizingly, he teased the nipple to hardness as his lips left hers to explore the sensitive cords of her throat.

CC clung to Noah desperately as his hands and lips worked their magic upon her silken flesh, and when he guided her down to lie upon the comfort of the leather seat, she did not protest. His caresses were intoxicating, and she was drugged with desire. There was nothing she wanted more than to be one with him, and she looped her arms about his neck and pulled him down to her.

“Please, Noah…”

“Ah, CC…” he groaned as his lips moved lower to seek out the taut crests of her breasts.

CC whimpered her need as Noah suckled there, the erotic drawing arousing her to a fever pitch. For the first time in her life, CC knew a desire to touch as well as to be touched. She reached out to Noah in her excitement, caressing his hard-muscled form with eager hands. His response to her aggressiveness was immediate and exhilarating and she found herself enjoying the feeling of power it gave her to know that she was able to please him.

With trembling fingers CC unbuttoned his shirt and then embraced him fully, exploring his chest and stomach with a restless, heated touch, coming near but never quite touching that most intimate part of him. Her teasing caresses were driving Noah to distraction. Desperate to feel the softness of her hand upon him, he finally grasped her wrist and forced her to touch the hardness of his need for her.

CC gasped at his slightly rough maneuver, but when she saw reflected on his face the sheer rapture her caress gave him, she no longer needed to be forced. She wanted to please him. She wanted him to experience the same ecstasy that she felt whenever he touched her. More brazenly now, she traced patterns of fire upon his body, and Noah groaned in passionate need.

“CC…ah, love…I need you so…”

“Yes, Noah…please, now…” she pleaded as he shifted his body away from hers to give him room to unfasten the breeches she wore.

“I’ve never made love to anyone wearing breeches before…” he murmured with just a touch of humor as he slipped the offensive garment down her sleek legs, baring her womanhood to his questing caress.

“I wish you’d never made love to anyone before me…” she told him almost fiercely as she felt jealousy surge within her at the thought of him with another woman.

He did not miss the possessiveness of her tone as he gathered her near, and he told her huskily, “More importantly, CC, there will be no one after you…”

The memory of Eve threatened the moment as she responded vaguely, “I wish I could believe that…”

Noah did not answer, kissing her instead as proof of his desire, and CC put it from her as she surrendered to his masterful expertise. There was no more time for talk then as he moved between her thighs, and after freeing himself from his own breeches, he fitted himself to her in love’s most intimate caress. CC gasped as she felt the magnificence of him slide deep within her, and Noah shuddered in excitement as he felt the wet, satiny heat of her close around him and hold him tightly. Wanting her aroused and ready, he began to fondle her again, pressing kisses to her silken flesh as he began his rhythm. When she started to move with him, matching his thrusts, he reached down to cup her hips and press her more closely to him.

That single demanding action sent waves of throbbing pleasure pulsing through her, and she cried out his name in her ecstasy. Noah felt her peak as he continued his driving possession, branding her as his own for all time. As his own pinnacle of love neared, he clasped her to him, rocking powerfully against her in the age-old dance of delight that soon had him spiraling mindlessly out of control in the rapture of his release.

They came back to reality, not softly as lovers should, but quickly and harshly when the driver shouted down.

“Sir, I’ve been driving for ages now… Do you know where you want to go yet?” He thought the whole situation odd and wondered what was going on in his carriage.

His loud, demanding call shattered what beauty there was of the moment and left them chilled and suddenly cautious of each other. A confusing tumble of emotions assailed them both. Neither found the strength to speak of their thoughts or to look the other in the eye as they quickly moved apart. Noah swiftly rearranged his own clothing and shifted away to the opposite side of the coach while CC scrambled to pull on her breeches.