Sarah's Surrender (Novella) Read Online Free Page A

chilly.
    Blast, this was not what she wanted. She needed to figure out how to seduce him, or how to make him seduce her. It had not seemed like such a difficult thing a few moments before. “Does that matter now? I want to try again.”
    “To try what again?” Wary, it was he who took a step back.
    She filled her chest and exhaled slowly, watching the stream of air ruffle the folds of his cravat. “I want a chance to say yes. I want to be your lover.”
    “You do?” He could not hide his confusion.
    Had she surprised him? The thought warmed her. It brought back memories of how carefree and eager she had once been. Now was the moment for bravery. “Yes, I do.”
    He suddenly seemed taller than she had ever imagined and yet she had not seen him move. “You should know my sentiment has not changed. I have no intention of marriage; if anything I am less inclined than I was five years ago.”
    “I had not imagined differently.” She felt her lips draw tight and tried to soften them.
    “Then why have you changed your mind? You cannot even claim that passion makes you foolish at this late date. Or do you frequently proposition men in gardens?”
    She ignored the last and forced a laugh from her lips. “Oh, I can definitely claim that passion is making me foolish, the passion of a woman who sees her youth fleeing, rather than that of a girl who dreams of love and princes.”
    “I was never a prince.”
    “Believe me, I know.” Only he had been. In her dreams he’d been her prince. She turned and stared into the dark of the trees. The air moved with each breath he took, caressing her. No other man had ever made her feel this way, ever made her consider doing things she knew she should not. And she did know she should not. It did not matter that Mr. Meyers was acting despicably and that she was only trying to get a little piece, a tiny little piece, of the world for herself. It was still wrong.
    And yet, it was so right. “So does your offer still stand?”
    “The offer to take you to my bed and rid you of your virginity? Assuming you are still a virgin.” He said the words callously as if trying to scare her.
    “I doubt that the offer was ever to take me to your bed. I seem to remember a hayloft. And yes, I am still a virgin. If I wasn’t, I doubt I would be making this offer.”
    “That makes little sense.” He seemed to grow even larger and imposing.
    She was not to be intimidated. Not by him, not by the pounding of her heart, and certainly not by lungs that ceased to function. “It makes sense to me and that is all that matters. Now, do you say yes or no?”
    Before she could try to inflate her still malfunctioning lungs, she found herself pressed back against a tree as Jonathan stepped forward, invading her space. Her hair was gripped tight and her head tilted back, with force rather than tenderness. “Why do you want this?” he asked. And then, “Hell, it doesn’t matter.”
    And then his lips were on hers.
    It should have felt familiar. She’d kissed him so many times in the past. A first kiss. A knowing kiss. A friend’s kiss. A deep kiss. A soft kiss. A kiss to relieve pain. A kiss to bring joy. They’d had them all.
    A lover’s kiss. Yes, even a lover’s kiss. She might have balked at the final step, but her kisses had not.
    And yet nothing was familiar, his lips were hard, demanding, unyielding.
    Her body relished it, but her soul did not.
    This was not the man she had known. This kiss came from someone far removed from the Jonathan she had loved.
    Her mind roiled in confusion, unable to become swept away by the passion of the moment.
    And there was passion, more passion than she could ever remember, even with the most memorable of their earlier kisses.
    There was a heat here that was new, a desire to climb into the other’s skin, to merge, to become one.
    It was fire, hot, burning fire. A fire that consumed all—and left nothing in its wake.
    And yet she was strangely unmoved. Her body