They came together in passion and need. He took her with fierce, insistent thrusts, possessiveness surging through him. She was his; his need was almost violent, his desire uncontrollable.

She shattered an instant before he did. He held her convulsing form still for his thrusts as she clawed at his shoulders, but then the searing tumult caught him in its greedy clutches. In blind desire Sloan bared his teeth and plunged inside her, straining to withhold his soul as he gave her his body.

His surrender was as violent as his hunger. A hoarse shout dredged from his throat as he gave himself up to the powerful explosion.

When it was over, when the storm of emotion had passed, he lay against her, spent, shuddering. His skin was sheened with sweat, his heart hammering.

For a long moment neither of them spoke a word. Drained and limp, Heather lay there unmoving in his arms, while love and despair pulsed through her. She could feel the tears slipping from her eyes.

“That … should never have happened,” she whispered finally.

His heart wrenched to realize she was crying. He wanted to hold her close, to soothe her distress and banish her feelings of regret, but she winced when he tried to tighten his arms around her.

“I asked you not to touch me.”

The tension was suddenly back between them, sharp as a knife.

“You were hot as I was,” Sloan replied finally. “Don’t deny it.”

That was the trouble, Heather thought in wretched misery, remembering her shameless reaction to his seduction. She was helpless against Sloan, her defenses against him in tatters.

She had no protection for her heart. Her love for him made her so terribly vulnerable. And remaining here would only make the pain worse.

Chapter 17

HEATHER DASHED SCALDING tears from her eyes as she made Janna’s breakfast the following morning. Her need to burrow deep and hide her sorrow and pain wasn’t as strong as her need to escape. She wanted to run, as far and as fast as she could. Janna was all that had kept her from fleeing this morning.

She couldn’t bear to remain here any longer.

Swallowing hard, Heather lifted her blurred gaze to stare blindly out the kitchen window. She found it a bleak thought, spending the rest of her days alone, abandoning the life she had made here, the precious daughter, the husband… But she faced a bleaker future if she remained.

She loved a man who didn’t want her. Desperately loved him. She had vowed to make Sloan forget the sorrow that imprisoned his heart, but she couldn’t heal him. She’d been a fool even to hope to. And a greater fool to misjudge herself so completely.