Read To Tell the Truth for Free Online

lean fingers burying her face against his chest, his heart pounding, his breathing ragged and uneven.
    "The first time I saw you registering at the desk, I thought you were a beautiful woman and nothing more," he muttered against the silken curtain of her hair. "When you were there at the restaurant, I thought you'd followed me to attract my attention. The desk clerk had made my reservation and it would have been easy for you to bribe him to find out where I would be. I asked you to dine with me only to find out what other tricks you would use. Each time I led the conversation down a personal channel, you shied away and I began to doubt for the first time. When I suddenly realized that it was another man who had made you so wary, a black rage swept over me. I convinced myself it was self-pity and you would get over the hurt in time."
    "I was over it." Her hands caressed the strong column of his neck. "I was simply afraid."
    "I didn't intend to seek you out again," he sighed. "Then I saw you coming down Bailey's Beach. You were so graceful, like a gazelle," a hand ran caressingly down the length of her thigh, "with those long, shapely legs and that fawn-colored hair and large hazel eyes. I don't know if it was the white backdrop of snow or what, but I suddenly pictured you against white sheets lying naked in my arms. I never wanted any woman as much as I wanted you at that moment. Coldly, I decided to seduce you. Once I had possessed you, I was certain the physical attraction would fade just as it had done all the other times."
    "But you didn't." Andrea frowned into his shirt collar. The hand holding the back of her head refused to let her draw away from his chest to look into his face.
    He burned a kiss against her temple. "I didn't, but I had it all planned. Then Chris showed up at the bar and everything went wrong from there. I've never been jealous in my life, but if he'd touched you, however innocently, I would have gladly bashed his handsome Adonis face in."
    "Was he handsome?" She smiled and nuzzled his throat.
    "You know damned well he was," Tell said, laughing, lifting his head to gaze into her face, soft and radiant with her love. "I still don't know why I let you say 'no' to me that night. I knew I could have persuaded you to change your mind, but I didn't try. Maybe because I wanted it to mean as much to you as it would to me. I think that's when I silently admitted that there was a very good possibility that I was falling in love with you. Andrea—" his expression grew serious "—in the past, I've thought I was on the brink of loving a woman and I've made love to many, but I've never told anyone that I loved them. You do believe me, don't you?"
    "I believe you," she murmured with a throbbing ache. "But I wouldn't have cared if you'd loved a hundred women before me as long as you love me now."
    "Andrea? It means a dream called woman," he said huskily. "That's what you are to me, a heavenly dream that I'd given up hope of ever coming true."
    "Darling," her voice caught on a sob, "I love you more than my life—and I never thought I'd ever be able to say that again."
    "What a fool that man was to leave you for someone else," he spoke against her lips. "But I'm glad he was a fool."
    "I can't compare what I felt for Dale with the way I feel for you, Tell," Andrea declared throatily. "I was a girl and I loved a boy. Now I'm a woman and I love a man. I love—"
    His mouth absorbed the rest of her words, bringing an end to the talking. Her lips parted readily under his passionately exploring kiss, and rippling muscles beneath his dark evening suit crushed and molded her ever closer to the hardness of his body. The flames of desire that raged through her veins were an awesome and splendored thing; pagan and primitive, yet seeming to be blessed by some heavenly deity.
    The expertise and mastery of his touch made the impact of the experience all the more shattering. Love made the hunger for each other insatiable as they