Part 16 (1/2)

She bit her lip harder. She didn't know how to explain it to him. ”Please?” she asked.

He sighed, but not angrily. He'd wanted to look at her. But her innocence was going to be his biggest problem. He only smiled. His hand reached for the lamp. He turned it off, and bent down to gather her against him.

It was, she thought feverishly, a banquet of the senses. She hadn't known her own body had so many sensitive areas that a man's mouth and hands could lift into realms of ecstasy. She moaned helplessly as he kissed her taut b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She moved her legs to admit the weight of him between them. She marveled at how easily they seemed to go together with all the clothes out of the way. His body was warm and hard and sensual against hers on the crisp sheets, and she s.h.i.+vered again and again with the growing, gnawing pleasure of his touch.

When he touched her with sudden intimacy she hesitated, her mind going back to horror and pain, he hesitated. ”Did I hurt you?” he asked softly.

She forced her mind to shut out the unpleasant images. That was yesterday. This was today. ”No,” she whispered, drawn back to the present. ”Of course you aren't hurting me. Don't stop!”

He laughed softly and moved down against her once more. ”I won't,” he whispered against her throat. ”Move with me, Grace,” he added huskily. ”Move with me. That's it. Harder...!”

She felt his hand exploring, and then it was something...else, something hard and warm...!

She gasped and arched right off the bed as the intimate contact produced a wave of pleasure so overwhelming that she thought she might faint. She cried out, pulling him down to her, s.h.i.+vering.

”You like that, do you?” he murmured drowsily against her mouth. ”Let's try this...”

She shuddered, again and again, as the pleasure began to spiral up. She made a strange, husky noise deep in her throat and moved her legs as far apart as she could get them, her nails digging into his hips. ”Please,” she choked, gasping.

He nibbled at her mouth as his hips began to move down in a quick, hard rhythm. ”Like that?”

”Yes!”

One hand went under her hair to hold her head firmly while his mouth crushed down on her parted lips. The other went under her hips, lifting her fiercely up to the hard downward thrust of his body.

”I'll...die!” she choked against his devouring mouth.

”Of pleasure...maybe,” he managed in a harsh whisper. ”G.o.d! Grace! Grace! Lift up! Lift up, hard!” He shuddered, gasping, as the rhythm became furious, insanely pleasurable. ”Now, baby,” he choked. ”Now, now, now...!”

She moved with him, held him tight, s.h.i.+vered helplessly as the pleasure built to such a degree that she thought she might lose consciousness. And then, when it was so hot and sweet that it had to be the end, the spiral went even higher and hotter. She couldn't see, hear, think, even breathe as the rhythm quickened. He whispered something, but she was beyond understanding. Her body was on a journey of its own, carrying her along to a volcanic climax that sent her arching up into him with a quick, sharp little cry of absolute delight.

He gathered her hips up and riveted them to his as he felt, too, the sudden release of tension. ”Grace,” he moaned, his voice deep and husky, as his hips moved helplessly against her in one last, hard thrust that sent him right over the edge.

They lay together, bathed in sweat, clinging to each other in the darkness. They s.h.i.+vered, speechless, in mutual satiation.

Endless seconds later, he eased away from her and slid his hand from her neck over her full b.r.e.a.s.t.s, down to her flat stomach. His fingers traced the small scars that rose above the smooth flesh.

”I have a lot of scars,” she whispered unsteadily.

”So do I. They don't matter.” He brushed his mouth softly over her lips. ”I've never had it this good,” he whispered. He wrapped her up in his arms. ”Grace, you were a virgin, weren't you?” he asked after a minute.

She stopped breathing. She hesitated. ”Well, yes,” she managed to say. Technically it was the truth.

”I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lost control like this.”

”I lost control, too,” she said.

”It isn't the same thing. It was like shooting ducks in a barrel.” He moved away from her with a long, harsh sigh. ”d.a.m.n!”

”You...you didn't like it?” she asked with dawning worry.

He turned and looked down at her in the darkness. ”That isn't what I meant, Grace,” he said. ”I took advantage of you.”

”No!”

He put his hand gently on her belly. ”Are you sure you can't get pregnant?” he asked, and sounded concerned.

”I'm sure.” The doctors had all agreed about that.

He didn't answer. So he didn't have to worry about the complication of a baby. But he felt guilty just the same.

”I'm glad it was with you,” she said when the silence became frightening.

That didn't make him feel any better. At least he hadn't hurt her, he consoled himself. On the other hand, he'd taken something she might have wanted to save for marriage. She was very traditional.

”It wasn't because you were thinking about her?” she asked with sudden horror.

For an instant, he thought she was referring to the past. Then he realized she knew nothing about his past. ”About Jaqui?” he exclaimed. ”Heavens, no!”

She relaxed. ”Okay.”

He drew in a long breath. ”I have to go.”

”Now?” she asked, sounding alarmed.

He bent over and kissed her tenderly on the forehead. ”As you keep reminding me, this is a small town. I don't want people seeing my car in your driveway all night and gossiping about it.”

She smiled. ”That's nice of you.”

He didn't answer her. He dressed in the dark, feeling like a heel. She'd been generous, and warm, and loving. Her headlong delight made him feel even guiltier. He had nothing to offer her.

”Grace, you do understand that I'm not in the market for a wife?” he asked quietly.

She felt sick all over. She was shocked and trying not to let it show. ”Yes,” she said after a minute, and her voice didn't give anything away. Her world was cras.h.i.+ng around her, but she couldn't let it show. ”I understand.”

He grimaced. He could hear the hurt in her voice. He was just making things worse. ”I'll come over tomorrow after I get off from work,” he said. ”We'll talk it out.”

”All right.”

”Good night.”

”Good night.”

She sounded resigned to his leaving. He wanted to stay, to talk, to explain. He couldn't manage it, though. He was afraid of relations.h.i.+ps. He never should have started this!

He left without another word. But all day, the memory of the pleasure they shared haunted him. He'd started something he couldn't finish. He thought of Grace while he was working. She came between him and paperwork, s.h.i.+mmering like foxfire in his memory. He ached every time he thought of her.