by Susan Napier;Kathryn Ross;Kelly Hunter;Sandra Marton;Katherine Garbera;Margaret Mayo
‘Hundreds.’ He agreed. He leaned back against the sideboard and regarded her with a lazily amused grin. ‘But the agreement was that you stayed here and, as I am a man of my word, I wouldn’t hear of you disappearing off to a hotel.’
‘Thank you.’ There was little else she could say, but deep down she wondered if she should still have insisted on going to a hotel anyway. Ray probably was a man of his word, but it was her own strength of spirit that worried her. One look from him and she felt her self-control melting…one kiss and her mind started to wander.
‘The bedroom is this way.’ Ray turned and led her down a small corridor and up some steps. The room he showed her into was very luxurious; a massive bed dominated the centre. It was probably the biggest bed Caitlin had ever seen and it was covered in plain cream linen that echoed the colour of the curtains and the carpet.
‘Bathroom is through there.’ Ray put her bag down and indicated a door at the far end of the room. ‘We’ll have a coffee and cognac out on the terrace if it’s still dry.’
‘Thanks.’ As soon as the door closed behind him she sank down onto the bed. She should have told him she didn’t want a drink…In fact the safest thing would be to hide in here and not come out until it was time for her flight on Sunday.
She smiled to herself. ‘Coward,’ she mocked herself silently. And then, annoyed with herself, she got up from the bed and took her cosmetic bag into the bathroom.
Her reflection stared back at her from several mirrors over the basin and the bath. She looked a little pale and her green eyes seemed to swamp her small face. ‘Just have a drink with him and then retire for the night,’ she told herself sensibly. ‘You’ve never had any difficulty saying no to a man before, why should Ray be any different?’ But deep down she knew that, whatever the reason, Ray was different and she didn’t want to say no. Certainly David had never swept her senses into such tumultuous turmoil.
She wondered what David would be doing today…Would he think about the fact that this should have been their wedding day? Maybe not, maybe he would be too busy enjoying himself with the mysterious blonde Heidi had seen him with. She hoped sincerely that, whoever he was with, and whatever he was doing, he had taken her advice and sought counselling for his addiction.
Hastily she refreshed her make-up, brightened her lipstick and ran a comb through her hair. After the rain it was curling more and she gently teased the ends so that they were soft and loose around her face.
There, that was better. She stepped back and looked at herself, then smiled. She was going to just relax and enjoy herself and not think too deeply about anything.
There was music playing in the lounge when she went back through. But Ray wasn’t in the room. She glanced out onto the terrace. It was raining again, fat drops of water were bouncing on the table.
‘I’m in here,’ Ray’s voice called her from a room off the lounge. She followed the sound and found him in his office, sitting on the edge of a writing bureau, reading through some of his mail. There were two glasses of brandy sitting next to him. ‘Sorry.’ He picked a glass up and held it out to her as she came in. ‘I got sidetracked. I’ll make coffee now.’
‘No, that’s okay.’ She came closer and took the drink. ‘I’m happy with just the brandy.’ She glanced at the in-tray next to him, which was full to the brim. ‘You look like you’ve got a lot of correspondence to get through.’
‘A week’s worth of faxes. It’s always the same when I’m back here—I spend all my time catching up on the correspondence I’ve missed. A lot of it is junk, of course, but I have to wade through it just in case.’
‘You could do with a secretary.’ Caitlin perched next to him on the desk and sipped her drink.
Ray was still perusing the letter in his hand. ‘Yes…I have one at the office, of course.’ Despite the fact that he answered her, she knew he was only half listening.
Caitlin glanced around the room. Although this was a place of work, it had a cosy feel to it with its book-lined walls at one side and subdued soft lighting. There was a daybed in one corner and above it some beautiful paintings of Paris.
She wandered over to have a look at them. ‘These are impressive.’ She glanced over at him but he barely looked up.
‘And it’s a lovely office,’ she commented, sitting down on the daybed. ‘You could use it as a spare bedroom.’
She had his attention now. He put the letter down and looked over at her with a grin. ‘I’m going to tonight. That’s unless I get a better offer, of course,’ he added roguishly.
‘Oh…I see!’
Ray watched as her skin coloured slightly and he smiled.
‘It’s quite a comfortable bed,’ Caitlin continued hastily, trying to cover her embarrassment.
‘You think so?’ he asked, one dark eyebrow raised wryly.
‘Definitely.’ She bounced slightly as she tested the mattress. ‘I’ll trade with you if you want and you can have your own bedroom back.’
He shook his head. ‘That wasn’t the kind of offer I had in mind,’ he said softly.
The words sent a tremor of awareness shooting through her. She glanced over at him and met the teasing gleam of his eye. ‘You are one smooth operator, Ray Pascal,’ she said lightly.
‘Now what makes you say that?’ He laughed.
‘Because you just are.’ She stood up from the bed and walked back towards the desk. ‘And I’ve been warned about you.’
‘Who by?’ he asked with amusement.
‘Sharon, for one.’ She stopped a few feet away from him.
‘Now what would Sharon know about anything?’ Ray reached and took hold of her arm and pulled her closer, then he took her glass and put it down beside his on the desk.
‘Well, she was able to tell me all about the rapid turnover of women in your life and she knew who Claudette was.’
‘All Sharon knows is that I’ve never taken her to bed—nor would I ever want to.’
Caitlin grinned. ‘She would be devastated if she heard you—’
‘Well, I’m not going to lose any sleep over that,’ he said gently. ‘This is how it is,’ he said solemnly, looking into her eyes. ‘Claudette is in the past, David is in the past and at the present it’s just you and me and one very uncomfortable daybed.’
She smiled tremulously, her heart starting to race as he pulled her even closer.
‘That’s all right, then,’ she whispered huskily. ‘Because the present is all I’m interested in right now.’ Then she leaned forward and to her surprise she found herself making the first move, touching her lips against his in a tentatively gentle caress. He didn’t respond immediately and she moved closer, her hands resting on his shoulders as she deepened the kiss provocatively.
For a little while Ray allowed Caitlin to dictate the pace; he returned her kisses with restraint, reining himself back with supreme control.
Caitlin’s lips became more and more persuasive, her hands moving to thread their way through the darkness of his hair. She wanted him so much, longed for his kisses to deepen the way they had before.
Then suddenly he started to return her kisses more forcefully, his lips demanding and hungry against hers. She revelled in the feeling, her whole body tingling with need. But as she slipped further and further into the whirlpool of pleasure he suddenly pulled back from her. ‘Are you sure about this?’ he asked huskily. ‘It’s just if we carry on like this I’m not going to be able to pull back. I’ve only got so much self-control, Caitlin.’
Her heart quivered unsteadily. From the moment she had leaned over and kissed him the fires had started inside her and they refused to be dampened now. ‘So have I,’ she admitted softly. ‘Make love to me, Ray.’
He smiled and she saw the sudden flare of triumph in his dark eyes. Then he reached and started to unbutton her red top, his fingers brushing lightly against her skin making her tremble inside with chaotic need.
‘What about all those strong words,’ he murmured playfully as he l
ooked into her eyes, ‘about sleeping in separate beds…hmm?’ As he spoke the red top was pulled off.
‘They were strong words…weren’t they?’ Caitlin murmured, her eyes closing on a wave of ecstasy as his hands moved over the lace of her bra, his fingers touching lightly against the hardened peaks of her breasts. ‘And they got me here, didn’t they?’
He found the fastener at the front of the black bra and toyed with it provocatively. ‘So no more talk of separate beds, then?’
‘Not for now…’ She was desperately anxious for him to just carry on caressing her. She didn’t want to talk. He was sitting on the desk and she was held between his knees; they tightened against her thighs.
‘That’s not a good answer,’ he drawled teasingly. ‘You should have said, No more talk of separate beds, I promise, Ray.’
‘You are just a tease, Monsieur Pascal,’ she murmured, half annoyed, half amused by his demands.
‘It takes one to know one,’ he said with a smile, his fingers moving to the zip at the back of her skirt. He unfastened it and pulled the skirt down, letting it fall to the floor, so that now she stood before him in only her underwear, black boots and lace top stockings.
‘Nice outfit,’ he murmured, his eyes moving boldly over her.
The possessive way he looked at her made her senses race; it was almost as if she could feel his eyes touching her. ‘So am I the only one getting undressed here?’ she murmured huskily and reached to start unbuttoning his shirt. As it opened she slid her hands beneath the material, stroking over the powerful contours of his chest.
He leaned forward and kissed her; it was a kiss that was so passionate it made her body dissolve with need. She wound her arms tightly around his shoulders and kissed him back wildly. The next moment he was lifting her up and turning her so that she was the one sitting on the desk. He swept the papers and the glasses roughly to one side and some of the paperwork tumbled to the floor but neither of them even noticed the chaos around them, they were entangled in an embrace that shut everything else out.
Caitlin was only vaguely aware of the cool surface of the desk against her back as she lay against it. All she could think about was the bliss of his hands against her skin, the heat of his lips as he kissed the sensitive areas of her neck and then her shoulders.
He unfastened her bra and then his lips moved downwards to tease the rosy hard peaks of her breasts. She gasped with pleasure as she felt his hand moving the delicate lace of her panties so that he could explore her more thoroughly.
‘Ray, I want you so much.’ She murmured the words almost incoherently, desperate now with a longing that was tearing into her with searing intensity.
He lifted her up from the desk as if she were a mere doll and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her over to the bed in the corner.
‘We may as well make ourselves a little more comfortable,’ he said as he placed her down gently against the satin cushions.
She watched as he took his shirt off and then hastily she unzipped her boots and rolled down her stockings. When she looked up she found he was watching her, a gleam of naked desire in his dark eyes.
‘God, you are so gorgeous, Caitlin.’
He stroked his hands along the shapely length of her legs as she leaned back against the cushions. He was gorgeous too, she thought hazily. He had an incredibly beautiful body, wide shoulders, lithe hips, a flat stomach and an arousal that made her heart start hammering with even more force.
The only item of clothing she wore now was her lacy black panties and he played with the delicate string of material for a moment before pulling them firmly down, then he moved to kneel over her. His eyes raked over her, taking in the way her hair spilled over the gold cushions behind her head, the flush of heat on her skin, the soft pout of her lips, then moved lower, examining her curves as if committing them to memory.
He touched her breasts softly, exploring the full roundness, his thumb rasping slightly against the sensitive hardness of her nipples. She shivered and closed her eyes on a wave of ecstasy. Waiting for him was like a pleasurable kind of torture; every nerve, every inch of her skin was aching. She reached up and put her hands on his shoulders, urging him silently to come closer.
And then she felt the full force of his arousal pressing against her and suddenly he was inside her. The feelings of pleasure were so vehemently intense that she gasped.
‘Are you okay?’ he murmured, stroking her hair tenderly back from her face, his movements gentle.
‘I’m more than okay.’ She smiled up at him, loving his tenderness. Then she moved her hips provocatively and drew him closer. She felt greedy with need; it was eating her alive. She wanted him with an impatience she had never known before. Ray grinned and bent down to nuzzle his lips in against her neck and her ear.
‘Patience, my sweet…’ he whispered softly and then spoke in French. His words were teasingly provocative as he skilfully brought her again and again to the brink of climax. She clung to him, pressing her lips against the warmth of his skin, moaning with pleasure, wanting the joy to go on and on forever and yet at the same time desperate for the ultimate sensation of release.
Ray was a skilful lover. He knew exactly how to please a woman. He teased and tormented her, showing her the dizzying heights of passion, his lips ravishing her body, his hands caressing her with the smooth ability of experience. Then just when she thought she could stand it no longer he took full possession again and brought her to the wild heights of a bliss that splintered inside her in wave after wonderful wave of fulfilment.
She clung to him afterwards, wrapped in the warmth of his arms, so exhausted she couldn’t even think coherently, never mind talk. He soothed her tenderly as if she were a babe in his arms and whispered sweet nothings against her ear.
Caitlin cuddled closer. She felt as if she could never get close enough to him, as if she wanted to melt into his very skin. She had never known the ache of such a longing…or the wonder of such sweet content.
Then his lips found hers and he kissed her again, this time without the fierceness of hunger and with all the tenderness of a sated lover…
Caitlin groaned and wound her arms around his shoulders. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him…how desperately she wanted him…that she would do anything for him. The thoughts tumbled through her mind in wild confusion before exhaustion took her over and she fell into the peaceful oblivion of a deep sleep.
Chapter Eight
WHEN Caitlin woke she was disorientated. She was wrapped in a tangle of white sheets. Across from her on the opposite wall she could see bookshelves; everything was unfamiliar to her sleep-blurred eyes. She stretched and every part of her body felt stiff. Then suddenly the memories from last night unfurled in her mind in a red-hot reel of Technicolor. The way she had almost pleaded with Ray to make love to her, the way he had undressed her at his desk…the way he had lazily and skilfully brought her to climax amidst the cushions of this bed.
Then she remembered the way he had woken her in the night to take her again, and the way she had met his demands with fiery acquiescence, loving the hotly possessive touch of his lips and hands against her body. Her stomach muscles tightened as a wave of renewed hunger hit her.
But the memory that disturbed her most was of the feelings that had accompanied the wild, reckless lovemaking…the emotions that had driven her, the words that she hadn’t dared speak…She frowned and pushed a trembling hand through her hair…At least she hoped she hadn’t spoken them. It was disturbing enough that all her inhibitions had been totally stripped—and that Ray knew her body was completely his for the taking—without letting him know that her heart had also somehow been thrown in with the package.
She stared up at the ceiling and told herself in very angry terms that her feelings of love had been a mistake…an illusion. Last night was about having fun—two consensual adults letting their hair down. If Ray thought for one moment that she was attaching more importance than that to
it, he’d be horrified. And she wasn’t, she told herself fiercely. She didn’t know where those mad thoughts had come from. Maybe it was because no man had ever made her feel so wonderful…so wanton, so pleasured…and she was confusing mind-blowing sex with love…That could explain it, she told herself with conviction.
The sound of a drawer closing made Caitlin aware suddenly that she wasn’t alone in the room. She sat up slightly and looked down towards Ray’s desk.
Early morning sun slanted through the slatted blinds. It fell over the discarded clothes on the floor. Her skirt was in a heap at the foot of his desk, her bra was sitting in the in-tray…her lacy pants were in the middle of the floor. Embarrassment ate through her.
Then the chair behind the desk swivelled around as Ray turned from the filing cabinets. He was wearing a thick white towelling robe, his dark hair was tousled and there was the beginning of dark designer stubble on his square jaw.
Their eyes met and he smiled. ‘Good morning, sleepyhead,’ he said tenderly and at the sound of his voice and the sexy glint in his dark eyes she felt all her strong words melt into confusion…She couldn’t ever remember feeling so overwhelmed by a man before; he was just sensational.
‘Morning.’ She smiled back at him. ‘What time is it?’
‘Seven forty-five.’
‘Gosh, so early!’ She stretched again and sat up further, taking care to keep the sheets firmly in place so that her nakedness was covered. ‘What are you doing?’ she asked.
‘We made a bit of a mess of my paperwork last night.’ He glanced across at her again and grinned as he noticed the blaze of heat on her cheekbones. ‘So I thought I’d sort it out and do a bit of work while I’m at it. Then we can go out and enjoy the day.’
