by Sara Wood
‘Oh, Guy!’ she said chokily.
‘Kiss me,’ he growled. ‘For God’s sake, Tessa, kiss me!’
Her lips parted and she closed her eyes. He tasted so sweet as he murmured to her, telling her how lovely she was, how he’d wanted to touch her, hold her, from the moment they’d met. The tone of his voice was so rough and broken that she felt certain in her heart of hearts that he meant every word.
Joy lit her whole body and it gave her boldness to explore him, sliding her hand beneath his waistband to the lean, hard hips, the taut buttocks. Without a qualm she felt her shorts drop to the ground and let him carry her up the stairs and through huge double doors to a bedroom with a four-poster bed covered in clean dust sheets. He kicked the door shut, kissed her passionately and knelt to kiss her stomach and thighs. ‘Beautiful,’ he sighed. ‘Soft.
Silky...’
She looked down on his dark head, on the heart-wrenching crescents of black lashes and his softly searching mouth, and knew then that she loved him.
He was holding his desire in check for her sake. Although he shook with sexual tension, he ... Oh, help me stay sane! she thought wildly as he drew down her briefs and touched her gently. ‘Guy!’ she moaned, gripping his shoulders. ‘Enjoy,’ he said roughly, lifting her to the bed. She writhed with pleasure as he stroked her creamy skin, kissing her, enthralling her with the sensual magic his body could bring to hers. And she responded to his relentless seduction, gasping, crying out, beating him with her fists, pulling at him till he laughingly came to cover her with his body. For a while he kissed her, his hands touching, inciting, sliding over her skin madden¬ingly. Then she felt her inhibitions vanish and she let herself go. Like a tiger, she took what she wanted: his mouth, his shoulder
between her teeth, the taste of his flesh on her tongue, the sensation of his body where she curled sensually against him. She rubbed her nipples against his, rolling on top of him and enticing him with her eyes, her hair, her mouth, her breasts... Till with a woman’s instinct she knew he could take no more, and nor could she. There was a terrible ache inside her, a desperate need to be fed by his body, to ease the violent hunger he’d aroused.
‘Make love to me,’ she murmured in his ear. Her tongue curled around the sensitive lobe, a feeling of intense exhilaration powering through her body.
‘You’re crying!’ he cried roughly, with concern.
‘I know!’ She forced her lashes open, blinking through a clouded veil. ‘Isn’t it stupid? I’m so happy! Don’t you think I’m beyond all hope?’
‘Endearing,’ he said huskily. ‘Oh, God, Tessa! I need you so much!’
He buried his head in her neck while she tried to bring herself down from the dizzy heights where he’d just flung her. I love you, she said silently, raising her hips to his. I love you, she cried helplessly and wordlessly as he covered her mouth with his and began to move insistently against her. She wasn’t scared that he’d find her sexually lacking or frigid. With him, everything flowed naturally. She could touch him... there, and it would bring a shudder to his body, a spasm of the rigid manhood against her thighs. Her hands seemed to sweep gracefully, sensually over his skin, finding places to delight in, erotic and inciting, and she responded to his touch with sinuous movements that seemed to drive him crazy. It felt wonderful to be desired so much, she thought muzzily. Wonderful to give pleasure.
Guy rained passionate kisses on her face, her neck, her shoulders, his body tense like hers-clamouring, she was sure, for that coil of tightly sprung tension to be released.
‘I want you,’ she groaned, feeling nothing but liquid heat at the core of her body. ‘Now!’
Gently he eased into her. There was no pain, only a feeling that she’d come to a haven, that this glorious possession was rightfully hers. A groan escaped her parted lips and she arched her hips to urge him on. The sensation as he moved rocketed through her body, filling every corner with deep joy.
‘Tessa!’ he muttered hoarsely. ‘My darling Tessa!’
Her hands gripped his shoulders convulsively. A wildness captured her as the perfect harmony of their bodies drove them to a loving frenzy. For a while she felt as though she didn’t belong in her body, that she was floating on pure pleasure somewhere in the air. The ecstasy was sweet and somehow painful, almost too much to bear.
‘Oh, Guy!’ she cried in joyous anguish. ‘I love you!’
He gave a choking groan, shuddered throughout the whole length of his body and lay very still.
Every inch of her body felt totally satisfied. But she worried. Her heart thudded hard. Pressed beneath his weight, she couldn’t, dared not move. This was the moment she’d unconsciously dreaded. A short while ago desire had obliterated caution. She’d believed her instincts-trusted his sincerity. Now.. . His head lifted and he shifted drowsily, stroking her hair, kissing her mouth. ‘You’re one hell of a woman,’ he mumbled, crushing her to him passionately. ‘I’ll want second helpings later. But now I want to hold you and keep you close.’ Tessa’s face shone with happiness. ‘I was all right?’ she ventured with a grin.
Guy laughed and shook his head in affectionate exasperation. ‘You were fantastic,’ he said gently, tracing the lines of her shapely body with his forefinger. ‘You look...’ His dark head nuzzled her hip, nibbling with enthusiasm. ‘You taste, smell, ooze sexuality.’
‘I like sex,’ she confided dreamily. ‘It makes me feel like a million dollars.’
‘Only if it’s with the right person,’ he said. ‘Shall we stay here for the night? In the morning we can walk around the village and I can show you off.’
‘You said you didn’t want to do that because it would cost you too much,’ she reminded him quietly. ‘It will,’ he sighed. ‘My protective shield against emotion.’
‘Guy... about the cottages,’ she said drowsily. ‘My mother hasn’t played fair with me. I feel I’m released from any obligation towards her. I’d like to give them to you-but only on one condition.’
He twisted a lock of her hair thoughtfully in his fingers. ‘What’s that, my darling?’
‘Let me work for you. I need a job! I’d love to see the changes in the village and be a part of the team restoring it. Please?’
‘How can I resist you?’ he sighed. ‘Of course. Deal. Thank you. I’ll buy them from you, though. A fair price, I promise. No argument!’ he laughed when she made to protest. ‘Or I’ll pin you to the bed and force you to obey!’
‘Mmm. Wonderful,’ she murmured. ‘Let’s pretend I’ve refused, shall we?’
They slept deeply that night, snuggled between the huge linen dustsheets. Tessa dreamt of her relationship with Guy developing-blossoming, perhaps, into something very, very special and long-term. But those were dreams and she didn’t dare to hope too much.
Once in the night she thought the door had opened and woken her, but when she wriggled from beneath Guy’s heavy arm to look it was firmly closed, and she decided it must have been the movement of the old house itself.
The next morning passed quickly-in bed, making love.
‘I’m good at this!’ she said smugly, sprawling across the mattress in delight.
‘Too good,’ he muttered, rubbing his hand over his rasping beard. ‘If you had your way, I’d starve! Let me get showered in the caravan. I have a couple of things to do in my study, then I’ll go and get something for lunch and pop into your cottage to collect something for you to wear. If you want a shower before I come back, wrap a sheet around yourself and totter into the caravan-I’ll leave it open. OK?’
‘Uh-huh,’ she mumbled drowsily.
He kissed her. ‘Sleep for now,’ he said softly. ‘I’ll be back soon. Then we’ll arrange for your roof to be seen to-and for some wheels for your bike.’
After drawing on his still damp trousers, he went to the door, blew her a kiss and quietly left. Tessa dozed. Then she woke and stretched luxuriously. She’d never been happier in the whole of her life. In Guy she’d found a man who loved her. She was
incredibly lucky. How often did that happen? she wondered blissfully. He was kind, thoughtful and a brilliant lover. At last she felt confident. A whole person. Guy had given her a sense of her own worth and that was priceless. Thank you, she said to him silently. Happily she scrambled out of bed and designed herself a sarong from the sheet, pattering barefoot down the stairs, since her canvas shoes were still soaked, and edging carefully across
the gravel drive to the caravan.
The small shower delivered a blast of hot, stinging needles of water and she all but danced out, invigorated and deliriously happy because she and Guy were going to spend the day together.
‘How could you? Haven’t you any shame?’
Tessa dropped the towel with which she had been drying her face. Her wide eyes took in an angry and very beautiful woman, whose arms were full of what appeared to be Guy’s clothes. ‘What the devil are you doing here?’ she asked in surprise, hastily covering up her nakedness.
‘Snap!’ came the reply. ‘I live with him. What do you do? Or is that a superfluous question?’ she sneered, looking Tessa up and down.
Tessa went white. ‘Giselle?’ she quavered. ‘You and Guy are...? You’re...?’
‘You bet!’ snapped the slender, frighteningly elegant blonde. ‘So don’t muscle in. You might think you’ve got your hooks into him but so did a dozen before you. And where you’re concerned he was only out for one thing and that wasn’t sex, even if you think it was!’
‘Then what?’ asked Tessa, her mouth suddenly horribly dry. ‘The cottages, of course,’ Giselle said scathingly. ‘Are you dumb or what? Your mother enslaved his father. It seemed only right for him to do the same to you. He can get any woman he wants. It was hardly an effort to seduce you. He’s ruthless and don’t forget it. He’ll coo and smile-’
Tessa heard no more. She sat down, too wobbly to stand. Her head spun. Giselle could be lying. Perhaps she had a grudge against Guy-and his new girlfriend. ‘I don’t believe you,’ she said quietly.
‘OK, you do his damn washing!’ Giselle screeched, and flung it at Tessa.
It landed in a blur, masking Giselle’s departure. But when Tessa pulled it off her face she saw with horror that one of the shirts-and a pair of jeans-had yellow paint on it. The same colour as the graffiti on her house.
‘Oh, Guy!’ she whispered. It couldn’t be possible. Yet the evidence stared her straight in the face. It had been Guy who’d scrawled abuse on her house, Guy who’d removed her wheels, her tools, who had encouraged the mayor to close down her lettings. That was bad enough. Worse was the fact that he’d lied so beautifully, and she, like a fool, had believed every damn excuse he’d made!
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
TESSA let out a low groan. Guy had kept the pretence going, hoping to acquire the wretched cottages before telling her the truth-that he and the alarmingly young-looking Giselle were living together and he had no intention of dumping a slender beauty for an increasingly plump plain Jane. ‘Damn you!’ she said savagely, tearing ineffectually at the shirt. ‘Damn you!’’ she yelled, hurling the clothes at the kitchen area of the caravan. Spoons and spatulas clattered to the ground with a satisfying noise. So she grimly flung open cupboards and hurled crockery anywhere, everywhere, with increasing force as her temper erupted, adding cereal, rice, tins, saucepans ‘Hey! What the hell ...?’
‘Yes!’ she yelled, rounding on Guy’s astonished figure in the doorway and loosing a frying. pan in his direction. ‘This is hell, and this ... and this. ..’
His crossed arms fended off a flying pudding bowl and cheese grater. Quickly he dumped his bags of bread and pastries and came for her. ‘What is it?’ he demanded, pinning her arms to the cupboard. ‘Tessa, you’re naked!’
‘I don’t care!’ she said defiantly. ‘The towel fell off! And you love my beautiful body, don’t you? So-so don’t complain-’
‘Darling, what is this?’ he said gently.
‘Don’t you speak tenderly to me!’ she stormed. ‘Want a bit of rough?’ He grinned.
‘No!’ she screeched. ‘I want the truth! I want to know why you’ve got paint on your shirt and jeans-yellow paint, Guy!’
‘Yellow...’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Oh, my God!’ he said faintly. ‘The little...’
‘I want to know why Giselle is still under the impression that you and she are an item, and why she claims you’re living with her.’
‘Well, I would do, wouldn’t I?’ he said with a frown. ‘Would what?’
‘Live with her.’
Tessa felt all the fight going out of her. He’d admitted it. Goodnight happiness. ‘Oh.’
‘Well, what do you want me to do? Kick her out now? I love her,
little rapscallion though she is. I know what she did to you and I roared at her so loud, for stealing your tools and scrawling that graffiti and so on, that her eardrums were in danger of bursting. She was scared of losing me, Tessa. She lacks confidence, no matter what you might think looking at her. But, if you and I are going to make a go of it, she’ll have to welcome you or go back to her mother-’
‘Wait a minute!’ Tessa felt muddled. ‘You’re saying it was Giselle who tried to run me out of Turaine?’
‘I’m afraid so.’
‘Miss Palazzo Pants!’ she muttered angrily. ‘I suspected as much.’ Of course they’d been in it together, as she’d first thought. Her fists clenched. ‘It was my fault-’ he began. ‘I know,’ she grated.
‘I made the mistake of telling her about the things I did to Estelle,’ he said quietly. ‘I think she decided to help me to get rid of you. Trouble was, I wanted you to stay-and when she knew that she tried even harder to drive you out. I don’t condone what she did. The graffiti was the last straw.’
‘You’re blaming it on her now, are you?’ Tessa said coldly. ‘Well, I’m not having you think I could do something so vicious. If there’s paint on my clothes then she put it there-presumably to stop our relationship.’
‘I heard the door open last night. I imagine that was her,’ she said dully, going scarlet at the thought that Giselle had seen her in bed with Guy.
‘That explains it,’ he said, his mouth tight with anger. ‘I’ll deal with it, Tessa. It was an inexcusable thing to do and if she’s damaged the rather fragile trust between us then she’s got me to apologise to as well as you.’ He took her hand in his. ‘Please understand. She loves me-’
‘And what are your feelings?’ she asked, trying not to shake. ‘Whatever I feel for her is irrelevant. Tessa ... do you think,’ he said thickly, ‘you could put something on? I find your nakedness very distracting... ‘
‘Sure.’ She freed herself from his grasp and stomped over to the guilty shirt. ‘How about this?’ She pulled it over her head and stood in a defiant pose.
‘Looks better on you,’ he said wryly. But she didn’t smile and he sighed. ‘Tessa, I do love you-’
‘Is that a fact?’ she scathed, knowing that he had to say that-didn’t he?-because he didn’t have the cottages safely in his possession yet. ‘I certainly don’t love you!’ she flung at him, too wounded to care what lies she told, only determined to save face and protect herself.
Silence fell. ‘Run that by me again?’ he said, in a sinisterly soft voice.
‘I don’t love you. How could I?’ she snapped. ‘You only made love to me to get my property back. You and Giselle masterminded a foul, vicious campaign against me and you seem to think it’s fine to run two women at once! Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but in my book that kind of behaviour is despicable. Sing for your wretched cottages! I’m hanging onto them!’
‘Stay right there!’ he warned as she took a step towards the door. ‘You’re not leaving.’
‘Why?’ she tossed back.
‘Because you have no shoes and no knickers on and because you seem to be under a misunderstanding,’ he said, his mouth twitching.
‘Oh, don’t try that one,’ she said wearily. ‘Be graceful in defeat, Guy. I’ve sussed you out. Let me go
!’ she yelled as in a lightning move he picked her off her feet and deposited her on the kitchen unit. Her naked thighs were on either side of his body and immediately she felt herself contract with need. To her horror, her eyes had closed briefly and her lips had parted, betraying her. And Guy was kissing her sweetly, cruelly, reminding her of the pleasure they’d shared. ‘No,’ she mumbled into his mouth. ‘Don’t hurt me, Guy.’
‘I’m stopping you from walking out on me because I happen to believe in us,’ he said softly. ‘Look at me.’
‘I won’t!’ she wailed, knowing what would happen if she did. ‘Then damn well listen,’ he said grimly. ‘I wasn’t involved in Giselle’s campaign. She did that all on her own. When you saw me with the bleach bottle, it was because I’d taken it from her as she was about to pour it down your septic tank and yelled so loud she took to her heels. Didn’t you hear me shout?’
‘Y-ye-es,’ she admitted.
‘Then you found me bending over your bike. I’d seen that someone had taken your wheels and was wondering what to do. If I’d taken them, where were they? Do you think I swallowed them?’
‘Ha-ha.’ But his story made sense and she felt herself wavering.
‘You saw how angry I was. I couldn’t believe Giselle would go that far. And I offered to replace them, didn’t I? I couldn’t tell you my daughter was doing vicious things to you because she was scared and jealous-’
‘Your what?’
Guy met her startled eyes with an expression of affectionate exasperation. ‘I told you I’d been married and had a daughter-’
‘No, you didn’t!’ she squeaked. Then she eyed him suspiciously. ‘You said you’d got the boss’s daughter pregnant. But... Giselle? She’s a young woman!’
‘Can’t you count, you idiot?’ he said tenderly. ‘You didn’t say when this happened! It could have been a few years back, for all I knew,’ she protested sulkily. ‘I’ll find Giselle’s birth certificate if it’ll shut you up! Pay attention,’ he said sternly. ‘I was seventeen when I married and Giselle was born a couple of months later. She’s eighteen-and horrifically mature, I grant you. Her mother didn’t want her. I was the one Giselle loved. She’s become very, very possessive. But she needs to start living her own life, and I’m trying, as compassionately as I can, to help her to move out of my shadow.
