His arm curved possessively around her waist and the hardness of his hip grazed hers. ‘I know it, Marian. There’s no need to remind me.’
‘Then off you go and make beautiful grandchildren.’
With a last hug for Katie, who held herself stiffly but permitted Eden to embrace her, they climbed into the air-conditioned Fairlane Slade had hired for the trip and set off for their honeymoon destination.
Slade had chosen the Blackall Ranges because it was within driving distance of the Sunshine Coast yet well out of any media spotlight.
‘Do you know the locals call this the Range of Pleasures?’ he asked her as he drove.
‘I presume they’re referring to the scenic beauty of the countryside,’ she returned.
He gave her a wry look. ‘What else could they possibly mean? You only have to look around you to see how well named they are.’
Aware of a growing tension inside her, Eden couldn’t decide whether he was teasing or not. While they were chaperoned by Marian and Katie, she had felt safe even after they were pronounced man and wife. Now they were finally alone and her nerves were stretched to breaking-point.
She tore her attention away from the man at the wheel and tried to focus on the beauty of the rolling ranges. Once the home of Aboriginal tribes who knew the ranges as Bonyi Bonyi, they were now dotted with cattle farms. The area from Mapleton to Maleny was now famous for its galleries, tearooms, boutiques and craft centres.
At this height, well above sea level, Eden was struck by the rich colour of the local flowers. The soil was volcanic, ensuring an abundance of plants and shrubs as well as dense areas of unspoiled rainforest.
Behind them valleys fell away towards the sea and picturesque farms dotted into the distance. It was an idyllic setting for lovers. But not for this travesty of a honeymoon, she thought, closing her eyes against the pain of the idea.
‘Tired, Eden?’ he asked softly, seeing her lashes droop.
Her eyes flew open. ‘No. Well, a little. I thought Katie made a beautiful flower girl, didn’t you?’
‘Indeed, but never as lovely as the bride.’
The compliment knifed through her, insulting in its blatant hypocrisy. ‘There’s no need to keep up the act when we’re alone.’
His mouth twisted into a wry smile. ‘I had noticed. What makes you so sure it’s an act? Isn’t a man entitled to compliment his wife?’
‘It depends on whether or not he means it.’
His hand left the wheel briefly to rest on her knee, the touch so possessive that she recoiled. ‘You must know by now that I never say anything I don’t mean.’
And he had said he intended their marriage to be a real one, she remembered with a shiver. Suddenly the mountains seemed ominous in their lonely grandeur. ‘Have we much further to go?’ she asked.
He had returned his hand to the wheel and glanced sideways at her. ‘You’d like to keep driving all night, wouldn’t you?’ Her panicky look confirmed his guess. ‘I hate to disappoint you, but we’re almost there.’
A short detour off the main highway brought them to a locked gate which Slade operated electronically, admitting them to a park-like property where waterfowl and other feathered creatures wandered along the edge of a man-made lake.
The house itself looked historic with wide timber verandas and cream and green paintwork. It was shaded by ancient camphor laurel trees. Eden was surprised to learn that the house was less than ten years old, having been built jointly by Slade and his sister, Julie, as a family retreat. Now it belonged to Slade alone.
‘What are you doing?’ she gasped as he swept her up into his arms and carried her towards the house.
‘This is our first threshold,’ he informed her. Her struggles made no more impact on him than if she hadn’t bothered.
‘This is ridiculous,’ she fumed, as annoyed with the instant flaring of reaction she felt as with his behaviour. It wasn’t as if theirs was a real marriage. ‘Put me down.’
He didn’t comply until they were inside the house, when he set her down on a polished wood floor, in an elegant but comfortably furnished living area. The rustic timber furniture and salmon tonings looked completely at home in the mountain setting. Original Australian etchings decorated the walls.
‘Welcome to my secret hideaway, Mrs Benedict,’ he said seriously.
Panic flared through her. ‘I don’t think this is such a good idea.’
He had moved behind a spacious built-in bar and was pouring fruit juice for them both. He had evidently arranged to have the house aired and stocked ready for their arrival. ‘Don’t you like it?’
‘It’s beautiful, but it’s too...’
‘Isolated?’ he supplied. ‘It’s hardly surprising since I’ve been steadily buying up the surrounding land to keep it that way.’
He put a glass of juice into her unsteady hand. ‘It may look rustic, but the property is equipped with the latest security devices, so you’re quite safe, I assure you.’
His assurance rang hollow in the face of her real fear. No one had yet invented a security device to restrain an amorous husband.
His eyes met hers, smoky and unreadable, over the rim of his glass. ‘You may as well relax. We’re here for the next few days.’
How could she relax when she felt so trapped? She must have been mad to agree to this. ‘I’d like to look around, if you don’t mind,’ she said.
‘I’ll take you for a guided tour.’
She would have preferred to do her exploring alone, away from the determination she saw burning in his eyes. Carrying her across the threshold was only the start, she saw as his eyes followed her every move. He had added a new possession to his empire today and he wouldn’t rest until he had put his personal mark on it.
‘I’ll be fine alone,’ she insisted. When he looked at her so intensely, she could feel her control slipping away.
His hand closed around hers and he brought her fingers slowly to his lips, his eyes dark as he regarded her over them. ‘You’ll never be alone again, Eden. You’re my wife now.’
It took an effort to wrench her hand away. ‘I don’t suppose I’ll be allowed to forget it, will I?’
‘Not for a minute. But then, I’m assuming once we make it a fact you won’t want to.’
‘Are you such a dynamite lover, then?’
‘There’s one way to find out.’
Why did they keep returning to the same subject? Perhaps because the tension which throbbed between them was almost palpable, she realised. She forced a shaky laugh. ‘All in good time. How about that tour first?’
‘Anything to postpone the inevitable,’ he surmised correctly. ‘But accept that it is a postponement, Eden. Have your tour by all means, but know that it ends in our bedroom tonight.’
With such a caveat, it was hard to concentrate on the house. Her tumultuous thoughts pushed everything else from her mind. Dimly, she was aware of being shown through rooms of different sizes, most with high cedar ceilings and French doors opening on to the veranda.
‘Julie had a lot to do with the decorating,’ he said, his voice catching a little. His sister had done a magnificent job. The bedrooms were furnished with antiques and lace curtains, and the bathrooms were reproduction in style, done in crisp black and white with coral accessories.
A spacious country-style kitchen was fitted out in pine and granite with every modern appliance. Clearly, no one was meant to slave over a hot stove while staying here. A new wing had been added at the rear of the house. Slade opened a door on to an office complete with computers, a fax machine and walls lined with books. ‘This is my domain.’
‘It looks like the office back in Hobart,’ she observed.
He nodded. ‘I can run the company from here if necessary. I come here sometimes when I need to think and plan.’
So this was where he disappeared to when his office was empty for long periods, she thought in surprise. Office gossip had it that he was with his current mistress, but it had seeme
d unlikely to Eden. He usually returned filled with energy and enthusiasm for a dozen new projects. This was a much more likely explanation.
‘Have you seen enough?’ he asked, his hand still on the doorknob.
‘Yes, thank you.’
‘Then you won’t mind if I disappear for a short time until dinner? I usually check in with the office once a day in case they need a decision on anything.’
Unreasonably, disappointment gripped her. When he insisted on keeping her company, she wanted time alone. But she didn’t want his work taking priority, she thought contrarily. ‘I’ll manage somehow,’ she said airily.
His fingers curled around her wrist as he hauled her close to him. ‘You needn’t feel neglected. As soon as I tidy up here, you’ll have my undivided attention for the rest of the night. This will give you time to prepare yourself.’
If he thought she was going to bathe in scented water and annoint herself with unguents he was wrong! ‘I’ll use the time to unpack and write some postcards,’ she said flatly.
Mocking laughter danced in his eyes as he gave her a playful push. ‘Whatever you do, don’t tire yourself out. You’ll need all your energy for later.’
Damn him. He must think he was God’s gift to womankind, she thought furiously, unwilling to recognise just how aroused she was by his promise. It was exactly what he meant to do, and it infuriated her to find that he had succeeded.
She worked off some of her energy unpacking her clothes and hanging them in the spacious wardrobe, trying not to let her gaze wander too often to the king-sized bed with its fluffy duvet and high pillows.
Sliding cosmetics and brushes into a dressing-table drawer, she froze suddenly. Where was her packet of pills, carefully labelled with the days of the week so she would remember to take them in order? Frantically she searched through her possessions before accepting that she must have left them in the hotel on the coast. With Slade’s determination to make their marriage a real one, she couldn’t afford to be without them. What was she going to do?
Fortunately she had a spare prescription in her purse. Her eye went to the bedside clock. There was still time to have it filled before the shops closed, and they had passed a chemist’s shop on a winding turn just before they left the main road.
Since Slade believed she couldn’t have children, he wouldn’t understand her urgent need for the pills. She bit her lip. She would have to drive back and get them herself, before he emerged from his study.
The Fairlane was cumbersome to handle along the winding gravel driveway but she took it slowly and was relieved when the electronic gate came into view. The control was on the seat where Slade had left it. She was soon back on the mountain road.
The chemist’s shop was further away than she remembered and it took half an hour of careful driving before she reached it. The pharmacist was inclined to chat but she didn’t want to be rude in case Slade had regular dealings with the shop. The clock hands crawled agonisingly past as she waited to have her prescription filled.
The chemist handed her the package and her change. ‘There you are, love. Staying long in the Ranges?’
‘Only a few days.’
‘The weather should be kind to you. Whatever you do, don’t miss Montford. You can spend a whole day there among the shops and galleries.’
She doubted whether it was what Slade had in mind, but thanked the pharmacist, almost snatching her purchase off the counter in her haste to be on her way.
On the way back, the road looked different somehow and there was a fork she couldn’t recall. Which way had they gone, right or left? Taking the most likely fork, she found herself at the entrance to a park.
By the time she reversed back to the main road and took the other fork, she was almost in tears, sure that Slade would have missed her by now. It was much later than she had anticipated.
The door of his study was still closed and she breathed a sigh of relief as she tiptoed past it towards the bedroom. Her scream tore the air as a large figure loomed in the doorway. ‘Where the hell have you been?’
‘I... I went out.’
‘Without telling me? I’ve been worried sick about you. You don’t know these mountain roads. You could have gotten yourself killed.’
His concern sounded so genuine that she had to remind herself he was only worried about losing a possession. ‘You may be my husband but you aren’t my keeper,’ she hurled at him, shaken by the intensity of his anger. ‘I don’t have to account to you for my movements.’
His hands gripped her shoulders so hard she could feel his square-cut nails lancing into her skin. ‘Where were you?’
‘I told you, I went out.’
‘To do what, with whom?’
Sickened by his implacable demands, she threw caution to the winds. ‘I went to meet a man; now are you satisfied?’
‘You little bitch. It didn’t take long, did it?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘For you to show your true colours. We haven’t even been married a day before you’re making assignations.’
He had taken her at her word, she realised in sick horror. ‘Slade, I didn’t...’ she began.
‘Did you arrange to meet him again?’
Her head swung from side to side with the vehemence of her denial. ‘Slade, there’s no one. I only said it because you’re suffocating me.’
His eyes were glazed with an intensity which frightened her. He looked like a man pushed to the limits of his self-control. ‘Slade?’ she probed uncertainly.
His eyes burned into her. ‘If you need a man, my dear wife, you don’t have to leave this house to find one.’
Dear God, he meant to take her here and now to prove the point. Conflicting thoughts raced through her mind. She wanted him, yes, she couldn’t deny it. But not like this, as a demonstration of power.
‘Please don’t do anything you’ll regret later,’ she implored.
His hands slid up her back, pressing her hard against him. ‘I doubt whether either of us will have cause for regrets.’
Propelled by his hands at her back, she moved into the bedroom. At the sight of the high four-poster, an uncanny sensation took hold of her, its force overwhelming in its intensity. Was this sexual desire? If so, it was like a firestorm starting at her core and ripping through every fibre of her being.
He was an incredible man, she thought as he began to strip his clothes off with economical movements. As the trappings of civilisation fell away one by one, she caught her breath at his sheer male beauty. Had she possessed the skill she would have drawn him as he stood before her, every muscle and sinew delineated under sleek, tanned flesh. He was golden all over, except for a tiny triangle at his hips, she thought distractedly. Her eye was drawn to where the dark hair arrowed downwards. She looked quickly away, embarrassed by the hunger in her own gaze.
‘Look at me, Eden,’ he commanded, catching her under the chin and turning her face back to him.
His eyes held her in thrall as he started to unfasten her dress, dispensing with it skilfully until the garment fell in a foaming mass of fabric at her feet. Her bra followed it, floating downwards in a mist of white lace. Then his hands went to her bikini briefs and shyness gripped her. ‘No, Slade, you don’t mean this.’
‘I’ve never meant anything so much in my life. I mean to have you, Eden, body and soul. No other man will satisfy you after this, I swear.’
The denial she should have offered froze on her lips as his palms slid down her thighs, carrying her briefs with them, until they joined the pile of clothing on the floor. Seconds later he swept her into his arms and carried her to the vast bed, where he pushed aside the feather covering and placed her on the satin sheet beneath. The coolness sent shivers feathering across her skin, or perhaps it was the passion she saw mirrored in his heavy-lidded gaze.
Desire and fear warred within her. ‘I’ll hate you for this,’ she warned as he rested an arm either side of her, his magnificent body poised above her.
‘Then tell me to stop,’ he invited, mocking laughter tugging at the corners of his mouth. Without warning, his hand plunged between her legs and she gave a cry of astonishment. His mouth fastened on the roseate peak of one breast, pulling gently at it with his lips until she cried out with the pleasure-pain of the contact. Lifting his head, he turned burning eyes to her. ‘Shall I stop now?’
His touch had invaded her most secret places, yet she felt an almost violent hunger for more. ‘No, damn you,’ she said through clenched teeth.
His fingers trailed lazily across the curve of her stomach until her back arched like a kitten’s. ‘No, you want me to stop, or no, I shouldn’t?’
She could no more have told him to stop than she could have flown, and he knew it. She was his instrument and he played her like a virtuoso, bringing her time and time again to the brink of ecstasy but always withholding the final gratification, until she was dizzy with longing for him. Her hair hung in damp ringlets around her flushed face and she trembled from head to foot. ‘Now shall I stop?’ he asked, looming over her.
She tried to tell herself that what she was feeling was purely physical. It wasn’t love, it was sheer chemistry. Yet all the logic in the world couldn’t drive the words from her lips. ‘No,’ she whispered and this time there was no mistaking the desperate plea in the one-word answer.
When he came to her, the world stopped and there was only the two of them, entwined in the primeval giving and receiving of pleasure. Joy surged through her as she lifted herself to receive the benediction of his love. Her soft cry tore the air, then all was still.
She was hardly aware of sliding into sleep, but was awakened through the night by Slade’s wandering touch and seeking mouth. How many times it happened she wasn’t sure. She might even have dreamed some of it, for surely no man possessed such superhuman stamina?
It was only as the first rays of sunlight filtered into the room that sanity finally returned. Every muscle ached as she turned her head to look at the man sleeping beside her. Suddenly she was filled with self-loathing. He had made good his promise to possess her but even he hadn’t expected her to be such a willing accomplice.
Flight Of Fantasy Page 9
