Pride & Consequence Omnibus

by Penny Jordan

  Leo groaned her name, unable to hold back his longing for her. He reached for her, wrapping her in his arms, his mouth so passionately urgent that the sound of her name was lost beneath his kiss.

  Jodi knew that she should resist him, that she should insist that he release her, so why instead of doing so was she clinging shamelessly to him? She opened her mouth eagerly to the demanding probe of his tongue, her whole body racked with a raw, aching hunger for him.

  She had almost begun to convince herself that their previous lovemaking couldn’t possibly have been as good as she remembered, that she had exaggerated it, romanticised it, turning it in her mind into an implausible state of perfection that was total fantasy. Now, shockingly, she knew her memory had been at fault, although not in the way that she expected!

  Leo’s lovemaking had not been as wonderful as she had remembered—it had been even better! More pleasurable, more intoxicating...

  As her body relived the pleasure his had given her Jodi knew that there was no point in trying to stop herself from responding to him, no way she could stop herself from wanting him.

  She heard the small, tortured groan that filled her own throat as she feasted greedily on his kiss. The touch of his mouth against hers was like receiving a life-giving transfusion, she told herself dizzily as Leo cupped her face in his hands and held her a willing captive and kissed her with an intimacy that almost stopped her heart.

  Jodi trembled and then shuddered as the pleasure of being so close to him filled her, running through her nervous system like pure adrenalin.

  ‘We shouldn’t be doing this.’ Jodi could hear the total lack of conviction in the longing-filled softness of her voice.

  ‘I know,’ Leo responded rawly. ‘But I just can’t stop myself.’

  ‘I don’t want you to stop!’

  Had she really said that? Jodi was shocked by her own wanton lack of restraint, and shocked too by the discovery that somehow or other she had already managed to unfasten half of the buttons of Leo’s shirt.

  Beneath her explorative fingertips she could feel the soft silkiness of his body hair.

  She leaned forward, breathing in the scent of his skin with deliberate sensuality.

  A rush of sensation flooded her, a dizzying kaleidoscope of emotions, recognition—she would recognise his scent anywhere—exaltation, just to have the freedom to be so intimate, so possessively womanly with him. Inhaling his scent only served to remind her of just how many other ached-for intimacies she could enjoy with him. She felt a surge of power, of female strength, knowing that she was responsible for the acceleration of his breathing.

  Leo felt himself shudder from top to toe, totally unable to control the fierceness of his response to Jodi. It felt as if every sensation he had ever experienced had just been intensified a thousandfold. Even the simple act of breathing seemed to fill his whole body, his every sense with a heart-rocking awareness of her and longing for her.

  This wasn’t, he recognised, mere lust, this was the big one; the one. She, Jodi, was his one and only. But, he knew instinctively, he couldn’t tell her so, not now, not yet; what they were building between them was still too fragile.

  He groaned out loud again as Jodi kissed his bared torso. His desire for her ran like fire through his body, the sweetest form of torture.

  Swiftly Leo removed the rest of his clothes, never once losing eye contact with Jodi whilst he did so.

  He warned himself that she might see in his eyes his love for her, but he couldn’t make himself break the contact between them that seemed to be binding them so intimately close together.

  In her eyes he could see wonderment, uncertainty, longing, and even a little old-fashioned female shock. Her body clenched when he cupped the tender ball of her shoulder with one hand whilst tugging off the last of his clothes with the other, but she didn’t make any attempt to break the gaze that was locking them together.

  Somehow the silent visual bonding between them was as sensually charged as touching.

  His body ached intolerably for her, and so too did his heart, his entire being.

  ‘Jodi.’ He whispered her name again as he gathered her closer, finally breaking their eye contact to look down at her mouth and then up into her eyes again before slowly brushing his mouth against hers.

  Jodi felt as though she was going to explode with the sheer force of the sensual tension building up inside her.

  It was a good job she was not some impressionable teenager, she told herself, otherwise she would be in danger of deceiving herself that the way Leo was looking at her, as though he wanted to communicate something deeply meaningful, meant that he really cared about her.

  She knew that she ought to bring what was happening between them to an end now, before things went any further, but Leo was taking hold of her, brushing his mouth against hers once more in a way that aroused in her such a sweetly aching desire.

  Beneath his mouth Leo could feel Jodi’s parting; he could taste the sweet exhaled breath, feel the soft little tremor that ran through her body as she nestled closer to him.

  Leo was stroking her skin with his hands, making her ache and quiver, his mouth leaving hers to caress the vulnerable place where her shoulder joined her throat, nuzzling little kisses up to her ear whilst his tongue-tip investigated its delicate whorls. Each small sensation coalesced, melded together until she was on fire with the heat of the need he was creating inside her.

  Her breasts, swelling, peaking, ached for the touch of his hands. As though he seemed to know it he shaped them, stroking the pads of his thumbs over the erect crests of her nipples.

  Jodi trembled and moaned, closed her eyes, welcoming the velvet darkness that lapped protectively around her, and then opened them again on a gasp of piercingly sweet pleasure as she felt Leo’s mouth against first one breast and then the other.

  Her fingers dug into the hard muscles of his back, her body arching in an irresistible mixture of supplication and temptation.

  Leo was kissing her belly, rimming her navel with his tongue. Her fingers clenched in his thick, dark hair. Her intention had been to push him away, but helplessly her hands stilled as he moved lower and then lower still.

  Such intimacy was surely only for the most beloved of lovers, but Jodi couldn’t find the strength to resist or deny what he was giving her; her body, like her emotions, clenched first against what was happening, and then

  gave in.

  As he moved his body over hers and entered her Leo immediately felt the first fierce contraction of her release. His own body leapt to meet and complete it, his emotions as well as his senses taking hotly satisfying pleasure in knowing they were sharing this moment together.

  Jodi cried out Leo’s name, wrapping herself around him, holding him deep inside her, where she had so much wanted him to be. It felt so wondrously right to have him there, a part of her, now and for always.

  ‘Leo.’

  She sighed his name in exhausted pleasure as tears of fulfilment washed her eyes and flowed onto her face, to be tenderly licked away by Leo, before he reached out to wrap her in his arms.

  She was asleep before they closed fully around her.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  LEO ALLOWED HIMSELF a small smile of satisfaction when he finally replaced the telephone receiver at the end of what had been a long half-hour of diplomatic discussion with the police.

  He had earlier spent a very terse and determined five minutes on the telephone to Jeremy, informing him of the fact that he would most certainly be placing charges against him for unlawfully being on the company’s premises if he was to go ahead and try to accuse Jodi of anything. Did he, Jeremy, Leo had asked grimly, possess the same physical evidence of this supposed assault that Jodi did of his unwarranted manhandling of her? Jeremy had blustered and tried to counter-threaten, but in the end he
had given way.

  The police had been rather less easy to negotiate with; for a start, as the superintendent had told Leo coolly, they did not take too kindly to the demands the demonstration at the factory had placed on their very limited financial budget, and they were certainly not about to give out a message to the public that acts of violence were something they were prepared to permit.

  Leo had protested that the demonstration had been intended to be a peaceful one, citing the fact that he, as the owner of the factory, did not feel it necessary to make any kind of complaint against his workforce, so then surely the matter could be allowed to rest. As it transpired, Leo discovered that in the end none of the protesters had actually been held overnight at the police station, and that Jodi would have been the only one of them who might have faced the prospect of charges, and that only because of the assault incident claimed by Jeremy.

  Ultimately the police had agreed, that since Jeremy was prepared to drop his accusation, there was no real case against her and she did not need to return to the station.

  He had, Leo recognised, barely an hour left to go before he was due to talk with the factory’s workforce, and there was still that vitally important and delicate issue he needed to discuss with Jodi!

  Showered and dressed, Jodi hesitated at the top of staircase. Although she had pretended to be asleep, she had been fully aware of Leo getting out of bed and leaving her.

  How was it possible for a supposedly intelligent woman to make the same mistake twice?

  As anxious as she was about what might lie ahead of her when she returned to the police station, she was even more concerned about her feelings for Leo. Her feelings? When was she going to have the courage to give them their proper name?

  Her love!

  A tiny sound somewhere between a denial and a moan bubbled in her throat. If only last night hadn’t been so...so perfect. So everything she had ever wanted the intimacy she shared with the man she loved to be. If only Leo had been different, if only he had done something, anything, that had made her want to distance herself from him.

  As she started to make her way down the stairs Leo suddenly appeared in the hallway, standing watching her, making her feel breathless and shaky, weak with the sheer power of her love for him.

  ‘I’ve just finished speaking with the police,’ Leo began.

  ‘Yes, I haven’t forgotten that I’ve got to go back,’ Jodi informed him quickly. Somehow she managed to force herself to give him a tight proud look, which she hoped would tell him that she was completely unfazed by the prospect. ‘I’m not sure just what the formalities will be.’ Her voice startled to wobble slightly, despite her efforts to control it. ‘Presumably I shall have to contact a lawyer.’

  ‘There wouldn’t be any point in you doing that,’ Leo began to inform her, and then stopped as he saw the look of white-faced anxiety she was trying so valiantly to conceal from him. ‘Jodi. It’s all right,’ he told her urgently. ‘I—that is, the police have decided that there’s no need for you to go back.’

  Leo wasn’t entirely sure why he had decided not to tell Jodi of the role he had played in that decision; it just seemed like the right choice to make.

  ‘I don’t have to go back?’

  It wasn’t just her voice that was trembling now, Leo recognised as he watched the relief shake her body. The urge to go to her and wrap her in his arms whilst he told her that he would never allow anything to hurt or frighten her ever again was so powerful that he had taken several steps towards her before he managed to pull himself back.

  Jodi was convinced she must have misunderstood what Leo was telling her.

  ‘You mean I don’t have to go right now, today?’ she questioned him uncertainly.

  ‘I mean you don’t have to go back ever,’ Leo corrected her. Adding in a softly liquid voice, ‘It’s over, Jodi. There isn’t anything for you to worry about.’

  ‘But what about Jeremy Driscoll?’ Jodi protested.

  ‘Apparently he’s changed his mind,’ Leo told her carelessly, turning away from her as he did so.

  There was no way he wanted Jodi to feel that she was under any kind of obligation to him for speaking to Jeremy.

  He was still aware that last night he had to some extent coerced her into making love with him, at least emotionally. And when the time came for him to tell her how he felt about her he didn’t want her to feel pressured in any way at all.

  He had a right, he believed, to explain how he felt now and how his own fight against his feelings had led, in part, to his original misjudgement of her. But he was not going to use any kind of emotional blackmail to compel Jodi into saying she felt the same.

  When it came to whether or not they had created a new life together; well, that was a very different matter. Leo would use any means possible to make sure he would be a presence in that child’s life.

  ‘Look, Jodi, I have to go out shortly,’ he told her. ‘But before I do, there’s something we have to discuss.’

  Jodi felt her stomach lurch, a cold feeling of dread swilling through her veins.

  She knew what was coming, of course; what he was going to say to her...

  ‘Last night was a mistake. I’m sorry. But I hope you understand...’

  Mentally she steeled herself for the blow she knew was about to fall.

  ‘Let’s go into the kitchen,’ Leo began unexpectedly. ‘I’ve made some coffee, and you must be hungry.’

  Hungry!

  ‘I thought you were in a rush to go out,’ Jodi tried to protest as Leo ushered her towards the kitchen.

  ‘I’ve got an appointment I have to keep,’ Leo agreed, ‘but I can talk whilst you eat.’

  Eat! Jodi knew there was no way she could do that, but still she allowed Leo to fill her a bowl of cereal, and pour them both a mug of coffee before he began quietly, ‘The first time we met I made a grave misjudgement, not just of the situation, Jodi, but of you as well.’

  Leo paused, as though he was searching for the right words, and Jodi began to stiffen defensively.

  ‘I’m concerned, Jodi, that because of the...the circumstances surrounding the intimacy we’ve shared we may both be guilty of having neglected to—er—think through the consequences of our actions and do something to ensure...’ Leo stopped and shook his head.

  ‘Look, what I’m trying to say, Jodi, is that if there’s any chance that you might be pregnant...well, then something will have to be arranged. I wouldn’t want you to...’

  Pregnant. Jodi’s heart bumped and thudded against her ribcage as she stared at Leo in mute shock. ‘Something will have to be arranged...’ She tried to absorb the meaning of his words. Did he think for one minute that if she was carrying his child she would allow that precious new life to be ‘arranged’ away? She would never agree to anything like that. Never!

  Her blood ran cold. She had been expecting him to tell her that last night had been a mistake, an impulse he now regretted, a mere sexual encounter which she wasn’t to take seriously nor read anything meaningful into. But to know that he had already thought as far ahead as wanting to dispose of any possible consequences of their intimacy hurt her more than she felt able to cope with and, at the same time, made her more angry than anything else he had either said or done.

  What was it he was really worried about? Fathering a child he didn’t want, or having her make any kind of financial or emotional claims on him on behalf of that child? What sort of a woman did he think she was?

  Before she could even think about what she was saying she told him quickly and sharply, ‘There is no chance of me being...of anything like that.’

  Her heart was still thumping as she spoke, but her reactions were instinctive and immediate. How could she possibly continue to love him after this?

  Jodi sounded so coldly positive that Leo started to frown. H
ad he been wrong to presume that just because she wasn’t experienced that meant that she was unprotected from the risk of pregnancy?

  Before he could stop himself Leo heard himself insisting fiercely, ‘But that night in my suite was your first time, and—’

  ‘How could you possibly know that?’ she demanded, oblivious in her anger of the fact that she herself had just confirmed his gut feelings. Without waiting for him to answer her she continued emotionally, ‘Well, just because I happened to be...because you were my first...’ she amended hurriedly, ‘that does not mean that I am going to get pregnant!’

  As she spoke Jodi was getting up from the table and storming out of the kitchen, telling Leo acidly as she did so, ‘I’m going to get my things and then I’m going home right now. And I never want to see you again! From the moment you arrived in Frampton you’ve caused misery and made life impossible for everyone. And just let me tell you that there’s absolutely no way I would ever want to inflict on my child the burden of having you for a father.’

  * * *

  ‘Are you sure you’ll be all right?’

  Jodi glowered at Leo as he reached out to open the passenger door of his car. It had been galling in the extreme after her outburst to be forced to accept his offer of a lift home.

  ‘Well, I shall certainly be far better here in my own home than I was last night in yours, won’t I?’ she demanded with pointed iciness as Leo insisted on carrying her bag to her front door for her and waiting to see her safely inside.

  As she gave in to the unwanted temptation to watch him drive away Jodi felt sick with fear for her future, and anger against herself.

  She was surely too adult, too mature for this kind of emotional folly!

  * * *

  As he drove away from Jodi’s cottage Leo discovered that he was actually grinding his teeth. The last thing he felt like doing right now was sitting down at the negotiating table. The only thing he wanted to do was to take hold of Jodi Marsh and tell her in no uncertain terms just how he felt about her, and what his life was going to be without her...