Jacqueline Baird - Mediterranean Tycoons

She stiffened and doused the flame. ‘I’m going to bed. Dimitri gave me the cabin next door, and I prefer to sleep on my own,’ she clipped.

Rion recognised her defiant stance and was infuriated as well as frustrated. ‘Reneging on our agreement already, Selina? You are here as my lover, remember?’ he told her bluntly.

His dark eyes flicked over her face, over the wild tangle of hair falling to her shoulders, the proud thrust of her full firm breasts, the rosy nipples still swollen from his mouth. Her slender arms were by her sides and her hands clenched into fists.

‘Playing games will get you nowhere. You sleep in my bed unless I say otherwise.’ Rion didn’t know why he was insisting. He preferred sleeping alone. He had never spent a whole night with a woman in years—not since Selina …

Selina’s shoulders slumped. ‘Okay,’ she said. He was so damn arrogant, and she was too exhausted to argue with him. There was no point anyway. Rion would do what he liked—he always did. In his business life and his private life. With a skill and cunning that rarely failed. She meant nothing to him other than a female to warm his bed for two weeks. She had to remember that.

Turning, she walked around the foot of the bed and climbed in, pulling the coverlet up to her neck.

Just like that she had given in, and Rion was left standing like a lemon, watching her pull the cover over her body. He didn’t know whether he felt pleased or angry. What was it about Selina that managed to confuse him so easily? Whatever it was, the bed beckoned, and he lay down beside her and drew her unresisting body into his arms.

‘A kiss goodnight?’ he drawled softly, lowering his dark head.

Selina glanced up into his handsome face, saw the sensuous intent in his black eyes. She could not help it. A wide yawn escaped her.

As a passion killer it was classic …

Rion’s lips twitched in a wry smile. She was so beautiful, so very feminine—and so very tired, he realised belatedly. A pang of guilt stabbed at him, but though he had no doubt he could persuade her, he wasn’t a selfish enough lover to try.

While Selina had been making calls to rearrange her work schedule Anna had told him that when the doctor had said Mark Stakis only had days left, not knowing who to call, she had rung Selina. Without hesitation Selina had dropped everything to come straight to Greece. She had sat at her grandfather’s bedside for two days, only taking the occasional nap, until he died, and then she had arranged the funeral—contacting all the necessary people and holding up marvellously all day as a perfect hostess. Then Anna had asked him to make sure Selina caught her flight all right—because she really needed a rest.

Avoiding her lips, he pressed a kiss on her forehead. ‘You’re tired. Go to sleep.’

Selina needed no encouragement, and with a deep sigh she was asleep in seconds.

It took Rion a lot longer as Selina twisted restlessly in her sleep, ending up with a slender arm slanting down over his body, her hand splayed on his belly, her head resting on his chest and her firm breasts pressed against his side. Her steady breathing teased the hairs on his chest, and if her hand moved a fraction of an inch he would no longer be responsible for his actions.

RION opened his eyes instantly, aware Selina had moved. He lay still, the heavy beat of his heart thudding against her breast and the deep rise and fall of his breathing stirring her hair. Her head was still on his chest, and the hand he had been wary of earlier was resting on his shoulder. It was the leg she had slid between his thighs that had aroused him from sleep—in more ways than one … Yet she seemed to be sleeping like a baby while he was hard and aching.

He ran a finger lightly up her spine, his other hand stroking gently down to her pert rear. She was warm and shapely, her skin as soft as silk beneath his hand and there was only so much frustration a man could stand, he decided. But before he could make a move, amazingly he felt her lush mouth kiss his chest, her hot little tongue licking a nipple to pebble-like hardness, her slender hand on his shoulder inching up his neck.

In their brief marriage she had flung her arms around him and kissed him enthusiastically when he’d returned home and when he’d made love to her she’d been amazingly responsive, yet rather shy, but she had never once initiated sex. Now …

Rion stifled a groan and waited in sensual anticipation of what she would do next …

Selina’s eyes blinked open. She was vaguely aware of a tingling sensation travelling the length of her spine. Her sleepy gaze rested on Rion and she stretched sensuously across his great body—and felt the growing pressure of his arousal against her thigh. Dream-like, she kissed his broad chest and put out her tongue to lick a dark male nipple, let her fingers edge up into the silken black hair of his head.

She sighed with pleasure, breathing her husband’s name, and planted a string of kisses up his throat, tasting his skin. Her small white teeth nipped teasingly at his firm chin and, raising her head, she brushed his lips lightly with her own. Finally she looked up into his eyes, saw the gleam of desire in the black depths. An all-female smile curved her mouth. Rion wanted her …

Rion …

Suddenly Selina was wide awake and aware of where she was—and why. Mortified at what she had done, she placed her hands on his chest to push away from him.

‘Don’t stop now.’ Rion noted the confusion on Selina’s face as her body arched back. Sliding an arm around her, he cupped the back of her head in his hand. For an instant she resisted. ‘I have never had a pleasanter awakening,’ he said huskily, and pulled her head down and captured her mouth, silencing her muffled protest with his.

Her lips opened beneath his and Rion tightened his hand around her taut buttocks, holding her against his pulsing length while his mouth devoured her. His tongue was mimicking what he really wanted, but this time he was determined to go slow and savour her.

Selina hadn’t a chance. Her mind and body had already betrayed her and she was hot for him. When he took possession of her mouth a low moan escaped her and she responded with equal fervour.

She didn’t protest when he broke the kiss to roll her onto her back. Big and dark, he loomed over her, raking her naked body with hungry eyes, and she revelled in his scrutiny. She lifted her hands to trace the hard planes of his bronzed chest, caressing, and felt him shudder as she stroked lower to his belly.

‘Oh, no.’ Rion caught her wrists and pinned her arms either side of her body. ‘My turn, Selina, my pace,’ he rasped and, bending his head, his sensuous mouth found hers and her lips parted eagerly to the erotic penetration of his tongue. They kissed long, deliciously, and finally desperately broke the kiss to breathe. Then with deliberate intent he began a slow seduction of her achingly receptive body.

Selina’s breath caught as Rion’s lips trailed a path from her mouth to her throat along her collarbone, and for a second time her breath stilled as his head inched lower towards the soft curve of her breast.

With incredible tenderness he kissed a burgeoning peak, opening his mouth to circle the aureole with his tongue before beginning a delicate suckling that pulled like a live wire from her breast to her pelvis, tightening as he continued with an erotic teasing and tasting that was halfway between pleasure and pain. Just when she thought she could stand no more, he moved to bestow a similar torment on its partner. She tried to reach for him, to touch him, but he held her hands firmly at her sides and found her mouth again, kissing her with a hungry passion then trailing kisses over her throat, her shoulders, before inching lower, driving her wild with exquisite pleasure. He inched his way lower still, and wantonly she yielded to the demands of her body and Rion’s sensual mastery.