Susan Stephens - Susan Stephens Selection

‘They’re dark and quiet and dry—’ Guy began very softly as he turned his attention to the back of her neck again, brushing the soft red-gold hair aside as he began to pass the tip of the meadow grass across the warm translucent skin with slow rhythmical strokes ‘—and warm and extremely private.’

‘And what happens in them these days?’ She could barely stop herself moving on the warm earth so immense was the sensual overload.

‘That all depends on who’s in there at the time,’ Guy murmured.

Kate held her breath. She could feel his warm breath on her ear, ruffling her hair, caressing her skin—surely this was the moment…

‘Shall we paddle?’

‘Paddle?’ Brutally jolted out of her reverie, Kate could only roll over and stare up at him in surprise.

But even that was a mistake, because now Guy was above her and she was under his shadow with nowhere else to look but straight into his eyes. He had positioned himself as if he might kiss her—he only had to lower himself down an inch or two and…

‘I think the cold water would refresh us both,’ he said, pulling away to sit on his haunches. Then, springing to his feet, he toed off his riding boots and yelled, ‘Come on, Kate. Last one into the water’s a sissy!’

Kate’s limbs felt as if they had rubber where bones used to be and there was so much heat between her thighs she was almost more eager than he was to reach the safety of the water… At least there he wouldn’t know that her thong was so wet she was concerned the proof of the effect he had on her might soak right through the thin muslin skirt. In her rush to get there she tore heedlessly down the bank after him, lost her footing and would have gone flying past him to land on the heaps of stones that lined the water’s edge if Guy hadn’t reached out to catch her in his arms.

‘You never could bear to lose a dare,’ he said, his face close above hers as he held her suspended above the water.’

‘Let me go!’ Kate insisted, struggling fiercely. And he did. Dropping her at his feet so that for a moment she was completely submerged. ‘Beast!’ she railed, springing up to launch herself at him. She was lucky. She caught him off-balance and before either of them could do anything about it they were both flat on their backs under the water. Guy recovered first, pulling her to her feet in front of him with a harsh, very masculine laugh.

‘In the olden days I could have had you locked up in my dungeons for that,’ he observed, his even white teeth a visible line of masculine pride in his strong tanned face as he held her at arm’s length in front of him. ‘Or flogged—’

‘You wouldn’t dare!’ Kate flared back at him.

For a moment they just stood there passionate and wild, all identity stripped away as they confronted each other in the middle of the stream. The air was electric between them. Kate’s clothes were soaking and proved that she wore nothing underneath except for her tiny thong and Guy, with his thick black hair flicked around the harsh planes of his wet cheeks, bare-chested with his breeches like a second skin, looked like some wild gypsy baron, rather than the educated French aristocrat he was. Then with a shriek of defiance, Kate launched a kick that doused him with water again. Seeing the look on his face she shrieked again, this time with excitement as the chase began.

He let her get away at first—he always had. But then he ran her down at the entrance to the glade—Kate’s glade—the silent, leafy place where she’d used to hide as a child. Once she was inside the circle of trees it was possible to believe she had found some mystical Neverland where no one ever came—where even the birdsong was muted and the sunlight was only allowed to intrude if it came dressed in shimmering shafts of light… Slides for fairies, Kate used to think once, as she gazed up their slopes. Now she kicked her legs through them in furious defiance as Guy carried her in his arms across the clearing.

‘Now what do I do with you?’ he demanded, setting her down at his feet on a rolling green carpet of moss.

‘Let me go,’ she muttered mutinously.

‘I’ve got a better idea,’ he said, dropping to his knees beside her.

‘Which is?’ Kate demanded as she threw a cascade of tousled golden hair back from her face.

‘This,’ he said simply, drawing her into his arms.

CHAPTER SEVEN

KATE was still riding the wave of passion and excitement from the chase and it only took the smallest shift for that energy to change direction. The touch of Guy’s hard chest against the scant protection of her wet blouse was enough. And this time she was on an unstoppable rollercoaster ride that swept every rule aside. With a sharp cry of intent she lashed her arms around his neck in an attempt to put an end to the torment once and for all. Why not kiss him and make him kiss her back? But he only caught hold of her wrists and forced her back—back and away from him until she lay panting and spent on the mossy bed by his side.

‘Did you really think I would allow you to take advantage of me?’ he demanded, delivering the rebuke in a fierce, teasing voice.

He was so close she could see the tiny aquamarine flecks in his dazzling grey eyes—so close they seemed to share the same breath, the same air. ‘Take advantage of you!’ Kate gasped, knowing she was pinned so securely he could do anything with her he liked. ‘Let me go—let me go!’ she exclaimed, fighting to stop her gaze lingering on his mouth. But he had captured her wrists in one hand, whilst his other posed a delicious threat as it hovered over her, reducing her to writhing on the ground, to his obvious entertainment.

‘How can I let you go?’ he said, as if there might have been the slightest chance he would. ‘Wild-cats must be tamed.’

With a throaty explosion of frustration made sound, she lay still.

Guy’s eyes mirrored his thought processes, Kate realised as she watched a kaleidoscopic display of infinitesimal changes taking place in their silvery depths. So when his gaze darkened she knew the cause. The girl was left behind at last as he saw her as the woman she had become. It was an awakening for him, a revelation that brought a softening to his features Kate had never seen before. Releasing her, he took her face in his hands. The stillness surrounding them seemed absolute, as if all nature held its breath. And then, as if to endorse his discovery, Guy lowered his head and pressed the firm cushion of his lips against her slightly open mouth. It was at once the most sensitive and the most sensuous experience Kate had ever known.

‘Is that what you wanted, Kate?’ he murmured, lifting his head away without making the slightest attempt to deepen the kiss. ‘Or perhaps this… ceci ?’ As his hands moved to feather caresses on either side of her neck she drew in a sharp breath, but now he was trailing his fingertips over every curve and indentation of her naked shoulders. Through it all he watched intently as she tried vainly to curb the betraying movement of her hips. ‘Perhaps not,’ he murmured as his gaze shifted to her erect nipples competing for his attention beneath the clinging blouse.

Through the miasma of arousal Kate was aware she had him in her sway. The game was far from over yet. Willing ice through her veins, she managed somehow to sit up. Her gaze was an outright challenge. She watched in triumph as Guy failed to keep his gaze level. It strayed to the ruby upthrust of nipples taunting him from beneath the revealing, wet fabric. But, just as she was complimenting herself on reclaiming the advantage, he threw back his head and gave a laugh that rippled through her body like a seismic tremor.

‘You’d like that, wouldn’t you, sweet Kate?’ he murmured, maintaining a tantalising distance between them.