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kicking and screaming, and march with her the length of Princes Street if he
had to.
Taking a deep breath, she measured him with cold disdain. 'That's the only
way you'll ever get anything from me, MacAllister. Brute force. But then
that's your forte, isn't it?'
'At least it would be more honest,' he retorted. 'A damn sight more honest
than you offering me your charms because you feel you're under some sort
of obligation. But I really don't care one way or the other now.' He reached
for her arm again. 'Now let's go. And don't give me any more--'
She shook him off once more. 'You've done it again!' she challenged
bitterly. 'Insults! Do you think I'm the kind of woman who'd hop into bed
with any man who'd done her a favour? What am I? Some sort of tramp?'
Her outburst brought a puzzled frown to his brow, then he asked quietly,
'Well, if gratitude isn't your reason, what is? I'm not foolish enough to
imagine that you've suddenly fallen in love with me.'
She compressed her lips and eyed him with hot resentment. What kind of
question was that to ask a woman? she thought. How could you possibly
answer and still retain your sense of dignity? Finally, unable to contain
herself any longer, she berated him soundly, 'Are you so unfeeling and
thick-headed that I have to spell it out for you? I said that I'd sleep with you
because I wanted to, dammit.' She glared at him a moment longer then
looked away. 'Now I'm not so sure. I was beginning to change my mind
about you, but it looks as if I was right the first time. Underneath all that
humour and charm you're still the same old Dirk MacAllister intent on
making a fool out of me.'
'Why did you act so reluctant when we first arrived at the hotel?' he
demanded harshly. 'I've seen more enthusiasm in Mrs Ross faced with a
week's ironing. You certainly weren't that passionless and apathetic that day
on Para Mhor.'
It dawned on her slowly what he was driving at, and her cheeks coloured.
'That was five years ago, for heaven's sake! You think I was reluctant just
because I didn't want to parade around naked in that hotel room the way you
did?'
'That's right,' he asserted. 'Your body is nothing to be ashamed of. I've
already seen it, remember?'
She swallowed. 'Yes. Only too well.' A feeling of unreality gripped her. 'Is
that what this is all about, Dirk? Just because I didn't... You thought that... ?'
She shook her head in disbelief at his misinterpretation of her actions.
'Look...' she said weakly. 'I...I was twenty when you first made love to me.
I.. .wasn't scared of you then. You were like... like something out of a
dream. I was completely under your spell, a foolish young virgin wanting
her first taste of life.'
She didn't object this time when he took her in his arms, but it was his turn to
look distraught. 'Shona... ? Are you telling me that you're frightened of me?'
She gave a meek nod of admission. 'Yes. Just a little. But to tell the truth I
think I'm more frightened of myself. I should never have agreed to stay in
the first place, but I... I was too weak-willed to refuse. I don't know what
your love life has been like during the last five years, but I've never allowed
any man to use me the way you did.' She bit her lip in an agony of
embarrassment at having to bare her soul and put her innermost, darkest
secrets into words. She went on brokenly, 'I...I've hated you all those years
and... and yet...'
'Yet what?' he asked, softly cajoling the answer from her lips.
She gulped. 'Never mind. Let's just think of me as a textbook case of split
personality.'
He held her in a warm and tender embrace for a moment, then he took the
Land Rover keys from his pocket. 'Do you still want these?' he asked
quietly. 'Or should we give ourselves another chance?'
She took the keys from him, then dumped them back in her handbag. 'About
Gilbert and Sullivan...'
Before she had time to finish he took the tickets from his pocket and tore
them in two, then grinned. 'I don't think we'll bother.'
The muted sound of the early morning traffic buzzed in her ears, and slowly
she opened her eyes and yawned. Beside her, Dirk moved restlessly,
although his breathing was deep and regular. Feeling drowsy and
deliciously sensual, she put her arm .around him and snuggled closer to the
warmth of his body. Gently she traced her finger down the smooth skin of
his chest, down further to the flat, hard muscles of his ridged stomach, then
she stopped. It wouldn't be fair to waken him so early. The poor man must
be exhausted after last night, and he surely deserved his rest. Anyway, it was
still early. Later... three or four hours from now... She could wait. She
brushed her Hps gently over his bare shoulder in sweet anticipation.
He was the only lover she'd ever had, so she had no standard against which
to compare him, but it was simply inconceivable that anyone could have
been better. Last night as soon as they'd arrived back at the hotel their
impatience to feed their mutual hunger for each other had been curbed only
by his self- control, and it had been no blind, fumbling rush of frenzied
passion. He had taken his time, with a sweet and unbearably tender build-up,
his hands and mouth teasing her to an incandescent peak before the final,
shattering climax of their union.
Afterwards they'd lain in each other's arms, both sated for the time being,
content just to marvel and revel in the feelings of shared intimacy.
Later she'd gone for a shower and this time, as if to prove herself, she'd
invited him to join her, and they'd laughed and cavorted like a couple of
carefree children. They'd dried each other off, then he'd picked her up and
carried her back to bed. As she'd lain, ready to accept him once more, he'd
padded softly across the room to switch off the light and pull back the
curtains. Suddenly her smooth, curvaceous form had been bathed in the soft
glow of moonlight, and she'd closed her eyes in ecstatic pleasure as once
again he'd begun the slow, sensual preliminaries towards complete
possession.
It was nine o'clock when she awoke again, and this time Dirk rolled towards
her and muttered sleepily, 'Roseanne? Is that you?' [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]