That impressed David, and he came up on one elbow and looked at her with
new respect, and a twinge of envy, for someone who saw the way ahead
clearly.
She lay with her eyes closed against the sun, and droplets of water
sparkling like gems on her thick dark eyelashes. She wasn't beautiful,
he decided carefully, but very handsome and very, very sexy. He was
going to have her, of course. There was no doubt in David's mind about
this, but there seemed little urgency in it now. He was enjoying
listening to her talk, she had a quaint way of expressing herself, once
she was in full flight, and her accent was strangely neutral, although
there were faint echoes of her American background now he knew to look
for them. She told him that the poetry was merely a beginning. She was
going to write a novel about being young and living in Israel. She had
the outline worked out, and it seemed like a pretty interesting story to
David. Then she started to talk about her land and the people who lived
in it. David felt something move within him as he listened, a
nostalgia, a deep race memory. Again his envy stirred. She was so
certain of where she was from and where she was going - she knew where
she belonged, and what her destiny was, and this made her strong. Beside
her he felt suddenly insignificant and without purpose.
sunlight and looked up at him.
h? He shook his head but did not answer her smile, and she became
solemn also.
She studied his face carefully, with minute attention.
The sun had dried his hair and fluffed it out, and it was soft and fine
and very dark. The bone of his cheek and jaw was sculptured and finely
balanced, the eyes very clear and slightly Asiatic in cast, the lips
full and firm, and the nose delicately fluted with wide nostrils and a
straight graceful line.
She reached up and touched his cheek.
You are very beautiful, David. You are the most beautiful human being I
have ever seen. He did not move, and she ran the finger down his neck
on to his chest, twirling it slowly in the dark body hair.
Slowly he leaned forward and placed his mouth over hers. Her lips were
warm and soft and tasted of sea salt.
Her arms came up around the back of his head and folded around him. They
kissed until he reached behind her and unfastened the clasp of her
costume between the smooth brown shoulder blades. She stiffened
immediately and tried to pull away from him.
David held her gently but firmly, murmuring little soothing noises as he
kissed her again. Slowly she relaxed and he went on gentling her until
her hands went to the back of his neck again, and she sighed and
shuddered.
His hands were skilled and expert, masterful enough to prevent
rebellion, not rough enough to panic her. He pushed up the thin
material of her costume top and was surprised and enchanted with the
firm rubbery weight of her breasts and the big dusky rose-brown nipples
which were pebble hard to his touch.
It was shocking, completely foreign to his experience, for David was not
accustomed to check or denial, but Debra placed her hands on his
