The Pregnancy Bond

‘What the devil are you doing?’ he demanded huskily.

‘Proving that I’m no phantom. On the contrary, I’m very, very physical.’

‘You sure as hell are,’ he gasped, relishing the devastating skill that had taken him by surprise. ‘No woman-that I know-could do that!’

‘That’s right-no woman that you know,’ she agreed. Here was the best part of this delightful game. The selves they were tonight had no past and no future. They had come out of nowhere and tomorrow would dissolve into nothing. But tonight they existed, and felt, and burned with desire. It was heady magic.

She wondered how long he would stand there, letting her work on him, and she soon had her answer. With a groan that showed her that she’d got the better of him, he twisted swiftly around and claimed the initiative.

‘Ready for anything?’ he muttered against her lips.

‘I think I could give you a surprise or two.’

But just now he was surprising her, and she was loving it. In their marriage Jake had always been a tender, considerate lover. But now there was nothing tender in his grasp, and not much that was considerate as he pulled her down onto the bed in a way that brooked no argument. He parted her legs and was inside her swiftly, sending fierce waves of piercing heat and light through her. After the first shock she wrapped her legs about him and drove back, as hot and wild as he, and as demanding. She had been made for this, and it was only now that she knew.

After the first fierce drive he made his movements slower, and so did she, so that they teased each other with delay. Kelly was astonished at her own control. It seemed to come from an unexplored region in her, perhaps the same place where grief had lived and endured until finally endurance was too much.

She’d thought she knew her own nature-sedate, modest, long-suffering, but not sparky or adventurous. Now she was astonished to discover a tiny imp of resentment, almost revenge, as though her searing sexuality was telling him, So there!

If so it was reprehensible, but there was no doubt it was giving him something to think about.

When they’d fought each other to a standstill, and he was breathing heavily, he reached swiftly over and switched on the bedside lamp.

‘I want to look at you,’ he said.

At once she rose and knelt on the bed, stretching her arms high so that her small, firm breasts were shown for his delectation. Those lost pounds were a godsend, she thought, as she swayed this way and that, displaying herself to him, as shameless as a wood nymph.

‘Is that what you wanted to see?’ she asked wickedly.

‘It’s more than my best hope. Woman, do you know that you’re not safe?’

She laughed. ‘It’s too late now to be worrying about that!’

‘That is sheer provocation,’ he declared, clasping his hands about her waist, where they almost met.

There was a glint in his eye that was intriguing her more every moment. Glancing down his length, she saw that she’d done him an injustice. Resisting his attempts to toss her onto her back, she moved over him.

‘There’s more than one new experience,’ she teased, easing herself into position and enjoying the shock on his face. ‘Relax, enjoy.’

‘I’d like to know where you learned to do this,’ he growled, gasping a little between words.

She leaned down and whispered softly in his ear. ‘That’s none of your business.’

It was incredible what you could learn from books these days, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. How good it was to feel him inside her in a different way, newly thrilling, an unexpected kind of excitement. And, most wonderful of all, to gaze down on his face, and see by its thunderstruck look that, for once, the ‘little woman’ hadn’t done just as he would have predicted.

At last it was over and she flung herself down beside him, feeling as though she could laugh with the gods.

One thought pervaded her. He might think he’d reclaimed her, but in truth she had reclaimed him, and with him, her freedom.

Now she could let him go.

The room was brilliant with the light of morning, and she sat up sharply, awake, cold, clear-headed and exasperated with herself. The sight of Jake’s sleeping form beside her made her groan.

What had she done? She might have guessed he’d try a trick like this. He was piqued that she’d divorced him, so he’d set out to prove he could carry her back to bed anyway. Now she was a scalp on his belt.

It didn’t matter that she’d just enjoyed the best sex with him that she’d ever known. It had been blinding, ecstatic, wonderful. Of course it had. Last night he’d seen her as a new woman, in demand among men, and the predator in him had jumped to the head of the queue.

She slipped out of bed, put on a robe and went into the kitchen, seemingly occupied, but actually straining her ears for the sound of him, and at last she heard him pad barefoot across her front room. She looked around, smiling brightly.

‘Breakfast coming up,’ she sang out. ‘Have this to be going on with.’ She pressed a mug of coffee into his hand.

‘How are you?’ he asked, watching her carefully.

‘Wonderful, considering that party. I thought I might have a hangover, but I’m fine.’

‘I don’t think you drank very much.’

‘Just a little bit tipsy,’ she said untruthfully.

‘Then you’ve changed. You never used to drink much.’

‘I never used to go in for one-night stands either, but for you I made an exception, for old times’ sake.’

‘That was nice of you,’ he said quietly.

‘Well, you owed me some fun after sending Carl and Frank away before I made up my mind about them.’

Jake took a swift breath. ‘Don’t talk like that.’

‘Hey, lighten up,’ she chided. ‘It was great. And it was the perfect way to end our marriage. No hard feelings and a good time was had by all.’ A horrid thought seemed to strike her. ‘Jake, you did have a good time, didn’t you?’

‘I had an incredible time,’ he said quietly. ‘I hadn’t realised you’d grown so-skilled.’

He seemed to be trying to read her face, but Kelly blocked his enquiring eyes with a bland smile that concealed how hard her heart was beating.

‘You’re right, Kelly,’ he said at last. ‘You’re a new woman. I hadn’t quite understood that. I suppose I still saw you in the old way, but not any more. Your life’s your own now. You took it back, and you’re going to make it whatever you want.’

‘Best for both of us,’ she said.

‘Yeah! Best for both of us. It’s just that I-’

She held herself tense for what he would say next. Almost as though it mattered. He seemed to be struggling with the words, but soon he would say them, and she would know…

Then his face changed as he saw something over her shoulder, and everything vanished from his expression but horror. ‘Oh, ye gods!’ he yelled, his eyes on the clock. ‘The time! Look at the time.’

‘It’s just past ten. Why?’

‘I need a cab ten minutes ago. Who can I call?’

‘I’ll do it.’

‘I have to catch the midday flight or my name will be mud.’

She would never know now what he might have said. The next few minutes were taken up with calling the cab, while he dressed frantically. He finished just as her doorbell rang.

‘’Bye,’ he said, kissing her cheek on the run. ‘There’s a present for you on the bed. Combined Christmas and house-warming.’

The gift was a watch, made of platinum and studded with tiny diamonds. It was the sort of thing a man might buy in the duty free shop at an airport when he was running out of time. Kelly was an expert in that sort of gift because Jake had always bought her one when he returned home from the other side of the world, and she’d never told him how lonely she was when he was away, because it would have been churlish to complain to a man who’d bought her a costly gift. Besides, she’d been almost as lonely when he was there.

But this was different. There was no need for him to have bought her anything, and the gesture touched her.