Seduction in Mind

Abruptly grasping her hips, he jerked her back, the brute, unguarded impact buffeting their senses into a momentary breathlessness. When his brain began functioning again, he gruffly muttered, 'Jesus, you feel… good.'

'You're a bloody brute…' But the rancor was modulated by a heated undertone.

'And I should cut and run while I can.' The powerful muscles of his legs flexed, but he didn't leave. He held her motionless instead and deftly rotated his hips so they both felt a seething delirium in the pleasure centers of their minds.

'I don't know what to do,' she breathed, half angry, conflicted, ravenous.

'Stay with me,' he whispered, bending to kiss the velvety softness of her neck, the controversy of their mutual obsession muted by tumultuous sensation, the rhythm of their bodies exquisitely matched.

He continued to hold her captive, but she no longer decried her submission because carnal lust blurred her edgy discontent and orgasmic excess brought her to the verge of fainting. When he carried her back to the bed after a time and gently set her down, he settled lightly above her, overwhelmed by rare emotion. 'Just one more time?' he breathed, feeling unquenchable.

'No… no… no.'

'You always say no.' He slid inside her, felt her welcoming flesh give way, and shut his eyes.

Lavish, soul-stirring ardor engulfed her. She was out of her depth, she realized, so far out of her depth she could no longer clearly distinguish the perimeters of the real world. It frightened her to be so enslaved to a man's touch. Could one become addicted to this glorious lust… to Ranelagh's inexhaustible stamina? Could she become servile to her inordinate need for orgasms?

But Sam moved just then in a particularly persuasive way, in a rare and refined demonstration of ultimate penetration, and raw, acute feeling washed over her in powerful waves, inundating apprehension.

Moments later, when she was able to breathe again, when she'd forcibly gathered her senses into a measure of order, she whispered, 'I can't keep doing this-every day, every night-I'm feeling… out of control.'

'I like… the way I feel.' Lying beside her, his arms were flung over his head, his eyes half shut.

'We should take a small hiatus…'

'No.'

At the curtness of his tone, she turned her head on the pillow and looked at him. 'No?'

'No, not now. No, not tomorrow. No, not next week.' His eyes opened fully, he turned his head, held her gaze, and smiled. 'And I mean that in the nicest way.'

'Now, if only you had the power to enforce those pronouncements.'

'I don't think it takes power.' His voice was whisper soft. 'Do you?'

She couldn't help but smile. 'I concede on that count, my fine stud. However,' she said with a new determination, well aware how predaceous his allure and how weak her defenses, 'I can't just allow myself to be swept along on a tidal wave of lust. I have a very busy life.' Her voice was brisk, as if her tone might bolster her resolve. 'A life, I might add, composed of a multitude of activities other than making love.'

'Why not take a hiatus from that instead of the other way around,' he suggested calmly.

'I wish I could.'

'Then, do it.'

'It's not that easy.'

'Of course it is. You're in charge of your own life.'

'Sam, really, consider. I can't simply stay in bed with you until… when? Such a time as you become bored with me?'

'Is that what you're driving at? You don't bore me in the least. In fact, I'm perilously aware of my attraction to you. You have my full attention, darling. My word on it.'

'You don't understand. Much as I love to make love to you, I can't devote my life to pleasure. It's too-too… frivolous, for one thing.'

His dark brows rose in arched query. 'Is life supposed to be unconditionally dutiful?'

'I hardly think you need worry about that.'

Rising onto his elbows, he directed a skeptical gaze her way. 'Are we comparing obligations in our lives?'

'No, of course not. I didn't mean to imply that.'

'Do you think you perform more good deeds than I?'

'Outside of bed, you mean?'

'Very amusing. Why don't I have Patrick give you a list of my charities and the various boards I sit on, and you can relax.'

Reaching up, she touched his cheek. 'I'm not taking issue with your goodness-in any number of realms. I'm trying to deal with my own unease. I don't like to be so enamored. I don't like to think of you day and night. I don't want to want you every waking minute.'

'Why not? I feel the same way.'

'Because…' She hesitated, struggling to reconcile a level of wistful dreams with reality. 'I haven't lived my life like you,' she began to explain, trying to be diplomatic and honest at the same time. 'I don't mean it in a pejorative way. I mean only, until I met you, I considered myself a rational person. I've never been impulsive or so… so- physically tempted. My decisions have been based on practicality and logic.'

'Like marrying two old men.'

'They were good men and very good to me.'

'And I'm not?'

She smiled. 'You're very good, darling. In a thousand different ways. In so many ways, I feel myself losing my perspective. And that loss and my loss of reason makes me uncomfortable. All I'm asking is for a brief hiatus from-'

'Fucking? I don't want to.'

'But I do.'

He sat up and scowled at her. 'Jesus, Alex, you're asking a lot. How long a hiatus?'

'A few days, that's all.'

'Days! I'll go crazy.' The tacit exclusivity in his reply suddenly struck him, and he softly swore.

She lay very still. 'I'm not asking.'

He swore again, his brows drawn together in a frown, not sure he was willing to agree. After a small silence, he finally muttered, 'Very well,' because regardless of the unnerving implications in his need, he wanted her more. 'But only for a day.'

'Three days.'

'I could lock you up here and no one would be the wiser.' She looked so lush and inviting lying there, he was sorely tempted.

'My father and Loucas would be over by tomorrow.'

'I could take you to my country house.'

'I'm sure they know where that is as well.'

'I'll take you abroad.'

'Darling, please, don't be childish.'

He grimaced. 'I don't like this idea.'

She smiled. 'I'm not forcing you to do anything. I simply need some respite for myself.'

'Don't split hairs,' he grumbled. 'Your respite becomes mine. Oh, hell-two days, then, but not a minute more. And don't try to tell me you're any less used to having your way.'

She couldn't in good conscience disagree, when she'd been fiercely independent all her life. 'Two days, then. Thank you for your understanding.'

He gave her a black look. 'It's going to be hell.'

'It's an opportunity for us both to clear our heads.'

'My head is very clear.'

'Then, it's an opportunity for me.'