Taming the Last St Claire

by Carole Mortimer

  He was frowning distractedly as he went to his bedroom to collect the things he would need for an overnight stay at her apartment.

  Joey never disappointed him. She surprised him, deliberately shocked him on occasion, and evoked an uncontrollable and inexplicable desire in him, but nothing she did or said ever disappointed him.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  ‘ARE you sure you’re going to be comfortable sleeping on here?’ Joey frowned down at the makeshift bed she had made for Gideon on the sofa in her sitting room; the only bedclothes she had been able to find were a spare set of sheets, two old blankets and one pillow.

  ‘Probably not,’ Gideon drawled as he dropped his overnight bag down beside the sofa, before taking his mobile and wallet from his trouser pockets and placing them on the coffee table. ‘Which will no doubt make your own dreams all the sweeter as you sleep in the comfort of your bed.’

  She somehow doubted that. Especially when he was only putting himself through this discomfort in an attempt to protect her. Something, despite her earlier apology, she knew she really had been less than gracious about.

  ‘Perhaps I should be the one to sleep on the sofa, after all—’

  ‘I’m just teasing you again, Joey.’ Gideon dropped lightly down onto the sofa and grinned up at her. ‘I’ll be absolutely fine sleeping here.’

  ‘If you’re sure? ‘

  Somehow, now that the time had come for Joey to go to her bedroom, she was reluctant to leave. She doubted she was going to get any sleep anyway, knowing he was only feet away. Possibly naked!

  Good Lord, wasn’t she a little young for hot flushes and heart palpitations?

  ‘I’m sure,’ Gideon answered gruffly. ‘Just go, hmm?’ he urged firmly when she still made no effort to leave.

  Joey looked at him from beneath lowered lashes, noting the gold glow of his eyes—as a sign of his own physical awareness of her?—and the slight flush on the sharp blades of those sculptured cheeks. She moistened suddenly dry lips before speaking. ‘I feel very guilty taking the bed and leaving you to sleep on the sofa.’

  ‘Good.’

  Her eyes widened. ‘Gideon!’

  He arched mocking brows. ‘As I told you earlier, you have to learn to take it if you’re going to give it.’

  ‘Okay, point taken.’ She nodded. ‘There’s coffee in the kitchen if you wake up before me in the morning, and—’

  ‘And here I imagined you’d be bringing me breakfast in bed.’

  Joey eyed him uncertainly. ‘You’re kidding again, right?’

  He smiled. ‘What do you think? ‘

  She gave a grimace. ‘I think you’re going to be waiting a very long time if you expect me to bring you breakfast in bed.’

  ‘Another of life’s little disappointments.’ He gave an exaggerated sigh.

  Joey wasn’t quite sure what to make of Gideon in this teasing mood. It was disconcerting, to say the least!

  ‘Goodnight, Gideon,’ she said stiltedly as she turned away.

  ‘Night, Joey,’ he called softly.

  She closed her bedroom door firmly behind her before leaning back against it, aware that her heart was pounding, her cheeks flushed.

  This was utterly ridiculous. She was twenty-eight years old, and a lawyer of some repute—not some inexperienced eighteen-year-old lusting after a man she couldn’t have! Even if that last part was true. She did lust after Gideon and she knew she couldn’t have him—on his terms, at least. She wasn’t interested in a temporary fling just to scratch an itch.

  Gideon’s good humour had left him the moment Joey closed the bedroom door behind her, and he gave up all pretence of being relaxed as he stood up restlessly to begin pacing the room.

  How the hell was he supposed to spend the night sleeping on the sofa when he knew that Joey was only feet away? Possibly naked!

  Did she sleep naked.? Just the possibility that she might was enough to cause Gideon’s thighs to harden to a throbbing ache as he imagined those lush, full breasts, her slender waist and invitingly curvaceous hips and thighs, sprawled across silken sheets—

  Gideon turned sharply as he heard the bedroom door reopen, schooling his features to casual uninterest as he looked across at her enquiringly.

  ‘I need to use the bathroom,’ Joey said huskily, and she came out of the bedroom wearing an over-large white T-shirt that reached down to her thighs.

  So much for imagining her sleeping naked, Gideon mocked himself once Joey had disappeared into the bathroom down the hallway. Although the T-shirt did have a certain appeal, as it hinted at rather than outlined those softly luscious curves beneath.

  Who was he trying to fool? She could have been wearing a sack and he would still have found her sexy!

  ‘Night, again,’ she murmured, her gaze averted as she went back into the bedroom and closed the door.

  Gideon was once again consumed with frustrated desire as he stood in the middle of the room staring at that closed bedroom door for several long seconds. Knowing Joey was just behind that thin veneer of wood. That he now ached to kiss her softly pouting lips. To take her in his arms and mould her soft curves against his own. To caress every inch of her until she was as aroused as he was.

  Oh, to hell with this!

  He moved to grab his overnight bag before marching down the hallway to the bathroom. He needed a cold shower. A long—very long!—cold shower. For all the good he expected it to do…

  If Joey had ever suffered a more restless night’s sleep in her life then she couldn’t think when. Surely nothing could ever have tormented and disturbed her as much as knowing that Gideon was asleep on the sofa in her sitting room?

  She had actually got out of bed half a dozen times during the night, with the intention of either joining him on the sofa or inviting him to share her bed, her body aching, longing, to finish what they had started earlier that morning.

  Somehow she had resisted each and every one of those longings. Forced herself to return to bed alone. Only to get up again minutes later when she was once again consumed with the same desire.

  It was a relief when early-morning light started to permeate her bedroom curtains. A glance at the bedside clock revealed that it was almost seven-thirty. Surely a respectable—acceptable—time for her to get up?

  Whether it was or not, Joey knew she’d had enough of lying in the tangle of her own bedclothes. A trip to the bathroom to clean her teeth was in order, before she went into the kitchen and made herself a pot of tea. A large pot of tea!

  She achieved the first of those tasks by simply not looking at Gideon as she moved quietly down the hallway, but she couldn’t resist on her way back. She glanced across to the sofa, her breath catching in her throat as she saw him lying sprawled face-down on the sofa, with only a sheet to cover his nakedness. At least she presumed he was naked beneath that sheet; his back was certainly bare, as were his long and muscled legs.

  Joey couldn’t resist padding softly over to look down at him, her fingers aching to reach out and touch the fall of golden blond hair across his forehead. His lashes were long against the hardness of his cheeks, his lips slightly parted as he breathed in and out.

  If Joey bent down just slightly she could kiss those lips—

  ‘I don’t smell any breakfast cooking!’ Gold eyes gleamed at her wickedly as Gideon suddenly raised those long lashes to look up at her.

  Joey almost tripped over her own feet as she jumped back guiltily. ‘I thought you were still asleep!’ she accused, her cheeks burning with embarrassment at being caught in the act of ogling him while he slept. Correction, while she had thought that he slept!

  ‘Obviously you thought wrong.’ Gideon took the sheet with him as he rolled over to look up at her. He was very aware that a certain part of his anatomy had woken up before the rest of him, and that looking at a sleep-tousled Joey was only increasing that throbbing ache between his thighs.

  A fact she was also aware of if, the way her eyes had widened as she glanced at that r
estless bulge beneath the sheet was any indication!

  ‘What can I say? Part of me is very pleased to see you,’ Gideon drawled ruefully.

  Joey’s cheeks were still flushed, but she quirked mocking brows. ‘And how does the rest of you feel about it?’

  Gideon put an arm behind his head as he relaxed back on the pillow. ‘As I said, I don’t smell any breakfast cooking.’

  Just as he had thought, sleeping on the sofa hadn’t been his main problem last night. It had been forcing himself to resist knocking on her bedroom door and then joining her in bed that had proved the most difficult.

  The cold shower he’d taken had been a complete waste of his time once he’d lain down on the sofa. His mind had worked overtime as he’d imagined kissing Joey, making love to her, having her make love to him…

  One look at her this morning, red hair soft and tousled, those jade-green eyes heavy with sleep—or lack of it?—and all those erotic imaginings had returned with a vengeance.

  ‘And, as I told you last night, you won’t either,’ Joey assured him. ‘There’s toast or croissants in the kitchen if you’re hungry, so just help yourself.’ She turned away.

  Gideon reached out and lightly grasped her wrist. ‘Where are you going?’ his voice was husky.

  She was very aware of his fingers curled lightly about the slenderness of her wrist. Of his nakedness beneath the thin sheet. Of the long length of his arousal poised beneath that sheet…

  She swallowed hard. ‘I thought I’d go into the kitchen and make some tea and coffee.’

  Gideon gave a light tug on her wrist. ‘Weren’t you about to kiss me good morning a few minutes ago?’

  Her eyes widened in alarm as she realised how easily she had given herself away. A sudden but unmistakable sexual tension filled the room…

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous—’

  ‘Don’t lie to me, Joey. Or yourself,’ he added softly.

  Joey tried to back away. ‘I’m not lying—’

  ‘I think you are.’

  ‘No—’

  ‘Yes!’

  Gold eyes blazed up at her as Gideon’s fingers tightened about her wrist before he gave a second, harder tug, and succeeded in unbalancing Joey.

  She could feel herself starting to panic as she tumbled towards him. ‘Stop this, Gideon,’ she instructed firmly as she tried to regain her balance, but instead she found herself sprawled on top of him, only the thin material of the sheet and her T-shirt between them.

  Which was no barrier at all. Joey felt the hardness of his shaft pressed against the softness of her thighs, her breasts crushed against his chest, and their faces were now only inches apart.

  She lay unmoving, not breathing, as her body was suffused with heat. That heat was centring, pooling between her thighs as the intensity of his golden eyes held her captive. ‘I don’t think this is a good idea, Gideon,’ she said.

  He released her wrist to bring his hands up and cradle either side of her face, thumbs moving lightly against the shadows beneath her eyes. ‘Did you sleep at all last night?’

  ‘I—no, not really,’ she acknowledged with a grimace.

  ‘Neither did I,’ he admitted quietly.

  The tip of her tongue moved nervously across the sudden dryness of her lips. ‘This isn’t the answer, Gideon.’

  He gave a rueful smile. ‘Well, it certainly isn’t the question!’

  Joey breathed shallowly. ‘Then what is?’

  Those golden eyes held her mesmerised. ‘The question is, can either of us stop what happens next?’ Gideon shifted slightly, nudging her thighs apart. Her core was now pressed against his unrelenting hardness. ‘Can you?’ His hips flexed to rub that hardness against her already throbbing nubbin.

  Joey gave a little whimpering moan, her eyes closing as pleasure coursed through her. She felt herself start to moisten between her thighs, her nipples peaking, hardening to an aching throb.

  ‘Joey?’ Gideon prompted throatily.

  She raised emerald-bright eyes. ‘Can you?’

  Gideon shook his head. ‘I don’t even intend to try,’ he admitted gruffly, knowing he had lost this particular battle the moment he’d heard her leave her bedroom earlier. He’d watched from between narrowed lids as she’d moved stealthily down the hallway to the bathroom, her breasts twin peaks beneath her T-shirt, her legs bare and silky. Knowing she was completely naked beneath that inadequate garment had only made Gideon desperate to remove it.

  He did so now, and her thighs straddled his as he sat her up, slowly lifting that T-shirt, revealing auburn curls between the slim thighs that he longed to plunder, the slenderness of her waist, and finally the full thrust of her firm breasts, tipped with dusky rose nipples that were already pouting at him, begging to be kissed.

  Gideon’s gaze held hers captive as he parted his lips to reveal the soft moistness of his tongue and the sharpness of his teeth. ‘Bend down and put your nipple in my mouth, Joey.’

  Every breath she took lifted her breasts in invitation. Her nipples were so hard and aching now they were almost painful. A pain that she knew only Gideon’s waiting tongue and teeth could assuage.

  Her position of power was too much temptation, her need too great, too immediate, for her to do anything other than what he asked. Her hands moved to rest on the pillow either side of his head as she lowered her breasts and instantly felt the sharp sting of pleasure as he took one of those fiery tips deep into the heat of his mouth, while his hand cupped its twin to allow his fingers and thumb to pluck and roll the hard and aching nipple.

  Moisture flooded again between Joey’s thighs and she moved against him restlessly. Gideon groaned low in his throat even as he continued to pay attention to first one nipple and then the other, teeth gently biting, tongue rasping, driving her higher and higher towards the release that was becoming a desperate need.

  ‘I’ve waited so long for this,’ Gideon gasped as he kissed his way across the slope of her breast before moving up to capture her lips with his.

  They kissed long and deeply, desire blazing, heightening their senses to fever-pitch.

  ‘I can’t wait any longer. I need to be inside you now.’ He moved quickly, rolling to his side with Joey beside him as he threw the sheet aside, before moving up and over her to hold himself poised above her parted thighs, his face savage. ‘Take me in, Joey!’ he urged fiercely, his lips against her throat as his hands cupped her bottom, preparing her to receive him.

  Joey needed Gideon inside her just as much as he wanted to be there. Her fingers were a light grasp around him as she reached between them to guide him, groaning low in her throat as she felt him carefully enter her before sliding deeper, stretching her, filling her inch by pleasurable inch.

  Joey stiffened briefly in pain, her fingernails digging into the flesh of Gideon’s shoulders, when she felt his hardness surge past the barrier of her innocence to fill her totally as he buried himself to the hilt before becoming strangely still, unmoving.

  ‘Gideon?’ she prompted uncertainly when he continued to lie there.

  ‘What the hell—?’ Gold eyes glittered dangerously, and there was a flush to his cheeks as he raised his head to look down at her. ‘Damn it—tell me I’m not your first lover!’

  Joey felt her heart plummet even as she knew her face paled at the accusation she could read so clearly in Gideon’s expression. ‘I—Does it matter? ‘

  Did it matter? Gideon’s shattered thoughts echoed chaotically.

  Did it matter that Joey had been a virgin? Did it matter that he had just ripped through the gossamer barrier of her innocence? Did it matter that, virgin or not, he had obviously hurt her? Hell, yes, it mattered!

  His expression was fierce as he took her by the shoulders. ‘You can’t possibly be a virgin! ‘

  ‘Well…not any more, no,’ Joey acknowledged softly.

  Gideon growled low in his throat as his thoughts became even more disjointed. ‘But everyone knows—you and Pickard. The two of you were seen
together for months!’

  She shook her head. ‘I already told you. We were never lovers.’

  ‘But you must have been out with other men over the years?’ he persisted disbelievingly.

  Had Joey ever suffered through such an embarrassing conversation in her life before? Somehow she doubted it very much!

  They were both completely naked, his hardness still buried deep inside her, and he wanted to talk about why she hadn’t been to bed with any of the other men she had dated. It could only happen to her!

  She moistened dry lips. ‘Could we talk about this later, do you think, Gideon?’

  His face darkened angrily. ‘We’ll talk about it now!’

  Joey couldn’t quite bring her gaze up to meet the glittering gold of Gideon’s accusing eyes. ‘It’s a little…awkward at the moment, don’t you think?’

  He wasn’t capable of thinking at all right now. Was too stunned, too shocked by the discovery of her previous physical innocence, to think coherently. It was a bewilderment his manhood obviously echoed as he felt himself softening in readiness for withdrawal. Taking his previous desire to its conclusion was the last thing on his mind right now.

  Gideon moved up and away from Joey, to stand beside the sofa and look down at her. She quickly pulled the sheet over her nakedness. But not before Gideon had seen the telling smear of blood between her thighs.

  He closed his eyes briefly, before turning away to run his hand through the thickness of his hair. He really had just taken Joey’s virginity. Indisputably. Irrevocably. Unknowingly.

  But she had known.

  Gideon turned to look at her through narrowed lids. ‘None of this makes any sense.’

  Joey looked up at him. ‘None of what?’

  ‘You. Me. The fact that you were still a—a—’

  ‘A virgin,’ Joey finished helpfully—Gideon still seemed to be having trouble with the concept.

  ‘Yes!’

  What had she expected? Joey wondered wearily. That the two of them would make love and it would all be wonderful?

  Well, until Gideon had discovered her virginity it had been wonderful!