He reminded her of Ashleigh’s gorgeous husband, Jake. He had hidden his inner pain behind a façade of cynicism that had very nearly destroyed her sister’s life and his own as well. But Ashleigh’s enduring love had found a healing pathway to his soul.
Did she have what it took to do the same for Bryn? And more to the point—did she even want to try?
‘I think you’ll like my house,’ Bryn said after another lengthy silence. ‘I had it designed specially.’
As olive branches went it wasn’t quite what she had been hoping for but she realised he was making an effort and she forced herself to accept it in the spirit in which it was given.
‘I’m looking forward to seeing it,’ she said.
Mia looked around her a few minutes later in awe. She had been expecting Bryn’s beach hideaway to be luxurious but nothing had quite prepared her for the sheer brilliance of the design that gave him sweeping views over the Noosa River on one side and the beaches and national park on the other. The house was on three levels and was tucked in the bush land that fringed the area, offering a level of privacy that was unbelievable. There were no curtains at any of the main windows—they weren’t necessary as the house was set higher than the rest of its neighbours and the thick surrounding bush was an effective screen.
‘What do you think?’ Bryn asked as soon as he’d shown her the entry level where the main lounge was situated as well as the kitchen and spacious dining area.
‘It’s…wonderful…’ She turned to look at him. ‘No wonder you love coming here. It’s like a private paradise.’
‘Come and I’ll show you the rest of the house from the top floor down,’ he said, leading the way to the open-plan stairs.
Mia followed him as he showed her the three large bedrooms on the top level. A wall of built-in wardrobes gave each room a feeling of space, as did the minimalist décor and pristine white bed linen on the beds. Each en suite had a large, free-standing bowl-like white basin on top of a simple vanity and a big walk-in shower, and the floor and walls were tiled with marble the colour of flecked sand.
He led her back down the stairs to the lower level, where an impressive gym was set up in a large room that led out through French doors to a lap pool in the private garden in which frangipani trees scented the balmy night air.
‘Wow…’ Mia breathed in wonder as she looked around. ‘You sure know the way to an exercise junkie’s heart.’
Bryn chuckled as she bent down to trail her fingers in the water of the pool to test its temperature. ‘I was wondering how you maintained that stunning figure of yours. Now I know.’
Mia felt his compliment wash over her like the warm silk of the water around her fingers. She straightened from the pool and tried to hide her reaction but he caught one of her hands and brought her to a standstill right in front of him.
He stroked the backs of the knuckles of one hand over the heightened colour of her cheek in a movement so gentle her breath came to a stumbling halt right in the middle of her chest. Her stomach gave a little flutter, just like the wings of a trapped moth inside a tiny confined space.
She moistened her suddenly dry mouth at the dark intensity in his midnight-blue gaze as it locked with hers.
The perfumed air swirled around them, wrapping them in a sensual mantle of summer warmth, the exotic atmosphere tipping the balance of distance Mia had desperately tried to maintain between them ever since their marriage was formalised that afternoon.
She felt sure he was going to kiss her. She could feel it along the exposed skin of her arms and legs, the tiny hairs on the back of her neck lifting in anticipation as his head came inexorably closer. Her eyelids fluttered closed as his mouth touched down on hers with breath-like softness, as if the moth from inside her stomach had somehow escaped and landed ever so gently on her lips.
Bryn lifted his head a mere fraction, his mouth still so close she could feel the movement of air from his breath over her acutely sensitive skin.
Two beats of silence passed before he lowered his mouth back to hers, the pressure increasing subtly and tantalisingly. Mia felt the full rush of her blood surging through her veins at the first stroke of his tongue over her lips. She parted her lips and he entered her mouth with gentle but firm insistence, searching for her tongue and mating with it possessively.
Mia felt the prickling of her breasts as he drew her closer into his embrace, her nipples tightening, while her legs and spine felt as if they had been instantly liquefied when one of his hard thighs slipped between hers. She leaned into his hold, her body craving more of his touch, her senses on fire where his hardness probed her softness. Desire exploded inside her, running like a hot stream that threatened to get out of control now it was finally unleashed. She tried to pull it back, tried to get her responses under some semblance of control, but it was impossible. His mouth was like a lighted taper to the spilled fuel of her need, sending hot, licking flames to every single part of her body. She could feel the fullness of her breasts aching for his touch and almost unconsciously began to press herself closer. His erection burned and pulsed against her and she heard his low groan of spiralling need as he deepened the kiss even further.
Without taking his mouth off hers he pressed her back against the wall of the house, one of his hands going to her breast, cupping it through the thin fabric of her top, his thumb rolling over the hardened point of her nipple. Mia felt her breath trip over something invisible as he lifted his head from her mouth, his dark eyes glittering as they held hers for a tiny pause.
Her stomach gave a complete somersault as he slid his hand beneath her top, the warm glide of his fingers over her bare flesh sending her senses into a tailspin. He pushed aside her lacy bra and brought his mouth down to her breast, his lips closing over her nipple and suckling gently until she felt as if he had pulled on an invisible string that was attached to her feminine core. She felt each delicious tug on her sensitised flesh, the tiny arrows of delight like spot fires being lit throughout her quivering body.
His lips left her breast to return to her mouth, this time with increasing urgency, as if he was not quite in control of his reaction to her. She felt his struggle to hold back, the increasing tension in his body where it pressed so temptingly against hers and the latent strength in his arms as he hauled her even closer.
Her hands were in the dark brown silk of his hair, her mouth kissing him back with all the passion of her nature. Her tongue flirted with his, danced with his and became boldly intimate with his, while her heart raced with breakneck speed and her body pulsed with escalating need.
She heard him give another low, deep groan as he wrenched his mouth away, looking down at her with eyes ablaze with unalleviated desire.
It was a moment or two before he spoke but when he did he did so with an ironic twist to his mouth. ‘I can only assume from your unbridled reaction to me just now that none of your previous would-be lovers had a comprehensive gym and pool with which to impress you.’
She injected her tone with disdain. ‘So you can kiss. Big deal. So can most primates, even chimpanzees and gorillas.’
He gave a soft chuckle that tugged on that invisible string again. ‘That’s not all I can do, baby. If you continue to respond to me like that—virgin or not—I’m not sure this is going to stay a paper marriage for very long.’
‘You shouldn’t have kissed me in the first place,’ Mia said. ‘It’s not exactly as if we have an audience right now.’
‘I know, it was a bit unfair but you were so tempting I couldn’t resist one little kiss. You have such a beautiful mouth when it’s not slinging insults my way.’
‘I wouldn’t sling insults your way if you would just keep your hands and mouth to yourself.’
‘I seem to remember your hands and mouth doing their own little bit of wandering.’
‘You’re imagining it. I was trying to get away.’
He gave her another taunting smile. ‘That was some struggle you were putting up.’
&
nbsp; She gave him a withering look without answering.
‘In case you’re wondering, there is no housekeeper we have to act in front of here,’ he said. ‘The place is maintained by the neighbours. I pay them a fee to keep an eye on things when I’m away, but while we are here we will have absolute privacy.’
He held the French doors open for her and once they were indoors added, ‘You can have whichever bedroom you like.’
‘Which one is yours?’
‘Are you asking because you want to avoid it or to share it?’
She gave him a glittering glare. ‘What do you think?’
He held her defiant look for a little longer than was comfortable. Mia felt herself inwardly squirming under his steady surveillance and wondered if he could see the truth written on her face even though she did her level best to disguise it.
She wanted him.
For the first time in her life she had come face to face with a man who was temptation personified. Her flesh was still tingling from his touch and she knew if he took even one step towards her and took her in his arms again she would not have the strength of will to resist him.
‘Go to bed, Mia,’ he said after a short, throbbing silence. ‘Otherwise I might be tempted to ravish you right here and now.’
‘You wouldn’t dare.’
His night-sky eyes grew even darker and his voice when he spoke was gravel-rough. ‘Don’t play with matches, sweetheart. I’m sorely tempted to finish what we started out by the pool and one look from you is all it will take to get the flames going again.’
Mia turned for the stairs, forcing herself to go at a dignified pace even though she felt like bolting.
‘Goodnight, little virgin wife of mine,’ Bryn said, his tone distinctly mocking.
She gritted her teeth and with one last blistering look over her shoulder, opened the first bedroom she came to and closed the door on his taunting smiling face.
CHAPTER TEN
MIA headed straight for the en suite. Shutting the door, she stared at her wild appearance in the mirror, her hands clutching the edge of the vanity to steady her trembling legs.
She had to learn to control herself around him! What was she thinking, kissing him back like that? It was totally crazy. It was just asking for the sort of heartbreak she could well do without.
She turned around and, leaning back against the vanity, released a heavy sigh. Of course, resisting him would be a whole lot easier if he weren’t so damned tempting. Those dark blue eyes positively smouldered with sensuality every time they locked with hers. And those lips! What woman could resist a kiss that felt as soft as a butterfly landing on an exotic bloom, or not respond when the same kiss turned into something deeply erotic with the determined thrust of his searching tongue?
She looked down at her breasts and suppressed a little shiver of reaction as she thought of his mouth around her nipple. He had been so very close to tipping her over the edge if only he knew it.
She gave a little scowl as she reached for the shower tap.
Maybe he did know it.
The shower was just what she needed; it was cool and refreshing and washed away the dust and damp stickiness of long-distance travel.
It had been a long day and tiredness was creeping up on her, making her sway on her feet as she wrapped the soft, fluffy white towel—bigger than any towel she’d ever seen before—around herself like a sarong.
The bed beckoned her as soon as she left the en suite, its wide white-feather softness looking like a cloud of comfort in the middle of the floor.
She gave the room a quick, sweeping glance for her suitcase so she could retrieve her nightwear. She’d seen Bryn carry their luggage upstairs earlier but there was no sign of it in here.
She gave a little shrug of tired indifference and slipped the towel off, climbing in between the cool sheets and laying her head down on the soft-as-air feather pillow as she closed her eyes with a sigh of relief…
‘So guess who’s been sleeping in my bed?’
Mia’s eyes sprang open at the deep, lazy drawl, the bright glare from the overhead light making her wince as she struggled upright, clutching the sheet to cover her nakedness.
‘Your bed?’ she gasped, her heart thudding in alarm as she registered that he was wearing nothing but a towel slung loosely around his waist.
Bryn gave her an indolent smile. ‘And here I was, thinking it was going to take me the best part of the week to convince you to sleep with me.’ He reached for the edge of his towel and dropped it to the floor.
Mia’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. She suddenly realised she was staring and quickly flung the sheet over her head. ‘For God’s sake, cover yourself!’ she croaked.
He gave a deep chuckle of laughter. ‘Haven’t you seen a naked man before?’
‘Yes,’ she said, her voice muffled from under the sheet.
‘So what’s the problem?’
‘My nephew is five years old, that’s what’s the problem.’
‘So he’s got a bit of growing to do, but we all end up more or less the same.’
Mia wasn’t so sure about that. She’d seen plenty of toned male bodies at her local gym, admittedly covered by close-fitting gym gear, but Bryn’s was something else again—especially naked.
She felt a little tug on the sheet covering her and clutched at it in panic. ‘What are you doing?’ she shrieked when it slipped out of her desperate grasp.
Bryn’s gaze burned as it ran over her and she hastily crossed her legs and covered her breasts with her hands. Her words of protest locked somewhere in her throat as he stepped towards her, her mouth going dry and her heart threatening to make its way out of her chest when he sat down next to her, his muscled, hair-roughened thigh touching her smooth one.
‘You’re in my bed, which I can only assume means you’ve changed your mind and now want to sleep with me,’ he said.
‘I—I didn’t know it was your bed.’
He stroked a finger over the upper curves of her breasts where her hands couldn’t quite conceal them. ‘Don’t be shy, Mia. I want to look at you. All of you.’
Mia could hardly breathe; his touch was so light but so very tempting. She could feel the stirrings of desire deep within her and there was nothing she could do to control them. Electricity fizzed along her flesh wherever he touched; even the air seemed to be charged with it. She could feel the crackling tension as his eyes roved her slim form, lingering on the length of her tightly crossed legs and what she was desperately trying to hide from him.
‘Uncross your legs, Mia,’ he commanded gently.
She shook her head, her lips tightly compressed, not trusting herself to speak.
‘I want you, Mia, and I know you want me,’ he said. ‘I can see it in your eyes, I can feel it in your kisses and I can even smell it on your skin.’
She wished she could deny it but she could smell it herself. The delicate feminine fragrance of desire, the silky liquid that betrayed her vulnerability to him as nothing else could do. He had only to touch her where she most ached to be touched and he would feel it for himself. She could almost feel the thick, smooth glide of his finger moving inside her, stretching her in preparation for his possession.
‘It’s just hormones,’ she said, somewhat breathlessly. ‘You shouldn’t be feeling flattered at all.’
She could tell he didn’t believe her by the laughing glint in his eyes but he didn’t press the issue. Instead, he patted her thigh and stood up, not even bothering to hide his erection.
‘I’ll leave you in peace. I was just teasing. I know you’ll come to me when you’re ready.’
‘You’ll be waiting a very long time,’ she said with much less conviction than she’d intended.
‘I can be patient,’ he said, holding her defiant gaze. ‘Besides, there are some things in life that are well worth the wait. It makes the prize all the more valuable if you’ve had to wait for it, don’t you think?’
She gave him a sour look.
‘If you want a prize, go and enter a meat-tray raffle. I’m not on offer.’
He picked up his towel and wrapped it around his waist once more, a smile still playing around his mouth. ‘Sweet dreams, Mia. I’ll be in the next room if you want me.’
‘I don’t want you,’ she said but she knew it was more for her own benefit than his.
He picked up the sheet off the floor and spread it over her, tucking her in like a child, stooping to place a soft kiss to her forehead. ‘So you keep saying but we both know it isn’t true.’
‘I suppose someone with the ego the size of yours could only be expected to say something like that,’ she bit out resentfully. ‘Has there ever been a woman you haven’t been able to lure into your bed?’
‘Not so far.’
‘Poor misguided fools,’ she muttered. ‘I wonder if there’s a support group for them all. It should be called BDCO.’
‘What does that stand for?’
‘Bryn Dywer’s Cast-Offs,’ she said. ‘Life-time membership free in exchange for a broken heart.’
His shoulders shook as he laughed. ‘As far as I know I haven’t broken any hearts irreparably,’ he said as he reached for the door knob. ‘Sleep tight. I’ll see you in the morning.’
Mia let out a slow, prickly breath as the door closed behind him. If she wasn’t very careful hers could well be the first heart he would damage beyond repair. If she was honest with herself, she was more than halfway to being in love with him as it was; it wouldn’t take too many more of those scorching kisses of his to make her go beyond the point of no return.
Mia woke to brilliant sunshine and the chorus of birds, the distant roll of the ocean in the distance filling her with instant energy. She tossed the sheet aside and came up short when she saw her suitcase next to the built-in wardrobe. Bryn must have brought it in during the night or the early hours of the morning.
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