HANNAH watched as though hypnotised until Jordan finally stood naked before her. In the shower he had been too close for her to see his body clearly, now she saw his powerful physique for the first time, and her breath caught in her throat at the magnificence of his body. Her eyes were drawn to his very evident state of arousal, and although she wanted to turn her head away she somehow couldn’t; she was caught in some sort of spell.
Jordan himself was sublimely indifferent to his nakedness, smiling softly to himself as he moved over to the bed, sliding slowly and threateningly-as far as Hannah was concerned―beneath the sheets. She did not edge away; that would have given him too much satisfaction. Instead she lay perfectly still, her hands clenched, her whole body as taut as a violin string.
For several long seconds he lay there facing her, carefully not touching, breathing quietly and evenly. Even though she kept her eyes resolutely closed she knew he was watching her, and everyone of her nerve-ends tingled with awareness and anticipation.
‘Do you think you can shut me out if you don’t look at me?’ he asked, his voice a low, sexy growl, adding another layer of disturbance to her soul.
‘No.’ she answered with a soft shake of her head.
‘Then I suggest you open your beautiful eyes. I don’t like being treated as though I’m not here.’
With difficulty Hannah complied, but her lids were so heavy she had to force them open. And when she discovered his face mere inches away from her own every muscle in her body froze.
‘That’s better,’ he said huskily. ‘Now I can see what you’re thinking.’
This was what she had been afraid of. He seemed to have the uncanny knack of knowing everything that was going on in her mind.
‘Don’t you miss having a man in your bed? Isn’t it lonely in the middle of the night? Doesn’t your body ache to be possessed?’
The provocative sentences were posed slowly and one at a time, and Hannah felt a fresh flood of feelings with each taunt. ‘Of course I miss Roger,’ she whispered faintly, ‘and yes, it is lonely, but no, I don’t ache to be possessed by any man.’
Jordan’s eyes narrowed faintly. ‘I think you’re lying―I think that even at this very moment you’re aching.’
‘No,’ she denied painfully.
‘No?’ An eyebrow rose. ‘You feel no response at all to me? I don’t believe that, Hannah.’
‘Of course I feel―something,’ she stammered. ‘It wouldn’t be natural if I didn’t.’
‘But you don’t want to do anything about it?’ His brown eyes were fixed intently on hers, exciting further emotions, and Hannah knew she would not be able to pretend indifference much longer.
‘I can’t,’ she whispered. ‘I loved Roger too much.’ She stuck to her old story. It was her only defence.
A muscle jerked fiercely in his jaw. ‘So we’re back to that again!’ There was a rough edge to his voice now, and Hannah shivered faintly. ‘It’s like a well-worn record, and I’m getting sick and tired of it. Try changing your tune.’
Hannah said nothing, wishing herself a hundred miles away.
‘Cat got your tongue?’ he taunted. ‘Or is the truth sinking in? Is your mind ticking away and any minute now it will come up with a response?’
She swallowed hard. ‘Why do you treat me like this?’ she whispered.
‘Why? Why do you treat me the way you do, when I know full well that your denial is hurting yourself as well as me?’
How could he know that? How could he be so sure she was hurting? Hannah closed her eyes again, and immediately opened them when firm fingers grasped her chin.
‘Don’t do that to me,’ he warned. ‘Don’t ever try to ignore me.’ His bruising grip relaxed and his touch became a caress. Hannah closed her eyes in pleasure this time, then quickly opened them again before he could complain. He touched her lower lip, easing it down with an incredibly gentle finger and stroking the moist softness inside, his eyes on what he was doing instead of on hers.
There was total concentration on his face, though she had no idea what thoughts were going through his mind. He seemed to find her mouth fascinating, running his now moistened finger around the outline of her lips, parting them, inciting tiny flames of desire so that without conscious thought Hannah’s tongue reached out and touched his finger, mingling, thrilling, shooting arrows of pleasurable excitement through her quivering body.
Everyone of her pulses raced, there was an aching lump in the base of her throat, and when his hand slid behind her head, his face moving with painful slowness towards hers, his intention to kiss her perfectly clear, she hadn’t the strength or the will to stop him.
But the kiss did not materialise, not as she had imagined. His lips brushed hers with the lightness of the stroke of an artist’s paintbrush, the tip of his tongue tracing the path his finger had taken earlier, and then he withdrew.
Hannah could not believe that this was all he was going to do, and she looked at him with wide, surprised eyes.
He smiled, faintly and enigmatically. ‘Is something wrong?’
‘I expected more,’ she breathed, then regretted her honesty.
‘Expected, or wanted?’ he asked with a faintly cynical smile.
‘I can’t believe you’re so gentle, so undemanding.’ Hannah frowned slightly as she spoke. ‘It’s not what I expect from you.’
‘What did you imagine?’ His hand rested on the creamy skin of her throat, his thumb stroking the soft down on her cheek, a treacherous caress that lit fires and awoke dangerous senses.
She suddenly realised that his leg now lay next to hers, moving as insidiously as his fingers, arousing, igniting, deliberately tormenting.
When she did not answer he muttered thickly, ‘I’m not always this patient, but they say that if something is worth having it’s worth waiting for. And do you know what, Hannah? I’m enjoying this game far more than I thought possible.’
Her lips twisted bitterly. ‘I always knew it was a game to you.’
‘What do you expect when you constantly hold me at arm’s length?’ Jordan asked wryly. ‘I’m only human, I need some light relief.’
‘And playing with my emotions is entertainment?’
‘Your emotions?’ he asked, thick black eyebrows raised sceptically. ‘I don’t think so, not if you’re telling me the truth. There are no emotions involved as far as you’re concerned; they’re still tied to a man who’s no longer here.’ There was a sudden edge of savage bitterness to his tone. ‘It’s sex we’re talking about at this moment, pure unadulterated sex. You want me and I want you―it’s that simple.’
With a sudden, unexpected movement a leg and an arm were thrown over her and she was pulled against the hair-roughened hardness of his unyielding body. Hot lips scorched a trail from her cheek to her ear to her mouth. Her heartbeats quickened convulsively and the room whirled as her breathing became slow and tortured.
She wanted him so much, had dreamt of this moment so often, that she was unable to protest. The time had come when she could fight him no longer. Her trembling arms slid hungrily around him, her fingernails biting into firm, warm flesh as excitement tore through her like a hurricane in full force.
Jordan paused for a brief, questioning moment, glazed eyes meeting, desire flaring in both brown and blue, and with a deep groan of satisfaction his hot mouth sought the aching fullness of her breasts. Sensual pleasure such as she had never felt before shot through every pulsing inch of her, and although she felt a moment’s misgiving because she was responding so eagerly when he did not love her, it failed to last.
‘You’re so beautiful,’ he muttered hoarsely, ‘so soft and warm and sweet. I never thought you’d let me―’
‘Please, don’t talk.’ Hannah felt that words would ruin everything, the magical spell would be broken and her conscience would force her to stop him.
He sighed as he resumed his assault on her body, searching out with his hands and his lips and his tongue each intimate, sweetly smellin
g curve. Hannah moaned her pleasure, passion mounting, her hands moulding his head, holding him against her writhing body, never wanting him to let her go. All thoughts of being disloyal to Roger had fled. Her late husband had never made her feel like this, she had never felt so―so wanton, so primevally hungry for love. All she hoped was that he wouldn’t arouse her to a state of complete abandon and then stop, that this wasn’t a form of punishment for the way she had always rejected him.
The next time his mouth claimed hers she was shocked into responding so feverishly that it was as if a stampede had taken place in her body. Relentlessly he drew her against him until she felt every hard bone. Their lips clung, frantic hearts beating simultaneously, the room spinning around them until they became one.
‘God, Hannah,’ Jordan groaned savagely against her mouth, ‘how I’ve waited for this moment! Ever since I met you I’ve wanted you.’ His lips were warm and soft and moist, his hand firm on the small of her back, holding her pliant body resolutely against him.
He didn’t have to remind her that this was his only reason for making love, she thought resentfully, but, in the grip of emotions so powerful that they hurt, she ignored his words and opened her mouth up to his again. She found it difficult to believe that he could drive her to such rapture, to such dizzy heights that she had never once found with Roger. And this was merely the start!
She pressed herself unashamedly against him, and as he muttered against her mouth his voice grew thicker and thicker until she could no longer tell what he was saying. Crazed, mindless whimperings escaped her throat as his exploration of her body became more and more urgent, until finally her own voice, strangled and unrecognisable, begged him to make love to her.
His actions, at first gentle, suddenly became those of a man who had lost control, hands and body impatient, and Hannah felt a wonderful, magical upsurge of her senses as she welcomed him into her. So long she had rejected him, so long she had warded him off, so long she had fought her own conscience, and now, sweet, fierce intimacy; an emotion charged with such power and energy that it threatened to burn her up.
She responded with wildly feverish abandonment, white-hot sensations rocketing through her, climaxing in an explosion of feeling that left no corner of her body untouched, Jordan groaning as though in pain and shuddering in violent reaction almost at the same time.
They lay quietly in each other’s arms, Hannah in awe of the unexpectedly intense emotions he had been able to create in her, drifting on a plane far above mere mortals. Making love had never been like this before; her throbbing body felt warm and completely satiated―and there were still further heights waiting to be scaled! It was a sensual world Jordan had taken her into, a world of senses and feelings never imagined, a world where passion dominated and no reservations were allowed.
‘No regrets, Hannah?’ His voice was low and unsteady, and she felt further faint tremors shaking his body like the aftermath of an earthquake.
‘None.’ There was a quiver in her voice too, and she did not want to be aroused out of her state of euphoric lethargy. It felt right now here beside him; this was where she belonged, this was where she wanted to stay for ever―irrespective of the fact that he did not love her. It was sufficient that he was fond enough of her to marry her, and surely there was enough love in her heart for the two of them?
How long she lay there drifting in and out of sleep Hannah did not know, aware only that each time she awoke Jordan’s hands were caressing a different part of her body. She whimpered faintly as hunger ignited within her again, and began caressing him too, letting him know how she felt with no shame at all.
He guided and encouraged, and she discovered new and exciting ways of giving and receiving pleasure, making her realise that Roger’s technique had been very limited. She had never in her wildest dreams imagined that making love could be so sensual, so soul-disturbing, so entirely, entirely erotic. She felt an animal hunger that threatened to tear her apart and was matched equally by his. Her surrender was absolute.
Afterwards, tucked into the curve of Jordan’s arm she fell into a much deeper sleep, Roger carne to her in her dreams. They sat and talked, and she told him about Jordan and he was pleased that she had found someone else. He had been worried, he said, about her being all alone, but now he knew that he need worry no longer. He kissed her, a tender kiss that was a goodbye and a thank-you for all the happy years, and Hannah awoke feeling more at peace with herself than she had in a long time.
When she opened her eyes she saw Jordan, fully dressed, looking down at her. She smiled sleepily and held out her hand, but he ignored it and told her sharply to get up.
She frowned, feeling some of the happiness drain out of her. ‘Is something wrong?’ she asked.
‘Why should there be? Get showered and dressed while I see to Daniel.’
‘Didn’t―didn’t I please you last night?’ she asked faintly.
‘I said get up,’ he snapped.
Hannah climbed out of bed, but still hesitated.
‘Jordan, I―what’s wrong?’
‘Nothing’s wrong, except it’s late. I have to go to the works again today and I promised Daniel I’d take him to school first.’
‘There’s no need for that,’ she retorted, her tone now as sharp as his. Something had happened in his mind that he was not letting her be privy to, but she was not going to let him run her life. ‘Besides, after what happened to my son yesterday I don’t think it would be wise to take him in your Ferrari.’
‘What happened yesterday is the very reason I’m taking him,’ he countered coldly.
Hannah could see there was no point in arguing with Jordan in this frame of mind, but she wished he would tell her what was bothering him. Did he regret last night? Hadn’t she satisfied him? Was he disappointed? Did she compare abysmally to Riva? Perhaps it had been a test? It was obvious he wanted nothing more to do with her.
Tears smarted at the backs of her eyes as she followed him into Daniel’s room, and her unhappiness increased as she saw him gently shaking her son’s arm, his expression now one of complete tenderness, proving that she alone was the butt of his anger.
Over breakfast Daniel was so busy chattering that it was not obvious she and Jordan weren’t on speaking terms. ‘Don’t forget those ‘letters today,’ were his only words as he left the house.
Hannah sat for many minutes in the office going over the events of the night, trying to think what she might have done to upset Jordan, coming up with nothing except that she couldn’t have pleased him, and deciding once again that it must have something to do with Riva’s prowess as a lover.
It was a long day. She kept expecting Jordan back at any minute, and every little sound had her looking out of the window. She could not help wondering whether Riva had called into the office to see him, whether he had taken her out to lunch, whether he had… The thought galled, it stuck in her throat like a piece of dry bread.
The telephone rang a few seconds before she was due to fetch Daniel from school. Her pulses accelerated when she heard Jordan’s deep voice, but her joy quickly diminished when he said crisply, ‘I’m on my way, and I’ll pick Daniel up.’ There was no hint of warmth at all. Whatever the bone of contention between them, it was still there. Hannah closed her eyes wearily as she replaced the receiver. All day she had been hoping things would somehow right themselves. Now it was obvious that there was no change. It was going to be quite an evening―and goodness knew what would happen when they went to bed.
If nothing else was going the right way, at least Daniel came running in all smiles and happiness. ‘No one’s bothered me today, Mummy. Can I go out to play?’
She smiled and hugged him. ‘Once you’re changed, yes. But be back at five for your tea.’ She had arranged with Mrs Savill for him to eat early.
As soon as Daniel had gone out, an apple in one hand and a ball in the other, Hannah returned to the office. She had placed the letters in a neat pile on Jordan’s desk, and he sat ther
e reading them before adding his signature with its usual flourish. ‘You can deliver these by hand later,’ he said coldly. ‘What else have you been doing today?’
‘Still tidying up, but it’s all done now.’ He looked tired, she thought, lines of strain’ on his face that had not been there yesterday, and a blank expression in his eyes that shut her out. ‘Have you had a bad day? What was the problem?’
‘It’s no longer any of your business.’ His tone was so sharp it cut into Hannah’s nerves like a knife, making her wince and step back and wonder what she had done to merit this sort of treatment.
‘I realise that,’ she said quietly and evenly, ‘but as your wife I’m interested in whatever it is that’s making you look so tired.’
‘Wife?’ The word was shot at her like a dart from a blowpipe. ‘I must have been out of my mind to even suggest marriage! But what’s done is done, there’s no going back. Get your notebook, I want to dictate some more letters.’
Stormy Relationship Page 15