One Night In Collection

by Various Authors

  Javier strolled over to the bar and offered her a drink. When she shook her head he poured a measure of whisky into a glass and gulped it down. ‘I put your bag in the bedroom at the end of the hall, where you slept before.’ He paused fractionally and then continued, ‘From now on I’ve decided you will sleep in your own room, both here and at the castillo.’

  Grace felt her heart plummet to her toes at his unexpected statement. ‘I see,’ she murmured, not seeing at all. What had she done wrong? He couldn’t have made it clearer that he no longer wanted her, and she must have been mistaken when she’d thought she’d seen desire in his eyes.

  Javier seemed to be fascinated by the night-time view over Madrid and stared resolutely out of the window. ‘I was wrong to demand that you share my bed … or to expect you to sacrifice the values that are so important to you,’ he told her harshly. ‘You’ll have to put it down to the fact that I’ve never met a woman with principles before—but then, you’re not like other women, are you, querida?’ He turned his head then and his mouth curved into a smile that did not reach his eyes as he absorbed her stunned expression.

  ‘I can’t claim to share your blind faith in everlasting love and fairy-tale happy endings, but I’ve realised that I have no right to try and destroy your beliefs, or to spoil your sweet innocence with my cynicism. For the remainder of our marriage, I promise that you will spend every night in the privacy of your own room.’

  Grace blinked at him, lost for words. ‘Thank you,’ she croaked at last. He was obviously expecting her to be pleased with the new sleeping arrangements, and her pride wouldn’t allow her to reveal that she was devastated at the prospect of losing the intimacy they’d once shared.

  ‘You don’t look very happy. What’s wrong now?’ he queried, his eyes narrowing as he took in the sudden droop of her mouth.

  ‘I was simply curious about your sudden change of heart,’ she muttered. ‘I assume it has something to do with your mistress staying here with you while you left me behind in Granada?’

  His brows rose fractionally. ‘I don’t have a mistress.’

  ‘Oh, come on, I may be innocent but I’m not stupid. On each occasion I phoned you, a woman answered my call—and it wasn’t Lucita,’ she added sharply, unable to disguise the sick jealousy in her voice.

  ‘No, Lucita’s staying with her cousin on the other side of town,’ Javier agreed equably. ‘The only woman who has been here is Pilar—my housekeeper,’ he explained when Grace frowned.

  ‘I see.’ She recalled with sudden, stark clarity the moment she had let herself into Richard Quentin’s flat and discovered him in bed with his housekeeper. Then she had been devastated by the cruel betrayal of the man she had believed she loved, but now, as she imagined Javier rolling around on the sheets with the exotic beauty who staffed his apartment, she wanted to be sick. ‘Pilar—is she as gorgeous as her name and voice portray?’ she said thickly. ‘Does she take care of your every whim, Javier?’

  ‘She’s certainly a good cook,’ he replied, clearly puzzled by her hostility. ‘But I fear that her arthritis is getting so bad that she’ll soon want to retire and move in with her daughter and grandchildren. She’s staying there now for a few days,’ he added helpfully. ‘But she made your bed up before she left.’

  ‘Right.’ Grace wished she could crawl away and hide under a stone. ‘Thank you for making that clear. I think I’d better go to bed before I embarrass myself any further. Goodnight,’ she said stiffly and groaned silently at the glimmering amusement in his eyes.

  ‘Goodnight, querida—sleep well,’ he bade her in a teasing voice that made her squirm with mortification, and with a brisk nod she hurried down the hall to her room.

  Moving like an automaton, Grace showered, blow-dried her hair and slid into bed where she eventually fell into a restless sleep. She woke the hour before dawn, and as the memory of the wild accusations she had flung at Javier returned she groaned and dragged a pillow over her head. How could she have been so stupid? Thanks to her childish outburst of jealousy, she must have given the game away. By now Javier would have put two and two together and realised that she had feelings for him.

  And what feelings! she acknowledged dismally. Since the moment she’d set eyes on him at Aunt Pam’s, her traitorous body had been clamouring for him to appease the feverish passion that only he could arouse. She wanted him so much that desire pulsed through her veins in a slow, slumberous beat until her entire body throbbed with need.

  With a groan of frustration she threw back the covers and padded into the bathroom, hoping that a cold drink would cool her scorching temperature. The sight of her reflection made her gasp, and she stared at her glazed, heavy-lidded eyes and the moistness of her full, slightly parted lips with a sense of inevitability. In Javier she had found her destiny—albeit a brief one, she conceded painfully, thinking of the divorce he would insist upon in nine months’ time. But she loved him. The promises she had made on her wedding day hadn’t been lies, she’d meant every word she’d said—although she hadn’t realised it at the time. She would love Javier in sickness and in health for the rest of her life, and she longed to honour him with her body every night for the remaining months of their marriage.

  Without giving her doubts time to regroup, she hurried down the hall like a silent wraith and hovered outside his bedroom door, her heart pounding so loud that she was surprised the whole apartment block didn’t shake. He would be asleep, she reassured herself. And, when he awoke and discovered her lying next to him, she would tell him that she must have been sleepwalking. The chemistry between them wasn’t only on her side—all her feminine instincts told her that he still wanted her, despite his declaration that they would occupy separate beds from now on. With any luck he would take her into his arms before he was properly awake, and then who knew what might happen?

  Cautiously she pushed open the door and her heart stood still when a pair of honey-coloured eyes focused on her from across the room.

  ‘Grace! Is something wrong?’

  So much for him being asleep, she thought ruefully. He was propped up on the pillows, the sheet draped over his hips, leaving his chest and taut stomach bare to her feverish gaze. The powerful muscles of his abdomen rippled as he shifted position, and she couldn’t prevent her eyes from straying to the mass of dark hairs that arrowed down his torso and disappeared beneath the sheet. Sinfully sexy and wide awake, his raw male beauty made her feel weak and she licked her lips nervously.

  ‘Nothing’s wrong, I just…’ She broke off helplessly, mesmerised by the molten heat in his eyes. ‘Hang my principles Javier!’ she burst out on a surge of bravado. ‘I want you to make love to me.’

  ‘Grace!’ Her name escaped his lips on a low groan and she trembled beneath the stark intensity of his gaze. ‘You shouldn’t say things like that.’

  ‘Why not? It’s the truth,’ she murmured. She took a few steps closer to the bed, emboldened by the flash of hunger on his face. ‘I want to be your wife in every sense of the word.’ Her nightgown was a floor-length wisp of ivory silk drawn up at the neck by a ribbon. With one swift movement she unfastened it so that the material slid down and pooled around her feet, leaving her pale, delicately rounded curves unashamedly naked.

  ‘I should send you away,’ Javier muttered hoarsely. ‘I am not the man for you, querida, but your loveliness would tempt a saint—and I have never professed to piety.’

  He twitched back the sheet and Grace caught her breath as she took in the length of his arousal. Her earlier doubts were forming thick and fast, but he took her hand and drew her down onto the bed.

  She was shaking—or was it him? she wondered when he lifted her hand to his mouth and grazed his lips over her knuckles. ‘Don’t look at me like that. We’ll take it slowly. The last thing I want to do is hurt you. Do you trust me?’ He tilted her chin so that she was forced to look at him, and the tender passion in his eyes caused her to nod wordlessly.

  She gave him a tentative smile and
heard his harsh intake of breath before he lowered his head and claimed her mouth with a slow, sensual expertise that left his desire for her in no doubt. The provocative thrust of his tongue between her lips inflamed her senses and she clung to him as he deepened the kiss to a level that was flagrantly erotic.

  ‘You are so small, so perfect,’ he whispered before trailing a path of kisses along her jaw, and then down to the pulse beating frantically at the base of her throat. He cupped her breast in his palm and stared down at her nipple before taking it into his mouth and feeling it harden to a tight peak beneath the gentle lash of his tongue. When she whimpered, he transferred his attention to its twin, and felt a surge of male satisfaction when she twisted her hips restlessly. He knew what she wanted, his beautiful English rose, and with deliberate intent he pushed her legs apart and trailed his fingers through the tight curls at the apex between her thighs.

  She was ready for him, and for a second he almost lost control and plunged into her with primitive force. Instead he drew on his formidable willpower and stroked his finger gently up and down the entrance to her vagina until she parted for him and he slid in deep, focusing on her face as he watched her eyes dilate with pleasure.

  ‘Javier … please,’ she whispered against his throat, and he smiled, confident that he would give her more pleasure than she had ever known. He might not know much about emotions, but he was a skilled and generous lover. Although where Grace was concerned perhaps not a very patient one, he conceded ruefully, feeling his penis throb unbearably with the urgent need to experience sexual release.

  He couldn’t wait much longer. He hadn’t felt as hot and hard as this since he’d been a teenager. He took her lips again and felt the sweetness of her tongue inside his mouth, building the desire that coiled low in his stomach. Stifling a groan, he reached into the bedside drawer and dealt with the protective sheath with swift efficiency born of plenty of practice.

  ‘Javier …!’ Grace cried out when she felt him ease away from her. Was he going to stop? The idea was unbearable. Her entire body was trembling with the need to feel him inside her, and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders to urge him down onto her. She felt him slide his arm under her bottom and lift her hips, and with an instinct as old as time she spread her legs so that the solid ridge of his penis rubbed against her moist opening. Slowly and with infinite care he eased forwards and she felt her muscles stretch to accommodate him.

  ‘Am I hurting you?’ His voice was rough and low-pitched, and when she stared at him she noted the beads of sweat on his brow. His face was a taut mask, and his amber eyes seemed to burn into her soul.

  ‘No,’ she lied. ‘Don’t stop.’ It didn’t really hurt, it was just so new and overwhelming, but the last thing she wanted was for him to withdraw from her. She offered him a shy smile and he paused fractionally, and then gave one hard thrust that wrenched a sob from her throat. Almost instantly the discomfort subsided to be replaced with a wondrous sense of fullness, and she wriggled her hips experimentally as she revelled in the delicious sensations he was arousing within her.

  ‘Forgive me, querida,’ he whispered, resting his brow against hers and smoothing her damp hair back from her face. ‘Do you want me to stop?’

  ‘No!’ Her reply was instant and unequivocal, but just to make sure she wrapped her legs around his back. ‘Don’t stop; I like it,’ she whispered.

  Her smile tore at his heart. ‘You’ll like it a lot more yet,’ he promised as he began to move, slowly at first and with great care until she grew accustomed to the feel of him pulsing inside her. He pushed her hair away from her breast and dipped his head to tease her nipple with his tongue, and then as passion began to build he increased the speed and intensity of each thrust.

  Grace twisted and writhed on the bed, her whole being focused on the exquisite sensation of having Javier drive into her, penetrating her deeper and deeper until she didn’t think she could bear much more without exploding with pleasure. Above her she could see their reflections in the mirror, his bronzed limbs entwined with hers making an erotic contrast to her pale skin, and she felt an illicit thrill of enjoyment as she watched him make love to her.

  Little spasms were rippling through her, and she dug her nails into his shoulders as his harsh, rasping breath sounded in her ear. Suddenly she was there, teetering on the edge of a place to which only Javier had the key, and when he clamped his hands on her buttocks to still her desperate movements she felt her body convulse with the power of her climax.

  ‘Oh!’ Nothing had prepared her for the flooding sweetness, and tears stung her eyes as he paused briefly and then thrust again with a barely leashed savagery that should have appalled her but which only served to increase her excitement. He threw his head back and groaned her name.

  ‘Grace …!’ His release was a violent explosion of passion, and for long moments afterwards he remained within her, the weight of him pressing her into the mattress as tremors shook his big body. Grace didn’t mind, she loved the feeling of oneness, of two hearts beating in unison, and she gave a soft murmur of protest when he eventually rolled away and lay stiffly beside her.

  Her eyelids drifted down and she snuggled close to him, absorbing the comforting warmth from his body. Her hand crept across his chest and she stroked her fingers through the covering of wiry black hairs before her movements stilled and she slept.

  Javier glanced down at her lovely face and felt his heart clench. Any minute now he would slide off the bed and leave her alone to sleep, he promised himself. After his childhood experiences of rejection, he had no patience for the obligatory cuddling and other signs of affection that women seemed to want after sex.

  But Grace’s small hand, curled over his heart, comforted rather than irritated him. He didn’t want to break the contact—in fact he wanted to put his arms around her and draw her in as close as he possibly could. Fortunately his iron willpower controlled the urge, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave her any more than he could prevent himself from brushing his lips across her brow in a gentle benediction before he permitted himself the pleasure of watching her sleep.

  In winter the mountain peaks of the Sierra Nevada were covered in snow, but inside El Castillo de Leon huge, blazing fires ensured that every room was warm. It was another three weeks until Christmas, but already the party season was underway, and tonight the Duque de Herrera was playing host at a lavish dinner for local businessmen and dignitaries from Granada.

  The past months had been the happiest of her life, Grace mused as she prepared for the party. Since Javier had made her his wife in the real sense of the word, they hadn’t spent a single night apart. He made love to her with a single-minded dedication that caused her muscles to ache pleasurably the next day and put a permanent smile on her face.

  But overshadowing her happiness was the knowledge that time was running out. Her marriage contract was already nearly half over, and six months from now Javier would ensure his place as head of El Banco de Herrera before arranging a quick divorce. Despite their incredible sex life, Grace was under no illusions that he would want their relationship to continue. Every night he took her body with a fierce passion, but afterwards he would roll over to his side of the bed, denying her the closeness she craved.

  She was beginning to feel like a sex machine, but on the few occasions that she had steeled herself to resist him he had used the mastery of his hands and mouth to devastating effect—taking her to the edge of ecstasy time and time again, but denying her the satisfaction of his full possession until she was forced to beg. At times like that she almost hated him, but hated herself more. Her inner battles had caused her so much misery that in the end she’d simply given in and settled for the only thing he offered her—mind-blowing sex.

  The only time he showed her affection was during the day, and presumably his passionate kisses were for the benefit of his staff—continuing the façade that they were a blissfully happy couple. But, weak, pathetic fool that she was, she couldn’t r
esist him, and as she studied her reflection in the mirror she knew that the glow of excitement on her cheeks was because tonight at the party he would dance with her and hold her close in the way she longed to be held.

  A slight movement from the doorway caught her attention, and she held her breath when he walked towards her until his reflection joined hers in the dressing-table mirror.

  ‘You look … exquisite,’ he said roughly after long moments when his eyes trailed over her in frank appraisal, taking in every dip and curve of her slender figure in her floor-length velvet ball-gown.

  ‘Thank you,’ she murmured. Her eyes locked with his in the mirror, and she felt a shiver of feminine pleasure at the flare of hunger in his gaze. Her dress was a dark red-wine colour with a full skirt, tight sleeves and fitted low-cut bodice that was cleverly designed to make the most of her small breasts, pushing them up so that they spilled provocatively above the plush velvet. It was a sensuous dress, made for seduction, and she knew Javier was imagining untying the laces that secured the bodice so that he could cradle her breasts in his hands.

  ‘How long do you expect the party to go on for?’ she queried huskily, and watched as his mouth curved into a devastating smile.

  ‘Too long,’ he growled. She had the feeling that he was waging an inner battle with himself, but suddenly his tension broke and to her surprise he slid his arms around her and dipped his head to press hot, desperate kisses along her collarbone. ‘I want you now, as I’m sure you are aware,’ he added desperately as the throbbing length of his erection pushed tantalisingly against her bottom.

  ‘I wonder what’s going on inside your head, behind that serene smile?’ he muttered. ‘What would you do, my little grey dove, if I threw you down onto the bed, pushed up your skirt and took you, hard and fast, the way I know you like it?’

  ‘I’d say wait until later—I don’t want you to ruin my dress.’ She gave him an impish smile and watched as some indefinable emotion briefly flared in his eyes before his lashes fell, concealing his thoughts.