Winning the Heiress' Heart

by Susanne Bellamy

  Until that moment, she’d considered the lagoon a paradise on earth. Luc’s action shattered the illusion. Unwilling to venture too far from the beach, she made her way through the trees on a parallel track with the shore. Shadows deepened and lengthened while she collected an armful of fallen twigs and small branches. Treading carefully to avoid stepping on rocks in her bare feet, she made her way back to their abandoned picnic spot.

  Off to the right, something rustled in the bushes. She held her breath as her gaze darted to the side. Slowly, she bent her knees and deposited her load of firewood on the ground. One branch, sturdier than the rest offered her best form of defense. Taking shallow breaths, she held the wood in front of her at arms’ length and stepped forward.

  Leaves rustled and soft, stealthy footfalls came closer. Eyes wide, she gripped her weapon and raised her arms above her head.

  “What are you doing, Eva?”

  She screamed and swung her stick.

  Luc grabbed her wrists and pulled her against him. The hard length of his body was a haven but his face swam through her blurred vision. “There was something moving in the bushes. I thought—”

  “You thought you’d turn hunter and catch our dinner.” He nodded his head at the bush. “Do you know what you were stalking?”

  “What?” Bemused by the gleam in his eyes, she forced herself to look over her shoulder.

  A large ground-dwelling bird strutted around the bush, pecked at a fallen nut, and eyed her with apparent disdain for her attempts to hunt it. The brown bird emitted a throaty call, pecked at the nut once more and strutted off through the greenery.

  “I must be more unnerved than I realized. Poor bird.”

  He chuckled and dropped a swift kiss on her lips. “I’m pretty impressed but I don’t think you want to try cooking one of those. Come on, let’s get a fire going. It will get quite cool as the sun goes down.”

  ***

  She pushed up onto her elbows to watch as Luc hunkered down and threw another branch on the fire. A shower of sparks drifted into the dark sky amid a thin stream of spiraling smoke and winked out somewhere above his head. Outlined by the campfire’s glow, he adjusted the position of the wood and dusted off his hands. He moved back, dropped down beside her, and casually wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

  Night breezes blew strands of hair across her face and raised goose bumps down her arm. “You were right about the temperature dropping at night. Thank goodness for the fire and the blanket.”

  He wrapped his other arm around her and ran his hand up and down her exposed skin. “Shared body warmth is much more effective. Basic survival technique 101.”

  “I’m willing to share some heat.” Goodness, did that sound forward, wanton even? She bit her lip and heat rose in her face. But the thought of making love again with Luc was tempting. Why try to resist something so good? Even the sabotage of their helicopter couldn’t dim her anticipation.

  She turned her head. Golden skin filled her vision, the column of his throat, the expanse of his bare chest through his unbuttoned shirt. She touched her lips to his skin. Salty. She licked her lips and kissed him again, right where his pulse beat. It sped up under the pressure of her lips and a little thrill raced through her at her ability to stir him.

  His arms tightened about her and his chest swelled as he sucked in and held a breath. “Remember what I said?”

  She drew back a little and tipped her head to look into his eyes. “About what?”

  He leaned close and his lips brushed her ear. “Retribution.”

  Oh.

  Soft and seductive, his voice promised sweet heaven. And his lips—he kissed the edge of her mouth. Flutters trembled through her stomach and she closed her eyes. His tongue traced her upper lip and she held her breath. Her secret place throbbed and she squeezed her thighs together.

  Sweet retribution. She must remember to stir him more often.

  His hand slid down to her hip, circled, massaged, and cupped her bottom. He changed position, taking her with him until she lay beneath his body on the blanket.

  She opened her eyes. Stars whirled above his head and a half moon hung low on the horizon, casting a soft light on one side of his face.

  He leaned in, blocking out the starlight, his breath warm across her cheek. Soft kisses whispered over her eyelids, her nose, her cheeks, and his voice murmured against her ear. “So sweet.”

  She ached for the same touch and turned her head, trying to catch his mouth.

  He chuckled and straddled her, rocking lightly. Pressure increased on her mound. She gasped and relinquished her embrace on his neck. Her hands clenched on the blanket. Heat flowed through her body, pulsing from her core with each slow tilt of his hips. She pressed up, lifting her hips to meet his.

  He placed a finger on her lips and shook his head. Light as a feather, he ran both hands down the sensitive inside skin of her arms. When he reached her wrists, his thumbs brushed over her rapidly beating pulse. Suddenly, he grasped both wrists in one hand and drew her arms above her head. He kissed the corner of her mouth and across her cheek. He stopped and gently bit her ear lobe, nuzzled the sensitive skin behind and traced her ear.

  Her sarong slid up her thighs and fell open as he moved over her. Without her damp swimsuit, she lay open and exposed to him. His hips and chest held her immobile. Skin on skin. She was at his mercy. Delicious languor filled her, anticipation, and acceptance of whatever he chose to do to her. Retribution.

  Her eyes fluttered open. Giving up control to Luc was strangely liberating. She ran her tongue over her upper lip, hoping his mouth would follow suit.

  A wicked gleam sparked in his eyes and he grinned, his gaze focused on her mouth. The rocking motion ceased and he laughed softly. “I’m enjoying this.”

  “Kiss me.”

  “I haven’t finished tasting you.” His fingers slipped around the back of her neck, untied her sarong, and slipped the material down. Exposed to night air and his hungry gaze, her nipples peaked. “Now—”

  He bent his head and ran his tongue over the swell of her breasts, circled her nipples and flicked them. She shivered at the touch of cool air along the damp trail, a reminder, if she needed one, of his promise to taste her all over. It was so erotic, so provocatively shocking. And she loved it.

  A lock of hair tickled her chin as he bent his head again but now his mouth closed around one nipple and sucked. Hard.

  Electric pulses ran from her breast directly to her womb, setting fire to every nerve along the way. She gasped and arched up.

  He kissed her nipple and gently scraped his stubbled chin in the valley between her breasts. “You’re so responsive, Eva. It’s like you’ve never been made love to before.”

  Pecks on the cheek and a quick, painful tumble with her fiancé in the music room after his proposal—to seal the deal, his words, not hers—didn’t qualify. There wasn’t the remotest connection between that and bliss like she’d never known. She struggled to shape words when her whole body was absorbed in just being, on feeling. “I haven’t, not like this.”

  He cocked an eyebrow at her and sat up, released his hold on her wrists and straddled her hips again. “Darling, if you think that felt good, trust me, you’ll enjoy what follows.”

  Trust him? She’d literally put herself in his hands. She giggled at the thought. Happiness was too elusive not to grasp what he offered. She wriggled a little beneath him and reached out to touch the bulge of his erection straining through his swimwear.

  He stopped her hand reaching its destination by picking it up and dropping a kiss into the palm. His lips brushed over the skin of her inside wrist. Such an innocent kiss but her legs turned to jelly at his touch. In the flickering firelight, he met and held her eyes as he slid slowly backwards.

  “Hmm, let’s see what this does.” He lowered his head to her belly button, circled and licked and gently nipped the skin around it. Each nip telegraphed his desire and built her hunger for more. Under his ministrations she
squirmed. Stubble rasped across her belly, her muscles contracted, and she felt his mouth curve into a smile against her skin. “Two can play at this game. Retribution, remember?”

  Retribution. So excruciatingly sweet and erotic she could hardly breathe. “When do I get to play?”

  “You don’t. Not yet.” As though they had all the time in the world, he returned to stroking her skin with tongue and lips, tasting, kissing, teasing. And then he spread her legs and kissed her, there. In that shocking, private sweet place, his tongue lapped her essence.

  A whimper rose in her throat and she struggled to fill her lungs against the desire blooming through her body, filling her from that place between her thighs until there was no room for anything as trivial as air to breathe.

  Luc slipped a finger inside and his thumb circled the spot where his tongue had driven her mad with need.

  “Oh, God, Luc, I want—I need—”

  “I know.” He withdrew his finger. She wanted to cry out at the loss but he covered her mouth with his. Instead, their two scents combined as she tasted her essence on his lips and tongue. The taste of sex.

  He deepened the kiss and their tongues tangoed.

  He lifted his head. His eyes were dark, except where the fire reflected in his pupils. “Are you ready for me?”

  Ready? She’d been ready from the moment she fell in his arms. “Yes.” Her response was barely a word, more of a breathy sigh of need and want and lust-filled desire.

  He eased into her slowly, letting her adjust to his size, withdrew slowly and then pushed in further. When she thought she couldn’t take any more, he increased the tempo, thrusting harder, faster, stronger. Pleasure blossomed through her like a flower. No more than a collection of nerve endings on fire for her lover, she cried aloud her pleasure to the night and the stars. Dimly she was aware of him following her.

  Buried deep within her, he rolled onto his back taking her with him.

  A delicious lethargy overtook Eva. Incapable of movement, she sprawled across his chest, hair fanned over his shoulder. Below her cheek, his heart thumped in time with hers. Wrapped in his embrace, she felt truly beautiful for the first time in her life.

  His fingers lazily traced a path along her arm and across her back. Her scarred back that he’d kissed and now caressed. Her sight blurred and she blinked, her lashes brushing his chest. Happy tears. She pressed her lips to his skin and snuggled closer as he covered them with the blanket.

  His lips brushed her temple, soft and sweet, and he smoothed her hair off her face. “That should have been your first time.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Morning sun gilded the ocean and clouds hung low and puffy on the horizon. It was too early for a spotter plane to be up but Luc needed time alone to think. He jumped from the rocks at the entrance to the lagoon onto white sand and strode along the narrow stretch of beach. Where high tide lapped at vegetation he sloshed through water, uncaring if he soaked his clothes.

  Last night with Eva had been a revelation. The closed woman of previous weeks, the one who both attracted and maddened him, enticed and at times shut him out, had blossomed before his eyes into a wild, magnificent lover. Cool seawater swirled around his knees but his body reacted to the memory of her moving beneath him, of her taste on his lips and her scent. He’d woken beside her in the early dawn light and lay watching her sleep in his arms. In the bliss of sleep, worries and cares forgotten, her face was serene until she snuggled her delectable body into his. Her breasts brushed his chest and her legs tangled with his. Her hips wriggled, pressing her mound against his fully formed erection, and she made that little mewling sound like just before she came last night. He’d wanted to bury himself in her again.

  Instead, he’d eased out of the blanket and her embrace and headed for the beach. Shading his eyes, he scanned the canopy of blue. With Eva, it had been more than just having sex. He’d asked for her trust and she’d given it. Not something she did easily. He savored the luxury of that trust, of her giving nature. In spite of their negotiation for her land, she had trusted him with herself and opened up to him. Perhaps there was a chance for them after all. His heart thudded at the thought of a future he’d given up on.

  And then he remembered. How could he have been so stupid? What if she was pregnant after last night? His jaw tightened. Why hadn’t he brought more condoms?

  I hoped for a chance with her but didn’t expect to stay the night with her body snuggling into mine.

  Why hadn’t he pulled out that last time before it was too late? Bringing a baby into the world was the last thing he wanted but beating himself up over his carelessness was worse than useless. Like shutting the gate after the horse had bolted. But damn if she hadn’t bewitched him.

  A high wall of rock reared up in front of him. Waves crashed into its base and sent spumes of water arcing into the air. He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned back the way he’d come. If there was a baby, he’d convince Eva to marry him. In the meantime, he needed to keep his pants on and his trousers zipped. If there wasn’t a baby, they’d have had a narrow escape and he’d court her properly. If she’d let him.

  Lost in his dark thoughts, he reached the lagoon inlet all too soon. Like a mermaid, Eva was sitting on a flattish rock, legs tucked beneath her, finger-combing her tangled curls and humming softly. When she saw him she stopped mid-tangle, her smile shy and seductive at the same time.

  “Good morning. You were up bright and early. I’ve put out the last of our food for breakfast.”

  His body hardened, ready for her, and he gritted his teeth. “Thanks. Thought I’d keep an eye out for the spotter plane. Shouldn’t be long now.” Even to his own ears his tone sounded dismissive, distant. He fisted his hands in his pockets and planted his feet in the sand.

  Her smile wavered and uncertainty crept into her green eyes. She pressed her lips together and ducked her head, hiding behind the curtain of her hair.

  Surely she could understand how much talk there would be? If he didn’t handle it carefully, her reputation would be tarnished. By him.

  “Regardless of the fact our chopper was sabotaged it won’t do you any good that we spent the night together. There’ll be talk, lots of it. We can’t give the rumor mill more fodder by behaving any differently to how we have up to yesterday. Do you understand, Eva?”

  She bit her lower lip. “You’re saying we behave as though last night didn’t happen?”

  “That’s right. Like nothing happened.”

  She straightened her shoulders and a creamy swell of breast pushed over her sarong. What he wouldn’t give to tug it from her body, lay her across the rock and make love to her again now. He swallowed. And wouldn’t that be a great view to greet their rescuers? A sure way to rip her reputation to pieces.

  “Can you put on the rest of your clothes before rescue arrives?”

  With a mumbled response he couldn’t make out, she climbed swiftly off the rock and raced back to their campsite.

  His brain whirred through possibilities but there was only one way he could think of to make things right for her. And the sooner he convinced her of it, the better for both of them.

  ###

  Sleeping with Luc looked like it might turn out to be the worst mistake of her life. For all his talk about behaving as though the magical night they’d shared hadn’t happened once rescue arrived, he’d barely spoken and when he did, he was off-handed and brusque. As though demons chased him, he’d packed their gear quickly and stowed non-personal belongings in their helicopter. No sentimentality about their beautiful night or the fact she’d opened herself to him.

  Trust him? As far as she could throw him. How could she have been so foolish, especially after Timothy’s betrayal?

  Throughout the return flight he chatted with the rescue crew and all but ignored her. It was as though they were no more than casual strangers. In the back of her mind ran his reference to her reputation. Did he really think acting like that would stop the old biddies hav
ing a field day and bandying her name around? Never mind there were two of them on that beach; the only one to lose standing in the community would be her.

  One or two of the men cast speculative glances at her until she found it easier to close her eyes and pretend to doze off behind her sunglasses.

  As soon as the rescue flight landed back at base, Eva gathered her things and bolted. Deep, anonymous shade beckoned from within the hangar as she hurried across the tarmac. Maybe they’d let her phone for a taxi from their office. It was money she didn’t have to spare but anything was preferable to being in Luc’s company another second.

  “Eva, wait.”

  The sound of his voice spurred her on. She raced into the open hangar, weaved around several plane wings, and dived through a door into a small reception area.

  “Evie! What happened? I was so worried when you didn’t come home last night.” Seb’s hands dug into her shoulders and he grabbed her in a bear hug.

  In the drama and joy of yesterday, she hadn’t given much thought to how Seb might take the news. She slid her arms around his waist and patted him on the back. “I’m fine. It’s all okay but take me home now, please.”

  He released her and stepped back, his gaze running over her from head to toe. Shadows under his eyes told their own story of his fear for her. “What about—?” He flicked a glance over her shoulder.

  Desperate to escape before Luc caught up with her, she tugged on his arm. “Later. I’ll tell you about it in the car on the way home. You can drive. Just—”

  “Eva. Didn’t you hear me calling you?”

  The door behind her clanged shut, trapping her in the room with Luc. She sucked in a deep breath, held it, and composed herself before facing him. Neutral mask firmly in place, she turned. “Thank you for the flight, Luc. The coastline is beautiful and the picnic was lovely. Oh, and don’t worry about—what happened. I don’t hold you responsible—for any of it.”

  His eyes narrowed and he flicked a glance at Seb hovering protectively by her side. “We really need to talk.”