British Bachelors & Conveniently Bedded Bundle

by Helen Brooks, Maggie Cox, Natalie Anderson, Anna Cleary

He caressed her, so lightly, so tenderly it was the purest chocolate, the sheerest rapture, it was the darkest, most sinful black magic.

  She was gasping, moaning, hardly able to keep herself from writhing out of control, when all at once he nipped down her pants, leaving her utterly exposed.

  For a second she stared at him in complete shock. He gazed on her naked triangle of dusky curls with a riveted gleam in his eyes, then with a bold, determined smile he changed position, unhesitatingly parting her thighs to expose her nakedness even further. Then he bent his dark head right there between her legs.

  Theos, it was so erotic. Having laid her completely bare, he stroked his divine tongue across the sensitive, most secret yearning folds of her body, with exquisite artistry connecting with her sweet spot and sucking.

  ‘Oh-h-h.’ How could he have known? She shuddered in ecstasy as wave after wave of liquid pleasure roiled through her with every delicious, forbidden touch.

  But that wasn’t all. Strangely, while the rapture was white-hot and intense, somehow her hunger grew and grew, until she reached some kind of pitch of maddened erotic need. Just when she thought she must scream, he thrust his heavenly tongue inside her and flicked it around the tenderest, most yearning tissues of all. Her wild pleasure escalated to a dizzy, suspenseful pitch, then crashed into shards of exquisite relief.

  It took her some seconds to recover. Sebastian waited, his eyes so wicked and aroused, his brows lifted in amused query for her comment.

  ‘Oh,’ she said, when her breathing had slowed enough for her to speak, her voice hoarse and deeper than the Katherine Gorge. ‘That kind of a kiss.’

  Ignoring the scruples she’d already thrown to the wind, she contemplated him with enthralled appreciation, speculating on what other pleasures she’d read of that he might be equally expert in delivering.

  ‘You know, Sebastian,’ she panted, ‘it’s cramped here on this sofa. I might—sleep better in the bed.’

  CHAPTER NINE

  SEBASTIAN contemplated his bride with satisfaction. Her passionate writhings on the sofa cushions had mussed her blonde hair into an enticing state of disarray, and her already full mouth was so plump and voluptuous from kissing, it was as much as he could do not to flatten her to the bed and devour her at once.

  But unless he was mistaken, he had an instinct, unchanged by his initial lustful exploration of her honeyed flesh, that his proud bride was a virgin, a condition it would be his fiercest pleasure to correct, though tenderly, as befitted a princess on her wedding night.

  She stood before him on the rug, eyeing the arrangement of the pillows on his bed. ‘You know, Sebastian,’ she said, with an uncertain laugh, ‘I know I seem incredibly cool and casual about all this…negotiating this deal to marry you, then doing it all in a hurry, going through with the wedding and kissing you so…so…often. But the truth is…’

  There was the faintest tremor in her voice, and he stilled in the act of tearing off his shirt. ‘I can assure you,’ he said, ‘the linen’s clean. It only came back from the Holy Cross Laundry this morning. Agnes was making the bed as I left.’

  ‘Was she?’ Ariadne frowned slightly. At least Agnes performed some part of her duties with passion. ‘Where does Agnes sleep?’

  ‘At her place,’ he said, smiling.

  She was about to question him further when she caught sight of the uninterrupted expanse of his gorgeous chest. Her mouth dried at the impressive proportions of his hard pectorals, his muscled arms.

  ‘Goodness, you’re very athletic,’ she exclaimed. ‘I hadn’t realised quite how big you are.’

  Startled into a grin, Sebastian let his shirt drop. Surprisingly, she’d rebuttoned her suit jacket after he’d carried her back in and deposited her on the rug, suggesting a back-pedalling in the momentum he’d so artfully established. Was his bride losing her nerve?

  ‘Now,’ he murmured, taking her arms and drawing her to him. ‘Forget Agnes. You were saying something about the truth…?’

  She closed her eyes. ‘I—I think you understand that I won’t be staying here long…’

  Her brow was creased in worry, and he had a sudden inkling of the most immediate cause of her concern. He felt a rush of tenderness for her as she went on, ‘You weren’t hoping for a wife with the beautiful dark eyes, were you? Because, I truly think…’

  He tilted up her face. ‘Just relax,’ he murmured. ‘No need to think. Leave it all to me. Tonight is a night to feel.’

  ‘But…’ Ariadne was about to try again with her confession, when he took her mouth in a hotly demanding kiss. As his intoxicating flavour again invaded her senses, her overactive brainwaves, stressed by the rapid flow of events, calmed to a low, sultry purr.

  She linked her arms around his neck and responded in kind, locked in like an electrocution victim to his high-voltage sexual power.

  As she opened to him and she felt the virile length of his erection push against her abdomen, some primitive instinct tempted her to writhe her pelvis against him in sensual encouragement. The effect must have been potent, because the kiss intensified to a sizzling firestorm.

  Drowning in tastes and sensations, compelled by the iron-hard demands of his big, masculine body, she clung to him, excited by his bronzed bare chest, his hot, roving hands, and wired to the thrilling beat of his big powerful heart against her breasts.

  At last the kiss broke, leaving her panting and breathless, and hungry, oh, so hungry for more of him. His eyes were black, with a golden shimmer of lust tingeing the dark flame in their irises.

  He set her a little away from him, watching her face as he undid her buttons one by one. Anxious now for skin contact, she wriggled out of the jacket and turned her back to allow him to unfasten her bra.

  Slowly, gently, Sebastian traced the ridge of her spine with his thumb, feeling the electric quiver of response under her skin. His heart clenched at the beauty of her slim pale back. He located her skirt zip and drew it down, hardening in anticipation for the moment when she would be totally nude.

  Ah. As smooth and delicately shaped as a violin.

  His underwear tightened beyond endurance.

  The skirt fell to the floor. She gave a small gasp, as if she’d forgotten she’d already lost her pants in the first round. The fierce blood beat a torrid path to his groin as his lustful gaze took in the graceful curves of her neck and waist, the delicious flare of her hips and smooth, satin bottom. He ached to plunge his burning length into her then and there, but with iron self-restraint merely bent to kiss the alluring dent in the small of her back, then turned her to face him.

  Ariadne burned under his scorching regard of her nude body. Adrenaline, or desire, had dulled her anxiety. She felt bathed in a feminine glow, a primeval woman facing her mate.

  He pushed her onto the bed, and she stretched out in the middle while he stripped off the rest of his clothes.

  He was so beautifully made, a lean, bronzed, hairy symphony of muscle, sinew and masculine power, but when her eyes took in the massive extent of his thickly erect penis, her nerve jumped and she could almost feel herself shrink.

  ‘I think I should tell you,’ she quavered without further delay, ‘I’m a virgin.’

  ‘Yeah?’ he said, smiling as he came down beside her with such tender warmth she felt her heart lurch. ‘Who’d have guessed?’

  Sebastian gazed down at his bride, her hair wild on the pillow, her luscious breasts with their raspberry-pink peaks straining for his attention, and his grin faded as he was seized with a solid-steel conviction that he wouldn’t be letting her go any time soon.

  ‘You’re such a beautiful woman I can’t believe some guy hasn’t snapped you up,’ he said, his voice so deep it was a primal growl from the earth’s core. A shadow, so fleeting he might have imagined it, crossed her face, and he thought of what she’d told him about her past suitors. Someone had hurt her along the way.

  She lowered her lashes, then smiled at herself with such shame and self-doubt he felt
a sharp tug in his chest. ‘It’s me. I always choose the wrong ones.’

  ‘Not this time,’ he said with a fierce, tender certainty. ‘This time you’ve chosen the right one.’

  Ariadne felt shaken by the warmth and sincerity in his eyes, then as she continued to scrutinise him they flamed and all she could read in them was sizzling hot lust.

  He bent his head, then softly, lightly ran his tongue-tip over her lips in a sexy little tease. Then he crushed her mouth in a fiery kiss, compelling her with the force of his passion to leave everything else behind, summoning her to this one moment in time and space.

  Their hot breath rushed and mingled. As she lay in his powerful arms his chest hairs grazed her tender naked breasts, setting her skin alight with tingling little explosions of pleasure. Possessed by his demanding lips, his hair-covered legs brushing her smooth skin, his rock-hard rod tickling her sex, she felt her veins flow with fire.

  He broke the kiss first, in the nick of time to save her from drowning in sensation. But her body had sprung back to life with a primitive thirst that couldn’t be ignored.

  When he bent his head to her breast and took her nipple in his mouth, she mewled with pleasure. Then he explored her with his hands and lips until she was mindless and wild, a moaning, writhing creature incandescent with desire, a willing, wanton prey to a mutual, insatiable passion.

  As the sensational storm raged she burned with a potent yearning. She tried not to obsess, but his arousal was so straight and strong and masculine, and in some way so right, springing from those crisp, little black curls, every fibre in her body was on edge.

  At last Sebastian paused to take a foil packet from the bedside table. He tore it open, and she watched him slide the sheath onto his rosy, throbbing length, hoping against hope she would stretch half as well as the condom had. At the very thought she felt a tingling rush of moisture between her legs.

  ‘Now,’ he said, passion in his dark eyes. He parted her thighs, and traced the delicate folds until they felt as plump and full as a peach and she was reduced to a quivering, burning mess. Her need for release reached a desperate pitch.

  ‘Sebastian,’ she breathed shudderingly, arching up to him. ‘I’m on fire here.’

  With intense satisfaction in his hot eyes he slid a finger inside her. ‘And you’re tight,’ he murmured, gently stretching the entrance to her moist channel, his voice like thick husky gravel. ‘So fabulously tight.’

  She wrinkled her brow. ‘That’s a good thing?’

  ‘It’s a great thing,’ he said, then positioned himself between her legs and firmly pushed inside her. She felt filled to bursting point.

  ‘Theos,’ she cried, digging her fingers into his hard, muscled arms. ‘Sebastian.’

  He withdrew at once, soothing her with his voice, ‘Sweetheart, sweetheart,’ he crooned, stroking her hair. ‘It might be uncomfortable the first time. But it’ll get better. Trust me.’

  Trust him? He looked supremely confident, but there was a concerned little frown between his eyes. She had a vague realisation that he’d already given her one fabulous moment of blissful release. What about his? And did she really want to draw back after going this far down the road to losing her virginity?

  She knew what to expect, after all. Her girlfriends had told her in graphic detail, and she’d read enough about how it would hurt. Clamping her eyes shut, she steeled herself to the agony. ‘Go on, then. Get it over with.’

  He bent to kiss her lips, then when she was least expecting it gave an almighty thrust, and she felt a raw little pinch that tore a pained gasp from her.

  He froze all action, then withdrew from her, his face taut with concern. ‘Are you okay?’

  The smarting eased almost at once. ‘Well, now.’ She made a check of her bodily sensations, but could find no lingering pain. ‘Is that it?’ she said tensely. ‘Just that?’

  His anxious expression lightened and he smiled, while the dark flame smouldering in the depths of his eyes reached deep into her womb. ‘That’s just the beginning. Now it’s the good part. Just relax.’

  He eased into her again, and this time the sensation didn’t feel quite so strange.

  ‘See how we go, Ariadne Giorgias.’ He watched her face, a sexy little smile edging up the corners of his mouth as he started to move his lean hips, stroking inside her with seductive, sinuous little movements that weren’t as uncomfortable as she’d expected.

  ‘How does that feel?’ he said huskily, his eyes tender and warm and desirous. ‘I’m inside you, and you’re opening to me…’ He eased her into a gentle rhythm. ‘Like a glove. A beautiful tight, hot, velvet…’ His scorching hot eyes flared and he increased the rhythm. At first it just felt athletic and very intimate, but then every so often, amazingly, she felt his hard rod touch some spot inside her that ignited like a sunburst, sending streaks of the most intense and fabulous pleasure throughout her entire body.

  ‘Go on,’ she urged, wanting more of them. ‘Go on.’

  He rocked her even faster, then she could tell by his increasingly concentrated expression that he’d become locked in a rapture of his own. She let go of her fears and gave herself up to the rhythm entirely, each stroke igniting more and more pleasure points inside her until she was a river of blissful sensations.

  She wrapped her legs around him, relishing all the physical sensations of his hard, lean masculinity, the intimacy and warmth of the amazing connection.

  Feeling his hard, sensitised flesh swell with unbelievable bliss inside her slickly tight sheath, Sebastian gritted his teeth with the sublime pleasure.

  Locked in his arms, Ariadne strove faster and faster, harder and higher, until before she knew it he was once again zooming her up that wild, hot, delicious incline to an even higher, more glorious summit than before. She hung there in a desperate trembling suspense, then her moment came and she dissolved into waves of ecstatic, rapturous pleasure.

  ‘Oh, Theos,’ she gasped as the ripples subsided.

  Sebastian reached a climax of his own, then collapsed upon her, his lean bronzed body sheened with sweat. After a few seconds he lifted himself off her and rested quietly with his eyes closed. Then he hauled himself up and went into his bathroom. She lay bathed in a slumberous glow, her body purring in relaxation while she listened to the flow of the taps.

  Soon he came back and stretched out beside her with his eyes shut. She’d started to think he’d fallen asleep, when he rolled on his side to face her. He smiled down at her, his warm gaze a mixture of triumph and tenderness, reaching out to trail a gentle finger over her shoulder and along the line of her body.

  ‘I’d have thought you might have at least said, “Oh, Sebastian.”’

  She gave a low throaty laugh. ‘Sorry. You were good.’

  ‘Thank you,’ he said modestly.

  She smiled into his eyes. ‘My aunt told me you were a genius.’

  His deep laugh rumbled, then he planted a little kiss on her breast. ‘From this point on, we only get better.’

  ‘With practice, you mean?’ She fluttered her lashes at him. ‘How much practice?’

  ‘Plenty,’ he growled. Then he grinned and pulled her into his arms. ‘Aren’t you glad we got married?’

  After a while, in which she floated in a sort of dreamy glow, relaxed and intimate in the soft dark, he said, ‘So what happened with that guy? The one who broke your heart?’

  ‘I didn’t say that.’

  ‘As good as.’

  Had she, though? She thought back to the night before. She’d said so many things at that restaurant. She must have been out of her head. Still, here and now in the most intimate and blissful cocoon she’d ever been wrapped in, honesty had never felt safer. ‘Demetri Spiros,’ she said after a while. ‘I was engaged to him.’

  ‘Engaged?’ He sounded astonished.

  ‘Well, it was one of those things. I met him on this cruise on Thio’s yacht. You know how it can happen. My family wanted it, his family wanted it. He seeme
d really cool. Anyway, I found out he had a girlfriend in Athens. This older woman.’

  ‘Older than him?’

  ‘No, older than me. A few days before the wedding I saw him with her in a restaurant. She was really sophisticated. People said he would drop her after the wedding, once he had me, but I couldn’t forget about it.’ Some of the remembered pain must have leaked through into her voice, because he squeezed her a little tighter. ‘Then on the wedding day when I was all dressed up in my white dress, I couldn’t force myself to go through with it.’

  ‘Hell. What did you do?’

  ‘When they were all rushing about busy with things, I went down to the beach and stayed there all day, in my dress and everything. Ruined the shoes.’

  ‘Your aunt and uncle would have been upset.’

  Her stomach clenched with the old guilt, then she sighed. ‘Oh, yes. Well, the whole world was there waiting in the church. I can’t really blame them. Prince Philippos. The King and Queen of Sweden. The Grimaldis.’

  He made a silent whistle. ‘My God. All hell must have broken loose.’

  In the dark, still bathed in the afterglow of passion, confession was easier. ‘It was in all the papers. Thio said he was ashamed to walk down the street. Thea cancelled all her committees. And I lost my job. The gallery said I was too controversial.’

  There was a long silence, though it felt warm and uncritical. His arms tightened around her and she felt his big strong heart beating against hers. Then his deep, comforting voice murmured in her ear, ‘That guy was a damn fool. Fancy wrecking his chance with you.’ He kissed her ear. ‘I’m glad you did it, though. That took real courage. You’re the bravest girl I ever met.’

  After all the recriminations she’d suffered, the words were a soothing balm to her tortured soul, and she felt a flow of joyous relief. Her heart swelled with love for Sebastian Nikosto.

  Ridiculous, maybe, stupid, obviously, but she was in love.

  CHAPTER TEN

  ARIADNE couldn’t stop smiling. She had a secret. A secret other women shared and only discussed with the dearest friends of their bosoms. Of course, everyone said sex was wonderful. But how could she have guessed how delicious, how comforting it would be to sleep in the arms of a big, warm man?