by Penny Jordan
She pursed her mouth at him. ‘Furious.’
‘Do you still want me to take you home straight away or can I tempt you back into sharing a picnic fit for a prince?’
Her mouth opened but she closed it again.
‘I guess that wasn’t such a great choice of words,’ he acceded wryly.
Her shoulders gave a little slump. ‘It was a mistake for me to come with you tonight.’
‘I shouldn’t have mentioned the P word.’
‘What about the other P word?’ she asked. ‘What if I did become pregnant?’
‘As long as you were happy, I’d be happy,’ he said. ‘We could get married straight away and live snappily ever after.’
She rolled her eyes at him. ‘Very funny.’
‘We’d be a great couple. I can see it now—every single fight would end up in bed.’
‘Only because you don’t fight fair.’
‘Look who’s talking.’ He slung a casual arm around her shoulders and led her back towards the picnic blanket. ‘You were the one threatening to bite me and you tried to throw me a right hook.’
‘You made me angry.’
‘I like it when you’re angry,’ he said. ‘You turn me on.’
She glanced up at him. ‘Did your ex-girlfriend ever make you angry?’
He met her eyes briefly before turning away to open the picnic basket. ‘That’s another P word I’d like to stay away from tonight—past lovers.’
‘You’re not over her, are you?’ she said as he handed her a plate.
His eyes came back to hers. ‘I would be a shallow sort of bloke if I could walk away after two years without some regrets. But I am over her. I hardly even think of her now.’
Amelia felt something heavy begin to weigh her chest down. ‘What do you regret?’
He shifted his lips from side to side as if thinking about it. ‘I don’t know. Maybe I should have been more spontaneous. I worked too hard and forgot how to have fun. I woke up three weeks after Sarah left me for another man and realised I had to loosen up, you know, laugh at life a bit more.’
‘So you suddenly found yourself a sense of humour?’
‘No, not really. I guess I’ve always been a happy-go-lucky sort of guy, but years of study and long hours and being responsible for patients’ lives took its toll. I was heading towards a total burn-out and Sarah giving me the boot was the wakeup call I needed.’
‘Do you ever see her?’
‘What would be the point? It’s over. She has a new life and I don’t belong in it.’
‘She’s going to kick herself when she finds out she knocked back a prince,’ she said without thinking.
His expression clouded as he rummaged for cutlery and napkins. ‘As far as I see it, it’s a title, not a description of who I am as a person.’
‘I know, but people will still have certain expectations.’
‘I have to live up to my own expectations, not those of other people.’
‘This is really hard for you, isn’t it?’ she asked after a taut little silence.
He met her gaze, his small smile slightly skewed. ‘How would you feel to suddenly find out you weren’t who you thought you were?’
‘You’re still Alex Hunter.’
‘But for how long?’ he asked.
Amelia sighed as she reached for his hand and gave it a little squeeze. ‘It’s still a secret,’ she tried to reassure him. ‘No one needs to know a thing until you feel ready to tell them who you are.’
His dark eyes became shadowed. ‘I’d just like another week or two,’ he said. ‘That will be enough time to get the king through the surgery and my work commitments at the Free Hospital seen to. After that I guess it will have to be dealt with in some way or another, but I can’t help feeling it’s going to be hard on your father.’
‘I know. My father wants the truth to be told, but I don’t think he realises yet the implications for him. He’ll be charged and no doubt sent to prison.’
He began to stroke her cheek with his fingers. ‘You realise he hasn’t got much time left, don’t you?’
She nodded silently.
‘At least this way you get the chance to say goodbye,’ he said, dropping his hand and looking out to sea again. ‘So many people don’t.’
Amelia looked at him, wondering if he was thinking of his biological parents. It was hard to tell from his expression, but she couldn’t help feeling he was trying to come to terms with his new-found identity instead of pushing the reality of it away as he had insisted on doing earlier.
‘Alex…can I ask you something?’
He turned back to look at her. ‘Of course.’
‘I want to know what your intentions are in regards to me.’
‘I thought I’d made it pretty clear a few minutes ago exactly what my intentions are.’
She bit her lip momentarily. ‘I can’t help feeling you’re doing the whole rebound thing.’
A shutter came down over his face as he turned to look out at the ocean. ‘I’m over that part of my life,’ he said. ‘I told you—I don’t even think of her any more.’
Amelia wondered if that was true. She had noticed a tension in him every time his ex-partner was mentioned, as if the pain was still festering deep inside him. He had said she’d left him for another man, which would no doubt have hurt him deeply, in spite of his laid-back personality. No man liked to be betrayed in such a way. But it still plagued Amelia to think he had only become involved with her to expunge the pain of his past relationship. She could hardly hope to measure up to a woman who moved in the sort of circles Alex did. She’d had nothing to offer him before and now even less so.
‘She was crazy to let you go,’ she said softly, trailing her fingers down the length of his arm closest her.
‘Because of my royal connections?’ he asked, turning to face her with a teasing smile, his earlier tension gone.
‘You’re not supposed to say the P word, remember?’
He laughed and pressed her down onto the sand and kissed her soundly before lifting his head to look down at her. ‘How about this for another P word. Want to come back to my house and play?’
She ran her fingertip over his bottom lip. ‘What did you have in mind?’
He drew her finger into his mouth and sucked on it hard, his dark eyes sending her a message that set off a riot of sensation deep and low inside her. ‘Do I really need to answer that?’ he asked.
‘No,’ she said as she raised her mouth to meet his. ‘You don’t.’
A short time later, Alex led her inside his cottage and directed her towards the bathroom. ‘You can have the first shower. I have a couple of e-mails to send. I promised my parents I’d keep in close contact with my sister. She’s backpacking her way around Europe.’
She gave him a grateful look. ‘Thanks. I feel as if I’ve got sand in places I didn’t even know I had places.’
He gave her a sexy smile. ‘But don’t take too long or I might come in and join you.’
Amelia deliberately took her time to see if he was as good as his promise. She used the fragrant shampoo and conditioner in the shower stall and the shower gel that made her skin silky smooth. She closed her eyes and lifted her face to the shower head, delighting in the luxury of hot water that she hadn’t had to heat herself.
Her eyes sprang open when the shower stall door opened and Alex stepped in, his naked body brushing up against hers.
‘Any hot water left?’ he asked.
She stared at the droplets of water running down his face to his mouth. ‘Yes.’
‘Want to soap my back for me?’
‘Um…all right…’
He turned around and, taking a breath, she ran her hands over his muscled back with the shower gel, her fingers lingering over his taut buttocks.
‘How about the front?’ he asked.
She swallowed. ‘The front?’
He turned around, a twinkle appearing in his dark gaze as it meshed with hers. ‘Th
e front.’
She took a handful of shower gel and placed it on his chest, keeping her eyes well away from what was probing insistently against the softness of her belly.
‘Lower,’ he said, his eyes burning into hers.
She swallowed again, her stomach tripping over itself. ‘L-lower?’
‘Much lower.’
Her soapy hands went down, pausing over his belly button, her fingertip exploring the tight, hairy cave before her hand went a little farther.
His groan as her fingers brushed against him gave her courage and she did it again, more confident this time, shaping him with increasing boldness.
‘Look at me,’ he commanded roughly.
‘I am looking at you,’ she said.
‘No,’ he said. ‘Look at what you’re doing to me.’
Another tiny swallow and she looked. He was turgid with need, a need she could feel building in her own body. Her breasts were tight, her legs watery and her stomach quivering with anticipation.
‘Now it’s my turn,’ he said and spun her around.
She sucked in a ragged breath as he soaped her back in long, sensual strokes, his fingers dipping in between her legs in a tantalising not-quite-where-she-wanted-it-most caress.
He stood so close she could feel the hard probe of his body against her, the satin strength of him reminding her of how her gently upward-slanted body was perfectly designed to accept him.
‘Turn around,’ he said, his voice sounding deep and uneven.
Amelia slowly turned around, her body brushing against the entire length of his.
Hot liquid fire was blazing in his eyes as they met hers. His hands went to the smooth swell of her breasts, his thumb finding each tight nipple until she could hardly think for the pleasure his touch evoked. He bent his head and suckled on her, his tongue sending arrows of heat to the tender, dark, moist recess of her body that was already pulsing with a drumbeat-like need.
His mouth left her breast to capture her mouth in a drugging kiss that left her feeling as liquid as the water spilling around them. The back of the shower stall supported her, for her legs would not, the pressure of his body against hers the only thing keeping her from sliding to the floor.
Alex lifted his mouth from hers, his eyes sending her a message that was as timeless as it was overwhelmingly tempting.
She drew in a scalding breath and ran her hands over him, less shyly this time, her fingers taking him on a journey of sensuality that surprised her even as it drew the harsh guttural groans from the depths of his throat.
‘No,’ he groaned, stilling the increasingly rapid movement of her hand. ‘I can’t take any more.’
She wriggled her fingers in his hand but he refused to let her have access to him, instead holding her hand above her head against the back of the shower as he fed hungrily off her mouth.
She felt herself sagging into him, her body thrumming with a need so consuming she pushed herself against him, her body searching for the heated trajectory of his.
She heard him groan as he surged forward, sheathing himself completely, the liquid silk of her body grabbing at him possessively.
Her head rolled back as he drove forward again, her eyes tightly shut as the sky-rocketing sensations flooded her being. It was wild and wanton, urgent and frantic, leaving no room for thoughts, just feelings. She could feel the delicious pressure building, every nerve in her body climbing higher and higher for the release it craved.
He increased his pace at the same time as he reached between her legs, his long fingers touching her where she needed it most. It triggered the response her body ached for, sending a riot of exploding sensations right throughout her, leaving her weightless and trembling in his tight embrace, the echo of her panting cries filling her ears.
She opened her passion-slaked eyes to see his face contort with pleasure as he surged forward again, once, twice, three times, his whole body shuddering against her with the force of his explosive release. He sagged against her, his head burrowed into her neck, his erratic breathing moving his chest in and out against hers.
Amelia held him close, the water cascading around them mingling with the essence of maleness that had burst from his body and branded her as his in the most intimate way possible.
Alex gave her an apologetic grimace as he eased himself out of her hold. ‘I told myself I was going to resist you until we got to the bedroom so I could use a condom. I’m not normally so irresponsible, but I just can’t seem to help myself around you.’
‘I’m sure it will be all right,’ she said. ‘My period is due any day now.’
‘That’s not the point,’ he said as he turned off the water. ‘Cycles can go out of whack and you could find yourself in a situation you hadn’t planned for. I won’t let it happen again, I promise.’
He reached for a towel and began drying her, each brush of his hands through the towel making her skin cry out for the touch of his bare flesh on hers.
They were both still wet when they landed on the bed in a tangle of limbs, but it only added to the sensations coursing through Amelia as she fell back amongst the pillows with his weight on top of her.
His kiss was hot and demanding, his obvious impatience the biggest compliment she had ever received. It made her feel womanly, powerful and irresistible.
His mouth was on her breasts, then on her stomach, his tongue anointing the tiny dish of her belly button before going lower. Her breath came to a screeching halt when his warm breath fanned over her sensitive feminine folds, her limbs tightening in both apprehension and anticipation. When he parted her tenderly with his tongue, her whole body shivered with reaction, the overly sensitive nerves fizzing with the electric current of his intimate touch. Her response was too hard to hold back; it came in wave after wave of escalating ecstasy until her mind was empty of everything but the exquisite feelings he triggered in her.
Her breathing was still erratic as he reached across her for a condom, deftly placing it on himself before he moved between her thighs with unmistakable urgency. She felt her body grip him, the silken sheath slippery with her fragrant response to him.
She felt him check himself, as if he was trying to hold back his pace, but she wouldn’t allow it, her body wanted him hot,hard, heavy and full speed ahead. She arched her back to bring herself closer to him, her hips undulating with the pleasure of his strong movements, each deep thrust sending a shock wave of feeling through her entire body.
Suddenly she was there again, at that impossibly high altitude of pleasure where thoughts were lost in the moment of utterly fulfilling release. Her whole body shivered with it, every nerve and muscle reacting to the flood of sensation that flowed over her and through her like a tide of warm, bubbly water.
Even as her tension left her body, Amelia felt his tension building as each deep thrust brought him closer to the edge. She felt it in his iron-like hold, she felt it in the hot moistness of his mouth as it fed hungrily off hers, and she felt it in the bunched muscles of his buttocks where her hands were holding on to him like an anchor.
He gave one harsh groan into her mouth as he fell forward, the sudden expulsion of his life force rendering him momentarily powerless. He relaxed under her stroking hands, his chest rising and falling against hers, his sweat-slicked body still intimately joined to hers.
Amelia didn’t want to move. Her body felt languorous with the aftermath of his lovemaking, all her limbs feeling weightless, as if the bones had been taken out and marshmallow put in their place.
Alex propped himself up on one elbow and pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. ‘I bet you didn’t learn any of that in that convent of yours, huh?’
She smiled and stretched like a well-fed cat. ‘No, I certainly didn’t.’
He brushed a strand of her hair away from her cheek. ‘You totally rock me, Amelia, do you know that?’
She lowered her gaze a fraction. ‘We’re not in love with each other… I know you’ll think it terribly old-fashioned of me, but to m
e it seems a little wrong to be sharing this level of intimacy when we’re not committed emotionally.’
‘I don’t see anything wrong with exploring the attraction we both feel,’ he said.
‘But how long will it last without stronger feelings to support it?’
‘You never know—you might fall in love with me,’ he said with a glinting smile.
‘I’m not too sold on rapid emotional responses,’ she said with a small, almost undetectable downturn of her mouth. ‘They can’t really be counted on as the real thing.’
‘Ah, such cynicism in one so young,’ he lamented playfully.
‘I’m not being cynical, I’m being realistic. Flash-in-the-pan emotions are exactly that—one flash and they’re gone. It happened that way with my ex-lover. I felt sure I was in love with him, I would have staked my life on it, but in the end those feelings died.’
‘Plenty of people develop strong and lasting feelings in a short space of time. My parents are living proof of love at first sight.’
Her face clouded with sadness. ‘My mother fell in love with my father and it destroyed her life….’
Alex was still thinking about how to respond when his mobile phone began to ring from the bedside table. He reached across Amelia to pick it up.
‘Dr Hunter?’ an urgent male voice spoke. ‘My name is Rico Vialli. I’m looking for my sister, Amelia. Is she with you?’
‘Yes, she is. Do you want to—’
‘Oh, thank God…’ The man’s voice broke over the words. ‘I thought she was dead too….’
Alex sat up, his hand tightening on the phone as his gaze flicked to Amelia’s puzzled one. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked. ‘Has something happened?’
He heard Amelia’s brother take an unsteady breath and it seemed an eternity before he spoke, his voice coming out like a hoarse croak as he finally announced, ‘Our father died earlier this evening.’
‘I’m so very sorry—’ Alex began but Rico cut him off.
‘You don’t understand, Dr Hunter,’ he said hollowly. ‘My father did not die of lung cancer after all. He was burned to death in the cottage. And I don’t think it was an accident.’