Say it with Diamonds...this Christmas (Mills & Boon M&B) (Mills & Boon Special Releases)

by Miranda Lee

  ‘Who dies? Not Shane, I hope.’

  ‘No, Brenda.’

  ‘Brenda! That’s even worse. You can’t kill off the heroine in a romance. There has to be a happy ending, Nick.’

  ‘Rubbish. Lots of romances have unhappy endings.’

  ‘Only the ones written by men,’ she said disgustedly. ‘How does she die?’

  ‘She’s shot saving her child from the baddies,’ he said defensively, as if that made it all right.

  ‘No excuses. She simply cannot die. Why couldn’t she have been shot, but still live? Truly, you should have talked to me about this earlier, Nick. I would have advised you.’

  ‘She needed to die. She was no good for Shane. Their romance was flawed and their marriage was a disaster waiting to happen. She hated life in the country and was threatening to go back to the city and take the child when the baddies from her earlier life show up. The sequel isn’t really a romance, Sarah, it’s a drama.’

  ‘You can call it what you like. It sounds awful.’

  ‘Thank you for the vote of confidence.’

  The captain announcing that they were expecting some turbulence and everyone was to belt up terminated what was becoming a heated exchange.

  ‘Typical,’ Nick muttered as he snapped his seat belt shut.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Sarah asked, grabbing at the armrests when the plane shuddered.

  ‘January is cyclone season in this neck of the woods.’

  ‘I wish you’d told me that earlier. We could have just as easily stayed home, especially once Flora and Jim went away.’

  ‘I wanted to show you Happy Island.’

  ‘The island itself, or your fancy holiday house?’

  Nick smiled. ‘A man’s allowed to show off to his girlfriend, isn’t he?’

  Sarah’s heart flipped over. ‘You … you called me your girlfriend.’

  Nick shrugged. ‘I reserve the right to rescind the title if you get stroppy with me.’

  ‘I only get stroppy during cyclones. I also get hysterical.’

  Nick laughed. ‘Now she tells me. Don’t worry. My place is cyclone-proof. Actually, Happy Island hasn’t been directly hit by a cyclone in decades. Mostly, it just gets lots of wind and rain. Unfortunately, we might have to stay indoors for days on end,’ he added with a wicked twinkle in his eyes.

  Sarah grinned. ‘Just as well I brought all my old board games with me, then, isn’t it?’

  Nick groaned. ‘Oh, no, not the Monopoly! You always whipped my butt at that.’

  ‘Monopoly and Snakes and Ladders, and Chinese Checkers. I found them in the bottom of my wardrobe when I was packing.’

  When Nick looked pained, she gave him a playful dig in the ribs.

  ‘Come on. We used to have great fun playing those games.’

  ‘I had some different kinds of games in mind now that you’ve grown up.’

  Sarah shook her head at him. ‘If you think this holiday is going to be just a sex-fest, Nick, then think again. I picked up a brochure about Happy Island from a local travel agent and there’s heaps I want to do.’

  ‘Really. Such as?’

  ‘Aside from a tour around the island to all the scenic spots, I’d like to take a boat trip to the barrier reef and a helicopter ride over the Whitsundays. Then there’s windsurfing and souvenir-shopping. Oh, and mini-golf. You can have your revenge on me with that. I also saw pictures of a lovely white beach with the most beautiful turquoise waters where I’d like to go for a swim.’

  ‘Uh-uh,’ he said with a shake of his head. ‘You won’t be doing that.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because of the irukanji.’

  ‘The what?’

  ‘They’re a jellyfish. Toxic as all hell. They can put you in hospital for days. Two people have died from their sting since 2001. Summer is their peak season.’

  ‘Oh, great. No swimming.’

  ‘Actually, you can go in the sea, if you wear a full body suit. But they don’t look too glamorous. Still, not to worry. There are more swimming pools on Happy Island than you can poke a stick at. Mine is fabulous, and solar-heated as well.’

  ‘I didn’t doubt it.’

  His smile carried amusement. ‘You have a tongue on you at times, don’t you?’

  ‘I never said I was perfect.’

  ‘Just nearly,’ he murmured, and leant over to kiss her on the cheek.

  Her head turned fully to face him. ‘I thought you said you weren’t going to kiss me.’

  ‘You call that a kiss? I’ll show you a kiss when I get you to my place.’

  A quiver ran through her body at the desire gleaming bright in his eyes. This was what she’d always wanted, to have him look at her like this. But would it be enough, just being the recipient of Nick’s passion? The truth was she wanted more now. She wanted that happily-ever-after ending. She wanted Nick’s love, the very thing he claimed he could never give anyone.

  ‘You can relax your hands now,’ he said. ‘We’re through the turbulence.’

  Not so, she thought with a tormented twist to her heart. The turbulence has only just begun.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  THE beauty of Happy Island just blew Sarah away. The pilot circled it once before landing, giving all the window-seat passengers a splendid view.

  Talk about a tropical paradise!

  She’d heard people wax lyrical about the colour of the sand and the water in this region, but the beaches and bays were just magic to the eye, framed by lots of palm trees and environmentally friendly buildings that blended beautifully with the green vegetation.

  Nick was right about the number of pools, though. They did stand out from the air, because there were so many, in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

  Any worry she was still harbouring about the eventual outcome of their relationship was put aside as excitement took hold. It would be wonderful to have a romantic holiday here, with the man she loved. Wonderful to have him all to herself for a whole month.

  If nothing else, she would have this marvellous memory.

  ‘No point in rushing off the plane,’ Nick said when everyone else jumped up from their seats. ‘We’ll only have to wait in the heat for our luggage. There’s no carousel in the terminal here, just a collection area down near where all the resort shuttles are parked.’

  ‘Will we be taking a shuttle?’

  ‘No. I own a golf buggy, which I keep at the airport.’

  ‘Oh, yes, I read about those in the brochure. It said there weren’t many cars on the island, and everyone got around in golf buggies.’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Can I drive it?’

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘Oh, wow. That’ll be fun.’

  Sarah and Nick finally exited the plane next to last, with Sarah surprised to find it not quite as hot outside as she’d been expecting. ‘Am I wrong, or is it not all that hot out here?’

  ‘No, you’re quite right. But the weather forecast says there’ll be a change later in the week. It’s going to gradually get hotter, with higher temperatures and humidity. They’re predicting a storm on Saturday afternoon, with strong gusts of wind and tons of rain.’

  ‘How do you know all that?’

  ‘Looked on the internet last night for the forecast up this way.’

  ‘You didn’t bring your laptop with you, I hope.’

  ‘No need. I have a full computer set-up here.’

  ‘What don’t you have here?’ Sarah heard herself saying half an hour later.

  She was standing in the main living room of Nick’s holiday house, looking through a wall made totally of glass at the most magnificent pool she had ever seen. It was called a horizon pool, so named because the far side of the pool seemed to have no edge, the water meeting the sky the way the horizon did out at sea.

  ‘It cost me a pretty penny,’ Nick agreed.

  ‘You mean the pool, or the rest of this place?’

  Actually, the house wasn’t all that huge. On
ly three bedrooms. But everything was beautifully and stylishly decorated in cool greens and blues that complemented its tropical setting. There was also every mod con available, including a kitchen to die for and a king-sized plasma television.

  ‘The foundations cost the most,’ he told her.

  Sarah could understand why. The house was built on the side of a cliff, its half-hexagonal shape creating one-hundred-and-eighty-degree views. All the rooms had huge glass windows or walls that looked out to sea and the other islands beyond. The glass was specially toughened to withstand even the worst storms, Nick told her, and tinted to soften any glare.

  ‘It took two years to build,’ Nick said. ‘It was only completed last June.’

  ‘Really?’ Sarah said. So that was why Nick hadn’t brought any of his girlfriends here before. He hadn’t had the opportunity. Still, it was nice to think she was the first girl to stand here with him. And the first to share this particular master bedroom. She could hardly make the same claim about the bedroom back home.

  ‘It’s spectacular, Nick,’ she said, throwing a warm smile up at him. ‘So’s this view.’

  Nick slid an arm around her waist and pulled her close. ‘Wait till you see it at sunrise.’

  When he turned her towards him, Sarah knew he was going to kiss her. And this time, there would be no stopping him. Not that she wanted to. Her heart was already pounding by the time his lips met hers.

  ‘I don’t think I’m going to let you unpack,’ Nick said to her some considerable time later. ‘I like you like this.’

  They’d eventually made it to the master bedroom, though Sarah’s clothes were still on the living-room floor. Nick’s as well.

  Sarah sighed with pleasure as Nick gently caressed her stomach.

  ‘I like you like this as well,’ she returned dreamily.

  The lovemaking between them was getting better and better, and gradually more adventurous. Sarah had thought she preferred the missionary position with Nick, where their eyes could meet and she could hold him close in the traditional way. But she found this spoon position very much to her liking, thrilling to the hot feel of Nick’s body cocooned around hers. She loved that it left his hands free to play with her breasts and the rest of her body whilst he was inside her. The sensations had sent her head spinning.

  He hadn’t withdrawn afterwards, and she could feel him slowly coming back to life. He groaned when her bottom moved voluptuously against him.

  His hands lifted to her breasts, where he pinched her nipples.

  ‘Oh,’ she gasped, startled by the odd mixture of pain and pleasure.

  ‘You liked that,’ he muttered thickly in her ear.

  ‘Yes … no … I don’t know.’

  ‘I liked it,’ he said, and did it again.

  She moaned, then squirmed. Yes, she definitely did like it.

  ‘Do it again,’ she urged breathlessly.

  He obliged and her head whirled with the dizziest pleasure. Now he was fully erect again, and began thrusting harder than the first time. Heat enveloped her, her forehead breaking into a sweat.

  ‘Yes,’ she bit out, everything inside her twisting into exquisitely expectant spirals. ‘Yes. Yes,’ she cried out as her body broke into little pieces, splintering apart with a violent release.

  With a raw groan Nick rolled her over onto her stomach, cupping her breasts and lifting her up onto her hands and knees. Sarah thought she was done, but she was wrong. When he reached down and rubbed her clitoris, another orgasm ripped through her. This time he came too, hot and strong. At last she fell, face-down, onto the bed, his body collapsing on top of hers.

  For a couple of minutes they just lay, glued together by sweat, their breathing ragged.

  ‘See?’ he said at last, his voice low and thick. ‘A woman can come lots of times in a row. I could keep you coming all day, if you want me to.’

  Sarah went weak with the thought of his doing such a thing.

  ‘I … I think what I need right at this moment,’ she said shakily, ‘is a shower.’

  ‘Mmm. What a good idea. I’ll join you.’

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  NICK lay stretched out next to Sarah’s sleeping form, his hands linked behind his head, his body temporarily sated but his mind not even remotely at peace.

  It wasn’t working, his plan to burn out his lust for Sarah. It seemed the more he had her, the more he wanted her.

  Thirty-six hours had passed since their arrival, with their hardly leaving the master suite, except for food and the occasional dip in the pool.

  Nick’s flesh began to stir once more as he recalled their erotic encounter by the pool last night, not to mention the wildly passionate one in the kitchen this morning.

  Sarah had confessed afterwards she’d never had sex whilst sitting on a granite bench-top before. Or sitting anywhere, for that matter.

  It seemed her sex life so far had been limited and unimaginative, a fact that Nick found surprising, yet primally satisfying. He was beginning to understand why some men married virgins. There had to be something intensely pleasing about being a female’s first lover.

  At the same time, Sarah’s lack of sexual experience troubled him. Young, naïve girls like her fell in love so very easily.

  Though she’d never said she loved him, he’d seen adoration in her lovely but very readable eyes. Seen it, and wallowed in it.

  Was that the reason behind his growing addiction for her? Not the sex so much but the way Sarah made him feel whilst he was making love to her?

  How would it be to always have her in his bed? he began to wonder. To put his ring on her finger? To legally bind her to him?

  Crazy thoughts, Nick. Crazy.

  Shaking his head, he rolled over and propped himself up on one elbow to stare down at her, his eyes roving hotly over her lusciously naked body. Before he knew it he was touching her again, waking her, wanting her. He groaned when she opened her arms to him on a sigh of sweet surrender.

  Say no, damn you, his mind screamed as he plunged into her.

  But she didn’t.

  Sarah crept from the bed, lest she wake Nick. Night had fallen and he was sleeping soundly at long last.

  Pulling on her lavender satin robe—her only item of clothing as yet unpacked—she made her way quietly out to the kitchen, where she began to search the large freezer for something substantial to eat. During the past two days they’d only eaten enough to survive—mostly toast and coffee—and Sarah was suddenly feeling ravenous.

  Half an hour and two microwaveable meals later, Sarah carried a second mug of coffee into the living room and curled herself up in a corner of the blue sofa. She sighed as she sipped, only then allowing herself to think about what they’d been doing since they’d arrived on Happy Island.

  So much for her saying this holiday was not going to be just a sex-fest!

  Truly, she should put her foot down and demand that they leave the house occasionally. It wasn’t right to just loll around, having sex all the time.

  Sarah pulled a face. Maybe it wasn’t right, but it felt good. She felt good. Better than she’d ever felt.

  But enough was enough, she decided. Come tomorrow, she would insist on their getting dressed and going out somewhere.

  Hopefully Nick would not make a fuss, or start seducing her again. Her head whirled at how good he was at doing that. And how successful. She just couldn’t seem to say no to him.

  But she would, come tomorrow morning.

  Easier said than done, Sarah thought ruefully. He only had to roll over and start touching her, and she was a goner.

  Maybe she should spend the rest of the night out here on this sofa; it was big enough to sleep on.

  Whatever, she didn’t need sleep for a while. After her eating binge, she was wide awake. Watching television was not an option, however. The noise might wake Nick. Maybe she would read for a while. There were a few paperbacks on the shelves that flanked the large built-in entertainment unit.

  Sara
h put down her coffee and made her way across the tiled floor. There was only one title that appealed, called Dressed to Kill, the back blurb promising a page-turning thriller with twists and turns and a spine-tingling climax.

  Sarah’s spine certainly tingled when she opened it and saw the handwritten name on top of the first page.

  Chloe Cameron.

  Her mouth went dry as she stared down at that hated name, her head filling with a hundred horrible thoughts, the main one being that Nick had lied to her. Chloe had been to Happy Island with him—how else would this book be here? Nick was not a reader.

  Various repulsive images popped into Sarah’s mind. Of Nick having sex with Chloe by the pool and on the kitchen counter. Of his doing all the things with Chloe that he’d done with her.

  The hurt was overwhelming. So was the humiliation. What a fool she’d been to be so easily tricked! A besotted fool!

  But no more.

  Gripping the book tightly in both hands, Sarah marched back into the bedroom, snapping on the overhead light, then slamming the door with deliberate loudness.

  Nick woke with a start, blinking madly as he sat up. Sarah’s glowering at him from the side of the bed brought confusion, then a jolt of alarm.

  ‘What is it? What’s wrong?’

  She threw something at him. A book. It struck his bare chest before he could catch it, tumbling down into his lap.

  ‘You said you’d never brought her here,’ Sarah bit out. ‘You lied, you bastard.’

  The penny dropped for Nick, as did his stomach.

  ‘It’s not what you’re thinking,’ he defended.

  Her laugh had a hard, hollow sound to it. ‘And why’s that, Nick?’

  ‘I didn’t have sex with her.’

  She laughed again. ‘You expect me to believe that? Mr I-have-to-have-it-ten-times-a-day!’

  ‘Chloe was sick, with food poisoning. She spent the whole weekend in bed in the guest room.’

  Sarah crossed her arms, her expression scornful. ‘If that’s the truth, why didn’t you tell me?

  ‘I’ll tell you why,’ she went on before he could say a single word. ‘Because that might not have got you what you wanted, which was stupid me, filling in for Chloe on this holiday. Better to let the silly little fool think she’s unique and special. Make her believe your inviting her to come with you here is a one-off. Whatever way you look at it, Nick, you lied to me for your own selfish ends.’