‘I’m glad you think so,’ he said with a touch of humour in his tone.
She wasn’t only thinking about that, but fantasising about Tadj lowering her slowly down on top of the thick, soft wool rug they were currently standing on.
‘This is my topic,’ she reminded him. ‘The display of important historical works of art falls well within my field of interest.’
‘Then, I’m glad I brought you here,’ he said.
Propping a hip against a console table that appeared to be made of solid gold, Tadj folded his arms and stared at her. ‘You’re hard to read,’ he said. ‘Tell me more about yourself...’
‘Am I?’ she said, ignoring the question. The connection between them was stronger than ever, and more than ever she wanted to stay and chat, but the atmosphere inside this room was just too seductive. ‘I can’t stay too long at the party,’ she said in a reminder to them both, ‘and I want to make the most of it,’ she added, moving towards the door. ‘I have responsibilities.’
‘As do I,’ Tadj assured her.
Stalemate. Several tense seconds ticked by, while Lucy gazed out at the brilliantly lit marina, where the bustle of ordinary life carried on in what seemed like a million miles from where they were standing. She’d be back there soon enough. She certainly wouldn’t remain on board when Sapphire slipped its moorings.
‘Penny for them?’ Tadj prompted.
Turning, she lifted her chin so she could stare him in the eyes. ‘I’m just taking everything in—you...me...this,’ she admitted, glancing around. ‘Very soon the Sapphire will sail, and you’ll sail with it.’
‘Will you miss me?’ he teased.
‘No,’ she lied. The time had come to examine her feelings, and decide whether to stay, or go.
He sensed the change in Lucy. From pure enjoyment and wonder, she had paused to consider her feelings, and where she fitted into this scenario. Her decision was typical Lucy, in that it both pleased and surprised him.
‘I want you,’ she whispered with a shrug of her slender shoulders.
Her candour fired his hunger as nothing else could. Slowly drawing her towards him, he kissed her neck, before brushing her lips teasingly with his. Turning in his arms, she rested back against his chest, so he kissed her again and felt her tremble. Innocence demanded a measured response, and for once in his life he wasn’t sure he was in full command of his control.
‘Isn’t this beautiful?’ she murmured, staring out of the floor-to-ceiling balcony window, to where the soft pop of gunpowder heralded the sight of fireworks bursting into vivid flame.
His answer was to rasp his stubble very lightly across her neck. The rush of light across the night sky seemed appropriate, somehow. Was there more to this than sex? Lucy was exceptional. And impatient, he concluded with amusement, as she moved restlessly in his arms. But she wasn’t done surprising him just yet. Turning to face him, she reached up and laced her fingers through his hair, bringing him down to kiss her, as a far more experienced woman might have done. Instantly hard when she rubbed her lush, warm body against his, he mapped her breasts appreciatively and was rewarded by her nipples turning pebble-hard against his palm.
‘Don’t tease me,’ she begged. ‘By the way,’ she added with one of her comic looks that only revealed how vulnerable she was feeling, ‘you don’t think I’m fat, do you?’
He smiled to reassure her, with what must surely be a perplexed expression on his face. ‘Fat? You’re perfect.’
She relaxed and smiled mischievously up at him. ‘Then...?’
‘Delay is the servant of pleasure.’
‘Don’t give me that,’ she warned him teasingly. ‘Give me you...’
‘Your wish is my command.’ Swinging her into his arms, he carried her into the bedroom. As he laid her down on crisply dressed sheets, it felt more like taking a lover of long standing to bed than a woman he’d just met. He had no explanation for this, other than to say being with Lucy felt right. Her freshness and inexperience had won him over, and introducing her to pleasure was the only thing on his mind.
‘Tadj...’
As she reached for him, he stared into eyes that had turned black, apart from a small rim of jade green around her pupils. ‘Soon,’ he promised, and, dipping down so he could kiss her, he smiled against her softly yielding mouth.
‘Now,’ she argued hotly, digging her fingers into him.
Lifting his head, he stared down with amusement. ‘You’ll regret it, if you rush.’
‘I’m prepared to risk it.’ Then her mind switched up a gear. ‘I’m tired of being steady and prudent,’ she admitted. ‘I want tonight to be different. You’re different. And I trust you—sort of,’ she added with a rueful smile.
‘That’s quite a responsibility you’ve given me,’ he said, grinning down.
Running her small hands appreciatively over his shoulders, she commented, ‘I think you can take it.’
Shrugging off his jacket, he dropped it on a chair. Lucy was already pulling at her dress. He helped her. In just a bra and thong, she was the Venus de Milo made flesh, unbelievably beautiful and lush—and wild with impatience. Yanking at the buttons on his shirt, she managed to pull a couple off. As they flew across the floor, he freed his sapphire cufflinks and put them safely out of reach. They didn’t lose eye contact for a second while all this was going on, and by the time he’d kicked off his shoes, she was working on his belt. Snapping it out of its loops, she gave a sound of triumph and fell back.
‘Hussy,’ he accused as she greedily sucked in air.
‘You bet,’ she said. ‘You don’t know how long I’ve waited for this.’
‘From the first moment you saw me in the café?’
She laughed. ‘Something like that.’
‘Still, savour the moment—make it last...’
‘Not a chance,’ she assured him.
He sucked in air between his teeth as she boldly brushed her hand over his body. Her hand was tiny and he was big. Lucy wasn’t the only one being seduced here.
‘You’re loving this,’ she gasped, her pupils huge and black with excitement. ‘The chase, I mean. Have I spoiled it for you, by becoming the aggressor?’
‘Not at all—and that might change soon,’ he warned.
She shrugged, but for a moment he thought she seemed uncertain. He loved sex, and did nothing to stop her as she explored him with exquisite skill. Sex had never been so much fun before, he thought as she slipped her hand into his boxers. It was just a hunger like anything else, to be satisfied on demand. With Lucy, sex had become an open-ended possibility. Her lack of experience was no deterrent to enthusiasm. When she stared into his eyes, there was fire in the depth of the black, as if she was claiming her mate.
‘Do you trust me?’ she demanded.
In the moment it took to answer, he hooked a thumb into the neck of his shirt, ready to pull it over his head.
‘Trust works both ways,’ she insisted, stilling as she stared at him, waiting for his answer.
‘Trust has to be earned,’ he countered as he tossed his shirt aside.
The most plausible liars could arrive in the most pleasing of packages, he had discovered in his youth. Lucy had gone some way to wipe out his recollection of an older woman who had found it all too easy to convince a gullible young prince, whose brain had been firmly lodged below his belt at the time, that fate intended them to be together. To help fate along, a loan from Tadj would really help her to