FIRE IN THE BLOOD – CHAROLETTE LAMB

the sound of his deep,

smoky voice sent ice trickling down her spine.
'Always think ahead!' he said, as he had said to her so many times
before, and she exchanged a grin with him, then could not believe this was
happening. A year apart, and then within five minutes she felt as if they had
never split up. It was a surreal experience; she could almost believe she was
dreaming this encounter. She felt like pinching herself to make sure she was
awake.
Even when they were quarrelling bitterly, Sean had always been able to
get a sensual response from her. Their chemistry, at least, had been a perfect
match, but their marriage had been a battleground, and Nadine was terrified
to find that she wasn't over him yet; he still had that effect on her, nerves
like red-hot wires, pulses going crazy.
Had she forgotten that Sean Carmichael didn't need anybody, never
admitted a weakness, never apologised, never forgave?
Sean was
kissing her throat, making her tremble as she felt the sensuous slide of his
naked body against hers. She was not alone in the
bed. There was a naked body next to hers, a man's body; his mouth was on
her throat and his hands were everywhere, caressing her breasts, stroking
her softly, intimately, sliding down her thighs.
'Start again,
and this time don't be scared, be bolder.' He smiled at her encouragingly,
then went on to the next student.
'Nadine gave me that,' Sean said, the flick of his eyes making her heart
skip as she remembered the occasion. It had been Christmas Day four years
ago; they had got up late and drunk buck's fizz while they opened their
presents under the tree. She had given him the Beryl Cook picture: he had
given her the most breathtaking emerald earrings.
'Put them on now,' he had said huskily, and taken her back to bed to
make love, still wearing them and only them.
She knew he was remembering it too, and her cheeks burnt under his
gaze.
'I can put it on myself!' She tried to sit up and he pushed her back with
one peremptory hand, and with the other began to smooth the oil into her
bare shoulders, his fingers sensitive, cool, following her bone-structure, the
roundness before her arm began, the line from there to her neck, sliding
down into the hollows between bones, up along her throat.
Sean slid the straps of
her swimsuit down and an alarm bell went off in her head.
'Stop that!' she bit out, struggled to get up and found herself inches away
from him, their bodies so close you couldn't get a hand between them, his
face unreadable, the mirrored glasses flashing in the sunlight, the hard,
passionate mouth parted- smiling or sighing?
'You're still the sexiest woman I've ever met,' he whispered, and
suddenly bent his head and kissed her naked breast.
Nadine almost fainted. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't move; she
closed her eyes and felt the soft touch of his mouth with an intensity that
made her shake.
Sean's arms went round her, his head lifted abruptly, and his mouth took
hers with a burning demand that made her head spin. His body pushed
against hers until she fell back and he fell with her, kissing her fiercely,
hungrily, lying on top of her, their legs twining, naked bodies sensually
restless as they moved against each other. Nadine wanted him so badly that
she forgot everything else, all her reasons for being angry with him, for
distrusting him. There was only one thing on her mind, on both their minds.
most intensely male man she had ever known, his masculinity like the heat
of the sun, the crash of the waves, a natural force of which you could never
be unaware and which you couldn't fight.
'Mirrors,' Luc said, almost dreamily. 'Yes. But lots of mirrors, I
think...yes...Clarrie, you always give me such wonderful ideas, no wonder I
adore you. Yes, that's it. I'll paint her in a room full of mirrors, reflections of
her everywhere, from all angles, and in the mirrors eyes watching her,
men's eyes...'
'You always used to like it,' he said; he put a long, brown finger on her
cheek and ran it very, very slowly down her throat, sending fierce tremors
through her.
The low huskiness of his voice made her catch her breath, her pulses
beating like jungle drums. He had caught her by surprise with that sudden
change of mood and her hazel eyes filled with unguarded passion. She had
to look away, look down, to hide it, her face burning; and she heard Sean's
intake of breath.
He put a hand around her throat, his fingertips caressing. She felt his
hand enclose her neck and was afraid he would pick up the drum of her
pulses, but a moment later he put pressure on the back of her neck to
force
her towards him in a sudden, possessive movement, his fingers winding
themselves into her long, rich chestnut hair to hold her captive and stop her
struggling free.
She was reluctant to; Sean pushed the fork between her closed lips.
'You'll like it.' It was almost an order. You will like it! he was telling her,
and somehow making a public statement of ownership, telling the other
men at the table that she belonged to him and ate what he told her to!
'It would work,' he said softly, and his fingertips slid down her bare arm
and sent a shudder rippling through her whole body. Sean smiled as he saw
the look on her face. He knew she wanted him; they had no secrets from
each other in that sensual world they shared.
Sean was right
behind her, and a few seconds later he sprang forward and caught hold of
her, their bodies colliding in a sort of rugby tackle which knocked her off
her feet.
She gave a choked cry, struggling. Sean fell with her, holding her, his
body going into a complicated twist just before they hit the sand so that she
landed on top of him, the fall softened for her by his body.
She lay there winded for an instant; then before she was over the shock
Sean took her shoulders and slid her off him sideways. She found herself on
her back, staring up at the milky moonlit sky.
Sean arched over her, blotting out the moon with the dark circle of his
head, and she looked wildly up at him as the weight of his muscled body
fell on her, splaying her against the sand.
'Don't!' she cried out.
His eyes glittered; she heard his thick breathing and felt the panic
quicken in her throat.
'No, Sean! Stop it, I don't want to...'
'But that's not true, is it, Nadine?' he said gently. 'You do want me
to...you're just scared of admitting it!'
Nadine trembled as his hand moved down over her throat, her shoulders,
her breasts. 'Don't.' The brush of his flesh against her own made her blood
run hotter, made her nerves leap and shiver.
His head came down, his mouth closing over hers in a hot compulsion
that by then she was beyond resisting. Love overwhelmed her. She moaned
under that mouth, under the tantalising frustration of his moving hands; her
breasts ached where he touched them; her bones grew pliant, as soft as wax,
and she knew that if she had tried to stand now she would have fallen down.
She had her eyes shut and was locked in a deep, devouring darkness;
filled with the wind of a desire which was carrying her away like straw, like
paper, in spite of herself. She loved him.
If it was going to hurt she accepted it; she couldn't deny him or herself
any more just at that moment, she was past caring about anything but the
satisfaction of their passion.
The fragile chiffon of her dress tore as Sean unzipped the back of it; she
heard him groan impatiently. Then he was pulling it off her shoulders,
dragging it downwards, and a tiny part of her mind thought ruefully of the
state it would be in tomorrow, that very expensive dress which had looked
so immaculate an hour ago. Now it would be covered in sand, torn,
crumpled.
But that didn't matter. Sean's head was at her breast; he was kissing her
pale body and breathing as if he was drowning. 'Oh, darling, darling... I
need you...'
She stroked his tousled black head, caressed the nape of his neck, ran her
hands down his lean back. Her eyes were shut; she didn't need to see, just
felt; and once given up to her emotion she only knew she loved him and he
needed her; she felt his need in every touch, every movement, every sound
he made, and happiness blazed through her.
Out here on the sands with the whisper of the sea in their ears they were
more alone than they had ever been before. His fame
His hands stroked along her bare thighs and she groaned, arching to meet
him as he took her.
'It's been so long,' he said hoarsely. 'So long, darling, I need this badly.'
She needed it, too; she was gasping with unbelievable pleasure as the
heated driving of his body moved in her; she held him, her arms tight
around him, her body riding under him, her knees gripping in shudders of
mounting passion.
'Sean... oh, yes... yes...' she moaned, her face taut and clenched in the
rictus of desire.
She was so hot by then that she felt as though a white-hot flame was
consuming her, consuming them both, and then the frenzy broke and she
cried out wildly, shuddering underneath him.
Sean came too, his body convulsive, groaning harshly, as if in agony, his
face hard against hers, the tension of his darkly flushed skin burning into
her.
Nadine held him, cradled on her, as he almost sobbed that last
descending fall of passion, and then they both lay still, dragging air into
their tortured lungs, trembling as if they had run a mile.
The whole world seemed to stop spinning, they were poised together in a
bewitched silence, their eyes shut, their bodies clinging, their mouths
moving passionately.