'No knife. But I will love you to death,' Dex said hoarsely. And, catching her by the shoulders, his fingers digging into her flesh, he added urgently, 'If you will only let me, Beth.'
She gazed up at him and saw such anguish, such need in the depths of his silver eyes her heart stopped. She blinked, unable to believe what she was seeing.
'I love you so much, Beth. Please say something, anything,' he demanded, his voice raw with emotion. 'I thought I could let you walk away, but I can't.'
She stared at him. The cold, remote mask he showed the world was gone, and she saw his heart in his eyes. 'You love me,' she murmured. 'You love me!' she exclaimed, her own eyes overflowing with tears of emotion. The impossible had happened.
'Please don't cry, Beth. Please, I never meant to make you cry,' he pleaded. 'As God is my witness, I didn't tip you out of the boat. I asked if you were ready, and you cast off instead. When I saw you in the water I jumped in to save you because I couldn't bear the thought of my life without you. If I was too clumsy, I'm sorry. But carrying you back to the house was the most horrendous walk of my life. I wouldn't hurt you for the world. You must believe that. I love you.'
She lifted her small hand to his face and stroked from his temple down to his jaw. 'I'm not crying because you hurt me.' A wide smile of pure joy ht her lovely face. 'I'm overwhelmed because you love me—as I love you.'
Dex looked deep into her huge green eyes. 'You love me? Since when?' he asked roughly.
'From the first moment I saw you.' Beth stared up at him, and what he saw in her eyes told him she was telling the truth.
He groaned and swept her into his arms, kissing her with a hard, hungry passion. Beth clung to him, her arms around his neck, returning his kiss with equal passion, as though between them they could erase the heartache of the past few weeks. The towels fell away, they were naked together, and Dex's hard, aroused body ground against hers. His hands slid down to cup her buttocks and lift her bodily off her feet.
Involuntarily Beth locked her legs around him, afraid to fall, then gasped as the hard length of him nudged against the delta of her thighs. His head bent to her breasts and he took one into his mouth and suckled fiercely. Beth whimpered, her arms tightening around his neck as he did the same to the other one.
He lifted his head and his fierce silver eyes caught and held hers. 'I have loved you from the first time I saw you, too,' he growled, deep in his throat, and thrust up into her. She cried out, her eyes widening the second he took possession of her.
It was a wild, savagely quick coupling. Dex's taut face became a dark blur, and Beth gave herself up to the wild ride until with a hoarse cry Dex shuddered violently, spilling his seed inside her, and she convulsed around him.
Dex held her for a long moment as shudder after shudder racked his great body. Beth felt the lingering spasms in every nerve-ending of her body. Finally Dex lowered her slowly to the floor, and if he had not been holding her she would have collapsed at his feet. Her legs were shaking, her whole body shook. . .
'Hell! What am I thinking of?' Dex swore hoarsely, staring down into her flushed face. 'I am an insensitive jerk.' And, swinging her up in his arms, he carried her through to the bedroom and placed her gently on the bed.
> When he would have stood up, Beth curled her hand around the back of his neck. 'So long as you are my jerk,' she prompted, a questioning light in her green eyes. The last few minutes had left her dazed and awed by the wonder and power of her lover. But did it mean the miracle had happened and Dex really loved her?
'Always and for ever,' Dex vowed, lowering his long body over her. His hands palmed either side of her head and he kissed her slowly, gently, with aching tenderness. 'But now, my love. . .' He rolled to one side and curved his arm firmly around her, so they were lying side by side, and with his other hand pulled the coverlet over them. He leaned over her. 'Now you need to rest.' He gently pushed back a strand of damp hair from her brow and stared down at her, the banked-down passion in his silver eyes firmly controlled. 'You could catch cold, pneumonia, and now I have you I am taking no chances on losing you again.'
She wanted to believe him, but still a nagging doubt haunted her. 'You're not just saying that because you feel guilty about. . .about everything?' she asked, stammering over the words.
'Making love to you so desperately you mean?' He favoured her with an ironic look.
'I. . .' She blushed. 'I didn't know you could make love like that. Standing, I mean, and so hot and fast. . .'
'There is a lot you don't know about love, and I am going to spend my life teaching you,' he said, gently outlining her lips with his finger. 'Before, in the bathroom, I could not have stopped myself, and neither could you. No matter what the differences between us, there was never any doubt from the first time I kissed you that the chemistry between us was electric.'
'In the casino,' Beth said softly, remembering. 'You were angry because Paul was there and I spoke to him.'
Dex sighed. 'For that I do feel guilty.'
'You only took me out because of Paul and Anna,' Beth said reflectively. 'So when. . .?' She hesitated. 'When did you fall in love with me?' It was the one question she desperately wanted the answer to.
'With hindsight, probably from that night. I kissed you and went up in flames.'
'Don't lie to me, Dex,' Beth said quietly. 'We both know that isn't true.'
'True? What is truth?' Dex demanded, looking into her worried eyes. 'You want the truth—I will give it to you. You know I have been married before, that my wife left me for an older, richer man?'
'That must have been hard.'
'Not really. I had long since stopped loving her—if I ever did. She was the first woman I had sex with, so I married her. She then proceeded to dole out her favours—very occasionally, and only after I had presented her with a suitably expensive piece of jewellery. She was a mercenary, frigid bitch, but it took me five years to realise it.'
Beth could her the anger in his voice. 'I'm sorry. You don't have to talk about it. . .'
'Yes, I do, Beth, because she coloured my view of women for years. Until I met you I had never been out with the same woman more than a couple of times. I am not proud of how I have lived my life, I admit, but when I met you I had no intention of changing.' He tenderly smoothed her hair down the side of her head, and dropped a soft kiss on her brow.