He smiled at that but it was a smile singularly lacking in humour. ‘Actually, Catherine McKenzie, right at this moment you are my woman.’
She shook her head but her heart leapt as he took a step forward, his gaze hard and determined. ‘And I can assure you I don’t want to buy you.’ She felt breathless as he reached out and touched her face, tipping it upwards so that his eyes could run over her with fierce intensity. ‘I just want to possess you.’
The words sizzled through her consciousness with searing force. But before she could even formulate some kind of a reply he lowered his head and kissed her.
It was a hard, punishing kiss, yet it was so provocative and intense that she found herself melting and responding, returning it with a fierce need that tore through her very soul.
‘I’m glad you didn’t accept the underwear.’ He growled the words against her ear as he pulled her skirt upwards, his hands possessively caressing her naked curves. ‘I much prefer you without.’
Why did she let him do this to her? she wondered as she closed her eyes in sweet blissful submission. Why did she want him so much that nothing else mattered?
It was later in the afternoon before they finally ventured out of the hotel to go and have some lunch. The sun was sizzling down out of a clear blue sky and the waters of the canal looked an almost surreal turquoise against the backdrop of beautiful buildings.
Nicholas insisted that instead of waiting for a water taxi they took a ride in a gondola. ‘You can’t come to Venice and not take a trip in a gondola,’ he said firmly.
‘You are not going to turn all romantic on me, are you, Nicholas?’ she quipped lightly.
He laughed and made no reply to that and immediately she wished she hadn’t made the joke. What on earth had possessed her? Probably the same kind of madness that made her surrender to him every time he so much as brushed his fingers against her skin. Nicholas didn’t want to have a romance with her—just sex.
She glanced away from him, stunned by how much it hurt when she reminded herself of these things. A gondola pulled alongside the jetty for the hotel and the gondolier held the boat steady, while Nicholas stepped down and reached to help her in. The boat rocked alarmingly until they sat down in the red velvet cushioned seat. Then the gondolier pushed them away from the platform and they glided smoothly out.
There was a good view of the hotel as they pulled back from it and Cat tried to concentrate on that rather than on the fact that, due to the close confines of the boat, she was pressed against Nicholas and his arm was draped across her shoulder, his fingers stroking absently along the bare skin at the top of her arm.
‘The hotel looks fabulous from here,’ she murmured. ‘Maybe the outside shots for the advert should be taken from this angle.’
‘Maybe.’ Nicholas frowned and listened as she launched into a discussion on the merits of shooting the whole commercial with a soft focus lens. Cat was still an enigma to him. Sexually he had total control of her now; she was his for the taking and the passion between them was incredible. Yet as soon as he broke her barriers down, she deliberately started to rebuild them again. Why was that?
She should be ripe for reeling in now and yet she was still trying to twist away from him. He really hadn’t foreseen this kind of problem. Usually when he took a woman to bed she wanted to curl up against him and turn the relationship into something deeper. Yet Cat seemed to deliberately seek a businesslike retreat.
It was a bit of a role reversal and it was very irritating. He was going to have to pull the strings a little harder, he thought decisively. He would get Catherine, hook, line and sinker, body and soul, if it was the last thing he ever did!
‘Do you know what, Catherine? I really couldn’t care less how we shoot the advert right now,’ he cut across her firmly as she paused to draw breath, and his fingers ran upwards to stroke through her hair. ‘All I can think about at the moment is how much I’ve enjoyed our time together here. In fact, you are having a very unusual effect on me.’
‘Am I?’ She slanted a curious look at him.
‘Yes …’ His eyes moved to her lips. ‘The thing is, I can’t seem to get enough of you.’
As he said the words Nicholas realized that they were true. Sexually speaking, she was driving him out of his mind.
‘Don’t say things like that to me, Nicholas,’ she murmured huskily.
‘Why not, when it’s true?’
‘I just … I don’t want you to say things like that to me.’ Her heart was thudding erratically against her chest as she met his eyes.
‘What are you so frightened of?’ He asked the question almost to himself.
She made no reply, but he could see the shadows of consternation in the beauty of her eyes. He frowned and ran a hand gently along her jaw, tipping her face upwards so that he could kiss her.
It was a tender kiss, unlike anything that had gone before, and it seemed to melt Cat’s senses until she felt dizzy with need for him.
The gondola smoothly swished along the narrow maze of canals, under bridges, past houses and hotels. But for a while Cat was oblivious to everything except the pleasure of just being held and kissed. As the boat turned a corner out into the Grand Canal a breeze swept up and the waves were choppy. Some spray swished over the boat and they laughingly pulled apart. Then, without saying a word, she curled in against him again.
It was probably crazy but she couldn’t remember ever being this happy before.
‘You can see the Bridge of Sighs from here.’ Nicholas pointed down one of the waterways. ‘There it is.’
‘It’s beautiful, isn’t it?’ she said dreamily. ‘Everything about this city is so perfect—it’s like a romantic film set.’