Fire in the Blood

'Vixen!' he said, but began to slide off her. He didn't exactly hurry, though; his naked body slowly rippled sideways. Like a snake, she thought bitterly. A long, silkily rippling snake uncoiling against her. He was prolonging the contact deliberately, tormenting her, and Nadine wanted to hit him because he knew what he was doing to her, just as she knew only too well that he was sexually aroused.

As soon as she was free to move she did, practically falling off the bed and grabbing up her silk robe from a chair beside the bed, hurriedly sliding her arms into it, aware all the time of Sean watching her from the bed although she had her back to him. Her hands trembled as she pulled the silk belt tight around her waist then she swung round to face him.

'Now, what the hell are you doing in my hotel room?'

'The hotel didn't have another room free,' Sean drawled, stretching lazily under the crumpled sheet. Nadine tried not to look but even half-covered his body was like a magnet to her eyes.

'Then go to another hotel!'

'There isn't one, apparently.' He gave her a bland smile. 'This is a very small island. So, as I was your husband, they gave me a key to your suite.'

'They had no right to do that!' she burst out, quivering with temper. 'Not without checking with me first!'

'It was after midnight, your room was dark, and we thought you might have jet-lag so we didn't want to wake you up,' he said smoothly.

Her hazel eyes glittered furiously. 'You mean you didn't! If they had woken me up I would have told them you aren't my husband any more!'

He ignored the interruption. 'I was able to show them my passport, to prove my identity, of course; but the clincher was when I showed them a snapshot of us on our wedding day, which I happened to have in my wallet.'

'Well, what a coincidence that you happened to have that with you!' Nadine snarled, and he gave her a reproving look.

'You're being very nasty. It must be because you were woken up so early. You see why I didn't want to wake you up last night when I arrived. You would probably have been even nastier. As I said to the reception clerk, I know what you're like if you're woken up when you need a good sleep.'

Nadine seethed. 'Oh, very clever! Well, it won't do you any good. I am not...repeat not...sharing a room with you!'

Sean yawned, deliberately, widely, and stretched again, his arms over his head and his powerful body outlined under the sheet in a way that made Nadine look away, swallowing convulsively.

She babbled to disguise her reaction. 'How you have the nerve to think I would baffles me! You can just get out of here now, and I don't care if there's no other room available. You can sleep on the beach or under a palm tree, or take the next plane back to London! One thing is certain: you are not sharing my room!'

Sean sat up and Nadine's eyes flickered, her face burning with colour as she looked at his broad, gleaming brown shoulders and the dark curling hair growing down to that taut, muscled midriff.

'And get your clothes on!' she muttered.

'OK,' he meekly agreed, and threw back the sheet. Nadine's mouth went dry as her senses registered the full impact of that lithe naked body. It was the first time she had seen him nude for years, and she was horrified to realise that the passage of time had done nothing to diminish his effect on her.

She turned her back again in a hurry and heard him laugh softly. That made her even more furious, then her nerves jumped as he came round the bed towards her.

'What are you doing?' She flung round again to confront him, her eyes wide and dilated as she saw him right next to her.

'Getting dressed,' he said, face innocent. 'I thought that was what you wanted me to do!' He gestured and Nadine looked round in confusion, and saw a pile of clothes on a chair, beside which stood a large suitcase.

'Oh.' Her flush deepened as she felt him silently laughing at her. 'Yes, well, get dressed, then,' she crossly muttered, and walked away, over to the window to open the shutters. Light streamed into the room, the sun was up and the sky already bright blue. Behind her she heard a click. Sean had opened his case. There was the sound of rummaging fingers, telling her he was looking for clean clothes to wear; then the rustle of material as he put something on.

'Can I take a shower?' he asked, and Nadine swung round to glare at him.

'No, you can't!' He hadn't put on clothes at all, she saw, infuriated. 'I haven't had my shower yet,' she told him, 'and anyway, I want you out of here now.'

'Don't be so selfish. I'll only be here one day— I'll be leaving tomorrow.'

'You can leave today.'

'No, I can't,' he said triumphantly. 'There's no boat on a Sunday; the next boat is tomorrow. That's why I arrived so late last night. I flew in on the only plane yesterday and had to spend ages haggling over the hire of a boat because I'd missed the daily run, and there wasn't one coming over here until Monday.'

'Well, the hotel will have to find you a bed somewhere else until then. When I've had my shower and dressed I'll explain to them that you are no longer my husband and you cannot share my room!'

'I did,' he said in those maddeningly reasonable tones. 'Last night.'

Nadine's heart skipped a beat. She suddenly remembered waking up from that dream of Sean making love to her. She stared at him fixedly, her face very hot, her eyes searching his face for clue