Fire in the Blood

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 success, couldn't come between them, and neither could hers. They were just a man and a woman on the beach making love; the moon slid sensuously over his tanned flesh, the muscled power of his bare back, and over her white breasts with their darker aureoles around the nipples, her golden-skinned arms clasping the man to her, her loose hair.

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.

CHAPTER SEVEN

SOMETHING whispered softly behind Nadine's head; she felt her long hair drifting away, felt something splash on her foot, and suddenly realised that the tide was coming in around them, the water cool on their overheated bodies.

A smile curved her hps. How romantic, she thought. They could lie there in the rising tide, at total peace, while the waves gently lapped over their naked bodies. How high would the tide come? She slid a look down sideways to check on the height it had reached, and saw something out of the corner of her eye. For a second she didn't realise what it was. Then, 'Oh, no!' she gasped, shocked out of her romantic haze by more down-to-earth considerations. 'My dress!'

She turned her head hurriedly, grimacing as her wet hair came up out of the water and dripped down her back. A second look told her she hadn't imagined it. She was just in time to see her chiffon dress floating away.

'Oh, no, it is...' she moaned.

'What's the matter?' Sean lazily asked, reluctant to move.

'Oh, get up,' she said, giving an angry push to the bare, broad shoulders above her.

Sean fell off with a splash. 'What did you do that for?' he asked, aggrieved.

Nadine had already scrambled to her feet and didn't bother to answer. She had more important things on her mind.

The pale chiffon dress was already bobbing over the waves some feet away from shore. Nadine waded out to get it and was soon breast-high in the water, but just as she reached for the dress a big wave came along and lifted it up, took it further away.

'Hell's bells!' she wailed, and heard Sean start to laugh behind her. He was standing on the beach, watching. Crossly Nadine looked round at him. 'Why don't you... ?' she began, then had to shut her mouth as the water lapped at her chin. Gurgling, she realised that she was almost out of her depth. To get her dress now she would have to swim.

She launched herself forward and swam a few ungainly strokes and at last managed to catch the trailing skirt and pull it in tow after her as she swam back to shore.

She waded out, holding the dress at arm's length. It was saturated; she looked at it and could have wept.

'I can't put this back on! How on earth am I going to get back to my room now?' She heard a smothered sound and glared at Sean. 'Oh, you think it's funny, do you?'

He grinned at her. 'If it had happened to someone else you'd laugh, wouldn't you?'

'No!' she lied. 'And, anyway, it hasn't happened to someone else, it has happened to me, and all because of you! Well, you got me into this—you can get me out! You can give me your clothes!'