Mistress of Deception

When he broke from her mouth he was literally shaking. 'No,' he astonished her by saying. 'No...'

'But why not?' she protested, half in shock, half in frustration. Dear lord, but she wanted him, and he wanted her. Why should they keep on torturing themselves like this? 'This is crazy, Alan,' she muttered.

His sigh was ragged. 'It's something I have to do.'

'But why? We're just not cut out for this kind of relationship, Alan. It's unnatural.'

'There has to be more to a marriage than just sex,' he said firmly. 'If we can't go one single week without it, then what kind of people are we?'

Such thinking fired her very Gallic temper. 'I'll tell you what kind of people we are. We're a man and woman very much in love with each other. And we're not married yet, might I remind you! What further tests will you come up with before we are, I wonder? Oh, go home to bed, Alan,' she threw at him. 'As for myself, I think I'll go inside and drink a whole bottle of wine all by myself. Maybe then I'll be able to forget that the man I love doesn't want to make love to me any more!' And with that, she slammed the door in his face and locked it.

Shock galvanised Alan to the spot for a couple of seconds. Then an answering anger took over. His closed fists lifted to bang on her door, but he stopped himself just in time. Damn it, but she was right, wasn't she? He knew she was right. What had seemed like a good idea at the time had just not worked out. So their love was mainly physical at this point in time. So what? Ebony's intense sexuality was one of the things he loved about her. It fired a passion in him he'd never thought he possessed, made him feel like a man in the most basic and satisfying way.

It was one thing to know how to make love to a woman—something he prided himself on being able to do well—but there was nothing to compare with the woman you loved showing an overwhelming amount of pleasure in your arms, in listening to her unrestrained sounds of satisfaction, in being on the receiving end of such uninhibited and passionate loving.

He ached at this very moment to have those sensuous lips of hers rove all over him. God, the thought of the sensations she could evoke was sending the blood surging along his veins, making his flesh swell even further than it already had.

The temptation to thump on that door was powerful. But there was a stronger force. Pride, probably. Certainly not any notion of testing. He could no longer cling to the hope that this last week of denial had proved a thing. It

had, as Ebony had pointed out, been a disaster, not one moment going by when he hadn't wanted to pick her up and take her off somewhere private where he could make mad passionate love to her. To be honest, it had seemed to focus their relationship more on sex than ever before.

The human being was a contrary animal, he realised testily. Forbid it something, and suddenly that thing became even more attractive and im- perative than before.

Alan shook his head, turned and walked slowly down the stairs, each step an agony. He would call her in the morning, apologise, then ask her to spend the weekend with him. Maybe he would take her out on his boat; she'd always liked that as a young girl. And being on the water was both private and relaxing. He would cruise up to Broken Bay, and find a secluded cove to drop anchor in. He'd ask her to bring that black costume she'd modelled the other day. Not that he planned on having her swim in it. He didn't plan on her having it on for long at all...

Alan's smile was sardonic as he let himself into his car. This was familiar territory, he realised, though he found a certain irritation in his letting her slip back into the role of mistress in his mind. But damn it all, he just couldn't wait!

It was seven forty-five on the Friday evening, and Alan had been sitting at the cocktail bar in the dimly lit restaurant for several minutes, his dry Martini down to the olive.

Adrianna was late. When she'd contacted him earlier in the week, saying she was coming to Sydney for business and a pre-natal check-up, and expressing a wish to see him while she was in town, he hadn't been able to turn her down. Yet he'd felt vaguely guilty about it, especially when he'd lied to Ebony. He'd felt even guiltier when Ebony had been so trusting, accepting what he told her without even asking a single question. If she'd begged off a date with him, saying she had a business dinner, he'd probably have given her the third degree.