‘Ah, so you would like to make changes,’ he said. ‘Are you ready for champagne while you think about them? I’m serious about hearing your suggestions, Mia—I’m thinking of doing a refit.’
Of course you are—the furnishings can’t be more than a couple of years old—
But Ram was smiling as if he knew he’d sparked something inside her. ‘When you’re ready to give me your honest opinion,’ he said, confirming this, ‘just let me know.’
And so she came up with quite a few more ideas that seemed to please him. ‘Don’t fill the glass,’ she said quickly, seeing something in Ram’s eyes that made her wonder if she was quite ready for a Ram-sized challenge—there was an awful lot more yacht to see.
‘You’re surely not going to risk a bottle of my best going flat. You don’t have to drink it,’ he added, pressing the crystal flute into her hands. ‘All I ask is that you taste it.’
‘Just one glass, then.’ She wanted this time with Ram. She wanted to see how he had changed. She wanted an insight into his life, however small. And after that tango she needed a chance to unwind and cool down. While Ram poured the drinks she gazed around. ‘You know this is pretty much perfect, but if you’re serious about letting me loose with my ideas I could make a few more suggestions…’
‘I want them all.’ His gaze was direct as they chinked glasses.
There was more to that request, Mia sensed. People were trying to force Ram into a box that could never hold him. He was too forward thinking—too energetic in every way to be confined by the traditions of the past. ‘Then, for what it’s worth, you shall have them.’
‘That’s all I ask…’
Pity. Now she could only remember how it had felt when he held her in his arms when they danced. Dark and dangerous, and utterly irresistible, Ram was a force of nature—
A force to beware of, Mia warned herself. Pulling away, she put some space between them. Walking a little distance away, she stared out of one of the picture windows from where she had a grandstand view of the small, but perfectly formed, diamond-lit wedding-cake-shaped town that was night-time Monte Carlo. Ram followed and stood close to her, but not touching, so that every part of her tingled with anticipation of his touch.
‘What’s wrong, Mia? You never used to be so—’
‘Boring?’ she suggested.
‘Touchy. I was thinking more…contained? I thought you had started to relax when we were dancing in the club?’
The tug of Ram’s lips only made his dark face more attractive. And he was right—she had relaxed at the club. She had been far too relaxed. It was time to get things back on an even keel. ‘What would you think of me if I hadn’t changed, Ram? It’s been a few years since we last saw each other. What would you think if I were still the same wild child you remember?’ Mia’s mouth slammed shut. Why ask Ram the one question she didn’t want him to answer? Whatever she’d done as a child paled in comparison with what she’d done later when she’d been yearning for him. And even now she didn’t want to relax and be his friend; she wanted so much more than that—so much that wasn’t good for her.
She walked outside onto the deck, hoping the rapidly cooling air would blast some sense into her. The velvet sky was illuminated by a luminous, waxy moon, while in front of her the inky-black ocean rested silent and mysterious beneath its canopy of diamond stars. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. The inky-blue was as clear as a blank sheet of paper, making it impossible to imagine a storm had ever threatened earlier. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply as she lifted her face to the sky. The air smelled fresh and clean, the tang of the ocean salty and alive with life, mixing with—
The spices of the East. Which could only mean Ram was standing directly behind her.
‘Shall we lose the champagne?’ he suggested, taking the glass from her hand.
Before she could answer she was in his arms and Ram was kissing her.
She’d thought she had been kissed before. She’d thought wrong. Ram’s lips were warm and clever, and he was…extremely good at this, Mia registered as her body melted around him like molten honey.
But wasn’t it Ram who had told her that no one could play with fire and expect not to get burned? And shouldn’t he know when no fire blazed brighter than his?
She made some feeble attempt to push him away and was thankful Ram refused to budge. And so he teased and stroked and kissed until he was right about them not needing any more champagne, because she was drunk on him. He smiled against her mouth when she whimpered with desire. He knew she was on fire for him, but it was Ram who pulled away first. ‘You wanted to see round the rest of the ship, didn’t you?’ he reminded her.
‘Did I?’
Of course she did. ‘Lead the way.’ She had to gather up her senses from the untidy heap of broken resolutions she’d dropped on the floor.
‘Where would you like to start?’ Ram prompted.
‘The bridge?’ It wasn’t the first destination that popped into her mind, but it did seem to be by far the safest bet.
‘Then we’ll start on the bridge,’ Ram agreed.
What she really wanted was for Ram to kiss her again—just so she could convince herself she hadn’t imagined the whole thing. This was frustration squared—something she was sure Ram was more than aware of. She even found herself wondering the unthinkable—if she had sex with Ram would she really regret it so much?
‘I should go home.’
‘Should you?’ Ram demanded softly. ‘So, go,’ he said, standing back to allow her free passage to the gangplank.
So much for that particular little fantasy. She glanced at the shore just a few tantalising feet away, and then back again at Ram. ‘If that’s what you want…?’
‘This is what I want.’ He yanked her back into his arms. His hold was firm, and his kiss…his kiss was punishing, passionate and bone-melting.
Who would stand a chance against this type of advanced kissing technique? She would just have to postpone disembarkation for now. And as Ram teased her lips apart, leaving her in no doubt as to what he would like to do next, or how very good he’d be at doing it, she realised that postponement might have to suffer a further considerable delay.
‘You don’t have to see me back to shore,’ she managed to gasp when he finally released her. ‘I can easily—’
‘What?’ Ram demanded. ‘Call a cab? Ride a bike? Walk home in the dark?’ He shook his head.
‘I did bring my cab fare.’
Did he have to smile like that?
‘You don’t play fair,’ she complained as he dragged her back into his arms.
‘Who said anything about playing fair?’ Ram demanded, nuzzling her neck to prove that his sharp black stubble had some invisible link to some very sensitive parts of her.
‘You don’t have to do this,’ she insisted in a gasp through well-kissed lips. ‘You’ve done your duty—’
‘My duty?’ Ram laughed as she struggled desperately for self-control. ‘There’s no duty involved, Mia, this is sheer
unadulterated lust.’ And then he pressed her back against the ship’s rail to prove it with the heat and power of his erection.
‘Oh…’
‘Exactly,’ he said.
‘In that case…’
‘You’re not in such a hurry to leave?’ Ram guessed, his lips curving with amusement as he met Mia’s startled gaze.
‘The urge isn’t as bad as it was.’ And she was definitely hungry for more. ‘I realise I’ve still got so much to learn—about what you want me to do—with your interior design, I mean…’
She was rambling now and they both knew it. Also, they were both adults—they both wanted this, and she couldn’t see why the next few hours shouldn’t be very educational indeed. And so she gorged herself on the taste of Ram—fresh, clean and totally irresistible. She even tried to pretend she was in control when his hands moved down her back, but she definitely wasn’t herself by the time he cupped her buttocks and rubbed against her. In fact, she was a brazen hussy by then, and as a riot of sensation invaded her body a rush of dreams filled her mind suggesting anything was possible—
And then she staggered against him. ‘What’s happening?’ she demanded, clinging onto Ram for dear life.
‘Nothing for you to worry about,’ he said as he steadied her. ‘I think we just picked up speed—’
‘What?’ Mia threw a panicky glance over her shoulder. ‘What do you mean we’ve picked up speed?’
‘We’ve cleared the harbour and so we’re allowed to go faster.’
‘You mean we’re going out to sea?’ She gazed round wildly, trying to clear the haze in her mind, she’d never even noticed the engines starting up.
‘It’s quite usual when we leave the harbour.’
‘So it’s just a short trip—like testing the engines, or something?’
‘I think it might be a bit more than that.’
‘What do you mean, a bit more?’ Her voice was rising to the point where she sounded on the verge of hysteria. But this wasn’t a joke. She wasn’t a child, and this wasn’t one of her childhood fantasies. ‘You’d better tell me where we’re going,’ she said, gathering her wits about her. Shooting an anxious glance at the fast-receding shoreline, she was already calculating how long it would take them to turn around.