‘Put me down,’ she commanded breathlessly, but he refused to listen to her, carrying her through the suite and into her bedroom. She had left one of the lamps on when she got changed for dinner. Her suitcases were still open and unpacked because James had told her to leave them. The maid would attend to them in the morning, he had said.
The dress she was wearing was a soft, fragile confection in silk; a swirling skirt comprising several layers of differing shades of pink silk with a ‘twenties-style top in slanting stripes of pink and grey on a white background, with tiny mother-of-pearl buttons all the way up the back and a sash that tied in a bow on one hip. She had fallen in love with it the minute she saw it, even though she had resented the fact that James had bought it for her. As he dumped her on the bed, one of her high-heeled, pink satin evening slippers fell off. She made a faint protest in the back of her throat, but it went unheeded, as James merely glanced down at her bare foot, and then deliberately tugged off the other shoe letting it fall on to the floor to join its mate.
Underneath the evening two-piece, she was wearing a matching bra and panty set in palest grey silk satin, sheer hold-up stockings in cobwebby grey adorning her legs.
‘How do you get out of this thing? Ah yes, I see.’ James’s fingers were investigating the buttons on her top as he pushed her over on to her front slightly.
Jenna let out a yelp of protest as she felt him undoing the top button. ‘I can manage by myself…’ she exclaimed icily, spoiling the effect of her cool rejection of his assistance by trying to glare over her shoulder at him and immediately losing her balance.
By the time James reached the final button she was becoming seriously afraid. She was still under the effect of the alcohol she had consumed, still unable to co-ordinate her body properly, but mentally she was completely aware of what was happening.
‘James…’ Her voice sounded only a degree steadier than it had done before, but at least now he was stopping what he was doing and standing back so that she could pull herself up into a sitting position and look at him.
‘I can manage by myself now,’ she told him bravely. ‘Please go…’ The fine silk slithered off her shoulder and she made a desperate attempt to catch it and cover herself up.
‘There is such a thing as taking modesty to a ridiculous length,’ James told her in a light drawl. ‘I’m hardly likely to start foaming at the mouth with passion just because I’ve caught a glimpse of your naked shoulder.’
The mockery in his voice made her colour up. ‘It isn’t that…’
‘Then what is it?’ He reached out easily and tugged the neckline of her top up to cover her bare skin. His fingers just brushed the bones in her shoulder barely touching them, but Jenna quivered uncontrollably.
He sat down on the bed, and took both her hands in his. ‘What is it you’re so afraid of, Jenna?’ he asked quietly. ‘Surely not me?’
‘No…but…’
‘No buts,’ he told her softly. ‘I don’t know what it is about the sexual act that makes you so full of fear, but I do know that it’s time you let those fears go. What sort of example are you going to set Lucy and Sarah if you cringe away like a whipped puppy every time I come within a yard of you? Surely you want them both to grow up into normal healthy young women fully able to appreciate and enjoy their very natural sexuality?’
‘Yes…’ Of course she did. ‘But…’ How could she explain to James that it wasn’t as simple as that? That she seemed unable to let the past and her fears go. She couldn’t tell him the truth and even if she could she didn’t really believe that telling him, or anyone else, would free her from her own fear.
‘I don’t think talking about it will achieve anything, James,’ she said tiredly at length.
To her astonishment he agreed with her. ‘Neither do I…at least not at this stage.’
She was genuinely puzzled. ‘Then what are you suggesting?’ she asked him.
‘This.’ His mouth touched hers, lightly but so deliberately caressing that Jenna knew instantly what he meant. She drew away, her eyes darkened by fear and anger.
‘But you promised me! You gave me your word that——’
‘That I would not force anything sexual on you that you did not want…and I mean to keep that promise. But Jenna,’ he told her softly, ‘I’m not convinced yet that you do not want my love-making…’
Jenna was astounded. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He had trapped her, cheated her…‘If you do this to me now, it will be rape,’ she told him fiercely.
‘Rape is an act of aggression and violence. I promise there will be nothing of either of those emotions in my love-making.’
‘But why? Why? You don’t want me…You…’
He bent towards her, curving his palm round her throat, his thumb stroking the smooth firmness of her chin as he tilted her face upwards.
‘Of course I do,’ he told her softly. ‘I wanted you the moment I set eyes on you…’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
JENNA knew that she cried out, she could hear the echo of that tormented sound dying away in the close confines of the bedroom as she struggled desperately away from James. He let her get as far as the edge of the bed, before hauling her back with humiliating ease.
Furious with him, too angry to be frightened, Jenna pounded his chest with her fists. Unbelievably she could feel the vibrations of his silent laughter shaking his chest. He grasped her wrists in one hand, holding her slightly away from him, his other hand tangling in her hair, forcing her back so that he could look into her eyes.
‘When you’re angry they burn like green fire,’ he murmured softly. ‘I wonder what it will take to make them glow with the heat of desire.’