The Heat Of Passion

'I thought you'd laugh about Simon.'

'Why? It wasn't funny. He put you through a lot of pain and you didn't deserve that. I'm not a sadist. Although two weeks ago I was outraged by the idea that

you had been blissfuily happy with him. A lot can change in two weeks...'

'Yes,' she conceded, her voice a whisper of sound.

'Although I'm still desperate to know how you define a "travelling tart"!' he confided.

'You offered me a life of luxury on the move in return for sex!' she snapped.

'I couldn't stay

in England forever. I wanted you to

myself. What was wrong with that? We hardly knew each

other. I didn't know whether or not the attraction be

tween us would last. I was honest with you '

'You were an ignorant, egocentric swine!' Jessica returned with spirit.

Carlo shifted a broad shoulder. 'Possibly I could have wrapped it up a little more tactfully but I was angry with you and uncertain of my own feelings. Once bitten, twice shy... after Bella,' he admitted drily. 'I didn't want to make another mistake. I wasn't going to make promises I might not keep. It never at any stage crossed my mind that you might still marry Simon. I thought that was over from the moment you melted in my arms... and if he had been any other man it would have been.'

'Did you love her very much?' she couldn't prevent herself from asking.

'Who?'

'Bella!'

'At the time, I believed I did. Now I think she might just have been a trophy on my arm. Like Sunny, she was stunningly eye-catching,' Carlo mused softly. ‘Lukas always went for women like that, the kind of women other men would kill to have. What was underneath didn't count. Maybe that's why I chose Bella... maybe in my own way I was competing too. I was a lot more like Lukas then than I like to admit.'

'Like Sunny, she was stunningly eye-catching...' He said it so carelessly. He did not deny the strength of

Sunny's physical appeal. Jessica endured a fresh stab of insecurity. She recalled Carlo's blazing fury when he found the redhead with that young man... and Sunny's almost taunting amusement. Then she told herself off. Carlo had given her no cause to distrust him and she was being foolish.

'Were you shocked by what ?' she began.

Carlo stilled and pulled her close. 'Shut up,’ he said softly. 'I want to kiss you.'

Helplessly, she smiled. 'You don't usually ask in advance.'

He splayed a masterful hand over the rounded swell of her hips and pressed her into the hard heat of his lean thighs. 'Fate had it in for me when it served you up six years ago.'

The scent and the feel of him made her tremble. And when it came, it was the most devastating kiss. It stole the soul from her body and rocked her from her head to her toes. He released her reddened lips slowly and stared down at her, glittering dark eyes sweeping her rapt face with satisfaction.

They walked along the beach in a curiously peaceful silence. It was a gorgeous night. She kicked off her shoes and walked into the surf whispering on to the shore. The water was warm but cool on her hot feet, gloriously soothing to toes cooped up in stilettos all day.

'Come here,' Carlo said thickly.

She turned with quicksilver grace and looked across at him and the simple pleasure of the water was forgotten. She looked... and she ached with a need that ran far deeper than desire. Her feet carried her back as though he had yanked a string. It was an irresistible pull. He reached for her and she was boneless with anticipation, adrenalin racing through her veins, heat surging between her thighs. For the very first time, she rejoiced

in her own response, neither unnerved by nor ashamed of it.

In fact, she drowned in the meeting of their mouths as desperate as he was for that fierce contact. In the midst of it he shed his shirt; she wriggled feverishly out of her dress. Her breasts felt heavy, swollen, and a soft gasp was torn from her throat as he discovered for himself that she had not bothered to wear a bra. He groaned his approval, shaping her aching flesh with hungry hands, his thumbs glancing over her painfully aroused nipples before he crushed her against his hair-roughened chest.

He shuddered and lifted his head. 'Every time I touch