‘He was a friend, I was crying on his shoulder when you turned up. He was in the right place at the right time,’ Penny explained.
Solo smiled tightly. ‘For whom, I wonder?’ he drawled mockingly, quoting Penny’s earlier comment about Lisa, and, tilting her chin with one elegant finger, he said softly, ‘Not to worry, Penny, darling, we have each other—for a while.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
SINCE Solo had walked back into this house five weeks earlier, her life had changed dramatically. Penny stared sightlessly at the computer screen. James was fast asleep and she was in her old room trying to work, but her troubled mind would not let her. Solo was in New York and she missed him dreadfully. A sad smile twisted her lips, she loved him with every fibre of her being, but she could never tell him.
Solo had been great with James, and had managed to charm every one of her friends and acquaintances at the party they had held the weekend after they’d returned to England.
Luckily Patricia had returned to her husband in America before the party, but not before she had subjected Penny to a long and detailed questioning over the telephone, ending with the words, ‘I hope you know what you are doing, Penny. It is bound to end in disaster.’
Well, her relationship with Solo hadn’t. Yet! He was the perfect husband, to the rest of the household, and courtesy itself to Penny. It was only in the privacy of their bed at night he changed into a demon lover. A lover she could not resist. She was like a drug addict hungering for the taste of him, and the more she had, the more she wanted. Sometimes, lost in the wonder of his love-making, she could almost believe he cared, and other times she was filled with shame at her helpless response, her almost blind obedience to his mighty will.
After today it had to stop, she told herself adamantly; she had more to consider than herself now. Determinedly she focused on the screen; she was going to need her work and the money she could earn more than ever.
‘So this is where you hide.’ A deep, dark voice vibrated though the silence of the room.
Penny swung around in her chair, her startled gaze flashing to the tall, dark figure of Solo standing in the open door, and her heart lurched. ‘You’re back!’ Simply the sight of him turned her on. He had shed his jacket and tie somewhere, his white shirt was open at the neck and his pleated trousers hung low on his lean hips. His black hair had escaped its usual sleek style to fall in wayward curls over his broad brow, and he looked dishevelled and less arrogantly assured than when she had last seen him. They had been married over a month and he had been away for the past four days.
‘Miss me, did you?’
Yes—yes—yes! her heart cried. His face was taut, his silver eyes darkly shadowed as they captured hers. For the first time she noticed that his stunning features were tightly drawn and he actually looked tired. She had an incredible urge to simply throw herself into his arms, but instead, with her gaze remarkably level, she said, ‘I thought you were away for a week.’
He gave an indolent shrug. ‘I managed to finish my business quicker than expected.’ He walked across to where she sat at her computer and slanted her a wickedly seductive smile. ‘And decided to spend the night with my wife, so you can stop fooling around with the computer, and fool around with me.’
She clocked the time on her computer—it was almost midnight. Briefly she closed her eyes; she was tempted, very tempted. Involuntarily her tongue slipped out and ran over the fullness of her lower lip, but his arrogant assumption she should drop everything for him riled her no end. The past four days apart had made Penny take a long, hard look at herself and she did not like what she had become: a slave to her senses. ‘How was your trip?’ she asked stiffly.
His dark eyes gleamed with mocking cynicism. ‘Polite convention at all cost.’ His lips twisted sardonically and he let his gaze wander over her slender body. ‘A little more wifely enthusiasm would not go amiss.’
His eyes narrowed fractionally on the computer screen. ‘What is that?’
Wifely enthusiasm! He made her sound like the little woman sitting at home, and it annoyed her. ‘It is the draft of my latest children’s book, the second of five I am contracted for,’ she told him proudly. ‘Contrary to what you think, I do not sit around waiting for some man to provide for me. I do work; I do have a career.’
‘I know.’ Hard hands caught hold of her arms and she gasped as he lifted her to her feet, and he chuckled. ‘Poor Penny. James showed me weeks ago the book you had written. I was wondering how long it would take you to tell me yourself,’ he admitted dryly.
Penny winced. ‘Am I that transparent?’
‘No, not at all,’ he murmured wryly. ‘You are like me in that respect, very good at hiding things. For instance, I came back tonight because I couldn’t keep away from you a moment longer.’
Her green eyes widened in surprise on smouldering grey. It was not a declaration of love, but it was more than he had ever offered before, Penny thought wonderingly. Then his mouth closed over hers in a kiss of breathtaking hunger, his arms enfolding her, and she was left in no doubt he had missed her by the hard strength of him against her thighs.
‘Hmm,’ he drawled a long time later, giving her a scorching look. ‘The master suite—or your childhood bed looks very tempting, and much nearer,’ he opined with a husky groan.
Winding her arms around his neck, her whole body alive with excitement, she glanced teasingly up at him. ‘The master suite,’ she declared adamantly. ‘You’re a tough guy. I’m sure you can manage.’
‘Remind me to exact due punishment later,’ he threatened, swinging her up in his arms and carrying her from the room.
He did not need reminding—with deft hands he stripped her naked and laid her in the centre of the wide bed. ‘Don’t move,’ he said in a deep, firm voice, and, standing up, he yanked off his shirt. ‘I want to look at you.’ He quickly stripped off the rest of his clothes, his heated gaze raking over her body the whole time.
Penny was transfixed; he was more beautiful, more magnificently male every time she saw him. Restlessly she moved her legs, her senses dizzy with desire.
‘No.’ He grasped her ankles and sat down on the side of the bed, his body angled towards her, and with tantalising slowness he pulled her closer. His silver eyes lingered over every inch of her, the lush, firm breasts, and flat stomach, until his strong hands curved the back of her thighs.
She sucked in a breath, her stomach clenching as he eased her leg over his lap and moved the other around his back, exposing her in every way. His heated gaze devoured her as his thumbs tracked her inner thigh and opened the velvet-soft flesh, brushing the throbbing centre of femininity. She groaned and his dark head swooped to lick and nip across the taut peaks of her breasts.
One hand reached for his shoulder and the other the tempting length of him against her thigh. ‘No, not yet.’ He slurred the words against her skin as he lavished kisses down over her stomach.
She was on fire, wild with excitement and yet shocked by the blatant eroticism of her position. She wanted to scream and beg him to stop, but her molten, shuddering body made a liar of her. Her back arched violently from the bed. Solo twisted and, grasping her ankles, placed them on his shoulders as he surged inside her already climaxing body. Grabbing her hips, he thrust deep and hard until he finally exploded, spilling his hot seed inside her.