Expectant Bride

Ellie frowned in bewilderment. His tension pronounced, Dio raised his scorching gaze to her moist parted lips and then to her confused eyes. Just as suddenly he appeared to reach a decision, and he closed his hands over hers to haul her all the way into his arms. He possessed her mouth with a raw, hungry heat that provoked a startled gasp from her, and then he eased her over him to deftly dispose of the rest of her clothing.

'I want you every way there is,' he intoned, lowering her to the pillows and running sure hands over the straining sen¬sitivity of her breasts. 'But gently, pethi mou.'

Excitement already running like fire through her as he teased her prominent nipples, Ellie could only manage a shaken moan, and then she reached up, plunging her fingers into his thick black silky hair to draw his gorgeous mouth back to hers again. She let her fingers slide down over his taut flat stomach, reveling in the sudden tightening of his muscles as she traced the fine furrow of hair to its magnifi¬cent source.

With a ragged laugh at her new boldness, Dio flung him¬self flat on the bed and watched her explore him with golden eyes full of indulgence. Then he drew her up to him with lazy eroticism and began to show her what he liked. And, shy and uncertain as she was, she was driven by the most intense need to give him pleasure.

'Enough,' Dio groaned all too soon, lifting her up to him with powerful arms and kissing her breathless. He studied her with deeply appreciative eyes. 'I love teaching you...but you're too fast a learner.'

'Am I?' Ellie shivered, shockingly aroused by the excite¬ment of touching him, loving him. She sank down on his lean, hard all-male length to lose herself in another carnal kiss with the ease of a programmed doll.

He rolled her over and began to systematically drive her wild. Her heart hammered like crazy. Nothing existed for her but Dio and the tormenting need which now controlled her. He found the swollen, aching sensitivity at the very heart of her and she couldn't stay still. Her breath sobbed in her throat then as she twisted and jerked beneath a tidal wave of ex¬quisite sensation.

'Please...' she gasped helplessly.

Eyes burning pure gold, Dio slid between her parted thighs and entered her with an earthy growl of satisfaction. The feel of him stretching her gave her the most intense tormenting pleasure. He moved fast and deep, and a low, keening sound was wrenched from her. His every thrust burned her with liquid fire. All control was decimated, her overwhelming hunger driven higher and higher. She clung to him in wild abandonment, out of her senses with pleasure long before he pushed her to a shattering climax.

Ellie came back to herself with tears in her eyes and a dazed sense of wonder. She relived the instant when Dio had shuddered over her, reaching down his own zenith with dom¬inant power, and she stroked loving fingers through his tou¬sled damp hair and pressed her reddened mouth reverently against his shoulder. 'You make me feel so special...' she whispered unsteadily.

Really special, for the first time in her entire life, she real¬ised ruefully—just as the phone by the bed buzzed and Dio's long, lithe length suddenly tensed above hers.

'Don't answer it,' she muttered urgently, not wanting any¬thing to intrude.

'I'm expecting a call.' Dio eased free of her to roll over and reach for the phone.

Lying on her stomach, Ellie watched him recline back against the padded headboard. His brilliant black eyes were screened from her but she could feel his sudden distance like a cold chill in the air. He was talking in Greek, his darkly handsome features grave and taut.

Ellie frowned, anxiously wondering what the call was about.

A couple of minutes later, Dio cast the phone aside. 'I need a shower, and then I might work for a while,' he announced, his stunning eyes veiled, his jawline clenched. ‘'Try to get some sleep, Ellie.'

When he sprang off the bed without another word, Ellie paled. 'What's wrong?'

'Nothing that need concern you.'

'Maybe you'd just like me to vanish in a puff of smoke now!' Ellie exclaimed rawly.

Dio drove exasperated fingers through his hair and swore long, low and viciously in his own language. Black eyes glittering, he drew in a deep, shuddering breath, visibly at¬tempting to control a temper that was now, it seemed, on a hair trigger. 'Ellie, just lie down and go to sleep—'

‘I’m going home.' Her face a furious pink, but her eyes mirroring her pain and confusion, Ellie swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

Dio loosed a savage groan. 'I want you to stay!'

Ellie flung back her head in challenge. 'It doesn't feel like it.'

'I'm not about to beg, yineka mou,' Dio incised in stark warning.

It was the endearment that soothed her. At least she as¬sumed that the thing he'd called her was a term of affection. She listened to the shower running in the bathroom, but all happy contentment had now been wrested from her. Maybe he had got some bad news during that phone call. But if mat was true, why hadn't he just said so? Her insecurity level began to climb. Inevitably she started questioning the re¬newed intimacy she had personally invited, and her misgiv¬ings mushroomed.