His mouth left hers and she watched the dark tide of colour film his cheekbones; felt the hard compression of his muscles as he bent towards her, his chest pressed hard against her breasts.
She could feel the faint edge of violence, just beneath the surface of his passion, and oddly it thrilled her, shocking her into an awareness of just how little she had known about passion—until now. Now she was learning fast…too fast, an inner voice warned her, but Dominic’s mouth was against her skin, his fingers stroking delicately between her thighs, making her forget everything but the surge of need pounding through her. Her body arched ecstatically against his hand, her strangled sob of pleasure smothered against his skin as she pressed shaking lips to his throat, wantonly responsive in her need to attain the shimmering delight that beckoned her on.
This time he made love to her slowly, teasing her a little with the tormenting, measured thrust of his body into her own, until she cried out in agonised despair, digging her nails into his back and whimpering with a need that made him abandon his role as a controlled lover, to possess her with a fiercely elemental hunger that matched and then exceeded her own. Quivering in the aftermath of the violently climatic convulsions that had gripped her, she could hardly believe it when he continued to move within her, drawing from her an explosion of sensation so intense that for a moment it seemed she actually lost consciousness, his voice as he reached his own release reaching her as though from a far distance.
Even when he had withdrawn from her, her body continued to tremble, slick with sweat which was now rapidly cooling her skin. She felt him move and gather her into his arms, too weak to do anything other than simply lie against him.
Against her ear she felt his lips move, his voice a deep rumble she could almost feel inside her as he muttered softly, ‘Forgive me, Kate, I’ve exhausted you. I hadn’t intended to be so…demanding, but eight years is a long time to go hungry for a woman…’
A woman? she thought drowsily, trying to unravel the error she felt sure was within the words. Dominic couldn’t have meant that there had been no woman with whom he had made love in that time… No, of course he could not, and she was a fool for even thinking he might. He had been speaking metaphorically, that was all. Her body ached, but it was a pleasant ache, reminding her that this was the first time she had ever tasted passion. She wasn’t sure, but as she drifted off to sleep she thought she felt Dominic’s mouth gently caressing her moist skin, trailing a tender path from her throat to the slight swell of her belly, before his arms curved round her again and she finally relaxed into exhaustion.
When she woke up again it was daylight and Dominic was gone. She stretched in languorous pleasure, blinking slowly like a large cat before rolling over to lie in the spot which had held Dominic’s body.
She could smell the scent of him on her skin, and shivered slightly, uncomfortably conscious of how little it seemed to take to arouse her body to the pitch where she was achingly conscious of how they had made love. Her breasts ached slightly
, her nipples tight and faintly swollen. If Dominic were here beside her now she would want him to make love to her. Swiftly banishing the thought, she pushed back the covers and headed for her bathroom, standing under the cooling lash of the shower while she tried to get a grip on her tumultuous emotions.
Not only did the cool water quench her desire, it also brought her shiveringly back to reality. What had happened last night had been so totally unexpected that it had completely pushed reality aside—for both of them perhaps, but this morning Dominic was gone, which surely indicated very clearly that he considered what had passed between them to be something he certainly did not wish to discuss and perhaps even regretted.
Surely if he had had any genuine feelings for her at all he would have wanted to be with her when she woke up, but he had gone…without a word to her.
Slowly drying herself, Kate went back to her bedroom and made herself go over the events of the previous evening. Dominic had been in something almost approaching a state of shock when he arrived. And no doubt it had been a shock to him to learn how wrong he had been about her. That he had learned it gave her no thrill of pleasure—on the contrary, all she could feel was an aching pain that it had taken remorse and guilt to bring him to her. Against her will she remembered how intensely he had wanted her, how fiercely he had made love to her. But desire, no matter how fierce, was not love. Dominic did not love her. How could he? He himself had told her how much he resented his desire for her, and now added to that resentment would be the guilt of knowing how wrongly he had misjudged her.
All the time she was dressing, her actions those of an automaton, Kate was going over and over what had happened, and her body shook as she remembered his passionate desire for her and her own response to it. She had been so carried away by their mutual need that nothing else had been important, but that could not be allowed to happen again.
Already she was terrified by the knowledge of how much she yearned for him. It would be far too dangerous to allow herself to get any further involved with him.
She would probably not be called upon to make any such choice, she reminded herself wryly. After all, Dominic had left without saying anything about getting in touch with her. No, if she was sensible she would look upon last night as something which should have happened eight years ago; something infinitely precious to her, but also something that could never be repeated.
Despite her firm resolve several times during the morning she found her hands growing still over their tasks, her mind drifting back to the previous evening, her body languid with remembered pleasure, until reality intruded and she shuddered back to reality.
It was pointless and self-deluding to allow herself to be deceived by some romantic fantasy. Last night Dominic had been a man held in thrall to the grip of very strong emotions, and man-like he had exorcised those emotions by the most physical means possible. No doubt today he was feeling as annoyed with himself for giving in to his desire for her as he had previously been at experiencing that desire. People did not change overnight; it might even be that Dominic resented learning the truth about her.
It was to stop herself thinking about her feelings for him that Kate kept herself so busy trying to second-guess Dominic’s emotions and thoughts, she thought wryly as she finally abandoned her half-hearted attempt to work. For once not even the prospect of starting on a new commission had the power to thrill her. A tiny shiver of sensation rippled over her skin. No, it seemed that Dominic alone now had that power. Angry with herself, she forced back the thought. It was pointless to build crazy dreams on what her intellect told her were the most flimsy of foundations. It would be reckless folly indeed to invite even more pain by allowing herself to believe that she meant something to Dominic as a person.
Round and round her thoughts chased one another, exhausting her mentally, but leaving her physically strained and on edge.
When she heard a car coming up the drive her first thought was that it must be Dominic, and she flew to the window, fighting down a crashing sense of disappointment when she recognised Vera getting out of her husband’s car.
Forcing a smile to her lips, she opened the door to her.
‘Hi… I hope I’m not interrupting your work, but I’m at a bit of a loose end. Ian and Dominic have gone to the City for some business discussions, so I thought I’d come round and see you.’ She gazed appreciatively around the hall. ‘This is really lovely, Kate, you must be very sad at the thought of parting with it.’
‘In some ways, yes,’ Kate agreed. ‘But it was Ricky’s family home and…’
‘Of course, how tactless of me!’ Vera looked mortified. ‘Of course, you can’t enjoy living somewhere that reminds you—’
‘No…no…it isn’t like that at all,’ Kate assured her. ‘As a matter of fact, I always think of it as being Ricky’s grandfather’s house. I used to come over here a lot with my father when he was alive. It is lovely, but I just can’t afford to keep it in the style to which it’s become accustomed,’ she joked ruefully.
She was aching to ask Vera when Dominic was coming back, but even as she tried to think of a casual enough way to frame her question her tongue seemed to stick to the roof of her mouth. What a ridiculous way for a woman of twenty-seven to behave, she chastised herself, especially when she had just spent all morning reminding herself that there was no future for her with Dominic…no basis between them for any sort of continuing relationship at all. It was high time she faced the truth, unpalatable though it might be. As far as Dominic was concerned, she was just a woman he had needed to get out of his system in the most primitive way possible, and now that that had been achieved… Witness the way he had not even bothered to wait for her to wake up this morning…had not even left her a note, or bothered to get in touch with her.
She showed Vera over the house and then the gardens, listening with half an ear while the other woman marvelled admiringly at them.
Once they were back inside Kate offered her tea, and they sat drinking it together in the drawing-room, Kate’s thoughts wandering painfully back to Dominic, so that she didn’t realise that Vera had gone quiet until the latter said abruptly, ‘It’s such a pity that you and Dominic don’t hit it off, you…’
Dreading what Vera might be about to say, Kate interrupted hastily, ‘Oh, it isn’t really important—after all, we’re not likely to ever see that much of one another.’
The phone rang, shocking her into silence. She stared at it helplessly for several seconds before she realised that Vera was watching her with a rather puzzled frown. Tense with longing and dread, she walked over to it and picked up the receiver, an intense feeling of disappointment attacking her as she recognised Martin Allwood’s voice.