A pained light had entered Hilary’s unguarded gaze for she was tempted to point out that Paul Correro had simply taken his lofty air of disapproval from Roel himself. ‘I’d like to explain a couple of things. When we first met, Emma and I were living in a rough area and her friends were kids who thought it was fun to shoplift. She was skipping school and I was having trouble controlling her.’
Roel was listening with grave attention. ‘I had no idea your home life was that grim. You always seemed so cheerful.’
‘A long face doesn’t change anything for the better. Your money gave us a new start. I rented the flat, opened up the salon and got Emma into another school. All the problems we were having vanished one by one,’ Hilary explained. ‘I didn’t have to work evenings any more, so she had to stay home and she studied. The next year she won her scholarship and she has never looked back since.’
‘You should be proud of yourself. I wish you had been more frank with me at the time—’
As she connected with his stunning golden gaze Hilary’s mouth ran dry and she looked away. ‘In those days, you didn’t want to know.’
‘I wouldn’t allow myself to get to know you and you paid the price for that. But that was then and this is now…’ Enclosing her hand in his, Roel pressed a slow, burning, sensual kiss to her palm.
She quivered, legs trembling, heat surging between her slender thighs. At a leisurely pace he undid her wrap top and flicked loose the clasp on the
silk bra she wore beneath.
‘It’s broad daylight…’ she muttered.
‘You shock so easily,’ Roel savoured, pressing her back against the sun-warmed wall and peeling off her sarong skirt. ‘Relax…I will do everything.’
And, shamelessly, she let him. There against the worn stone wall he stripped her naked. She was boneless, ready for him even before he scored expert fingers through the silvery blonde curls crowning her feminine mound to tease the swollen, sensitive, secret flesh below. He probed her passion-moistened depths with a carnal skill that made her sob out loud against her own fierce and unbearable longing.
‘Don’t stop…’ she cried hoarsely.
‘I love it when you’re out of control. It makes me want to drive you even wilder.’ Roel flipped her round and bent her over the wall, lifting her up to penetrate her with his hard male heat. Shock and overwhelming delight made her dizzy. He filled her to the hilt. She couldn’t breathe for excitement. Sensation made her forget everything but the fierce, desperately rousing surge of his demanding body into hers. His animal passion sent her flying into glorious frenzy of release.
In the aftermath, he gathered her limp body up into his arms and carried her into the shuttered cool of the bedroom. He discarded his own clothes. All rippling muscle and damp bronzed skin, he was magnificent. Coming down on the bed, he drew her back into his arms and smiled with slumberous satisfaction and approval down at her. She wanted to cry with love for him. She wanted that sweet moment of silent intimacy to last for ever. He smoothed her hair out of her eyes, kissed her, held her close and she felt as frantic as though she were trying to live her whole life out in those minutes when she was at her happiest.
‘I adore your breasts,’ Roel confided lazily, lifting her up to arrange her astride him and reaching up to cup the pert, firm mounds with unashamed masculine appreciation. ‘I swear they’ve got fuller since the first time we made love.’
Hilary lowered her lashes to hide the panic in her eyes.
‘Not that I’m complaining, you understand,’ Roel breathed huskily. ‘I’ve noticed what a pushover you are for Swiss chocolate…’
He thought she was putting on the beef because she was stuffing herself with chocolate drinks! She rolled off him in haste.
Roel groaned out loud and tugged her back to him by dint of his greatly superior strength. ‘Don’t be so touchy. You have a to-die-for shape. Angels in heaven would fight over you and I shall revel in keeping you stocked up with chocolate,’ he imparted. ‘It’s very refreshing to be with a woman who eats whatever she feels like.’
So not only did he think she was overweight, but also a greedy pig into the bargain, Hilary thought crazily. If only that were true…if only an overindulgence in chocolate were responsible for the fact that her bosom had already jumped an entire cup size!
‘I’m going for a shower,’ she muttered, yanking herself free of his loosened hold and scrambling off the bed.
‘How the hell can you suffer from such low self-esteem?’ Roel sat up to demand with very male frustration.
‘I saw Celine…beside her, I’d probably look as heavenly in shape as Humpty Dumpty!’ Hilary fielded chokily.
Anger brightening his spectacular gaze, Roel sprang out of bed. ‘Che idea! Celine answered my needs…but you arouse them. I can’t keep my hands off you for longer than an hour. I’ve even taken time out from the bank to be with you.’
Her eyelids were gritty with unshed tears. ‘That’s just sex,’ she accused.
A ferocious silence fell and she waited and she prayed for him to break that silence with even a single word of disagreement.
Roel stared back at her with stony, stubborn intensity, black-lashed brilliant dark eyes unreadable, his long, lean, powerful frame still as a predator ready to fend off attack.
Her throat ached so much with disappointment that it really hurt. He had not contradicted her. She should have known better than to hope that he would. With a brittle throwaway smile designed to persuade him that a purely physical relationship was fine by her, she disappeared into the bathroom and locked the door behind her.
She switched on the shower. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. She choked back her sobs. Sex was all she had ever had to offer him and nobody could say he had not taken full advantage of her willingness. Or that she had any grounds for complaint. It was a week since he had brought her to Sardinia, to this fantastic coastal villa where they enjoyed complete seclusion and sheer, unvarnished luxury.
For seven days they had been inseparable. There had been picnics on the beach, moonlight swims, late-night romantic dinners, languorous siestas in the heat of the day and long discussions about all sorts of subjects on which they rarely ever agreed. He was incredibly stimulating company and wonderfully entertaining. When he needed to work for an hour or two, she had taken to curling up nearby with a magazine and keeping him company. For her it had been a time of idyllic happiness but also a challenging time while she’d slowly struggled to come to terms with the reality that she was carrying his baby.