Lovers Not Friends

‘Don’t be daft.’ The girl’s less effusive friend had hung back in alarm. ‘You don’t do that here, our Tracy. Anyway, you’re not sure who they are, they might just be ordinary people like us.’

‘Like us?’ Tracy’s voice had dripped contempt. ‘Oh, come on, Shirl, there’s nothing ordinary about people like that.’

Later, in the privacy of their cabin after a long languid night of making love, she had told Blade about the conversation, expecting him to laugh, but he had raised her chin gently to take her lips in a long, lingering kiss as dawn broke through the cabin window. ‘They’re dead right,’ he said softly as his eyes had caressed her naked body sensually, ‘there is nothing ordinary about you, my love. Me?’ He had shrugged big shoulders dismissively. ‘Ten a penny in this place but I haven’t seen another woman who can even begin to compete with you. And the crazy thing is you don’t rate your beauty at all, do you? Why, angel-face?’

And that had been the point when she had first brought herself to lay open the wound that had seared so deep to another human being’s gaze. She had poured out the misery of her childhood, Sandra’s rejection, the constant feeling that she had to apologise every minute for how she looked. And Blade had listened. And then he had made love to her, slowly, completely, in a way he never had before, that had taken them both to heaven and back. And afterwards he had talked to her for hours until the sun was a bright white ball in the transparent blue sky outside, and she had felt the burden leave her shoulders as she had laid it on his.

‘A dime for them?’ She hadn’t been aware that he was watching her but now, as the deep blue of her eyes focused on the dark glittering black of his she realised that her face had been open for him to read.

‘Not worth it,’ she answered quietly as she forced the past back into the past, letting her hair hide her face quickly, far more shaken by the starkly beautiful memories than she would have liked. They had been so happy, so wildly, dangerously happy, she should have known it was too good to last.

‘Liar.’ He grimaced cynically. ‘But I promised you an hour’s peace, so stretch out there in comfort and take in some rays. And I don’t want to hear mention of a certain man’s name; it’s just you and me, Amy. Got it?’ The thread of steel underlying the mocking tone told her he meant every word literally. ‘I’ll wake you at lunchtime.’

‘I didn’t know you could cook?’ she asked as she did as he’d bid, feeling her head reel a little as she lay back on the warm cushioned bed.

‘There are a lot of things you don’t know about me, sweetheart,’ he said smoothly, ‘but we won’t go into that now.’

‘Why?’ She shut her eyes against the harsh glare of the sun, feeling its warmth caress her body and ease the tenseness out of her muscles. Blade was right, this did feel good.

‘Because you wouldn’t like it,’ he said harshly. ‘I don’t know what sort of guy you thought I was, Amy, but I sure as hell don’t let go of what is mine so easy as you’d hoped. I want—’ He stopped abruptly. ‘Well, let’s forget that now. As I said, relax, enjoy …’

Enjoy? Her nerves were as tight as a coiled spring again as she forced herself to lie absolutely still, her eyes closed. There had been such naked fury in his voice those last few moments, such explosive rage. He hadn’t given up. She had been crazy to think he had. He wouldn’t rest until she was crushed and broken at his feet with her soul laid bare. That was what he wanted, she thought painfully as the wine heightened her emotions. Revenge for her supposed betrayal of their marriage, retribution for all the misery she had caused …

She must have slept, because as she became aware of sensual lips on hers the sensation had a dream-like quality to it, a satisfyingly safe fantasy where all her deepest needs and desires could be given free rein. She opened her mouth hungrily, seeking more from the deliciously warm illusion that was appeasing the fierce longing that was with her every waking moment, her lips murmuring the name that haunted even her dreams. ‘Blade …’ The smell, the feel of him, it was all there. She ran her fingers lightly down the hard male body poised over hers before opening her eyes drowsily as the drugged inertia began to recede.

‘Blade!’ This time his name sprang from her lips in shock as her heavy eyelids were forced wide open, and she confronted his face an inch from hers, a look of immense satisfaction lighting the chiselled features. ‘What are you doing!’