The Holiday Escapes Collection. Sandra Marton

with the sensual silk of womanly desire, her nipples tightening in anticipation of his touch as his hands moved from her hips to settle just below her breasts.

      His mouth swooped down and covered hers with a searing kiss of passion, his tongue stroking through the parted curtain of her lips in search of hers. She flicked her tongue against his, tentatively at first and then with increasing confidence as she felt the pulse of his reaction. His mouth was a burning pressure on hers, the movement of his hands as they found her breasts making her gasp with pleasure.

      ‘You are wearing too many clothes,’ he growled as his fingers found the zip of her dress and slid it downwards.

      ‘So are you,’ she said and began to undo the buttons of his shirt, lingering to press a hot little kiss as each part of his chest was exposed.

      He groaned when she got to his belt and, lifting her, carried her to the bed, joining her in a tangle of limbs and half-discarded clothes.

      Charlotte put her hand over his as he reached for her knickers, which only just covered the seam of her scar. ‘Can we turn the lights down?’ she asked.

      He frowned. ‘But I want to see you—all of you.’

      ‘I’m not as slim as I used to be…’

      ‘You look wonderful to me,’ he said.

      ‘Please, Damon.’

      He reluctantly reached across to dim the lights. ‘All right, but next time I want to see every inch of you.’

      Charlotte felt the thrill of his urgent arousal as he came back over to her, his hands tearing at her clothes as she tore at his, their bodies straining to join in the most intimate of all embraces. She ached with the need to feel him inside her, the heavy pulse of desire like the beat of a primitive tribal drum, reverberating throughout her body.

      His mouth moved to her breast and sucked hard, the rasp of his tongue making her toes curl and her back arch in response. He moved to her other breast, his hands stroking her belly and moving lower until he found the secret heart of her, his fingers stroking into her slippery warmth until she was writhing with pleasure. She felt her body begin to tingle with the first waves of release but it wasn’t enough. She reached for him, her fingers shaping his turgid length, his agonised gasp inciting her to increase the pressure until he was struggling to contain control.

      He grasped at her hand but she pushed him with her free one until he was on his back, his chest rising and falling as she began to move her mouth from the flat taut plane of his abdomen in teasing little wet kisses until she came to the pulsing heat of him.

      He groaned again when she licked at his swollen length, her tongue tasting him before she opened her mouth over the satin-covered steel of his body, drawing him in with stroking and rolling movements of her tongue.

      ‘Enough!’

      He pulled her away from him and flipped her on her back, rummaging quickly for a condom and applying it before driving into her with such urgency she cried out in sheer relief that he was finally where she most wanted him. His movements were hard and fast but she was with him all the way, her body rocking against his as it climbed towards the pinnacle of release it craved.

      ‘I am going too fast,’ he said breathlessly against her mouth.

      ‘You’re not going fast enough.’ She urged him on with her body, rising to meet each forward movement of his.

      Suddenly she was there.

      Her whole body tightened and then exploded, splintering into a thousand tiny pieces, each one of them shivering with the aftershocks of pleasure.

      She felt his explosive release hard on the heels of hers, every muscle in his body tensing before he let go with a deep primal groan. They lay still intimately entwined, basking in the afterglow of deep contentment.

      Damon eased himself up on his elbows to look down at her. ‘I had planned to take things slowly but you made it impossible. Your body excites me like no other.’

      ‘You’re pretty exciting too,’ she said, reaching up to stroke his jaw with her hand.

      He captured her hand and pressed a soft kiss to the middle of her palm. ‘Have you had many other lovers since me?’ he asked.

      ‘Why do you ask?’

      His eyes roved her face, lingering on her mouth before returning to her blue gaze. ‘It is selfish and chauvinistic of me, I know, but I was hoping you have not.’

      Her expression contained a hint of reproach. ‘I’m sure you haven’t been celibate for the last four years.’

      A little frown tugged at his forehead. ‘No…’

      ‘Have you been in love with anyone?’ she asked, trying to ignore the pain his confession had evoked.

      He shook his head. ‘No. I have not allowed myself to feel that way about anyone.’

      Charlotte felt hope begin to rise in her chest. Did he still feel something for her?

      His eyes gave nothing away as they connected with hers but she could feel his body thickening inside her.

      His hands began to explore her breasts, his thumbs reacquainting themselves with the rock-hard pebbles of her nipples, his hot moist mouth moving down to suckle on each of her breasts until her head was spinning and her ears ringing with the pleasure of having his strong arms around her and his lips and tongue playing havoc with her senses all over again.

      Damon pulled away from her breast and looked down at her with a quizzical expression. ‘What’s that noise?’ he asked.

      ‘What noise?’ she asked dizzily, her mind still reeling from his sensual onslaught.

      ‘It sounds like a mobile phone on vibrate,’ he said.

      Charlotte felt her stomach lurch in panic. It was late and the only people who would be calling her at this hour would be either Caroline or Stacey.

      ‘Um…I’d better answer it.’

      He looked at her incredulously, his body pulsing with need inside hers. ‘Now?’

      ‘It might be my sister,’ she said and eased herself out of his embrace.

      She walked on unsteady legs to her evening bag but the phone had stopped vibrating by the time she got to it. She stared at the screen as a message icon appeared. She pressed the key to display the text and her heart came to a stumbling halt when she read what was there.

      Emily hurt—but don’t worry—have taken her to the Children’s hospital—C xox

      Charlotte hadn’t even noticed that Damon had come to stand beside her until she heard his deep voice ask in a tone that demanded an immediate answer, ‘Who is Emily?’

       CHAPTER EIGHT

      ‘I—I HAVE to go…’ Charlotte almost fell over her feet to get to her clothes, struggling back into them with jerky agitated movements. ‘I have to go now…’

      ‘Who is Emily?’ Damon asked again, this time restraining her by the arm.

      She looked up at him in desperation as she tugged her arm out of his hold. ‘She’s…she’s my daughter; now please let me go—I have to go to the hospital. Oh, God!’ She began to cry as her keys dropped out of her grasp. ‘This is all my fault. I knew something like this would happen. It’s all my fault.’

      ‘Your daughter?’ Damon stared at her in stupefaction. ‘You have a child? You really have a child?’

      She nodded as she scooped up her keys, tears running down her cheeks. ‘I was going to tell you…I just didn’t know how to go about it.’

      His frown was so heavy his brows met over his eyes. ‘You