The Hot-Headed Virgin. Trish Morey

to hold back, the increasing tension in his body where it pressed so temptingly against hers and the latent strength in his arms as he hauled her even closer.

      Her hands were in the dark brown silk of his hair, her mouth kissing him back with all the passion of her nature. Her tongue flirted with his, danced with his and became boldly intimate with his, while her heart raced with breakneck speed and her body pulsed with escalating need.

      She heard him give another low, deep groan as he wrenched his mouth away, looking down at her with eyes ablaze with unalleviated desire.

      It was a moment or two before he spoke but when he did he did so with an ironic twist to his mouth. ‘I can only assume from your unbridled reaction to me just now that none of your previous would-be lovers had a comprehensive gym and pool with which to impress you.’

      She injected her tone with disdain. ‘So you can kiss. Big deal. So can most primates, even chimpanzees and gorillas.’

      He gave a soft chuckle that tugged on that invisible string again. ‘That’s not all I can do, baby. If you continue to respond to me like that—virgin or not—I’m not sure this is going to stay a paper marriage for very long.’

      ‘You shouldn’t have kissed me in the first place,’ Mia said. ‘It’s not exactly as if we have an audience right now.’

      ‘I know, it was a bit unfair but you were so tempting I couldn’t resist one little kiss. You have such a beautiful mouth when it’s not slinging insults my way.’

      ‘I wouldn’t sling insults your way if you would just keep your hands and mouth to yourself.’

      ‘I seem to remember your hands and mouth doing their own little bit of wandering.’

      ‘You’re imagining it. I was trying to get away.’

      He gave her another taunting smile. ‘That was some struggle you were putting up.’

      She gave him a withering look without answering.

      ‘In case you’re wondering, there is no housekeeper we have to act in front of here,’ he said. ‘The place is maintained by the neighbours. I pay them a fee to keep an eye on things when I’m away, but while we are here we will have absolute privacy.’

      He held the French doors open for her and once they were indoors added, ‘You can have whichever bedroom you like.’

      ‘Which one is yours?’

      ‘Are you asking because you want to avoid it or to share it?’

      She gave him a glittering glare. ‘What do you think?’

      He held her defiant look for a little longer than was comfortable. Mia felt herself inwardly squirming under his steady surveillance and wondered if he could see the truth written on her face even though she did her level best to disguise it.

      She wanted him.

      For the first time in her life she had come face to face with a man who was temptation personified. Her flesh was still tingling from his touch and she knew if he took even one step towards her and took her in his arms again she would not have the strength of will to resist him.

      ‘Go to bed, Mia,’ he said after a short, throbbing silence. ‘Otherwise I might be tempted to ravish you right here and now.’

      ‘You wouldn’t dare.’

      His night-sky eyes grew even darker and his voice when he spoke was gravel-rough. ‘Don’t play with matches, sweetheart. I’m sorely tempted to finish what we started out by the pool and one look from you is all it will take to get the flames going again.’

      Mia turned for the stairs, forcing herself to go at a dignified pace even though she felt like bolting.

      ‘Goodnight, little virgin wife of mine,’ Bryn said, his tone distinctly mocking.

      She gritted her teeth and with one last blistering look over her shoulder, opened the first bedroom she came to and closed the door on his taunting smiling face.

      CHAPTER TEN

      MIA headed straight for the en suite. Shutting the door, she stared at her wild appearance in the mirror, her hands clutching the edge of the vanity to steady her trembling legs.

      She had to learn to control herself around him! What was she thinking, kissing him back like that? It was totally crazy. It was just asking for the sort of heartbreak she could well do without.

      She turned around and, leaning back against the vanity, released a heavy sigh. Of course, resisting him would be a whole lot easier if he weren’t so damned tempting. Those dark blue eyes positively smouldered with sensuality every time they locked with hers. And those lips! What woman could resist a kiss that felt as soft as a butterfly landing on an exotic bloom, or not respond when the same kiss turned into something deeply erotic with the determined thrust of his searching tongue?

      She looked down at her breasts and suppressed a little shiver of reaction as she thought of his mouth around her nipple. He had been so very close to tipping her over the edge if only he knew it.

      She gave a little scowl as she reached for the shower tap.

      Maybe he did know it.

      The shower was just what she needed; it was cool and refreshing and washed away the dust and damp stickiness of long-distance travel.

      It had been a long day and tiredness was creeping up on her, making her sway on her feet as she wrapped the soft, fluffy white towel—bigger than any towel she’d ever seen before—around herself like a sarong.

      The bed beckoned her as soon as she left the en suite, its wide white-feather softness looking like a cloud of comfort in the middle of the floor.

      She gave the room a quick, sweeping glance for her suitcase so she could retrieve her nightwear. She’d seen Bryn carry their luggage upstairs earlier but there was no sign of it in here.

      She gave a little shrug of tired indifference and slipped the towel off, climbing in between the cool sheets and laying her head down on the soft-as-air feather pillow as she closed her eyes with a sigh of relief…

      ‘So guess who’s been sleeping in my bed?’

      Mia’s eyes sprang open at the deep, lazy drawl, the bright glare from the overhead light making her wince as she struggled upright, clutching the sheet to cover her nakedness.

      ‘Your bed?’ she gasped, her heart thudding in alarm as she registered that he was wearing nothing but a towel slung loosely around his waist.

      Bryn gave her an indolent smile. ‘And here I was, thinking it was going to take me the best part of the week to convince you to sleep with me.’ He reached for the edge of his towel and dropped it to the floor.

      Mia’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. She suddenly realised she was staring and quickly flung the sheet over her head. ‘For God’s sake, cover yourself!’ she croaked.

      He gave a deep chuckle of laughter. ‘Haven’t you seen a naked man before?’

      ‘Yes,’ she said, her voice muffled from under the sheet.

      ‘So what’s the problem?’

      ‘My nephew is five years old, that’s what’s the problem.’

      ‘So he’s got a bit of growing to do, but we all end up more or less the same.’

      Mia wasn’t so sure about that. She’d seen plenty of toned male bodies at her local gym, admittedly covered by close-fitting gym gear, but Bryn’s was something else again—especially naked.

      She felt a little tug on the sheet covering her and clutched at it in panic. ‘What are you doing?’ she shrieked when it slipped out of her desperate grasp.

      Bryn’s gaze burned as it ran over her and she hastily crossed her legs and covered her breasts with her hands. Her words of protest