Tall, Dark... Collection. Carole Mortimer

hard. ‘I don’t—’ She broke off with a gasp as Gabriel ignored her protest and stepped behind her. She felt the touch of his fingers as he slowly began to slide the zip down.

      Bella’s second protest went unspoken, her back arching involuntarily as she felt the delicious ripples of awareness through her whole body as that zip slowly—so very slowly—moved down the length of her spine, her breath catching in her throat as Gabriel parted the satin material and she felt the warm caress of his lips against the bareness of her shoulder.

      Desire. She instantly felt a hot, burning desire that ripped through her body at the first touch of Gabriel’s mouth against her heated flesh, the moist rasp of his tongue as he licked and tasted her only intensifying that burning heat.

      Much as she denied it, much as she fought against it, Bella knew she wanted him.

      Wanted Gabriel passionately.

      Knew that she had been fighting that want, that need, for the last five weeks, afraid to even touch him in case she revealed that ever-escalating desire. With the result that each minute she spent in his company had been torture, and full of an aching desire that had always seemed only seconds away from release.

      It was a passion that Bella had only been able to keep in check by presenting Gabriel with a veneer of icy coldness. An icy veneer that had melted with the force of an avalanche the moment his mouth touched her naked flesh!

      Her neck arched, her head resting back against Gabriel’s shoulder as his hands slid inside the unzipped gown to move about her waist and then higher as he cupped the nakedness of her breasts beneath the satin gown, her own hands moving up to rest on top of his as she pressed him into her, wanting his caresses.

      She cried out, desire surging between her thighs as Gabriel’s thumbs moved across her turgid nipples, her body taut with expectation, not able to breathe as she waited for the second caress, gasping, almost sobbing as Gabriel’s lips moved heatedly, moistly against her throat as he took those throbbing peaks between his thumbs and fingers and squeezed rhythmically.

      ‘Gabriel?’ Bella groaned as her bottom moved against the hardness of his arousal. ‘Gabriel, please…!’

      ‘Not yet, Bella,’ Gabriel refused huskily even though his own body throbbed with that same need for release.

      They had a long flight ahead of them, hours and hours before they reached their destination, and before that happened Gabriel intended to discover and fulfil every one of Bella’s fantasies, as he hoped that she would fulfil every one of his.

      Stripping the white satin wedding gown from Bella’s body was only the first of the fantasies that had kept him awake night after night for the last five weeks!

      Gabriel heard her moan of protest as he slowly moved his hands from inside her gown, her breath catching in her throat seconds later as she realised he had only done so in order to slide the gown from her shoulders and down her arms before he bared her to the waist and then slowly allowed the gown to pool on the floor at her feet.

      Bella’s eyes were closed and Gabriel stared down at how beautiful she looked in only a pair of brief white lace panties and white stockings.

      Her throat was exposed, her lips slightly parted and moist, her lids half closing over eyes of deep purple as Gabriel’s arms moved about her and his hands once again cupped her breasts before his thumbs moved to caress the deep rose nipples.

      ‘Yes!’ she exclaimed. ‘Oh, God, yes, Gabriel…!’

      Gabriel pulled her back against him so his lips could roam freely, erotically up the length of her throat to the sensitivity of her ear lobe, his teeth nibbling on that lobe even as one hand continued to caress the firmness of a perfect nipple and his other hand moved lower still.

      Bella’s skin felt like velvet as his fingers splayed across the bare expanse of her waist and down over the jut of her hip. Gabriel opened his eyes to look down to where his hand cupped and teased her breast, his own skin so much darker than the creamy magnolia of hers.

      His teeth bit the softness of her ear lobe even as his gaze moved lower to where his fingers quested beneath the silk of her panties to the dark curls he could see clearly through the sheerness of the material, parting the dampness of those curls and seeking the sensitive nub nestled amongst their darkness. Seeking and finding as his fingers began to stroke her there.

      She was so hot and slick, her sensitive folds swollen with need, a need Gabriel intended building until Bella cried out, begged for him to give her the climax her body craved.

      Bella moaned low in her throat as she felt the brush of Gabriel’s fingers against her, her legs parting to allow him greater access, an invitation he accepted as he plunged one long, satisfying finger deep inside her, followed by another as his thumb continued to stroke against her swollen nub and his other hand squeezed and caressed her breast in the same mind-blowing rhythm.

      Again and again.

      Those caresses becoming fiercer. Deeper. Faster.

      The heat rose unbearably, building, growing ever stronger as Bella’s hips moved to meet the deep thrust of Gabriel’s fingers inside her.

      ‘Don’t stop, Gabriel!’ she gasped breathlessly. ‘Please don’t stop!’

      ‘Let go, Bella!’ he groaned hoarsely against her throat. ‘Give yourself, cara!’

      ‘Yes…’ she breathed raggedly. ‘Oh, yes! Oh, God, yes…!’ Bella gasped and writhed against Gabriel’s hand as her climax surged out of control and wave after wave of burning, shattering pleasure rippled through her.

      Gabriel held her captive as his fingers continued to pleasure her, Bella climaxing again and again, her body quivering and shaking at Gabriel’s slightest touch.

      ‘No more, Gabriel!’ she finally sobbed as she collapsed weakly in his arms.

      CHAPTER EIGHT

      BELLA woke slowly, slightly disorientated as she looked around the unfamiliar room.

      And then she remembered.

      Not just where she was, but everything that had happened since she had entered this bedroom.

      Bella turned her face into the pillows, the aching protest of her body as she curled into a foetal position reminding her all too forcefully of the way Gabriel had touched and caressed her.

      So much for her claim, her determination, that her marriage to Gabriel would be in name only—they hadn’t even left British airspace before she’d succumbed to his caresses!

      It was—

      She looked sharply towards the door as she heard the handle turning softly before it was opened, her expression becoming defensive as she saw Gabriel standing in the doorway.

      The cream polo shirt and jeans he wore showed that he had remained in the bedroom long enough to change his clothes after Bella—after she—After she what? Collapsed from the sheer ecstasy Gabriel had given her time and time again until she simply couldn’t take any more?

      Oh, God…!

      Her mouth tightened. ‘If you’ve come to gloat—’

      ‘I came to see if you were awake yet,’ he corrected coldly. ‘We will be landing shortly, and you need time to dress before we do.’

      Which reminded Bella all too forcibly that she was completely naked—apart from her panties and hold-up stockings—beneath the bedclothes.

      It also reminded her that although she had been almost naked Gabriel had remained completely dressed throughout their earlier—Their earlier what? Sexual encounter? Lovemaking? It could hardly be called the latter when there was no love for each other, on either side.

      Sexual encounter, then.

      How awful did that sound?

      ‘Thank you,’ she accepted with polite dismissal.

      Gabriel