Australian Bachelors: Masterful Magnates: Purchased: His Perfect Wife. HELEN BIANCHIN

felt a slight tinge of warmth colour her cheeks, and she turned to escape from the shower cubicle.

      Within seconds she caught up a fluffy bath-towel and quickly wound it sarong-fashion round her slim curves.

      Damn it, she wouldn’t flee.

      Instead, she dried off, completed her nightly routine, then she tended to her hair, aware Wolfe stepped out from the shower, hitched a towel round his hips and used another towel to dry off.

      He’d given her some breathing space … but for how long?

      Minutes, she realized, as he unceremoniously lifted her into his arms, walked into the bedroom and slid her down to stand on her feet.

      She wanted this. Hadn’t she fantasized about being with him? Ached in her teenaged heart, and dreamt how it might be? Even wished to be his wife?

      Foolish childish imaginings she’d thought could never come to fruition.

      Yet, due to a quirk of fate, she wore Wolfe’s ring on her finger and bore his name.

       So what are you waiting for?

      Dreams were fleeting, with the inevitable waking to reality … and normality.

      Except now the dream and the reality were one and the same.

      ‘Switch off the light.’

      Wolfe captured her face between his hands. ‘No.’

      Her face paled, and her eyes became dark. ‘Please.’ Dear heaven, was that her voice? It sounded husky, begging, and it broke off in a soundless gasp as his mouth covered her own in a kiss that stirred her heart.

      He deepened the touch, taking possession in a manner that left no doubt as to how it would end, and she caught hold of his shoulders and held on, aware his hands shifted as one cupped her nape while the other slid down to her bottom and pulled her in against him.

      Lara had little recollection of when she lost the towel, or Wolfe his, aware only there was nothing separating them and his erection was a hard, turgid length against her stomach.

      A soundless gasp echoed in her throat as he shifted towards the bed, then in one fluid movement he removed the covers and gently eased her down onto the sheets.

      For a heart-stopping moment she could only look at him as he caged her body with his own.

      His eyes were dark, so dark and slumbrous … watchful, waiting for several seemingly long seconds, then he lowered his head to her breast and brushed his lips to its soft fullness, exploring in a manner that drew sensation spiralling from the depths of her womb.

      He used the edge of his teeth to tease and nip a little, before fastening on one hardened peak to suckle shamelessly. Then he moved to render a similar salutation to its twin, feasting in a manner that wrought a strangled groan from her lips.

      Not content, he trailed a path to her navel, explored it with the tip of his tongue, before tracing low to the soft curls shadowing her feminine core.

      ‘Please—’ Oh, dear heaven, please don’t … Except the words remained locked in her throat as he savoured at leisure, and she cried out as he bestowed all his attention to her throbbing clitoris, stroking the highly sensitized bud with relentless dedication until she became totally lost to the exhilarating sensation coiling through her body.

      All-consuming, libidinous, pagan.

      Like nothing she’d experienced, and she cried out, unable to prevent the raw, primitive sound emerging from her lips.

      She moved restlessly, so caught up she didn’t recognize the husky voice as her own as she begged for his possession.

      Except he was far from done, and she reached for his head with both hands as he thrust his tongue deep inside … unsure in the height of passion whether she held him there or attempted to pull him free.

      Just when she thought she couldn’t stand the sensation another second, he lifted his head, positioned himself … and held her gaze as he effected penetration, easing his length as she stretched to accommodate him.

      Her eyes became huge dark pools, and her lips parted as he gradually filled her, then he began to move and he caught the startled surprise evident.

      Unbidden, her senses coalesced into one deep ache that intensified with every stroke, until she became totally lost … his … in a way she’d never experienced. She wound her arms round his neck and held on as he lowered his head and took possession of her mouth, absorbing the husky cries as she went to pieces in his arms.

      Was it possible for a body to vibrate? To feel so totally possessed there was no room for thought of any kind?

      Lara didn’t want to move … wasn’t sure she could.

      Wolfe was there, still inside her, and she felt him harden as he settled his mouth into the sensitive curve at the edge of her neck.

      He trailed a path across her collarbone, then travelled back to seek the sweet hollow beneath her ear.

      It felt good, so good. And she turned her head a little in a quest to have his mouth cover hers. Then she gasped with surprise as he grasped hold of her waist and rolled onto his back, taking her with him, breaking his mouth from her own as he let her assume a position of control.

      She instinctively arched upwards and sank back against his bent knees, taking in the magnetic expression in those dark eyes, the disruptive sensuality apparent on his compelling features, and her lips parted as he traced the contours of each breast, then paid delicate attention to each peak.

      Pleasure rippled across the surface of her skin, and her upper body shook a little as he shaped her face, her collarbone, then slid down to weigh each breast in his hands.

      Evocative tracery that stirred alive her tenuous emotions … causing her to move restlessly as one hand trailed low, seeking the acutely sensitive bud … and her reaction when he found it.

      She rose up as sensation shot through her lower body in waves, each more powerful than the last, as he drove her almost to the point of delirium … then he shaped her waist and took her on the ride of her life.

      Afterwards he pulled her down against him and settled her head into the curve of his neck as her body trembled in the aftershock of multiple orgasms.

      His fingers drifted slowly along the edge of her spine, soothing gently until she gradually quieted and her breathing returned to normal.

      She slept, physically and emotionally exhausted, unaware of the man who held her, or that it was a long time before he carefully disengaged and drew her in against the curve of his body.

      CHAPTER EIGHT

      THEY arrived at JFK airport in New York and were met by a chauffeur whom Wolfe introduced as Mike, who greeted them as they entered the arrivals lounge, took care of their luggage and led the way to a black top-of-the-range Mercedes parked outside the terminal.

      With skilled ease they were transferred from the airport into the city.

      A wise move, Lara acknowledged, given New York traffic remained the nightmare she remembered from during a visit with Suzanne and Darius.

      One-way streets, traffic lights on almost every corner, reduced speed limits, traffic snarls and delays.

      Cosmopolitan, loud and brash vied with refined old-money and very real wealth. A city of contrasts, where business deals were made in boardrooms and deals of a dubious kind happened on the streets. Light and dark, legitimate and subversive … a city which never slept.

      She didn’t know where Wolfe resided, and hadn’t thought to ask. Once it had been a loft in Tribeca, but that was years ago, and he’d undoubtedly moved on and up since then.

      Upper East Side, Manhattan was definitely up, and his roomy apartment on a high floor overlooking Central Park had to be worth a small fortune, she observed as she