Modern Romance Collection: July 2017 Books 1 - 4. Sharon Kendrick

squeals of pleasure as he increased his penetration. He drove into her hard and harder still, deliberately holding back until she could bear it no longer and called out his name again. And then she just went under, her body arching into a tight bow until she let it go with one long and shuddering cry. And wasn’t this his fantasy? Not some woman she could never be, but Keeley Turner underneath him while he rode her, with those soft thighs tensing as she came all over again. He waited until her soft moans had died away and only then did he allow himself his own release, his heart clenching as the seed pumped hotly from his body and he reminded himself that this was what it was all about. The ultimate conquest of a woman who had been haunting him for years. A farewell to something which should have been finished eight years ago.

      He fell asleep afterwards and when he awoke it was to find his lips touching one pouting breast. Barely any movement was needed to take the puckered nipple deep into his mouth and to graze it with his teeth and lick it, until she was squirming beneath him and before he knew what was happening he was inside her again. This time it was longer. Slower. As if it were all happening in some kind of dream. But his orgasm just went on and on and on. Afterwards he rolled onto his back, careful to allow her head to rest on his shoulder because women were very susceptible to rejection at times like this—and although he planned to wave her goodbye in the very near future, it certainly wouldn’t be tonight. But he needed to think about what happened next because this was a situation which would need unusual levels of diplomacy. His fingertip skated a light survey over her belly and he felt her shiver in response.

      ‘Well,’ he whispered. ‘I can’t think of a more satisfactory end to the evening.’

      Keeley nodded, trying not to show her disappointment. Of all the things he could have said and he came out with something like that. Why, he made her feel like an after-dinner brandy he’d consumed! She licked her swollen lips. But what did she expect? Words of admiration and affection? Ariston telling her she was the only woman for him and that he wanted a relationship with her? Of course not. It was what it was, she told herself fiercely. A one-night stand which wasn’t supposed to mean anything. So she rolled away from him, shaking her tangled hair free as she attempted to find the level of sophistication which this kind of situation no doubt called for.

      ‘Indeed it was,’ she agreed coolly.

      There was a short silence for a moment, during which he seemed to be mulling over his words.

      ‘I’m surprised Santino didn’t try to follow you down here to get to you before I did,’ he said eventually.

      It was such a random remark that Keeley frowned as she turned her head to look at him, pushing back a handful of untidy hair. ‘Why on earth would he have done that?’

      He shrugged. ‘I noticed how much attention he was paying you throughout dinner.’

      ‘Did you?’ she said, without missing a beat.

      ‘I certainly did. And after you’d gone Santino and Rachel left pretty abruptly too. We could hear them arguing all the way back to their room.’

      ‘And you thought...what?’ she questioned softly as some inner warning system began to sound inside her head. ‘Did you think it was about me?’

      ‘I suspect it was. Your name was mentioned more than once.’

      ‘And...what?’ she demanded. ‘Did you think I was hungry for a man, Ariston? Any man? That if Santino had arrived before you that I would be in bed with him?’

      ‘I don’t know.’ There was a heartbeat of a pause as he lifted his eyes to hers. ‘Would you?’

      Keeley froze just before instinct kicked in and she longed to flex her fingernails over his skin and tear at his silken flesh. To inflict some kind of hurt on him—something which might mimic the searing pain which was clamping around her heart. She expelled the breath she’d been holding, bitterly aware of how little he thought of her. But she’d known that from the start, hadn’t she? And had thought, what? That the growing sexual attraction between them would somehow cancel out his obvious lack of respect? That admitting him to her bed so quickly might make him admire her? What a stupid little fool she’d been.

      ‘Get out,’ she said, in a low voice.

      ‘Oh, Keeley,’ he said softly. ‘There’s no need to overreact. You asked me a question and I answered it truthfully. Would you rather I told you a lie?’

      ‘I mean it!’ she snapped. He made to pull her back into his arms but she jumped out of bed before he could touch her. ‘Get out of here,’ she repeated.

      He shrugged as he swung his legs over the bed and reached for his trousers. ‘I wasn’t intending to insult you.’

      ‘Really? In that case, I think you ought to take a good, long look at the things you just said. You think I’m sexually indiscriminate, do you, Ariston? That one attractive man is pretty much the same as any other?’

      ‘How should I know? You are your mother’s daughter, after all. And I’ve had enough experience of women to know what they are capable of,’ he said rawly. ‘I know just how unscrupulous they can be.’

      Keeley reached for the cotton dressing gown which was hanging on a hook on the door and pulled it on, not daring to speak until she had tied the belt around her waist and her naked body was hidden from his gaze.

      ‘Why did you seduce me, Ariston?’ she questioned in a low voice. ‘When you obviously think so little of me?’

      He paused in the act of sliding on his shirt, the movement making his powerful muscles ripple beneath the silk fabric. ‘Because I find you intensely attractive. Because you lit a longing in me all those years ago which never really went away. Maybe now it will.’

      ‘And that’s all?’

      His eyes narrowed. ‘Isn’t that enough?’

      But instinct told her there was something more. Something he was holding back. And suddenly she needed to know, even though she suspected it was going to shatter her. ‘Tell me the truth like you did before,’ she said. ‘Just...tell me.’

      His eyes gleamed like silver in the moonlight, before he shrugged. ‘It started out with wanting to have you for myself, for all the reasons I’ve just stated,’ he said in a low voice. ‘But also because...’

      ‘Because what, Ariston? Please don’t stop now. Not when this is just getting fascinating.’

      He zipped up his trousers before looking up. ‘Because I knew that my brother wouldn’t be tempted by you, if he knew I’d had sex with you first.’

      ‘Which naturally you would have made sure he knew?’

      He shrugged. ‘If I’d needed to, then yes. Yes, I would.’

      There was a disbelieving silence before she could bring herself to respond. ‘So it was...it was some kind of territorial thing? The ultimate deterrent to ensure that your brother wasn’t tempted, even though there is no spark between me and Pavlos and there never has been?’

      He met her gaze unflinchingly. ‘I guess so.’

      Keeley felt faint. It was even worse than she’d thought. Briefly, she closed her eyes before going into damage-limitation mode and that was something which came as naturally to her as breathing. The thing she was best at. She sucked in an unsteady breath. ‘You do realise I’m going to have to leave the island? That I can’t work for you any more. Not after this.’

      He shook his head. ‘You don’t have to do that.’

      ‘Really?’ She gave a bitter laugh. ‘Then how do you see this playing out? Me carrying on with my domestic work while you occasionally sneak down here to have sex with me? Or am I now supposed to abandon my uniform as if this was some bizarre kind of promotion and join you and your guests for dinner every night?’

      ‘There’s no need to overreact, Keeley,’ he gritted. ‘We can work something out.’

      ‘That’s