Mistress at a Price by Sara Craven Page A

changed too, she saw. He was barefoot, and she knew that his dark blue silk dressing gown was his only covering.

    He stood watching her for a long moment, the open hunger in his gaze mixed with a kind of wonder that made the breath catch in her throat.

    He said huskily, ‘ You are almost — too beautiful. Do you know that? So lovely that you scare me. ’

    She shook her head, colour sweeping into her face. She felt shy, suddenly, and incredibly vulnerable in the face of his passion.

    She tried to smile. ‘ I ’ m frightened too — a little. ’

    He came slowly across to her, resting his hands lightly on her bare shoulders, his thumbs stroking the delicate hollows of her collarbone.

    He said, ‘ But I ’ m not the first? I can ’ t be. ’

    ‘ No. ’ Cat, for one strange moment, found herself wishing desperately that her answer could have been different. That she could have told him she was still a virgin — that there had been no other man in her life and that the night ahead with him would be her true initiation.

    She said, ‘ Liam… ’

    ‘ Shh, ’ he whispered. ‘ The past doesn ’ t matter. Just the pleasure of the present — remember? ’

    He bent his head and found her mouth with his. Her lips parted willingly, eagerly under the questing pressure, meeting the sensuous invasion of his tongue with her own ardent warmth.

    His fingers slid down her arms to her waist, then moved to the base of her spine, his hands hard as he drew her against him and the heated passion of his arousal, and Cat sighed brokenly as she felt her body respond to his desire with its own surge of liquid fire.

    When the long kiss finally ended, she was trembling like a leaf caught in the wind, her breathing shallow and driven, astonished at the depth of emotion he had engendered in her.

    She took one small step backwards, away from him, staring at him with enormous eyes as slowly she hooked her fingers under the thin shoulder-straps and pulled them away and down, releasing herself from her nightgown.

    As it slipped to the floor the delicate fabric seemed to shiver against her fervid flesh, grazing the hardening peaks of her expectant breasts, lingering for the length of an indrawn breath over her hips, until she faced him, naked, her body an exquisite challenge.

    Her voice was a husky wisp, half lost in the depth of the silence between them. ‘ Now it ’ s your turn. ’

    Liam made a small harsh sound in his throat. He untied the belt of his robe and shrugged it away, then lifted her in his arms and carried her to the waiting bed.

    He lay beside her, his lips on her mouth, her throat, as he caressed her breasts with gentle, awed fingertips. She arched towards him, yielding and sinuous, her hands beginning an exploration of their own, stroking his muscular shoulders, then moving slowly down his spine to the flat male buttocks.

    He had, she thought, a wonderful body — lean, tanned and smooth-skinned, apart from a shadowing of body hair on his chest. Cat buried her face in his shoulder, absorbing the scent of his skin, marvelling how familiar and precious his nakedness seemed.

    Only a few hours ago they ’ d been strangers, she thought wonderingly. Now, in this moonlit bed, they were becoming lovers, intimate and enthralled.

    He muttered hoarsely, ‘ Hold me, ’ and she obeyed, her fingers encircling the taut velvet hardness of him, paying delicate tribute to his potent masculine strength.

    Sighing with pleasure, Liam lowered his mouth to her breasts, his tongue adoring the engorged nipples until she moaned aloud with the pain and glory of it, aching for his possession, and felt him smile against her skin as he whispered, ‘ Wait, my love. ’

    He moved slightly, turning away from her, and she murmured his name in disappointment and appeal, only to realise he was simply taking care of her by using protection.

    He came back to her, framing her face with his hands, kissing her deeply and sensually. Then his