The Chilling Deception by Jayne Castle

physical effect on her was one of the things that made her wary and uncertain of the relationship. It was one of the things that had to be put aside so that a genuine dialogue could take place. Belatedly Guinevere remembered her own plans for the weekend.
    “Zac?”
    “We haven’t got much time, honey. Here, lift up so I can get your skirt off.”
    “Zac, wait a minute, I think—”
    “It’ll be okay, sweetheart. Damn it, I didn’t want to rush this.” He fumbled with the zipper of her skirt.
    “Zac, please, listen to me.” Her fingers closed over his fumbling hand at the fastening of her skirt. “I wanted—I wanted to talk.”
    “We’ll talk in the morning, I promise. Right now we haven’t got enough time to talk and make love.”
    “Then we’ll have to make a choice, won’t we?” she said heatedly as some of her determination returned.
    He agreed instantly. “Right. We’ll talk later. Right now I’m going to lay you down on this bed, take off every stitch of clothing you’ve got on, and let you wrap yourself around me the way you do when you finally let go. God, I can’t get enough of you when you come alive under me, Gwen. You’re so soft and hot and clinging, and it’s been so long since we’ve been together.”
    “Fourteen days,” she reminded him grimly. “That’s hardly a lengthy separation.”
    “Feels like a lifetime.” He sprawled across her, locking her securely under him with his thigh. His fingers traveled up under the hem of the skirt he hadn’t yet succeeded in removing and Gwen flinched passionately as he probed purposefully under her panties.
    She planted her palms firmly on his shoulders, telling herself that she had to take a stand now or she would be lost beneath the tide of passion. “Zac, please. This isn’t the way I had planned it. I want to talk. We
have
to talk.”
    He stilled above her, finally sensing her determination. She looked up into his shadowed face and saw the gleam of his hungry gaze. For a moment Guinevere faltered before the fire in him, but the need to settle the fundamentals of the relationship was stronger tonight than even her physical need of him. Settling things was the reason she had maneuvered him into this trip, she reminded herself. She must be strong for both of them.
    “You want to talk,” he repeated roughly, staring down at her.
    Guinevere nodded, moistening her lower lip with her tongue. “Yes. Please. It’s very important.”
    “Obviously.” Zac sighed heavily and eased himself to a sitting position. “Somehow I knew things were going to go wrong. I think I’m under a curse this weekend.”
    “This is serious, Zac. It’s important to me.” Guinevere sat up slowly, a part of her already missing the warmth of his touch. Awkwardly she began refastening the buttons of the yellow silk blouse.
    “What exactly do you want to talk about?” He sounded resigned.
    She gathered her courage. “I think we should discuss the status of our relationship,” she said very formally.
    “Oh, hell.” He let his head sink into his hands.
    Guinevere looked at him worriedly. “Don’t you agree, Zac? I mean, we’ve just been sort of floundering along for several weeks now and I think it’s time we put things in perspective, so to speak. I think we should assess exactly what we each want out of this association of ours and determine the boundaries. I’ve been feeling very confused lately, Zac. Very unsure of what’s going on between us. We need to clarify matters.”
    “You sound as if you’ve been reading a lot of magazines lately.”
    She stiffened, hurt by the sarcasm in his voice. “I don’t think I’m asking too much.”
    “What are you asking?”
    “I just told you!”
    “Well, I don’t know what you mean by clarifying matters. I thought things were fairly clear a few minutes ago when we were lying down.”
    “I see. That’s all our relationship means to you? A convenient source of sex?”
    His head came up and his eyes