The Disgraced Princess by Robyn Donald Page B

muttered almost pleadingly.
    He told her harshly, ‘I’ve made no commitment to her or to any other woman. She is not expecting a proposal from me.’
    Rosie struggled to articulate a further question, but he kissed the unformed words from her lips, and she surrendered to desire so intense her knees buckled. Gerd’s arms tightened around her. She gasped when he pickedher up and carried her, mouth on mouth, across the room, sinking onto one of the big sofas without releasing her.
    The kisses turned shockingly erotic when he bent her head back across his shoulder and explored her sweet depths with a torrid passion. Dimly, vaguely, Rosie wondered if she should have run while she had the chance.
    Too late now. His slow, drugging kisses summoned a wildly incandescent response from every cell in her body and she had never felt so safe.
    Yet never been in such danger…
    Gerd lifted his head and scrutinised her face, penetrating eyes gleaming between dark lashes, the angular framework of his handsome face suddenly far more prominent. ‘If you don’t want this tell me right now, before it’s too late.’
    Rosie dragged breath into her famished lungs. Disconnected thoughts tumbled in freefall around her brain, fleeting scraps so coloured by emotion she couldn’t assemble them into any coherent order.
    Finally she managed, ‘Why?’
    Closing his eyes, he said in a rough voice, ‘Rosemary, I’ve wanted you since I first kissed you, but you were far too young.’ Catching her unawares, he opened his eyes again, fixing her with a fierce, unguarded gaze that set more nerves jangling. ‘And now you’re grown-up, but it has to be what you want too.’
    His words jerked Rosie upwards. Mouth tight, eyes blazing, she surveyed his ruthless face.
    It was too cruel of him to kiss her like that, as though she was the most important thing in his life, as though he’d longed for her just as fiercely as she’d craved him, and then let his damned principles get in the way.
    Furious, she exploded, ‘Of course I want you—I’ve wanted you since I understood what wanting is.’
    He said harshly, ‘You deserve more than a one-night stand.’
    For some strange reason his words strengthened her resolution. She met his gaze with boldness. ‘So do you.’
    His chest lifted and she saw wry laughter gleam in the golden eyes.
    And something else, she realised, her heart picking up speed once more. Determination, as though he’d come to some turning point and now saw the way ahead.
    â€˜So perhaps we will forget about it being just one night,’ he said. In a voice without any inflection he asked, ‘What is your decision?’
    â€˜Why do I have to decide?’ she demanded.
    He gave her a taut, narrow smile. ‘You know why.’ He held out his hand. Slowly she put her hand into his keeping. Against the tanned strength of his, hers looked fragile, almost lost.
    He wrapped his fingers around hers and said, ‘Pull.’
    â€˜I don’t have to.’ Her stupid hand was shaking, and she fought back an unregenerate sizzle of excitement. ‘I know you’re stronger than I am.’
    â€˜That’s why you decide,’ he told her in flexibly.
    Clearly, he wasn’t going to change his mind. Without thinking she hauled back. Instantly his fingers closed around hers, holding them in a firm grip that didn’t hurt.
    And then he let her go. In a voice as uncompromising as that grip had been, he said, ‘Make up your mind, Rosemary.’
    Awash with a hunger that screamed for satisfaction, Rosie forced herself to think. Part of the hold he had on her had to be simple frustration because she’d never made love. In her dreams it was wonderful, transcendental, but she’d listened to enough friends to understand it needn’t necessarily be like that.
    So if she experienced sex with Gerd chances were she could rid