The Forbidden Innocent by Sharon Kendrick Page A

the very cradle of his body. It should have been daunting, and on one level it was—and yet on another it felt as if her entire life had been spent waiting for this moment.
    ‘Ashley!’ He whispered into her mouth and she gave an instinctive little mew of pleasure in response. She could feel the warmth of his breath mingling with hers and smell his masculine scent invading her nostrils.
    ‘J-Jack,’ she breathed—and then said it again, as if to reassure herself that she wasn’t dreaming. ‘Jack.’
    ‘Yes,’ he said unsteadily. ‘Yes.’
    Reaching down, he began to unbutton her coat, slipping his hand inside to cup one breast over her sweater, and Ashley jerked with shock and pleasure at the unexpected intimacy. Beneath the cheap wool, she felt her flesh swell and become acutely sensitive beneath his seeking fingers. And then he moved his hand, sliding it underneath the sweater to alight on her bra itself.
    His fingers had now encountered a painfully tight nipple and were rubbing at it deliciously through the lace of her bra and Ashley found her senses clamouring to have him remove the obstruction. To have his whole hand cup the exquisitely aching mound. She could feelher nipple pushing painfully against the lace—as if her bra had suddenly become several sizes too small.
    ‘Jack,’ she moaned.
    ‘You like that, don’t you?’ he whispered.
    ‘Oh, yes. Yes.’ She’d never felt like this before—never had a man touch her like this before. For several seconds she allowed the strange, sweet sensation to wash over her and felt the rush of desire which was spiralling up inside her. She registered her sudden urgent need for something more and allowed herself to wriggle restlessly in his arms.
    ‘Please,’ she heard herself whisper, as if someone had planted the word inside her mouth. ‘Please keep doing that.’
    ‘My pleasure,’ he ground out.
    No. It was her pleasure.
Hers.
She’d never thought that her body could feel like this. As if it were on fire—and only Jack could extinguish that fire. She met the urgent thrust of his hips with an instinctive one of her own—until reality hit her like a ton of bricks dropped from a great height and smashed into her thoughts.
    She was standing on a bleak and barren moor, letting her boss make love to her!
    Her breath coming in ragged little gasps, she tore herself out of his arms and stared up at his face—where another shock awaited her. For this was Jack Marchant as she had never seen him before, his features all dark and saturnine—looking like the devil himself. This was no longer her proud and aristocratic boss, she realised,but a sexually aroused stranger she didn’t really recognise.
    She pulled her sweater down over her aching breasts. ‘What… what do you think you’re doing?’ she stumbled.
    With an effort he sucked air back into his lungs and an unbearable frustration coated his words with bitterness. ‘Oh, come on—Ashley. A little less of the outraged innocence,’ he bit out. ‘That kiss has been weeks in the making—you know that and I know that. And please don’t pretend you didn’t want it as much as I did. It’s bad enough to be thwarted in a situation like this—but hypocrisy would make it simply intolerable.’
    Shame washed over her. Ashley opened her mouth to protest—to fling his unjust accusations back at him—but how could she do that, when deep down she knew that he spoke nothing but the truth? This
had
been weeks in the making—if she was honest enough to admit to all the little glances and side-glances they’d exchanged. That feeling of excitement and frustration whenever he was around. And she couldn’t deny that she
had
wanted it—maybe she was just taken aback by how much he seemed to want her, too.
    She was confused and bewildered, and Ashley’s instinct to escape overrode everything. Her cheeks burning with shame, she turned her back on him and ran—her footsteps slipping and sliding in the soft mud as she