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Sickness clawed at the pit of her stomach. There was only one occasion, and he shouldn’t need reminding of it. A shudder began somewhere deep inside her, pain spreading slowly through her, every instinct warning her to escape. This man was dangerous. He had torn her with the savagery of his words and now he meant to destroy her pride and leave her bleeding at his feet.
She looked up at him with blank eyes, backing away from him towards the door, but it was too late. His shadow fell between her and the door. She knew he had seen her instinctive withdrawal, and his lips tightened, twisting sarcastically.
‘Look at me, Storm,’ he commanded softly.
She looked down at the floor. If he saw her eyes he would know what he had done to her. When she felt his fingers on her chin, she closed them, gritting her teeth, as they caressed her throat and the smooth hollows behind her ears.
She felt his breath graze her skin. ‘Open your eyes, Storm. I want you to look at me.’
Panic coursed through her. She shivered and knew he had felt her reaction. ‘Now what have I said to provoke this reaction?’ Jago mused thoughtfully above her, his hands sliding over her back, propelling her against him. ‘Whatever it was, it hurt, didn’t it, Storm?’
‘There’s no way you could hurt me,’ she denied breathlessly, opening her eyes.
He was looking straight at her, his eyes lazily amused. ‘Is that so? I should have thought there were any number of ways,’ he said quietly, his hands tightening meaningfully over her frail bones. ‘At a guess I’d say you’d never had a lover, Storm,’ he added thoughtfully. ‘Poor David, I’ll bet he doesn’t have the faintest idea about what you’re keeping hidden under all that ice.’
‘I thought you just said I couldn’t be a woman,’ Storm countered unwisely, wriggling away from the sensuous movement of his hands over her hips.
‘Not that you couldn’t, just that you hadn’t. But you will,’ he promised softly without taking his eyes from her trembling lips.
Storm wanted to deny his words, but she could not, just as she could not prevent her lips from parting as his mouth covered them. At their touch piercing sweetness flowed through her, turning her blood to molten fire.
‘I don’t believe David’s even kissed you properly,’ Jago murmured huskily against her mouth. ‘Put your arms round me, Storm,’ he whispered. ‘I want to feel you against me.’
Even the words were subtly designed to undermine her willpower she thought despairingly as her body quivered and against her will her arms circled his neck, her fingers drawn to the thick night darkness of his hair.
His arms held her against him and her flesh seemed to melt from her bones, a feeling that she knew must be desire beating up over her, her mouth parting mindlessly under the domination he was exerting.
It was like drowning, Storm thought hazily; like being caught on a huge rolling wave and subjected to its will, only sooner or later the wave would fling her back down on to the beach exhausted and hurt. And it went on and on undermining her resistance like so much unstable sand, until she was clinging to Jago’s shoulders, her own legs unable to support her, her body crying out for the fulfilment his caresses promised.
‘Want me?’ he whispered against her throat, and she shivered in answering acknowledgement of her need.
His hands slid upwards, cupping her breasts and increasing the dull ache deep inside.
‘And you don’t love David?’
She stiffened. David! She had completely forgotten him. Forgotten the reason why she had come here in the first place.
’Of course I love him,’ she lied desperately. ‘And one day you’re going to pay for what you did to him!’ She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her, his mouth ruthlessly plundering hers.
‘You’re a liar and a coward,’ he told her. ‘Of course you damn well don’t love him. You’d never have responded to me the way you do if you did. But it isn’t over, Storm, and when I eventually hold you in my arms and possess your body, it will be my name you cry and not David’s.’
His words sent explosions of terror over her body, her mouth faintly swollen as he released her to stare coolly at her heated face.
‘I’m late for lunch,’ he drawled, shooting back a cuff to glance at his watch.
‘And you don’t want to keep Miss Townley,’ Storm said savagely.
‘Jealous?’
‘Like hell I am,’ Storm said succinctly. ‘She’s welcome to you. And I don’t suppose you’ll need to give her any lessons in how to become a woman!’
For a moment his eyes narrowed and she thought she must have betrayed the hurt he had caused her, but he merely said equably, ‘I’m sure I won’t. Angie has all the right attributes to bring out the male in any man. Even poor David.’
Storm hadn’t realised she had clenched her fists until she felt her nails pricking her palms.
‘Well, I’m sure you’ll be able to entertain one another all afternoon with a mutual exchange of expertise!’
Jago’s eyes hardened. ‘Don’t push me too far, Storm,’ he warned. ‘For your information I shall be spending most of my time talking business. You should be down on your knees thanking me if you did but know it. Sam was pretty keen for you to join us. He even suggested I might care to spend the afternoon entertaining Angie while he took you on a guided tour of the house he’s just bought.’
