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For a moment Eirik stared at her in a stunned silence, and then he thew back his head and laughed so hard that his shoulders shook. ‘I’ve never met anyone like you,’ he told her. ‘You are not afraid to say what you think.’ His expression became serious. ‘That’s the first time I’ve felt like laughing since my brother died.’ He reached out and threaded his fingers through her curls. ‘At the risk of being shot down in flames, I have to say that you are even more beautiful when you’re angry.’
‘I’ve never lost my temper before,’ Arielle admitted. Fear of her father’s unpredictable moods had meant that she’d supressed her emotions. Even when her mother had died, she’d cried alone in her room after Gerran had told her to stop snivelling. The only time she had stood up to her father had resulted in the scar on her face, and it had been a permanent reminder of his control.
But Arielle was not afraid of Eirik, and she knew he would never harm her physically. Her heart was another matter, but it was up to her to keep her emotions out of the sex-only relationship he wanted. Trusting him had allowed her to voice her anger for the first time in her life, and it felt liberating. What else could Eirik teach her about herself? Arielle wondered. She was eager to find out and gave a low moan when he dipped his head again and this time claimed her mouth in a searing kiss that turned her bones to liquid.
‘I don’t want to be accused of denying you your right to choose,’ he murmured in her ear before he nipped her tender lobe with his teeth. ‘You get to decide if you want to make love here on the rug in front of the fire, or in bed.’
‘Here first, and then the bed.’ She slid her hands beneath his sweater and explored the hard ridges of his abs before opening the zip on his jeans. ‘And after that...’ She hesitated.
Eirik’s brows rose. ‘Go on,’ he prompted thickly.
‘Well... I’ve fantasised about having sex on the kitchen table,’ Arielle confessed, blushing hotly. But she felt emboldened by the gleam in Eirik’s eyes to tell him what she wanted.
How the hell was he going to survive this woman? Eirik wondered. Arielle’s intriguing mix of naivety and sensuality blew his mind. He was relieved that she understood sex was all there could be between them. Now that he’d established the necessary boundaries, he could relax and enjoy a brief fling with her. Although relaxed was the opposite of how he was feeling right now, he acknowledged, as he pulled his sweater over his head and hauled her close so that the hard points of her nipples pressed against his chest.
His heart thudded as he slid the straps of her lacy nightgown over her shoulders. The row of tiny buttons down the front tested his patience, but he resisted the urge to tear the gown off so that he could get his hands on her naked body. Instead, he concentrated on unwrapping the best birthday present he could have wished for. When the nightgown slid to the floor, he cupped Arielle’s breasts in his hands and played with her nipples, eliciting husky moans from her.
Desire was a pagan drumbeat in his blood. He set her away from him and watched the firelight caress her gorgeous curves while he stripped off the rest of his clothes. He was already aroused, and Arielle’s swiftly indrawn breath when she saw his proud erection heightened his anticipation.
Her lips parted beneath his as he kissed her deeply. ‘Wrap your legs around me,’ he bade her, and then he lowered her to the floor and came down beside her.
He knew her body so well, knew what she liked, and he pushed her legs apart and settled his shoulders between her thighs. He skimmed his fingers over the neat vee of red curls that hid her femininity and breathed in the erotic scent of her arousal. ‘I want to taste you,’ he said hoarsely before he flicked the tip of his tongue along her opening. With his finger he gently parted her, and then used his mouth to give her the most intimate caress of all.
‘That feels so good.’ Arielle gasped. She tilted her hips to offer herself to him. Eirik was tempted to give her an orgasm with his tongue, but the pressure was building inside him, and he knelt up to roll a condom over his erection and then slid his hands beneath her bottom. He entered her with a smooth thrust and groaned as he pushed deeper into her velvet heat.
‘Does this feel good? It does for me. You drive me insane,skatta.’ Sex had never been so intense with his previous lovers, and his self-control had never been threatened the way it was with Arielle. Eirik started to move, and everything got a whole lot worse, or better, as she matched his rhythm, and he knew he could not hold out for much longer. Their bodies had learned each other’s secrets and they moved together in a synchronised dance as sensation built on sensation. His jaw clenched as he fought to hold back the tsunami and drove into her with powerful strokes.
‘Eirik,’ she cried out as she shuddered beneath him. He covered her mouth with his and kissed her hungrily, thrusting his tongue between her lips as simultaneously he thrust into her body and was overwhelmed by the strongest climax he’d ever experienced. The force of his release tore the breath from his lungs. He slumped on top of her and pressed his lips to her slender neck. After a few minutes he reluctantly lifted himself off her and rolled onto his back, waiting for his heart rate to return to normal.
It was just amazing sex, Eirik assured himself. The intense attraction he felt for Arielle couldn’t last. It would burn out—at least he hoped it would. But until then...
He reached for her and drew her down on top of him, refusing to acknowledge the odd clench his heart gave when her body fitted against his as if she had been designed solely for him.
CHAPTER NINE
‘DOYOUSKIon the mountain in winter?’
Eirik stretched luxuriously and opened his eyes to see Arielle sitting up in bed. The window faced the mountain known locally as Kaempen—or Giant. In the gathering dusk, the mountain was a craggy, grey shadow with a dusting of snow on it topmost flanks.
‘No, the terrain is not good. Fjernland’s only ski resort is a few miles from here.’
‘Is that where you and your brother were skiing when there was an avalanche?’
Eirik sat up and leaned back against the headboard. It was Sunday afternoon, and they had barely left the bedroom all weekend other than to raid the kitchen when the need for food had briefly topped their hunger for each other. Arielle had made pancakes served with lingonberry jam and they had fed each other the sweet treat before Eirik had lifted her onto the wooden table and pushed her legs apart to feast on her.
‘We were in the French Alps,’ he told her. ‘Staying at a resort that we had visited years ago. Niels was keen to go back there when I’d suggested a skiing trip.’ Eirik exhaled heavily. ‘The conditions on the day of the accident were excellent for skiing and there were no indications that an avalanche might occur.’
His mind replayed the shocking moment when he’d glanced over his shoulder and seen a massive wave of snow thundering down the slope. Since then, he had only spoken about his brother with Niels’s fiancée, Princess Catalina, when they had grieved together for the man they had both loved. But in the past two days, when he hadn’t been having incredible sex with Arielle, they had talked about all manner of things, and he’d found himself opening up to her.
‘Niels was the better skier out of the two of us,’ he told her. ‘From when we were teenagers, my passion was sailing, and I preferred to be on a boat than on the slopes.’ His jaw clenched. ‘It makes no sense that Niels was killed, and I survived. It should have been the other way round.’
‘There was nothing you could have done to prevent the avalanche,’ Arielle said quietly. ‘Just as I couldn’t have stopped my mum from being swept away by a freak wave. Fate can be cruel.’
Eirik reached out and wound a silky red curl around his finger. ‘I assumed that your mother had been ill. I didn’t realise she died in an accident. You were only young, weren’t you?’
‘Eleven. It was in the summer before I started secondary school. Mum and I had gone for a swim in the sea. She was a very good swimmer, and a qualified lifeguard. The weather had been calm when we’d swum round the headland to do some snorkelling. But the wind blew up suddenly and a huge wave rolled in. Mum pushed me up onto a ledge on the cliff, but as she tried to climb after me, the wave swept her away.’
Eirik cursed softly and shifted across the bed to draw Arielle against his chest. ‘That must have been horrific.’
