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“That, I can assure you, I will,” she promised fervently, her words the barest of whispers.
When his lips touched hers, he tasted more than the flavor of rich Burgundy. His tongue skimmed the soft surface of her mouth, gently prying her lips apart. Tiffany had no desire to stop him. She felt reckless, daring. Her raw emotions had pushed rational thought aside. Though she barely knew him, her body trembled at his touch, thrilled at his gentle caress.
His fingers slid down her arms to wrap securely over her waist, pulling her willing body to his. He moaned when he felt her hands, which had been gently touching his shoulders, grip the corded muscles more tightly. She was warm, pliable, yielding....
Silently cursing the doubts in his mind, he crushed her body to his. He felt the heat in her blood, tasted her need when her mouth opened willingly to him, smelled the heady scent of perfume mingling with burning pitch. The ache in his loins began to pound with the need of this woman—Ellery Rhodes’s wife.
Tiffany let her arms hold him close. She knew he would be leaving soon, and she had to savor each sweet second she had with him. When she felt the weight of his body gently push her to the floor, she didn’t resist. Her hands linked behind his head, and she let herself fall until the soft cushion of the carpet broke her fall and was pressed against her back.
“I want you,” he whispered, his face taut with desire. “God forgive me, but I want you.”
Her blue eyes reflected the golden flames of the fire, and her hair was splayed in tangled curls on the deep, green carpet. Passion darkened her gaze and lingered in her eyes. “There’s no need for forgiveness,” she murmured, her fingers stroking the back of his neck, his tensed shoulder muscles.
Her blood was pulsing violently through her veins, heating the most intimate parts of her. Her heart felt as if it would burst with need, want. It continued to beat an irregular rhythm in her ears, making her oblivious to anything but the desire of this man . . . this stranger. As she gazed into his silvery eyes, she wondered if what she was feeling was love or lust and found she didn’t care.
“Tiffany,” he whispered against her hair. He was lying over her, his chest crushing her breasts as if he were afraid she would escape, his long legs entangled with hers. “I didn’t want this to happen.” His ragged breathing was filled with reluctance.
“I know,” she whispered.
He kissed the curve of her neck and tingling sensations raced wildly down her body. Dear Lord, she couldn’t think when he was touching her, couldn’t reason.... Before she could try to explain her feelings, his rugged face loomed over hers. He gazed down upon her and passion darkened his eyes.Think of Ellery,she told herself,there is a slim chance that he might be alive. Though he betrayed you, he is still your husband.
Zane’s lips captured hers, and despite the arguments in her mind she wrapped her arms around his neck and let her fingers wander in his thick, obsidian hair. His touch was electric, and all the nerves in her body screamed to be soothed by him.
I can’t do this,she thought wildly, when his hands rimmed the boat neck of the sweater and teased the delicate skin near her collarbone. He lowered his head and pressed his moist tongue to the hollow of her throat, extracting a sweet torment that forced her pulse to quiver.
He kissed her again, more savagely this time, and she responded with a throaty moan. When he lifted his head, he gazed into her eyes, then pulled the sweater over her head, baring her breasts to the intimate room. A primitive groan slid past his lips as he looked down at her. The lacy bra, the sheerest of barriers to him, displayed the ripeness of her breasts and their pink tips. Already the nipples were rigid, thrusting proudly against the silky fabric and offering the comfort to soothe him if he would only suckle from them. “God, you’re beautiful,” he said, running first his eyes and then his tongue over the delicious mounds of white and feeling the silken texture of her skin beneath the sheer lace. She trembled with the want of him.
The wet impression of his tongue left a dewy path from one rose-tipped peak to the next. Tiffany struggled beneath him, arching up from the carpet and pulling him to her with anxious fingers digging into the thick muscles of his shoulders.
In a swift movement he removed his sweater and tossed it beside Tiffany’s on the floor. She stared at him with love-drugged eyes. His chest was lean and firm; dark skin was covered when she lifted a hand to stroke him, and his nipples grew taut as she stared at him.
He lowered himself over her and covered her mouth with his. His tongue tasted of her, dipping seductively into her mouth only to withdraw again. The heat within her began to ache for all of him. She wanted him to touch her, fill her, make long, passionate love to her until the first shafts of morning light filtered through the windows.
When his mouth moved slowly down her neck to pause at the shadowy valley between her breasts, she cried out his name. “Zane, please,” she whispered, begging for his touch. Thoughts of a distant past with Ellery infiltrated her mind.I couldn’t feel this way with Zane if Ellery were still alive. . . . I couldn’t!
In response to her plea, he unclasped the bra and removed it from her, staring at the blushing beauty of her breasts.
“What do you want, sweet Tiffany?” he asked, his slumberous gray eyes searching hers.
Her throat tightened and she closed her eyes. Her dark lashes swept invitingly downward. “I want you—all of you.”
He dipped his head and ran his tongue over one proud nipple. “Do you want me to love you?”
“Please . . . Zane . . . yes!”Didn’t he know? Couldn’t he see the love in her eyes as she opened them to search his face?
“All of you?” He kissed the other nipple, but his eyes locked with hers for an electrifying instant. His teeth gently teased the dark point, and she quivered from the deepest reaches of her soul.
“All of me,” she replied and groaned when he began to suckle hungrily at one delicious peak. His large hands held her close, pressing against her naked back and warming her exposed skin. Tiffany felt waves of heat move over her as he kissed her, caressed her, stroked her with his tongue. She cradled his head, holding him close, afraid he would leave her bereft and longing. As his mouth and tongue tasted her, drew out the love she felt, the hot void within her began to throb with desire.
“Make love to me, Zane,” she whispered when the exquisite torment was more than she could bear. “Make love to me and never let me go. . . .”
It was the desperate cry of a woman in the throes of passion. Zane knew that Tiffany had unwittingly let her control slip. He positioned himself above her and his fingers toyed with the waistband of her jeans, slipping deliciously on her warm abdomen. She contracted her muscles, offering more of herself, wanting his touch. Her body arched upward eagerly, her physical desire overcoming rational thought.
Her fingers strayed to the button on his cords and he felt it slide easily through the buttonhole. Her hands did delightful things to him as she slid the zipper lower. He squeezed his eyes shut against his rising passion. His need of her was all-consuming, his desire throbbing wildly against his cords. His fingers dipped lower to feel the smooth skin over her buttocks, and he had to grit his teeth when she began to touch him.
“Tiffany,” he whispered raggedly, forcing himself to think straight. He remembered all too vividly that Ellery Rhodes could very well be alive. If Zane took her now, and Ellery was alive, Tiffany would never forgive him. “Wait.” His voice was hoarse. With gentle hands he restrained her fingers. She stared up at him with hungry, disappointed blue eyes.
God, what he wouldn’t give to forget all his earlier vows to himself. If he made love to her now, before the mystery surrounding Devil’s Gambit was resolved, before he had purchased the farm, she would end up hating him.
