“There were … problems.” She smiled with an effort. “Do we have to talk about this? I just thought you should know I don’t have all the techniques down pat. I didn’t want you to be disappointed.”
He threw back his head and laughed joyously. “Disappointed? I feel like flying over the moon. Do you know how jealous I’ve been of that bastard?” His hand tightened on her elbow and suddenly they were almost running. “There aren’t any techniques, only instinct, and we both have an abundance of that, don’t we, love?”
Her spirits rebounded to reflect the same joy she could feel in Gideon. “I’ll say we do.”
They came out of the encircling palms into a clearing and Serena caught her breath. It was such an incredibly enchanting sight. In the moonlight the waterfall tumbling over the limestone rocks was a shimmering iridescent stream of silver as it poured into the onyx mirror of the pool. The dark encircling palms enclosed and imprisoned the jewellike beauty with a jealous intimacy.
She stopped on the moss-covered bank, mesmerized by the sheer beauty of the scene. “It’s utterly fantastic,” she said breathlessly. “I’ve never seen anything so lovely.”
“Well, you can’t paint it. Not tonight, at least.” Gideon dropped the towels on the ground and then spread the quilt with a quick billow of material. He turned to face her. “Lord, you’re beautiful. I knew when I first saw you in that outfit that I wanted to see you wear it here.” He took a step, and one finger traced the silver-scrolled trim bordering the square neckline. “This shines in the moonlight, just like I knew it would.”
She could feel the warmth of his finger on her breast through the thin material. “I thought you didn’t like it. Eleanor of Aquitaine, remember?”
“I like it. I was just jealous of all the other men who had probably seen you in it.” His gaze was fixed intently on the naked swell of her breasts above the neckline. “And I was trying like hell to keep from doing this.” His hands slowly moved behind her and loosened the back zipper. Then he pulled the neckline down, baring her breasts completely. The silver banded bodice kept them high and saucy in the moonlight, the pale globes a voluptuous invitation. “Beautiful.” His voice was harsh and thick and his eyes blazing hotly as they looked at her. “But it can be improved.”
He slowly lowered his head and his tongue flicked teasingly at the nipple and then enclosed it in his mouth, suckling strongly.
Serena cried out, arching mindlessly toward him. She couldn’t breathe. Her bones were melting. The entire world was melting.
His mouth moved to the other breast but his hand remained on the one he had abandoned, plucking at her nipple with thumb and finger. His lips left her and he took a step backward. He was breathing heavily and his eyes were smoky with need as he looked down at his handiwork. “That’s what I wanted to see. Pointed, glistening, mine.” He pulled her close, rubbing her newly aroused breasts against his chest.
The springy hair teased her unbearably and she shivered. “I can’t take much more,” she whispered. Her nails dug into his shoulder as his hips moved to brush her with his heated arousal. “Gideon …”
“I can’t either.” His voice was choked. “I wanted to go slow, but I can’t …” His hands were fumbling for the bottom of the tunic and he stepped back to pull it over her head with one swift movement.
He unfastened the closure of the silk trousers and dropped to his knees before her. He hooked his thumb in the waistband and slowly pulled the silk down over her hips. As her naked flesh came into view he chuckled, “You’re ready for me.”
“This outfit was your idea. I was in a hurry.” She felt his lips on the tender flesh of her belly and swayed helplessly. The soft breeze was touching her breasts and Gideon’s lips were an even more maddening arousal.
His warm palm was suddenly cupping her, his thumb toying with the tight curls surrounding her womanhood. “Damn, you’re sweet here. I want to play and …” His lips brushed her. Searing heat. She cried out and swayed toward him. His head lifted. “It’s too late. I’ve got to have you now.”
“Thank heavens.” Serena stepped out of the silk pajama bottoms and slipped off her sandals. Then she sat down on the blanket and watched him as he stripped. She felt no embarrassment at her total nudity. It was as if she had sat waiting for him to come to her a thousand times before. Her gaze ran over him in primitive enjoyment. Gideon was beautiful. Slim and yet sleekly muscled, his broad shoulders speaking of power and masculine strength. His buttocks were tight as a spring and his thighs a work of art. She would like to paint him someday, she thought dreamily, but not now. Now she only wanted to touch him, run her hands over those smooth muscles, and have him touch her.
Then he was beside her, his face darkly intense, as his fingers moved to her hair, fastening in its flowing silkiness as he pushed her back on the blanket. “I’ll be slow later,” he said thickly. “I promise, love, but I have to get inside you. It’s like a fever, I’m hurting so.”
“So am I.” She opened her thighs and he moved between them. Then she could see only his face above her, flushed and heavy with sensuality, beautiful. A warm nuzzling demand at the heart of her womanhood and then his lips were covering her own.
He plunged deep and his lips covered the little cry she made. Hot. Slick. Full.
“Tight,” he murmured. “Lord, you feel wonderful.”
“So do you.” She could barely speak. The exquisite fullness of him was pervading her entire body. She wanted it to go on forever. Her hands closed on his shoulders. “Don’t move. It’s …”
He stayed like that for an endless moment. “I can’t stand it, love.” He flexed hungrily. “I have to move.”
“All right. It’s just—” She broke off as he began pistonlike strokes, driving with an explosive passion that almost tore her apart. She arched up, trying to help him, wanting more of him.
His fingers tightened in her hair and the slight pain was as erotic as the hot rhythm between her thighs. But the tension was mounting swiftly, too swiftly. “Gideon, it’s too—”
“I know,” he gritted the words between his teeth. “And I can’t stop. It’s been too long.” He plunged deep and was still. He closed his eyes. “I want to stay in you forever.” Then he was driving with a wild ferocity that shook them both to their foundations. The tension grew, spiraled, and then exploded into a brilliant release of beauty and rapture.
He collapsed on top of her, his chest moving harshly with his labored breathing.
“Damn, wasn’t that wonderful?” He lifted his head and looked down at her. “Mine. You’re mine now. I told you we belonged together.” He kissed her with loving affection. “Don’t you feel it, love? Why don’t you admit I was right all along and we were meant to live happily ever after?”
Her breath was still coming in little gasps and her heart hadn’t steadied its wild pounding, but she had to laugh helplessly up at him. “Gideon, don’t you ever give up? This is taking unfair advantage of my vulnerable situation.”
His eyes twinkled. “Oh, do you feel vulnerable?
Now I wonder why?” He stirred lazily within her. “Of course, I guess certain important strongholds have been invaded.” His hands released her hair and reached down to cup her breasts. “And certain outposts have totally surrendered, but I can’t see why you should feel vulnerable.” The stirring was no longer lazy, but demanding. “I think maybe I’m going to see if I can make you feel that way again.”
She inhaled sharply as his lips closed on her breast, and his teeth nibbled delicately. “I didn’t think … not so soon.”
“I didn’t either. I believe I’m starving. I can’t get enough.” His head lifted and he looked down at her. “I may never get enough of you.”
He began to move and Serena realized she might never get enough of Gideon either.
The brush of Gideon’s lips against her cheek was as velvet soft as the warm glance of the sun. Strange that she should recognize his touch even in this state of half waking, she thought drow
sily, as she turned her cheek to invite more than a light caress. It was as if she had known the touch and feel of him for a millennium of intimacy rather than a few short hours. Even if she were blind and deaf she’d know him by that gentle touch alone.
“Open your eyes, love.”
Her heavy lids lifted to see him bending over her, his dark eyes warm and intent. She lifted a lazy hand to stroke the crescent creases in his lean cheek. “Is it morning?”
“No.” He turned his head to capture her fingers with his lips, nibbling at the tips for a delicious moment before releasing them. “But I’m lonely. I need your undivided attention for a while.”
She chuckled, as her arms slid over his naked shoulders. “You’ve had my undivided attention for more times than I can count tonight. But I’m always ready to oblige.” Her tongue brushed the hollow under his shoulder blade. He tasted good. Salty and strong and alive.
“I’m not quite the satyr you think me, you insatiable wench,” he said as he settled back on the pillows and pulled her back into his arms, cradling her dark head in the hollow of the shoulder she’d just caressed. “You don’t appreciate the fact that I’m a very sensitive fellow. I have other needs besides the purely physical, you know.”
“I hadn’t noticed,” she said teasingly, one hand moving to play lazily with the soft thatch of hair on his chest. This hair was sun-streaked, just like the rumpled lock hanging down on his forehead, she noticed idly. “You must admit you haven’t been displaying much of your soulful side tonight. It was only natural for me to assume that you wanted more of the same.” She raised her head to look down at him, the silken veil of her dark hair brushing his chest. “By all means, bare your sensitive soul. I’m waiting with bated breath.” Then, as she saw the flicker of disappointment in the depths of his eyes, she sobered abruptly. Obviously he had been sincere, not teasing. She bent swiftly and kissed him with infinite gentleness. “Tell me,” she urged softly.
He shook his head. “I didn’t have any melodramatic declarations in mind. I just wanted to see you wake up in my bed, in my arms and to hold you. That’s all.”
Serena felt her throat tighten and she lowered her head to its former place on his shoulder. Those simple words had moved her unbearably. Her eyes were misting as they lay there in silent intimacy. Everything around them seemed to take on an added poignancy. The airy canopy above their heads, the gleam of the leaded-glass windows across the room, the glow of the copper lamp on the bedside table that Gideon had turned on when they’d come back from the lake. This place. This time. Could anything be more perfect?
Gideon’s hand was stroking the fine hair at her temple and his voice was a deep rumble beneath her ear. “You know, when I was a teenager, moving from place to place, I used to want something totally my own, something beautiful that wouldn’t change no matter what happened in the world around me.” One finger moved down to outline her lower lip with a gossamer touch. “I guess it made me pretty much of a pain for a while. I was so damn possessive that I couldn’t have any friends without wanting to be everything to them.” His lips brushed the top of her head. “I learned my lesson eventually, when I found I was driving people away just when I wanted them closer. You can’t force people to open their minds and hearts and take you in. You’ve got to be invited.” His voice was husky as he continued haltingly, “I guess what I’m trying to say is that you might have to back off and shove me away if I come too close and try to barge in where I’m not wanted. You were right when you said I was pushy.” His fingers touched her lashes that were now star-spiked with tears. “You see, I’ve found my something beautiful, and I might not want to let go, even for a little while. Not even to let you breathe and grow. You’ll have to let me know, Serena.”
Her chest was aching with every breath she took, as her arms tightened around him with almost maternal fierceness. She was hurting with everything that was in her for the child he had been, for the pain and loneliness of his past, for the hard lessons he had learned, and for the honesty and vulnerability of the man he had become.
The brimming tears now flowed down her cheeks, and she felt him tense against her as a drop dampened his shoulder where her head was resting. “Hey.” He raised his head to look into her eyes. “What are the tears for?”
“Nothing. I’ve just decided I like the idea of having a pushy man around.”
His gaze searched her face. “Forever?”
She went still. Panic and rejection rose within her. It was insane. Gideon was everything beautiful and good in the world. Why was she so terrified of making a commitment?
A flicker of disappointment crossed his face. “It’s all right. I don’t have to have the words right now. What happened tonight was in the nature of a promise anyway. It’s good enough to last us for quite a while.”
Yes, it was, she thought dreamily. They lay there a long time and gradually Gideon’s arms relaxed about her until they were only a comforting possessive shelter to keep out the outside world.
She was almost asleep when his voice reverberated beneath her ear with a satiny hint of threat and with a gravity that made the words a vow. “But if you ever could bring yourself to say forever, love, I’d make sure you never regretted it. Not for a minute.”
Four
“Sit still,” Serene ordered as her charcoal pencil traced the line of the strong masculine column of his thigh. It was a beautiful line, she thought absently, graceful and symmetrical while remaining totally masculine. “How do you expect me to get this right if you’re always moving?”
“I’m chilly,” Gideon said plaintively. He stretched lazily, his sleek muscles rippling, before resuming the pose she required of him. “You can’t expect a man to pose in the altogether without getting goosebumps, love.”
“It’s nearly eighty degrees,” she reminded him heartlessly. The waterfall in the background should turn out very well and add to the primitive beauty of the picture. “If you weren’t so tanned, I’d worry about your getting a sunburn.”
He thought for a while. “Well, then, I think I’m much too modest to pose in the nude.” At her distinctly derisive snort he gave her a sly glance. “First, you ravish my magnificent virile body, and then you make me display my manly beauty for your lascivious pleasure.”
She looked up indignantly. “You speak as if I’m making dirty pictures. This is art!” Then as she met the mischievous twinkle in his brown eyes, she said reprovingly, “Now, if you’ve finally run out of excuses, I’d appreciate it if you’d be still. Getting me hooked again was your idea, and you’re the one who demanded a selection of paintings from which to choose. I’ve got to have a model, haven’t I?” She sighed. “You’re not much, but I guess you’ll have to do.”
“I’d better.” The grin disappeared and he growled. “Because if you think I’m going to let you leer at any other naked man, you can forget it.”
“I do not leer. I’m an artist, not a voyeur.” She scowled. “I’m almost finished. Will you just be still for another ten minutes?”
“Unless I can think of another excuse.”
She would not smile at him. The scamp needed only the slightest encouragement and he’d turn on the voltage that melted her resistance like hot wax. She wanted to get this sketch done.
It seemed he was actually going to let her do it, for he was quiet for the next several minutes while her pencil flew over the sketch pad. Strange how close they’d become in such a short time. She was perfectly at ease with Gideon in a thousand ways, both mental and physical. Though perhaps Gideon was right when he said they had had a head start because of the sense of belonging that had been a salient element of their relationship since the very first night together long ago.
How wonderful to have a lover who was also a friend, she thought dreamily. The passion that had seared them with its lovely flame had not precluded the warm glowing embers of companionship. Though an outrageous amount of their time together was spent experimenting with the physical delight they both found s
o intoxicating, there had still been time for the exploration of thoughts and personality.
“Serena?”
She didn’t look up. “Yes?”
“I’ve come up with another excuse.”
“I thought you would.” She sighed. “What is it this time?”
“I’m horny.”
She glanced up. “So you are,” she said calmly, her lips twitching. “Nice of you to provide me with additional material for my sketch. Of course, to do it justice will take another minute.”
“One minute.” He was rising to his feet. “That’s it! I’ve stood all I can from you, wench. First, you use me and then you insult me.” He was beside her, tumbling her to the grass and mounting her supine body with lightning swiftness. He pinned her arms above her head and gazed down at her laughing face with mock ferocity. “I think I’ll have to ask you to reassess your opinion.” He shook his head mournfully. “One minute. You really know how to hurt a guy.”
“Well, maybe, two,” she said grudgingly, trying to stop laughing. It was evident her sketching was finished for the afternoon. Then, as she felt the warm, hard length of him against her belly, her breath caught in her throat. “Yes, definitely two.”
“Thanks,” he said with irony. “But that’s not good enough. I believe drastic action is definitely called for.” His eyes were suddenly dancing with devilment. “Very drastic.” With one lithe movement he was off her, and then she was scooped up into his arms as he rose to his feet.
She clutched wildly at his shoulders. “Gideon, what are you doing?”
“We’re going for a swim.” He crossed the few yards that separated them from the lake. “I think I need to cool down a bit if I’m going to exhibit my stamina.”
“You may be naked but I still have my clothes on,” she cried, holding onto his shoulders desperately.