‘Payne said he wouldn’t be needing you today. Besides, you’re hardly filmable at the moment.’
She put up a self-conscious hand to her bruised mouth. ‘Is it bad?’
‘Well, it isn’t pretty,’ he told her with cruel honesty. ‘You could possibly take the shots for after the rape scene. You wouldn’t need any make-up.’
Stacy paled at his cruelty, tears filling her eyes. ‘That was—that was—’
‘Damned brutal,’ he agreed harshly, coming back to stand beside the bed. ‘Oh hell, Stacy,’ he groaned, sitting down to pull her close against his chest. ‘I didn’t mean to hurt you. It’s just that the thought of him—’ he drew a ragged breath. ‘If he had succeeded I would have killed him.’
He said the words with such calm ruthlessness that Stacy knew he meant it. She gave a shaky smile, his heart beating very fast beneath her fingertips. ‘You can’t be any more relieved than I am.’
Jake tilted her chin, looking deeply into her wide green eyes. ‘You don’t know the half of it,’ he muttered huskily. ‘Stacy …’ his lips gently touched hers. ‘Oh, Stacy!’ He gently lowered her back against the pillows, his mouth never leaving hers.
Stacy returned that kiss, the small amount of pain she was feeling as nothing compared to the pleasure he was arousing. After the vicious attack on her by Paul Forbes she had no defences against Jake’s gentle passion, finding comfort and reassurance in his arms, although she knew the gentleness of his caresses could just as quickly turn to hard demand.
The covers had fallen back and Jake smoothed her creamy skin with caressing fingers, cupping one of her breasts to bury his face against her, his tongue continuing the arousal of his fingers. ‘I want you, Stacy,’ he groaned. ‘I want you very much.’
She shuddered as his lips claimed the tip of her breast, stiffening at the unfamiliar wave of emotion that suddenly racked her body. It was like nothing she had ever experienced before, a build-up of feeling that made her long for a release she wasn’t even sure how to attain.
Jake’s tongue moved further over her body, arousing her to further heights, and she shook against him, aware of his own arousal by the pulsating of his hardened thighs as he lay half across her.
Once again it was the pounding on the main door of the suite that broke them apart, Stacy looking dazed and Jake looking slightly shaken, his eyes a deep glazed blue. ‘God!’ he groaned, slowly moving away from her. ‘That must be the breakfast I ordered for us.’
Stacy was so embarrassed now at the intimacies she had allowed him with her body that she just wanted to be left alone to shower and cover herself with whatever she could. ‘You’d better let them in,’ she said softly, unable to look at his flushed handsome face.
He put a cool caressing hand against her hot cheek. ‘Yes, I think I’d better,’ he agreed huskily. ‘Would you like me to apologise?’
She turned away. ‘No. I’d—I’d like to be left alone.’
‘Yes.’ He stood up, running a hand through his already tousled hair. ‘I— You know what would have happened if they hadn’t knocked on the door at that moment?’
‘Yes.’
Jake sighed. ‘Perhaps this isn’t the right time to say it, not in the circumstances, not after what I just tried to do, but I want to protect you, Stacy.’
Her eyes widened. ‘From what?’ She could imagine nothing more terrifying than a repeat of the onslaught he had just made on her senses, her resistance against him nil.
His mouth twisted. ‘From Paul Forbes and men like him. But after what I just did I’m sure you see me in the same light as him.’
‘No, I—’
‘Oh, hell!’ he swore as the knock on the door was repeated. ‘We’ll talk about this over breakfast, although I have to admit that I’m no longer hungry for food.’ His eyes caressed her, leaving her in no doubt where his appetite lay.
Stacy blushed, knowing a hunger to match his. ‘I should answer the door,’ she suggested.
‘Yes. Yes, I suppose I should.’ He dragged his gaze away from her creamy shoulders. ‘Don’t be long.’
She could hear the murmur of voices as she showered and donned the bathrobe, shy about facing Jake again after the passion they had just shared. She didn’t know why, but every time he touched her she seemed to melt against him, longed for an intimacy she had no experience of. Nothing had seemed to matter to her just now except that he go on kissing her, touching her—and after she had thought she would never want another man that near to her again. But she had wanted Jake to go on touching her, had wanted him never to stop.
Oh God, if only he hadn’t stopped, if only he had gone on kissing her and caressing her, had consumed her as her body had cried out for him to do. Then she would be in his arms even now, would know the full wonder of him, would have become a woman in his embrace, instead of which she now had a dull ache in the pit of her body, an ache that would remain with her until she could once again be in his arms. She loved this man, she knew it now, knew that she wanted to be with him for all time.
But he already had a wife, and even if he hadn’t desire was the only emotion he had expressed for her, a desire that would quickly fade after his possession of her.
There were dark shadows of pain under her eyes as she steeled herself to face him again, to meet his deep compelling eyes and try not to shy away.
Her head was downbent as she left the bedroom, the robe securely tied about her waist, although being Jake’s it was far too big for her. She looked up to find that Jake wasn’t alone; Brad Delmain was with him.
‘Oh!’ she gasped, deep colour flooding her cheeks.