‘Witch,’ he muttered. ‘I thought the new Madeline didn’t go in for acts of sensationalism.’
‘She doesn’t,’ she stopped kissing him to protest.
‘Then what was that little scene you’ve just staged if it wasn’t pure old Madeline sensationalism?’ he grunted.
‘Who is the new Madeline?’ she grinned.
‘Oh, God.’ Dominic threw himself back against the pillows. ‘Don’t tell me,’ he groaned. ‘The new Madeline has scuttled back into oblivion.’
‘Who has?’
‘The—’ He groaned again. ‘I almost fell for that,’ he smiled ruefully.
‘Here,’ she soothed, coming to lean over him, ‘fall for me instead,’ she offered and kissed his answer away.
It was growing dark when they eventually emerged again. ‘God, what time is it?’ Madeline sat up with a jerk.
‘Time?’ Dominic mumbled lazily. ‘What do you want to know the time for? We aren’t going anywhere.’ He reached out to pull her back down to him.
‘I have to get home!’ she protested. ‘They’ll be worrying about me. God!’ she added with dramatic horror. ‘I told my father I would only be out a couple of hours! Let me go, Dom!’ she pleaded when his arms only tightened around her squirming body. ‘He’ll have a search party organised if I—’
‘No, he won’t.’ The words were muffled aga
inst the silken warmth of her throat, and his hands were already making sensual forays which had her senses quickening. ‘I rang your home just after you left and spoke to your father. I told him I would be taking you out to dinner, so they won’t expect you back for ages yet.’
‘And what did he say?’ she asked curiously, remembering her own conversation with her father only minutes before she left the house.
‘He told me not to bother if I was intending to hurt his daughter a second time. And I told him that, far from hurting her, I hoped to convince her that I only wanted to love her—then I invited him to lunch next week to discuss the financial backing he was after and he—’
‘Hey,’ she interrupted. ‘Back up a little will you?’ she commanded, managing to break free from him so that she could sit up, looking like a wanton gypsy with her hair wild about her face and shoulders and her naked breasts standing pearly white against the darkening room. ‘You informed my father that you intended to start courting me again?’
His eyes, which were lazily exploring her body now lifted grimly to her face. ‘I tried the courting bit four years ago, Madeline. I have no intention whatsoever of going through that torment a second time.’
‘So, what did you say to him? Did you tell him you owned this house?’ It was odd, but she found she didn’t want anyone knowing about this place. She felt safe here, sure of herself, of Dominic, but if the outside world began encroaching again she…
‘No,’ he said gently, reading her mind. ‘No one but you and I and the builders who are working on it know who owns it.’
She was still looking anxious, and Dominic frowned as she quietly disentangled herself from his arms and climbed out of the bed. After a moment he followed her, a formidable sight with nothing to hide the sleek-muscled lines of his beautiful body. He took her in his arm and held her close. ‘Madeline,’ he said slowly, ‘I told your father that I still loved you, and that I thought you still loved me. I told him I wanted to pursue that hope until we were both sure of each other, and I also told him that I didn’t want any interference from anyone. He understood, I think,’ he grimaced. ‘Because, other than the one warning, he didn’t try to put me off. Then I asked him if he had found anyone willing to back his latest ideas as yet, and when he said he hadn’t I invited him to lunch next week so we could discuss it. The call finished quite amicably if a little restrainedly. But I think he already had a suspicion of how things were between you and me.’
‘He asked me,’ she admitted, ‘just before I left today if it was still you.’
‘And what did you say?’
‘I said nothing. I couldn’t lie, and I didn’t really know the truth. I was still feeling hurt you see—over what happened at the boathouse.’
‘I’m sorry about that.’ His arms tightened around her. ‘I set out with honest intentions, but before I knew where I was at the whole thing had got out of hand and I found myself with a wildly beautiful, utterly desirable and very aroused woman in my arms. Old memories stopped me from making love to you properly, but I knew it would have been nothing short of torment to leave you suspended on that kind of sexual high.’
‘And what about your own sexual high?’
He just shrugged that away as if it didn’t count. ‘It wasn’t new to me and I could handle it. And anyway,’ he took hold of her chin and lifted it so he could look ruefully into her eyes, ‘I wanted to spin you out of control. At that moment, it meant more to me than my own satisfaction. It felt a bit like stamping ownership, watching you, feeling you reach a full climax at my touch.’
‘And you don’t think I wanted—needed to see and feel the same response from you?’
He shook his head, his expression grim. ‘I didn’t so much as give that thought consideration until you pointed it out, and then I just felt ashamed, because while I was still playing sexual games with you as if you were still eighteen years old you showed me with your contempt how utterly inadequate I had been in response to the real emotion between us. The love.’
‘And now what?’ she buried her face in his shoulder, the uncertainties of the future still there to worry them. They had come a long way since they had arrived here this afternoon, so far in fact that she didn’t know how she was going to breathe if it wasn’t the same air he breathed also.
As if she’d spoken the words out loud, Dominic hugged her closer to him and murmured, ‘I know, darling, I know.’