‘Oh!’ breathed Jade, on a strangled note of dis- belief, and her knees buckled beneath her, but he caught her, pulling her roughly into his arms, his mouth against hers.
‘Let’s go to bed,’ he said, almost harshly.
Jade’s eyelids fluttered open as she sought to reason with herself. She was alone in the middle of nowhere, with a man intent on making love to her. And she couldn’t, she realised, on a shuddering sigh… she couldn’t stop him; even if she wanted to.
And she didn’t want to.
She was on fire with some strange magic, caught up in the throes of a spell so powerful that she felt she would die if he left her.
Was there, she wondered foggily as he picked her up and carried her into the cottage—was there such a thing as love at first sight?
Yes! she thought fiercely, and she reached up for him, and he dropped his mouth to hers again, kissing her as he walked until they were in her bedroom.
He laid her on the bed while he shrugged his way out of the white shirt he wore, and she saw the heaving of the powerful chest as he struggled to maintain his breathing, his eyes never leaving her.
Then he came to her, both of them half-naked, his eyes surprisingly soft as he looked down into her face. ‘I have never desired a woman so badly,’ he said, but his voice held an almost savage note to it, as though he was admitting to being fallible, and that infallibility came much more easily to him. ’Do you believe me when I tell you that?’
It didn’t even occur to her to doubt it. ‘Yes.’
He dipped his head to one breast, catching one hard and pointed little tip between his teeth, teasing and tasting and tantalisingly grazing it, until her eyes closed and her head fell back, and she felt herself being sucked into an erotic vortex from which there could be no escape. She opened her eyes, suddenly frightened by behaviour which was so primitive, so out of character for her.
He needed to know that, she decided. And she needed him to know that.
‘Constantine,’ she said suddenly, and he looked up.
‘What is it, agape mou?’ From beneath hooded eyes she could see the opaque glaze of desire.
Her gaze was drawn irresistibly down his body where she could see the powerful thrust of his thighs; see too the sheer male strength and power of his arousal which was pushing insistently against the fine linen of the trousers he wore. She imagined him in the act of love, filling her with himself, found herself wondering briefly whether it would hurt, yet knowing that even if it did it would only be the prelude to unimaginable pleasure. She trickled her fingertips over the thick, dark whorls of chest hair, alighting at last on one small male nipple, and she felt him shudder beneath her touch.
‘What is it?’ he asked harshly.
Jade took a deep breath. He needed to know. ‘I’ve never…’ Her voice tailed off, embarrassed.
He stilled instantly, his fingers halting their rhythmic caress of her breasts, his eyes narrowing to charcoal shards. ‘What?’ he whispered, his voice dangerously soft.
‘I’ve never—done—well, this… before.’
‘You’re saying—’
She nodded, swallowing, suddenly regretting that she’d opened her mouth. ‘Yes. I’m a virgin, Constantine.’
He swore softly and profanely, and in more than one language, Jade thought, when to her horror and consternation he tore himself away from her and got up from the bed.
‘Constantine.’ She sat up, the white-blonde hair falling all over her bare breasts, and she heard him say something else, but this time she did not think that he swore; something soft and emphatic and very Greek, before turning his back to her.
‘Put something on,’ he commanded harshly.
‘But—’
‘Something to cover yourself. Do it now, Jade.’
Her silky T-shirt lay on the courtyard floor. In a confused daze, Jade climbed off the bed and foraged around in the old chest of drawers before extracting another T-shirt, not caring what colour it was or that it was inside out. Weary and sick at heart, she pulled it on and sat down on the bed.
Constantine had put his shirt back on and was buttoning it up with inelegant haste.
Jade watched him in bewilderment. Why on earth was he behaving this way, thrusting her away from him as if she were a hot potato?
He met her eyes again as he moved to sit beside her on the bed, putting one arm about her shoulder, as a doctor would to a patient to whom he was going to break bad news. He had decided that, for some reason, he no longer wanted her. OK. Fine. But Jade just wished he would go. Let her be humili- ated in peace.