A Stranger's Kiss

latest expedition. But I’m happy to assure you that young Charles is their sole property.’
    She shook her head. ‘But you were paying the bills for the clinic. You raced back from Bahrain...’ She stopped, a tiny bud of hope growing somewhere deep inside. She mustn’t look at it too closely, or it would wither. ‘Is this true?’
    ‘He’s been in the Amazon basin, Tara. Not exactly at the end of a telephone. He needed someone to rely on, someone to look after Jane while he was away, so I was lumbered with all the messy details. And the bills until Charles got home. I assumed you knew, I don’t know why, but it just never crossed my mind to doubt it.’
    ‘But why was she working for you?’
    ‘She never could bear rattling around the house all day when Charles was away. It worked very well.’ He grinned. ‘If I was unbearable she felt quite at liberty to be unbearable back.’ He pulled her closer, holding her against him. ‘Shall we sit down? That sofa looks comfortable and there are a few details to be worked out.’ He tilted her chin up and kissed her, very gently. ‘It may take some time.’ She felt ridiculously shy as he looped his arm around her waist and pulled her down onto the sofa with him, drawing her so close that it was a struggle to breathe.
    ‘Now,’ he murmured. ‘Where shall we begin?’
    Tara turned in his arms and tentatively reached up to touch his face, letting her fingers gently trace the hard outline of his cheekbones, his jaw, his throat. He sat perfectly still, not rushing her, seeming to know that she needed time to get used to the idea that he was truly hers.
    He caught his breath as she kissed him. Soft, gentle touches of her lips, hardly more than the caress of a butterfly’s wing, at first. Then with more urgency, until all the suppressed longings of the past weeks exploded and she wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing him down to her, offering herself in complete and utter surrender.
    When at last she released him, he smiled very slowly. First his mouth, then his cheeks, finally those fierce, compelling eyes creased.
    ‘Those weren’t quite the details I had in mind, my darling, but I guess they can wait.’
    She laughed, delightedly, as he shrugged free of his soft leather jacket. Then his eyes smoked with a more urgent need and the laughter died away. As his lips brushed hers, a murmur of desire broke from her and she felt his body shiver with the effort of holding himself in check. The tip of his tongue teased softly at her mouth, parting her lips, tormenting her with lightning forays but not allowing her an opportunity to respond, holding her back until she thought she would scream.
    He laughed softly, understanding all too well the desire that quickened her pulse. ‘Slowly, my darling. It’s worth the wait.’ His hand gently cupped her throat, tilting her chin up, brushing back the curtain of hair from her face. But when he kissed her again, there was a new fervour and still it was not enough. The fires that raced through her body were making new demands, urgent demands that only Adam could fulfil.
    She pulled at his soft chambray shirt, allowing her hands the freedom to explore the smooth skin of his back, revelling in the heady sense of power as his muscles tensed under her touch. Spurred on by his response she grew bolder, stroking up the hard muscles of his stomach and across his chest until he gasped.
    ‘You black-haired witch,’ he murmured, his voice lost somewhere in his throat. ‘You’re driving me crazy.’
    She lay back then, stretching her arms above her head, offering herself to him.
    He eased off her dressing gown and groaned. ‘What are you, Tara? You behave like a witch and look like a virgin.’
    ‘Why don’t you find out what I am for yourself?’ she offered. He needed no second invitation, but swept her up into his arms and carried her through to the bedroom.
    * * *
    It was a long time later when he murmured into her shoulder, his voice hoarse with disbelief. ‘You were both.’ He eased himself away from her and for a moment she felt forlorn. Then his arm gathered her in and he pulled the quilt over them both and she nestled against his body. He stroked her hair, her face, lifting her lips once more to his. His smile was slow and content. ‘I’m not complaining you understand. But I hardly expected...’
    ‘A virgin?’ She shook her head. ‘I never slept with Nigel. It didn’t seem right at home. I’d have died of