Desire (#3) (3 page)

The Vastors gave Benjamin the use of a grand guest suite on the first floor of their huge country home. It was on the other side of the house to my tiny guest room.

“This is a lovely room,” I said brightly and pulled back the bedcovers for him.

“Well, you don’t waste any time,” Benjamin said, raising an eyebrow suggestively at the bed. “Not that I’m complaining.”

I flushed. “I didn’t mean that. You need to rest.”

He made a grab for me, but I quickly stepped back out of the way.

A slow, delicious smile played on his lips. “Are you teasing me, Kate? You know even like this I could catch you easily.”

My heart thudded in my chest, and my insides clenched in response to his sexy, smooth voice.

“You need to rest.” I repeated, my voice a little too breathless for my liking. Dammit, how did he affect me like this?

He took a step forward, and I felt a delicious thrill prickle my skin. I stood still, mesmerised.

“But what about your bruises?”

He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me to him, pressing my body to his. “I’m not going to break,” he said, wrapping his hand in my hair and pulling it so my head moved back, allowing him access to my neck.

His lips ran along the hollow of my throat, kissing me and sending hot shivers through the length of my body.

“Hello, I’ve come to see if you’re all settled. I’m off to…” Lady Vastor said as she entered Benjamin’s room without knocking.

I flushed scarlet and tried to step back away from Benjamin’s embrace, but his arms were like steel and kept me clamped to his side.

“Everything is fine, thank you,” Benjamin said, his voice cool.

“Uh … I see that,” Lady Vastor said, her lips pursed in disapproval. “Well, I’ll leave you to it. I’m going to play tennis, unless there is anything you need?”

“I have everything I need, thank you,” Benjamin said, looking directly at me as he spoke.

My stomach fluttered in response.

“Very well,” Lady Vastor said and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Benjamin looked down at me with his intoxicating eyes and said, “I think we have a little unfinished business.”

I should have resisted, said that it wasn’t right to go to bed now in the middle of the day in someone else’s house when he was supposed to be recuperating, but when he looked at me with eyes darkened with desire. I couldn’t resist him.

“You’re supposed to be on bed rest,” I said feebly.

“If I have to be in bed in the middle of the day, I’m damn well going to have fun while I’m at it.”

My breath caught in my throat as he stared down at me. The way he looked at me started off a tingling sensation between my legs.

He covered my mouth with his, exploring my mouth with his tongue, so hard and passionate that I struggled to get enough air in my lungs.

When he raised his head, I blinked up at him, and he stared at me hungrily. Then with one quick movement, he scooped me up in his arms.

I gasped. “You’ll hurt yourself!”

“I’m not that fragile,” he said, his voice practically a growl, and smiled down at me. “Let me show you just how fine I am,” he said and lowered me onto the bed. “I’m going to make you scream my name, Kate.”

I flushed and swallowed nervously, glancing at the door, scared someone might hear.

He grasped my chin and pulled my head back around to face him. “Don’t worry about anyone else. Just concentrate on me.”

The dark, dangerous look in his eyes sent a shiver of lust through me.

He pulled of his t-shirt and my hands automatically reached out to caress his chest. I traced my fingertips along his stomach and felt a deep tug of desire as his abs contracted at my touch. I loved the idea I turned him on.

“Take off your top,” he told me.

I shyly lifted it above my head.

He made a murmur of appreciation. “Christ, Kate. You’re beautiful.”

I bit my lip and reached behind my back to unclasp my bra. He stopped moving, his gaze focused on my breasts as I slowly lowered the lace.

He didn’t even need to touch me. His eyes looking over me were enough to send my nipples into hard little nubs, desperate for his attention.

He licked his lips, and I had deliciously wicked thoughts about his tongue working its magic on a different part of my body.

“Now your jeans,” he said, his voice a low rumble that sent pleasurable tremors of lust through my belly, moving down to between my legs.

I unfastened my jeans and shimmied my way out of them as sexily as I could. It seemed to be working. Benjamin stared back at me, his eyes hooded.

I squirmed a little on the bed, wanting to feel his hands on me. The wetness between my thighs was already making my panties damp.

He looked down at me in approval. “Good. Now get on your knees,” he said and pointed to the ground in front of him.

My knees? Holy crap. I knew what was coming, and it just made me wetter. I eagerly kneeled down in front of him.

“Now unzip me.” His voice was so soft it was almost a caress.

My fingers grazed his erection as they fumbled with his zip. A low moan escaped my lips.

Benjamin stared down at me as I loosened his pants and closed my fingers around his cock.

“You’re so hard,” I murmured.

His breath hitched as I lowered my mouth to him, running my tongue along his length. He groaned as I licked my lips and took him inside my mouth.

I swirled my tongue around his tip, and his hand fisted in my hair. “God, Kate…”

It made me feel so hot and powerful. I moved my head back and forth, trying to take more in each time I moved my head forward. He moved his hips in time with me. I cupped my hand around his balls.

He groaned again. “Not yet, Kate. I don’t want to come yet.”

He reached down for me and pulled me to my feet. “Lay on the bed,” he said.

I did as he said, my eyes on his erection as he moved closer. I wanted to feel him inside me, filling me. I felt the mattress dip as he climbed on the bed. Then he began trailing kisses all over my breasts.

It felt exquisite, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted more. I raised my hips to push against his hardness. He moaned. “Not yet, Kate.”

But he reached his hand down between my legs. I gasped, and his touch sent hot spikes of desire shooting through me.

“I love the way you’re so wet. Always so ready.”

He bent his head and kissed his way down my torso, along my belly. I knew where he was heading, and as the tip of his tongue met my clitoris my hips bucked.

“Oh yes.”

His tongue teased gently circling my most sensitive places as he slid a finger into me. I was so close, at the brink of orgasm, but he kept me there, deliciously teasing as I moved beneath him. “Please,” I said.

“Do you want to come, Kate?”

“Yes,” I said breathless. “Please.”

“I want to hear you say my name.”

“Benjamin…”

“Tell me what you want me to do, Kate.”

“I want you to make me come, Benjamin.”

“And how should I do that?” He circled his tongue a little faster. Oh, God. Yes that felt so good. Then he moved away.

I groaned in frustration.

“Or with this.”

With one hard thrust, he entered me.

I cried out with surprise, and he thrust again. I pulled at his hips, arching my back beneath him.

“Is that nice, Kate? Do you like me fucking you?”

I couldn’t answer. My body pushed against his, thrusting upwards. He grabbed my hands from his hips and held them above my head, so I couldn’t touch him. I was at his mercy.

He covered my mouth with his, kissing me deeply. I couldn’t seem to get enough air as he started to move inside me, filling me then withdrawing slowly.

The lack of oxygen was making me dizzy as he picked up pace. Oh, I needed more, I struggled but I couldn’t move my hands I couldn’t do anything but give myself up to this delicious torture.

Then he began to increase the pace. My heart was thundering in my chest as he slipped one hand down to stroke the wetness between my legs as he drove himself into me again and again. I came hard, calling out his name.

Afterwards, Benjamin kept his arms wrapped around me, and as I snuggled into his chest, it was easy to forget that this thing between us wouldn’t last. I would be discarded like all the other women who had come before me.

I screwed my eyes shut and listened to the sound of his heart beating. I didn’t want to think about the future now.

MUCH TO BENJAMIN’S FRUSTRATION the painkillers the doctor had given him seemed strong enough to knock out an elephant. Eventually he stopped trying to fight their effects and succumbed to sleep. I watched him for a while, taking the opportunity to study his beautiful face.

After an hour or so, I left Benjamin sleeping and went to find Lady Vastor. I hoped she would be back from her tennis game by now so I could make a start on her portrait.

I found her in the sitting room, flicking through a glossy magazine. When she saw me in the doorway, she arched an eyebrow. “How’s the patient?”

My cheeks grew hot as I looked down at the floor in embarrassment. Why couldn’t I be as nonchalant about our relationship as Benjamin?

“He’s doing fine,” I said. “He’s asleep.”

Lady Vastor nodded.

“I hoped we could do a preliminary sitting this afternoon,” I said.

She closed her magazine and put it on the arm of her chair. “Yes. All right. I suppose we have wasted enough time already.”

I fell into step beside her as she led me out of the room towards the grand staircase. “I thought we could use the attic room. It used to be the nursery, but there are large windows and the light is very good up there.”

I told her it sounded like the perfect place to do the portrait.

She looked down at my hands. “Don’t you need your paints and…”

I held up my pencils and sketch pad. “I’ll just do a few preliminary sketches today.”

“Oh, is that all?”

“Yes. I’ll just do the rough guides today. It helps me to get familiar with the subject. Then I’ll move onto canvas tomorrow.”

“Seems a waste of time to do the drawing first. Aren’t you just making more work for yourself?”

I shrugged. “It’s my method. It works for me.”

“I wasn’t questioning you,” Lady Vastor said and screwed up her face. “Merely making a point.”

The nursery had been turned into yet another sitting room. Lady Vastor sat down in a small armchair. She sat up straight and tilted her chin in an almost regal pose, gazing off into the distance.

A smile twitched at the corners of my mouth. I usually preferred my subjects in a more natural pose as that allowed some of their personality to shine through. Though, with Lady Vastor, perhaps that was a bad thing.

My pencil hovered over the pad as I studied her features. Her nose was a little too long and her eyes a little too close together to be considered classically beautiful. My job was tricky. I had to flatter the subject without altering her features too much. No one wanted a completely truthful, warts and all reproduction of themselves, but at the same time they wanted to recognise themselves in the portrait. There was a precarious balance between truth and flattery.

My hand flowed across the page. I tore off sheet after sheet as I attempted to master the angles of her face. As usual I became immersed in the task and didn’t notice how long I’d been working until Lady Vastor pouted and said. “Can we take a break? My neck is ever so stiff.”

I glanced at my watch; Ninety minutes had passed.

“Of course,” I said. “That’s enough for today. I can start on canvas tomorrow if that suits you?”

She nodded. “Fine. Now I must go and see about dinner. Do you think Benjamin will be up to joining us, or do you think he would prefer dinner in his room?”

I gathered my things together. “I’ll ask him.”

She nodded and gazed at me speculatively. I felt her eyes on my back as I left the room. I knew she was wondering what Benjamin saw in me.

I knocked on the door to Benjamin’s bedroom suite and entered quietly. He was on the phone. I made an apologetic gesture and turned to leave.

“Kate, it’s okay.” He beckoned me to him and continued his phone conversation.

He sounded angry as he spoke to whoever was on the other end of the line. It wasn’t what he said, but the way he delivered the words in cool, clipped tones. I was glad it wasn’t me he was mad at.

“I see,” he said. “Yes, of course, I take her safety seriously.”

I lifted my head at those words. Whose safety? Was he talking about me?

But Benjamin didn’t meet my gaze. His jaw tightened, then he said, “We’ll just have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

I walked over to the window, to give him a little more privacy, but I could still hear the one-sided conversation.

“Fine, Colin. Deal with it how you see fit,” he said then hung up and dropped his cell phone on the bed, staring down at it angrily.

He turned to me and ran his hand through his dark hair, and I had an overwhelming desire to run my fingers through his hair too.

“Sorry, Kate. What is it?”

I bristled. He sounded as if he didn’t want me around.

“Lady Vastor wants to know if you will be eating downstairs with us tonight or if you would prefer to eat in your room.”

“Of course I’ll be eating downstairs,” he snapped. “I’m not an invalid.”

I flinched at the anger in his voice.

He sighed. “Sorry,” he said. “Yes, please tell Lady Vastor I would like to dine downstairs with you all tonight.” He paused. “Is there anything else?”

“I … er …” I shook my head. “No.”

He sat down on the bed and turned his attention to his phone, so I turned and left the room silently. What had happened? In the space of a few hours he had changed from wanting me with him to casually dismissing me like another member of his staff.

I gritted my teeth. Who did he think he was? He hadn’t even asked how the first sitting for the portrait went. I flounced off to my room, deciding to concentrate on work. If he wanted me, he knew where to find me.

I SPENT THE NEXT few hours concentrating on my sketches, looking at the best angles I could use for the portrait. As always, I was completely absorbed in my work and when I next looked at my watch it was quarter to eight. Hell! Dinner was at eight.