Each Time We Love (41 page)

SAVANNA'S
GASP OF OUTRAGE was lost under the hungry onslaught
of his demanding mouth, his strong hands pulling her up against his
lean body, making her vividly aware of the fact that he was already
aroused and ready. She fought him and herself, trying desperately not
only to escape from the seductive spell he could weave so effortlessly
around her, but to quell the powerful urge to surrender that clamored
through her veins at the first touch of his mouth on hers. It was an
elemental demand that swept through her, her entire body suddenly
electrified by the explicit probing of his tongue and the feel of his
warm, hard body crushed against hers, but she fought strenuously
against it, seeking furiously to avoid being engulfed by the carnal
delight his kiss promised.

Ignoring her frantic attempts to escape, his mouth locked
fiercely on hers, Adam swept her up into his arms and strode into the
bedchamber. Reaching the gold, silk-covered expanse of the bed, he
carelessly tumbled Savanna onto the feather-filled mattress.

She landed in a sprawled heap, the peignoir flying open to
reveal the clinging fabric beneath, and Adam stared at her lush curves
as if he had never seen a woman before in his life. She was incredibly
lovely as she lay there before him, her red-gold hair wildly cascading
down her shoulders, her bosom heaving from her exertions, her pink
nipples straining against the filmy lace. His body coiled with
increasingly hungry desire and a hard smile curved his mouth. Escape
him?
Never!
he thought savagely. She was his! His
wife, and before this night was through, he would show her just how
thoroughly she was indeed his!

This wasn't how he had planned to take her, but all his good
intentions had vanished the instant she had hurled that "not a normal
marriage" nonsense in his face. She was his
wife
and he would not be denied the pleasures he had dreamed of these past
weeks!

Reading the openly licentious expression on his dark face,
Savanna glared at him and scrambled clumsily to the middle of the bed
just as he caught one slender ankle in a firm grip. "Let me go!" she
cried, kicking viciously in his direction, trying vainly to free her
ankle from his unyielding grasp—until she realized that her gown was
slipping ever upward and that he was frankly enjoying the nakedness
that was being revealed with every move she made. Her teeth clenched
together, her aquamarine eyes turbulent with despair and fury, she
ground out, "I hate you! Let me
go!"

There was an oddly dazed look on Adam's face and with an
effort he tore his gaze away from the long lengths of silken legs that
her struggles had exposed. "Let you go?" he repeated thickly. He shook
his dark head slowly. "No. Never!"

They stared at each other, their eyes locked in a silent
battle of wills, and with every passing moment Savanna's heart beat
faster, a languorous heat spreading steadily through her body, the
unwanted fascination he held for her increasing. She was shamefully
aware of how she must look, sprawled in erotic disarray on the bed, her
gown angling up across her thighs, one hip half exposed, her nipples
pushing against the blond lace, and yet it occurred painfully to her
that a part of her was glad he found her attractive.

Her eyes fell first and she cried unhappily, "Oh, let me go! I
didn't want this marriage and I don't want you!"

A muscle in Adam's jaw leapt and his hand tightened around her
ankle. "You will," he said huskily as he began inexorably to drag her
toward him. "Believe me, sweetheart, this time, you will."

She glanced at him as he stood there, tall and disturbing in
the flickering candlelight, his thick blue-black hair attractively
tousled from their struggle, the fine black silk dressing gown he had
put on after his bath revealing the width of his broad shoulders. With
his handsome features and powerful body, few women would have resisted
his advances, and Savanna didn't doubt that he could indeed make her
want him. But then she had never doubted his ability to make her forget
everything but the dizzying intoxication of his possession; it was the
knowledge that there were no deeper, finer feelings involved in his
lovemaking that made her fight so strongly against his seductive lure.
It was a bitter struggle she waged, not only against him but against
herself as well, her own flesh betraying her, her very skin seeming to
tingle with hunger for his caress. As she stared at him, to her intense
mortification, she was angrily aware of the changes taking place within
her, of the liquid fire pooling in her belly, of the throbbing of her
nipples and the craving of her lips for more of his demanding kisses.

Inch by inch, Adam pulled her to him, his eyes locked on hers,
daring her to deny the attraction that lay between them, daring her to
deny him the pleasures he could give them both. It was the movement of
the silken gown that finally broke their silent battle of wills, Adam
unable to keep his gaze from the pale limbs that had haunted his
dreams. With a sensuous appreciation, his eyes roamed over the
voluptuous charms that lay before him, the sweet ache between his legs
becoming more urgent and pronounced with every passing second.

Savanna was utter masculine temptation as she lay there on the
gold coverlet, the curling mane of fire-kissed hair spread out like a
river of flame, the aquamarine gown bright against the alabaster
smoothness of her skin. Her eyes were brilliant, with all the
conflicting emotions that raged inside her, her cheeks flushed, her
mouth a half-parted rosy invitation, and Adam's eyes rested a long time
on those unknowingly provocative lips before his gaze slid compulsively
down the wondrous charms of her tall shape. The gown had slipped upward
at an angle, baring just enough of her flesh to tease him with images
of the soft curves that still lay hidden. One full breast was partially
uncovered, the nipple hidden beneath the silky fabric; half her rib
cage and part of her stomach and hip were bare, and at the junction of
her naked thighs, a few tight red-gold curls were tantalizingly
revealed before his eyes traveled down the long, lovely length of her
legs.

Savanna knew she should do something, that she should not
simply lie here so complaisantly and allow him to look his fill, but a
strange languor seemed to hold her motionless on the bed. She felt
weak, unable to move, as if she were melting under Adam's look, and
desire, insidious and irresistible, spiraled slowly through her body.
The knowledge that he was her husband, that together they had made a
child, that, willingly or not, she loved him, mingled with that wanton,
perfidious desire and she was unhappily aware that she was struggling
against forces far stronger than she was… or than he was. She wanted
him, every nerve and fiber of her being calling out to him, and
suddenly the urge to fight against the fundamental demands of her own
flesh vanished and she was left helplessly adrift in a sea of hungry
yearning.

The sensuous drift of Adam's fingers up her leg sent a shiver
of delight through her body and she glanced downward, his hand
appearing very dark against the whiteness of her skin. Mesmerized, she
watched as his head appeared and he pressed a shockingly ardent kiss
near the top of one thigh. She jumped, startled by the frankly erotic
feelings that coursed through her at his actions, and Adam looked up at
her, the wicked gleam in his sapphire-blue eyes making her pulse leap.

"We have," he said thickly, "a long night ahead of us, with
much to learn… and enjoy."

She wanted passionately to refute his words, but she could
not, and while she made no move to escape him, she had to offer one
last protest. Bleakly, she muttered, "I don't want…"

"Don't want me to do this?" he asked mockingly, his mouth
sliding seductively across her skin. Dropping hot, stinging little
kisses on her soft body, his lips traveled ever upward, following the
line of the fabric across her trembling thighs, making her jerk when
his questing mouth brushed faintly against the tight curls at the V of
her thighs before continuing across her stomach and rib cage. Gently
nuzzling her breast, he murmured indistinctly, "Or this?" Through the
fabric his teeth found her swollen nipple and teasingly he toyed with
it, his ministrations making Savanna arch up, burning for him to take
it fully into his mouth.

He deliberately denied them both what they wanted, but by the
time his seeking mouth found hers, Savanna was one long ache of
unfulfilled desire. She met his kiss recklessly, the battle against him
lost long ago, perhaps from the moment she had first laid eyes on him,
and her lips parted easily as his tongue surged into her mouth.

Inflamed by her response, Adam crushed her beneath him, his
tali, muscled body joining hers on the bed, his hands holding her face
to his as he drank deeply from the honey of her mouth. His robe was
half open and their naked legs tangled as they lay there kissing each
other with unrestrained passion. The sensation of her soft limbs
rubbing against his was unbearably tantalizing, but he was impatient
with even the slightest barrier between them, and with a soft curse he
left her lips long enough to struggle out of the confines of his robe.
Lowering himself once more, he pressed a series of brief kisses along
her earlobe and jawline, his hands ruthlessly removing the enticing
garments she had put on earlier. It was only when she lay before him in
naked splendor, a lushly curved alabaster figure illuminated by the
fiery glow of the red-gold hair on her head and between her legs and
the swollen rosy nipples of her bosom, that Adam was satisfied.
Carelessly tossing the clothing onto the floor to join his robe, he
stared reverently at her naked exquisiteness, his gaze lingering on her
still-flat belly.

Astonishing both of them, he suddenly dropped a tender kiss
where their babe grew within her. "My child," he murmured, an odd note
of wonder and awe in his voice, as if the reality had just now dawned
on him.

It was that kiss and the undisguised hint of wonder in his
voice that were Savanna's final undoing, and when he came down beside
her on the bed, she went ardently into his powerful embrace. He might
not love her, but he cared about the child and she would try to be
content. His hand cupped her breast and Savanna shuddered at the
longing that went through her, and as his mouth closed urgently over
hers, she reminded herself dizzily that whatever difficulties lay
before them, at least they had
this!

Adam's thoughts, when he could think at all. were remarkably
similar to Savanna's, but the heady enchantment of her drove coherent
thoughts out of his brain. She was fire and silk in his arms and she
smelled deliriously of lavender and tasted of honey and he simply could
not get enough of her, his mouth and hands moving feverishly over her
supple flesh. She was everything he wanted in a woman, everything, he
realized dimly, that he would
ever
want; this
knowledge made the aching desire that hummed through his taut body all
the more intense because she
was
the only woman
for him and he loved her as he had never dreamed to love any woman.

Oblivious of everything but Adam's increasingly arousing
lovemaking, Savanna was delightedly learning the contours and planes of
his magnificent body. Wonderingly her hands roamed over him, across the
broad shoulders, down the steel-hewn sinews of his back and the hard
curve of his buttocks. It was exciting to touch him this way, to feel
his big body tremble beneath her wandering hands and to know that she
was giving him pleasure, that she was wantonly fueling the fire that
was already within him, within them both…

His mouth was sweet fire at her breast, the scrape of his
teeth across her distended nipples causing her belly to clench in
yearning anticipation, and she moved restlessly against him, moaning
softly when his hand slid sensually down her body and his knowing
fingers sought the red-gold curls between her legs. He toyed with her,
lightly rubbing, slowly exploring the soft flesh he found, driving her
half mad for him to deepen the movements. Her breathing became labored
and she moaned in frustration, but the sensations he aroused by those
intensely intimate caresses were still too new. too frighteningly
rousing, for her to accept casually, and at the first thrust of his
finger inside her, she reared up, both seeking and rejecting his
exploration.

"Gently, gently, my sweet," Adam breathed raggedly against her
mouth, never stopping the motions that had her nails digging into his
shoulders and her body twisting with rising delirium beneath his
ministrations. He smiled down into her passion-flushed face and
murmured, "Don't fight me, sweetheart. Let me teach you, let me show
you just how much pleasure a man can give a woman."

He wasn't asking, he was telling, and Savanna's arms closed
tightly around him as his plundering mouth found hers once more. He
kissed her with barely leashed violence, the demands of his own body
making it increasingly difficult to restrain his instincts. But he
denied himself, wanting to please Savanna, wanting her to experience
all the erotic delights he had promised himself he would lavish upon
her.

Utterly dominated by the pleas of her clamoring flesh, Savanna
was his willing captive, his kisses and caresses destroying rational
thought and normal inhibitions, and she felt only the frankly
lascivious sensations streaking through her agitated body. He kissed
her many times, half-savage, demanding kisses that left her yearning
for more when his mouth finally left hers and slid like fire down her
breast to suckle briefly before continuing ever downward across her
belly and lower…

The shifting of his body as he moved between her thighs only
slightly disturbed the sensuous trap Adam had created, but when his
lips and tongue replaced his hand as he nuzzled the red-gold curls he
found there, Savanna gasped with shocked, shameful pleasure and she
froze, hardly able to believe what he was doing to her. Her stunned
eyes met the hard glitter in his and Adam muttered thickly, "You are
very beautiful to me—I want, no,
need,
to taste
and explore every inch of you."