Green Fire (15 page)

"Trust me, Rani."

"Trust you to do what?" She trailed her fingertips around to the nape of his neck and buried them in the thick darkness of his hair.

"Just trust me." He lowered himself beside her, one leg sprawling heavily across her own as if to pin her to the bed. Slowly he began to undo the buttons of her bright orange shirt.

Rani gasped, her fingers briefly clenching him as the material of her shirt fell aside. He murmured her name in soft wonder as he touched her breast. When she lifted herself against his hand in unconscious need, he found the catch of her bra and released it, A moment later Rani was nude to the waist.

"You feel so good, Rani. How did I ever survive without knowing how good you feel?"

She couldn't answer. The words seemed locked in her throat as the urgency in her body threatened to swamp her senses. He was the one who felt good, she thought dazedly. His rough, callused hands were gentle and tantalizing on her nipples. She was becoming aroused with a speed and intensity that was strange and new. For a woman who had always practiced great caution in her relationships with men, this fiery passion was far more dangerous than deep water or thin ice.

Her own fingers fumbled as she tried to remove his shirt. Flint let her struggle with the buttons, clearly enjoying her trembling touch, but when she had finally freed the last button, he yanked off the garment with obvious impatience. Then he came down on top of her, cushioning himself on her breasts.

"I've been wanting this so long," he breathed, his lips at the pulse in her throat. "All this time and I didn't even realize what I was missing."

"Flint… I, oh, please, Flint." She could not talk, not coherently, not at that moment. She was aching for him, and her need was obvious. He gloried in it, making it plain his only desire was to satisfy the passion he had aroused.

When his fingers slipped the fastening of her jeans and tugged them and her panties down her hips, Rani made no protest. She had no wish to halt the inevitable flow of desire that had been unleashed. She waited while he got rid of the last of his own clothing and caught her breath at the undeniable evidence of his own desire. He was rock hard, his rugged body taut with a passion still barely under control.

Flint's eyes met hers as he came back down beside her. Deliberately he stroked the silky skin of her inner thigh. "You could drive me crazy with wanting. Do you realize that? You have such power over me, sweetheart." His fingers moved wickedly on her, finding the center of her physical sensations with unerring accuracy. Rani cried out softly and heard his muttered groan of response.

In that moment she felt alive with feminine power. It gave her the courage to tease and tantalize. "Afraid of me?" She trailed her fingers over his shoulder and down his side to his hip. "Don't be. I only want to hold you and please you."

His mouth curved faintly in the shadows, and it seemed to Rani that his eyes were flaring with an excitement that should have seemed dangerous to her but was not. "You please me, honey. Never doubt that." He took her arm and wrapped it around his neck, then he slid over her, securing her beneath him.

Rani's eyes widened as she felt the first probing touch at the warm, passion-dewed entrance to her most secret place. He was hard and strong, and when he took her he would be overwhelming. Rani knew that with deep, feminine certainty. She wanted him in a way she had never wanted any other man in her life, and yet she was suddenly aware of a new kind of uncertainty. Some of the wariness returned in that moment. Flint didn't push. He held himself firmly under control, savoring the damp readiness of her as he gently stroked the skin of her shoulder with his tongue.

"You want me, honey," he told her thickly.

"Yes."

"And God knows, I want you. Don't be afraid of me. Please don't ever be afraid of me."

"It's all right, Flint. I'm not afraid." She was trembling again as she waited for him. She wasn't afraid, but there was something else going on, something of which she should be wary. It was useless to try to understand. Everything had gone much too far. What was going to happen, had to happen. There was no way now to call it off or change the course of forces that had been set in motion the moment she had opened her door to the man with the emerald eyes. Rani sighed and tightened her arms around Flint.

Sensing her very private surrender and reading the acceptance in her body, Flint chose that instant to move against her and into her. The melding was slow and thorough. He made sure of that, needing to possess her and be possessed by her on every level. Rani whispered his name far back in her throat as his body locked tightly into hers. He swallowed the soft sounds she made, filling her mouth even as he filled the soft, velvety passage between her warm thighs.

The exultation in him was a heady thing. It played with his senses, sending him zinging and ricocheting until he felt exuberantly disoriented. The world narrowed down to the depths of Rani's bed and the hot, tight depths of her body. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else held any long-term importance. This was what he had sought for so long. The restlessness that had dominated him all of his adult life would finally be calmed.

"Wrap your legs around me. Hold me, Rani. Hold me as tightly as you can."

She obeyed. Flint groaned, tightening with spiraling desire as her legs closed around his hips. She felt so right in his arms. So perfectly right. He knew she was still trying to adjust to him. Her inner tension was both physical and emotional. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her. Desperately Flint reined in his own white-hot need. He would give her time. It had to be good for her. It must be right for her. That was the most crucial thing. Now that he was in possession, he would make sure she took satisfaction in that possession.

He felt her adjusting to him as her body accepted his. Slowly he began to move, seeking the rhythm that would please her. She responded so beautifully, so completely. He could hardly believe the sweet evidence of her eagerness. She was suddenly very hot and clinging, making small, seductive demands that fed the flames of his own passion. Eagerly Flint surged into her, lifting her with his own hands, letting himself get buried in the tight, fiery depths.

Then he sensed a new kind of tension in Rani. She was clinging to him more tightly than ever, her nails raking his shoulders in an unconscious movement that delighted him. Flint felt the tiny, delicate tremors that started deep within her, waited until she cried out and then, with a final deep thrust he allowed himself to find his own near-violent satisfaction. Dimly he heard his hoarse shout of triumph and pleasure mingling with her soft, breathless cries and then he was sinking heavily back into the depths of the quilt.

Slowly, the world that had begun to shift on its axis the night Rani had opened the door to him settled into a new and stable position. Everything was finally the way it was supposed to be, Flint thought fleetingly as he cradled Rani protectively in his arms. Everything felt right.

"Cold?" he asked as Rani's lashes lifted to reveal a languid expression in the depths of her eyes.

"A little," she admitted.

He smiled and tugged the quilt over both of them. "How's that?"

"Much better."

He waited for her to say something else, and when she didn't, he realized he didn't quite know what to say either. It was as if what had just happened between them was too new and dazzling to put into words. Perhaps it was better not to try. Still, there were things that should be said.

Flint took a breath and touched the corner of Rani's mouth. "I know I'm not exactly what you had in mind," he began carefully.

She lay very still in his arms. "Not exactly what I had in mind for what?"

"I know I don't quite match your inner picture of the ideal man. But I meant what I said earlier, Rani. I'll take care of you."

"You keep saying that. It's as if you feel you have some sense of responsibility for me."

"I do," he informed her simply.

Her brows drew together in a small frown of concern. "That's not true, Flint. You don't owe me anything be-cause of tonight. I'm an adult woman. I know what I'm doing."

He felt a wave of amusement. "I should hope so."

"Then why the oversized sense of responsibility?"

"I thought you approved of men who have a sense of responsibility. You like nice, stable types, remember?"

"Are you trying to convince me you're really a nice, stable, responsible type under all that vagabond charm?" She smiled up at him and tugged at a lock of his hair that had fallen over his forehead.

"I didn't know you thought I had much at all in the way of charm." He wasn't sure "vagabond charm" was a compliment.

She grinned playfully. "If you didn't have your own peculiar brand of charm, I wouldn't be lying here right now, would I?"

In spite of his need to be serious, Flint found himself responding to the teasing quality that was bubbling through her. He discovered he liked it when she teased him. It was a rare sort of intimacy for him, and he found he thoroughly enjoyed it. "Are you saying you were Seduced?"

"Swept off my feet." she told him.

"Now you know how Sara and the other ladies who once owned the Clayborne ring probably felt after they found themselves in bed with the man who was drawn by the ring."

"An entirely different matter," she assured him. "Those three ladies were all hopelessly compromised after the night. Their fates were sealed after they'd been seduced because of the rigid rules of their times."

Flint chuckled. "And you don't think your fate is just as sealed?"

"Times have changed," she retorted.

"Not for you they haven't."

"What are you talking about?" Rani demanded, a faint trace of wariness filtering into her expression.

Flint realized she was now hovering somewhere on the line between renewed caution and the playful mood that had swept over her in the aftermath of their sensual union. He decided he preferred the playfulness. The last thing he wanted tonight was to alarm her. There would be time enough in the future to impress upon her that she was going to share the same fate as the other women who had owned the ring.

"I was only teasing you," Flint said easily, beginning to trace a curling pattern around the tip of her breast. He smiled to himself as the nipple began to tighten in reaction. She was wonderfully responsive to him. It was as though she'd been made for him. Flint had learned long ago not to question a free gift or a stroke of good fortune. A man grabbed at opportunity when it crossed his path and held on for dear life.

Rani seemed to relax. Her smile returned, warming her eyes with sweet, sensual promise. "What are you doing?"

"Having fun."

"If you're going to play the game, you have to be a full participant."

He looked down at her. "You're still a bossy little thing, aren't you?"

"Still?"

"According to the legend, the ladies all turn sweet and willing after the big seduction."

She smiled. "You keep forgetting that your business is debunking legends, not proving them to be true." She put her arms around his neck. "Come here," she ordered throatily. "I'll show you sweet and willing."

"Yes, ma'am."