The Helen Bianchin Collection (Mills & Boon E-Book Collections) (182 page)

Read The Helen Bianchin Collection (Mills & Boon E-Book Collections) Online

Authors: Helen Bianchin

Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Erotica, #Collections & Anthologies, #Contemporary Women, #General

BOOK: The Helen Bianchin Collection (Mills & Boon E-Book Collections)
9.13Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
Benedict placed her carefully against the nest of pillows, then straightened to his feet He didn't hurry, and she watched every movement as he divested himself of one garment after the other.
Then he came down onto the bed and pulled her to lie beside him. He propped himself up on an elbow and examined the soft mouth, the blue eyes looking at him with unblinking solemnity.
‘Do you want to talk?'
Gabbi considered the question, then slowly shook her head. Tomorrow, maybe. Tonight she wanted the reassurance of his arms around her, his body intimately joined to hers.
Lifting a hand, she trailed his cheek with tentative fingers, and her eyes widened fractionally as he caught and carried them to his lips.
With infinite care he kissed them, one by one, before traversing to the bones at her wrist. Then he released her hand and bent his head to her breast, caressing each bruise with his mouth.
‘Benedict.'
He lifted his head and met her gaze in silent query.
‘I
need
you,' she said quietly, and saw desire flare in the dark eyes close to her own.
Her hands lifted to encircle his neck, and her mouth trembled beneath the soft touch of his before the pressure increased.
His tongue was an invasive entity as it explored the soft tissues, and she felt him tense as he found the abrasions where Tony had briefly ground his mouth against her own, heard the low growl of his anger, and sought to soothe it.
The slow reverence of his lovemaking made her want to cry, and afterwards she slept in his arms, her head pillowed against his chest.
W
AIKIKI BEACH was a glorious sight. Deep blue ocean, white sand, with multi-level high-rise hotels and apartment buildings lining the foreshore.
There were beaches to equal and surpass it in Australia, and many believed Queensland's Gold Coast to be comparable to Honolulu.
The climate was similar, the designer boutiques many and varied, but it was the cosmopolitan population and the friendly Hawaiian people which fascinated Gabbi.
It wasn't her first visit nor, she hoped, would it be her last
Benedict had chosen the Royal Hawaiian hotel, known as the ‘pink palace' due to its pink-washed exterior. Originally home to Hawaiian royalty, it held an aura of tradition and timelessness, and was unique in comparison to the many modem hotels bordering the foreshore. Crystal chandeliers featured in the foyer, and there was an abundance of luxurious Oriental rose-pink carpets.
Gracious was a word that sprang to mind, Gabbi decided as she sank into a chair and ordered a virgin piña colada from the hovering drinks waiter.
Five days of blissful relaxation had done wonders to repair her peace of mind, she mused as she gazed idly out to sea. Careful sunbathing had coloured her skin to a warm honey-gold.
By tacit agreement, they'd avoided the tourist attractions, choosing instead to commission a limousine with driver for a day to drive round the main island.
Shopping wasn't a priority, although she had explored some of the boutiques and made a few purchases.
‘Feel like sharing?'
Gabbi pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head as she turned towards Benedict.
‘My piña colada?' she countered with a teasing smile.
‘You've been deep in thought for the past five minutes,' he drawled.
Gabbi allowed her gaze to wander towards a young woman whose slender, model-proportioned curves were unadorned except for a black thong-bikini brief. Tall, gorgeous and tanned, she seemed intent on spending equal time anointing her firm body with oil and worshipping the sun.
‘I was just surveying the scene,' she said easily.
‘And wondering where you're taking me to dinner.'
‘Hungry?'
For you. Only you. Was it such a sin to want to be with one man so badly? To laugh, pleasure,
love him
so much that he became the very air that she breathed?
‘Yes.' She winkled her nose at him. ‘I think it must be all the fresh sea air and sunshine.'
A smile lifted the edges of his mouth. ‘You get to choose.'
‘Somewhere exotic, I think.'
‘Define “exotic”.'
‘Soft lights, dreamy music, exquisitely presented food and—' she paused, her eyes filling with wicked warmth ‘—black-suited waiters who look as if they're just waiting to be discovered by some international film-studio executive.'
His eyelids drooped fractionally, and his expression was deceptively indolent. ‘You have a particular restaurant in mind?'
A soft bubble of laughter emerged from her throat. ‘Yes. It will be interesting to discover if one particular waiter still works there. He displayed such flair, such panache.' Her eyes gleamed with irrepressible humour. ‘Definitely
sigh
material.'
‘And did he sigh over you?'
‘No more than that attractive, scantily clad brunette is sighing at the sight of you.' She hadn't missed the veiled interest or the subtle preening as the slimcurved beauty displayed her perfect body.
Benedict's gaze skimmed to the girl in question, assessed and dismissed her, and returned to Gabbi.
‘Pleasant to look at.'
‘Is that all you have to say?'
His eyes were dark, slumberous. ‘She's not
you.'
A flippant response rose to her lips, and died before it could be voiced. ‘Words are easy,' she managed after a long silence.
“There's an axiom about actions speaking louder than words,” he offered, and she held his gaze, suddenly brave.
‘Maybe I need both.'
He leaned forward in his chair and surveyed her expressive features. ‘A verbal attestation of love?'
Gabbi tried for nonchalance and failed. ‘Only if you mean it.' She tord her eyes away from his and looked beyond the pink and white striped canopies fronting the terrace to the distant horizon.
It seemed as if she'd waited ages for this precise moment But now that it had come she wasn't sure she was ready. The breath seemed locked in her throat, suspending her breathing, and she was oblivious to the people around them, the dull chatter of voices, the soft background music.
‘Look at me.'
It was a softly voiced command she chose not to ignore.
His features appeared sculpted, the gleam of artificial and fading natural light accentuating the strong planes and angles, toning his skin a deeper shade and highlighting the darkness of his hair.
For one brief second she was reminded of boardroom meetings where a glance from those deep dark eyes could lance a colleague's façade and reduce him to a quivering, inarticulate fool.
‘Love,
Gabbi?' A slow, warm smile lightened his features, and she caught a glimpse of the passion, the desire. And the need. ‘I don't want to spend a day, a night without you by my side. You're sunshine and laughter.' He took hold of her hand and brought her palm to his lips and bestowed an evocative, openmouthed kiss on its centre. ‘Warmth and love. Everything.'
Heat coursed through her veins, sensitising nerve cells until her whole body was an aching entity demanding his touch.
The words that had lain imprisoned in her heart for so long seemed hesitant to emerge. She swallowed, and saw that his eyes followed the movement.
A faint smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. ‘Is it so difficult to reciprocate?' he queried gently.
Gabbi looked at him carefully. She hadn't expected to find vulnerability in any form. Yet it was there, in his eyes. A waiting, watchful quality that allowed her a glimpse of his inner soul.
There was a sense of wonder in the knowledge that she was probably the only one who would ever be permitted to witness it.
‘The first day you entered the boardroom,' she began quietly, ‘it was the embodiment of every cliché.' An impish smile curved her mouth. ‘Electric. I don't remember a word I said. Yet your words stayed engraved in my mind. Every gesture, every smile.' She reached up and touched the palm of her hand to his jaw. ‘When James invited you to dinner, I think I knew, even then, the idea formulating in his mind. It should have mattered. But it didn't,' she said simply.
Benedict watched the play of emotions in her expressive eyes. They held few secrets from him. Soon they would hold none.
‘I fell in love with
you.
Not Conrad Nicols' son and heir. If I hadn't felt like that, I would never have agreed to marriage.'
‘Yet you chose to establish a façade.' he pursued, and her eyes remained steady.
‘Monique congratulated me after the wedding.' The words were almost painful as she forced them past the lump in her throat. ‘On winning an eminently successful husband. I hadn't realised marrying you was a competition, or that Annaliese had been a contender.'
The leap of anger was clearly evident in the depths of his eyes. ‘You believed her?'
‘It all seemed to fit.' Too well, Gabbi reflected. ‘Monique is James's wife. I would never say or do anything to destroy his happiness.'
‘I don't share your generosity.'
‘I can afford to be generous,' she said gently. And it was true.
 
The light was fading to dusk. Already the candles were being lit outside on the terrace tables, and electric lamps provided a welcome glow.
A faint smile tilted the edges of Gabbi's mouth. ‘Are you going to feed me?'
His features softened. ‘We could always order Room Service.'
The smile deepened. ‘The food is superb at the Sheraton Waikiki's restaurant.' Set on a high floor, the restaurant offered panoramic views from every window. She cast him a teasing glance. ‘We could dance a little, linger over coffee.'
‘If that's what you want.'
She laughed, a light, bubbly sound that echoed her happiness and deepened the teasing gleam in her eyes. ‘It'll suffice, for a few hours.'
‘And afterwards?'
‘We have the night.'
A low chuckle escaped from his throat. ‘Sounds interesting.'
Gabbi fought the temptation to lean forward and kiss him. ‘You can count on it.'
She made no protest as he stood and pulled her to her feet. Then together they walked down to the main entrance and crossed the path to the Sheraton Waikiki hotel.
It was early, and there was a choice of several empty tables. Gabbi chose one by the window, and Benedict ordered champagne—Cristal.
The food was presented with imaginative flair, and each course was a superb attestation to the chef s culinary skill.
‘Magical,' Gabbi declared as she glanced at the fairy tracery of lit high-rise buildings lining the darkening foreshore as it curved towards Diamond Head.
‘Yes.'
Except Benedict wasn't looking at the view. A delicate blush coloured her cheeks at the degree of warmth evident as his gaze lingered on her features.
‘Shall we dance?'
When they reached the dance floor he gathered her close, and she melted against him, unselfconsciously lifting her arms to link her hands together at his nape.
The music was slow and dreamy, the lights low, and she rested against him as they drifted together. Her body stirred, warming with the promise of passion.
It was quite remarkable, she mused, how she could almost feel the blood coursing through her veins, the heavy, faster beat of her heart. And the kindling fire deep within her that slowly invaded every nerve, every cell, until she was aware of nothing else but a deep, physical need for more than his touch.
Yet there was a certain pleasure in delaying the moment when they would leave and wander back to their suite. It heightened the senses, deepened the desire, and slowly drove her wild.
His breath whispered against her ear. ‘Let's get out of here.'
She lifted her face and brushed his lips with her own. ‘Soon.'
As soon as they reached their table a waiter appeared.
‘Would you care for coffee? A liqueur?'
Benedict deferred the decision to Gabbi, and his eyes assumed a musing gleam when she agreed with the waiter that a liqueur coffee would be an excellent choice with which to end the meal.
It was late when they entered their suite, and Gabbi slid off her heeled sandals, then reached to loosen the pins confining her hair.
His hands closed over her shoulders and pulled her close, then he lowered his head and took possession of her mouth.
Heat suffused her body, bringing it achingly alive. A tiny groan emerged from her throat as his lips slid down the sensitive cord of her neck, teased the hollows, then trailed the edge of her gown.
Layer by layer they slowly dispensed with their clothes, and Gabbi stifled a moan as Benedict began a slow tasting of each breast before tracing a path down to savour the most intimate crevice of all.
She felt the initial wave of sensation and gloried in it, and caught the next, exulting in each successive contraction as she rode higher and higher before soaring over the precipice to sensual nirvana.
It was so intensely erotic that her whole body shook with emotional involvement, and afterwards she lay still, enjoying the gentle drift of his fingers over her skin.
With one sinuous movement she rose up and placed her lips against his, initiating a long, evocative kiss. Now it was his turn, and she took her time, treasuring each indrawn breath, every tensed muscle, the faint sound deep in his throat as she teased and tantalised.
So much power, harnessed, yet almost totally beneath her control. It was a heady sensation to take him to the brink, and see how long she could hold him there before he tumbled her down beside him.
His possession was swift, and she gasped at the level of his penetration, arching again and again as she rose to meet each deep thrust.
Afterwards he rolled onto his back, carrying her with him, and he cradled her close, his lips brushing across her temple as he trailed his fingers lazily up and down her spine.
‘I love you.' She felt fulfilled and at peace. Gone were the agonising afterthoughts, the wishful longing for something more.

Other books

Rogue Powers by Roger Macbride Allen
The Single Staircase by Ingwalson, Matt
The Princesses of Iowa by M. Molly Backes
A Callahan Carol by March, Emily, Dawson, Geralyn
Fervor by Chantal Boudreau
Crucible by S. G. MacLean
The Healer by Sharon Sala
The Week at Mon Repose by Margaret Pearce
Splurge by Summer Goldspring