nothing else in the world existed but the sweet draining delight of his kisses. She found herself sighing her pleasure into his mouth, arching towards him as she felt the first heated explicit thrust of his tongue and offered him an equally candid response in her turn, clinging to him, drinking from the shared moisture of their mouths.
She smiled as she experienced the warmth of his lips caressing her closed eyes, the curve of her cheek, and the crazy throb of the pulse in her throat.
Caz pushed her back against the softness of the cushions, his hands moving slowly but very surely, skimming the delicate line of her shoulders, then sliding down to cup her breasts and stroke them gently through the silky top she was wearing, coaxing her nipples to rise to hard, aching peaks under the passionate certainty of his touch.
Tarn gasped, her head thrown back, her whole being consumed by the long, delicious shivers that were running through her, inspiring her to let her fingers in their turn begin their own exploration—discover the taut muscularity of his back and trace the long supple spine through his fine linen shirt.
To feel the heat of his body as it pressed on hers, and find it echoed in the giddy rush of her own blood stream, and in the deep, inner trembling of her ungiven flesh as she encountered the hardness of his arousal against her slender thighs.
The thin layers of cloth that separated them seemed suddenly too great a barrier. With a kind of desperation, Tarn wanted to be naked in his arms. Naked with him. To find herself at last possessed and know the rapture of his body sheathed in hers.
To understand why she had made herself wait all this time.
Just for this moment. Just for this man. Whom she could not have…
He was kissing her again, slowly, deeply, and she cried out softly in longing and despair, her voice breaking as she whispered his name against his mouth.
‘My angel.’ His voice was hoarse, his hand heavy on her bare thigh where he’d pushed her skirt aside. ‘Tarn—stay with me tonight, darling—please. Give yourself to me.’
All she need do was remain silent and he would lift her and carry her to his room. And to the bed he’d shared with Evie…
It was that realisation that, somehow, forced her to clutch at her reeling sanity. Made her find the words that would save her. ‘I—I can’t.’ She stared up into his eyes, lambent with desire. ‘You—you said you wouldn’t pressure me. You promised…’
‘I did,’ Caz said quietly after a pause. ‘And I meant it. But I’m only human, my sweet, so you can’t blame me for trying.’ He sat up, pushing his hair back from his sweat-dampened forehead while Tarn ordered her dishevelled clothing with unsteady hands.
She said, stumbling a little, ‘Are you angry with me?’
‘No,’ he said gently. ‘Why would I be? I want you very much, Tarn, but it has to be mutual.’ He added ruefully, ‘And for a few moments there, I thought it was.’
‘It was.’ Her voice shook. ‘It is. You must believe that.’ She hesitated. ‘It’s just—being here—in your flat. I don’t know how to explain.’ She swallowed. ‘I can only say that it has—connections that I can’t forget—and never will.’
Ask me, she thought. Ask me exactly what I mean and I’ll tell you, so that I can put a stop to the whole thing once and for all. Because I can’t bear to go on like this. It’s ripping me in pieces.
‘Ah.’ He was silent for a moment, then sighed. ‘I must be extraordinarily insensitive, my darling, because it truly never occurred to me that my bachelor indiscretions would come back to haunt me in this particular way.’
He took her back into his arms. ‘But if that’s how you feel, so be it.’ His lips brushed her hair. ‘You don’t have to live here, sweetheart, or even spend one solitary night with me. I’ll put this place on the market, and we’ll find somewhere else—somewhere new, with no connotations from the past whatsoever. We can start looking this week.’
‘You’d do that for me?’ She turned her face into his shoulder.
‘That and far more,’ he said. ‘How many times must I say it?’ He paused. ‘Tarn, I wish I knew what had happened in your life to make you so reluctant to trust me. Will you tell me—one day?’
‘Yes.’ Her voice was muffled. She was thankful she didn’t have to look into his eyes. ‘Yes—one day.’
When Tarn got back to the flat, she found Della curled up on the living room sofa in her dressing gown.
‘Oh, hi.’ Tarn checked in surprise. ‘I thought you’d be asleep.’
‘No.’ Della rose to her feet. ‘I had things on my mind, and I wanted to talk to you.’ She took a breath. ‘Tarn, are you engaged to Caspar Brandon?’
Tarn’s lips parted in a gasp of shock. But she can’t know that, she thought. Not possibly.
She said with perfect truth, ‘I—I don’t understand.’
‘Nor do I—but I found this.’ Della produced Evie’s ring box from her pocket. ‘It was on the sideboard and—well, I’m afraid I had a look inside. I had no right to do that, and you’ve every reason to be angry with me.
‘But I want you to know that whatever you’ve said about him—everything you’ve believed is absolutely true. He is a love rat and a cheat, and this proves it. So please tell me that if you are engaged to him, it’s for you own purposes and not because you’ve also been taken in by his charm and his lies.’
‘Dell, slow down.’ Tarn’s head was whirling. ‘What on earth are you talking about? That’s Evie’s engagement ring. Her diamonds, not mine.’
Della snorted. ‘Diamonds be damned. They’re cubic zirconia. Pretty to look at but worth a fraction of the real thing.’ She shook her head. ‘I admit I had my doubts about Evie because I’ve always considered her a total flake. But Caz Brandon is far worse. A bigger fake than his so-called diamonds.’
She sighed before continuing. ‘I know I was against what you were planning, but you were right, and I was wrong. He dazzled that poor silly girl into his bed and dumped her when he was tired of her. And I’ve discovered something else. That place she’s been locked up in—well, he’s on the board of trustees. That’s why it’s so difficult for you to see her and talk to her. Because he put her there, conveniently out of his way.’
Tarn stared at her, the beat of her heart slamming slowly and heavily against her ribcage. She said in a whisper, ‘Are you—quite sure?’
‘I looked him up on line—not the social stuff—but the directorships and other connections outside his publishing empire, and found it. Then I checked back with The Refuge to make sure. Not just a trustee but listed as a benefactor. With his sort of money, you can get away with anything.’
Della took a deep breath. ‘But I’m here now to say that he deserves everything that’s coming to him, and if I can help you bring him down, I will.’
Tarn took the little box from her outstretched hand and opened it slowly, staring down at the icy glitter of the stones. Wondering how she could have been so deceived. Why she too hadn’t recognised at once that they were not real diamonds.
