and deep, a husky growl that sent shivers of awareness down her spine. ‘If you keep looking at me like that,’ he murmured warningly, ‘with those desperately beautiful green eyes, that make me want to believe a million impossible things, then I may not be totally responsible for my actions. Bethany!’ His voice was stronger, urgent suddenly. She felt the warmth of his breath on her face, the surge of power through his hands as they dragged her even closer against his hard, rugged length. ‘Do you understand what I’m saying?’ he asked sharply. One hand tilted her chin to prevent her from lowering her head. ‘Are you listening, Bethany?’
She felt as if she were in a dream. Her heart was pounding, her mind barely comprehending the words that were spoken with such dynamic force. Feelings she had never experienced before were stirring inside her. The emptiness, the loneliness—they didn’t seem to be there any more. How could it be? How could this man make her feel this way?
‘Chad...!’ His name was a scorch of emotion on her lips, no sooner spoken than crushed by the erotic pressure of his mouth.
She waited for pain, revulsion, sickness to rise up and overwhelm her, and when there was none, only passion and a deep frantic longing that leaped out of nowhere, shocking her with its intensity, Bethany sagged like a helpless invalid against the raw male strength, gripped the bronzed skin with a feverish touch that only served to heighten the electricity that sparked between them and opened her mouth wider to accept the totally dominant mouth.
‘God, you’re so beautiful!’ She felt herself lifted after many, many minutes, her legs swung from beneath her by potent masculine arms. Chad carried her across the room to the rug that lay in front of the warming black stove, laid her gently back on to the striped rainbow rug, his mouth all the while continuing to consume her blazing skin, continuing to touch her with relentless, uncompromising passion. ‘This is crazy! Absolutely crazy!’ He spoke between kisses, his lips warm and moist against the soft skin of her throat, the tender places of her neck, his hands roaming and touching in a way that Bethany had never dreamed of. ‘You must know what you’re doing to me!’
‘Y-yes.’ Oh, God! What was wrong with her? She had forgotten how to breathe, how to move...
‘Chad...!’ Her voice was husky with tension. She couldn’t even begin to understand what was going on, how or why she found herself now in this position with...with a man who oozed vitality and sexuality, and Bethany gasped in shock as she experienced the scorch of bare flesh against bare flesh, felt his hands, warm and firm, holding her dose, cradling her body, moving it against his own as if it were the most precious thing in the world.
When had she ever been held like this? When had she ever experienced such exhilaration... such overwhelming need to be held and loved? Not until now, not until she found herself in the arms of this man, in the arms of a stranger...
She flinched. Through the heat of desire the realisation of what she was doing bit into her with all its dreadful force. What was happening to her? What was she thinking of?
‘I can’t!’ Bethany felt Chad’s body stiffen beside her, his hands cease their knowledgeable journey over her skin. She flicked open her dark lashes and found him breathing heavily, his brown eyes narrowed, scrutinising her face with an intense expression. ‘No!’ Bethany shook her head and closed her eyes in anguish. ‘This...this is crazy!’
‘You think I don’t know that?’ He raised himself up on one elbow and studied Bethany’s trembling features with an unflinching gaze. ‘But that doesn’t mean it’s wrong,’ he murmured, ‘does it?’
‘Yes, it does!’ Bethany replied wildly. ‘Of course it does! It has to be!’
He reached out to touch her again, but Bethany, shamed by her own lack of self-control, afraid of the power of his touch, hit out wildly, catching the carved profile with the edge of her loosely clenched fist.
‘No more!’ Chad’s large hand snaked out and gripped her wrist as her hand proceeded to strike out with erratic force. His dark eyes smouldered ominously. ‘I think I’ve got the message.’
He rose fluidly, gazing at Bethany with an expression that was beyond her comprehension. She had expected fury, anger, a slap in return maybe, all the old familiar reactions, but not this control, not this smouldering tension.
She gazed into the rugged planes of Chad’s face, her eyes drawn to the reddened place high up on his cheekbone where her fist had landed. ‘You think I deserved this?’ he enquired, gesturing to his face, a grim curve twisting his mouth as Bethany scrambled hastily to her feet.
‘Y-yes!’ He didn’t; she knew that. But admitting as much to this man would be too humiliating for words.
‘Really?’ His gaze was impassive: straight and direct. She saw what he thought of her answer, what he thought of her. ‘OK, if lying about it makes you feel better...’ He lifted his broad shoulders in a shrug. ‘I’ll even apologise—then you’ll really be able to salve your conscience. We can pretend that I took unfair advantage. A lie, of course, because you wanted me as much as I wanted you.’
‘Don’t say that!’ Bethany’s voice vibrated with smouldering tension. ‘Get out! Get out of my house now!’
She turned then, with glistening eyes, and ran towards the doorway that led to her tiny, functional bedroom and flicked the catch firmly behind her.
I wanted him. I wanted him. The words repeated themselves endlessly in her mind. Over and over.
With trembling fingers she peeled the damp bikini from her body and rummaged like an automaton in the small chest of drawers beside her bed for something—anything—to wear. She dragged on a pair of loose jeans and buttoned up a crisp, cotton shirt.
‘I still want him,’ Bethany whispered frantically, disbelievingly. He had touched her and the ache of longing wouldn’t go away.
It was a long while before she finally dragged up enough courage to open the door of her room. When she emerged, she saw that Chad Alington had gone.
CHAPTER TWO
SHE walked, trance-like, to the wooden rocking-chair by the stove and slumped down into it, closing her eyes against the memory of his touch, the feelings of desire he had so easily aroused. She couldn’t bear to think about it. The taste of his mouth against her own, firm and demanding, yet with a fierce, sweet intensity...
Over and over. So many thoughts confusing her. She should be feeling ashamed, relieved that she had had the good sense to stop things before they had gone too far. Why then did she feel so...so empty, so unfulfilled ...so incredibly lonely all of a sudden?
With a despairing gesture Bethany rose from the rocking-chair and, grabbing her old coat from a peg by the door, snatched up her canvas trainers and went outside.
A beautiful full moon glimmered in the night sky. Bethany, keeping her mind on the mundane, wrapped the long coat close around her slender frame and picked her way through the vegetable garden towards the small adjacent field. The goats and chickens were fine. She flicked the catch on the coop and stood up, taking in a deep breath of the fresh sea air, rubbing the back of her aching neck. It had been a long day. Maybe all she needed was a good night’s sleep. Maybe everything would seem better in the morning...maybe, just maybe, she would find enough good sense to forget all about Chad Alington...
The yellow beam of light, like a beacon on the cliff-top, stopped her in her tracks. Bethany leaned her arms on the top rail of the fence
