‘You didn’t,’ she returned abruptly. ‘Thank you for dinner, Mr Richards,’ she held out her hand politely. ‘I hope you’ve enjoyed your stay here with us.’
He looked down at the hand she held out to him, ignoring the fact that she expected him to shake it, taking it firmly in his left hand to pull her against his side. ‘I believe I suggested we go for a walk,’ he reminded throatily.
‘It’s cold and windy——’
‘You love it like this,’ he dismissed. ‘In fact, I bet you revel in it. I can just picture you now, walking along the beach on starlit nights, defying the elements, the sea.’
Keilly stared up at him in surprised wonder. No one else had ever realised the challenge she found in a night like this, the battle she had with the sea each time she swam in the winter evenings. The rest of the family and her friends just thought she was a ‘health nut’, none of them had ever realised how she really felt about it. Rick had only known her a couple of hours, and yet he had guessed, he knew.
‘I’ll go and get my coat,’ she told him quietly.
He nodded, pleasure flaring in his eyes to make them appear sapphire blue. ‘And I’ll get mine.’
He was waiting outside for her when she came through from collecting her thick woollen coat, pulling the tie-belt tightly about her waist as she looked up and met his gaze. During their few minutes apart she hadn’t liked to allow herself the time to think, hadn’t wanted to, for once just wanted to enjoy the moment, of being with someone who knew her so totally. He held out his arms to her now and she didn’t hesitate about moving into them, her head bent back as she raised her mouth for his kiss, receiving no gentle exploration to her trusting gesture, swept away on a tide of passion so strong it equalled the force of the wind that whipped her hair about their faces, touching the hardness of Rick’s cheeks as if in a caress.
They didn’t speak as they drew apart, turning as if by tacit agreement to walk towards the cove, Keilly snuggled against the warmth of his coat as his arm remained possessively about her shoulders.
She felt warmed, protected, braving a glance at the enigmatic man who made her feel that way. He walked strong and proud, his head into the wind, as if he too enjoyed challenging the elements—although unlike her, he seemed confident he could win!
‘You’re right,’ she broke the silence between them as they stood at the top of the cliff looking down, the white surf of the wind-tossed sea crashing against the sand. ‘It doesn’t tickle,’ she added almost shyly, his facial hair feeling softer than she had imagined, not rough at all.
Rick smiled at her with complete accord, moving off again, taking her down the moonlit pathway to the beach below. It wasn’t windy against the cliffs in the shelter of the cove, a strange stillness all around them.
Once again Keilly felt compelled to raise her face to him, her lips parted to the sensual assault of his, her arms clasped about his neck as she stood on tiptoe, held fast against him by the strong arms he wrapped so possessively about her slender body.
She felt herself lowered lightly to stand on the ground as his mouth travelled across her cheek to her throat, her arms against his shirt beneath his jacket, her head thrown back as he released the top two buttons to her dress, exposing the curve of her breasts beneath the black lacy bra, his lips moving across their exposed fullness before capturing hers once again.
This time he kissed her deeply, intimately, the smoothness of his tongue entering her mouth to run lightly along the edge of her inner lips, plunging deeper as she groaned her surrender, the tautness of his thighs so hard against hers heady to her already aroused senses.
‘We can’t make love here!’ he groaned as he bit into her earlobe, tracing the gentle curve with his tongue.
‘No,’ she agreed, his chest bared to her questing hands and lips.
‘The sand is probably as damp as hell,’ he muttered between fevered kisses on her bared shoulders.
‘Yes,’ she said again, gasping slightly as he bit into her tender flesh, hearing his groan of satisfaction seconds later as her tongue sought and found the male nipple, feeling it harden beneath her caresses.
With the minimum of movement he had thrown off his sheepskin jacket and was lowering her down on to it, smoothing aside the unbuttoned front of her dress, releasing the fastening of her bra to bare her breasts to his avid gaze.
The sky could have fallen in on them at that moment and neither of them would have cared, Keilly arching up as his mouth claimed moist possession of one rosy-tipped breast, teeth closing about the nipple to bite down gently as ecstasy flooded her lower limbs, a slow warmth invading her thighs, the pleasure ten-fold as his hand claimed the other breast, his thumb moving roughly across the tip.
Both were oblivious to the storm rolling in off the sea, lost in a tempest of their own making, moist lips claiming other welcoming lips, hands avidly searching the pleasure spots of their bodies.
Rick’s hand was on her knee now, travelling slowly up her thigh, closing possessively over the delicious mound that lay beneath black lacy panties, the warmth increasing in Keilly as he slowly caressed her there, his hand moving surely beneath the lace to the waiting flesh below.
The storm of their making may have been strong, but the storm above them wasn’t to be denied any longer, huge drops of rain falling coldly on their heated flesh, Rick’s shirt soaked and clinging to his back within seconds as he lay across her. Even so he was loath to relinquish her mouth, leaving her with a frustrated groan, quickly buttoning her dress for her before pulling her coat warmly about her.
‘Your coat——’
‘I’ll see to that in a minute,’ he dismissed, his hair looking as black as her own now that it was wet. ‘Keilly,’ his hands framed her face, seemingly oblivious to the rain that was fast drenching them both. ‘No matter how much I wanted you just now I wouldn’t have taken you here,’ his gaze held hers steadily. ‘Making love on a beach, fumbling about in the dark as if we’re guilty of something, it isn’t how I want our first time together to be.’ His head bent and he kissed her slowly, lingeringly. ‘I’m going to give you champagne and roses when I make love to you. And a bed,’ he added meaningly.
She was warmed by the sincerity of his words, knew that the rain, the frantic haste to straighten their clothes, had dampened things in more ways than one. Rick taking the time—and getting waterlogged into the bargain!—to reassure her of his feelings made everything seem good again.
‘A bed can be made of many things, Rick,’ she sat up to assist him with his coat, although it was much too late to prevent him being soaked to the skin. ‘Down or sand, the important thing is who you share it with.’
He smiled, his eyes a deep warm blue. ‘My untamed witch!’ He bent to kiss her with lingering tenderness, his gaze intent for long breathless seconds before he quickly stood up, pulling her lightly to her feet. ‘Are there any caves along here where we can wait until the rain stops?’ He narrowed his eyes along the cliff face.
‘No caves,’ she took his hand and began to run. ‘But there’s an overhanging rock where we can take shelter.’
They reached the rock within minutes, huddling close together to avoid the worst of the rain.
As they stood there
