frail rays were already silvering the mountain peaks.
‘Whatever’s left of the night, I’ll take it.’
Luc’s answer was to lift her into his arms so he could carry her to the bed.
There was no greater peace, he mused as he watched Stacey sleeping. No greater satisfaction than making love to a woman that he…
That he what?
Loved? Cherished? Had used?
Not used. Never used.
They’d come together because, short of swearing a vow of chastity, there was no other way for them. It was inevitable, and had always been inevitable since the first moment they met. Stacey had imprinted her unique and infuriating qualities on him in a way he couldn’t have imagined possible, and now could never forget. She’d slept in his arms, giving him the gift of peace for the first time in years. Her breathing, so gentle and even, had soothed his. She looked so innocent and that soothed him too. He needed some uncomplicated goodness in his life, but that was selfish when he had nothing to offer Stacey long-term. It would be disingenuous to say he regretted that his darker side ruled his caring instinct. When she woke, Stacey would surely have come to her senses, and know that what they’d shared was over.
Even an ice-cold shower failed to subdue his libido. He’d never known another woman like her. Stacey had been wild when she was younger, but in his bed she’d been a revelation. Niahl’s little sister was all grown up. Still cloaked in innocence perhaps, but beneath that cloak her sexual appetite matched his.
And Niahl? How would he square this with Niahl? This need, this lust inside him blurred the edges of right and wrong, making it hard to move on. The bottom line didn’t include Niahl, he determined as he turned off the water and shook hair out of his eyes. The bottom line was Stacey. He didn’t want to hurt her. Reaching for a towel, he secured it around his waist. He only had to think of her and he was hard.
Dropping the towel, he glanced out of the window at snow banked up high in drifts. Avoid her if you can, his inner critic challenged. He and Stacey had been thrown together and now they were stranded together. The only sensible answer to that problem was to clear a path in the snow to the black slope and ski her back to the village.
Donning work clothes, he congratulated himself on the fact that he’d always been able to identify the right moment to part. He’d known with his siblings when it was time for them to leave home, and he knew with Stacey. She needed a man who would have time for her, and dote on her, and provide her with a safe and cosy home. History suggested he could never do that. As soon as his siblings were fledged, he’d cast off, a ship without an anchor. After his parents’ death nothing had remained the same. Life was a river continually moving on. This chalet wasn’t his home. Stacey was right. It was just one of many properties he owned across the world. The next acquisition was always more attractive. And in each there was something vital missing. If he could just put his finger on what it was…he’d buy it, Luc concluded as he headed downstairs.
Stacey woke in a state of deep contentment, instantly aware of a body well used. It took her a moment longer to realise where she was. Luc’s room! And then the events of the previous night came flooding in. Reaching out to touch him in the big, wide bed, she found the other side empty. Where was he?
‘Luc…?’
The silence that greeted her question had a particular quality that told her she was alone. Slipping out of bed, she grabbed a robe. Putting it on, she belted it. Crossing to the window, she exclaimed softly with relief to see Luc outside, clearing a path through the snow. Turning, she retired to the bathroom, where she took the fastest shower ever. She frowned as she put on the only clothes she had with her. There was a suspicion tugging at the back of her mind.
She’d examine it later, she decided as she hurried downstairs to put on her jacket and boots. There were all sorts of useful implements hanging on the wall of the boot room alongside the skis, so she grabbed a shovel and went outside to join him. ‘Morning…’
‘Hey.’ Luc glanced up briefly before stabbing his shovel back in the snow.
She could feel his eyes burning beneath wrap-around sunglasses—a necessary precaution when the sun was low and bright. Whether the sky would remain blue like this remained to be seen, but while it did…
‘Shot!’ She’d got him square on the head with a snowball.
Shaking his unruly mop of black hair like an irritated wolf, Luc dug his shovel into the snow again and acted as if he hadn’t noticed.
She tried again, and then again with mounting success, until, with a roar, he straightened up.
‘You don’t frighten me, Luc Da Silva,’ she assured him.
‘Then it’s time I did,’ he said, and in a couple of strides he was transformed from cool and aloof to the infuriating guy she remembered from her youth. Yanking her close, he plonked her down and dropped great handfuls of snow on her face, rubbing still more into her hair.
‘Don’t you—’
‘Dare?’ he suggested. ‘Dios, Stacey! You make me want to have you right here in the snow.’
‘I don’t see anyone stopping you…’
With a husky exclamation, he tossed his gloves aside. ‘What are you doing to me?’
‘And you to me,’ she gasped as they began to fight with each other’s clothes.
‘Is this even possible?’ Thermals stood in their way.
‘Of course,’ Luc confirmed as he freed himself.
Swinging her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist, he took her with a deep thrust. No foreplay, none needed. An exclamation of shocked delight flew from her throat. Nothing had ever felt this good. She was more than ready for him, and Luc was so caring, so careful of his size and her much smaller body. He held her as if she weighed nothing, and pounded into her until she could do no more than hang suspended in his arms. ‘So good… I need this…’
‘Me too,’ Lucas admitted in an edgy growl.
‘Harder! Faster!’ They were wild for each other. She couldn’t get enough. How could she ever live without this…without him?
‘Again,’ she insisted throatily when the first bout of pleasure started to fade. ‘I need more.’
Luc laughed. ‘Me too,’ he assured her.
‘Yes!’ she hissed in triumph as he thrust rhythmically the way she liked.
‘How strong are you?’ she said some time later. ‘Don’t your arms ache?’
‘I hadn’t even thought about it. I was somewhat distracted.’
‘And now?’
‘And now…I want to have you in the snow.’
Beneath a bright blue sky with snow hillocks all around them, they made love again, and this time when Luc
