the chest between the windows, then gave a smothered gasp as he pounced on her and carried her back the bed.
‘Is this where I get ravished?’ she demanded. ‘Because if it is I’ll take the dress off too. It was expensive.’
‘I’ll do it for you.’ He took the glittering garment very carefully by the hem and drew it over her head, then laid it over the back of a chair.
Sarah tried to relax against the pillows, but it was difficult when she was breathless, shaking inside, and hot all over even though all she was wearing were some lacy bits of nude satin that had cost more than the dress.
Alex stood very still and tense at the foot of the bed, his eyes so openly eating her up that Sarah held up her arms and he dived across the bed to scoop her up against him. He kissed her hungrily and Sarah kissed him back with equal fervour, one part of her admiring his skill as he removed his clothes without taking his lips from hers, the other part of her hot with anticipation as he drew back to gaze down at her. The possessive look in his eyes was as tactile as the caress of his stroking hands. Then his mouth moved down her throat and she lay with closed eyes, quivering as his lips moved in a slow, erotic trail down her throat, and over her shoulders, her anticipation mounting as he neared the swell of her breasts. Suddenly she pushed him away, her eyes glittering in her flushed face.
‘What’s wrong?’ he whispered.
‘Nothing at all. It’s my turn. I want to look at you.’ Sarah smiled, open relish in her eyes as they moved inch by inch over his broad chest and flat-planed stomach.
She leaned nearer to trail caressing hands down the same path, well aware of the effect they were having on him, and when she laid her open mouth against his chest he pulled her hard against him, his patience gone. With unsteady hands he removed the scraps of satin, and at last they were naked in each other’s arms, their kisses frantic as their bodies came into contact. The breath tore through her chest as his lips left hers, his hair brushing her hot skin as he used his mouth on her breasts. She shivered at the touch of his tongue and grazing teeth, then gave a stifled moan as he parted her thighs to cause such unbearable arousal with his caresses her entire body felt bathed in flames.
He leaned away for a moment, then let himself down on her very gently, until every part of his body was touching every part of hers. She gazed up at him, her eyes lambent with invitation, then gasped in delight against his possessive mouth as he slid slowly home inside her. She made a relishing sound deep in her throat, her body taking its lead from his as he made love to her with all the care and skill at his command, until her urgent hips stole the last of his control and he took her at thrusting, breakneck speed towards the goal he reached at last before her. Still erect and throbbing with his own release, he drove deeper and held her impaled until he felt her climax ripple around him, then he collapsed on her, his face buried in her hair.
When Sarah found the energy to move at last she yelped in pain, because her hair was trapped. Alex kissed her in apology as he freed her and brushed the tangled curls back from her face, then slid off the bed to make for the bathroom.
‘Well?’ he said softly, when he rejoined her. ‘Did you enjoy being ravished?’
‘I don’t think you could describe it that way,’ she said, thinking it over.
Alex looked down at her, frowning. ‘You mean I fell short of expectations?’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Typical man!’ She touched a hand to his cheek. ‘Of course you didn’t. But ravishing implies that the woman is unwilling in some degree. And, as perhaps you noticed, I wasn’t. Unwilling, I mean.’
‘I noticed,’ he said, with deep satisfaction.
Sarah looked at him steadily. ‘I didn’t know it could be like that, Alex.’
The intense, dark-rimmed gaze held hers. ‘How much experience have you had?’
‘Not nearly as much as you, I imagine,’ she said tartly. A very few episodes in the past, where enthusiasm had featured far more than skill, hardly counted. Whereas at Cambridge alone a man like Alex