She shook her head fiercely. 'No!'
'Liar,' he breathed, smiling, 'From the minute I saw you on the beach that first morning I wanted to make love to you.'
'Is that why you told me all those lies about Chris?' she asked angrily.
'They were the truth,' said Luc. 'And so is this, Lissa
She pushed at his chest as he drew her closer, his arms going round her. He laughed at her impotent attempts to escape the tightening circle in which he held her. 'Will you let go? I won't____________________' she began furiously, and was silenced by the driving force of a kiss that was unlike any kiss she had ever been given.
Luc's hands were behind her, pressing her against him, pinning her to the lean hardness of his own body, and his mouth plumbed hers, the warm moist invasion leaving her shaking. A groan escaped her and she tried to shut her mind to the insidious, coaxing movement of his hands as they stroked down her back and caressed her hips. Her hands dug into his chest, clenching. Her mouth opened weakly. She felt and heard the hoarse sigh Luc gave.
'Liss,' he muttered, his kiss flaring hungrily. His mouth crushed her lips, the demand he made so fierce that she swayed in his arms.
She had her eyes dosed. All around them the palms breathed softly and the sea whispered on the moonlit sands. Luc's thighs were moulded to her body, forcing her to recognise the desire his mouth was reinforcing. Her hands slowly moved up to his shoulders, dung there, trembling against the warmth of his shirt.
Suddenly Luc lifted her off the ground and then lowered her again, but he had come with her and her eyes flew open in shock as she realised that she was lying full length on the sand with Luc's hard body pressing her down.
'Don't!' she groaned, pushing at his wide shoulders.
He looked at her with a twisted little smile. 'You're such an intoxicating mixture of innocence and fire, Lissa. You blush like a baby, but your eyes beckon. You don't even know what you're doing half the time, do you? It's all instinctive.'
She was too shaken by the wild tremors running through her body to be able to say a word, looking up at him and as much afraid of herself as of Luc.
'Come away with me,' he whispered. 'You can't stay here, and if you're honest you knew as well as I did the minute we met that this was going to happen.'
'No,' she muttered, stiffening under the powerful body which held her down with such ease.
'Don't lie to yourself,' he smiled. 'As soon as I set eyes on you I knew you were going to end up in my bed.'
Shock ran through her like fire. Her skin burned and her throat ached. She met the fierce flare of his blue eyes and shook her head dumbly.
'Your mouth promises so much more than you're prepared to admit,' he said huskily. He caressed her lips with his thumb, smiling at the helpless shiver which ran through her.
'Let go of me,' Lissa forced out through dry lips. 'You're not seducing me, Mr Ferrier, so get your hands off me!'
The smile vanished from his face. The blue eyes hardened and Dickered with heat. 'Aren't I?' He lowered his head and she felt his lips on the underside of her chin, his breath warm on her flesh. 'Aren't I, Liss?' The deep, breathed question sent waves of panic along her nerves.
'No,' she whispered, trembling so hard it was painful.
He lifted his head and the blue eyes mocked her coolly. 'What a little liar you are,' he drawled. 'No? That isn't the truth, is it, Lissa? You make all the correct responses-trained to a hair by the good nuns, I've no doubt. But even while you're mouthing all that shocked stuff about my wicked liberty-taking, your eyes are begging me to go on.'
Lissa reacted like a scalded cat. She slapped him so hard her palm burnt and stung.
Luc's head rocked with the blow. The amusement went from his face and rage flashed down at her from his eyes. She felt instinctively that he almost hit her back, then his face tightened into an alarming mask,
'That was unwise of you, Lissa,' he drawled, his lips scarcely moving. 'You've made me angry now.'
She was quivering, watching him nervously.
He moved too fast for her to evade him. His dark head shut out the night sky. His mouth burned, bruised, delved into her own, forcing her to surrender her lips without a further protest. His hands moved possessively over her. Her dress was dragged down and his fingers slid down her shoulders to find the high, warm swell of her breasts.
Chris had never once touched her with such demanding intimacy. She had no previous experience of love-making to compare it with-whenever Chris had tried to accelerate their caresses anywhere near this point she had anxiously broken away from him. Now her own reactions were so fierce, so piercingly exciting, that she lost all sense of what she was doing, absorbed into a private dizzying world of pleasure.
The smooth, warm fingers held her trembling body and softly caressed it until she was groaning, yielding. Her heart beat so hard she was deaf. She couldn't think. She couldn't even hear her own voice as she gave those hoarse little sighs of pleasure. The roaring blood shut her ears and her eyes were blind as she twisted in Luc's exploring, arousing hands.
'Let me have you,' he whispered, and she heard the question through the singing of her blood and couldn't answer.
'You drive me crazy,' Luc muttered, his mouth at her throat, the demanding heat of it sliding down to the hollow between her breasts.
Lissa's hands dug into his back as his thigh forced itself between hers. Desire spiralled crazily inside her. A deep, heated urgency possessed her and her hands trembled as she touched Luc's body, her restless movements filled with driven necessity.
Luc suddenly sat up, breathing thickly. 'You see?' he asked in a low, unsteady voice. I could have you, couldn't I, Liss? Whatever you say, your reactions make that very clear.'
She felt horribly sick. She pushed him away, suddenly facing what had happened to her and reacting with shame and violence.
She scrambled to her feet, swaying weakly as her legs almost gave way under her. Luc stood too and held her elbow, his long fingers resting on it lightly.
'Stay away from me!' Lissa snapped. Humiliation and self-contempt were eating at her. The burning temptation of a moment ago had evaporated and she was sick.
'Come back to England with me,' Luc said quietly. 'You can trust me, Lissa. I'm no Brandon, I won't lie to you or cheat you.'
'I know what you want to do to me,' Lissa bit out.
'Oh, that,' he said, and laughed, and somehow it was the last straw. She looked at him savagely, then turned and walked away 'fast. Luc came after her, but as Lissa left the darkness of the palms fringing the beach they both heard voices. She halted and instinctively moved back into the trees. Luc came up with her and she looked at him nervously, her eyes wide…
' Brandon,' he said through his teeth.
'Looking for me,' she whispered. 'Luc, you must go. Don't let him see you.'
He studied her, his face calm.
'Please, please!' she whispered.
Luc bit down on his lower lip. 'I'm not leaving you,' he said.
'He won't hurt me,' Lissa muttered, flushing. 'But he might hurt you.'
Luc laughed harshly. 'You think I'm scared of him?'
'He has Max and several others with him,' she whispered. 'Max carries a knife, I'm sure he does.'
Fortune had spotted the men and was running towards them, barking excitedly, pleased to see them.
'Go, please, Luc, do go!' she groaned, grasping his arm.
He hesitated then shrugged, and in a second he had melted into the darkness and she did not even see where he went.