Free To Have and to Hold by Diana Palmer Page B

sensuously.
    He bent, and she felt his mouth touch her forehead, her closed eyelids, her cheek, the corner of her soft mouth. His hands went under her back to press gently against her shoulder blades, lifting her body up against his.
    He felt the involuntary rigidity of her slender body, and nuzzled his face into her throat. "Just relax, don't stiffen up on me, little innocent.," he murmured sensously. "This is just an apertif, not a five-course-meal. I know precisely how far I can go without hurting either one of us."
    The feel of him against her was like a narcotic, she wanted more and more, she wanted to be closer. Her cheek moved restlessly against his temple, his cool, dark hair.
    His mouth moved against her throat, up to her jaw, her chin, and finally, to brush against her mouth in a slow, whispery tasting that seemed to start a fire burning.
    "Cal..." she whispered unsteadily, being slowly driven mad by persistent, lingering touch of his mouth that was relentlessly causing her's to part in anticipation. The hunger she was feeling was new and strange and shocking. She didn't want to give in to it, but she couldn't help herself.
    "I won't rush you, not in any way," he murmured against her lips. "Easy, now, don't fight me...."
    Her cold fingers touched his cheek, and her eyes closed again. "Cal, I wanted this..." she admitted on a sob.
    "So did I, from the very beginning, but you weren't ready then."
    "Kiss me," she whispered brokenly, clinging to him unashamedly, "really kiss me...!"
    His mouth went down against hers with a pressure that made her yield instinctively to an ardor like nothing she'd ever experienced. She let him fold her closer, pressing her slender body against the length of his, so close that she could feel the heavy slam of his heart as if it were beating in her own chest. The kiss burned into her blood, her soul, a tasting that brought a delight bordering on madness. Her fingers tangled in his thick, dark hair, and not once did she think, could she think, of the differences between them.
    His big hand ran over the soft curves of her body, lingering against her hip, to turn and move softly, excitingly, back up to her shoulder. She trembled at the mastery in that caress, and he drew back, his eyes dark with triumph, and something less definable.
    "Was it like this with him, Burgundy?" he whispered, his teeth nipping gently at her lip,
    "Did you burn for him the way you're burning for me?"
    He brought the memories back, hazy and far away, and she tried to remember how it had been when Phillip kissed her, but her mind, like her body, was in flames. "I don't remember," she whispered shakily.
    He laughed softly, dangerously, as he bent his head. "Never mind, honey. Don't think," he bit off against her mouth, "just feel...!"
    He took her mouth again, harder this time, rougher, as if the yielding young body in his arms was making shreds of his will power. "Kiss me back," he whispered huskily, "like this, Burgundy, like this...!"
    She obeyed him weakly, following his lead, learning the first lessons of passion, feeling the instant response in the big, warm body her arms were wrapped around, dazed at the power she suddenly found in her trust.
    With a hard groan, he drew back a breath. "Woman, I want you like hell on fire, and I'm not used to stopping. I think you'd better sit up an d sip your ginger ale before I yield to my baser instincts."
    Her eyes closed on a tremor, and she took a deep, slow breath. "Help me up," she whispered.
    He turned, easing her into a sitting position, his lips brushing her closed eyelids briefly, tenderly. "You go to my head, love," he whispered. "I can't trust either one of us right now. Here," he handed her the ginger ale.
    She took a swallow of her drink and almost choked. Her face was red and her breathing quick and erratic. She felt cold and empty and lost without the comfort of his arms to warm her.
    He finished his own drink in two large swallows and stood up. "Come on, honey,