Free To Be the Best by Barbara Taylor Bradford Page B

his girlfriend’s birthday party tomorrow night for weeks now. Anyway, he made a good messenger, didn’t he? It was Kevin who delivered your note to the store this morning, wasn’t it?’
    ‘Yes, it was.’ Shane grinned as he proceeded to bundle her into the bedroom. ‘Come on, get undressed and take a hot bath, and whilst you’re relaxing I shall order supper. What do you fancy?’
    ‘Oh anything you like…I’ll leave it to you, darling.’
    ‘How about a picnic…with some of your favourite things? And another bottle of bubbly.’
    Paula laughed gaily. She said, ‘If I drink any more champagne I might just pass out.’
    ‘That’s permissible,’ Shane shot back, ‘you have your husband here to look after you.’
    ‘True. And a very special husband at that.’ She stood on tiptoe, kissed his cheek.
    Shane’s arms went around her and he caught her to him for a moment, tightening his grip, kissing the top of her dark head, and then he suddenly let go of her abruptly, stepped away from her.
    ‘I’d better be a good boy and go and order supper, otherwise you never know what might happen. After all, I have been deprived of you for two whole weeks, and I don’t mind telling you, I’ve missed you like bloody hell, my love…’
    ‘Oh Shane darling,’ she said slowly, very softly. ‘Yes…I know what you mean…’
    It was the inflection in her voice, the sudden longing on her face that made him instantly take a step forward.
    She reached out her hand to him.
    He took it.
    Their clasped hands tightened and they moved into eachother’s arms swiftly. He bent his face to hers, seeking her mouth, and felt the sudden hotness of her cheeks, and the knowledge that she always wanted him as much as he always wanted her aroused him, made his heart begin to clatter erratically. They kissed, a long deep kiss, and he let his tongue explore her mouth, and they shared a feeling of the most profound intimacy.
    Paula was suddenly trembling in his arms and together they swayed on their feet as if they were intoxicated, and of course they were – with each other – and then they half-stumbled, half-walked in the direction of the bed, their arms still wrapped around one another.
    Shane stripped her of her clothes.
    She went and lay down on the bed, waiting for him, and her eyes never once left his face as he flung off his own clothes. As she watched him intently she was hardly able to contain herself, wanting him so much, and when she saw how excited he was she felt a shiver trickle down her spine.
    As Shane stared back into those violet eyes turning inky black with longing for him, he was possessed by such a violent desire for her it sent the blood rushing to his head and made his heart begin to pound against his rib cage. He felt dizzy and lightheaded as he walked across to the bed and stretched out beside her.
    Pushing himself up on one elbow, he bent over her, looked down into her face.
    She gazed up at him.
    Their eyes locked and held for the longest moment of the most intense and adoring communion, and then he touched her cheek with two fingers, moving their tips across her brows, her eyelids, her nose and onto her mouth; slowly he traced the outline of her lips and parted them and rested his fingertips against her tongue. She sucked on them and the sensuality of this little act inflamed him, made the fire leap through him. Immediately, he crushed his mouth to hers. Itwas hard and insistent and their teeth grazed as he kissed her with mounting passion, and as he did he moved his fingers away from her lips, slid them along the elongated line of her lovely throat. They did not linger there, but moved on to fondle her voluptuous breasts, then slipped further down to flutter lightly across her flat stomach until they were finally resting between her thighs.
    Shane began to stroke her lovingly, languorously, in slow motion, and with such tenderness he seemed hardly to be touching her at all. But he could feel the velvet