Free Sweet Enemy by Diana Palmer Page A

woman instead
of a cowering child," he said against her soft mouth as he took
it.
    An outraged cry broke from her under the punishing force of the
kiss. She was aware of struggling briefly, fighting him until she
felt the sting of his teeth against her soft lips, until the warm,
steely nearness burned through the bedclothes against her,
until he forced her trembling mouth to part for him and taught her
sensations she'd never been capable of feeling.
    She began to relax involuntarily when his mouth eased its
pressure and became caressing, seductive, arousing. He released her
wrists and his warm, long-fingered hands came down to cup her face,
tilting it gently as he deepened the kiss in an in-timacy she'd never shared with a man. A soft, barely audible
protest broke from her.
    "Not yet," he murmured deeply, his breath mingling with hers as
he nipped sensuously at the soft contours of her mouth. "Kiss me
back."
    Her wet lashes opened lazily over misty, confused eyes, to find
him staring back at her. He was so close that she could see the
tiny lines around his eyelids, the dark eyebrows above them.
Wonderingly, her fingers went up to trace them down to the
hint of a frown that wrinkled his brow.
    He drew back slowly, studying her. Her mouth was parted, her
hair wild and disheveled, her eyes shimmering with
mingled pleasure and awe.
    "Beautiful little cat," he murmured, and his breath came heavily
with the words. His hands slid into the thick tangle of hair at her
ears, gently caressing. "Your eyes are like emeralds. I like the
way you feel under me, Maggie."
    Her lips parted as she tried to catch her breath, her heart racing under the warm crush of his chest.
"You…hurt me," she whispered.
    "That's what it's all about, little girl," he said quietly. His
mouth brushed hers tenderly. "You bit me," he whispered against the
moist, bruised softness.
    She sighed against the dragging brash of his warm mouth,
drowning in pleasure. "You…you bit me back," she murmured.
    He laughed softly. "With a vengeance. I was afraid I'd drawn
blood," he mused, studying the braised little mouth so close under
his. "I've never fought so damned hard for a kiss."
    Her lips pouted up at him, her eyes clouding. "Well, don't think
I enjoyed it!" she muttered.
    "Didn't you, honey?" he asked deeply, and leaned down to tease
her mouth with his in a heady, coaxing pressure that tore a moan
from her throat as she raised up against him in a silent plea.
    But he drew away and stood up in a smooth, graceful motion to bend a calculating gaze down at
her. His dark hair was raffled, his mouth sensuous from the
contact with hers. The silk tie was disarranged, and he
looked altogether masculine and disturbing.
    He turned away to straighten his tie and his hair in her mirror.
"What are you going to do while I'm gone?" he asked
carelessly.
    She fought to regain her composure, clutching the bedclothes
around her as if they were a lifeline. "Work, I suppose. Did…did
you leave any letters you want done?"
    "Not a word," he replied coolly. He pulled a cigarette out of
his pocket and lit it. "Take another day or so before you start
back into the routine, little one. I don't want you to have a
relapse."
    She rubbed her bruised arms and wrists gingerly, darting an
accusing glance his way. "That concern is a little late, isn't
it?"
    He smiled rakishly. "Did I bruise you?" he asked without a trace
of sympathy in his deep voice.
    "Yes!"
    "And you loved every second of it, you little hypocrite," he
taunted. "I'm almost sorry I stopped. Another few minutes and you'd
have been clawing my back to ribbons."
    She gasped at the insinuation. "How dare you!"
    "You sound like something out of a very old Victorian novel," he
observed, mischief in every line of his face. "Did it shock you
that you could feel that kind of violent emotion with a man,
Maggie-violent enough to make you bite and claw?"
    She dropped her eyes like hot irons, concentrating on the
clasped hands on the bedcovers. "It