Free Strictly Forbidden by Shayla Black Page B

dress and Aunt Caroline gaping in narrowly-averted horror.
    Kira stood alone, a few feet apart, watching in silence.
    Gavin frowned. She had helped his aunt , saved her from social ridicule. Why? Why not allow the woman who had publicly humiliated
     her only moments earlier to feel the same sting?
    She is a kind and honest woman, James’s voice haunted him.
    Balderdash, he thought, looking away and escorting Mrs. Baycliffe to her conveyance. So Miss
     Melbourne had done one nice thing for a woman who hated her. Likely she did it merely
     to earn the family’s favor. Still, she had known how to salvage the situation when
     Gavin himself had been uncertain. She had offered assistance without hesitation. And
     now that the deed was done, she stood away from the family, appearing not to expect
     any gratitude for her gesture.
    Confused, Gavin frowned. So why had she come to Aunt Caroline’s rescue?
    * * * *
    Gavin strolled Norfield Park’s grounds, surrounded by lush green landscape. The golden
     sun beamed down on him, descending toward twilight. In the west, twin peaks he had
     never before noticed lay just below the sun, beckoning him to explore the shadowed
     mounds. Had they always been there?
    He began a leisurely stroll toward them, noting their symmetrical perfection. Something
     about the hills dared him to climb and conquer each.
    He hiked up, stopping between them. He bent to touch the softest, greenest grass ever.
     A gentle breeze blew in the scents of vanilla and exotic spices, intoxicating him.
     Something akin to peace permeated him. A man could stay here forever, he decided as
     another breath brought more of the pungent scents. They overcame him.
    A moment later, Gavin found himself in an unfamiliar tunnel. It was hot, nearly black.
     Water dripped somewhere with a distant ping. Yet the liquid beneath him flowed over
     his boots, to his ankles.
    Someone waited for him. He wasn’t sure how he knew that, but he did. That someone
     was important. Urgency rose.
    He walked a step through the thick liquid covering the bottom of the tunnel. Then
     another, until he was trudging his way through an ever darkening, narrowing channel.
     He stumbled and reached out to the wall for support, only to find it warm and wet.
    The temperature was rising with every minute, every step. He tore his shirt off and
     flung it away. Someone was calling his name. Gavin could hear it faintly. The voice
     belonged to a woman. He began to run.
    Darkness enveloped him until he could see nothing of the tunnel, nothing of his own
     person. His heart beat quickly, pounding with each step. His skin felt moist, his
     legs heavy. None of that mattered; he had to reach that voice.
    Suddenly, he ran out of ground and began falling…falling. He called out, arms flailing.
    Then he was on his feet again, this time in the Rose Room at Norfield Park. He was
     not alone. Indeed, Kira Melbourne stood inches from him, swirling in scents of vanilla
     and spice, as bare as a woman could be. He swallowed.
    With a crooking of her finger she beckoned him. Transfixed, he followed. With each
     step he took forward, she took one back. He knew an insane urge to run after her.
    Her backside reached her dressing table , and she inched up onto the surface. She sent him a welcoming smile as she drew the
     pins out of her hair. The lush black mass cascaded down about her torso, one daring
     lock curling about the underside of her bare breast, framing the taut summit.
    Gavin looked. He swallowed. He wanted. There were reasons he should not, but he could
     not remember them now.
    Kira grasped each of her knees and slowly drew her legs apart in a tantalizing dance.
     A glance confirmed that she was moist, ready.
    As if by magic, as if from the mere wish of it, Gavin felt his trousers melt away.
     He, too, was bare.
    A step later, he reached Kira, easing his hips between her thighs. Lust jolted him
     as she opened her arms in welcome. His heart slammed against his chest