Free Microsoft Word - Rogers, Rosemary - The Crowd Pleasers by kps Page A

she heard him whisper that against her bruised mouth before he lifted her in his arms to carry her off like some ravishing pirate. She was dizzy and dazed, hearing only vaguely the bang of the door as he kicked it shut behind them, locking her in with him.
    The bed was a shambles, covers rumpled and trailing on the floor. Tanya? But she mustn't think that-didn't want to think about it as he dropped her down on it. Just like a ship, it seemed to rock under her.
    "No-please, not yet, not like this ..." Anne didn't know if she said the words aloud or only thought them. Had he made love to Tanya before they had their fight? She didn't really care-and that was the most shocking thing of all. The lights in the room went off, and the blackness pressed like stifling black velvet against her eyes.
    The feel of his hands came out of the darkness before her eyes grew used to it, and she felt the length of his body as he lowered it beside hers on the bed.
    He was tender with her now, as he hadn't been earlier, and strangely, Anne thought she could understand why. Here, together in the dark, they could begin as if they were strangers again-not having to watch and gauge expressions, merely feeling, touching, tracing, with fingers at first, and then with lips.
    She didn't know and didn't care what happened to her clothes as he took off each garment one by one. She undressed him, fingers fumbling until he became impatient and helped her. And then he held back-teasing her, tormenting her until she cried out to him, torn between anger and frustration-hardly understanding her own needs until he made her aware of them. And even more aware of the feel and the different textures of his body-roughness and smoothness, hardness pulsing in her hand, and finally motion inside her.
    Just long enough to make her experience the familiar -unfamiliar eruption that came from inside again; then, while she was still gasping with reaction, he set his mouth against her like a seal, a brand of white-hot fire that took her beyond anything she had ever experienced before-his hard hands holding her thighs apart while she went from one peak to another, losing all capability of thinking, knowing only feeling, wanting, until he filled her again and she tasted herself against his roughly demanding mouth. When the world stopped spinning she fell asleep, like dropping off from a precipice into an endless dark canyon.

Chapter Seven
    THIS MORNING WAS DIFFERENT from any other morning she had ever known.
    Was it only yesterday that she had awakened feeling all cramped from sitting curled up in a chair all night?
    Watery sunlight insinuated itself into the room through drawn curtains, falling across the bed; and the room was filled with the hunger-provoking odors of coffee and freshly fried bacon.
    Anne's eyelids felt heavy-she had a sense of disorientation at first, as she opened her eyes, and then wrinkled them shut against the light.
    "It's morning, love. Close to afternoon. Here-swallow these." Memory rushed back when she saw Webb's yellow-gold eyes watching her. Obediently, Anne swallowed the pills he handed her, washing them down with a drink he handed her.
    "Only B-12 and E, Annie-love. No need to look so apprehensive." His voice sounded noncommittal and detached, like the look he bent on her. Trying, belatedly, not to think, the champagne-and-orange-juice drink tasted good. A mimosa-wasn't that what the combination was called? Anything to take her mind off the present. But he wasn't about to let her off easily.
    "You'd better eat some breakfast too. Since you were so sound asleep I went ahead and ordered what suits me." There were eggs under a silver cover, and fresh-baked buttered muffins. The eggs were soft-scrambled and faintly flavored with dill. Sitting up in the bed as she took the plate Webb thrust at her, Anne realized suddenly that she was ravenously hungry. And if she could concentrate on eating, that would serve to postpone thinking and remembering how she