Free Embrace of the Enemy (Winds of Betrayal) by Jerri Hines Page A

sweeping through her.
    Breaking from her, Marcus pulled back. He leaned up to pull his shirt from his muscular body. She gazed at his bare chest, lean and powerfully built. He met her gaze with a knowing smile. Then he stripped her of her clothing until she stood naked in his view. His dark eyes glittered with desire as he soaked in the sight of her.
    In her next breath, he swept her in his arms and laid her down upon the small cot.
    “Marcus, I don’t know…,” she uttered in a helpless voice. “I don’t know…I don’t know if I can do this.”
    “Trust me, my lovely Hannah,” he said. Dispensing with his pants, he knelt down beside her. He kissed her lips, her neck, and her ear. “This was meant to be. You know you were meant to be mine.”
    “What if this is all I have to give? This moment.”
    “Then we will take this moment. In all the madness of the world, we will make this moment ours.”
    He kissed her with a passion that told his intent. He slid his hands down over her body and parted her legs. Caressing her bare thighs, he kissed his way downward until he suckled at her breast. Desire owned her. Pleasure cascaded through her with his every movement…with his every touch. In the distance, she thought she heard him call out her name. She wasn’t certain lost in delirium of ecstasy.
    He seemed to know her every want or need, driving her to madness. She surrendered her body to him. He paused a moment as his eyes swept over her body. She would have none of that. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him to her. She kissed him with a hunger for him…a craving she didn’t know existed in her. Deep within her the realization overcame her. She wanted him, needed him. She whispered his name, urging him to take her.
    Shock stunned her when his hand covered her mound and began to stroke her most intimate of places, tantalized her beyond sanity. Her body arched toward him urging him onward…toward what she wasn’t certain, but her body craved him.
    He mounted her then, blanketing her with his hard, lean body. She felt a resistance from her own body as he entered her. The sensation shocked her, but the pressure and pain lasted only a moment. She clung to him. He began to move in a rhythm that her body understood. Her body joined with his to become one. She felt his desire merge with hers, riding to fulfillment.
    Suddenly, an overwhelming sensation exploded within her. Unrelenting passion tore through her. Hard enough to evoke pleasurable sensations…one after another. The rhythm quickened bringing her to a state of rapture. She cried out his name and he covered her completely.
    After that there was a sudden silence. Marcus lifted his head and kissed her lips. He dropped beside her and drew her into his shoulder, whispering words she couldn’t comprehend for she had fallen into an emptiness that only thus become so blatantly apparent. She tried to sit up, but his arms kept her firm.
    “Where do you think you are going, my love? Have you not listened to a word I have said?” he teased her.
    Caressing her head, he ran his fingers through her hair. To her horror, tears began to fall. He would have none of that. Gently, he wiped back her tears. “Obviously, you haven’t listened to a word I have said. You can’t deny me anymore, Hannah, not after this night.”
    She shook her head. “It can’t happen again,” she whispered and once more tried to withdraw.
    “Y ou have it all wrong, Hannah,” he said emphatically. He sat up and drew her to him. His hands tenderly cupped her face. “I realize this was the first time you have laid with a man. The next time…”
    “No,” she murmured. “It wasn’t that. I have never felt such….”
    She wanted to say had never dreamed she could feel the emotions he invoked within her. She wanted to be in his arms like this forever. But their love wasn’t meant to be—it never was. They came from two different worlds. He was married…he was the