Barbara Faith - Kiss of the dragon (5 page)

Then Tiger rolled her over and cast aside the top that covered her breasts. Bethany's eyes opened. Through the blaze of the sun she looked up at him. She started to speak, tried to cover her nakedness, but he said, "No, Bethany," and his oil slick hands cupped and caressed her breasts.

She heard him catch his breath in his throat, saw through eyes half blinded by the sun the passion in his face.

"Someone will see," Bethany whispered.

"Lee Tung is in the galley, Chang is at the helm. We are alone, Bethany, and I have wanted to touch you like this from the moment you walked into my office."

Tiger brushed the windblown hair back off her face. "My lovely Bethany," he said. "I have waited so long." He ran his thumb across her lips. "Do you know how much I wanted you that first night on the yacht? Do you know how much my body ached with the need of you?" He leaned to kiss her lips and with a smile said, "You smell like sunlight and jasmine."

"Tiger?" His name trembled on her lips.

"Close your eyes," he said. "What there is between us can wait... for a little while."

Then he poured more oil of jasmine on her breasts and slowly and leisurely rubbed it into her skin.

That evening, after the cruiser had been moored at the lee side of a small, uninhabited island, they had dinner of fresh fish and a cool green salad on the aft deck. Chang Lu poured their wine and after he had
placed it in the ice bucket beside the table he said, "If you do not need anything else I will retire."

"Thank y
ou, Chang. I won't need you any
more this evening. Just check the mooring lines before you turn in." When the man had left Tiger looked at Bethany. "You look lovely tonight," he said. "But your nose is burned."

"I don't see how that could be. I thought you covered every inch of me... I mean... I..." Hot color flooded Bethany's face as she looked down at her plate. She wished she'd worn jeans and a high-necked shirt instead of the short sky-blue, cotton T-dress that slipped off one shoulder. Because she was sunburned—that's what she'd told herself—she hadn't worn a bra. Now Bethany crossed her bare legs under the table and tried to think of something to say.

An old Barry Manilow tune drifted out from the salon to break the silence. The sky darkened and the moon rose, big and fat and yellow, from behind the island hills.

Bethany took the last bite of her fish and put down her fork.

"More champagne?" As Tiger refilled her glass his fingers brushed her. He hesitated after replacing the bottle, then curled his fingers around hers. "Bethany?"

She looked into his slightly tilted green eyes. For a moment it seemed to her that there was no air to breathe. "Yes, Tiger," she said in affirmation to his unspoken question.

Chapter 5

Black and gold were the colors of Tiger's stateroom. When he led Bethany in and closed the door he stood for a moment with his arms around her, breathing in the scent of her clean hair and the delicate trace of perfume. Her body was warm and soft against his. He could feel the press of her breasts against his chest and the slight trembling of the hands that crept up around his neck.

In a few moments Bethany would be his, but now he would savor the waiting. He cupped her face with his hands and tilted it up so that he could look at her. Tiger saw a look of shyness in her gray eyes, shadowed by fear of the unknown, of him, and of this new aspect of their relationship. Then he gently kissed her, not pressing until her lips softened beneath his. When her lips parted he caressed them with his tongue, then slid into the moistness of her mouth. Her tongue
danced to meet his and he felt a surge of joy flash through his body, knowing that she wanted this as much as he did.

She'd never known a kiss like this, had never felt such a kindling passion. When Tiger let her go she swayed toward him and he kissed her again, kissed her with such fire and warmth that for a moment she was afraid. But when he touched her breasts through the fabric of the T-dress her fear was forgotten in the surge of feeling that coursed through her body.

Tiger took her hand and led her to his bed. He threw back the black silk spread and turned to face her. Without a word Bethany raised her arms so that he could remove her dress. When he had taken it off he looked at her for a moment. Then he moved to the porthole to pull back the curtains so that moonlight flooded the room.

"You're beautiful." Tiger's voice was so low Bethany could barely hear him. He took a step toward her, then stopped and hastily removed his clothes.

His body, in the path of golden moonlight, was more beautiful than Bethany could have imagined. Bethany's heart pounded as he slowly came toward her. Without a word Tiger picked her up and laid her on the bed. For a moment he only looked at her, then he slipped off her sandals and slid the blue lace panties down over her hips.

Bethany brought one hand up to touch his shoulder, as though to reassure herself. Tiger took her hand and kissed it. Then he lay down beside her and gathered her in his arms.

The shock of him against her naked body sent a shiver of excitement through Bethany. The feel of his
lips on hers both frightened and thrilled her. He kissed her closed eyelids, traveled down her throat, then back up to her ears, nibbling, caressing, sending electric waves of pleasure through Bethany's body. He touched her breasts and she couldn't smother the moan that escaped her lips.

"I knew this afternoon that I would kiss your breasts tonight," Tiger said against her skin. His hands slid around her back, forcing her breasts upward. She heard his indrawn breath as he gazed at her intently. Slowly, with loving care, he bestowed butterfly kisses on her skin. When Bethany sighed and her fingers curled in the blackness of his hair, he flicked one peaked tip with his tongue, then took it into his mouth to tease and suckle.

It was a sweet torture that left Bethany whispering helplessly as she stroked Tiger's shoulders. Wave after wave of ecstasy flooded her body and an urgency that was almost past bearing took possession of her. She murmured his name as he continued to caress her.

Gently he soothed her throbbing breasts and came up to kiss her parted lips. "Now we will be one person," he said. He rose above her. "Look at me, Bethany. Look at me when our bodies join."

Before she could speak he entered her and the feel of him inside her was like nothing she had ever experienced before. She cried out. Her heart beat in rhythm to his thrusts as he moved deeper and ever deeper. She welcomed the weight of his body covering hers, rejoiced in his strength as she moved with him. The need to be closer and still closer grew as Bethany lifted her body to his. Small cries of delight whispered through her trembling lips as her hands
tightened on his shoulders. Fire seared her loins as she gave herself up to the urgency of Tiger's demands and to the demands of her own body.

"Bethany, my love," he whispered as his body moved against hers, then quickened. It was more than Bethany could bear. Her fingers tangled and tightened in Tiger's hair. She tasted his shoulder, not even aware that her teeth were scraping his skin, and lifted her body to his in one final, glorious moment of passion.

With a cry Tiger sought Bethany's mouth, and united as one, they climbed the heights of love and fell slowly back to reality in the warm comfort of each other's arms.

Heart beating wildly against heart, Tiger rained kisses on her face. He told her in Chinese and in English how beautiful she was, how wonderful it had been for him.

Bethany's eyes were luminous in the aftermath of love as she caressed Tiger's back. As they lay side by side Tiger took Bethany's hand and brought it to his lips. "I hope I have made you as happy as you have made me." He looked at her. His face was calm, his green eyes serious. "I think I have known from the first moment I saw you what would be between us, Bethany. But I did not expect... I did not dare to dream that it would be so much."

Dazed by happiness that was mingled with an edge of apprehension, Bethany looked at Tiger in wonder. How is it possible, she thought, that something like this could happen so fast? I don't even know him. He's different from all that I'm familiar with, yet with him I've experienced a joy I never thought possible.

She closed her eyes and rested her face against his chest. Tiger Malone. She repeated his name like a litany before she fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning they dived off the bow of the
Golden Dragon.
There was the threat of rain in the air as they swam leisurely, side by side, around the lee side of the island. When they were out of sight of the boat and their feet touched bottom, Tiger pulled Bethany close and gave her a salty kiss.

"You are even more beautiful this morning than you were last night," he told her. "Your eyes are shining, your face has a look of pleasure."

"Because of you," Bethany said. "Because of the way you make me feel." She smoothed the sleek black hair off his forehead. "I didn't want all this to happen, Tiger. But I think I, too, knew that it was inevitable."

"As inevitable as love." His hands caressed her back, then gently crept around to push the bikini top aside so that he could touch her breasts.

Bethany shivered in the early morning air. Head back, long blond hair streaming over her shoulders, she yielded herself up to the lips so tenderly caressing her. When Tiger picked her up and carried her toward the shore she buried her face in his throat, shivering with the anticipation of what was to come.

He laid her down under the shelter of a sea grape tree. For a moment he looked down at her, then knelt to slide the bikini bottom down over her hips.

Bethany heard the soft patter of raindrops on the overhang of leaves as she held up her arms to receive
Tiger. He kissed her. "You taste of the sea," he said with a smile. "I must see if you taste this way all over."

"Tiger...?" Then his mouth found her breasts and there was no need for words.

When he came up over her
,
she received him with a glad cry, embracing him with her arms and her legs as she lifted herself to him. She was unmindful of the rain or the hard-packed sand beneath her body. All that mattered was the feel of him inside her, the lovely slowness of his movements, the look on his face. She reached up to touch him, to trace the high cheekbones, the line of his jaw, the curve of his mouth.

"Bethany!" Tiger's green eyes closed, his face tensed, his movements quickened as he carried Bethany higher and higher into a vortex of emotion that left her throbbing with need. She cried his name. He took her cry into his mouth; his body tightened and exploded.

They lay on the sand, still heedless of the rain and of the rising wind, until Tiger said, "There's a storm coming, we have to get back." He helped Bethany up and led her down to the beach. Then he kissed her and smoothed the rain-wet hair back from her face. "I wish you could see the way you look," he said. "Your eyes are beautiful and your lips are swollen from my kisses." He ran his hands down her shoulders to the rise of her breasts, circled her waist and smoothed the curve of her hips. "I'd like to keep you naked forever," he said, "but we must dress and swim back to the
Dragon."

Tiger hesitated. His hands crept around to cup her bare buttocks. "But first..." He dropped to his knees on the sand. Still cupping Bethany he urged her closer
and rested his face against her before he began to trail a line of kisses across her stomach, down and down. A tickle of flame licked at her insides.

"No," Bethany whispered. "Tiger, no, please." She tried to move away but his hands tightened and he pressed her closer. He nipped the inside of her thighs, then quickly, before Bethany could stop him, found the burning heart of her.

She cried out and tried to break free. But the hands that held her were implacable, the lips that caressed her immovable.

The rain was falling harder now, but still Tiger held her, held her and kissed her in that secret place until her fingers tightened in his rain-wet hair. Until her legs trembled and threatened to give way and she cried his name into the wind, shattered and weeping with an ecstasy she'd never known before.

When finally he held her in his arms he said, "There has never been anyone like you, Bethany. There will never be anyone like you." He tilted her chin and looked directly into her wide gray eyes. "I am not a promiscuous man, but there have been other women in my life. But there have been none with whom I have felt what I feel for you." He smoothed her hair back from her face once more. "We'll talk about this later; now we really must leave." Then he took her hand and led her into the water.

The sea was rough, even here in the lee of the island. Bethany was a strong swimmer, but Tiger cursed himself for having endangered her this way. They shouldn't have lingered on the island when the rain began, but when he had touched her, when he had kissed her, the heat of his desire had driven every sensible thought from his head. He looked at her, so close beside him, white arms cutting through the waves, the golden hair streaming out behind her. What am I doing? he thought. Why does this woman make the blood sing in my veins and make me forget that I am a sensible man who does not take unnecessary risks? This was foolhardy; I've put her in danger. If anything happens to her I'll never forgive myself.

Then through the roll of the waves Bethany flashed him a smile, and it seemed to Tiger as though his heart stood still.

Chang was waiting for them. As soon as he spotted them he lowered the ladder and reaching a hand down to Bethany, helped her aboard.

"I've been watching for you," he said to Tiger. "In another five minutes I would have lowered the raft and come out looking for you."

"We were waiting for the rain to stop," Tiger lied. He took one of the robes Chang offered and wrapped it around Bethany. "Take a warm shower," he said. "We'll stay here until the storm passes."

"No, we can't wait." Chang's face was serious. "I looked for you through the binoculars a short while ago and I saw a boat heading in our direction. After what you told me..." He glanced at Bethany and hesitated.

"It's all right, you may speak in front of Bethany." Tiger put an arm around her shoulders. "Go below," he said. And to Chang he said, "Raise the anchor, we're heading out."

Bethany stared at Tiger, lower lip caught between her teeth, feeling a chill through her body that had nothing to do with the wind or the rain. As she started
toward the stairs Tiger ran forward to the wheel-house.

By the time Bethany had showered and dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved pullover, the sky had darkened to a sullen gray. Rain slashed against the porthole, the wind was stronger and thunder rumbled in the distance. She bent to pull on her sneakers, hanging on to the headboard to stop herself from falling. Like a drunkard she staggered across the cabin to the door, lurching with the roll of the ship. Out in the companionway she grasped the railing to keep herself steady, then headed for the ladder leading to the deck.

The wind hit Bethany hard, almost knocking her off her feet. She clutched a rail for support, trying to see through the driving rain. Tiger was in the wheel-house, bare feet braced against the terrible swaying of the ship as giant gray waves splashed over the
Dragon's
sides threatening to swamp her.

Bethany bent her head against the force of the wind and started toward the wheelhouse just as Chang reached her. "Go back," he said. "Stay in your stateroom until this is over."

"I want to help." Bethany raised her voice, trying to be heard above the roar of the wind.

Chang shook his head. "This is a typhoon," he said. "Go below."

Half falling, half staggering, Bethany groped her way back to her cabin. The door slammed behind her as she zigzagged to the bed. It seemed impossible that the cruiser could withstand the force of the storm. She'd seen the high waves, the deep troughs of gray water lashing over the decks as the
Dragon
plunged down, hesitated for a heart-stopping moment, then
roller-coastered back up. She'd almost forgotten about the boat that Chang said might be following them. That seemed of little importance now. All that mattered was making it safely through the storm.