Mad About The Man (17 page)

His hands were vices. They spanned her waist, but only for the moment before he tore open her jeans and skinned them to her ankles. Going to his knees, Jacques moaned. He cupped her bottom and kissed the shadowy triangle visible through red panties.

"
Trust me, Gaby,
"
he whispered, pulling down the last barrier, heating her skin with his breath.
"
This is my game, remember?
"

He moved smoothly then, stretching her out on the velvet grass he
'
d promised, dragging the jeans and panties from her feet, shedding his own pants and turning his back to her for the briefest moments.

"
Jacques?
"

"
Oh, yes, quiet lady.
"

Then he dropped beside her, stroked her, kissed and caressed her. And all the time, while his shaft lay hot
and heavy on her thigh, he murmured words that meant nothing except to him—and to her.

"
God,
"
he said at last, and very clearly.
"
I can
'
t hold back, Gaby. Not any longer. Not this time.
"

She couldn
'
t answer, but she ran her hands down until she could surround him. While her own heat mounted, Gaby closed the part of him that throbbed with need into her palms and pushed against the hair at its base until he cried out and rolled over her.

"
Yes,
"
she told him, parting her legs.
"
Yes.
"

"
Open for me,
"
he cried.

And she did.

Jacques cradled Gaby
'
s hips and thrust into her with force that burned. Then there was the rhythm and the dance—and the endless joining that slammed them together as one.

"
Now, Jacques.
"

"
Soon.
"
His thumb found the pulsing nub that sent Gaby beyond reason. He ignored her flailing hands until she called his name over and over.

"
That sounds so good,
"
he told her.
"
My name never sounded that good.
"

Her body convulsed around him and he shouted his triumph.

12

"
C
hampagne
?
"

"
At nine in the morning?
"
Gaby turned from admiring the view and smiled at Jacques.

"
I mixed it with orange juice.
"

"
Mmm
.
"
Her smile widened.
"
Very nice.
"

"
Why doesn
'
t that sound like an endorsement of my
mimosas
?
"

"
I haven
'
t tasted your mimosas.
"

He approached from the door that opened from his bedroom onto a terrace balanced between crystal-blue sky and a view of razorbacked hill and green valley devoid of any signs of civilization for as far as the eye could see.

Jacques slid a wooden tray onto a low, glass-topped table.
"
So,
"
he said.
"
If it isn
'
t my skill as a bar
tender that brings you pleasure, I
'
ll just have to find out what does.
"

Gaby leaned against the terrace railings. Slow, moody music played through the sound system wired to every part of the house.
"
It may not be easy to get that information out of me. You could have to do some serious persuading.
"
She crossed one bare foot over the other and cinched in the sash on the oversized, white terry robe she wore.

"
How long will it take?
"
Jacques braced an arm each side of her on the railing.
"
I
'
m in a hurry to find out.
"

Gaby swayed to the music. With the backs of her fingers, she rubbed his jaw.
"
There are a lot of things left for us to find out about each other.
"
Moisture from the shower gleamed in his still-wet hair and he smelled of soap. His robe matched Gaby
'
s—except his fit him.

His gaze centered on her mouth and stayed there, until he tipped
his head and bent to brush his li
ps across hers.
"
I never expected this.
"
He closed his eyes and kissed her deeply.

Gaby stroked fingertips and palms down his neck and beneath the robe. He nudged her face up and she met his tongue hungrily.

When they
'
d finally left Jacques
'
s valley the evening before, darkness had already begun to fall. The ride to La Place had been merely an intermission between acts of passion. In the hours they
'
d spent to
gether, Gaby had learned what it was like to experience lovemaking with a man who knew as much about giving as taking. No millimeter of her body had escaped his attention.

Jacques drew back his head with the reluctance of a starving man letting go of a meal.
"
No, I sure never expected this.
"

"
What does that mean?
"
Gaby asked softly.

"
Maybe I
'
m not sure.
"
He frowned slightly.
"
But I would have laughed if someone had told me—even a few weeks ago—that I
'
d find a woman I could…
"
Looking away, he let the sentence trail off.

She would not press him to finish the thought.

"
Gaby
…
Hell, I don
'
t know. I think you
'
ve worn out my mind.
"

"
Maybe you ought to get some sleep.
"
She forced a laugh.

Jacques held up her hand and flattened the palm to his own.
"
I said my mind might be worn out. I didn
'
t say anything about the rest of me.
"

Her hand looked like a child
'
s against his, the fingers—long as they were—barely passing his second knuckle.
"
Those mimosas are getting warm,
"
she said.

"
Mmm.
"
Lacing his fingers through Gaby
'
s, Jacques pulled her into his arms. His body moved with the beat of a lone saxophone played with sensual languor—and his body moved Gaby
'
s. With their locked hands trapped between them and Jacques holding her so close she almost heard the beat of his heart, Gaby felt the music, the rhythm, the beat through him.

They danced as only lovers dance.

Gaby looked up at him. His eyes were closed, his lips parted.

But he wasn
'
t smiling.

I never expected this
…

She bit her lip. What hadn
'
t he expected? To find a woman in little old Goldstrike who fitted him like a bespoke glove? To find what she knew he
'
d unearthed—what she
'
d found—a lover in tune with his wants, needs and desires before he knew them?

Or was there an even more outrageous reason why he
'
d stopped himself from finishing what he
'
d started to say?

Could she be feeling some of the same?

Gaby watched his eyelids clench and something close to pain pass over his face, features so boldly carved that most would assume him an arrogant man who had to know how startlingly handsome he was.

And most would never discover the complex mix of tough and tender that lay behind that saturnine face.

Could they both be wondering if what they
'
d found might be more than a chemistry that made wonderful loving, wonderful sex? She turned her head away.

"
What are you
thinking
?
"

She jumped.
"
Nothing.
"

He bowed her backward until she laughed and grabbed for him. When he pulled her to him once more, the intensity in his eyes reminded Gaby of her nakedness beneath the robe—and of Jacques
'
s sleek muscles. In the moonlight, coming to her on black satin sheets, on his own oversized bed, his body had gleamed. And in the aftermath of their climax, he
'
d allowed her to stretch out his arms and legs and smooth him from head to foot. And when it was time—he rolled to his stomach and the process had begun again.

Jacques
'
s back was beautiful.

"
Come on,
"
he whispered above her head now, swinging them both in a circle.
"
Let me into those thoughts.
"

She pressed her lips to his naked chest where the robe parted. Sitting across his thighs in the silver light of slipping night, she
'
d brushed his back from shoulder to the twin dips at the base of his spine and over his hard buttocks.

And then she
'
d smiled
…
touched him somewhere else
…
and shrieked when he
'
d wrestled her beneath him…

"
The devil made me do it!
"
she had yelled before his mouth closed out anything else she might have said.

Jacques tugged her ear gent
l
y.
"
Gaby?
"

"
Mmm?
"

"
The mimosas aren
'
t all that
'
s getting warm.
"

"
Is the sun up?
"

"
It
'
s been up
_;
"

She smiled into the hair on his chest
.
"
Oh.
"

"
Gaby.
"

Her smile broadened.
"
Mmm?
"

"
The sun isn
'
t all that
'
s up.
"

"
Jacques!
"
Stepping away, she punched him playfully in the middle.
"
Shame on you. I thought you were a man of ideals. A man of
vision.
"

Pretending agony, he gripped his stomach and tottered to fall into a chair.
"
I am a man of vision. I
'
ve already told you about my visions. You
'
re not going to believe this, but I
'
m having another one right now.
"

As quickly as he
'
d laughed, the humor vanished from his face.
"
Come here.
"
He patted his lap.
"
Right here.
"

Heat washed from Gaby
'
s feet to her face. Deep inside she felt the burning ache she could so easily come to need.

"
I want you, Gaby.
"
She couldn
'
t have refused Jacques took her hands and brought her to stand between his legs.
"
First I want to look at you.
"

And he did look, for a long time, before hooking a hand behind her neck and pulling her face down to receive his slow, slow kiss. With the tip of his tongue, he outlined her mouth, then nipped her bottom lip gently and drew it between his teeth.

Still holding the kiss, he moved and guided her to sit astride his lap.
"
Why do we work so well together, Gaby?
"

Startled, she raised her head.
"
I
…
"
It wasn
'
t such a strange question. "Lucky, I suppose. Maybe we should just enjoy it.
"

"
You, my girl, are very forward.
"

She
was not acting like herself. Tossing back her hair, she smiled into his eyes, navy-blue eyes—until the loving turned them deep, black-flecked indigo.

Dropping his head against the back of the chair, he raised his brows.
"
I think it
'
s your turn.
"

Gaby understood.

She crossed her arms and worked the robe down her shoulders until only the fullness of her breasts stopped it from falling to her waist.

"
Yeah,
"
Jacques said, his voice deep and rough- edged.
"
Unwrap the package for me.
"

The morning air no longer felt cool. A pulse beat beneath her skin, gathering speed as she slid her hands beneath the robe to cup and lift her breasts, to offer them to Jacques with the arching of her back, the rocking of her hips.

Without holding her, he reached up and drew an erect nipple between his lips.

Gaby caught fire.
"
Jacques!
"

"
Yes, sweetheart, oh, yes.
"

"
I can
'
t take it.
"

In a single tug, the robe
'
s sash hung loose and he smoothed her waist, her ribs and up to cover her breasts.
"
You can take it. We can both take it
.
"

Gaby
'
s legs trembled.
"
I want this thing off you,
"
she told him, working open the single garment left between them. When she looked down at him, blood rushed to beat at her temples and tender parts of her body swelled.