LITMIR.BIZ

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a dark slash of colour crossing the contours of his cheekbones, slid one hand under her lower back to cushion the impact as his body pushed her into the ground. With a grunt he rolled her onto her side so that they were facing each other.

      She could feel his hands shaking as he reached for the tie on her halter dress. She was shaking all over too. She lay there weak with wanting as he kissed his way down the curve of her neck. When he reached the pulsing hollow at the base of her throat, he peeled down the top to her waist, exposing her breasts.

      He gave a long shuddering sigh that seemed to be wrenched from deep inside him. ‘So beautiful, Lily.’ Her femininity touched him in a deep place. He didn’t think of it as his soul; it would make this something it wasn’t... Sex, this was just sex—great sex, granted. ‘You’re so totally...’ Lost for words, he made his kisses speak for him.

      The wild onslaught took her breath away. Limbs locked, mouths sealed, they kissed with a frantic, wild abandon until Ben levered himself off her and reached for the button on his trousers.

      Anxious to be rid of the barrier between them, she lifted her hips to slide the dress down over them. Before she had managed to wriggle free there was a sound. She didn’t register it at first...and then as the noise penetrated the layers of sexual thrall that gripped her, she stopped and looked around.

      What was she doing?

      The journey from hot, passionate arousal to cold, horrified self-disgust took a single heartbeat. She pulled herself onto her knees and sat there, her arms crossed over her bare breasts.

      ‘What the hell...?’ Breathing hard, the testosterone in his blood still surging painfully through his body, he struggled to make sense of what was happening. She’d been with him every step of the way; he knew she had. So what had changed?

      There was another knock on the door. This time he heard it too.

      Without looking at him, Lily pulled the bodice of her dress up and tied it. She walked across the room and paused at the door, smoothing her hair before taking a deep breath. She opened it and immediately stepped outside, quickly closing it behind her to hide Ben from the person standing there.

      It was the hotel manager. Her smile faded the moment she saw his face illuminated by the overhead light. At her sides her hands clenched.

      ‘What’s wrong?’

      ‘Nothing to worry about.’

      The jovial assurance filled her with instant trepidation.

      ‘Your mother has been trying to contact you. As you probably know we have had a problem with the Internet connection, so she left a message for you to contact her.’

      Alarm bells ringing a deafening peal in her head, Lily resisted the tug of total panic, though her voice sounded unnaturally shrill to her ears as she asked, ‘Now?’

      The man looked relieved that she wasn’t panicking. If only he knew!

      ‘If you’d like to use the landline? My office is at your disposal.’

      Lily, her heart thudding sickly, nodded. ‘I’ll just get my jacket.’

      The man walked down the steps as she nipped back inside. She closed the door and leaned against it, eyes shut.

      ‘What’s wrong?’ Bare-chested, Ben walked across the room; the frustration that had gripped him had vanished the moment he saw her.

      Lily opened her eyes and looked at him blankly. It seemed to him almost as though she had forgotten he was there.

      ‘I don’t know,’ she said, peeling her back from the door. ‘But apparently my mother has been trying to contact me. There’s no mobile signal and the Internet has been playing up so I’m going to the hotel to call her back.’

      ‘Don’t overreact,’ he advised. ‘It might be nothing.’

      She rounded on him, eyes blazing. ‘Of course it’s something. Don’t patronise me.’

      ‘Emily Rose?’

      Icily composed now, she nodded. ‘Probably.’ Her daughter needed her, and she’d been... She pressed a hand to her stomach as self-loathing made the muscles tighten and she pushed through a wave of nausea.

      Ben reached for his shirt, his eyes on her paper-pale face as he dressed. ‘I’ll come with you.’

      Lily’s chin had dropped on her chest but came up sharply now as she blurted forcefully, ‘No!’

      The rejection hit him at a level he didn’t analyse, but there was pain involved. ‘You can’t be alone—’

      ‘I’ve been alone for three years.’

      Ben flinched.

      ‘I need to do this alone.’

      There was a pause before he tilted his head in acknowledgement. ‘I’ll be here if you need me.’

      ‘Thanks, but it’s probably nothing,’ she said, her laugh brittle. ‘Mum’s probably lost her favourite toy and she won’t go to sleep without it.’

      ‘You’re probably right, but I’ll hang around until you get back, if that’s all right?’

      ‘There’s really no need.’

      ‘There’s really no need for you to do this alone,’ he countered.

      She lifted her chin. ‘It’s what I do.’

      Ben watched as she joined the suited figure waiting on the path. He stayed there until they were swallowed up by shadows.

      Frustration gnawed at him as he began to pace the room. The calm detachment with which he tackled difficult moments eluded him. Her rejection of his assistance had got to him more than he was prepared to admit. Was she trying to prove a point...to herself...to him? He had no idea; he just wished she’d not chosen this moment to do it.

      As the minutes ticked by he kept seeing her scared face, feeling the same rush of unaccustomed protectiveness that had taken him totally unawares...and her efforts to put a brave face on it when she was clearly terrified... What if it turned out she had reason to be?

      Ben managed to contain his frustration for five minutes before he followed her. She didn’t want his help? Too bad, she had it.

      He stopped short of actually entering the building, contenting himself with waiting outside. He had worn a path in the greenery by the time she appeared.

      He raised a hand and after a short pause Lily walked across to him.

      Her face, pale and strained, said it all.

      ‘I need to get back to England.’

      ‘Is it...?’

      ‘Emmy has been admitted to hospital.’

      ‘What happened? Did she fall? Is there anything broken?’

      ‘No. She’s ill. I don’t know what with. She’s ill and I need to get home, that’s all I know. But it’s a bank holiday or something and there isn’t a spare seat on any flight until Monday.’ Hearing the husky tremor in her voice, she swallowed and lifted her chin. ‘You came in a private plane?’

      She saw the anger flare in his eyes and misinterpreted it.

      ‘I wouldn’t ask but...’

      She was asking, that was the point. She was acting as though he needed to be asked. As though he needed to be persuaded to help when his daughter was ill.

      He reached into his trouser pocket, pulled out his phone and began to punch in numbers. He lifted a finger, said, ‘Give me a minute,’ and turned away.

      Lily watched as he walked a few yards away and then began to pace back and forth as he spoke into his phone. The conversation did not last long before he slid it back into his pocket and joined her.

      ‘I’ll

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