Don't Hurt Me (19 page)

  
Her own thoughts shocked her. What
kind of creature was she becoming, to be thinking about sex like that?

  
‘I know you want me,’ he murmured,
bending to kiss her throat. ‘Stop tying yourself in knots and forget everything
else. This is the only thing that matters.’

  
She moaned in wild denial, her body
burning from his touch. He was trying to blind her to the reality of the
situation, married to a man who was sleeping with another woman behind her
back.

  
Did he kiss Sasha like this? Was he
in love with her?

  
A moment later, Marshall raised his
head, staring down into her pale upturned face. ‘I’m kissing a statue here.
Where did you go?’

  
‘Get your hands off me!’

  
‘What the hell have I done now?’

  
Julia glared at him. She felt sick.
That heated sensuality had fallen away like a blanket and now she was
shivering, cold and bereft. She hugged herself, turning away. ‘Don’t pretend
you don’t know. I’ve seen you with her. You can’t tell me there’s nothing going
on.’

  
‘Seen me with who?’

  
‘With Sasha,’ she replied tautly,
and felt the bile rise in her throat at the simple mention of her rival’s name.

  
When she glanced back over her
shoulder, his head was bent, the dark brows drawn together in rapid thought. He
was trying to work out an excuse, she thought cynically, to construct more of
his smooth plausible lies. But she would not listen this time. She was not
going to play the fool for him any longer.

  
‘This is ridiculous,’ he muttered,
frowning. ‘When have you seen me with Sasha? And where exactly?’

  
‘Right here at Moor’s Peak. I saw
you from the bathroom window, if you need me to be precise. On the afternoon of
our wedding day. I can’t be sure of the exact time. But it was just after you’d
finished making love to me, ironically enough.’

  
‘
What
?’

  
‘I saw you with my own eyes,
Marshall. And don’t try to tell me it was an innocent kiss. I’m not stupid, I
know what I saw.’

  
‘On the contrary,’ he told her
bitingly. ‘I think that’s exactly what you are – stupid!’

  
‘
You were kissing her
!’

  
He made an impatient gesture,
shaking his head. ‘
She
was kissing
me
. It’s not quite the same thing.’

  
‘I didn’t notice you pushing her
away.’

  
‘It was my wedding day, for god’s
sake. She’s an old friend of mine. What on earth was I supposed to do?’ he
demanded angrily, staring at her. ‘Slap her face?’

  
‘Why not? That’s what I’d like to
do.’

  
Marshal laughed at that. But his
eyes grew deadly serious again as he stepped closer, watching her face. ‘Okay,
so you saw me kiss her. Big deal. But trust me, the rest is all in your imagination.
I am not having an affair with Sasha.’

  
She recalled the phone call that
morning, the way Sasha had implied a renewed intimacy between her and Marshall,
her deliberately malicious tone. Even if she was lying, why had Sasha been
ringing him on his mobile anyway? He had not mentioned her for months. He had
to be hiding something, there was no other explanation.

  
‘Don’t lie to me,’ she said
quickly, trembling as she refastened the buttons on her pyjama top. ‘I’ve had
enough of your deceit. You were right to suggest a divorce. It’s the only way
out of this mess for both of us. I’ll get in touch with my lawyer first thing
in the morning.’

  
He had been listening in silence
while she spoke, yet as soon as she mentioned contacting her lawyer, Marshall stiffened
angrily and drew a sharp breath, his eyes flashing to her pale defiant face.
Julia was scared by that look but refused to back down, facing him with her
head held high. Something seemed to snap inside him and he caught her by the
shoulders, his hands biting mercilessly into her soft flesh.

  
‘If that’s what you really want,
fine. Go ahead and divorce me.’ He threw her violently down onto the bed, a
dark fury in his face. ‘But I’m still your husband tonight and I intend to take
what’s rightfully mine.’

  
Her cry of protest was stifled
beneath his mouth. She could hardly breathe, the room dissolving into a
spinning darkness. By the time he eventually raised his head, her heart was
almost bursting, each breath hurting her chest. Her eyelids fluttered open and
she pushed uselessly at his shoulders, gasping and staring up at him in a dazed
state. Marshall paid no attention, using his body weight to crush her into the
pillows while he stripped her with contemptuous ease. The pale lilac pyjamas
were soon tossed to the floor, leaving her naked beneath him except for a wisp
of white lace panties, moaning as he lowered his head and plundered her throat.

  
There was something wild and
elemental about their relationship. Whenever they came together, there was an
electric charge in the air, almost as though lightning had touched earth there
and scorched everything in its path. She was powerless to resist of her own
desire. The attraction they felt for each other was too fierce, too primitive.
It would be like the tide trying to resist the moon.

  
His mouth breathed close to her
ear, the ragged sound of his breath telling her how aroused he was becoming.
She had half expected him to take her without tenderness or preliminaries, yet
those clever hands moved over her breasts instead, sliding down the flat planes
of her stomach towards that source of desire between her thighs, exciting
pulses wherever they touched.

  
Breathless and flushed, Julia
unbuttoned his shirt and slipped a hand inside. The firm chest was hot to the touch,
his heart thudding beneath her fingers. He shrugged out of his shirt, helping
her pull it free from his jeans and drop it to the floor. Her hands trembled on
his belt buckle, fiddling with the catch, then he was dragging his jeans off
too. They were not fighting anymore but moving in unison, both as eager as each
other for consummation.

  
There was a restless burning
excitement in his face as Marshall leant above her and stared, examining every
inch of her naked body. ‘You’re not eating enough,’ he said, his voice oddly
unsteady. ‘You’re skinnier than I remember.’

  
‘So are you.’

  
Her wry whisper brought a smile to
his lips. His hand moved lower and he stroked between her thighs. He was an
expert, seeming to know exactly what she wanted without needing to be told. She
shook visibly as the pleasure threatened to overwhelm her, clinging to his
shoulders and urging him on with little panting moans. It was not long before
she was coming, her head falling back against his supporting arm and her body
wracked by spasms.

  
‘It’s this constant frustration,’
he murmured, kissing her mouth to muffle those high sharp cries. ‘It burns
hundreds of calories.’

  
She wriggled against him, her skin
still flushed with fever, raising her hips in mute entreaty. Marshall must have
read her mind because he stopped what he was doing, knelt between her thighs
and lowered his head until his tongue was right there, at the heart of her
body, tugging and teasing at her taut flesh until she thought she would die of
ecstasy.

  
As Julia came back down to earth,
her body wrung and limp after another powerful orgasm, she knew that she had to
do the same for him. It was not enough for him to pleasure her like that. She
badly needed to touch him in return, to feel that strong flesh harden even more
beneath her lips, hear his sharp intake of breath and know how much she had
excited him.

  
Rolling to one side, she let her
hands drift down his body until she saw the hungry glint in his eyes. ‘What do
you want me to do, Marshall?’ she asked him deliberately, watching her husband
from under lowered lids. ‘This?’ Her hands stroked his flesh, hearing him gasp.
She lowered her head, her hair brushing light as a butterfly’s wings against
the lean powerful thighs. ‘Or maybe this?’

  
‘God, yes,’ he groaned, his fingers
tangling in her hair.

  
She sucked on him long and hard,
mouthing the fat head, stroking the thick shaft with her tongue. He made her
take all of it, right to the hilt, and she gagged, tilting her throat back so
she could accommodate him more easily.

  
‘That’s it,’ he urged her. ‘Take it
deep in your throat. Deeper.’

  
She enjoyed the difficulty she
experienced in deep-throating him, of feeling his hand on her head, firm but
not cruel, showing her exactly what he wanted and not letting her escape until
she had given it to him.

  
Marshall was in charge in the
bedroom, and she loved it. Needed him to be in charge, in fact. Wanted him to
tell her what to do and how to do it. Was that dangerous? Yes, probably. But
she knew she could trust him not to push beyond her natural limits. Not to hurt
her.

  
When Marshall finally ordered her to
stop, she could feel his body trembling and knew that he was close to the
brink. He pushed her onto her back, almost clumsy as he parted her thighs, his
erection thick and swollen. She felt herself stretch as he entered her with one
forceful thrust and cried aloud, their mouths meeting in a hot passionate
explosion. Nor did he take it easy once he was inside. He rode her body with
deep rhythmic thrusts, dragging up her legs to wrap them firmly about his hips,
his breathing more and more laboured as he neared his climax.

  
His hands grabbed hers, their
fingers interlocking. He raised her hands above her head, pumping into her with
his hips, their gazes locked together.

  
She had never felt so vulnerable.
Nor so excited.

  
‘Is it safe?’ Marshall asked
hoarsely.

  
She buried her face in his throat,
shaking her head. She did not want to speak, to face the reality of what they
were doing.

  
His eyes closed and he slowed,
raising himself away from her with a supreme effort of will. Her hands sought
him, stroking the rigid flesh until he cried her name aloud, shuddering against
her as he ejaculated. Her belly was wet with it, but she did not care. He had
been satisfied. And his satisfaction was the trigger she needed, her own body
still tense and shaking, craving a final orgasm.

  
In the semi-darkness, she felt his
hands move over her bare skin again, his mouth nuzzling her breasts, his
fingers expertly stroking her pussy, and heard herself moan on a violent wave
of pleasure.

It was
warm and still in the little bedroom afterwards. For a long while, their bodies
lay locked together in a drowsy silence, his dark head on her breasts as they
listened to the gentle pitter-patter of rain starting to fall outside. She
stroked the short fine hairs at the back of his neck, yearning to admit now
that she loved him. Somehow it felt like the perfect moment, three magical
words whispered into the lamplight after they had made love.

  
Marshall stirred at that moment,
lifting his head before she had summoned the courage to speak, and an odd
glitter in those eyes made her hesitate, biting back her admission. Was that
triumph she could see in his face? Her stomach plummeted as she cursed herself
for being so weak, giving in to desire without a thought for the consequences.

  
He cupped her breast and bent his
head to take the soft pink nipple into his mouth. To her dismay, it stiffened
under his lips and tongue, eager to experience that sweet burning pleasure
again.

  
‘Your body is marvellously
responsive,’ he murmured, looking up. The glinting eyes met hers and she felt a
jolt of love that shook her to the core. ‘I only wish you didn’t find it so
hard to trust me.’

  
She pulled away from him, dragging
the cool sheets up to cover her nakedness, her pale heart-shaped face
deliberately expressionless.

  
‘How can I trust you when I keep
catching you with another woman, Marshall? I know this was never meant to be a
conventional marriage. But if we’re going to sleep together, I need you to be
exclusive. I’m not interested in having an “open” relationship. If you can’t
give her up, I’ll be forced to leave Moor’s Peak.’

  
 
‘Bravo.’ He inclined his head in
acknowledgement of her words, a sardonic smile on his lips. ‘That was quite a
speech.’

  
‘Don’t laugh at me, Marshall.’

  
‘Who’s laughing?’