As he settled down on the grass the gap between them closed slowly.
‘When we had sex…you were a virgin?’ he whispered.
‘Yes, I was.’
It was almost as if some outside force had taken over where human feelings were insufficient. And when Nico kissed her this time it was very different. He kissed her in a way that was like a new beginning and made her yearn for him as she had never done before.
But then the doubt flooded back and she pulled away. Life couldn’t be so cruel, could it?
‘Where are you going?’ Nico said, reaching out and capturing her wrist in one powerful fist.
She turned her face away from him. ‘I couldn’t bear this to be because you want to make me stay…’ She turned back to him and held his gaze.
If he could only express his feelings…If he could only explain how he felt inside…He wanted her so badly, but the fierce compulsion to gratify his carnal urges had changed to something deeper. He drew her down to him very slowly and very carefully and, when she rested her arm above her head in an attitude of complete trust, his feelings took another giant leap. It was the same emotion he had felt during the scan and he recognised it now. It was the urge to love and protect someone and defend them with his life.
In the hospital he had been awestruck by Carrie’s physical condition and by the sight of the tiny life growing inside her, and now he was simply awestruck by the strength of his feelings for her. He would do anything for her; he wanted nothing more than to show her homage as the mother of his child, nothing more than to make love to her, to really make love to her….
Raising himself on one elbow, he stared down. She looked so young, so vulnerable and, yet, she was so clearly aroused. Coiling a lock of her silky hair around his finger, he stroked it, loving the way it felt, so soft and clean between his fingers. Her fragrance drifted up to him, it was that wildflower scent he loved so much…It made him want to sink deep inside her and lose himself…It made him want to be part of her, to be part of her world.
‘Aren’t you going to kiss me, Nico?’ she murmured softly.
If she only knew she could bring him to his knees with that cool blue stare. ‘No,’ he teased her back. ‘I’m going to sit here and look at you. And then,’ he added, when she pulled a face, ‘I’m going to make love to you….’
As she sighed and softened in his arms the thought of making love to her in the open air was irresistible. Trailing his fingertips down the side of her neck, he brought them to the indentation where he loved to bury his tongue, and saw her quiver.
She couldn’t resist him, she couldn’t fight the longing inside her. Better women than she had been fools for love, Carrie reflected as Nico’s fingertips trailed fire up and down her arms. When he lifted his hands away she moved closer to him, she couldn’t help herself. Sliding his hand down her arm, he laced his fingers through her fingers, joining them in a way that made her yearn to be closer still.
‘Shall I kiss you?’ he suggested, brushing her lips with his mouth. ‘Would you like that, Carrie?’
‘Do you expect me to answer that?’
He deepened the kiss slowly, barely touching her with his hands. She was so comfortable on her grassy bed and the light was gentle. The only sound disturbing them was the call of the turtle doves and even that was muted. But as she lay safe in Nico’s arms, Carrie shivered as if a dark cloud passed over them. Making love in the open air was exciting, but not without risk of discovery, and the fact that Nico knew no boundaries frightened her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
NICO GAVE Carrie no time to think before catching her to him and kissing her deeply, pressing her to the ground with renewed urgency. It was an urgency that infected them both. Wrapping her arms around him, she drew him closer still, loving the warm, firm touch of him beneath her hands, and very soon she was drowning in that warmth and in Nico’s clean, familiar scent. ‘Are you sure no one will see us?’
‘They might hear us…In fact, there’s a good chance they will.’
‘I’m being serious, Nico,’ Carrie warned him.
‘You can make as much noise as you like,’ he promised her.
‘What makes you think I want to?’
‘I know you do…I know you will…’
He smiled against her mouth, and she was lost from that moment on. Her mind knew nothing but Nico…Nico’s scent, his touch, his voice…He was going to make love to her; this time Nico was really going to make love to her.
But then he surprised her, as he always could, pulling back, holding her at arm’s length to smile his irresistible smile into her eyes. ‘I’ve just thought of something.’