The Greek Children's Doctor(21)

His breathing was ragged and he delved deep into her mouth with his tongue, shifting his body so that he lay between her thighs.

Totally abandoned, Libby moaned and kissed him back, arching against  him, burning with excitement when he finally touched her where she was  aching to be touched.

She gasped his name, wanting more, needing more, totally consumed by the excitement that he'd unleashed.

He lifted his head briefly and she felt his hesitation.

'Andreas … ' Her hoarse plea seemed to be the only encouragement he needed  because he stared down into her eyes as he adjusted his position and  dealt with the thin silk of her panties.

She was dimly aware of his strong fingers biting into her thigh, of the  scrape of his rough jaw against her face and then he was there, entering  her with a smooth thrust, trapping her gasp of ecstasy with his mouth.  She felt his urgency as he drove deep inside her, filling her,  increasing her level of arousal with each expert thrust. Dizzy with  excitement, her fingers dug into the hard muscles of his back, and she  arched up against him, unconsciously drawing him closer still.

The darkness ceased to exist, as did the lake and the press of the cool  grass against her back. There was nothing except Andreas and the way he  made her feel.

And Libby knew that nothing in her life had ever felt so totally right.

'Open your eyes.' His rough command penetrated the fog of sensation that  held her in its grip and she did as he ordered, drowning in the raw  sexual hunger that she read in his gaze.

Clashing with the heat of his eyes merely heightened the excitement and  she struggled to breathe as he drove them both to such terrifying  heights that the only way to go was down. She fell headlong into an  explosive climax, aware that she was taking him with her, submitting to  the wild, unfamiliar sensations that scorched her body.

Totally wiped out by the intensity of the experience, Libby closed her  eyes and lay still, aware of the weight of his body on hers, his solid  strength pinning her to the grass.

She could have stayed there for ever, feeling the rhythmic thud of his  heart against hers, the warmth of his breath against her neck as both of  them slowly returned to the present.

She was aware of the uneven ground pressing into her back through the  soft grass, of the cool night air brushing her bare, heated skin, but  most of all she was aware of Andreas.

He was still wearing his shirt but it hung open where she'd all but torn  it apart in her haste to undress him and the edges trailed around her,  hiding her semi-nakedness. Somewhere nearby lay his jacket, carelessly  discarded in their fevered desperation to remove all barriers.

He muttered something in Greek that she didn't understand and shifted his weight, rolling onto his side and taking her with him.

He stroked her tangled hair away from her face with a gentle hand.  'Beautiful Libby. Look at me,' he ordered softly, and she opened her  eyes and tumbled headlong into the warmth and heat of his gaze.                       
       
           



       

I love you.

The words flew into her head and out again before she had time to say them and she caught her breath.

Of course she didn't love him.

How could she possibly love him?

It was just that they'd shared something that she'd never shared with  anyone before. Had she imagined the incredible connection between them?  Unlike her, Andreas was obviously an experienced male-had he ever felt  that with anyone else?

'Don't try and hide from me.' His voice was husky and deep and sent  shivers through her body. He pulled her closer and she felt the brush of  his chest hair against her sensitised nipples. 'You're shivering. Are  you cold?'

Of course she was shivering. She'd just had an explosive experience that had shocked her body.

And she certainly wasn't cold.

She felt hotter than she'd ever felt in her life.



He rolled her under him again and pinned her to the ground under his  powerful body. She felt incredibly vulnerable, aware of every single  part of him.

Andreas gave a groan and lowered his head but before he could kiss her they heard voices approaching and Libby froze in horror.

Suddenly the dream shattered and she was horribly aware of where she was.

Lying in the grass by a lake in a public place, about to be discovered.

What was she doing?

Andreas reacted with his customary cool, rolling away from her and  sliding her dress back up her arms before attempting to button his  shirt.

'Half my buttons are missing,' he murmured, reaching out a lean hand and  catching her chin. His eyes danced with humour. 'Do you know anything  about that?'

Libby pulled away from him, her face flaming as she recalled how totally  uninhibited she'd been. She stooped to retrieve her shoes, wondering  what had happened to her.

How could she have done such a thing?

She, who prided herself on her self-control.

But then her self-control had never really been tested before, she  reminded herself, her eyes sliding to Andreas and resting on his broad  shoulders as he shrugged on his jacket, effectively disguising the fact  that half the buttons were missing on his shirt.

He shot her a wicked, sexy smile that made her pulse rate bolt.

'Ready to go back to the party?'

Libby lifted a hand to her tangled blonde hair, still totally confused  by her feelings. She absolutely didn't love him. 'I can't,' she  whispered, painfully self-conscious. 'I look-'

'You look stunning,' he said quietly, stepping towards her and cupping her face in his hands.

He kissed her softly and then threaded his fingers through hers and led  her back across the grass, past groups of people who were all enjoying  the cool night air after the stifling heat of the ballroom.

Libby kept her face down as they walked and when they reached the  terrace just outside the ballroom Andreas stopped and lifted her chin so  that she was forced to look at him.

'Your guilt is written all over your face,' he murmured, his tone amused  as he stroked her hair away from her flushed face. 'If it really  troubles you that much, go to the ladies and redo your make-up.'

Totally shaken by what had happened and glad of an excuse to have five  minutes to herself to gather her thoughts, Libby nodded and pulled away  from him, hurrying inside to the ladies.

She locked herself in a cubicle and leaned against the door, her eyes tightly closed.

She didn't love him. She couldn't possibly love him.

It was just sex.

But she didn't do just sex.

She wasn't sure which was worse-the fact that she'd done something so  reckless in the first place or the fact that she desperately wanted to  do it again.

Oh, help!

What had she been thinking? And she knew the answer to that, of course.  She hadn't been thinking at all. All right, so Andreas was the sexiest  man she'd ever laid eyes on but at the same time this was her, and she  just didn't behave like that. She'd never been interested in sex outside  the confines of a serious relationship.

But, then, she'd never experienced good sex before tonight, she  acknowledged wryly, opening her eyes and taking a deep breath. Suddenly  she was aware of what she'd been missing all her life.

So what happened now?

She wasn't stupid enough to believe that Andreas wanted anything other  than a short-term relationship. She was just an interesting diversion to  him.

But that just wasn't going to work for her.

She liked him. A lot.

And, given a chance, she knew that it could be more than a lot.

Shaken by the intensity of what had happened between them, she knew that  it wasn't an experience that she could risk repeating. Sooner or later  she'd end up being seriously hurt. She knew that she couldn't enjoy that  sort of physical closeness with a man without it developing into an  emotional closeness, and that was something that Andreas wouldn't want.                       
       
           



       



Neither did she, Libby reminded herself firmly. She didn't want it either.

Which meant that she had to move on and pretend that it had never  happened. Yes, that was it. She just needed to pretend that it had never  happened. Isn't that what people did after one-night stands? They just  went their separate ways and never referred to 'it' again.

She groaned. Unfortunately, 'it' was something that she was never going  to forget. And working with Andreas every day just made things doubly  difficult.

She ran a hand over her face, wondering whatever could have possessed her to do something quite so stupid.

But she knew what had happened.

She'd been overwhelmed by the chemistry between them, seduced by his  warmth and his breathtaking sex appeal. He had an amazing way of making  her feel as though she were the only woman in the world.

As if he really cared.

In fact, she'd been so overwhelmed it would have been all too easy to convince herself that he really felt something for her.

Which was utterly ridiculous.

She sucked in a breath and gave herself a sharp talking-to.