A negotiated surrender by Jayne Castle Page A

you promised…"
    "I promised not to rush you or force myself on you," he agreed, pulling her toward him with exquisite tenderness. "But that doesn't mean," he went on, his mouth hovering barely an inch above hers, "that I can't beg, plead, coax, or sell my soul for a kiss, does it?"
    "Oh, Slade!" Calla whispered, not knowing how to respond to the new gentleness in him.

    He didn't answer. His mouth came down on hers in the lightest of feathering caresses and Calla's eyes fluttered shut in reaction.
    Warm, soft, inviting, persuasive, his lips moved on hers. There was no overwhelming male aggression in him tonight. Gradually Calla began to relax. What had happened last night had been unnerving and alarming, arousing emotions in her she hadn't even guessed she'd been capable of. Emotions Drew had never seemed to seek or to want;
    But tonight everything was soft and gentle. Tonight there was no threat, no need to defend herself physically or emotionally. Calla knew she could stop Slade in a second. All she had to do was withdraw or make some definite protest.
    The unexpected sense of safety soothed and lulled, enfolding Calla deeper and deeper even as her body began to awaken to a need to be enfolded in Slade's arms.
    But he made no move to draw her closer against his hardness, letting his mouth nibble with incredible lightness at the corners of her own.
    "I love to feel your lips when they begin to grow soft under mine," he breathed in a deep voice of closely leashed passion. "It's like kissing a flower whose petals unfold at the proper touch."
    The warmth of him began to become a tangible pull on Calla's senses and she shifted slightly under his hands. A kind of deep, inner restlessness flickered to life in the pit of her stomach.
    Beneath the velvet coaxing of his mouth her lips parted, allowing him the more intimate contact for which he pleaded. Calla was leaning against the support of his fingers on her shoulders now, her body inclining toward his of its own accord as it began to enjoy the taste of the safe, gentle lovemaking.
    "Calla, my sweet. You're all honey and fire, do you know that?"
    She felt the trembling in him and marveled at it. Had he trembled last night and had she not been aware of it because there was so much she'd been wary of? And what did he mean about her being made of honey and fire? She knew she wasn't like that. Drew had made that very, very clear…
    Calla moaned softly, a tiny sigh deep in her throat. The need for more of his warmth was prodding her forward against the restraint of his hands. Her fingers hesitated and then touched the knot of his tie.
    Slade's jacket had been removed when he'd accepted the cognac.
    "Yes, please!" he growled as she almost unconsciously began loosening the gold and brown striped tie.
    Calla heard the male need in him, felt it in the tautened muscles of his arms, and waited breathlessly for him to slide the fingers on her shoulders around to the zipper of her dress.
    He made no such move and after an expectant moment she went on with the sensuous business of unraveling his tie. She felt the tip of his tongue in her ear when at last the tie hung open around his neck.
    The wet, warm caress sent a shiver through her system.
    Calla heard her own soft moan as her hand dropped to the strength of his smoothly muscled leg. There was an answering groan from him and, of their own volition, her fingers began moving up the length of his thigh in a series of circles that climbed higher and higher. It was like soaring, she thought dazedly.
    And then he moved a matter of inches on the leather couch and her hand was thrust into contact with the male hardness of him. Calla recoiled as if she were a sailplane pilot who had flown too close to the sun.

    "Slade!" she gasped, every nerve violently alive and fiercely aware of his desire. With shaking tension she waited for him to pull her into his arms. It was what he wanted to do, she was certain of it. He wanted to touch her as he had