Outsider by Sara Craven Page A

her too, until she began to feel as if she was
    floating.
    Eliot said softly, 'Come and dance with me.'
    Her lashes lifted slowly. He was standing in front of her, smiling faintly as
    he looked down at her. He had discarded his jacket and tie, and unbuttoned
    his waistcoat. Her eyes widened as she saw he was still holding his glass.
    'Aren't you going to put that down?'.
    He shook his head. 'It's only drinking and driving that's illegal. Drinking and
    dancing is fun. Try it.' He took her unresisting hand and drew her gently to
    her feet. 'You do dance?' His voice was teasing.
    'I used to.' A lifetime ago, she thought, when I was someone else entirely.
    When I dreamed that love led to marriage, and happiness ever after.
    It wasn't something, she discovered, that you forgot. The slow, sultry rhythm
    of the music captured her, and she began to move, shyly at first, but then
    with more confidence, humming the melody under her breath. Eliot matched
    her step for step, every sway of the hips, every turn of the body.
    She held out her glass, and he refilled it, and she began to giggle.
    'This is so silly.'
    'And why not? Life's a pretty serious business most of the time.'
    'That is true.' She drank some wine, tipping her head back ecstatically. 'Oh,
    that is so true.'
    Eliot took her hand, and sent her spinning gently away from Him, then drew
    her back again.
    'Now that was clever,' she said solemnly.
    'We're a gifted pair.' He ran a finger down her suede sleeve. 'Aren't you hot
    in this thing?'
    'Terribly, but I have this problem with a glass.'
    He took it from her fingers. 'Consider it solved.'
    The buttons on her jacket were usually stubborn, but tonight they seemed to
    slide open. She wriggled her arms out of the sleeves, and dropped the jacket
    on to the sofa. 'Voila!'
    He bowed slightly and handed back her glass, and they went on dancing. He
    made her spin round again, his hand on her waist, and she laughed, then
    sighed as the mood of the music changed and slowed.
    Somehow, she'd finished the rest of the champagne, and Eliot took the
    empty glass from her and put it down, with his own. They stood facing each
    other, barely moving, then he reached forward, taking both her hands in his
    for a moment, then sliding his fingers up her silk-clad arms to her shoulders,
    and up again, stroking the side of her throat, and the sensitive area beneath
    her ears. Then his hands moved again, and Natalie realised he was taking the
    pins out of her hair. She felt the soft weight of it descend on the nape of her
    neck, and shook her head to free it properly.
    'Mm,' he murmured in soft approval.
    He clasped her waist lightly with both hands, drawing her forward a little so
    that their bodies were almost touching, but not quite. His fingers were warm
    and very strong through the silk that veiled her skin. His eyes were half
    closed as he looked at her, and she realised for the first time how long his
    lashes were. He seemed to be waiting for something—for her to touch him
    of her own volition, some instinct told her. And she needed to touch him
    because there was a warm, wild current running through her veins, and
    turning her legs to water. She put up her hands and clung to his shoulders,
    her eyes widening as she experienced their hard muscularity for the first
    time.He bent his head, and she felt his lips gently touching her hair, then her
    forehead., brushing the soft concealing tendrils aside.
    She was enclosed in a bubble of warmth and sensation, as his mouth trailed
    tantalisingly over her closed eyelids, and along her cheekbones, caressing
    the tip of her nose, the curve of her cheek, the point of her chin, but not her
    lips—never her lips, and it was killing her. She wanted to be kissed—needed
    it more than she needed air to breathe. Her hands clasped his neck, fingers
    locking as she drew him down to her.
    There was no space between them any more. She was pressed against him,
    absorbing the hurry of his heartbeat, the sudden