Sweet Surrender by Catherine George

startled face for a moment, then lowered his head to kiss her, his arms closing round her like a vice.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    K ATE stiffened in protest, and after a moment Alasdair relaxed his arms a little and moved his mouth away from hers.
    ‘You said you wouldn’t take up where we left off,’ she accused.
    ‘I’m not. I’m starting from the beginning again. Only this time,’ he whispered, his breath hot against her cheek, ‘we’re not in a car, on a cold, dark road, but here on my home turf, in warmth and complete privacy—an arrangement I like a lot better.’ His lips grazed her earlobe. ‘I like the feel of you in my arms even more.’
    And the hell of it was, thought Kate, that she did, too. She turned her head away. ‘It’s my own fault. Just by coming here.’
    Alasdair shifted her more comfortably on his lap, his hold still firm enough to rid Kate of any ideas about struggling.
    ‘I would be lying,’ he told her, ‘if I said I didn’t want you. From where you’re sitting it must be obvious.’
    Colour rushed to the face he was smoothing against his shoulder.
    ‘But don’t worry,’ he went on. ‘I won’t do anything about it. Unless you want me to.’
    ‘I don’t go in for this kind of thing,’ she said flatly.
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘It’s never worth it,’ she said with a sigh.
    Alasdair laughed softly. ‘It can be, my sweet.’
    ‘For you, maybe, but not for me.’
    ‘So at this moment,’ he went on, his tone so clinical he might have been discussing some experiment, ‘despite the pleasure I’m taking in just holding you in my arms, your only instinct is escape?’
    Kate wished it was. ‘I won’t say this is unpleasant,’ she agreed, her tone matching his, ‘but if I’d thought it was taken for granted as part of the day’s entertainment I would have driven straight home after lunch.’
    ‘So that’s it.’ Alasdair’s chuckle vibrated against Kate’s breasts. ‘I’ve got it!’
    ‘You’ve got what?’
    ‘Why you’re so prickly these day, Kate Dysart.’ He smiled into her eyes. ‘You loathe being taken for granted. Thinking back, I suppose I did it all the time up at Cambridge. Then I compounded my sins when I turned up in Foychurch like a bad penny, taking it for granted you’d drop everything to spend time with me. And now, as far as you’re concerned, I’m doing it again.’
    ‘True, as far as it goes,’ she agreed. ‘But it’s not what bothers me most.’
    ‘So tell me.’
    ‘I’m suspicious about why you’re doing this.’ Kate eyed him narrowly. ‘You never even saw me as a female in the old days, let alone someone you wanted to make love to. So why now all of a sudden? And please don’t say you took one look at me outside school that day and the scales fell from your eyes, because I’m not stupid, Alasdair.’
    ‘I’ve never thought so before,’ he agreed, ‘but for once in your life you can’t work out the equation. It’s simple. I’m a man, and you’re a very desirable woman—’
    ‘You mean you expect to take me to bed?’
    ‘I want to. But that’s something I’m not taking for granted. Right now I’ll settle for just holding you like this for a while.’
    Kate yielded as he clasped her closer, frowning as she thought this over. It was undeniably good to feel close to Alasdair like this. She liked the warmth and strength of him, and it was all just as she’d dreamed it would be, over and over again when she’d fantasised about it in the past. But in those days her fantasies had never gone as far as actually making love with Alasdair. Yet now, long after she’d given up dreaming, he wanted her. So maybe…
    ‘What are you thinking?’ he asked after a while, his touch so light Kate didn’t know he’d removed the pins from her hair until it came tumbling down.
    ‘I was thinking that if you did want to take me to bed perhaps it might be a good thing,’ she said thoughtfully, and felt him tense against her.
    ‘Would you say that