The Flaw in His Diamond by Susan Stephens Page B

encounter with an ordinary man, rather than a high-achieving sexual athlete. Was this what she wanted?
    As she thought about it Roman was holding her in a loose embrace, and her hand somehow strayed to the fine gold chain he wore around his neck. She pulled back to take a better look at it. He removed her hand. Don’t touch. She got it. But why?
    Did she have to know everything about Roman? What did she want out of this? Wasn’t the fact that he was experienced enough for her? So he had nothing more to give other than pleasure? That wasn’t so bad, was it? Was she such an expert in returning normal human affection? They both had boundaries they refused to cross—
    ‘Are you still a virgin?’
    ‘What?’ She was startled by the question hitting her out of the blue.
    ‘Maybe not a virgin,’ Roman said thoughtfully. ‘But as close as it gets...’
    She laughed as if she knew all about it. ‘How can you be close to being a virgin? You either are or you’re not, surely?’
    ‘You should have told me,’ Roman said, drawing back.
    ‘Told you what?’ she asked defensively, but she knew. ‘I can just imagine that conversation.’
    Roman frowned. ‘What’s so difficult about telling the truth?’
    She couldn’t answer him, and after a long moment he shrugged and brought her back into his arms. She didn’t wait this time. She didn’t want any more questions or explanations, she just wanted him to touch her, and when he did her screams of release could probably be heard in the village.
    * * *
    ‘Good?’ he murmured when she had quietened a little.
    ‘What do you think?’
    ‘I think more,’ he said.
    ‘If I must,’ she whispered, glancing up at him. Her hips were already working against his hand.
    ‘Once is never enough,’ Roman agreed, moving down the bed.
    ‘What are you doing?’ She barely got the question out before she reacted fast and violently to the touch of his tongue and his lips and his hands and his—
    ‘And again?’ he suggested.
    ‘Definitely.’ She was still panting for breath, but instead of feeling sated she was gasping for more.
    Her eyes shot wide as Roman slipped one finger inside her. ‘Does that hurt?’ he whispered.
    She needed a moment before she could speak—a moment to get used to the sensation...the invasion, the shock. And during that moment Roman began to stimulate her with his other hand, so in seconds she had forgotten why she had been frightened.
    ‘Good?’
    Like she never wanted it to end good. ‘Yes...’
    ‘And now?’ he said, slipping another finger inside her.
    ‘Yes... Oh, yes.’
    While Eva gained in confidence and grew used to the new sensation, he kept her arousal high. He was in no hurry. They had all night. She soon forgot her fears and rose against him, seeking more, and as she did so his free hand slipped round her back to support her and he felt the scar. It wasn’t small, and it wasn’t deep, but it was a ragged expanse of damaged skin that didn’t strike him as the result of falling out of a tree as a child, or even a more serious accident that would have required treatment in hospital. It was perhaps a burn, or a severe grazing episode that had been coped with at home. He wondered about it, but said nothing. This wasn’t the time, not for either of them, but it gave him another piece of the jigsaw that was Eva Skavanga.
    Perhaps the scar answered everything. Eva was a beautiful woman who was neither completely innocent nor experienced. She had kept the world at bay, maybe because she had been hurt badly at some time. Whatever else he had discovered about her tonight, she brought out his protective instincts.
    Was this the start of a relationship?
    Forget that. He would have to learn to care long-term—to risk his heart, his pride, his slumbering emotions—and he just wasn’t cut out for that.
    ‘What are you doing?’ Eva exclaimed when he reached into a bedside drawer.
    ‘Protecting you,’ he said, ripping the foil. ‘Would you like