To Love and Cherish by Diana Palmer

iswhat lovemaking is all about. Feeling. Sensation. It’s nothing to be afraid of.”
    â€œI know.” Her eyes closed as his mouth brushed lightly against her eyelids.
    â€œYou’re trembling.” His body lifted for an instant while he got rid of the cigarette, then both his arms went under her, his hands at the back of her head, holding it steady under his dark, piercing gaze.
    â€œIs it fear?” he asked in a rough voice. “Tell me!”
    The urgency in his tone unsettled her, but the sensations she was feeling made it impossible for her to lie to him.
    â€œNo,” she whispered achingly. Her fingers lifted to his face, touching it gently, exploring. “Oh, no, King, it isn’t fear….” she whispered.
    His chest rose and fell heavily, erratically. “Show me.” His head bent,his lips parting just before they touched hers. “Show me, honey,” he bit off against her soft, yielding mouth.
    With a sob, she reached up and pressed her eager mouth against his, hungry for him, loving him. He answered that surge of passion with bruising urgency, as if all the control he possessed was suddenly and completely gone. She felt his teeth, his tongue, as he bent her to his will, his lean hands moving slowly, gently, on her soft, pliant young body. She stiffened instinctively for an instant and he drew back instantly, something in his dark, glittering eyes that she’d never seen before when he looked down into her flushed face.
    â€œDo you want me to stop, Shelby?” he asked softly.
    He was giving her a choice, and one she didn’t want to make. Her eyes traced the lines of his faceslowly, lovingly, as she realized with a start that she didn’t want to get away. There might never be another time like this, and she knew she’d never love any other man so much. But before she could speak, could tell him, there came the sound of a door opening suddenly, and the soft, sweet intimacy between them was shattered.

Seven
    S helby sat up as King got to his feet and turned, just in time to see the little blonde maid entering the room. She barely heard the brief conversation about breakfast her mind was spinning so badly. She drew the caftan close around her, like a shield, and sat quietly on the sofa until the door closed again. She was trembling all over with reaction, hating the interruption even as she was grateful for it. He’d humbled her again, and she’d let him. Would she never learn?
    â€œShelby…” he began quietly.
    She straightened her shoulders and got up, the reason for her presence in this house coming back to her with staggering force.
    â€œThe funeral…” she murmured. “I’ve got to call Brad and see when he wants us to meet him at the funeral home.”
    There was a long silence between them. She heard him sigh roughly. “I’ll call him for you. Give me his number.”
    She nodded and went to get it from her purse. His voice was as curt and controlled as ever.
    Â 
    The funeral was a nightmare of flashing camera bulbs, questions fired from all sides by newsmen and gossip columnists, and sobbing from Maria’s heartbroken public. Brad stayed on one side of Shelby, King on the other, all the way through the brief service in the funeral home chapel. It was filled to capacity, and television cameras were outside when the pallbearers carried the ornate coffin out to the hearse.
    Just as Shelby was being put in the black limousine, a reporter bumped into King and jumped in front of him. “Excuse me, cowboy,” he said insolently, and rammed a microphone under Shelby’s surprised nose. “Honey, they said Maria was pronounced dead on arrival at Hollywood General Hospital from an overdose—a deliberate overdose. Any truth in that?”
    Shelby stared at the newsman blankly, still stunned by the sudden question. Her cheeks paled under the strain of the funeral, the frightening crush of