Wait Until Dark by Karen Robards, Andrea Kane, Linda Anderson, Mariah Stewart Page B

to ease his way inside her.
    His breath emerged in a hiss, but he fought the instinctive motion of his hips, which were already propelling him deeper. He turned his lips into her hair, his words a harsh rasp of sound. "Why didn't you tell me?"
    "Later," she whispered. "Please."
    Nicholas sucked in his breath, the muscles in his arms bulging with the strain of holding back.
    "Please," she repeated. "I'm dying. Make love to me."
    It was enough.
    "I'll go slowly if it kills me," he vowed in a voice that was thick with passion. He circled his hips against hers, giving her a taste of what was to be. "Which it might."
    He withdrew, pressed forward one tantalizing inch at a time. But Lindsey would have none of it. She wanted the pleasure that hovered just out of reach, and she wanted it now.
    Instinct guided her. She arched when he pushed, forced their bodies into a deeper joining. She knew the instant Nicholas's control snapped, because a hard tremor racked his body, dragging her name from his lips. His fingers bit into her thighs and his strokes became fast, deep, driving him farther and farther into her clinging passage.
    Lindsey couldn't breathe, the pleasure was so intense.
    She just clung to him, matched his rhythm, and felt her body coil tighter and tighter as it escalated toward an unknown pinnacle of sensation.
    She found that pinnacle, and she heard herself cry out Nicholas's name as her body unraveled in a series of pulsing contractions too exquisite to bear.
    Nicholas went rigid, pushing into each rhythmic spasm, letting her body milk his until holding back became an impossibility.
    He came powerfully, his orgasm as overwhelming as hers, and he threw back his head, grinding out her name through clenched teeth as he gave in to the sensation.
    He collapsed on top of her, too exhausted to move, blanketing her with his weight for long, languorous minutes.
    At last, he managed to lift himself away, rolling onto his back and pulling her against him. "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice rough, unsteady.
    She nodded, even that gesture almost too difficult to muster. "Very okay."
    His lips brushed her hair. "Why?"
    "Which why? Why was I a virgin? Or why didn't I tell you?"
    "Both."
    Lindsey swallowed. This wasn't easy to talk about. Her mother's life, the way it had impacted her own, the decisions she'd subsequently made - she wasn't sure anyone who hadn't experienced her background could understand. But she had to try. Nicholas deserved an answer.
    "Why was I a virgin? An emotional reason, not a moral one. After seeing what my mother went through - letting her involvement with a man ruin her life - let's say I've always kept men at arm's length. Until now. Why didn't I tell you? I guess it never occurred to me that it would make a difference. Does it?"
    "Yes," Nicholas returned fervently. "I said I'd never hurt you. I did."
    She smiled, propping herself on one elbow and gazing at him. "I forgive you. You were wonderful."
    "So were you." He drew her mouth down to his, kissed her tenderly. "I meant it, Lindsey. I don't intend to let you go."
    "I don't want to go," she heard herself say.
    An odd expression crossed his face. "I never expected this. But I'm beginning to think Harlan did. In fact, I think he was counting on it."
    Lindsey blinked. "You think he wanted us together?"
    "The more I consider it - yes, that's exactly what I think. Now that I remember some of the comments he made, some of the conversations we had with Leland... I never gave them much thought before, but now that I do, it makes sense. Your father was a brilliant, tactical man. He never did anything that wasn't part of some bigger plan. My guess is, you and I are part of that plan."
    She tucked the sheet around her, sat up. "You'd better explain."
    "Yes, I'd better." Nicholas pushed himself to a sitting position, and drew Lindsey around to face him. "I wasn't ready to talk about this yet. But, under the circumstances - what's happening between us, that supposed