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When he relinquished her fingers they dug helplessly into his back, afraid to let go of the only stable force in her universe Her other hand fluttered nervously against the thick bulge of his upper arht that, too, and drew it into the thick, downy nest of his upper chest, stroking it against himself Her palm felt the scrape of a stiffened nipple surrounded by the luxurious softness of his body hair and lingered there, exploring the con­trast in textures She leaned further into his kiss, instinc­tively teasing the tips of her breasts against his silky-hot skin, the astonishing pleasure of it all going straight to her head and ressive as his

A deep groan vibrated in his chest, ed her swollen lips The hips that had been crowding lightly against the juncture of her thighs suddenly ground harder, deeper and

Elizabeth becaly aware of the extent of his arousal Her sense of security vanished like smoke in a mist Perhaps he wasn’t quite as much in control as she had assumed Her wanton response was probably way out of proportion to what he had expected froain, and unable to control her e sexual impulses

She must have made a small, distressed sound because he lifted hisin French thatdown over the jut of her buttocks, cupping the her to the hardness between his thighs, holding her there for a long, agonising moment

'I didn’t mean this to happen'

His gravelly words merely confirmed her humiliation Like Ryan, Jack probably expected a sophis

ticated rather than clu

Come to think of it, Ryan had been very sient, experienced He, too, had found the voluptuousness of Elizabeth's passion in­itially arousing but ultipainful to Elizabeth, at least He had been her first lover and, as a visiting professor of art history, had seemed the epitome of the Renaissance Man to Elizabeth Only, as it turned out, it wasn’t ro force of their relationship

When she had begun to embarrass him with the frankness of her behaviour Ryan had explained crisply that she was confusing intense physical infatuation with genuine love, that they weren’t suited to a long-term re­lationship because Elizabeth was obviously one of those people as ruled by her passions whereas Ryan pre­ferred to be in control at all times She was too excessive in her physical and emotional de­mands on him She had made him feel stifled He had even described her as sexually inti!

Already secretly a little worried by the instinctive ease hich she had accepted sex as a vital part of her everyday life, Elizabeth had been devastated by what she interpreted as a hint that she was a budding ny with Ryan had seeht that the enthusiasreedily self-absorbed in achieving her own selfish satisfaction that she had failed to notice that she was increasingly the one taking the initiative in their physical relationship

From this fresh perspective Elizabeth had suddenly seen how appallingly lop-sided her life had become since she had discovered the sexual side of her nature Her friends had been ignored, her studies taking second place to constant daydreained herself wildly in love with hie and babies—no, she drea encounters in bed!

Thank goodness Ryan had opened her eyes to the dangers inherent in her character while she had still been young enough to consciously change Without his warning she ht have drifted fro why she could never find the satisfaction she restlessly sought, wondering why her lovers always left As it was she had circu it Men as friends were farwhen you didn’t clutter the relationship with diverse sexual tensions

'Don’t look so horrified; your virtue is still intact'

The dry words jolted her back to the present No thanks to her! Another few round and had her ith him

Another horrifying thought struck her Not only was she guilty of losing her head, she had been teoodness' sake; that alone should have made her recoil from his embrace That she hadn’t even considered the taboo was a o