Loving Venus (Sally-Ann Jones Sexy Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page A

forward, the muscles in his thighs and calves flexed and, riding behind him, she felt the now familiar flutter of lust deep inside her at the sight of his rounded buttocks, slim hips and triangular-shaped torso.
         If his body was that of a classical statue, she mused, his face belonged in a fresco. His eyes were dark brown pools of liquid chocolate in which she would happily drown. His lashes were long and dark and brushed his cheeks when he glanced downwards. His brow was smooth and high and his cheekbones angular, with hollows beneath, curving to a proud, square, dimpled jaw. His nose was that of an emperor on an ancient Roman coin, leaving one in no doubt as to his lineage. His lips, she was sure, were made for kissing, full and sensual. She remembered that he’d laughed a lot during that summer when she was a girl on the brink of puberty. He rarely smiled now.
         Annabella sighed and wondered how she ’d be able to stay in the saddle. She felt so overcome with yearning for him she feared she might faint. She recalled her gallops on Gregorio, when she’d skirted so dangerously close to the cliff-edge. There’d be no risk-taking like that in Alessandro’s presence now. Even a slow walk was almost too much for her in her present state.
         How would she cope, she asked herself, seeing him every day, perhaps, and not being able to even touch him while Claudia…
         She slammed the thought from her mind, her body at once alert again and in its true horse-riding mode. She rode often on the farm at home and was good at it. Alessandro, too, was an excellent horseman though even he seemed to be making hash of it today, she noticed, his foot falling out of the stirrup several times, his hands less sure.
         She squeezed her mount past his, giving it its head as it seemed to want.
         Alessandro sighed and wondered how he ’d be able to stay in the saddle. His mutinous body was making a liar of his professed dislike for his second cousin. He’d risk his life if he tried galloping in this state.
         He watched her canter past, her hair flying in a red tangle behind her, her soft, round breasts and bottom bouncing so deliciously he knew he ’d have to seek out Claudia very soon or he would burst.
          Soon, horses and riders came to the edge of the woods, a dark, silent place where the leafy canopy filtered the sunlight and splashed it like green paint on the forest floor. Even the birds seemed to understand that it was siesta time and were quiet. Only the river, burbling peacefully over its pebble bed, made a sound.
        Alessandro could have counted on one hand the number of times he’d been here since he was seventeen and showing it to Annabella for the first time. He wondered why he’d denied himself this magical, beautiful refuge. He almost felt human again – almost.
         “It’s exquisite, just as I remember,” she whispered, walking her horse beside his.                       
         “Yes. It’s perfect,” he agreed, before adding bitterly, “And now it’s yours.”

 
     
                                              CHAPTER THREE
     
    The mood was spoilt and they both knew it.
        “I’m going back,” Annabella said, turning her horse homewards.
         “Race you!” called Alessandro, his nostalgia replaced by a feeling of anger against this intruder into his life and against the world in general. He squeezed his mount into a gallop, his second cousin close on his heels.
         They sped through the trees, leaping fallen logs and ditches in an effort to be the first to return to the stables. This time, unlike on the occasions when he and Annabella had ridden on her first visit to Casa dei Fiori, he didn’t hold his horse back.
         As they tore at breakneck speed around a sweep of trees, another rider appeared, coming towards them uncertainly. Alessandro’s