her bra and bared the creamy mounds of her full breasts to his hungry gaze.
His arousal had been instant and uncomfortably hard and his urgency to pillow himself between
her soft thighs was still so acute that he was glad of the all concealing dark. It didn’t seem to
matter how much he tried to rationalise his reaction to her or remind himself that he liked slim,
graceful blondes—and preferably the comfort of a large bed when he made love.
Rina had intrigued him in the banqueting hall earlier, when he had recognised the sizzling
chemistry between them. Now, he desired her with a stark, primitive hunger that sent his blood
thundering through his veins. He wanted to make love to her here on the sand, beneath the stars,
and with a passion that was as wild and elemental as the untamed beach.
CHAPTER THREE
DESPITEthe warmth of the night air Kitty was shivering—as much from the shock of Nikos’s
sudden appearance on the beach as from her swim. Her hair was hanging in wet coils and her
skin was covered in goose-bumps but she reassured herself that her nipples had hardened into
tight, tingling peaks because she was cold, not because of her overwhelming awareness of the sexiest man she had ever met.
She gritted her teeth to prevent them from chattering, and wished he would go back to the
palace. Her dress was somewhere on the other side of the beach, but she would rather stay
behind her rock all night and risk hypothermia than parade naked in front of him. She had
already done so once, she acknowledged, blushing furiously again at the memory, but she had
been unaware of his presence in the cave. No way was she going to make an exhibition of herself
again.
‘Here, put this on while I go and find your clothes.’ Nikos stepped closer and dropped his jacket
over the rock, and Kitty seized it gratefully and slipped it on. It was immense on her; the arms
were several inches too long and to her relief the hem of the jacket reached to her mid-thighs.
The silk lining felt deliciously sensuous against her skin; still warm from the heat of Nikos’s
body and carrying the faint musk of his aftershave. She burrowed deeper into the folds and
inhaled deeply. She had been short-sighted for most of her life, but, as if to compensate for her
poor vision, her other senses were particularly acute and she could detect his clean, male scent.
Molten heat stole through her veins as she imagined him wrapping his arms around her rather
than his jacket. She remembered the fantasy she’d had earlier of him making love to her on the
banqueting table, and pictured with shocking clarity him stripping out of his own clothes and
tumbling her down on the sand. What was the matter with her? Scarlet-cheeked, she lifted her
eyes to his, and caught her breath at the flash of fire she glimpsed before his lashes fell and hid
his expression. But she had seen the desire in his gaze, and despite her inexperience she had
recognised his need and found that it evoked an answering ache inside her.
She shivered again, and this time her whole body trembled—with reaction to Nikos rather than
cold. She saw him tense, saw his eyes narrow, and knew that the wildfire awareness between
them was terrifyingly real. Incredible though it seemed, Nikos Angelaki—playboy and serial
womaniser—found her attractive. For the first time ever in her twenty-six years she felt as
though she was a desirable woman, and she wanted to savour the moment—certain that any
second now he would blink and realise that she was too short, too plump and too plain to hold his
attention for long.
‘You had better wait in the cave, you’ll be warmer there,’ he said, suddenly breaking the silence.
His voice sounded so harsh that Kitty wondered what had angered him. He turned and strode
away, and Kitty hesitated, her heart hammering, before she stepped from behind her rock and
hurried up the beach. Almost instantly he reappeared at her side and caught