'THIS is not the place,' Jake said and swept Charlie up in his arms. 'And we have too many clothes on,' he added with a teasing grin as he strode into the bedroom and lowered her down against him onto her own feet, before stepping back, kicking off his shoes and shrugging out of his shirt.

　　The partial view of his broad chest had not prepared her for the awesome beauty of his naked torso. Mesmerised, she simply stared. His shoulders were wide, his chest broad and tapering down to a lean waist, his skin gleaming like burnished gold in stark contrast to the mass of black curling hair arrowing down his strong body. His long arms were hard and muscular and had their own dusting of hair. His hands...his hands were unfastening his trousers. Charlie gasped, her heart skipping a beat.

　　'Something wrong, mia bella Charlotta? His hands settled on her waist and Charlie was glad of the support, shaken by the intensity of her own desire for him.

　　'No,' she murmured. 'Never more right.' She strove to match his sophistication but her voice shook ever so slightly.

　　'But you still have too many clothes on, cara.' A slow, sensuous smile curved his wide mouth, his eyes gleaming beneath black curling lashes. 'Let me help you,' he suggested throatily as his fingers caught the edge of her sweater and he eased it up from her hips. Hypnotised by the intensity of his dark gaze, like a puppet on a string, Charlie raised her arms and he slipped the sweater over her head. His hands stroked down her naked back, and her bra went the same way as the sweater.

　　'Magnificent,' Jake husked as his hands swept round and up to cup her high, firm breasts. Charlie sucked in a feverish breath, her breasts suddenly heavy, the small nipples swelling and tightening into pinpoints of pleasure. She had never imagined she could stand brazenly half naked before a man and, lifting her eyes, she felt her cheeks flood with colour at his intent masculine scrutiny.

　　'You have nothing to blush about, cara.' His smoldering gaze met hers, his voice fracturing a little. 'You have perfect breasts, and I can't wait to see the rest of you.'

　　'Nor me you,' she mumbled inanely, and she got her wish.

　　Jake lowered his hands from her breasts, but not before rubbing her tight, swollen nipples with skilful fingers as he kissed her again with erotic thoroughness before pulling back from her and calmly stripping off.

　　Faced by a totally naked Jake, she could not stop staring. He was all hard muscle, and sleek golden skin, from his broad chest down to his taut, flat stomach, and lean hips. A ribbon of paler skin circled the top of his powerful thighs. So he didn't sunbathe nude, she thought, and it was her last sensible thought.

　　Eyes widening, her face burning along with every other inch of her body, for the first time in her life she was confronted by a magnificently virile aroused male and she could not tear her gaze away.

　　'You're lagging behind,' Jake said with a husky chuckle. As she hastily lifted her head her entranced blue eyes connected with sensuous black and she couldn't say a word. 'Here, let me help you,' he added and skimmed her trousers and briefs down her hips with a deftness that spelt of years of practice. He gathered her up in his arms and laid her on the bed.

　　'Unbelievable,' Jake murmured, staring down at the silky softness of her creamy skin, and the rosy-tipped peaks of her lush breasts. For a second embarrassment overcame Charlie and she lifted her hands to cover herself from his scorching gaze.

　　'No, don't,' Jake growled. Sitting down beside her, he took her hands and pressed them onto the bed, one each side of her head. His dark gaze swept her. Her body was curvaceous yet toned to perfection with firm, beautifully shaped breasts, a narrow waist, flaring hips and fabulous long legs. 'You are absolutely stunning,' he said throatily, his gaze roaming back up over her incredible body and

　　lingering on tight rosy nipples before lifting to her face. 'And so very sexy.' And he covered her mouth with his own.

　　The feel of his long hard body against hers, and the magic of his firm, sensuous mouth, his tongue tangling with hers, the taste of him... Charlie lost her every last inhibition. She tried to pull her hands free. 'Please. I want to touch you,' she said with a naive honesty.

　　'Feel free.' Jake grinned and let go of her hands, his heavy-lidded eyes gleaming into hers. 'I certainly intend to touch every part of you, my sweet Charlotte, in every way.' Dipping his head, he trailed kisses down her throat, sucking on the tiny pulse racing beneath her silken skin, before moving lower and licking and nipping the rosy nipples with his teeth and tongue, while his hand stroked down the curve of her waist and traced her inner thigh. Charlie buried her hands in the thick dark hair of his head, her spine arching up to him, and she groaned out loud at the exquisite sensations lancing from her breast to the apex of her thighs. He kissed and caressed a sensuous path from her breasts to her navel, and traced the line of her hip and thigh right down to the soles of her feet with a hungry, erotic thoroughness that made her wriggle and squirm in feverish delight, before returning to her mouth and kissing her with a driving, possessive passion that she met and matched with helpless abandon. She wrapped her arms tight around him, on fire for him. Her hands swept over the wide muscular shoulders, traced the indentation of his spine, and splayed over the strong shoulder blades. She pressed up into him and, with an eroticism she had never dreamt she was capable of rubbed her achingly sensitized breasts against the hard wall of his chest, glorying in the excitement the friction aroused.

　　It was as if some other female had taken over, a sexy, liberated female, and she nuzzled into the hard curve of his shoulder, and moaned as his fingers toyed with her breast once more. When the hand on her thigh slipped ever closer to the centre of her femininity, she shivered in delicious anticipation. She was damp and hot and aching for him and her legs moved apart instinctively. Her head burrowed lower, looking for a taut male nipple, one hand sliding over his lean hips searching for something else.

　　Jake's hand tangled in her hair and urged her head up. 'Not so fast, cara.' He laughed softly, his face inches from hers. 'I want to make this good for you, to make it last.'

　　With passion-dazed eyes she looked into his face, the smouldering black eyes, the dishevelled hair that she was responsible for, and the wickedly sinful mouth smiling down. It was the smile that goaded her even as her insides were melting

　　like hot treacle. Daringly her slender fingers inched around his hip and touched the long velvet shaft, and she heard him groan. 'Why wait?' she prompted breathlessly, her sapphire eyes widening to blaze with a need and knowledge as old as Eve. 'We can always do it again.'

　　Jake was not made of stone, though at that moment he was as hard as any rock. He caught her hand and lifted it up to his chest, though it nearly killed him to do so. Dio, but she was a temptress, and she was right. Once would never be enough with this woman, he knew , and he took her teasing mouth with a savage hunger he could barely control. Charlie fought to drag air into her starving lungs as he broke the kiss, his head swooping down, his tongue flicking over her aching breasts once more, even as his long fingers eased through the golden curls at the junction of her thighs, and expertly stroked the moist feminine heart of her. She wrapped her arms around him and clung, her hips rising from the bed as with torturous strokes he teased and probed her tight, silken depths until she was sure she could stand no more. Her body was white hot and wound up so tight she felt she would shatter into a million pieces with sensual excitement.

　　Jake lifted his head, his eyes molten pools of black jet his bronzed skin flushed along his high cheekbones. "You want me.'

　　"I'm crazy for you,' she groaned. He rose over her and she was unaware he reached tor something from the bedside table as the subtle stroke of his lean fingers took her to the edge again.

　　'Yes “Jake rasped and in one smooth motion he grasped her hips, and lifted her. She felt the hard length of him touch her, stroke her once, twice. Her whole body shuddered, and 'he drew in an audible breath as with one powerful move he entered her. Jake stilled as a gasp of protest escaped her. He was a big man to accommodate he knew, and she was so tight that the thought crossed his mind it must have been some time since she had indulged. He pulled back ever so slightly, and eased into her slow and deep, and felt her silken muscles clench around him.

　　The sudden slight pain had caught Charlie by surprise, but was instantly forgotten as Jake stroked deeper, and in that moment she lost it completely. She cried out loud. 'Oh, yes, Jake, yes,' at the incredible sensations convulsing her slender body with a fierce pleasure that shattered all her innocent illusions, and left her shuddering in ecstasy. So this was...it. But the thought never fully

　　formed, as Jake plunged harder and faster in a wild, primitive rhythm that drove her higher and higher.

　　Charlie clung to him in a fever of need, oblivious to the fact her nails were digging into his flesh. She felt as if he were lifting her out of herself to a realm where nothing existed but his hot, hard body filling her, possessing her. And she was totally unaware of the breathless plea for more escaping her as he captured the erotic sound with his mouth. She felt his great body shudder violently, and she cried out his name as wave after wave of explosive sensations swept her into an ecstatic oblivion.

　　Slowly Charlie opened her eyes. Jake was collapsed on top of her, his eyes closed. But even so she smiled mistily up at him. So that was it, the little death she had read about, and it was all, and much, much more than she could have ever imagined.

　　Their bodies were damp with perspiration, their hearts thundering in the aftermath of passion, and a deep sense of peace washed over her. Jake was the man she was born for, she thought dreamily.

　　'Grazie, Charlotte,' Jake murmured close to her ear burying his face in the silken, fragrant mass of her hair for a moment. "That was fantastic.' He smoothed the tumbled hair from her brow. 'I was right, you are some woman.' He eased his heavy body from hers, and from the bed.

　　'Don't go.' Charlie murmured, reaching out a hand to him.

　　'Don't worry, I am not going far.' Jake stood, unashamedly naked, looking down at her. 'I am only going to the bathroom to dispense with this and replenish supplies. Unless you would like to do it for me,' he suggested teasingly.

　　Sprawled on the bed totally naked, she looked dazedly up into his grinning face, registering the black hair flopping over his brow, the smouldering eyes, and the wickedly masculine mouth. He was utterly gorgeous and he was hers. Her eyes roamed leisurely down the naked length of him and only then did the import of his words sink in.

　　"No, I don't think so,' she squeaked. Of course he had used protection—it was nothing to he embarrassed about, in fact she should be grateful, but it did not stop her blushing scarlet and dragging the sheet up over her naked body.

　　Jake let out a bark of laughter. "You're incredible—sex on legs and verbal with it, and yet you blush like a schoolgirl.' He shook his dark head. "That is some trick.' And he headed for the bathroom

　　Charlie didn't know whether to be flattered because he thought she was incredible and sexy, or affronted because he thought her blushing was a trick. If only, she thought ruefully. Blushing was the bane of her life. Perhaps now she was truly a woman the blushing would cease, and that led her to another thought. How come Jake hadn't realised he was her first lover? Not that it mattered; she was quite flattered that he seemed to think she was experienced. She had a sneaking suspicion that if he had known the truth he would not have touched her, and it crossed her mind to wonder how old he was. Mid thirties, she guessed, with a great body. A body she now knew in every intimate detail, à reminiscent smile curved her soft mouth that quickly changed into a triumphant grin. At last she was truly a woman—Jake's woman, she thought, a sense of euphoria sweeping through her. The sheet forgotten, she punched her arms up in the air.

　　"Yes, yes, yes!'

　　Jake strode hack into the bedroom, a towelling robe tied loosely around his waist, and stopped. With her blonde hair cascading down her back, natural he now knew, and her beautiful face devoid of make-up she was punching the air like some crazed cheerleader when her team scared a goal.

　　She was the most naturally sexy woman he had ever known, and he was a long way from finished with her yet. But she looked about sixteen, and he found himself grinning. 'Is that yes for me?' he asked with a chuckle, which quickly turned into a shout of laughter as her startled blue eyes swung towards him, and she dived back beneath the covers.

　　'No. Yes. I mean, maybe ' Charlie babbled, appalled he had caught her acting like an idiot instead of the sophisticated lady she wanted to appear.

　　'Well, make your mind up, cara,' Jake prompted. I’m hungry ' It wasn't food he had in mind with her beautiful hair spread across the pillow, and her face scarlet with embarrassment he had the oddest urge to protect her—and, as the instant stirring in his groin reminded him every which way.

　　The thought disturbed him and his heavy brows drew together in a frown. His initial plan had been simply to get Charlotte into bed and then dismiss her. But it

　　hadn't worked out quite like that. With her exquisite body shuddering beneath him, her silken sheath so hot, so tight, the restraint he had imposed upon himself had deserted him completely. A captive to his own desire, he had taken her with a driven power he was helpless to control, and when she had convulsed around him, sobbing his name, he had gone with her, something that rarely happened to him. Even now he was itching to slip back into bed beside her and start all over again. No wonder Anna had been so besotted with Robert Summerville. If the man had been anything like the natural-born sensualist his daughter was, it was not surprising Anna had become addicted to the man.

　　Remembering Anna and the way Charlotte had hurt her by refusing to meet her stopped Jake in his tracks. The Charlotte he had spent the day with and just made love to didn't seem to be a selfish bitch, but then experience had taught him women were great deceivers.

　　'I'll go and order dinner. Join me when you're ready,' Jake said bluntly, and, spinning on his heel, he left the room.

　　Charlie stared at his back, shocked by his abrupt departure. She had behaved like an overgrown schoolgirl. No wonder Jake had opted for food. Still, the night was young, she thought, a secret smile curving her swollen lips, and Jake was her lover. She stretched in preparation of rising from the bed. A shower, food, and Jake again... sounded good. Rolling out of bed, she collected her clothes and headed for the bathroom.

　　It was a splendid bathroom, all veined white marble and mirrors, with a huge glass-fronted shower stall. Reaching into the stall, she turned on the taps. With the water running at a comfortable temperature, she rifled among the luxurious toiletries provided and found aromatherapy soap. A touch of pampering was just what she needed, Charlie told herself, and stepped under the soothing spray, a deep sigh of satisfaction escaping her. So this was love. She sighed, let her head fall back and closed her eyes, and began slowly lathering her arms, shoulders, and her firm breasts. She stroked the tender skin, and revived the memory of Jake touching her there—everywhere—and the incredible power of his passion, and she almost groaned.

　　Jake tipped the bellboy, and strode back into the bedroom. The bed was empty, and inexplicably his stomach knotted painfully, and his eyes darkened angrily. She was gone. Then he heard the sound of running water, and common sense

　　prevailed. Of course she was in the shower.

　　For a moment there he hadn't been thinking straight, but now he was. Silently he entered the en suite, and for a moment was disorientated, his body tensing at the sight of Charlotte's silhouette reflected several times over in the mirrored walls. Then he saw her behind the glass screen. Her head was thrown back, her hair falling wet and sleek down her back, and her hands were running over her breasts, her body. He had never seen anything more erotic in his life, but it was the look of sensual pleasure on her beautiful face that aroused him with gut- wrenching speed.

　　Charlie didn't hear the bathroom door open. The first intimation she had she was not alone was when a husky voice declared from behind her, 'Allow me.'

　　Her eyes flew open and she spun around, her feet slipping on the tiled floor, and only Jake's arm around her waist saved her from falling. 'What are you doing?' she exclaimed. He was naked, the water flattening his black hair into a sleek cap, and his dark eyes burnt with sensual promise.

　　'Just what you were doing, my sweet Charlotte.' Somehow he had the soap in his hand and was rubbing it against her breasts. 'Washing you.' He dropped the soap and his hand began to lather the soft bubbles over her swelling breasts. 'Now, isn't that better?' Jake growled.

　　'Oh, yes,' Charlie sighed. Her body was hot, and it had nothing to do with the water, and everything to do with a naked Jake pressing her back against the cubicle wall, his hands administering a leisurely soaping to her quivering body. Her breasts felt heavy and swollen, and the straining peaks tautened into hard points of aching need. 'Don't stop.'

　　With a throaty laugh Jake bent his head, and took her softly parted lips with a leashed hunger that quickly deepened into a hard, possessive kiss. 'I am not going to,' he rasped, and, with all pretence of washing gone, he lifted her bodily and placed her legs around his lean waist.

　　'No, I'll fall,' she squealed, and grabbed for his head, linking her arms around his neck. But she didn't fall as his strong hands cupped her hips and in one smooth thrust he filled her. Her eyes closed and her head fell back as her legs locked around him, his swift possession engulfing her quivering body in a wave of crazy excitement.

　　Jake growled low in his throat. Passion riding him, he drove hard and fast, and cried out her name as he climaxed with embarrassing speed. Her body shuddered in convulsive ecstasy around him, draining him to the core.

　　Gently he steadied her on her feet, his hands almost spanning her slender waist. She was looking up at him, her gorgeous blue eyes dilated with shock. 'I shouldn't have done that,' he murmured.

　　'In the shower,' Charlie breathed incredulously. 'I didn't know you could,' she added, dazed but happy.

　　'Apparently around you, anywhere will do,' Jake remarked, realizing she was nowhere near as experienced as he had thought if she had never shared a shower with a man. Suddenly he wondered just how much she had shared with other men as he recalled her pained gasp the first time they had sex. The uneasy feeling he might have just made a huge mistake made his hands tighten involuntarily around her waist, and he surveyed her with a frown. Her incredible blue eyes were sparkling cheekily up at him, and she had the sexiest body he had ever seen. No, it wasn't possible.

　　He shook his dark head, dismissing she notion. 'Actually, I came to tell you dinner had arrived, but I got distracted.'

　　'You and me both.' Charlie quipped, and reached up to press a kiss on his jaw. 'But now get out and let me get dried and dressed.' The fact that Jake could be overcome with passion for her made her proud, and fed her confidence in herself as a woman.

　　But her confidence took a severe nosedive ten minutes later when she padded barefoot back into the sitting room of the suite. Jake was fully dressed in a white shirt and dark blue pleated trousers, and somehow she felt at a disadvantage wearing the same sweater and trousers she had worn all day. He was seated on one of the two sofas with the dinner trolley set between them and he did not acknowledge her at all. It was only when she sat down on the sofa opposite him that he deigned to glance at her.

　　'This is probably not so hot now,' he said, but he might have been talking to a stranger, 'if you don't mind waiting, I can order something else before you leave.'

　　Leave. Her heart sank. But she told herself not to be so foolish. Think of the

　　embarrassment if she did stay all night and had to walk through the hotel in the morning. Everyone would know what she had been doing. No, Jake was simply being a gentleman. But then she saw his dark eyes, which held no warmth or tenderness, none of the passion they had recently shared, only a cool reserve.

　　She shivered. 'This will do fine.' She gestured to the trolley, and wondered why she should suddenly feel such a chill. 'I'm not very hungry.'

　　'Good, but you must eat something.' He lifted the covers and portioned some kind of meat casserole and vegetables onto a plate and handed it to her. His mouth smiled but his eyes did not.

　　'Enjoy.'

　　Feeling worse by the minute, Charlie took the plate and stared down at it, sure it would choke her. But she forced herself to eat her mind searching for a reason for his cool behaviour. Perhaps he was just naturally subdued after making love, she tried to tell herself, but without much conviction as she recalled how several times over dinner last night he had behaved in much the same way, a certain remoteness in his dark gaze effectively masking his expression.

　　'You're very quiet,' she offered.

　　'I'm eating,' Jake said with a sardonic arch of an ebony brow in her direction, and she watched as he dug into the casserole with apparent enjoyment.

　　Turning back to her own plate, she swallowed a few more mouthfuls. But it tasted like sawdust in her mouth, and she placed it back on the trolley. It must be her fault Jake was so reserved, but what had she done wrong? Perhaps Jake had seen through her attempt to be sophisticated and was disappointed at her performance in bed. She had read men put great store on a woman's abilities in bed, and Jake was no boy; he must have slept with a lot of women.

　　'How old are you?' she blurted, and bit her lip wishing she could take the question back. But at least it got his full attention.

　　'Thirty-eight. Probably old enough to be your father.' His voice held a sharp edge of contempt that she could not fail to recognize.

　　Suddenly everything became clear and her heart lifted. Jake, her sophisticated,

　　powerful Jake, was feeling guilty about the age difference between them. Impulsively she jumped to her feet and sat on the sofa beside him, resting her hand on his thigh, determined to reassure him.

　　'Not unless you started before you were a teenager," she said, glancing up at his superb profile.

　　'I'm twenty-six, hardly a girl-'

　　Jake turned his head and looked down at the small hand on his thigh and then up into her smiling face. 'You think there is nothing wrong in an older man taking a much younger woman for a lover?' he asked with such bitterness in his voice that she was shocked.

　　'Not if he..." She was going to say loves her but stopped. 'Not if he really wants her and the feeling is mutual. No,' she said carefully, not confident enough to imply Jake loved her. But she did want to convince him his age didn't matter.

　　'You honestly believe that.'

　　'Yes, of course.' she said firmly.

　　'Probably only because you had to put up with a father who had quite a few young lovers. Does it never occur to you other people may not share your views?' he queried with a cynical drawl.

　　'No, not really. And as for my father, he was a law unto himself, and I never had to put up with his lovers. I only ever met one,' Charlie said honestly. 'But we're not talking about him, but you.' She found it incredible to believe a man as stunning as Jake should feel vulnerable about his age and yet it endeared him to her all the more.

　　'Are we?' Jake said with a sardonic arch of an eyebrow. Charlotte had just confirmed what Anna had told him. She never had to put up with her father's lovers. She was the selfish bitch after all. But as he looked down into her earnest sapphire eyes, and with her hand on his thigh, somehow confronting her with what he knew didn't seem important. Instead he imagined her slender hand gliding up his thigh. Fighting down the sudden jerk of excitement in his groin, he backtracked swiftly. 'If you say so.'

　　The veiled statement confused her. 'Well, why else would you mention the age difference?'

　　Jake flung her a dazzling smile and put his arm around her shoulders. 'No reason at all, Charlotte, cara. You're right, what is twelve years between friends?' But, looking into his dark eyes, she had the uneasy feeling he was not telling the truth, but simply placating her. Then he tilted her chin with one finger and brushed his lips lightly against hers. Charlie exhaled a relieved sigh at the touch of his mouth and eagerly parted her lips and Jake took full advantage, probing the moist depths with a leisurely expertise that squashed all her irrational doubts about him.

　　'If I don't get you out of here soon,' Jake groaned against her ear, 'I'll take you on the sofa.'