“Okay.” he shifted, sat up, but pulled her up and around until she straddled his lap. “You’re still wearing your stockings, and one of your shoes.” He grinned and began to knead the muscles of her tight little butt. “Christ, that’s sexy.”

“Stop it.” The heat was pouring back, a combination of embarrassment and fresh desire. “Let me up.”

“I haven’t finished with you yet.” He dipped his head, circled his tongue lazily around her nipple. “You’re still soft and warm. Tasty,” he added, flicking his tongue over her stiffened nipple, sucking lightly until her breathing thickened yet again. “I want more. So do you.”

Her body arched back, beautifully fluid as he trailed his mouth up to the hammering pulse in her neck. Oh, yes, yes, she wanted more.

“But this time,” he promised, “it’ll take a little longer.”

On a yielding moan, she lowered her mouth to his. “I guess there’s time.”

THE SUN WAS angled low when he shifted her yet again. Her body felt golden and bruised, energized and exhausted. She’d had no idea she could claim such a sexual appetite, and now that she did, she hadn’t a clue what she would do about it.

“We have to discuss . . .” She frowned at herself, draped an arm over her body. She was half naked and damp from him. And more confused than she’d ever been in her life. “We—this—can’t continue.”

“Not right this minute,” he agreed. “Even I have my limitations.”

“I didn’t mean . . . This was just a diversion, as you said. Something we both apparently needed on a physical level. And now—”

“Shut up, Sybill.” He said it mildly, but she caught the edge of annoyance. “It was a hell of a lot more than a diversion, and we’ll discuss it to pieces later.”

He scooped the hair out of his eyes, studied her. She was just beginning to feel awkward, he realized, uneasy with being naked, and with the situation. So he smiled. “Right now, we’re a mess. So there’s only one thing to do before we get dressed and head in.”

“What?”

Still smiling, he pulled off her shoe, then scooped her up into his arms. “Just this,” he said, and tossed her over the side.

She managed one scream before she hit. What surfaced was a furious woman with tangles of wet hair in her eyes. “You son of a bitch! You idiot!”

“I knew it.” He stepped onto the gunwale and laughed like a loon. “I just knew you’d be gorgeous when you’re angry.”

He dived in to join her.

THIRTEEN

NO ONE HAD ever treated her the way Phillip Quinn had treated her. Sybill couldn’t decide what she thought of that, much less what to do about it.

He’d been rough, careless, demanding. He had, in his own words, ravished her—and more than once. Though she couldn’t claim to have put up even what could remotely be termed a struggle, it had been a long way from a civilized seduction.