He stroked her. Soft and gently at first, and then with more urgency as her need intensified.

He stopped kissing her to watch as her lips parted with sharp, uneven little breaths, as color flooded her cheeks, as her back arched, and finally as her beautiful eyes fixed on his and widened with surprise right before she broke apart. Surprise, damn it. That had been new.

It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, and the intensity of emotions swelling in his chest hurt.

But the cries of release were like a siren’s call to his own need. Whether this was wrong or right no longer mattered. He couldn’t have turned back if he wanted to—and he sure as hell didn’t want to.

He didn’t hesitate as he worked the ties of his braies.

The feel of him pushing between her legs brought Joan harshly back to reality. She jolted from the dreamlike haze with something akin to panic as Alex nudged the thick head of his manhood deeper and deeper inside her.

Wait! This isn’t . . . I didn’t mean . . .

It wasn’t supposed to get this far. She was supposed to be in control. But then he’d started kissing her, and she’d completely forgotten about the powder and the missive she needed to find. After he’d touched her, she’d lost the power to think at all.

The feel of his thick, callused finger sweeping over her—touching her—so intimately had made every inch of her body come alive. She’d never felt anything like it. The need, the frenzy, building inside her had been indescribable. When the sensations reached the apex and seemed to break apart . . . she thought she’d died and gone to heaven. Literally. She swore her heart stopped beating.

It had been so wonderful, so beautiful, so perfect that when she realized what was happening, guilt and shame made her panic.

She shouldn’t have come here like this; it was wrong. What they had was special, and it felt as if she’d somehow tainted that by using it against him. He would hate her if he ever discovered the truth. She knew how much he hated deceit and subterfuge.

She made a sound of surprise when he closed the last few inches with a thrust. Surprise, not pain. At least not that kind of pain. He was a big man, and his size was making itself known with a certain amount of discomfort as her body struggled to accommodate him.

Their eyes met. She tried to pretend she did not see the flicker of disappointment in his gaze, but the knife of pain that twisted between her ribs proved otherwise.

She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Had he thought it all a lie?

It wasn’t. Not all of it, at least. And not the important part if that look in his eyes was any indication.