For a moment they stood staring at each other, while his eyes took in the purple darkness of her hair falling over her shoulders and the shimmer of the garment she wore, which did not conceal the soft curves of her breasts or her neck rising like a white column to hold the grace of her head.

Then, as they still stood immobile like statues, Yamina’s lips parted a little and it was difficult for her to breathe.

Suddenly, violently, so that his voice seemed to split the silence between them as if he had cracked a whip, Lord Castleford ejaculated,

“For God’s sake, don’t look at me like that!”

Even as he spoke, he put out his arms and drew Yamina roughly, crushingly against him so that she felt the impact jar her.

Then his lips were on hers, hard, cruel, almost brutal in their insistence.

For a moment she could feel nothing except the pain of them! Vaguely, far away at the back of her mind, she felt that she must struggle and yet she was unable to move.

Then a strange feeling rose within her that she had never known before.

It was a sensation that sprang from her lips and yet pervaded her whole body and she knew as she felt it that Lord Castleford’s possession of her mouth was not so cruel nor so hard, but still demanding, so that he held her captive.

She felt completely subservient to his will – something without the instruction of her brain made her surrender herself and become a part of him.

He held her still tighter and yet his lips became tender, even gentle, but still masterful and completely and utterly possessive.

Yamina had thought during dinner that they were like two people alone on an island, but now they had become one in a world where nothing else existed except themselves.

She thought that this must be how the Gods would feel on Olympus and that here was the real meaning of ecstasy.

She could not move, she could hardly breathe and yet her whole body responded to the wonder of his kiss and the demand of his lips.

She was conscious of his heart beating against her breast and their bodies were so close to each other that it was hard to realise that they were two and not one.

Then with a sound that was half an exclamation, half a groan, as violently as he had taken her into his arms, Lord Castleford pushed her from him.

“Go back to bed while I can still let you!” he commanded harshly.

As Yamina with difficulty prevented herself from falling to the floor, he walked towards the door, opened it and leaving the cabin, slammed it behind him.

Yamina stood alone in the moonlight, feeling as if a bomb had fallen through the ceiling and everything had been turned upside down.