STORY EXCERPT

It was night, and Emily looked up at the dark, velvety, star-studded sky and sighed softly. It had been an extraordinary day in one way or another. She had met the great Tobias Steele and reluctantly she was impressed. He was gorgeous, of course, intelligent, and she looked at the blazing campfire—resourceful, everything in fact a woman could possibly want in a man. Thoughtfully, she watched as he deftly removed a chicken off the makeshift rotisserie. He would make an excellent hero for her book—but what to call him?

Moving over to her laptop, she opened up the file and typed, Chapter One. Gnawing on her lower lip, her hands hovered over the keys before beginning to type fast and furious.

Melissa looked across through the steam of the jungle at the man sat astride a magnificent black stallion. He was tall, dark, and dangerous, and his short, black hair danced in the slight breeze. His face looked as if it had been hewn out of granite and he was rough and rugged, his body created for sin, a sin she could only but imagine.

“Supper’s up.”

Emily stopped typing and pursed her lips in frustration, just when she was beginning to get a feel for the story.

“Err, okay, I’ll just be a minute.”

“Take your time, honey, no sweat.”

Looking back at the screen Emily’s fingers flew over the keys.

Philippe’s blue eyes gleamed as his gaze wandered over to her. She was his captive, a bargaining chip to stop her father from destroying the rain forest, and little did she know but she belonged to him, and soon she would be in his arms begging for mercy. Begging him to rip the clothes from her body and possess her.

Melissa, catching his smouldering look, swallowed hard. Innocent though she was, her body knew what it wanted and it wanted him, the moist heat in her panties testament to her need.

Philippe smiled at her and, moving close, lifted her up in front of him on the horse. Clutching at the beast’s mane, she felt the smooth back of the stallion between her thighs and the powerful movement of Philippe’s hips behind her, and something primal stirred inside her. Her heart thumped and her breath caught.

“Don’t sweat it, hunny,” Philippe whispered softly in her ear, his sweet-smelling breath caressing her pure cheek.

Smiling in satisfaction at a good start, Emily quickly logged off her PC and closed the lid. Fingers combing her hair into some semblance of order, she strolled slowly over to where Tobias was placing plates on a small picnic table.

“Hungry?”

“Mmm, yes, this looks good.” Her gaze took in the freshly spit-roasted chicken, the jacket potatoes, and the bowl of leafy salad.

Sliding into a chair opposite Emily, Tobias indicated the food. “Tuck in.”

Helping herself to the delicious fare, Emily sought feverishly around in her mind for something to say.

“Do you always eat like this?”

He looked enquiringly at her, his eyebrow lifted.

“Err.” She held up the piece of chicken she had just taken. “Well, you know what I mean. I, err, didn’t expect such a feast and this is just as good as restaurant food. I didn’t realise, what I mean is, I hadn’t read that among all your many talents you were also a cook, and a very gifted one at that.” She momentarily closed her eyes. God, she sounded such a prig, gushing on about his many talents, just like a lovesick groupie.

Tobias raised a wry eyebrow. “No reason why you should know. We eat what we eat, whatever happens to be available. Tonight, you’re lucky it’s chicken. Tomorrow”—he grinned—“it could be snake.”

“Snake!”

“Or spider—both are good.”

She shuddered in horror, looking distastefully at the piece of meat in her hand.

“Err, Tobias, this is chicken isn’t it?”

Openly laughing at her, he failed to answer but continued eating with enjoyment.

Swallowing the bile rising in her throat, Emily slowly dropped the piece of meat she had been enjoying onto her plate, and very carefully drank several gulps of water.

The silence stretched and, looking around, she absently helped herself to a piece of pineapple.

“It’s very beautiful here, a lush tropical paradise. It’s like being on the top of the world, where civilization doesn’t exist, where war and famine are forgotten, where we could live forever, untouched by the real world.” Catching the look in his eyes she blushed in confusion, slightly embarrassed by waxing lyrical about a place she knew nothing about.

“Very poetic, I can see why you’re a writer. But, believe me, Miss Gentle, even a place such as this has problems. Global warming for a start, the mass destruction of the rain forest, and the ugliness of men as they hunt indigenous creatures to the very edge of extinction.”

Nodding, Emily fell silent, not sure what to say next. He was obviously a very passionate man, a man at one with his environment, and a man who cared deeply about the world and the creatures that inhabited it. Her gaze fell to his hands as he cut a mango into slices. Strong, masculine hands, the nails short and well-kept, hands that could be gentle, tender even. Her eyes half-closed, she stared, mesmerised. She could almost feel his hands on her skin, caressing and moulding her soft curves, bringing her to a state of amazing sexual awareness. Her eyes snapped wide open.Where on earth had that come from? Catching him looking at her, she blushed, feeling the heat rise up her neck to her cheeks. Thank god she hadn’t said her thoughts out loud.

ADULT EXCERPT

Gazing deeply into Emily’s eyes for several seconds, Tobias then rose to his feet and, taking her hand, helped her to hers. Standing breast to breast, he pushed back a stray lock of hair from her face, and lifting her chin he cupped her cheek and bent his head. Emily’s eyes fluttered like a captured butterfly before slowly closing as his lips found hers. Moving his mouth gently backward and forward, he tenderly teased and tantalised with his caresses.

Murmuring in protest, wanting him to deepen the kiss, she grasped his shirt and, standing on tiptoe, eagerly offered her lips. A hungry, satisfying kiss followed, devastating in its intensity, fraying her already sensitised nerves. And as her mouth opened like a flower in answer to his tutelage, his tongue entwined with hers, giving and receiving, enjoying and encouraging. Pulling her further into his arms, Tobias cradled her to him, his hands tenderly stroking her back, moving down to her waist, shaping her hips and then cupping and moulding the gently rounded cheeks of her bottom.

Trembling, Emily felt heat, intense and sensual, burn deep inside her. She had only been properly kissed once before and that was by Tobias and having his tongue in her mouth was an experience she wanted to repeat again and again. His hands exploring the contours of her body had a moist response pooling in her panties, and a weakness invading her shaking limbs. She pressed closer. She couldn’t get enough of him. She wanted more, she wanted satisfaction, and more than anything else, she wanted him inside her.

The fever of desire caught and held Emily in its silken trap, and she was helpless to do anything but cling to Tobias as he lifted her into his arms and carried her to his tent. Set on her feet once inside the canvas, she took but a moment to look around. Tobias’s tent was much larger than hers and was a home from home with a comfortable-looking inflatable mattress thrown onto a cot almost as large as a double bed. The surface was covered with clean sheets and a duvet Taking all this in within seconds, she was given little opportunity to comment on anything as Tobias pulled her into his arms and kissed her soundly. Winding her arms around his neck, she pressed up against him, almost wanton in her desperation as she pushed her hips and breasts up against his powerful manly form.

Soon kissing wasn’t enough and Tobias swung her up into his arms and carried her to the bed. There he lowered her gently down onto its surface and lay beside her. Exploring her face with his fingers, his lips followed, touching momentarily on her softly fluttering eyelids, then her rosy cheeks, and onto her trembling lips. Pushing her hair away from her shoulders, his lips followed a blazing trail across her neck to the small valley at the base of her throat. Arching her neck, she allowed his mouth easier access. Whilst Tobias’s lips were busy, so were his fingers, and unhurriedly one by one he undid the buttons that closed the bodice of her pretty summer frock, slowly exposing her flesh to his ministrations.

Pushing aside her bodice, Tobias exposed her breasts and feasted his eyes on the pale, creamy globes, the nipples hard and puckered, inviting him to suck. As his lips worked their magic, he began to gently lower her dress.

Her womb contracted and her clitoris hummed. She was naked! Emily writhed uncomfortably. She’d never been naked with a man before. Oh god! What if he thought her thighs were too fat? Or that her belly wobbled like a jelly? She bit her lip, wanting to laugh at such inane and ridiculous thoughts but was scared she may come across as manic, or worse—childish. Squeezing her eyes tightly closed, she held her breath when she heard the rustle of his clothing. God, was he getting naked, too?

Catching her breath as his fingers caressed gently across the soft mound of her pussy, her eyes then few open, as his fingers lightly ran along the seam of her pussy’s tightly closed lips and tenderly pried them apart. Inserting a finger he sought her clitoris and gently rubbed and flicked it. Stifling a groan she squeezed her eyes tightly closed as a warm wetness flowed out of her and onto his hand. God, how humiliating!

Her eyes snapped open, and then just as quickly closed again as his fingers were replaced by his mouth. Oh god, he was—he was sucking her, licking her clitoris, and she, well she liked it.