Seduction Assignment: The Seduction Season / The Marriage Deal / The Husband Assignment

Sebastian laughed, a soft, chuckling sound deep in his throat. He stood to his feet, anchored a ten-dollar bill beneath one saucer, then reached for her hand. ‘Come on, let’s walk.’

They explored the upmarket shopping complex, then wandered to the wharf market where fresh seafood was sold direct from the fish trawlers.

Anneke examined the prawns, the many varieties of crustaceans. They looked succulent, mouthwatering. ‘I promised you dinner.’ She shot him a teasing grin. ‘Are you willing to trust me?’

‘You want to take some of these home?’

‘I’m buying,’ she insisted as he extracted his wallet. ‘I mean it,’ she said fiercely.

He lifted both hands in the air. ‘OK.’

She chose carefully, with the expertise of a market haggler, selecting, rejecting, until she was satisfied she had the best of the best.

‘Let’s get this into the cooler and head home.’ Her mind was already busy with the preparation she needed to make, the time factor, a mental rundown of salad makings in the refrigerator.

It was almost seven when they reached the cottage. ‘Give me an hour,’ Anneke said as she extracted the seafood from the cooler. That would give her time to shower and change, and have the food ready on the table.

‘I’ll bring the wine.’

She managed it with five minutes to spare, and spent four of those minutes wondering if she should change blue jeans for black dress jeans, add blusher and eyeshadow or just stick with lipstick. Perfume?

A knock at the door precluded the necessity for either, and she crossed the kitchen and let him in.

Sebastian took the bottle of chilled white wine to the servery. ‘Shall I open this?’

Anneke handed him the corkscrew. ‘Please.’

He’d showered, shaved and changed into casual dark trousers and a pale blue shirt. Aunt Vivienne’s kitchen wasn’t large, and he seemed to fill it.

She extracted two glasses and set them on the table as he eased the cork out from the neck of the bottle.

‘Anything I can do to help?’

‘It’s all done.’ Did she sound as nervous as she felt?

He leaned forward and covered her mouth with his own, taking advantage of her surprise by bestowing an erotic tasting. He lingered a few seconds, then lifted his head.

She looked…momentarily startled, and her slight confusion pleased him. ‘Shall we eat?’

Oysters mornay, chilli prawns, and crustaceans in their shells, split in half and the flesh coated with a delicate sauce and grilled. Fresh salad greens, and a baguette she’d heated to crunchy perfection in the oven.

‘Magnificent,’ Sebastian declared, with the pleasure of a man who had eaten well. ‘More wine?’

‘No,’ Anneke refused quickly, and earned a slight smile.

‘The need for a clear head?’

She didn’t answer, didn’t dare. ‘I’ll make coffee.’

Her movements were mechanical as she set up the coffee-maker, and when she turned to open the cupboard he was right there.

‘Sebastian—’ His lips settled over the vulnerable hollow at the edge of her neck, and she lost track of whatever it was she’d intended to say.

His mouth was warm, his tongue an erotic instrument as he teased the pulsing cord, savoured it, then used the edge of his teeth to take delicate nips from the sensitive hollows.

She made one last-ditch effort at protest, only to have it die in her throat as he turned her fully into his arms and covered her mouth with his own.

One hand lifted to cup her nape while the other slid down her back and pressed her close against him.

His arousal was a potent force, and she felt her bones begin to melt as liquid fire coursed through her veins. Each sensory nerve-end was heightened to acute awareness, and her body leaned in close to his as he deepened the kiss to an imitation of the sexual act itself.

Anneke wanted to feel his flesh, taste him in a tactile exploration that would drive him wild. Her fingers slid to the opening of his shirt, freed each button, then she trailed butterfly kisses across his chest, tangled her tongue in the whorls of hair, took possession of one male nipple, and suckled.

His body shuddered, then tautened as firm hands clasped hold of her waist, and it was she who cried out as he lifted her onto the servery, then parted her thighs and positioned himself between them.

His eyes were dark and impossibly slumberous as he tugged her top free from her jeans, then pulled it over her head. The bra clip slipped open with ease, and he slid the straps down her arms and dispensed with the scrap of silk and lace.

Then he buried his face in the valley between her breasts and caressed the soft curves, tormented and teased each roseate peak, then trailed a path down to her navel.

Her jeans were a barrier he dispensed with with ease, tugging them free and dropping them onto the floor.

He kissed her, gently at first, then with an increasingly demanding possession, and when he at last lifted his head she could only look at him in shaken silence.

Sebastian didn’t have to ask. The unspoken question was apparent in his stance, the liquid darkness of his eyes, the curve of his mouth.

A slight shudder ran through her body. If she turned away now, she’d never know his touch. And she wanted to, badly.

Not just the physical. She wanted more, much more than that. His heart, his soul. Everything.

Maybe, just maybe, she should take the gamble and run with it. Let emotions take her wherever he led.

A week could be a lifetime. And better to experience a week of heaven than never to experience it at all.

Slowly she reached out and slid her fingers to his nape, where a clip fastened the leather strip that bound his hair. Her eyes never left his as she slipped it free. Then she forked her fingers through the silken river of black, and spread it out so that it flowed onto his shoulders.

It gave him a rakish look that was pure pagan, primitive, and it was a gesture she’d wanted to make ever since she’d first stepped into this kitchen and found him making tea.

His smile was slow and infinitely sensual as he copied her actions, releasing the thin elastic band at the base of her plait, then threading his fingers through the length of her hair.

It was the expression in his eyes that made her catch her breath and caused her pulse to quicken to a much faster beat.

‘I think,’ she said shakily, ‘you’d better take me out of the kitchen and into the bedroom.’

He played the game, teasing her gently. ‘You think so?’

‘Otherwise I may never be able to cook or serve food in here again.’

Sebastian laughed. A deep, husky sound that curled into the recesses of her heart. ‘Put your arms round my neck.’