Hot Island Nights

In London she’d be arrested for indecent exposure. At least Elizabeth hoped she would.

She watched as the woman wriggled in Nathan’s arms, laughing into his face, one hand pressed flat against his chest. Nathan said something, then lifted his head suddenly and stared directly across the room at Elizabeth. She tensed as she met his pale blue eyes. She should have looked away before he caught her watching him. She should look away now.

Right now, before he got the wrong idea.

He lifted an eyebrow. Then the corner of his mouth curled up.

Smug bastard.

She tore her gaze away.

She could imagine what he was thinking—that the uptight English woman had the hots for him.

As if she’d be foolish enough to take up with a man like him, a man who was interested in nothing but sex. A man who wanted nothing but to get her naked and take his pleasure. A man who probably knew every sexual trick in the book and then some.

A wave of heat rolled over her.

Be honest with yourself at least, Elizabeth Jane. He fascinates you. You look at him and see every fantasy you ever had, every dirty thought you never dared share with anyone, including Martin.

It was true. It made self-conscious, nervous sweat prickle under her arms to admit it to herself, but it was true. She found Nathan Jones sexually attractive. Extremely sexually attractive.

How galling.

She turned and grabbed the nearby jug of beer and poured herself another glass.

He’d been so cocksure when he’d swaggered over to talk to her earlier. So confident of his reception. And she’d been so firm in her rejection. And all along he’d known. The look they’d just shared told her so.

He knew she’d been struck speechless by her first sight of him in all his bare-chested glory. He knew how images of his big body had been slipping into her mind against her will all day. How hot and sticky she felt just thinking about touching his firm, brown skin.

“Bloody hell,” she whispered under her breath.

She felt as though she was on fire, could feel the echo of her heartbeat in the warm heat between her legs. She pressed her beer glass against her cheek, trying to cool down.

Crazy. This was crazy. She’d never felt so overheated and overwrought in all her life. It must be the beer. Had to be.

Otherwise—

A hand curled around her forearm and tugged her toward the dance floor.

“Come on, Betty, let your hair down,” a voice murmured. “Dance with me.”

She looked up into Nathan’s lazy, heavy-lidded eyes. God, he was gorgeous. All angled cheekbones and straight nose and firm, chiseled lips.

She dug her heels in and shook her head as he pulled her another step closer to the dance floor.

“I don’t want to dance. Not with you.”

It was a lie, but it was also the truth. He terrified her. He made her scared of herself.

She tugged on her arm. He didn’t let her go.

“Are you married?” he asked.

“No.” Almost, but not quite.

“In a relationship?”

“No.” Not anymore.

“Then what’s the problem?”

He made it sound so simple, as though there were no other considerations apart from what she wanted and what he wanted right now. No tomorrow. No responsibilities or obligations or expectations.

When she didn’t say anything she felt the grip on her arm loosen.

“Your call, Betty.”

It should have annoyed her, the way he kept using that stupid diminutive of her name and the way he gave her a small, regretful smile and walked away again.

It didn’t. Instead she was gripped with a sort of panicky, pressured fear that she’d just let an amazing opportunity slip through her fingers. When would she ever meet a man like him again? A feckless, pointless, incredibly sexy Lothario with nothing but pleasure on his mind? When would she ever be so far from home, so anonymous and free?

Because she didn’t know the answers to any of those questions she pretended to herself that she’d narrowly escaped making a reckless, foolish decision and tried to look as though she was having a great time.

She watched him laugh and dance with another girl. Then another. She drank more beer and let her gaze run over his big, strong body as he moved on the dance floor or leaned against the far wall or stood in a loose circle with a bunch of surfer types, talking and laughing. She thought about the look in his eyes, remembered the way he’d touched her cheek. She thought about home, and how her grandparents had lied to her—with the best of intentions, yes, but it had still been a lie—and the way Martin touched her as though she were made of spun sugar and all the times she’d bitten her tongue and done the right thing and been a good girl, over and over again.

She thought about that moment in Harrods when she’d fantasized about destroying all that polished, expensive perfection.

I want him, a little voice whispered in her mind. Why can’t I have him?

There were reasons—of course there were reasons—but they weren’t good enough. They were safe and conservative and controlled and she was so sick of all those things. She wanted the unknown. Just this once. No one would ever know about it. It would be her secret, her moment of madness. A moment just for her, about her, about what she wanted, with no one else’s feelings or opinions or judgments coming into play.

She put down her glass. Then she lifted her hands and checked to see that her hair was neatly pinned. Although why that should matter when she was about to proposition a man for the first time in her life, she had no idea.

She took a deep breath, then started across the room. She’d barely taken two steps before Nathan turned away from his friends and started weaving his way through the crowd toward the exit.

A surge of dismay rushed through her. He was leaving! Surely not, not when she’d just mustered the courage to ask for what she wanted. She paused for a split second, then she started pushing her way through the crowd, her movements increasingly urgent.

If he left without her saying what she wanted to say, doing what she wanted to do, she might never find the courage of this moment again.

She kept her eyes glued to Nathan’s dark head and when he disappeared into the hallway leading to the front entrance she darted urgently past the last few people and was almost running when she entered the hallway.

It was empty. He’d already left.

Again, she hesitated. She couldn’t very well chase him up the street. Could she? He’d issued his invitation, she’d rejected it. It was over. She’d missed her chance.

The disappointment and frustration she felt was so great that she was pushing through the double doors and out into the warm night before she could really consider what she was doing. There was no sign of Nathan on the street in either direction. Then she looked across the road toward the beach and saw a dark figure walking down the path toward the sand.

She crossed the road and strode to the top of the path. The moon was covered by clouds and the beach was dark, the water a glinting inky blackness in the distance. She set one foot on the sandy path, then stopped.