"Orchids." Eyes wide, she bent to sniff one cascading bloom. With an appreciative sigh, she released it. "Aren't they beautiful?"

Straightening, she glanced back.

Martin dragged his gaze up to her face. "Yes." Closing the distance, he bent his head and ran his lips over her exposed nape.

She shivered reactively, felt the caress all the way to her toes.

"Come."

His hand was again at that spot on her back that made her feel owned. Her skin prickling with anticipation, she allowed him to steer her on-to the alcove at the end of the room.

The air was heavy with the orchids' scent, warmed and slightly humid, no chill to account for her shiver as they halted before the padded bench.

"What did you want to show me?" Brazenly, she stepped closer, raised her arms, wound them about his neck.

His hands rose to her sides; she felt slender, helpless, held between them. He looked into her eyes, studied them, then bent his head. "Just this."

The kiss was incendiary-deliberately so-she felt herself go up in flames. Heat poured through her veins, rushed beneath her skin, pooled in her loins, then ignited. He was the same, as unprotected as she as they plunged into the fire of their mutual need.

Mutual-most definitely that. Their lips merged, mouths melded, tongues tangled, a prelude to the act every wit they jointly possessed was suddenly and unwaveringly focused on. She clung to him, one set of fingers locking in his hair, the others sinking into his shoulder as she pressed herself to him. He crushed her closer yet, molded her to him, evocatively and provocatively inciting their desire.

She drew her hand from his shoulder, trailed her fingers down his chest, reached lower-

He caught her wrist, shackled it. Drew back from the kiss. "No."

His eyes clashed with hers, widening in surprise; he seemed to reconsider. "Not yet."

She let her lids droop; they felt inordinately heavy. "What, then?"

He drew away, held her arms out from her sides, circled her, then closed from behind, his hands sliding across her waist. "Tonight…"-his voice was deep, rasping; his breath wafted the curls about one ear-"tonight we take the long road."

His hands rose and closed about her breasts; she let her head fall back against his shoulder, let her spine arch. Tried to recall their previous journey-her recollection was that it had been quite long enough.

"How so?" The words were starved of breath.

Silence, then he said, "Don't think. Just feel."

The command only focused her thoughts more, yet to her delight, they didn't distract her senses. Presumably she was growing used to this, to the worshipful way he fondled her breasts, to the real pleasure of knowing he was absorbed, intent… on what?

Seducing her seemed the most likely answer as the bodice of her gown slid down to her waist, followed by her chemise. The fabrics lay pooled about her hips as his ringers continued to play, teasing nipples already pebble-tight, drawing heat like flame under her skin with each deliberate stroke.

Why seduce her again-or was it for the first time? Who'd seduced whom in their earlier encounter was moot; while she'd certainly not intended matters to develop as they had, he'd been even more resistant. None of which had saved him. Or her.

So why was he here, intent on orchestrating a repetition of the act?

What had changed?

Her mind lazily circled that point, buoyed on a swell of rapturous pleasure, then he murmured, "Wait."

He balanced her, then stepped away, crossed to a nearby plant. Seconds later, he returned, three sumptuous white blooms in his hands.

Drawing her to face the bench so the moonlight fell full on her, he threaded a stem into the curls behind first one ear, then the other. The perfume immediately wreathed her; she drew it in; her breasts swelled. The last orchid in his hand, he looked down, then slid the stem into the folds of her gown, just below her navel.

Raising his hands, he cupped her face, lowered his head-and ripped her wits away. Her thoughts came to a dead halt; thinking was impossible as he devoured, then reclaimed every inch of her mouth, branding her his with each invasion.

He shifted, lowering-caught in the kiss, she bent from the waist as he sat on the bench. She put her hands on his shoulders for balance; his drifted down from her face and found her breasts again.

She sighed into the kiss. Leaning forward, her breasts suspended before him, his touch was different, even more rapturous, even more worshipfully reverent. She wasn't surprised when he slid his lips from hers, when he traced the line of her throat as he drew her to stand between his widespread thighs. Then his lips grazed the swollen crest of her breast, lapped, nibbled, then finally suckled the tight peak.

Sensations streaked through her; spine arching, she clutched his head, urged him to feast. He did, pleasuring her, pleasing himself.

She was well aware of that last, of the hot avidness of his mouth, of the greedy suckle of his lips, the demanding rasp of his tongue. She gave herself up to appeasing his hunger, in doing so had her own satisfied.

When her breasts were tight and her skin felt afire, Martin let his hands slide over her back, caressing the long, slender muscles framing her spine. With one hand, he swept the back of her gown and chemise down, over the curve of her bottom; with the other, he plucked the white orchid from the folds at her stomach before, with a soft whoosh, the material slithered down.

Poised before him, her hands on his shoulders, she looked down-watching as he threaded the stem of the third orchid through the soft curls at the apex of her thighs. He drew back, blatantly admiring his handiwork; he could feel the tension gripping her as she fought to drag in a breath.

Before she could speak, he reached for her hips and drew her closer-sent his lips skating over her midriff, drifting lower over her waist to her navel. As he probed the indentation with his tongue, the perfume of the orchid reached him, entwined with a scent even more primally evocative.

Dragging in a huge breath, he wrapped his arms about her hips and lifted her. She clutched his shoulders, eyes glinting sapphire blue from under weighted lids. Swivelling on the bench, he set her down, tipped her back, urging her to lie on the cushion, then he shifted back, running his hands down the underside of her thighs, lifting and parting them, draping her legs one on either side of the bench.

Leaving her displayed for him like some delectable houri out of his wildest dreams.

Her skin was pearlescent in the moonlight, her eyes shadowed, her lips lightly bruised, parted. Quivering tension held her; she drew in a tight breath, her gaze fixed on him. On his face.

He wished he knew what she could see there; every muscle felt set in stone. Every instinct he possessed screamed with ravenous hunger, with the desire to capture, plunder and take. The grip of his lust was unexpectedly dizzying, leaving him to fend by instinct alone; he'd schemed to get her precisely where she was-luckily, capitalizing on the victory was ingrained.

No logical direction was needed to make his hands reach for her breasts, to have him lean over her, bend his head and set his lips to one tightly niched peak. To set the fires racing once more beneath her silken skin; to make her gasp, arch, clutch his skull as he pleasured her.

Pleasuring her was a delight, one that sank through him, filled him. With single-minded determination, he progressed toward his reward.

Amanda wished she could think, wished she could gain some surcease from feeling, however brief. Her position, naked but for stockings, garters, and his orchids, left her feeling both vulnerable and powerful. Vulnerable in being so intimately exposed to him; powerful because she could sense the compulsion that fact exerted over him. Could sense in the burning, open-mouthed kisses he pressed to her stomach how very hungry he was. For her.

That hunger, the raw need she sensed behind his experience, behind each calculated caress, would have been overwhelming, even frightening, but for the reverence, the care, the constant worship behind every stroke of his fingers, every kiss, every touch.

He treated her as if she was the priestess of his salvation.

Regardless, he wanted more; his mouth slid lower, lower, until his warm breath brushed her curls. Made her shiver. Made her burn.

"Your coat." She pushed at his shoulders, caught the collar.

"Later," he growled.

"No-now."

She tried to sit up; with a low rumbling growl, he pressed her back down. Jerked off his coat, flung it aside and immediately returned to her, grasping her hips, lowering his head-

"Martin!" She saw stars, grabbed handfuls of his hair. Sensation jolted her; every nerve she possessed leapt, scrinched tight as he licked, then again pressed his lips to the soft flesh between her thighs.

She hadn't thought-couldn't think-could barely breathe as he tasted her, then set about sucking, licking, laving until she was sure she'd lost her mind. Until she was afloat on hot flames of delirious pleasure.

Her hips anchored between his hands, her thighs spread wide, he parted her with his tongue, found the entrance to her body, probed.

Fiery tension coiled tight. She gasped, arched, but he held her down. Ruthlessly gentle, thrust in, pressed deeper.

With a keening cry, she shattered-felt her body and senses implode, felt shards of delight fly down her veins, then melt in hot splendor under her skin.