"What now?" Julienne murmured, her own tone challenging.

"What do you want?"

"I want to see you."

"Then I am happy to oblige."

Throwing off the sheet, Dare rose gracefully and stood before her fully aroused. Incredibly aroused. His phallus was magnificent, darkly engorged, long and thick and silky smooth. Julienne's mouth went dry. "You are very large."

"The better to pleasure you, my sweet."

He moved toward her till he was almost close enough to touch. "Do you want to feel my cock sliding inside your quivering flesh?"

Her blood surged at the question. Julienne moistened her lips. "Yes…"

Grasping her shoulders lightly, Dare guided her backward till her spine was pressed against the mirrored wall. The glass felt cool against her hot skin, making her shiver. But it was Dare's emerald gaze that countered the chill. His indolent scrutiny brushed over her with an intimacy that set her senses on fire.

"I see before me an irresistibly aroused woman," he whispered, drawing a finger down her throat to her collarbone.

Deliberately he rested his hands on the pale, high curves of her breasts as if they were his property. A jolt of sensation burst through Julienne.

"I want to suck on your nipples till you come."

She had no doubt that he could. And she wanted him to.

"Do you want me to make you come?" he queried.

Aching from temptation, she nearly moaned aloud. "Yes."

"My name is Dare. Say it."

"Yes, Dare…"

His hands moved over her breasts, fondling them leisurely as his gaze narrowed. He watched her as he played with her straining nipples. A shameless need grew in her with each caress of those strong, elegant fingers. Eventually he bent his head, planting soft, teasing kisses around the rosy areolas. Julienne thrust her aching breasts helplessly against his lips, longing for release.

Then his mouth took over from his fingers, capturing one taut bud, tugging at the crest, drawing it over the rough, wet surface of his tongue.

The soft sound of his sucking was somehow powerfully erotic, and made Julienne groan. She arched her back, bracing her palms against the mirror behind her. Obligingly, Dare shifted his body so that his knee rode intimately between her thighs, the rigid blade of his manhood prodding against her belly. Julienne felt the quaking between her legs intensify.

"You're very excited, darling, aren't you?" When he let his fingers slide down to the apex of her thighs, her harsh gasp sounded loud in the silence. "Yes, let me hear you. I want you frenzied and breathless."

The caress of his mouth, the heat of his hard, lean body against her, was a delicious torment and roused a burning need in her loins to feel him driving deep into her.

Dare seemed to understand.

"Open your legs." His husky whisper took on a tone of command. When she obeyed, he rewarded her by rubbing the swollen head of his erect member up and down her moist cleft.

Julienne's resistance broke completely. "Dare, please," she pleaded.

"Want me?" The velvet texture of his voice sent flames rippling up her spine.

"Merciful heaven, yes…"

His slow smile set her blood racing as his massive member nudged between her slick flesh. She parted her legs wider to give him full access and bit back a cry of need as he began to enter her.

His fingers cupped her throbbing breasts, squeezing lightly as he swelled upward into her clinging heat, filling her. With a whimper, Julienne softened against him helplessly, dizzy with pleasure, her eyes falling shut…

"No, don't close your eyes. Watch while I'm taking you."

With effort she focused her dazed gaze on the mirror to her right. She could see his long, thick shaft gliding into her…

Julienne groaned again, her inner muscles contracting, clamping around his hardness. Over his shoulder, she saw their reflections in the opposite mirror, saw his buttocks flexing as he slowly pumped between her legs. It was the most erotic sight she had ever seen.

She began to writhe against him, urging him to increase his unhurried rhythm, but he refused to comply. Each time he withdrew, she strained to hold the sweet fullness buried deep inside her, but he wouldn't allow her to.

She wanted to curse him. Dare knew what she needed so desperately, but he deliberately held her on the edge, her body pulsing and craving more. He was skilled in the art of prolonging pleasure, and he used every talent he possessed to bring her to a fever pitch of desire.

She lost count of how many times he drove her to the brink, only to deny her. It was exquisite, agonizing. Her breath was rasping rawly in her throat as she pleaded with him, begging for release.

"I'm going to let you come now," he warned at last.

"Yes!" she cried, nearly sobbing. Her nails dug into the flesh of his back as he thrust fully inside her, building the firestorm.

When she bucked wildly against him, he thrust again harder, impaling her to the hilt. "Scream for me, darling. Scream like I know you want to."

She did scream. The brutal rush of feeling when she climaxed left her shuddering and shattered. She felt Dare plunging inside her as he found his own explosive release, but she could only cling helplessly to his broad shoulders.

His shaft was still throbbing sweetly, deep within her as her last melting spasms ebbed away.

With a groan, Dare sagged against her. Several heartbeats later she felt him smile into her hair.

"You screamed for me," he murmured, his voice a satisfied rasp. "But we've only just begun. I intend to make you hoarse before the night is through."

His fingers slid through her hair, searching for pins. "Next time I take you, I want you sprawled naked on the sheets… your incredible hair cascading wantonly across the pillows… I want your smell on my body, your breath on my skin…"

The last words were whispered as he captured her mouth, and this time Julienne surrendered with no resistance at all.

That first night set the stage for their time together. Dare pleasured her ruthlessly, but Julienne proved his match in their erotic battle for supremacy. She was passionate, greedy, hot, reveling in his raw sexuality, and in her own.

The mirrors served the purpose he'd intended. From then on the image of their twisting, nude bodies locked in carnal embrace was branded on her mind. She had only to look at Dare to remember, and the fire between them leapt instantly to life.

By tacit agreement they never spoke of the danger that threatened them, both preferring to see this interlude as a respite from the world. Yet Julienne soon recognized another source of danger: too many opportunities for emotional intimacy and tender remembrances.

The day following their arrival, the weather turned inclement. Rain came down in torrents, bringing back a winter chill to the air and forcing them to remain indoors.

After a lazy breakfast, they strolled in the conservatory, which was regrettably scented with roses. And listening to the rain beat against the panes of glass reminded Julienne too poignantly of a particular afternoon she'd spent with Dare in their cottage during a summer storm.

When she met his eyes briefly, she could tell he was recollecting the same moment.

"So tell me about your years in York," Dare prompted as if to change the subject.

His choice of topics was scarcely any more comforting to Julienne's mind.

One of the things she had appreciated most about Dare in the days of their courtship was that he was always so interested in her thoughts and feelings. Now his interest was simply worrisome. And yet Julienne found herself reminiscing about her life as a fledgling actress. There had been far more good times than bad, possibly because she had quickly become a success.

"So what have you been doing with your life all this time?" she asked in turn. "Has it been all debauchery and pleasure?"

Dare visibly winced. "Much of it, I'm afraid. I was serious when I said that after you, I lost interest in much of anything else."

She drew a measured breath and replied in a low voice. "I am sorry, Dare."

It was the first time she had apologized for breaking his heart, but he shrugged off her reply with a forced smile. "Let's forget about it, shall we? For these next few days we'll pretend the past never happened."

And yet Julienne wasn't able to forget. If anything, her remembrances only grew stronger the more time she spent with Dare.

He devoted every moment of the following days to entertaining her, displaying the consummate artistry of his passion in countless ways. He was a man of smoldering sensuality and insatiable appetites, with a demanding eroticism that ravished her senses. Even so, he was somehow different from the charming, wicked rakehell who had wagered to make her his mistress. In the tender intensity of his wooing, at least, he resembled much more the lover who had once utterly captured her heart.

It was his tenderness that Julienne considered most dangerous. The rivalry between them was more arousing than any aphrodisiac, more primal than any courtship, but Dare's tenderness penetrated every defense she had. And with every caress, every kiss, every sweet new intimacy, she found it harder to shield herself.

She tried to remind herself of their game, that Dare was merely set on winning their wager and repaying her for her past cruelty. But while her rational mind warned her to beware, her heart seemed to whisper something else altogether, something she wanted with a desperate longing.