down and it probably explained why he thought himself qualified to analyze her behavior.
An L.A. cop undoubtedly picked up a lot of basic psychology in the streets. Or thought he did!
„But I don’t come from that world, Lucas. I come from a much more civilized, more sophisticated environment. You
can’t apply what you learned there to me.“
„Jessie, you can’t ignore what happened between us!“
„I don’t see why not!“
„Damn it! I’ll show you why not!“ He moved, then, coming away from the rail with the effortless swiftness of a
gray-eyed leopard. She was in his arms before she had time to realize she was trapped.
Four
The sweeping impact of his embrace riveted Jessica’s senses. She stood perfectly still beneath the onslaught, her
fingers splayed against his chest. Lucas caught her mouth as it was turned upward, lips slightly parted in
astonishment. The small cry of protest was stifled in her throat.
The first impression that roared through Jessica’s mind was that this kiss was from a different end of the spectrum
than the ones to which she had been exposed that night in the desert. That night there had been primitive seduction
and need blended with the mastery and demand. Tonight the attempt at mastery was washing out everything else.
It was as if Lucas had tired of trying to talk her back into his arms and had opted for a more direct approach. Which
was, Jessica knew, precisely the case.
Initially he didn’t ask for a response. Instead he seemed intent on restaking the claim he felt he’d made a few nights
previously. His hands locked against the red silk dress as he pulled her firmly into place against the hardening line of
his body.
When Jessica resisted, he swung halfway around, setting his back against the rail, legs braced aggressively apart.
Then he propelled her intimately between the strength of his thighs so that she was off balance and cradled in the heat
of him.
Through the thin silk material of her dress, Jessica was made violently aware of the arousal Lucas had no intention
of concealing. He wanted her to know, wanted her to feel the masculine challenge with every fiber of her body.
The stars began to spin overhead and the gentle, rhythmic motion of the huge ship threatened to sweep Jessica
into a sensuous pattern that was as old as the sea itself.
Lucas dampened her lips with the aggressive tip of his tongue and when she once again tried to make a muffled
sound of protest, he seized the opportunity to swiftly invade the territory he had once before conquered so
thoroughly. Jessica trembled as he established a surging, thrusting cadence within her mouth that imitated the
authority with which the ship plowed through the soft swells of the Pacific.
But no ship could totally conquer the sea, she told herself fleetingly. And here with the lights and sounds of seven
hundred passengers nearby, she was safe. She was safe.
That knowledge blunted the arrow of fear and wariness, which would have caused her to struggle more violently.
Instead, Jessica leaned passively against him, feeling his hands begin to slide along her spine up to the bareness at
her shoulders and then back to the sensitive area at the base. Her short nails sank into the fabric of the corduroy jacket
with the force of little claws as her entire body began to search for something it had once known there in Lucas’s arms.
„Jessie, Jessie, please don’t put up unnecessary barriers between us,“ he ground out raggedly as he reluctantly
lifted his mouth a fraction of an inch from hers. „I’ll only have to tear them down and it’s such a waste of time!“
„The barriers are real,“ she managed throatily, trying to recover from the whirling vertigo his kiss had induced. „I
only want to forget everything that happened back there in the desert. Can’t you understand that? I don’t want to
think about how I let you humiliate me, even if it did assist in my own survival! I don’t
An L.A. cop undoubtedly picked up a lot of basic psychology in the streets. Or thought he did!
„But I don’t come from that world, Lucas. I come from a much more civilized, more sophisticated environment. You
can’t apply what you learned there to me.“
„Jessie, you can’t ignore what happened between us!“
„I don’t see why not!“
„Damn it! I’ll show you why not!“ He moved, then, coming away from the rail with the effortless swiftness of a
gray-eyed leopard. She was in his arms before she had time to realize she was trapped.
Four
The sweeping impact of his embrace riveted Jessica’s senses. She stood perfectly still beneath the onslaught, her
fingers splayed against his chest. Lucas caught her mouth as it was turned upward, lips slightly parted in
astonishment. The small cry of protest was stifled in her throat.
The first impression that roared through Jessica’s mind was that this kiss was from a different end of the spectrum
than the ones to which she had been exposed that night in the desert. That night there had been primitive seduction
and need blended with the mastery and demand. Tonight the attempt at mastery was washing out everything else.
It was as if Lucas had tired of trying to talk her back into his arms and had opted for a more direct approach. Which
was, Jessica knew, precisely the case.
Initially he didn’t ask for a response. Instead he seemed intent on restaking the claim he felt he’d made a few nights
previously. His hands locked against the red silk dress as he pulled her firmly into place against the hardening line of
his body.
When Jessica resisted, he swung halfway around, setting his back against the rail, legs braced aggressively apart.
Then he propelled her intimately between the strength of his thighs so that she was off balance and cradled in the heat
of him.
Through the thin silk material of her dress, Jessica was made violently aware of the arousal Lucas had no intention
of concealing. He wanted her to know, wanted her to feel the masculine challenge with every fiber of her body.
The stars began to spin overhead and the gentle, rhythmic motion of the huge ship threatened to sweep Jessica
into a sensuous pattern that was as old as the sea itself.
Lucas dampened her lips with the aggressive tip of his tongue and when she once again tried to make a muffled
sound of protest, he seized the opportunity to swiftly invade the territory he had once before conquered so
thoroughly. Jessica trembled as he established a surging, thrusting cadence within her mouth that imitated the
authority with which the ship plowed through the soft swells of the Pacific.
But no ship could totally conquer the sea, she told herself fleetingly. And here with the lights and sounds of seven
hundred passengers nearby, she was safe. She was safe.
That knowledge blunted the arrow of fear and wariness, which would have caused her to struggle more violently.
Instead, Jessica leaned passively against him, feeling his hands begin to slide along her spine up to the bareness at
her shoulders and then back to the sensitive area at the base. Her short nails sank into the fabric of the corduroy jacket
with the force of little claws as her entire body began to search for something it had once known there in Lucas’s arms.
„Jessie, Jessie, please don’t put up unnecessary barriers between us,“ he ground out raggedly as he reluctantly
lifted his mouth a fraction of an inch from hers. „I’ll only have to tear them down and it’s such a waste of time!“
„The barriers are real,“ she managed throatily, trying to recover from the whirling vertigo his kiss had induced. „I
only want to forget everything that happened back there in the desert. Can’t you understand that? I don’t want to
think about how I let you humiliate me, even if it did assist in my own survival! I don’t
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