Faith - Lesley Pearse [109]
It was in the evening that she felt herself being drawn towards him, and even though she tried to tell herself that he was too young for her and too unworldly, she had a feeling she was in the grip of destiny and she had no choice in the matter but just to flow with it.
His feelings showed openly on his face – a good face, she thought, as she watched him covertly in the light of the campfire while he played his guitar. She’d already been told by Josie, a hard-faced Londoner with squaw-like plaits, that Stuart had made the rough table and benches from some fallen trees and had fixed the ancient range in the kitchen so they could cook on it. Josie had joked he was the ideal man to be shipwrecked with, as he’d build you a house and catch you food without any trouble. She also added that she thought he was sexy.
Laura thought he was sexy too, though not in the strutting, narcissistic way of the men she knew around Chelsea, who had honed their skills as lovers through endless loveless practice. Stuart’s sexiness was of the innate kind, which extended to everything he did. As he bent over his guitar he was almost making love to it, and while eating earlier he’d shown the same passion, enjoying every mouthful.
His lean hips, the width of his shoulders and the muscles in his arms had not been achieved by weight-lifting or strenuous sport, only through his work. He was a man at peace with himself, uncomplicated, honest and joyful.
She’d observed him playing with Barney earlier, throwing him up in the air, playfighting and rolling around with him, a natural father even though he professed to have had no previous experience with small children. She found that touching, for Greg had never been comfortable or at ease with his son.
Stuart wouldn’t stand out in a crowd – his complexion was unfashionably ruddy, and his teeth weren’t too good. But the thoughtfulness of his grey eyes, the sensuality of his wide mouth and the straight, rather aristocratic nose, made her pulse race. If he didn’t attempt to seduce her, and she doubted he would, for he seemed a little shy and in awe of her, then she intended to seduce him.
It happened seamlessly. They went into Stuart’s room to put Barney to bed and suddenly they were kissing. Laura had never known that kind of instant, all-consuming passion before. In the past, when she felt she desired someone enough to go to bed with them, there was always a period before peeling off her clothes when she felt tense and apprehensive. She would take herself off to a bathroom to wash and clean her teeth, often prolonging this to put off the moment when she’d got to go back to the man. She had often semi-jokingly told Jackie that she’d like it better if she could get undressed in the dark and slip into bed without being seen, or seeing her partner.
But Stuart just blew away all her inhibitions. Her clothes came off effortlessly and without embarrassment, and just the touch of his bare chest against hers, the smell of the bonfire on their skin, those hard, manly hands caressing her was all the aphrodisiac she needed.
His chin was stubbly, they were both sweaty and in need of a shower, but that only seemed to give the lovemaking an extra edge. Greg had made love to her as if he was following a sex manual; he knew the right buttons to push, but it was predictable and lacking in fire.
The fire was so hot with Stuart that she felt she might explode. They devoured each other like ravaging beasts, yet there were moments of such sweet tenderness that she found herself crying and felt his cheeks too were wet with tears. It was incomparable with anything that had gone before; no man had ever touched her soul the way Stuart did, and she had never wanted to please anyone more.
When the first light of dawn came peeping through the grimy window, he was kneeling between her legs, his hands on her breasts, just looking at her. Everything she felt at that moment was mirrored in his face – wonderment, exultation and love. Nothing needed to be said; they knew