Stormy Vows - Iris Johansen [154]
“Remarkably,” Dominic agreed dryly, his taut face echoing his exasperation. “I haven't the least doubt that she'll carry it through with all the subtlety of a steamroller. I'll have to watch her like a hawk or she'll be opportuning the madams of every bawdy house in L.A. for lessons.”
Lola's dark eyes were gleaming. “There is another way, you know.”
He looked at her inquiringly.
“You could tell her that you love her,” she said.
Dominic's body stiffened as if she had struck him. His face was abruptly wiped free of expression, the dark eyes shuttered. “Could I?” he asked tonelessly. “It isn't usually your custom to meddle, Lola. I wouldn't advise you to start now.” He gestured toward the waiting launch. “You have a plane to catch.”
The music was as soft and sensuous as an intimate caress. They moved slowly around the dance floor, their arms wound around each other in the dimness of the crowded room. In the past few weeks Jane had noticed that in the wee hours of the morning the band at El Invernardero invariably discarded the lively disco numbers and played only mellow romantic tunes suited to lovers. This met with her complete approval, and she nestled closer to Jake with a sigh of contentment.
Jake looked down at her, his eyebrow cocked inquiringly. “Tired?” he asked softly. “Would you like to go back to the yacht?”
She shook her head. “Not yet,” she said dreamily. “I love to dance with you. Let's stay a little longer.”
His arms tightened around her, but his voice was light. “Oh, for the energy of the young,” he said, pulling a face. “Do you realize that this is the third time this week we've been here until four in the morning? You're going to make a physical wreck out of me, woman.”
She looked up swiftly, her smile impudent. “You look in remarkably good shape to me in spite of our nights of dissipation,” she said teasingly. “I didn't hear you complain when I suggested we come tonight.”
Jake always looked devastatingly attractive in evening clothes, she thought. Tonight he was wearing the more conventional black tuxedo, and he looked as dangerous and virile as a stalking panther.
His eyes were flickering with mischief. “I wasn't anticipating a night on the tiles so much as my reward at the end of it,” he murmured outrageously. “Gratitude always makes you more passionate.”
They were both aware that this was patently untrue. He had only to touch her and Jane responded with all the combustibility of a brushfire in a windstorm. She looked back in wonderment on the casual, almost sexless woman she had been before Jake Dominic. He had thrown open all the doors of physical pleasure for her curious and delighted exploration, and she was as addicted to his lovemaking now as if it were the fruit of the poppy.
She suddenly grinned in amusement at the memory of the scene in Jake's cabin after Lola and Kahlid had left the Sea Breeze. He had been as outraged as a Victorian husband. While she had sat wide-eyed and cowed by his strong reaction to what had seemed to her a reasonable and simple solution to her problem, he had strode back and forth, wildly condemning her “hare-brained” ideas with fluent and precise obscenities. He had then turned to face her with a forbidding frown.
“So help me God, I don't want to catch you so much as asking a question of anyone, other than the time of day! If you want to learn any little erotic variations, come to me, damn it. I believe I have sufficient experience to satisfy you!” He had stormed out of the cabin, slamming the door with explosive force behind him.
Jake's claim had proved a massive understatement, and she hadn't needed to ask. She found the variations mentioned no less exciting than the more conventional sex play, and she had embraced them with her usual enthusiasm. To her delight, Jake's passion for her had exhibited no signs of waning since Lola's departure, and in fact his hunger seemed to increase rather than diminish. At times he took her with