Dangerous to Know by Barbara Taylor Bradford Read Free Book Online Page A

To be with you.
    That’s all I’ve ever wanted, Sebastian.”
    “Vivienne . .
    We moved at the same time.
    We were in each other’s arms, holding onto each other. Eventually we drew apart. He struggled out of his dinner jacket, threw it on a chair, undid his bow tie as he walked to the bedroom door. With one hand he locked it; with the other he began to remove the sapphire studs from his evening shirt, and his eyes never left my face as he walked back to me.
    I opened my arms to him. He came into them swiftly, held me close to him. He undid my zipper and suddenly my evening dress was a pile of white lace at my feet. Drawing me toward the bed without a word, he pushed me down on it, lay next to me, took me in his arms once more.
    His mouth found mine. He caressed every part of me, his hands moving over me with such expertise I was soon fully aroused, spiralling into ecstacy. When he entered me a moment later, I gasped, cried out and he stopped, staring down at me. I assured him I was all right, urged him on, wrapping my arms around him. My hands were firm and strong on his broad back and I found his rhythm, moved with him, inflamed by his passion and my own urgent desire. And so we soared upward together, and as we reached the peak I cried out again, as did he.
    We lay together silently. Sebastian’s breathing was labored and his body was damp. I went to the bathroom, found a towel, came back and rubbed him dry. He half smiled at me, pulled me to him, wrapped his long legs around my body, and rested against me, still without speaking.
    But there was no awkwardness in our silence, only eloquence, ease.
    I let my fingers slide into his thick black hair; I ran my hands over his shoulders and his back. I kissed him as I wanted to kiss him.
    It was not long before we made love again and we did so without constraint.
    Satiated and a little sore, we eventually lay still. After a while, Sebastian raised himself on one elbow, looked down at me.
    Moving a strand of hair, he said quietly, “If I’d known you were a virgin, I wouldn’t-“
    I pressed my fingers against his lips. “Don’t say it.”
    He shook his head. “It never occurred to me, Vivi, not in this day and age …” His sentence trickled away and he shook his head, a little helplessly, I thought.
    I said, “I was saving myself.”
    A dark brow lifted above those piercing blue eyes.
    “For you,” I explained with a smug smile. “I saved myself for you, Sebastian. I’ve wanted you to make love to me for as long as I can remember.”
    “Oh Vivi, and I never even guessed.”
    I reached out, touched his face. “I love you, Sebastian Locke.
    I’ve always loved you. And I always will … all the days of my life.”
    He bent down and kissed me softly on the lips, and then he put his arms around me, holding me close to , keeping me safe.
    The phone was screaming in my ear.
    I roused myself from my half-dozing state and my memories instantly retreated. Reaching out, I lifted the receiver and mumbled, “Hello?”
    “It’s me,” Jack said. “I’m coming over. With the newspapers.”
    “Oh God, don’t tell me,” I groaned. “Lousy headlines, I’ve no doubt.
    And obituaries.”
    “You got it, kid.”
    “You’re going to be besieged by the press,” I muttered. “Perhaps you are better off coming here. Maybe you should bring Luciana with you, Jack.”
    “She ain’t here, Viv. She’s skipped it, gone back to Manhattan.”
    “I see,” I said and sat bolt upright. “Well, that’s not surprising.”
    -Sliding my legs out of bed, I continued, “I’ll put coffee on.
    See you in about half an hour.”
    “Make that twenty minutes,” he answered brusquely and hung up.
    -It was quite obvious that Jack was in one of his peculiar moods.
    His face proclaimed it to me before he had walked even half way across -the kitchen.
    “Good morning,” I said, carrying the coffee pot over to the table and putting it down. When I received merely a curious, gruntlike