His Forbidden Bride by Sara Craven Read Free Book Online

her
    shoulders slowly and pleasurably, then let herself drift again.
    Until she found herself once more at the top of the stairs—looking down.
    Meeting his gaze. And, this time, watching him walk up the steps towards
    her…
    She came back to reality with a sudden jolt, heart thudding. She propped
    herself up on an elbow, staring around her in sudden, inexplicable alarm,
    but the rest of the beach was deserted.
    She sank back onto the towel with a little groan of relief, then paused, her
    brows snapping together. Because the bottle of sun lotion that she'd
    replaced in her bag after use was there in front of her on the sand, propped
    against an insulated cool-box, which had appeared from nowhere.
    Both of them tel ing her quite clearly that, although she might be alone now,
    she'd had company quite recently. While she'd been asleep, in fact, and
    vulnerable.
    Her throat tightened as she smelt the distinctive scent of freshly applied
    lotion on her skin, and remembered the vivid sensation of stroking hands on
    her bare back. And her drowsy, sensuous reaction…
    Oh, God, she thought, he'd been here—touching her.
    Seeing her next door to naked. And making no secret of it either. Feverishly,
    she snatched up her bikini top, and fastened it round her with shaking
    hands. Locking the stable door, she realised, after the horse was long gone.
    He'd said he was leaving, she thought numbly. She'd heard him drive off.
    And now he'd come sneaking back. Al Adele's warnings returned in
    Technicolor to haunt her. To tel her to get out while the going was good.
    She grabbed her bag, and pushed her book and the sun lotion into it. He'd
    mentioned another way off the beach that Sherry used, and she didn't care
    how steep or stony it was. It would certainly be safer than going up to the
    vil a, and encountering him again.
    Then as she reached for her dress she saw him coming down the steps, a
    sun umbrel a under one arm, and a bottle of water in his other hand. And a
    towel, she noted, draped round his shoulders.
    Too late to run now, she thought, cursing under her breath. She got to her
    feet, and watched him approach, hands on her hips.
    She said glacially, 'I thought you had other duties elsewhere.'
    'I also have a lunch break.' He indicated the cool-box, apparently oblivious to
    the hostility in her tone. 'I thought you might like to share some food with
    me.'
    'Then you thought wrong.' She gave him the full glare that worked so wel
    with stroppy teenagers, both eyes like lasers.
    'As you wish.' His own tone was equable. 'But at least drink some of this
    water I have brought for you. It is dangerous to become dehydrated, and
    your own supply has nearly gone.'
    He pushed the tip of the umbrel a he was carrying deep into the sand, and
    adjusted it, so the shade fel across her towel.
    'You dared to go through my things…'
    He shrugged. 'I was looking for the lotion to put on your back. You were in
    danger of burning. I saw then how little water you had.'
    Oh, God, he made it al sound so bloody reasonable , she raged inwardly. As if his motives were of the purest.
    She said stiffly, 'I'm sure you meant to be kind…'
    'Is that what I intended?' He grinned at her. 'Wel , maybe, A little. Or,
    perhaps, I was thinking how angry my employer would be if he found you
    were in the clinic with first-degree burns or heatstroke, and unable to talk
    business with him.' He held the bottle of water out to her. 'Now drink some
    of this.'
    'That won't be necessary,' she denied swiftly. 'I'm going back to the hotel. I
    can get a drink there.'
    'I see.' He was quiet for a meditative moment. 'Have you been to Greece
    many times before?'
    'No,' she said. 'This is actual y my first visit, but…'
    'But it is wiser to rest in the heat of the day,' he supplied decisively. 'And not go walking when there is no necessity.' He put the bottle down on her towel,
    and paused. 'Don't you like the beach?'
    'It's perfect,' Zoe said shortly.
    'Until I came to spoil it for