The Royal House of Niroli Collection. Кейт Хьюит
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shapeless cotton shift that looked at least three sizes too big. He could also see the thick straps of the dark one-piece bathing costume she was wearing, its unflattering lines suggesting she hadn’t been to the beach in a very long time.
He wondered if he’d done the right thing in bringing her here, but he’d figured that at least on a picnic she hadn’t had to worry about dressing up. Besides, he wanted time with her away from other people and their increasingly speculative stares.
He still couldn’t get his head around the circumstances surrounding his infancy. At first he had hoped it was all a mistake but the investigations he’d set in motion so far had led him to suspect the opposite. The legal people he’d engaged to work on it had already come across one or two discrepancies in the paperwork regarding his adoption and had hinted that there could be even more. He couldn’t bear the thought of informing his parents of what he’d discovered. He knew it would hurt them immeasurably to find they had inadvertently adopted a child who had had parents who had loved him and desperately longed for his return.
Alex felt as if he was in limbo; he couldn’t go back and neither could he go forward until he knew for sure what was expected of him. But for the time being he had a responsibility to get the king through his surgery; that was a main priority—everything else would have to wait.
He had even shelved his earlier concerns about Amelia’s family connections, unable to accept her as anything other than a young woman who was learning how to live again after a bitter let-down, not unlike his own. He had found it hard to become involved with anyone since his break-up with Sarah and instead had thrown himself into work as a distraction. The hurt he had felt about her affair with another man had niggled at him for so long and yet when he was with Amelia he completely forgot about it.
He let out a small sigh as he walked down towards the ocean. The water was refreshing after the heat of the day and he struck out vigorously, hoping to exercise some of his tension away.
* * *
Amelia sat on the sand hugging her bent knees, watching as Alex swam further than most people could walk. He was a picture of health and vitality, his tanned, muscular body carving through the water like a streamlined torpedo.
She couldn’t help a little sigh of envy. She had never learned to swim with any proficiency. Her family circumstances had ruled out swimming lessons during her childhood and as she’d grown older she’d become too embarrassed to admit to her inability.
Her mother’s bathing costume felt scratchy and uncomfortable and she longed to remove it. This end of the beach was deserted, but the thought of sitting next to Alex with nothing on but her thin shift was too disturbing.
She saw him make his way towards her, his strong legs slicing through the shallows, the crystal droplets of salt-water making his whole body glisten in the evening sunlight.
‘Come on in,’ he said, offering her a hand.
‘No…I’m fine here.’
‘Come on, Amelia. It’s not the least bit cold.’
‘Please…I’d rather not.’ She hugged her knees even tighter.
He frowned as he joined her on the sand. ‘What’s the problem?’
‘Nothing.’
He grazed her cheek with the back of his fingers. ‘Look at me, Amelia.’
She met his dark gaze and suddenly found herself confessing, ‘I…I can’t swim.’
His eyes softened like melted chocolate. ‘That’s nothing to be ashamed of. It can take a long time to learn to swim properly.’
She chewed at her lip. ‘I’ve never had lessons.’
‘Well, then, now’s a perfect time to start. I can teach you. It’s like riding a bike—once you learn, you learn for life.’
He got to his feet and hauled her upright before she could protest. ‘Take off your dress and let’s go in to our knees.’
Amelia self-consciously wriggled out of her cotton dress and followed him to the water’s edge, stepping into the water tentatively, her toes looking for stability in the shifting sand. After a moment or two she felt more secure and went in a little farther, this time up to her thighs as she held tightly to Alex’s hand.
‘That’s great. Now let’s go to your waist,’ he said.
She took a deep breath and walked in a little farther, wincing as the water swirled around her middle and almost made her lose her balance.
‘Easy does it,’ he said, holding her waist with his hands from behind.
Amelia could feel his body behind her like a strong wall of muscle, his legs braced against the frothing surf. It was the most erotic sensation having his hard body so close to hers. She could even feel the beginnings of his arousal, the gradual thickening of his body, a heady reminder of all that set them apart as man and woman. Her breasts felt tight and heavy, her legs felt insecure and weak and her heart began to race.
They were totally alone on the beach.
They were practically skin on skin.
All she had to do was turn around and his mouth would find hers….
She turned around and met his glittering gaze, her throat locking up at the desire she could see reflected there. He brought her closer so there was no room, not even for water to separate them.
His head came down, his mouth capturing hers in a searing kiss that swept her away on a rushing tide of rapture. It felt so good to be crushed against him, his tongue swooping and meeting hers, his body pressing urgently against her.
She felt his hands leave her hips to explore the curves of her breasts, his thumbs rolling over each tight nipple until she was mindless with sensation. Without taking his mouth off hers, he pushed the straps of her bathing costume aside to access her naked breasts with the warmth of his palms. The feel of his hands caressing her stole her breath and made her legs wobble beneath her.
The pulse of the ocean around them only added to the swirl of sensual feelings swamping her; no part of her was unaffected by his touch. With her bathers practically around her waist she knew she should be calling some sort of halt to this onslaught of sensuality, but there was nothing she could do to pull away.
His mouth left hers and began to kiss its way down the side of her neck on a slow but steady passage towards her aching, swollen breasts. She could feel her skin tightening all over in tiny goose-bumps at the erotic press of his lips as they made their way down…down…
‘Oh…’ She let out a hoarse gasp as his hot mouth closed over her engorged nipple, the rasp of his tongue turning her insides to liquid. She clutched at his head to hold herself upright, her breath coming in stunted little bursts as he suckled on each of her breasts in turn.
He brought his mouth back to hers and her loose bathers slipped even farther so that she could feel his erection on the bare skin of her quivering stomach. It was shockingly intimate, but she couldn’t stop herself from reaching down and tracing his rigid contours with the tips of her fingers, tentatively at first and then with increasing boldness as his throaty groans filled her mouth.
His kiss became more urgent, the mastery of his tongue leaving her in no doubt of his expertise as a lover. She could almost feel him inside her again as she stood there in the rocking ocean with him, his body burning into hers with unmistakable purpose. She had never felt anything like the passion filling her; it consumed her totally, leaving no room for common sense.
Alex tore his mouth off hers and looked down at her with passion-glazed eyes, his chest rising and falling as he struggled to regain control. ‘I guess I’m not the world’s best swimming teacher, huh?’
She gave him a shy smile and covered her naked breasts with her hands. ‘I don’t know about that—I certainly felt like I was floating there for a while.’
He smiled. ‘Me too, especially when