A Touch of Notoriety

chapter TEN



THE ONLY ILLUMINATION in the bedroom was from the lamp on the small bedside table nearest the bathroom when Beth returned to the bedroom fifteen or twenty minutes later, wearing only a towel wrapped about her and secured between her bare breasts. They had no luggage with them, and the inn simply wasn’t big enough to supply bathrobes for its no doubt infrequent guests.

Raphael lay sprawled on the other side of the bed, having removed his jacket and tie, and completely unfastened and untucked his shirt so that it left his chest bared, revealing that silky dark hair and flat nipples the colour of deep rose against his bronzed skin, the top button of his suit trousers also unfastened.

He was also, from the slight heaviness of his breathing and his closed lids, very soundly asleep!

Beth moved to the vacant side of the bed to stare down at him in disbelief, not sure if she felt relieved or insulted that Raphael had somehow managed to fall asleep after making his telephone calls. It certainly wasn’t in the least flattering to have the man who had earlier so vividly described how he intended making love to her fall into what appeared to be a dead sleep in the few minutes she had left him while she took a shower.

Especially when Beth considered she had spent those same minutes thinking of the night of lovemaking ahead!

She gave a low and disgruntled humphing sound as she turned back the bedclothes, turning off the light and plunging the room into darkness before dropping the towel and crawling in naked with her back turned towards Raphael. Her feelings of insult turned to ones of irritation as she realised that having Raphael on top of the bedcovers totally restricted her from pulling those bedclothes up over the bareness of her shoulders.

Beth tossed and turned for several minutes trying to get comfortable, and all the time she did Raphael remained totally unmoving beside her, his breathing still deep and steady. She finally sat up slightly to shoot a scowling glance in Raphael’s general direction as she punched her pillows into comfortable submission, a part of her secretly wishing it were him she was punching. How dared Raphael just fall asleep after all those things he had described wanting to do to her? It was beyond insulting, it was—

‘What did that poor pillow ever do to you?’

Beth froze at the husky sound of Raphael’s voice, realising her eyes must have adjusted to the gloom of the bedroom as she raised startled lids and easily saw the light glitter of his eyes reflected in the moonlight shining in through the windows.

She moistened her lips. ‘I thought you were asleep.’ Her voice sounded unnaturally loud in the stilled silence of the room.

‘I was,’ Raphael drawled as he turned on his side, bending his elbow and resting his cheek against the palm of his hand as he looked down at her. ‘You woke me up when you started attacking that defenceless pillow.’

‘I was imagining it was you!’ she came back tartly.

Having decided that it might be prudent on his part to pretend to be asleep when Beth returned from taking her shower, to give her the option of a woman’s prerogative to change her mind, Raphael now found himself giving a rueful shake of his head at Beth’s obvious disgruntlement that he hadn’t been waiting in impatient anticipation for her return. ‘Why?’ he prompted huskily.

Her eyes glittered at him in the semi-darkness. ‘Why do you think?’

Raphael reached out and gently touched the soft creaminess of her heated cheek with his fingertips, feeling rather than seeing the quiver that shook her body at just that light caress. ‘Would you believe me if I told you I was doing the gentlemanly thing and giving you the opportunity to change your mind?’

‘Why?’ she now returned softly.

He drew in a sharp breath. ‘Because, despite the outrageous things I may have said to you in the restaurant downstairs, I am a gentleman.’

‘Does that mean you weren’t serious about those outrageous things?’ There was a teasing lilt to her voice, her hair a silver-gold cascade over her bared shoulders in the moonlight.

‘I meant every single word I said to you earlier,’ Raphael assured her decisively. ‘It is because I meant them, because I want you in all the ways I described, but saw and recognised your uncertainty once we reached this bedroom, that I decided it might be better if I were to go to sleep.’

‘To give the appearance of being asleep?’

‘Yes.’

All of Beth’s earlier nervousness evaporated as she reached out to run her hands slowly up Raphael’s chest and over the warmth of his shoulders as she scooted across the bed, only to give a groan of frustration as she realised the bedclothes continued to act as a barrier between them. ‘Either you’re going to have to get beneath the bedcovers or I’m going to get out from beneath them!’ she muttered dryly.

‘I believe it best that I be the one to join you,’ he murmured ruefully as he drew her arms gently from about his neck before throwing back the bedclothes and standing up.

Beth’s breath hitched in her throat as she lay back against the pillows and watched Raphael shed his shirt completely, the moonlight turning his bared and muscled flesh a deep and burnished gold, his shoulders impossibly wide, and his tapered chest and abdomen perfectly toned.

She stopped breathing altogether as he unzipped his trousers before pushing them, and his boxers, down the long length of his legs, before straightening.

He stood proudly naked, his body bathed in moonlight, his erection jutting up so long it reached his navel, and so thick around Beth doubted her fingers would be able to encircle it, the bulbous top appearing a dark and glistening purple.

She licked her lips with the tip of her tongue as she gazed unabashedly at that evidence of Raphael’s arousal. ‘You’re beautiful,’ she breathed softly.

Some of Raphael’s tension eased at Beth’s typical candidness.

‘I believe that is supposed to be my line?’ But not one he could have said when Beth presently held the bedclothes up to her chin in a death grip. ‘Will you release the covers, Beth, and allow me to look at you, too?’ he requested gruffly.

Her breasts barely moved beneath those bedcovers as she breathed shallowly, before she allowed her fingers to first slowly release those bedcovers, then push them down to her waist. She kicked them fully down the length of her body until she at last lay back naked and beautiful in the moonlight, her hair a shimmering silver-gold halo behind her on the pillows.

Raphael drew in a hissing breath as he hungrily drank in the sight of the ivory beauty of Beth’s naked body: full and uptilting breasts tipped by strawberry-ripe nipples, her waist slender, hips flaring curvaceously, her legs long and shapely above slender and elegant feet.

His throat moved convulsively as he swallowed before speaking. ‘Exquisite,’ he groaned achingly.

Beth hadn’t needed Raphael’s verbal expression of his approval, had seen his response to her nakedness in the thickening, lengthening bob of his shaft and the intensity of the glistening juices at that purple tip.

Her nervousness became a thing of the past as she held out her arms to him. ‘Come and make love with me, Raphael...’

His teeth gleamed whitely as he gave a predatory grin. ‘First I intend making love to you,’ he murmured throatily as he knelt on the bottom of the bed, gently pushing her legs apart before moving slowly upwards until he knelt between her thighs, the muscled firmness of his own hair-covered thighs pressing against her bared flesh, and sending quivers of awareness to her core, causing her inner folds to moisten and plump.

She watched beneath lowered lashes as Raphael bent his head and placed a brief but warm kiss against those golden curls, knowing he must be able to smell her salty-sweet arousal as the dark stubble on his chin rasped gently against her sensitivity, and causing a warm gush between her thighs.

Beth sucked in a breath, her head pushing back into the pillows, her back arching, as Raphael now touched her with just the warmth of his lips as they travelled butterfly soft across the flatness of her stomach before his tongue dipped into the well of her navel, gently probing, leaving a trail of moisture there, his hands lightly clasping her hips as his lips travelled higher still.

Beth’s fingers clenched tightly into the sheet beneath her as she felt those butterfly kisses against her ribcage, just beneath but not quite touching the swell of her breasts, her nipples tingling, swelling like ripe fruit, in anticipation of the moment when those lips captured and suckled on those swollen berries.

It became exquisite torture as Raphael’s lips now moved in an open-mouthed caress across and over her breasts, never quite touching those engorged nipples as his grip on her hips kept her from moving, shifting restlessly, as she felt the burn of desire between her thighs.

‘Please, Raphael...!’ She groaned her need longingly even as she arched her back, pushing her breasts up temptingly.

‘Patience is most definitely a virtue when it comes to lovemaking, Beth,’ he assured her softly, the warmth of his breath a tormenting caress against the curve of her breast.

She gave a pained moan. ‘I ache, Raphael...!’

He stilled above her. ‘Tell me where.’

‘Everywhere! Oh, God, everywhere! My breasts, Raphael,’ she added breathily as he remained still and silent.

‘Cup your hands beneath them and offer them to me,’ he encouraged throatily.

Beth didn’t hesitate, her breath leaving her in a satisfied sigh as his open lips closed over one turgid peak and he suckled deeply, her hands moving up so that she could entangle her fingers in Raphael’s hair as he continued to draw strongly on her nipple even as his tongue lathed a hot caress against that aching flesh, her sigh becoming a pleasurable gasp as Raphael lowered the lean length of his body gently down on top of her, the length of his hot and burning shaft further torment as it pressed against the moistness of her swollen folds.

* * *

It took all of Raphael’s self-control not to hurry their lovemaking as he feasted on Beth’s delicious breasts, her nipples as sweet as ripe strawberries against his tongue and the soft rasp of his teeth as one of his hands moved smoothly, caressingly, down over the silky flatness of her abdomen and stomach, before slowly moving lower, seeking out the swollen place between her thighs as she arched up into that caressing hand.

The tight bunch of flesh thrust engorged and swollen from beneath its protective hood in evidence of Beth’s deep arousal, a low and keening cry escaping her lips as she began to climax as Raphael first stroked and then lightly squeezed her there, quickly thrusting a finger deep into her hot and clenching channel as he felt the climax rippling through her, prolonging her pleasure as his finger curved and stroked against the sensitive muscle deep inside her.

‘Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God...!’ Beth groaned and quivered and shook, her fingers digging painfully into Raphael’s tensely muscled shoulders. His breathing was ragged as he kept her poised on the shuddering plateau of her release, holding her there with the press of his finger against something deep inside her as wave after wave after wave of undulating pleasure continued to rage and roil through her body. ‘I can’t take any more, Raphael...!’ She gasped, her eyes wide as her hips strained and surged up again and again into that momentous release.

‘You can,’ he assured her fiercely as a second finger surged in hotly to join the first, the soft pad of his thumb caressing the overstimulated nubbin above, around and around, over and over again, until Beth thought she would explode into a million pieces that might never be put back together again.

‘No, I—’ Beth cried out as Raphael turned the attention of his lips, teeth and tongue to her other breast, at the same time as he released his hold on that pleasurable spot deep inside her, his fingers continuing to graze against that sweet spot with every thrust, Beth’s pleasure riding higher still before she crashed, hurtled over the top in full and shuddering release.

* * *

Raphael held Beth in his arms, a worried frown marring his brow as the aftermath of her release continued to cause her to shake and quiver long after her body had attained its ultimate release, the wetness of the tears she had cried at the pinnacle of her climax still damp on her cheeks.

Had he been too rough with her? Taken her too far too fast? Raphael hadn’t meant to frighten or alarm her; he had just gone past the point of being able to stop himself from accepting everything she so freely offered, and in return giving her everything back as he did all that he could to return the pleasure her uninhibited responses were giving him.

But the continued trembling of her body as she lay curled against him, her hand resting limply across his chest, was unexpected—

‘It’s my turn now, I believe,’ she purred throatily as she moved out of his arms and up onto her knees beside him before reaching out to curve her fingers about his hot and throbbing shaft.

Raphael drew in a sharp breath. ‘Beth—’

‘Shh.’ She lay one silencing fingertip against his lips as she moved down the bed before moving to kneel between his parted thighs. ‘You’re so beautiful here, Raphael,’ she murmured appreciatively, her breath a soft and torturous caress against the heat of the bulbously swollen top of his shaft.

Raphael groaned as he felt the hot lap of her tongue against his burning flesh.

‘You taste delicious, too.’ Her tongue now lapped greedily over that bulbous top, before probing gently into the slitted tip and then over and around the lip, until she found and lingered over the sensitive skin just beneath.

It was Raphael’s turn to tense his fingers into the sheet beneath him as he fought to maintain control as Beth raised her head before lowering her lips over him, at the same time as her fingers began to lightly pump his long and throbbing length, and her other hand cupped beneath the tautness of his sac.

She made a low and satisfied humming noise in her throat as she found a rhythm to her caresses, Raphael groaning his pleasure each time she took him to the back of her throat, that humming sending electrified jolts of pleasure down the length of Raphael’s shaft as he felt the churning, boiling for release deep inside him. He reached down and placed his hands either side of her face to hold her exactly where she was as he gave himself up to the mindless need to thrust deep and hard into that hot delicious cavern.

He was poised, in danger of falling over the brink of that release, until he finally found the strength to lift Beth’s head up and away from him, groaning as he instantly felt the warmth of her breath as a hot caress against his moist and still straining shaft.

‘I have changed my mind, I badly want to be inside you when you come a second time,’ he quickly explained as she looked down at him with hurt and questioning brown eyes. ‘And I need to get protection before I do that,’ he added regretfully, hating even the thought of that necessary layer of latex between himself and Beth.

‘Protection,’ Beth repeated blankly, feeling slightly dazed and more than a little bereft as Raphael moved to sit on the side of the bed, shoulders wide, his back long and muscled as he leant forward to pick up his trousers.

‘Unless...’ He glanced back at her over one of those shoulders. ‘I am clean if you are?’

Beth blinked. ‘I just took a shower...’

‘That is not the sort of clean I meant,’ Raphael cajoled lightly as he turned fully to face her. ‘Oral contraception is not considered enough nowadays, Beth.’

Contraception! Dear Lord, when Raphael had said just now that he was ‘clean’ he meant—he meant—

How naïve could she get? How bloody naïve and—and stupid of her not to have realised Raphael was referring to healthily clean, as in having a doctor’s certified assurance that he was free of sexual disease.

And how much of a mood killer was that!

Beth hadn’t expected hearts and flowers from this man—that certainly would have been naïve of her with a man of Raphael’s age and experience!—but she hadn’t expected him to break off in the middle of the heat of their lovemaking to question her previous sexual habits, either!

It might be necessary nowadays, but it was also damned humiliating. And embarrassing.

She sat back on her heels as she drew in a deep and ragged breath. ‘I’m clean, too, Raphael,’ she assured him dully.

He nodded. ‘You also have been checked in the last three months?’

‘I—’ Beth paused, chewing on her bottom lip for several seconds before answering him. Her own mood had certainly been ruined by this conversation, and she had a feeling that what she was about to say was going to kill all Raphael’s desire, too... ‘I’ve never been checked, Raphael. Because there’s never been a need for me to do so.’ Her chin rose as if in challenge.

It was Raphael’s turn to look at her blankly now, a frown appearing between his eyes as he watched Beth stand before picking up the towel she had discarded earlier, to once again wrap it firmly about her nakedness before fastening it tightly between her breasts.

‘I do not—’ That frown was erased as Raphael’s eyes widened incredulously. ‘Are you trying to tell me you are still a virgin?’

Her eyes flashed darkly. ‘I’m not “trying” to tell you anything, Raphael. I am telling you I’m still a virgin!’

‘A virgin,’ he repeated flatly, his incredulous gaze remaining fixed on her as he ran a hand agitatedly through the shortness of his thick dark hair.

Beth gave an annoyed frown at his reaction. ‘It’s unfashionable, I know,’ she drawled irritably. ‘But it isn’t exactly the contagious disease your tone seems to imply it is!’ He couldn’t have sounded more horrified if she had told him she had the plague!

Raphael stood up abruptly, totally unconcerned with his own nakedness as he moved around the bed to stand just feet away from her. Although Beth couldn’t help noticing that the fierceness of his erection had deflated somewhat, that beautiful shaft jutting out at half-mast rather than erectly flush with his navel.

‘You are a virgin,’ he repeated carefully.

‘Yes.’ Beth knew she sounded defensive, but she just couldn’t help it; Raphael was behaving as if she were a lumbering dinosaur in a world of elegant gazelles!

He gave a slow shake of his head. ‘And yet you were going to—minutes ago you were about to let me—’ His mouth firmed, his jaw tightening as his hands clenched into fists at his sides. ‘Beth, has no one told you that your virginity is a precious thing, and not to be given lightly?’

Lightly? Raphael believed—he thought she had made love with him out of curiosity, like some sort of childish flexing of her sexual powers?

She might have tried to avoid analysing her feelings for this man earlier, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t innately known what those feelings were. That somewhere, somehow, in amongst the hours they had spent arguing or annoying each other, and the hours she had spent denying she was Gabriela Navarro, she had managed to fall in love with him. Deeply, wildly, irrevocably in love. With Raphael Cardoba.

No doubt something else Raphael didn’t want to hear...

What a fool she was. What an absolute idiot, not to have realised before tonight what was happening to her. Not that she could have prevented herself from falling for Raphael; she knew falling in love wasn’t like that. She doubted her sister, Grace, would have fallen in love with a man as complicated as Cesar if it were! And now Beth had fallen in love with a man who was just as complicated. A man older and far more experienced than her. A man who seemed to have as many issues with his family as she had.

A man who had earlier made no secret of the fact that his interest in her was purely sexual...

Had been purely sexual.

Because Beth had no doubts that her admission of physical innocence had managed to kill even that.

‘—drive back there now—Beth, are you even listening to me?’ Raphael prompted hardly as he realised her attention had wandered elsewhere.

Although how she had managed to do that he had no idea, his own thoughts solely on the fact that he had almost taken her innocence tonight. He had thought that Beth, although perhaps not as experienced as he was, had at least been to bed with a man before tonight. The shock of realising she hadn’t, and that he had almost taken her innocence without thought or due consideration, would haunt him for a very long time.

As it was, he was furious. Not with Beth. But with himself. How could he have been so stupid not to have realised, not to have known, that she had never taken a lover before tonight?

Yes, Beth had an answer for everything. And yes, she gave every appearance of being a modern young woman with a definite mind of her own. And she had also been the one to inform him earlier that he either took up the offer to become her lover tonight or she would find another man who would. But even then, even then, she hadn’t given any indication that she had taken any previous lovers.

The question as to why she had chosen him to be her first lover was the least of Raphael’s concerns at this moment. Getting Beth home—at least, back to Cesar’s estate in Hampshire—and far away from any breath of scandal being attached to her name, because of the time she had spent here with him tonight, was Raphael’s main priority. Everything else could be discussed at a later date.

Or not, if the challenging tilt to Beth’s chin was any indication...

‘Get dressed,’ Raphael instructed harshly as he bent to collect up his own clothes.

She focused on him with effort. ‘Dressed?’

He nodded abruptly. ‘We are only about an hour away from the estate, and in the circumstances it would be best if we returned there tonight, after all.’

Best for whom? Beth wondered heavily as Raphael turned his back on her to begin pulling on his own clothes, and leaving her with no choice but to go back into the adjoining bathroom, where her clothes were, and lock the door before redressing.

Not that she thought there was any chance of Raphael entering the bathroom uninvited; he had made it more than clear that he had no intention of remaining in this hotel bedroom with her for another minute longer than he needed to!

Raphael didn’t speak to her when she came back into the bedroom a few minutes later to find him once again dressed in his three-piece suit, white shirt and meticulously knotted tie—and looking absolutely nothing like the sensual and predatory man who had made love to her such a short time ago. And whom she had made love to.

Instead he looked grimly remote as he opened the bedroom door for her to precede him out of the room and down the stairs, handing her the keys to the car so that she could continue outside as he disappeared to settle the bill with the landlord.

Any dignity Beth might have managed to salvage, after Raphael’s rejection of her when he realised her physical innocence, completely evaporated at the realisation she had just spent two hours in a hotel bedroom with a man before checking out again.

Oh, God...