Daisy pushed his shirt open with awkward determination, her gaze drinking in the sight of his chest and torso. His skin gleamed like heavy satin, stretched taut over broad expanses of muscle. She touched the powerful vault of his ribs, trailing her fingertips to the rippled tautness of his midriff.

Suddenly Matthew caught her hand, seemingly undecided whether to push it away or press it closer.

Her fingers curled over his. She stared into his dilated blue eyes. “Matthew,” she whispered. “I’m here. I’m yours. I want to do everything you’ve ever imagined doing with me.”

He stopped breathing. His will foundered and collapsed, and suddenly nothing mattered except the demands of a desire that had been denied too long. With a rough groan of surrender, he lifted her onto his lap. Heat sank through the layers of their clothes, and Daisy gasped as the soft notch of her body cradled an unfamiliar hardness.

Matthew took her mouth with his, while his hands slid in restless paths over her body. As his fingers cupped the firm undercurve of her breast, her blood coursed frantically and the ache in her flesh became sharp and volatile. She fumbled with his shirt, trying to push her hands beneath it, trying to tear it away from his body.

Easing her down to the bed, Matthew paused to rip the shirt off, baring the magnificent contours of his chest and shoulders. He lowered his body to hers, and she moaned in pleasure at the feel of his na**d skin. The familiar scent of him was all around her, the luxurious spice of clean male skin. He possessed her mouth with lavishly sensual kisses, his hands coursing tenderly over her half-dressed body. His thumb rubbed a lazy circle over her nipple, making it harder, darker, until she arched in helpless supplication.

Understanding the wordless plea, he bent and took the tip of her breast into his mouth. He tugged lightly, his tongue bringing fresh sparks of warmth to the surface of her skin. Daisy whimpered and shivered in his arms. Her nerves sent wild messages through her body as he moved to her other breast, kissing the peak into bright rosy distention.

“Do you know what I want from you?” she heard him ask hoarsely. “Do you understand what’s going to happen if we don’t stop?”

“Yes.”

Matthew lifted his head and gave her a doubtful glance.

“I’m not as innocent as you might think,” Daisy said earnestly. “I’m very well read.”

He turned his face away, and she had the impression he was fighting a smile. Then he looked back at her with piercing tenderness. “Daisy Bowman,” he said unevenly, “I’d spend eternity in hell for one hour with you.”

“Is that how long it takes? An hour?”

His reply was rueful. “Sweetheart, at this point it would be a miracle if I lasted one minute.”

She curled her arms around his neck. “You have to make love to me,” she told him. “Because if you don’t, I’ll never stop complaining about it.”

Matthew cradled her body against his, and kissed her forehead, and he was silent for so long that she was afraid he was going to refuse her. But then his warm hand moved slowly down her body, and her heart gave an excited leap. He wrapped the tapes of her drawers around his fingers and pulled to loosen them.

Her tummy rose and fell with her labored breathing, and embarrassment flooded her as his hand slipped beneath the fragile fabric. He was touching the fleece of private hair, the curls flattened against the vulnerable mound. He played with the soft locks, fluffing, stroking. The tip of his ring finger brushed over a place so sensitive that she jerked in surprise. Staring into her flushed face, Matthew gently parted the closed flesh.

“Daisy, love,” he whispered, “You’re so soft…so dainty…where shall I touch you? Here? Or here…”

“There,” she sobbed, as his fingers slid to just the right spot. “Yes…oh, there…”

His mouth moved in hot open kisses over her throat and down to her breast, while at the same time his fingers slipped farther between her legs. As he kneaded her intimately, she became aware of a disconcerting moisture in that secret place. She hadn’t expected that. Which made her wonder if she was quite as well-informed as she had previously thought.

Consternated, she began to say something but was abruptly silenced as she felt his finger nudge inside her. That was not something she had expected, either.

Matthew’s head lifted from her breast, his eyes filled with drowsy heat. He watched her face as he searched inside her body with a lightly massaging rhythm that drove her to an unbearable height of pleasure. She strained upward and moaned anxiously, returning his kisses with uncontrolled fervor.

“Do you like that?” he whispered.

“Yes, I…” She fought to speak between helpless gasps. “I thought…it was going to hurt.”

“Not from this.” A smile touched his mouth. “Later, however, you might have cause for complaint.” A shimmer of sweat gathered on his face as he felt the pulsing of her body around his exploring finger. “I don’t know if I can be gentle,” he said raggedly. “I’ve wanted you for too long.”

“I trust you,” she whispered.

Matthew shook his head, easing his hand away from her. “You have terrible judgment. You’re in bed with the last man in the world you should trust, and you’re about to make the biggest mistake of your life.”

“Is this your idea of seductive banter?”

“I thought I should give you one last warning. Now you’re doomed.”