Read Desperate Measures for Free Online Page A

me names will change nothing. We have a bargain, you
    and I. On my side at least it has been generously fulfilled, and will continue to be so, as long as I receive equal—generosity from you, ma chere.' He beckoned. 'Now, come here to me.'
    'I'll see you in hell first! You gave your word—and you lied to
    me.' Panic was pounding in her chest, almost closing her throat. 'You can't do this! You don't even want me...'
    'What,' Alain said softly, 'do you know of desire, petite
    innocente ?
    'I know I don't want you.'
    The words hung in the air between them. He gave her a long,
    considering look, then, without haste shrugged off his waistcoat and
    let it drop to the floor before beginning to unfasten the buttons of his shirt.
    His lithe, muscular body was deeply tanned, his chest darkly
    shadowed with hair. Philippa watched
    him, petrified, hardly able to breathe as he began to unbuckle
    his belt. She'd seen men naked before in the life classes at art school, but Alain—this stranger she'd married—stripping in front of her like
    this was shockingly different.
    He looked deep into the confusion in her hazel eyes. He said
    gently, almost mockingly, 'Shall I make you beg me to take you?'
    She gave a cry like a small hunted animal, and threw the wine
    she was holding straight in his face.
    He was very still for a moment, then he picked up his discarded
    shirt and dried the moisture from his face and chest, his eyes never
    leaving hers.
    He said quietly, 'You should have more respect for good wine,
    ma belle. And more respect for me, also. I see I shall have to teach
    you.'
    The glass dropped from her shaking hand and rolled away on the
    thick carpet as he came towards her. He took her by the shoulders and pulled her towards him, his fingers hard on her flesh, brooking no
    resistance. Then his mouth closed ruthlessly on hers.
    When he'd kissed her before, he had been gentle. There'd been
    nothing to prepare her for this— onslaught. She tried to move her
    head, to escape from the suffocating pressure, but he would not allow that. One lean hand lifted to tangle in her hair and hold her still, while his kiss deepened, inevitably, inexorably.
    He parted her lips with his, allowing his tongue to invade her
    mouth with devastating sensuality, plundering her warmth and
    sweetness with insolent mastery.
    There was no point in fighting him—in struggling, Philippa
    realised from some whirling, fainting corner
    of her mind. He was too experienced, and more significantly, too
    determined. She was made aware once more of his physical power,
    the sheer muscularity of his body.
    And her shocked consciousness told her that in these first brief
    moments, he was demonstrating to her with swift and frightening
    emphasis what passion could mean, and what other demands might
    be made of her before the night was over.
    The heat of his hard body scorched through her thin nightgown,
    and even as she stiffened in helpless outrage she felt his other hand stroke down her body from the point of one shoulder to the curve of
    her hip, lingering on the way to shape her small, pointed breast in his palm.
    She was not prepared for that, or for her body's shaken, helpless
    reaction to the first intimate caress it had ever received. She might hate him for what he was doing to her, but she couldn't control the
    hardening of her nipple under the subtle play of his fingers, or the swift onrush of moist heat through her whole body.
    Then, his mouth still locked to hers, he lifted her and carried her
    to the bed. He placed her on the cool linen sheet and lay beside her.
    He stroked her cheek, turning her to face him so that he could kiss her again, slowly and explicitly, his hand travelling unhurriedly from her excited, tumescent breasts to explore with tantalising precision the
    exposed length of her silken thigh through the deep side-slit of her
    gown.
    When he lifted himself away from her, she thought for one
    moment of agonised hope that he had relented, only to