“Right now that would be me.”

She rested her head against his shoulder. “You won’t get any argument from me.” She stretched her feet out on the couch and he followed suit. Though cramped, she’d never felt more at ease.

Perhaps because he’d freed them from jumping into anything immediately sexual, he’d taken the pressure off. Thanks to Stuart, she possessed this driving need to entice a man and prove he could be interested. Thanks to Doug there wasn’t another man who interested her except for him. He’d just shown her a nonphysical but still intimate way of expressing that interest. And she was grateful. Enough to let herself go and relax in his arms, the rain outside distant and so far away.

SHE WAS BEING shifted, lifted and carried. She hadn’t realized she’d fallen asleep but Juliette awoke with a start to find herself held in Doug’s arms. “What are you doing?”

“Moving before I wake up permanently twisted like a pretzel.”

She laughed. “You could have just woken me.”

“And miss the opportunity to hold you in my arms? Not a chance.”

He carried her into the bedroom and deposited her on the bed, going so far as to pull down the covers and tuck her in, then lower himself onto the mattress beside her. Such a parental gesture, yet there was nothing familial about the heat in Doug’s eyes or the sizzling awareness he ignited inside her. Her pulse rate kicked into overtime as she waited for whatever he had to say.

He picked up a lock of her hair, twisting a long strand around his fingertip, seemingly distracted, but Juliette knew better. He was savoring every touch, every feel, just as she did whenever he was near. She curled into the downy softness of the pillows beneath her.

“Rain’s stopped,” he murmured.

“You’re leaving.” Unexpected, unreasonable disappointment filled her.

“I don’t have a choice.” His gaze fell from her face to the low neckline on her shirt. His fingers followed the movement, tracing the straight edging from her collarbone downward, brushing her chest and lingering in the deep vee nestled between her breasts.

His tanned skin contrasted with her paler flesh and though his touch was gentle, his intent was sexual. And Juliette experienced an instant flare of heat. Suddenly the silk top, which had been so soft seconds earlier, rasped against her hardened nipples. Nothing would ease the tension inside her except his touch, and from the determined look in his eyes, that wouldn’t be happening now.

Let loose. Be yourself. What other way to break past his stubborn convictions? “Of course you have a choice. You can stay.”

His jaw clenched tight. “Not yet.”

She wanted to question him further, find out what kind of hurt he believed he’d inflicted in the past or why he felt the need to atone now. “Why…”

Before she could finish, he dipped his head and lowered his lips to hers for another one of his long, drugging kisses. The kind that sapped her energy and stopped all rational thought. And the kind that told her whatever reason he wasn’t staying the night had nothing to do with his feelings for her.

While he worked magic with his mouth, his fingertips eased inside her shirt and though he encountered the barrier of her flimsy bra, he wasn’t deterred. With a light touch, he held her nipple between two fingers, rolling and flicking with enough pressure to first ease the ache and then increase it.

She raised her arms, seeking to touch him, too, but he gripped her hands and held them against the mattress, keeping himself in charge. And her at his mercy. She sighed into him, letting him know with her mouth, the only way she could, how much she enjoyed his ministrations and how badly she wanted more.

“I don’t want to go.” He leaned his forehead against hers.

His admission sent talons of hope soaring through her veins. “Then don’t.”

“You’ve been hurt recently.”

She stiffened at the reminder. “I never said that.”

“Your ex-fiancé wanted what you could do for him and not you. I’d call that hurt.”

“And you ought to know?” She deliberately pressed harder.

“Something like that.”

Accepting his vague answer for now, she stored further questions away for another time.

He lifted her chin in his hand. “If I stay, we both know where this is headed.”

She nodded, her heart filling with heated warmth.

“But for your sake you need to be sure.”

“I think I know what my body is telling me.” And right now it was screaming for his touch.

He laughed but didn’t sound at all amused. “I want your mind to know it, too. And that takes time.”

More like he needed time, Juliette thought. As difficult as it was, she heeded his boundaries but Juliette didn’t plan on leaving the island without breaking past his barriers and experiencing complete intimacy-his body, deep inside hers. She trembled at the thought of making love with Doug, knowing she’d never be the same afterward.

He lifted the covers and tucked them around her, then leaned forward for another brief kiss. “Night.”

She sighed. Knowing what was right and necessary didn’t make saying goodbye any easier.

WHEN THE TELEPHONE rang, Juliette was in another world. Alone with Doug on a deserted island, surrounded by bright sun and tropical flowers with the softest petals-for which Doug found the most inventive, arousing uses. She didn’t want to be disturbed, but the persistent ringing wouldn’t abate.

Reaching over, she grabbed the receiver. “Hello.” If she had to be awakened, she hoped it would be by Doug.

“When I sent you on this trip I didn’t think you’d forget to check in. How are you?” Gillian’s concerned voice came through loud and clear.

“There aren’t supposed to be phones in paradise,” Juliette wailed. But she couldn’t deny she was happy to hear from her sister even if the feminine voice wasn’t her first choice.

She closed her eyes, but her dream slipped further and further from her grasp, replaced by reality: a too-cold room courtesy of the air conditioner, a too-cold bed thanks to Doug’s late-night departure and a humming, lingering emptiness because her dream had stopped short of satisfaction.

“If you’re in paradise, why do you sound so miserable?” Gillian asked.

“Not miserable.” Lonely for the man who’d left too quickly last evening. Juliette sat up in bed, letting the morning sun stream through the blinds and bathe her in warmth. “And I recall leaving a message on your answering machine the day I got down here.”

Gillian cleared her throat. “Yes, well, would you believe I was out and too busy to get back to you?”

“Too afraid is more like it. I know you, Gillian Stanton. You were afraid to hear what I had to say about you arranging a fantasy vacation without telling me-oh, and switching my wardrobe. You knew I’d have a few choice words on that subject, too.”

“When I didn’t hear back from you again I got worried.”

She wasn’t surprised her sister had all but ignored the issue at hand. “You should be worried,” Juliette muttered. “It would serve you right.”

“That bad an idea?”

She didn’t miss the hesitancy in Gillian’s voice and decided she’d tortured her sister enough. Besides, she needed her twin and best friend’s advice. “It was probably the best idea you’ve had in this lifetime,” she admitted.

“Wow! That good. Well, I read about Fantasies, Inc. in a magazine. Would you believe couples actually end up married thanks to that resort and its owner?”

Married. Before Juliette could either process the word or speak, Gillian continued. “And speaking of married-or more accurately, not married-you should know Stuart’s been suspiciously silent since you’ve been gone.”

Juliette let out a stream of breath. “Silent in what way? I haven’t been in contact with him since we came to that so-called understanding to keep quiet.”

“He called the day you left.”

“He called me?” Gillian was staying in Juliette’s house to throw the reporters off the trail. “Why would Stuart want to deal with me now?”

“Most likely he was checking up on you and, believe me, he wasn’t buying my ‘this is Juliette’ act.”

Despite the circumstances, Juliette laughed. “He’s known us too long.”

“Well, don’t worry. I wasn’t talking or giving away secrets. He tried a few more times and gave up. It’s the giving up part I don’t like or trust.”

Juliette played with the covers, pushing the comforter into a large hump and smashing it down again. Making mountains out of molehills, she thought wryly. “How about Dad? How’re he and Mom doing?”

“Fine. And don’t worry on that front either. Dad’s not giving away your whereabouts. Much as he respects Stuart, at least for now, he loves you more.”

Juliette swallowed over the lump in her throat. “He’ll be so disillusioned when he learns the truth.”

“Better disillusioned with the snake than confused and worried about you.”

Juliette groaned. She knew her parents were concerned she’d called off the wedding without notice or prior suspicious behavior on her part. She’d given no one a clue things were about to unravel with Stuart, mostly because she hadn’t had any warning herself. And her sudden vacation wasn’t Juliette-like either. She wondered what her entire family would think if they knew she’d taken up with a stranger? A man she wanted to know intimately.

“Have you come up with any ideas on how to reveal this mess with minimal fallout or are you too involved with your fantasy man? My guess and hope is number two-it’s why I sent you down there.”

Despite her preoccupation with Doug, Juliette had thought plenty about the problems back home. She just hadn’t come up with a solution yet. “Actually I met someone who may be able to offer some advice. An impartial third party.”