A Lesson in Passion

by Sadie Matthews

Genres: Erotic & Steamy Romance

Synopsis

Part Four of SEASON OF DESIRE, a fiercely passionate five-part serial novel by Sadie Matthews which will excite all fans of FIRE AFTER DARK, BECAUSE YOU ARE MINE and FIFTY SHADES OF GREY. Freya Hammond is used to people fulfilling her every whim. Wealthy and spoiled, she lives a butterfly existence of fashion and parties and is accustomed to getting her own way. Which is why the new bodyguard is riling her. Miles Murray is ex-SAS and obeys her instructions with barely repressed scorn. She can sense that he doesn't think much of her. The Hammonds have been staying at their luxurious retreat high in the Alps. Now Miles is driving Freya to the airport but the rapidly worsening weather and a near-miss with a dangerously driven jeep causes him to lose control, and sends the car plummeting off the side of the mountain. When Freya comes to, she is lying on the freezing ground, Miles beside her. The car is a mangled mess far below them. Now Freya needs Miles to save her life. Using all his survival skills, Miles manages to locate an old shepherd's hut and get them both there despite Freya's twisted ankle. Rescue will surely come before too long... but until then Freya is no longer in control. The tension between them is soon at fever pitch as she tries to dominate a man who no longer obeys her orders. And when rescue does come, how will they return to their old life of mistress and bodyguard after what has happened between them?

Release date: November 21, 2013

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Print pages: 70

Sample

Chapter Eighteen

The next day we pack up to leave the chalet.

 The chef arrives to make us breakfast, as Miles thinks we require a little more than eggs on our last day. He’s a tall, red-faced man with enormous ears, who says little but produces a hearty meal to sustain us on the journey home.

 It’s only when our bags are at the door and we’re upstairs waiting for our cars to collect us that I say casually to Miles: ‘So – what happens after this?’

 I’m sitting on the sofa while he’s standing by the window looking out over the magnificent view, clouded over today with a hint of bad weather to come. He looks ready to be on his way in a Belstaff black leather aviator jacket and sunglasses. My skin tingles at the sight of him, remembering the delicious early morning sex we shared when we woke up. It was not the long, erotic experience of my lessons, but the kind I love almost as much: straightforward but intense as he kissed me deeply, parted my legs and pushed in the hot hardness of his morning erection. I wrapped my legs around his thighs, and we ran a fast course of deep, satisfying fucking that ended in crackling, electric orgasms that exploded swiftly over us.

 I wanted to speak to him then, as we pulled apart in that hot post-sex sweat and dampness, but he was out and striding to the shower almost at once. The time wasn’t right to broach the issue.

 He turns to me now, his expression inscrutable and his eyes hidden behind the mirrored shades. ‘After this?’ He smiles suddenly, making happiness course through me. I’d do anything for that smile. ‘Well, Winter, I think you’ve learned just about all I can teach you for now.’

 ‘I don’t think so,’ I say softly. ‘I think there’s more to learn. And I need to consolidate my knowledge. You don’t ask a girl to take her driving test after just one lesson.’

 He laughs. ‘True.’ Pulling off his shades, he walks towards me and sits down beside me on the sofa. ‘But how long can this go on for? We can’t both keep escaping from our lives like this – even though it’s been a beautiful experience.’

 ‘Has it?’ It comes out almost in a whisper and I realise how badly I want him to have loved this as much as I have.

 He takes my hand. ‘Of course it has.’ His other hand reaches out to stroke my hair and he looks at me with tenderness. ‘You’ve trusted me completely. That’s meant so much. You can’t know how much.’

 ‘I feel so safe with you.’ I gaze up at him, hoping to convey the things I dare not say to him.

 The expression in his eyes changes again, and I see a glimpse of that awful sadness, darkening his eyes like a cloud blocking out the sunshine.

 ‘What is it?’ I beg, feeling as though I’ve blundered somehow. ‘What have I said?’

 He looks away. ‘Nothing. Nothing. Really.’ He gazes back and I can see he’s made an effort to put whatever it is out of his mind. ‘Freya, I’ve been a coward. I’ve been putting off talking about this with you because I’ve enjoyed our lost weekend so much.’

 Oh no! My heart begins to pound and a sick feeling makes my hands clammy.

 ‘But…’ He stands up. ‘I don’t plan to work for your father any more.’

 ‘What?’ I jump to my feet. ‘Why not?’

 ‘Because he’s lost his trust in me. I can see that. He and Pierre suspect me somehow, even though there’s no proof and no reason to. Now that you’ve explained what happened in the past, and the fact you were once betrayed by a guard, I can see where your father’s coming from. But the years have made him paranoid, and Pierre isn’t helping matters. He seems just as crazily suspicious – his job depends on it, I think. Pierre gets paid extremely well for reflecting back your father’s fears and, of course, making sure none of them are ever realised.’ Miles sighs and walks over to the fireplace where the hearth is now cold, scattered with the black ashes that are all that remains of the burning fire of last night. He picks up a poker and stirs them, but they remain cold and dead.

 ‘This is ridiculous,’ I say urgently. ‘Of course you must come back. They’ll soon realise they’ve been mistaken. I’ll tell my father and he’ll understand. I was there when we crashed, I know how it happened and it’s mad to think you could have somehow staged it. What do they think you hoped to gain out of it?’

 He turns and looks at me with a long, penetrating stare and then says, ‘You. You, of course, Freya.’

 ‘Me?’ I blink at him, stunned.

 ‘Yes. You were out of his control for a couple of days while we were lost. Have you ever heard of Stockholm Syndrome?’

 I shake my head, still taking in what he said.

 ‘It’s when someone is kidnapped, and they end up forming a relationship with their kidnappers, espousing their cause and turning to their side. Sometimes they can even end up falling in love.’

 I feel a violent blush explode over my cheeks and I say, ‘That’s ridiculous.’

 Miles doesn’t seem to notice my scarlet face but says, ‘They might think that a version of that has happened to you. They may even doubt there was a crash at all. They might think I pushed the car over the cliff and took you to the hut to brainwash you there, so that you’d back up my version of the story.’

 ‘But why? Why would you brainwash me?’

 He smiles and says, ‘I love the way you can’t think of a reason. Why would a man want to brainwash a woman like you?’

 My heart sinks as I realise that, of course, it all comes back to the same thing: money. My father’s fortune. The whole reason I lost my mother, why I live in fear of my life, why people blackmail me and ruin my relationships…

 ‘That’s right,’ Miles says softly, seeing the expression on my face. Money. ‘That’s what they think I want.’

 ‘But…’ I sigh hopelessly, looking around the room as though there is an answer hidden there. ‘I know that’s not true! I can tell them!’

 ‘The more you try to tell them, the less they’ll believe you and the worse it will look for me. Why would you go to such lengths to protect a bodyguard, considering the way you usually treat the staff? They’ll look on that as proof of my guilt and decide that I’ve got to you somehow and I’m using you for my own ends.’ He walks towards me, his eyes tender again in that way that makes my stomach melt and my knees go weak. His nearness is enough to drive me mad with longing. ‘And you see…’ He puts out his arms and I fall into them with something like relief. ‘They’re not entirely wrong, are they?’

 ‘What do you mean?’ I say into his jacket, inhaling the masculine smell of the leather.

 ‘Well – look at us. Here we are.’ He smi. . .