Sharon looked at him with disgust. He's really got guts. Coming to drag her down for breakfast but she did not doubt that he would do it too. His arrogance was becoming intolerable.

'Get your foot out of my door!'

'Are you trying to get me to lose my temper? Bryan ground out between his teeth.

'What happens if you do?' she asked. ' Ate you going to turn into a monster and tear us into pieces?'

He wasn't amused, a dark colour went round his face as he said coldly, 'Very funny'.

On an impulse, she said, ' You were wrong about Gerhard you know. He was a gentleman all through the evening unlike some people I know'.

Bryan laughed without humour. 'But that was because I got you out of there before the evening ended'. His gaze slid from her face to her neck, her shoulders and her breasts.

His eyes flared with rage, 'If you had come back here with him in a taxi late at night, looking like that, he wouldn't have just seen you off to your door and said goodnight. That dress is an invitation to do more than dance and he would have expected to be asked to spend the night'.

His insulting stare had made her turn red, hating him. 'I ought to slap you', she said furiously.

'Try it's, his teeth showing in a mocking smile. 'And by the way', he continued, 'I asked around and found out that Gerhard is from an old German family and the next in line for the Bundesbank but he does not have much money, not as David has. I should go on hoping that David would eventually propose, if I were you. The other guy is closer to your age but hasn't got much to offer'.

That was the final straw. Sharon was tired. It had been a long day. She shot her hand up to slap his face, Bryan was quicker and caught her wrist, dragged her hand down and Sharon fell forward. She found her face buried in his shirt inhaling his scent and went into a mindless state of panic, making muffling sounds of gear as she fought to get away.

Bryan held her shoulders, she struggled, there was a tearing sound and she felt the black chiffon over her shoulders tripping and she cried wordlessly as one part of her dress tumble down leaving a part of her breast open.

Along the corridor, a door opened perhaps because of the noise Sharon was making and Bryan quickly Shut the door with his foot and gently pushed the both of them away from the door.

'Get out!' she said hoarsely, holding her torn dress up to cover her naked body.

'Sharon....? he began but she did not want to listen.

'If you do not get out of here, right now, I'll start screaming!'

'You are over reacting', he said and Sharon opened her mouth to scream but Bryan quickly held a hand over her mouth and he was pushing her backwards. She had not yet put on the light, she couldn't see him and fought him wildly like a trapped animal.

Her foot caught the leg of a chair, suddenly and she stumbled and fell, unable to save herself. Bryan we t with her, on the carpet, knocking all the breath out of her.

Sharon's auburn hair had fallen down and had tumbled around her face, long silky strands, blinding her. She was gasping,shaking, and fiercely away of Bryan's weight holding her down, of the power of that male body as it lay on her.

There was a thick silence. She looked through her hair and saw his face dimly, his black eyes staring down at her, glittering in the dark like torch light, setting her on fire.

He made a rough sound in his throat, then his head came down and his mouth was on hers, ruthlessly forcing her lips apart and invading between them, his hands on her face, holding her head so that she wouldn't escape the probing intimacy of the kiss.

Sharon struggled helplessly, briefly, half fainting, feeling he would suffocate her at any moment.

Her pulse was hammering at her neck, wrist and breasts, she closed her eyes as a little moan escaped her as she stopped fighting.

Ever since the day they got to Rome, she had been fighting an erotic awareness of him. She didn't understand it but she couldn't silence it, this beating sensation whenever Bryan came near her.

Everytime she saw him, she caught herself staring, she was hot one minute, cold the next, locked in feverish response to him.

I don't like him, why do I fell like this? I don't trust him, I don't understand him and now neither do I understand myself as well. She told herself.

And then as his mouth skid hotly to her throat, making her shudder with aroused excitement, 'Oh God, but I want him.

He pushed aside the torn fragments of her bodice and she groaned as he kissed her naked breast. Her hand went up to clasp the back of his head and she twisted restlessly under him.

Bryan lifted his head, breathing raggedly, his fingers sprayed warmly on her body.

'If you don't want this, say so now, while I can still stop', he whispered in a voice so husky that she could barely make put what he had said.

At the same time,his hand was softly moving up her thigh, the intimate brush of his skin against hers making her quiver in hungry response.

Say something' he murmured, his voice being even more husky as she kept her eyes closed, groaning.

He made a sound like breathless laughter, Don't say that I didn't give you a chance to say no', he said as his hand slipped underneath her.

'No', she said getting up, stumbling across the room away from him. 'I must have been out of my mind... I can't....'

The erotic shock of feeling his fingers in her wet self caused her to get away from him.

'I must have been out if my mind', She said, ' I can't.....'

She made for the light switch but Bryan caught up with her before she could reach it.

'Don't run away from it now, Sharon', he said in a smoky voice, 'Not now that we've got this far. His arms went round her from behind, pulling her back against his half naked body and she shuddered as their flesh touched, skin to skin, the roughness of his hair, the masculinity of bone and muscle imposing themselves, making her conscious of her own femininity.

'I should never have let you touch me', she said, as much to herself as to him, hating herself because she felt the undeniable rise of desire again.

'You're not a virgin?' he murmured, kissing her neck, pressing himself against her.

'What's that got to do with it? I don't just sleep with anyone....'

'I never supposed you did. I wouldn't want you if I thought that you had', he said and his hands covered her breasts, making her tremble with passion.

'But why...? she cried out, trying to think clearly,to work out what she really felt.

'Why do I want you?', he sighed, his long naked thighs pushing softly against her, his hands wandering, exploring, making her so weak that she was shaking violently. 'You're beautiful. The minute I saw you, I knew I had to have you'.

She had felt the same, she knew that at that instant. When they were jammed in that revolving door together, she had felt his body against hers and a heat had begun deep inside her, a heat which had been growing ever since and which just the sight of him could start into life.

She was torn between an aching need and fear.

'I...I haven't taken any precautions', she muttered.

'Don't worry, I'll take care of that', he said at once and spun her round to face him, held her lightly on the hips and drawing her closer.

She gave a groan, stood on tiptoe and kissed him passionately, her arms going round his neck, her body yielding in boneless surrender.

Bryan lifted her off her feet on to the bed. He didn't give her another chance to change her mind. While she was still catching her breath, he entered her and she arched to take him, a wordless primitive cry coming from her throat.

For months desire had been driving her towards this instant.

She had fought it, pretended it wasn't happening to her but it had been too strong and she had been helpless against it.

She didn't know even now if she was in love or obsessed but all she knew was that she couldn't fight the way she felt anymore..

Last night when they had walked along the top of the Spanish Steps, that warm autumn night and she had seen the young lovers in that shop doorway, that had been the moment she knew that she wanted Bryan like that.

She had seen those two kissing, their bodies straining against each other and suddenly she had felt heat sweet through her, her mouth had gone dry and Bryan had looked at her with the same craving in his eyes.

She had wanted to go to bed with him then. If they had been up here in her room, they would have made love.

She had known it last night, she knew it now. If she hadn't slept with him now, she would have sooner or later, because she couldn't stop thinking about it, day and night. The beat of them at erotic desire drummed in her blood, in her ears and she ached to touch him, to feel his hair under her hands, to hold his body as he moved in her, with her.

She cried out, her nails digging into his back and Bryan groaned, head flung back in passionate pleasure.

His skin was red hot, his breathing tortured, so was hers. She was caught up in a vortex of a whirlpool, irresistibly engulfed in a spiralling pleasure. She was deaf, dumb and blind to everything else in this world. Entirely taken over by desire, she had shed all inhibitions, forgotten where they were, what room, in what city, in what country.

There was only this bed, her body twisting and shuddering with his body driving into her.

She said his name, pleading, moaning. It seemed to be taking forever to reach the intense dark heart of that feeling, she was going out of her mind and she pushed her face into his warm bare shoulders, kissed his perspering skin, tasted the salt of his body on her tongue and grazed him with her teeth, bit him as the frenzy mounted and then the arching tension broke and she gave a final long moaning cry and began to fall down, down out of all control.

It was like dying, her heart pounding, her lungs tortured, her limbs trembling violently.

She heard Bryan saying her name, his voice unrecognizable, gasping in the same unbelievable ferocity and then there was silence and she lay like someone who had drowned, her hands flung out on either side, her eyes closed, her lips apart, breathing in dragging anguish.

For minutes on end, they just lay there, his body heavy on her, his head on her breast, the sweat running between them.

Then Bryan slowly slid off and Kay beside her, his breathing gradually slowing.

Sharon was too exhausted to move. She couldn't even keep her eyes open.

He got up and went into her bathroom. She winced as the light from the bathroom stabbed into the bedroom, she put her arm across her face and turned on her side, her back to the light.

He came back and got into bed again, by then she was half asleep and only stirred lightly as she felt his cooler flesh touch her when he curved his body round hers. He pulled a sheet over them both but she hardly noticed.

She was light as air, empty, drained. Moments later, she was deeply asleep.

When she woke in the morning, he was gone.

When Sharon woke the next morning, Bryan was gone and she might almost have thought that she had dreamt the night before except that as she sat up in the bed, she saw a note a note lying on the pillow next to her and recognized his bold and distinctive handwriting.

The message was brief, almost curt. 'Breakfast downstairs at seven forty five. B'.

That was all it said. He hadn't even said good morning nor even signed with his name, just with an impersonal initial.

There was no indication whatoever of the intimacy they had shared the previous night.

She ran a fingerprint over the writing,as though she were touching him and felt her inside dissolve completely.

She thought of Bryan and images of the memorable night they had ran through her mind and she trembled.

She wished that he had stayed behind so that they could have had another session. She knew that if he had still been there, she would have thrown herself at him again. At least she would have been the one to initiate it this time but he must have been very considerate of her exhausted state, else he would have woken her and had her again and again if that was what he wanted because she knew that she would have wanted that and very much too.

And then the phone rang shrilly, making her jump. She looked at it as though it was a snake that was getting ready to bite her. Then she suddenly felt that it just could be him ringing to say to her all the things that he hadn't out in the mote.

She blushed and lifting the receiver, huskily said, ' Hello?'

'Goid morning, this is your operator, it is seven fifteen, ma'am'.

'Oh... thank you....' Sharon pt the receiver down. She hadn't asked for a wake-up call, Bryan must have booked it.

Well that was thoughtful of him and no doubt he had gone back to his room very early so that nobody would see him leaving hers which was very considerate. Everyone on this floor was at the conference and some of them knew her. Gossips could spread like wild fire at these events.

She could remember at other conferences listening to the gleeful talk of who was sleeping with whom. These things does happen when people were away from home and went in for long long dinners with wine flowing freely.

But her and Bryan, well that was different, she thought in anguish. That hadn't been a one night stand at the conference, something to be forgotten easily or as soon as possible. Or... had it?

She sat very still on the edge of the bed staring thoughtfully at that brief, cold, impersonal note, devoid of all emotion. It was hardly a love letter, was it?'

He could have said something about last night or at least sign his name with something like, ' Love Bryan's. It could most definitely not have compromised him, now could it?

Had last night meant anything to him other than an easy conquest? He hadn't said that he loved her and hadn't made any promises either nor any propositions. One moment they had been quarrelling at her door and the next, on the floor making love in a frenzy.

Her face burned as she remembered the intensity of the love and passion they had shared on the floor, on the bed, the intensity had been immensely gratifying, liberating and edifying.

Stricken, she screwed the note up and threw it a Ross the room. What had she done? She had never behaved that way in her life before, had never been promiscuous and this was a lousy time to start. She wished she could turn back the hands of time, go back in time, wipe off those moments in his arms.

She was twenty six, and not inexperienced She had had a couple of serious relationships. One that had lasted for over a year before breaking up by mutual consent. They had both realised that it was not working and had become routine and it was better to go their separate ways with good memories than resentment and the other serious relationship she had had been so painful that she had not wanted to get involved with anyone else for a long, long time.

But no other man had made her feel the way she had last night. She hadn't even suspected that such incredible sensuality existed.

It had been like flying. She had flung herself recklessly from a mountain peak and found to her astonished gratitude that she had wings and she had been so sure that he felt the same.

She shut her eyes remembering his passion. That hadn't been faked but maybe she had misunderstood - great sex didn't need emotion behind it. Had she forgotten that some men just liked sex and could walk away afterwards without looking back no matter how good it had been? She had even read somewhere that it was easy for a woman to give herself to a man because she was emotionally involved and not just because she felt like having sex. So to a woman who was not a commercial sex worker, emotion came before sex but that was not the case with the man because he could have sex without being involved emotionally with the woman. So maybe that was exactly what had happened last night and she was judging his passion based on her own emotions.

But was Bryan really like that? Oh God, how was she going to face him this morning? The thought of breakfast made her want to throw up. Eating breakfast with him, having to look at him, remembering and knowing that he remembered.

She recalled her first impressions of him. The good looks cloaked ruthless determination. He had killer eyes, a mind like a computer. It made him good at his job but a poor risk as a lover. That was the man who took you last night, she thought with a pang of stricken shame.

As soon as he sensed that for some reason you were vulnerable to him, he took what he could and walked away.

How had he known that he could do that? How had she betrayed herself? Pale, she felt her stomach heaving. A hand over her mouth, she ran into the bathroom and was violently sick.

She sat on the floor sobbing for minutes on end, a cold wet towel against her feverish face.