For Honor’s Sake by Connie Mason Page B

“but the method, it’s … it’s …” She shuddered, unable to continue.
    Suddenly aware of the thinly clad form burrowing into the protection of his arms, Rod’s body reacted violently. For days he had fought against his rising need for this honey-haired enchantress, deliberately turning his back upon her, sleeping apart so as not to become aroused by her nearness.
Por Dios,
he wanted her! And now, here she was, pressed intimately against his growing hardness. Instinctively his arms tightened and Julie cried softly against the pressure.
    Without warning Rod’s lips found hers in the darkness. At first his kiss was gentle, but swiftly turned hungry, possessive, his hot tongue driving into her mouth to ravish the velvet recesses within. One kiss melted into another until it became a continuous blending of their bodies. Against her will, her lips parted to the sweet, hot thrust of his tongue. The kiss was the magic that released her response.
    Their bodies touched, clung and molded together as his lips slid from her mouth, along the long column of her throat, settling finally at the hollow where a tinypulse beat furiously. Julie sighed as Rod impatiently slid her chemise from her shoulders to her waist. When his greedy mouth found an engorged nipple she grew weak with desire as his rough tongue lapped lovingly at the tender bud.
    “I want you,
mi amor,
” Rod whispered hoarsely.
    Julie’s voice cracked but she mastered it as she replied. “I … I thought that … that you didn’t want me, that I wasn’t good enough for you.”
    “I wanted you from the first moment I saw you,” admitted Rod in a burst of insight, “but knew that we had no future together. Kelly succeeded in bringing us together as no one else could. Now that I have been forced into this marriage, I feel free to take you with no regrets.”
    Julie froze, his words like a dash of cold water in her face. It was obvious to her that Rod held no feelings for her other than lust. He wanted her, that much was true, and felt an obligation, enforced by his strict code of ethics. He felt dutybound to protect her but other than that cared nothing for her. It was Elena he loved. At that’ moment her future seemed bleak and she began to struggle against Rod’s passion and her own rising ardor.
    “Don’t fight against it,
querida,
” Rod urged when he felt her stiffen in his arms. “We both want this. Relax, I won’t hurt you the way Kelly did. I haven’t approached you before because I thought to give you time to recuperate from your ordeal.”
    “You’re wrong, Rod. I don’t want this. Let this be a marriage in name only,” pleaded Julie.
    Rod laughed harshly, crudely running a hand over her breasts and hips. “Would you deny me your lovely body? I think not,
querida.
I don’t intend to live like a eunuch. I also want a family. You will serve the purpose for which God made you, whether you like it or not. You’ll find I’m quite expert at making love.”
    Julie’s angry retort died in her throat as Rod’s mouthslammed down against hers, plundering the sweet, velvet depths with his stabbing tongue. Julie moaned in protest against the violence of his passion but it did no good. She was powerless against Rod’s superior strength. If he chose to exercise his marital rights at this time it was his prerogative to do so and all her struggles went for naught.
    Within minutes Rod had her chemise worked down over her hips and kicked to one side. His trousers soon lay beside it. What followed was a sweet assault upon her senses as Rod sought to prove his prowess as a lover. His hands teased her breasts until they blossomed into peaks of sensual awareness, his touch deliberate, yet honey-smooth as they slid down to her hips and below. Against her will Julie felt herself filling with a fever born of growing passion.
    “
Querida,
your skin is like smooth alabaster, so cool, yet hot to my touch,” Rod murmured, his mouth playing a tune of sweet