The Hidden Years by Penny Jordan

do
this…'
    Kit was no fool. No matter how willing the woman, they
still liked all the trappings. And this one was more nervous than
willing. He felt her tremble as he took her in his arms and felt his
body tense with elation. It gave him an extra thrill to know that he
would be the first, that no one else had ever touched her or kissed
her. Her mouth beneath his betrayed her inexperience. 'No one's ever
kissed you before, have they?' he said, crushing her body against his
own, revelling in his power over her, her innocence, her gullibility.
He placed his hand on her heart and felt its frantic beat. His
fingertips were just brushing the underside of her breast, causing her
both to tense and to tremble. His tongue snaked over her glossy red
lips, making Lizzie shiver frantically again as his touch caressed her
already sensitised flesh. She was so responsive to him, so dizzyingly
aware of him. They had looked at one another and immediately she had
known without words… without explanation—she had
known.
    Kit was biting at her mouth now, almost too roughly, but
she guessed that it was because he, like her, had been overwhelmed by
their love. She felt his tongue press against the closed line of her
mouth and obediently parted her lips. She had heard the other girls
talking about this kind of kissing, but had never thought that she
herself could experience it without intense revulsion. Instead she
discovered, as Kit's tongue penetrated the moist intimacy of her mouth,
that the slow caressing thrusts he was making were sending her dizzy
with the waves of pleasure which seemed to be rolling over her in ever
increasing ferocity.
    'I can't make love to you here,' Kit told her thickly. 'My
God, you're dynamite, do you know that…? You and I are going
to be so good together… so very good.'
    To Lizzie it was a statement of commitment for their
future, an avowal of love. Cynically Kit watched the effect his words
were having on her, loving her vulnerability to him, his power over
her. Fleetingly he wished he had more time to spend with her. There
were things he could show her—teach her. His body grew hot
and hard, the intensity of his desire for her catching him by surprise.
    'Come on… let's go somewhere more private,' he
commanded, picking her up and carrying her over to the car.
    As he held her against his body, Lizzie felt the hardness
of his physical arousal, and her senses thrilled to the knowledge that
she
had done this to him. She knew from the other girls' conversation what
that hardness meant; what she hadn't known before was how exciting it
would be to know that she could have that effect on the man she loved,
nor how much she would want to press her body against his, to take that
hardness deep within her own flesh so that she could prolong and
intensify the fierce, aching pleasure being close to it brought.
    As he lifted her into the car, either by accident or
design, his hands slid up over her body, fleetingly caressing her
breasts.
    'Where can we go?' he demanded. 'You know this area better
than I do… I'd take you back to where I'm staying but the
landlady…'
    Take her back to his room, he meant… She wasn't
ready for that yet, Lizzie acknowledged. It smacked too much of what
she had always considered to be the rather sordid intimacies of the
other girls. She wanted this to be different… It
was
different, of course. She and Kit were in love with one another, and
after the war… She took a deep breath, her heart pounding
with the heady excitement of anticipating the future…their
future, and then hard on its heels came the sharp new fear experienced
by every woman whose man risked his life in the defence of his country.
What if Kit should die—what if all they had was here and now?
What if there
was
no future, only these few
precious hours? It was a thought she could not bear to
contemplate—not now—not ever.
    'There is a place,' she told him huskily. 'It's just
inside the hospital grounds, but no one