He toasted her silently. They clinked glasses and drank.
Zoe considered. ‘A bit sweet. Touch of the alcopop.’
It was Jay’s turn to choke. ‘Don’t tell them that,’ he begged. ‘It would be like insulting the flag.’
Zoe twinkled at him. ‘Oh, all right then. You’re no fun, though.’
‘Just trying to watch out for you,’ he said peacefully. ‘But if you think it would be exciting to get us thrown out, go right ahead.’
She laughed aloud. ‘No, no. You’re the expert. I’ll do what you tell me.’
He took her hand to his lips again. ‘That’s quite a responsibility. I’ll try not to let you down.’
The inner trembling increased. It shook through her. Like an earthquake getting ready to break. Like a drowsing lion flexing its muscles.
Jay looked at her all the time.
Zoe did not notice what they ate. She knew the waiter and Jay discussed the food briefly and the wine at length. She remembered fish so fresh that it tasted of the sea, wine that slid over her palate like distilled flowers. But then even the water tasted as if it had just bubbled up from some fresh spring.
What’s happening to me? Getting carried away by the taste of water, for heaven’s sake?
But it wasn’t the water. It wasn’t even the marvellous wine. Or the luxury. Or the glamour that was Venice. Or the starry night. Not even the warm wind on her bare arms as they left, though it made her shiver voluptuously.
‘Cold? Or do you want to walk?’ asked Jay softly.
Zoe swallowed hard. The time was right.
‘I’m not cold,’ she said deliberately. ‘And I don’t want to walk.’
He went very still. ‘Home, then,’ he said.
And summoned a gondola.
In the suite Zoe thought he would lead her straight through to the bedroom. He did not. Instead he switched on a couple of the table-lamps and drew her towards the couch. She sat obediently, but nerves made her clumsy. A couple of the luxuriously fat cushions plumped onto the floor.
Jay sat down beside her and took her hands.
‘You’re shaking,’ he said gently. ‘Don’t shake, my love.’
‘I-I don’t seem to be able to stop,’ Zoe said candidly. She tried to lock her jaw. It did not work. ‘S-silly, isn’t it?’
‘No,’ he said in a caressing voice. He pushed her hair gently off her face. ‘No, it’s not silly at all. It’s just unnecessary. We won’t do anything you don’t want. I promise.’
‘Th-thank you,’ she said politely.
He gave a shaken little laugh. ‘And you don’t believe a word of it.’
Zoe gulped. ‘Yes, I do.’
He turned her to face him. ‘Really?’
She moistened her lips and saw his eyes darken.
‘R-really,’ she said uncertainly.
Did they darken because of her? Was it possible? A super- sophisticate like Jay Christopher?
Yet he did not feel like a super-sophisticate, sitting here beside her. So close. So reassuringly strong. So alarmingly hot. He felt like—the only man in the world she wanted to make love to her.
She suddenly realised why she had ducked out of the arms of all the Johns and Alastairs and Simons. She had liked them. She had enjoyed their company. At least twice she had desperately wanted it to work. But, in the still, quiet core of her, she had known she did not—quite—trust them. It had just not been right. And now it was.
She trusted Jay. Totally.
She tried to tell him and could not find the words. So she reached for him instead.
Jay took her in his arms with care. The memory of that earlier kiss was not a good one. It did not exactly haunt him. But he could not forget how she had looked as she scrubbed his touch off her mouth.
In spite of that she had trusted him with her secret, though. Now she was trusting him to make the experience a good one.
That was a tough one. All through dinner she had sat beside him trembling. She thought he did not know. But he was too alert to her every move not to feel it.
Hell, be honest, Jay. You want her so much you can hardly see straight. Every time she breathes in your blood surges. Of course you knew she was trembling. You even wanted her to tremble harder—only because of what you were doing to her, not because of her own apprehension.