There was no outrage in her at all at this possessive display of sexual need. It was raging between them like a fire out of control and she knew that her own soft body was accepting the hard thrust of his desire in a way she would never be able to deny. It was madness. He was nothing to her at all. She didn't want him to be anything. She hardly knew him and yet her arms were around his neck, clinging willingly, her mouth open under his, eagerly permitting the invasion of his tongue.
She moaned softly and his lips left hers to trail down her slender neck, his arms rocking her against him.
'Come back home with me, Natalie,' he groaned. 'You want me, too.'
'No!' She shook her head frantically, hanging on to sanity but only just, and his hand captured her black hair, tightening it around his wrist like a shining rope as the tip of his tongue circled her lips.
'No, you won't come, or no, you don't want me?' he asked thickly.
'I'm here to work. I hardly know you. I don't want to know you!'
He looked into her frantic eyes, his own too burningly dark to be smiling. 'You know me. Your body recognises me. It recognised me the very first time I touched you. You want me. In our minds, we're lovers, Natalie.'
'No!' She stepped free on trembling legs, moving from the tempting awareness, wanting to be back as soon as she had moved. 'I know exactly what I'm going to do. I always know. Didn't tonight teach you anything? I work in television and I'll get things in any way I can.'
She could hear the shrill sound of her own voice. She was panicking, hoping childishly that words of denial would free her from her own desire.
'Even if it means teasing me?'
'Yes.' She managed to say it but she couldn't look at him.
'And what were you gaining by clinging to me just now?' The dark voice seemed to brush against her like a live wire, shivering along her spine. She had no answer and he knew it.
'Leave me alone,' she snapped desperately, turning completely away. 'I'm here to do a job. If I can manage without you I will. When the team arrives, one of the men can deal with you all the time.'
'Oh, no, they can't, Natalie,' he assured her quietly. 'I'll deal with you and nobody else. I want to look into those green eyes and see them tell me to my face what they dare not tell me now.'
'Then we'll do the documentary Without you.'
She made herself turn to face him, determined to put a stop to this at once but he was not there. As quietly as he had come in, he had left, and Natalie leaned against the door, frantically denying what her body assured her was true. She wanted Kip as she had never ever wanted any other man. She had never even considered giving herself to anyone, not even to Neil, but a few moments more with Kip and she would have been incapable of moving out of his arms.
It was not love. She knew that. It was powerful, though, too powerful to be resisted, and the only way to escape was to be as far away from him as possible. She wanted Neil to come with an almost frenzied longing. He wasn't hers but he would restore her sanity. Just to see him would calm her. She wanted her own people around her, familiarity to ward off a devastating sexual attraction that threatened to set her on fire.
There was a message from the minister the next morning, a kindly, courteous letter delivered by hand as Natalie ate breakfast on her veranda. Gabriel Basoni, the minister of culture, would be greatly honoured if she would call at his office at ten-thirty today and discuss the project with him. He would then be delighted to offer her lunch. It was just the sort of boost to her confidence that Natalie needed and she got ready with great pleasure, marshalling her father's plans, her own ideas and her rough notes.
As she drove the miles into the city, along quite good roads, she admitted that part of her satisfaction with this turn of events was because she was moving out of
Kip's sphere. If she could get the minister himself to cooperate then it would be possible to cut Kip's part in the production down to a minimum. He was an unnecessary complication in her life and she was more than horrified at her own response to him.
He had pushed Neil right to the back of her mind and she couldn't really afford that, because when she saw Neil again she knew she was going to be very vulnerable. The weeks since their break-up had been a time of inner battle with herself and that battle had to go on. How could she be prepared for him when Kip was constantly taking her mind away from her own fight? She almost felt guilty instead of relieved to realise that there was now no hurt when she thought of Neil. Was there something wrong with her emotions? Gould she simply stop loving someone because another man excited her sexually? If she could, then she really did have a problem.