They hugged. They kissed. They touched. They revelled in the sensual magic of the night, strolling along the wet sand with the dying froth of waves caressing their feet, swimming in the rock, pool, their bodies sliding around each other in the buoyant water, teasing, inviting, savouring the freedom to give and take every pleasure in being together. To Jasmine, he was wonderful. She couldn't have enough of him. And he shared her greed, her lust to have everything possible packed into this one night. Nothing wild was too wild. There was no shame in anything. They loved each other in the water, on the sand, against a rock with the spray of the sea showering over them. What words were spoken did not relate to any other time or place orcircumstance. The past and the future had no bearing on what they shared. There was no breaking of that mutual understanding, no attempt to break it, or change any of the parameters of that one promise...a night to remember. They didn't sleep. They left

He should have been sitting beside Leonard. Since he'd given up that place and weddings were really a family affair, he'd answered, 'No. With my mother, if that's possible. Haven't seen her for a while.''Done.' And that had made him feel guilty, too. Leonard would oblige him with anything, and he'd...too late to rue it now. Damn Favour's sister and her power to mess with things that were not related to her. He hoped seeing her again today would put the memory of that one night with her in some reasonable perspective. Get it out of his system.His mother was always good company. She would claim his attention. Now there was one woman he did genuinely love. She'd always stuck up for him against his father who'd relentlessly put him down, jeering over his interest in computer graphics, saying he was wasting his time and would never amount to anything. Too bad he'd died when Collins was only twenty. Though he'd probably even deride what his son had achieved if he was still alive. Colli

Collins grilled his teeth, fighting the surge of violence that urged him to wipe the smirk off the best man's face, tear his arm From Jasmine's waist, and break the fingers that were feeling their way up the erotic curve of her spine. 'She's very beautiful.' His mother's voice filtered through the battle roar in his ears. He wrenched his gaze from the couple on the dance floor and managed a foggy look. 'What?' he asked, not having caught what she was talking about.An amused smile teased his loss of rapport with her. 'Favour's sister, jasmine . Don't tell me you haven't noticed how striking she is. You've been fixated on her all evening.'He frowned, not liking to think his obsession with Jasmine Leclaire was obvious. 'She is...very watch-able,’ he said, trying to brush the issue aside. 'You don't have to stay with me, Collins. I am with friends and they'll lookafter me. Feel free to pursue your interest in her.'' I don't have the time for it' , he stated dismissively.Her eyes ge

'I have a room booked at the Airport Hilton Hotel,' Collins breathed in her ear. 'Come with me after the wedding is over... We can be together.'A hotel room... Jasmine's emotional recoil was instant. No! It would make her feel like a call girl, visiting a totally impersonal room for sex, and an airport hotel hammered home how fleeting that visit would be. Yet she could not bear not to have him for as long as she could. 'I'm not going to a hotel with you, Collins' she said. He frowned. 'Why not?' 'Because I said so. We can go some other place... Like... My apartment,' she swiftly countered, pulling back from him to plead her choice. 'It's at Randwick. Not far from Mascot Airport. We could go there. Then I won't feel so bad when you have to leave in the morning.'He frowned again. 'I don't want to make you feel bad, Jasmine. That's not my intention.''I'd hate waking up alone in a hotel room, Collins,' she rushed out, panicking at the thought he might withdraw from any further int

Jasmine scooped in a quick breath, '...they chase each other endlessly around the bowl. I think Rhett and Scarlet did that, even after the book ended.' 'Perhaps they simply feel trapped,' He released her waist and slowly ran his fingertips up her arms, a feather-light touch that gave her the freedom to move if she wanted to. She didn't. She held herself completely still and the tiny little tremors under her skin told him how sensitive she was to his touch. Another swift intake of breath. 'No. They're happy fish,' she insisted. 'How do you know?' He trailed his fingers up her neck, over the soft thickness of her pinned-up hair to the dark red rose. 'Because I watch them play. They like their bowl. Its hexagonal shape is good Feng Shui, promoting peace and harmony. They have fun pushing the pebbles around at the bottom and the aquarium plants offer ready food beyond what I feed them. They're happy fish.' He'd tucked the rose in his breast pocket and was pulling out the hairpins. 'W