Overload

by Linda Howard

  Elizabeth snorted, but she was mollified, because she had heard Chickie make that exact comment on a couple of occasions. Still, she would have to have a word with her about discretion.

  “I’ve been busy,” she said, not caring if he believed her or not, though it happened to be the truth. She had deliberately been as busy as she could manage in order to give herself less free time to think about him.

  “I know. You’ve found a lot of lilies to gild.”

  Her teeth closed with a snap. “That’s so people will have a reason to install your fancy security systems. I gild the lilies, and you protect them.”

  “I protect people,” he clarified.

  “Uh-huh. That’s why you set up so many security systems for people who live in rough neighborhoods, where their lives are really in danger.”

  “I can see we aren’t going to agree on this.”

  “You brought it up.”

  “My mistake. Let’s get back to the original subject, namely our respective failed marriages. Go ahead, ask me anything you want.”

  The perfect response, of course, was that she wasn’t interested. It would also be a lie, because she was not only interested, she was suddenly, violently jealous of that unknown, hitherto unsuspected woman who had been his wife, who had shared his name and his bed for a time, and who had been, in the eyes of the world, his mate. Elizabeth firmly kept her mouth closed, but she couldn’t stop herself from glaring at him.

  Quinlan sighed. “All right, I’ll tell you the boring facts without making you ask. Her name was Amy. We dated during college. Then, when college was finished, it seemed like we should do adult things, so we got married. But I was away on my job a lot, and Amy found someone in the office where she worked who she liked a lot better. Within six months of getting married we knew it had been a mistake, but we held out for another year, trying to make it ‘work,’ before we both realized we were just wasting time. The divorce was a relief for both of us. End of story.”

  She was still glaring at him. “I don’t even know where you went to college.”

  He sighed again. She was getting damn tired of that sigh, as if he were being so noble in his dealings with an irrational woman. “Cal Tech.”

  “Ah.” Well, that explained his expertise with electronics and computers and things.

  “No children,” he added.

  “I should hope not!” It was bad enough that he had, for some reason, concealed all the rest of the details of his life. “If you’d kept children hidden, I would never have forgiven you.”

  His eyes gleamed. “Does this mean you have?”

  “No.”

  He gave a startled shout of laughter. “God, I’ve missed you. You don’t dissemble at all. If you’re grouchy, you don’t feel any need at all to make nice and pretend to be sweetness and light, do you?”

  She gave him a haughty look. “I’m not sweetness and light.”

  “Thank God,” he said fervently. He leaned back and spread his hands, then stretched his long, muscular legs out before him in a posture of complete relaxation. “Okay, it’s your turn. Tell me all the deep, dark secrets about your marriage.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Show-and-tell was your idea, not mine.” Her throat tightened at the idea of rehashing the details, reliving the nightmare even in thought. She just couldn’t do it.

  “You asked questions.”

  “I asked where you went to college, hardly the same as prying into your private life.” Agitated, she stood up and longingly looked through the huge windows to the world outside. Only two thin sheets of transparent material kept her prisoner here with him, but it would take a car ramming into the glass at respectable speed to break it. The glass looked fragile but wasn’t, whereas she was the opposite. She looked calm and capable, but inside she hid a weakness that terrified her.

  “Don’t run away,” Quinlan warned softly.

  She barely glanced at him as she edged out of the semicircle of sofa and chairs. “I’m not running,” she denied, knowing that it wasn’t the truth. “It’s cooler moving around.”

  Silently Quinlan got to his feet and paced after her, big and virtually naked, the dark boxer shorts nothing more than the modern version of the loincloth. His muscled chest was hairy, the thick curls almost hiding his small nipples, and a silky line of hair ran down the center of his abdomen to his groin. His long legs were also covered with hair, finer and straighter, but he was undoubtedly a dominating male animal in his prime. Elizabeth gave him a distracted, vaguely alarmed look that suddenly focused on his loins, and her eyes widened.

  He looked down at himself and shrugged, not pausing in his slow, relentless pursuit. “I know, at my age I shouldn’t have recovered this fast. I usually don’t,” he said thoughtfully. “It’s just my reaction to you. Come here, sweetheart.” His voice had turned soft and cajoling.

  Wildly Elizabeth wondered if this was going to degenerate into the stereotypical chase around the furniture. On the heels of that thought came the certain knowledge that if she ran, Quinlan would definitely chase her, instinctively, the marauding male subduing the reluctant female. She could prevent that farce by not running, thereby giving him nothing to chase. On the other hand, if she stood still things would only reach the same conclusion at a faster pace. Evidently the only real choice she had was whether or not to hold on to her dignity. If she had felt differently about him she could have said “no,” but she had already faced that weakness in herself. For right now, in these circumstances, she couldn’t resist him—and they both knew it.

  He drew closer, his eyes gleaming. “For tonight, you’re mine,” he murmured. “Let me at least have that. You can’t get away from me here. You don’t even want to get away, not really. The circumstances aren’t normal. When we get out of here you’ll have options, but right now you’re forced to be with me. Whatever happens won’t be your fault. Just let go and forget about it.”

  She drew a deep, shuddering breath. “Pretty good psychologist, aren’t you? But I’m not a coward. I’m responsible for whatever decisions I make, period.”

  He had reached her now, one arm sliding around her back. Elizabeth looked up at him, at the tousled dark hair and intense blue eyes, and her heart squeezed. “All right,” she whispered. “For tonight. For as long as we’re locked in here.” She closed her eyes, shivering with sensual anticipation. She would let herself have this, just for now; she would feast on him, drown herself in sensation, let the darkness of the night wrap protectively around them and hold off thought. The time would come all too soon when she would have to push him away again; why waste even one precious minute by fighting both him and herself?

  “Anything,” she heard herself say as he lifted her. Her voice sounded strange to her, thick, drugged with desire. “For tonight.”

  His low, rough laugh wasn’t quite steady as he lowered her to the cushions. “Anything?” he asked. “You could be letting yourself in for an interesting night.”

  She put out her hand and touched his bare chest. “Yes,” she purred. “I could be.”

  “Cat.” His breathing was fast and unsteady as he swiftly stripped her panties down her legs and tossed them to the side. “You won’t be needing those again tonight.”

  She pulled at the waistband of his shorts. “And you won’t be needing these.”

  “Hell, I only kept them on because I figured you’d fight like a wildcat if I came after you stark naked.” He dealt with his shorts as rapidly as he had her underwear.

  She was already excited by the anticipation of his slow, thorough loveplay. Quinlan was a man who enjoyed the preliminaries and prolonged them, as she had learned during the one night she had spent with him. It didn’t happen this time, though. He pushed her legs open, knelt between them and entered her with a heavy thrust that jarred her. The shock of it reverberated through her body; then her inner muscles clamped down in an effort to slow that inexorable invasion.

  He pushed deeper, groaning at the tightness of
her, until he was in her to the hilt. She writhed, reaching down to grasp his thighs and hold him there, but he slowly withdrew, then just as slowly pushed back into her.

  “Did your husband make you feel like this?” he whispered.

  Her head rolled on the cushions at the speed and intensity of the sensations. It was an effort to concentrate on his words. “N-no,” she finally sighed.

  “Good.” He couldn’t keep the savage satisfaction out of his voice. He didn’t like the thought of anyone else pleasing her. This was something she had known only with him; he had realized it immediately when they had first made love, but he had needed to hear her say it, admit that she had given her response to no one else.

  He teased her with another slow withdrawal and thrust. “What did he do to you?” he murmured, and pulled completely away from her.

  Her eyes opened in protest and she reached for him, moaning low in her throat as she tried to reestablish that delicious contact. Then comprehension made her eyes flare wider, and she jerked backward, away from him, trying to sit up. “You bastard!” she said in a strangled tone.

  Quinlan caught her hips and dragged her back, slipping into her once again. “Tell me,” he said relentlessly. “Did he mistreat you? Hurt you in any way? What in hell did he do that you’re making me pay for?”

  Elizabeth wrenched away from him again. She felt ill, all desire gone. How could he have done that to her? She fought to cover herself with his shirt, all the while calling herself several harsh names for her stupidity in thinking they could have this night, that she could give herself a block of time unattached to either past or present. She should have remembered that Quinlan never gave up.

  No, he never gave up. So why didn’t she tell him? It wouldn’t be easy for her to relive it, but at least then he would know why she refused to allow him any authority in her life, why she had denied herself the love she so desperately wanted to give him.

  She curled away from him, letting her head fall forward onto her knees so her hair hid her face. He tried to pull her back into his arms, into his lovemaking, but she resisted him, her body stiff in reaction to the memories already swamping her.

  “Don’t touch me!” she said hoarsely. “You wanted to know, so sit there and listen, but don’t—don’t touch me.”

  Quinlan frowned, feeling vaguely uneasy. He had deliberately pushed her, though he hadn’t intended to push so hard that she withdrew from him, but that was what had happened. His body was still tight with desire, demanding release. He ground his teeth together, grimly reaching for control; if Elizabeth was ready to talk, after all these months, then he was damn well going to listen.

  She didn’t lift her head from her knees, but in the silent, darkening lobby, he could plainly hear every soft word.

  “I met him when I was a senior in college. Eric. Eric Landers. But you already know his name, don’t you? It was in your damn report. He owned an upscale decorating firm, and getting a part-time job there was a real plum.”

  She sighed. The little sound was sad, and a bit tired. “He was thirty-five. I was twenty-one. And he was handsome, sophisticated, self-assured, worldly, with quite a reputation as both a ladies’ man and a well-known professional. I was more than flattered when he asked me out, I was absolutely giddy. Chickie would seem grim compared to the way I felt.

  “We dated for about three months before he asked me to marry him, and for three months I felt like a princess. He took me everywhere, wined and dined me at the best places. He was interested in every minute of my day, in everything I did. A real princess couldn’t have been more coddled. I was a virgin—a bit unusual, to stay that way through college, but I’d been studying hard and working part-time jobs, too, and I hadn’t had time for much socializing. Eric didn’t push me for sex. He said he could wait until our wedding night, that since I had remained a virgin that long, he wanted to give me all the traditional trappings.”

  “Let me guess,” Quinlan said grimly. “He was gay.”

  She shook her head. “No. His ladies’ man reputation was for real. Eric was very gentle with me on our wedding night. I’ll give him that. He never mistreated me that way.”

  “If you don’t mind,” Quinlan interrupted, his teeth coming together with an audible snap, “I’d rather not hear about your sex life with him, if that wasn’t the problem.”

  Elizabeth was surprised into lifting her head. “Are you jealous?” she asked warily.

  He rubbed his hand over his jaw; as late in the day as it was, his five-o’clock shadow had become more substantial and made a rasping sound as his hand passed over it. “Not jealous, exactly,” he muttered. “I just don’t want to hear it, if you enjoyed making love with him. Hell, yes, I’m jealous!”

  She gave a spurt of laughter, startling herself. She had never expected to be able to laugh while discussing Eric Landers, but Quinlan’s frustration was so obvious that she couldn’t help it.

  “I don’t mind giving the devil his due,” she said in a generous tone. “You can pat yourself on the back, because you know you were the first to—umm—”

  “Satisfy you,” he supplied. A sheepish expression crossed his face.

  “I’m not very experienced. You’re the only man I’ve gone to bed with since my divorce. After Eric, I just didn’t want to let anyone close to me.”

  She didn’t continue, and the silence stretched between them. It was growing darker by the minute as the sun set completely, and she was comforted by the shield of night. “Why?” Quinlan finally asked.

  It was easier to talk now, after that little bit of laughter and with the growing darkness concealing both their expressions. She felt herself relaxing, uncurling from her protective knot.

  “It was odd,” she said, “but I don’t think he wanted me to be sensual. He wanted me to be his perfect princess, his living, breathing Barbie doll. I had gotten used to his protectiveness while we were dating, so at first I didn’t think anything of it when he wanted to be with me every time I set foot outside the door. Somehow he always came up with a reason why I shouldn’t put in for this job, or that one, and why I couldn’t continue working with him. He went shopping with me, picked out my clothes…at first, it all seemed so flattering. My friends were so impressed by the way he treated me.

  “Then he began to find reasons why I shouldn’t see my friends, why first this one and then that one wasn’t ‘good’ for me. I couldn’t invite them over, and he didn’t want me visiting them, or meeting them anywhere for lunch. He began vetting my phone calls. It was all so gradual,” she said in a faintly bewildered tone. “And he was so gentle. He seemed to have a good reason for everything he did, and he was always focused on me, giving me the kind of attention all women think they want. He only wanted what was best for me, he said.”

  Quinlan was beginning to feel uneasy. He shifted position, leaning his back against one of the chairs and stretching out in a relaxed position that belied his inner tension. “A control freak,” he growled.

  “I think we’d been married about six months before I really noticed how completely he’d cut me off from everyone and everything except him,” she continued. “I began trying to shift the balance of power, to make a few decisions for myself, if only in minor things, such as where I got my hair cut.”

  “Let me make another guess. All of a sudden he wasn’t so gentle, right?”

  “He was furious that I’d gone to a different place. He took the car keys away from me. That was when I really became angry, for the first time. Until then, I’d made excuses, because he’d been so gentle and loving with me. I’d never defied him until then, but when he took the keys out of my purse I lost my temper and yelled at him. He knocked me down,” she said briefly.

  Quinlan surged to his feet, raw fury running through him so powerfully that he couldn’t sit there any longer. To hell with trying to look relaxed. He paced the lobby like a tiger, naked and primitive, the powerful muscles in his body flexing with every movement.

  Elizabeth
kept on talking. Now that she had started, she wanted to tell it all. Funny, but reliving it wasn’t as traumatic as she had expected, not as bad as it had been in her memories and nightmares. Maybe it was having someone else with her that blunted the pain, because always before she had been alone with it.

  “I literally became his prisoner. Whenever I tried to assert myself in any way, he’d punish me. There was no pattern to it. Most of the time he would slap me, or even whip me, but sometimes he would just yell, and I never knew what to expect. It was as if he knew that yelling instead of hitting me made it even worse, because then the next time I knew he’d hit me, and I’d try, oh, I’d try so hard, not to do anything that would cause the next time. But I always did. I was so nervous that I always did something. Or he’d make up a reason.

  “Looking back,” she said slowly, “it’s hard to believe I was so stupid. By the time I realized what he had done and started trying to fight back, he had me so isolated, so brainwashed, that I literally felt powerless. I had no money, no friends, no car. I was ashamed for anyone to know what was happening. That was what was so sick, that he could convince me it was my fault. I did try to run away once, but he’d paid the doorman to call him if I left, and he found me within half an hour. He didn’t hit me that time. He just tied me to the bed and left me. The terror of waiting, helpless, for him to come back and punish me was so bad that hitting me would have been a relief, because that would have meant it was over. Instead he kept me tied for two days, and I nearly became hysterical every time he came into the room.”

  Quinlan had stopped pacing. He was standing motionless, but she could feel the tension radiating from him.

  “He put locks on the phone so I couldn’t call out, or even answer it,” she said. “But one day he blacked my eye. I don’t even remember why. It didn’t take much to set him off. When I looked in the mirror the next morning, all of a sudden something clicked in my brain and I knew I had to either get away from him or kill him. I couldn’t live like that another day, another hour.”