by Diana Palmer
She invited him to supper the next Saturday night. All that week she was demure and standoffish. She gave him the same physical coolness that he’d been giving her, which made him hesitant and uncertain as the days passed. By the time Friday rolled around, he was smoking like a furnace and visibly off balance around her. That worked right into her plans.
Two could play at his game, she thought merrily, and proceeded to cook the most exquisite dinner she’d ever made. Then she dressed and made up her face carefully and waited for her victim to show up. This, she promised herself, was a night Nelson would never forget!
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
WHEN THE DOOR to Mirri’s apartment opened, Nelson Stuart stood in the doorway and stared. Mirri was wearing a low-cut electric blue cocktail dress, her gorgeous hair curling down her back. The lights were low, candles graced the table. Soft music was playing. If he’d planned her seduction himself, he couldn’t have done better. But it looked as if the tables had been turned.
“Is anything wrong, Nelson?” she asked with a vacant little smile.
“No. It looks nice. So do you. Here.” From behind his back he produced a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers wrapped in green paper, smiling at her delight.
“Thank you!”
He chuckled as he bent his head. “Can’t you do better than that?” he drawled.
“Sure. But you were the one who didn’t want me to,” she reminded him.
He sighed ruefully. “It’s been a long, dry week,” he replied. “Maybe I’ve gone overboard a little with restraint.”
Her sly tactics had worked! She’d actually made him approachable. She smiled wickedly as she reached up and put her mouth gently to his, kissing him with tenderness and warmth. The time they’d spent together recently had been magic, for both of them. They grew closer as they learned more about each other. If Mirri hadn’t already been in love with him, she certainly would have been now. He was her whole world.
“Very nice,” he murmured against her mouth. “Have you been taking lessons?”
“I have this sexy Texas tutor,” she whispered. “He’s very good at kissing.”
“Don’t tell him, but I expect he’s a beginner, just like you.” He laughed, thinking how easy it was to tell her all his secrets. She was already part of him.
“Think so?” She smiled. “I hope you’re hungry. I cooked Stroganoff, specially.”
“Am I being bribed?” he asked as he closed the door and tossed his Stetson onto a chair.
“In a way,” she said demurely, her eyes lingering on his nice white shirt and tie and the sports coat and dress slacks he was wearing with them. “I thought if I filled you full of good food and excellent white wine, you might let me make love to you.”
He lifted both eyebrows. “Why, Mirri, I’m shocked! I never dreamed you were setting me up for seduction.”
“And you’re an FBI agent?” she chided.
He grinned at her with evident delight. “I want to see you carry me to bed. That ought to be one for the record books.”
She grimaced, eyeing his tall figure. “Does it count if I have to drag you in feet first?”
“You might consider the sofa. It’s closer.”
“It’s lumpy,” she remarked. “And things live under the cushions. Old knives and forks, paper towels, paper clips, stuff like that.”
“We wouldn’t want you to bruise your back,” he agreed.
“Your back,” she returned. “If I seduce you, I get to be on top.”
She realized what she was saying and blushed. So did he, before they both laughed. The thought of sex was no longer frightening to Mirri, who found her Texas boss so desirable that she wanted him all the time. Rarely did she think about the rape unless she was with her therapist. Nelson had gently coaxed her into therapy, and now she was glad he had.
Their romance had made working together difficult; they both beamed and flushed when they got near each other, and everyone in the office noticed. Even the most hard-boiled agents were smiling behind their backs.
“I think we’d better eat before we decide who gets seduced,” he murmured dryly.
“All right. But I must tell you that playing hard to get won’t deter me,” she assured him as she led him to the table. “It only makes me more determined.”
“You wicked girl!”
She laughed. Her eyes wandered lovingly over his broad shoulders and down to his chest, dark under the white shirt.
“Are you hairy-chested?” she asked, lifting a spoonful of fruit to her mouth and taking her time about putting it in.
He was feeling less rational by the minute. “Yes,” he said. “Could you...eat that, and not play with it?” he asked, his eyes on her mouth.
“Why?” she asked, and slowly sucked a grape past her teeth.
“Mirri!” he groaned.
She swallowed and smiled with pure delight at his discomfort. She’d waited a long time to feel like a whole woman again. His innocence was a potent aphrodisiac, as if she needed one! She was on fire for him.
The nightmares were forgotten as she got out of her chair and went to him. Her eyes were a soft blue, hungry, as they met his.
He watched the way she moved toward him, and his heart threatened to beat him to death. “This is seduction,” he accused.
“I notice that you’re not fighting very hard,” she whispered. She bent and put her mouth gently against his. At the same time she eased onto his lap, feeling the rigidity of his thighs under her with delight.
His lean hands held her waist while his mouth answered the tender play of hers.
“It’s always been dangerous. That’s why I’ve tried to keep you at arm’s length,” he breathed into her mouth. “But tonight it’s explosive. I’m losing control.”
“I know.”
He could barely breathe. He lifted his mouth and looked down at her. “Mirri, I don’t want this,” he said roughly. “I don’t want a quick little roll in the hay.”
She smiled against his throat. “Neither do I. Does this shirt button or snap? Ah!”
She unfastened the buttons while he tried to stay her fingers, but she soon had the shirt open to his belt buckle, and her caressing hands made him groan.
“I never knew you were this hairy,” she said, smiling with delight. Her fingers pushed insistently into the thicket of dark, curling hair, and she tugged at it sensuously. “I love it, Nelson.”
“Listen, you little fool, I may not be very experienced, but I sure as hell am capable!”
“I noticed.” She reached between them and slowly unlaced the bodice of her dress before shrugging out of it. She wasn’t wearing anything underneath. Her bare, pink breasts pressed into his hairy chest, and he cried out, his hands contracting on her back.
“God in heaven!” he groaned, shuddering.
She lifted herself enough to find his mouth. But she was in control no longer. His mouth opened, pushing her lips apart. His tongue darted into her mouth and made her gasp with the onrush of passion.
He was whispering something, his voice desperate, his mouth trembling. He got up, cradling Mirri in his arms, and carried her into the bedroom.
“I warned you!” he groaned as he slid alongside her, his hands feverishly undressing her. “Mirri, forgive me, I must!”
“It’s all right,” she whispered, her hands smoothing his thick hair. She lay completely vulnerable to him, her body pink and soft, waiting. She watched him as he shucked off his clothing, cursing as he sat down to pull off his boots.
She eased close and pressed her bare breasts to his broad, cool back. Her eyes closed as she felt him move and heard the sound of fabric rustling.
“I don’t want to frighten you,” he bit off as he turned and eased her down onto the coverlet.
She stretched out accommodatingly, her eyes soft and trusting. They d
ropped to his aroused body and lingered there for an instant before she blushed and jerked them back to his eyes.
“I’m not afraid of you,” she said. “How can I be? I love you, Nelson. I’ve never loved anyone so much.”
His chest stilled. He looked into her eyes with stark wonder and monstrous desire. His body trembled. “I’m like a boy,” he whispered. “I don’t even know what to do!”
“Neither do I, really,” she said, her voice as hushed as his. “I didn’t get to choose before. Now I can.” Her hands reached up to touch his broad chest. “I want you. However it happens, it will be all right.”
He groaned. His head fell to her breasts and moved against them. He remembered reading about women who enjoyed the feel of a man’s mouth on them, so he turned his cheek and his lips began to explore one firm, hard-tipped breast. He heard her breath catch. He did it again, harder, and worked his way slowly to the nipple. It felt hard and warm in his mouth. He tasted it and she gasped. He sucked at it and she shivered and began to moan.
It wasn’t as difficult as he’d imagined. By listening to the sounds she made and following her reactions, he discovered what pleased her best. He eased her back against the pillows and discovered her body with more pleasure than he’d ever experienced in his life. There was a sweet, warm smell to her skin, her own perfume. She tasted of woman. He drew his face against her stomach and caught his breath when she began to plead with him.
He knew what she wanted. He wanted it, too. His body was taut with anguished hunger, but he didn’t really know what to do beyond the obvious.
He slid between her legs and kissed her eyelids, so that the thick lashes came down over her wild eyes. His lips eased over her mouth, and one lean hand slid under her thigh, gently lifting her hips. He moved, settling on her, and began slowly to penetrate her body.
She stiffened and made a sound. She shuddered. Her breathing stopped. He lifted his head quickly and looked into her dilated eyes. He felt her nails stabbing into his arm and was afraid that she was remembering what had been done to her long ago.
“Are you frightened? I can stop, even now, if you want me to,” he whispered unsteadily. Although his body hurt from having to hold back, he would have borne the pain for her sake. “The choice is yours. It always will be.”
“Oh, I don’t...want you to stop, Nelson,” she gasped. “You don’t understand. I...” She flushed and bit her lip. “It wasn’t fear...” She couldn’t find the words. Instead she lifted her hips and pushed upward in a soft, tender rhythm. She gasped and her teeth clenched. “It’s...that!” She cried out and shivered.
“My God, is it hurting? Is that it?” he asked in anguish.
“No!” She caught his mouth and dragged it down onto hers while her hips writhed under his. “Nelson...don’t you know...what’s happening to me?” she groaned.
She whispered to him, finally, embarrassment giving way to exasperation. She arched and shivered, and he looked as if he’d just been given the crown jewels.
“For the love of heaven!” he exclaimed, astonished.
Through her violent satisfaction she began to laugh. “I never dreamed...!” She cried out again.
Neither had he ever dreamed of such pleasure. But he couldn’t get the words out. He drove for his own fulfillment, finally convinced that whatever he was doing to her, it wasn’t painful. He pushed down, hard, and convulsed. His body flew into the sun, splintered into rays of exquisite pleasure, in the first complete fulfillment he’d ever known.
When he collapsed on her, Mirri was still riding the clouds. She shivered one last time and gave up the greedy search for even more satisfaction than he’d already given her. She clung to him, her mouth touching his shoulders, his throat, his chin. She shivered with him in the glorious aftermath.
“I thought you didn’t know what to do,” she whispered when they were lying together quietly.
“I didn’t. I must have gotten by on instinct.” He chuckled, delighted with himself. He stared at her with such arrogant pleasure that she hit him. “Damn it, I’m good,” he murmured, trying not to sound too conceited. “And here I thought I was killing you.”
“So did I for a few seconds.” She laughed and kissed him softly. “It felt like death, but it was sweet and heady, and I want it again and again and again.”
“So do I.” He lifted himself above her and joined his body to hers in one smooth motion, smiling at her look of surprise. “I think we’re going to discover that I’m one of those rare fellows who can go all night,” he murmured. “I always thought I might be, with the right woman.”
She smiled through her building excitement, gasping when he began to move. “I’m glad that I’m the right woman, Nelson!”
“No nightmares?” he whispered.
“No. Not ever...again. Not with you.”
“Good.”
“You have to marry me now,” she whispered as she lifted to him.
His heart felt as if it might burst from happiness. “As soon as it’s daylight,” he promised, smiling as the pleasure built. “Did you buy me a ring?”
“Of course I did.” She laughed, panting now from the exertion and the joy of belonging to him. “Do you want me to get up and look for it?” she asked innocently.
“Not right away.” He drew his body against hers from side to side and watched her groan and shudder. “I’m glad you like that, because I like it, too.” He brushed his open mouth over hers. “I love this with you. I love every...second of it!” he groaned as he began to lose control.
“So...do I!”
“Oh, God, Mirri...!”
His voice broke, and as his lean body arched down in a fierce rhythm, she began to cry. The poignancy of it was beyond bearing. She felt as if she were shooting among the clouds, a firefly being tossed against the sun and wind. She felt herself become one with the universe, one with the blazing sun and sky and sea. She was an empty vessel, being filled with the sweetest substance in the world.
“Nelson!” She hadn’t dreamed anything could be so awesome. She did, in fact, lose consciousness.
An eternity later, a worried Nelson bathed her face with a cool cloth held in trembling hands.
“Oh, my God, I thought I’d killed you,” he whispered when her huge, wet eyes opened. “Really killed you!”
“I’m not dead,” she murmured drowsily, and reached up to kiss him. “But I’ll bet you just made me pregnant.”
The cloth stilled in his hand, and he looked incredibly radiant. “Do you think so?” he whispered.
She did, although she had no idea how or why. She smiled up at him with awe. “You don’t mind? Would you like a baby, so soon?”
“I’d like a baby anytime, with you,” he murmured adoringly. He wrapped her up against him, unembarrassed by his nudity or his vulnerability. “I love you, Mirri,” he whispered. “All the way to the grave.”
Her eyes closed. She knew that already, but it was nice to hear it. “I love you, too. I’m hungry.”
“We missed dinner,” he pointed out.
“Yes. And that was hours ago.”
He looked at the clock, and his eyebrows levered up. “My God! It was hours ago!”
“Didn’t you realize how long we’d been in here?” she murmured. “Why, Mr. Stuart!”
He managed to look indignant through his grin. “I was seduced,” he accused. “Seduced and compromised.”
“You don’t have a thing to complain about,” she reminded him. “I’ve bought the ring and I proposed to you. And if you get pregnant, I’ll stand by you,” she added, placing a firm hand over his heart.
He grinned. “If I get pregnant, you sure as hell will.”
She nuzzled her nose against his. “You aren’t planning on going home?”
“No,” he mused. He turned her into his arms with a long sigh and tucked her close to him. “Be
cause I am home, right here.”
“So am I.” She closed her eyes and smiled against his chest. When she slept, there were no nightmares. This time she dreamed of babies.
* * *
WARD JOHNSON WAS just getting home. He’d been at the office with Dora. It was sweet, being with a woman who wanted just him and not what he couldn’t give her.
“So there you are. It’s about time,” Gladys said sourly, swaying a little as she came into the room. She was wearing a see-through blue gown, but there was nothing under it that would interest her husband.
“I’ve been working,” he began.
“Sure you have,” she agreed, her pale blue eyes flashing at him. “Working on some woman. Who is it this time?”
“I don’t have other women,” he lied wearily.
“I wouldn’t care if you did,” she muttered. “You’re a loser, Ward. That’s all you’ll ever be. A no-account little pencil pusher with no ambition. Someday they’ll tip you right out into the street.”
“Go to bed,” he said.
“Want to come with me?” she teased, striking a seductive pose. “Even if you did, I wouldn’t let you. You’re a real bust in bed, honey. A nothing.”
He could have told her that Dora found him exciting and satisfying, but that would only make things worse. His life had become bearable since he’d been seeing Dora. But the minute he walked in his own front door, it all fell apart. He was sick to his stomach of what passed for his marriage.
“Why don’t you get help?” he asked curtly. “See a doctor. Join Alcoholics Anonymous...”
“I don’t have a problem,” she murmured, and smiled at him. “You have the problem. And I’m it. Why don’t you kill me?”
He hated the thought that flashed through his mind. He turned away. “Where’s Scotty?”
“I don’t know. He went off with some people.”
“He’s on drugs,” Ward said harshly. “Don’t you care?”
“It makes life with you bearable, why shouldn’t he use it?” she asked with laughing sarcasm. “If you cared, you’d stay home at night. You don’t give a damn about Scotty. You never even wanted him!”
