by Janet Dailey
"You don't really mean that, Dane," she whispered sadly. "You just want me to forgive you so you'll feel better. You don't care whether or not I love you. We haven't even known each other long enough to fall in love."
"Maybe you haven't, but I've been waiting for you all my life." His gaze locked onto hers and refused to let it go. "I love you, Pet. I realized it the morning that I came into your room to waive you up, and I knew that I wanted to wake you up every morning for the rest of my life. It was too soon. I couldn't tell you then. You would have thought I was handing you some line to persuade you to sleep with me. So I waited, knowing you were attracted to me and hoping that after this show was finished I'd have the time to make you fall in love with me, too."
"You don't even know me." She shook her head for a moment, breaking the spell he was casting.
"I know you. After our run-in a year ago, I made it my business to know about you. At the time I told myself my interest was purely professional," he said with a humorless laugh. "I personally reviewed everything you did, every project you were on, your past employment, your education, your family, everything. If you weren't any good, I was going to get rid of you — this green-eyed blond who told me to shut up."
"You've finally got rid of me. I quit." She wouldn't let herself be swayed by his revelations. He had hurt her too deeply tonight. It wasn't something that could be easily forgiven or forgotten.
"Pet, I erased the show tapes — all of them."
"What?" She jerked around to stare at him, wary and frowning.
"It wasn't an impulse. I thought it over very hard before I did it. You can call it a noble gesture if you want, but it was the only way I could prove that you were more important to me than the special."
"You shouldn't have done that!" She was stunned, incredulous.
"Why not?" Now he was watching her, his gaze searching through every nuance of her expressions.
"Because … all that work … all that time …" It was impossible to think of all the reasons when there were so many. "You've spent a lot of money."
"A lot of money," Dane agreed. "But it's worth every dime if you finally believe me."
"I believe you." After that kind of sacrifice, how could she doubt him?
"Do you forgive me?'"
"Of course," Pet breathed, just beginning to realize the fulfillment this meant. "Dane, I fell in love with you, too. I was the most wretched person in the world when I thought the man I loved could care so little about me that —"
But she was never allowed to complete the sentence as his hand reached to pull her off balance and into his arms. He was kissing her and murmuring love words that she would cherish in her heart forever.
When Dane finally allowed her to surface from his loving assault, she was lying on the sand, her head pillowed on his sinewy forearm while he leaned partially over her. She drank in the sight of his compelling face above hers, passionately ardent in its expression.
"When will you marry me?" he demanded.
An old fear returned. "Do you really think I can keep you happy?" she whispered with a catch in her voice.
"No one else can. Haven't you accepted that yet?" he mocked. "No one else can irritate me and goad me into an argument quicker than you can. No one else can touch me and make my senses swim with desire. From no one else do I demand such perfection as I do from you. You make me happy with a smile."
"Ruby Gale —" Pet began.
His mouth thinned in grimness. "Once and for all, let me exorcise that devil from us. It was always business between Ruby and me. The physical side of our relationship developed out of it because we were members of the opposite sex. She had sexual needs and so did I. Emotions were never involved on either side. I can't say that I'm particularly proud of it, but she's a stunning and sexual creature, and I am just a man."
"That's just it, Dane," she tried to explain again. "In your business there will always be women like Ruby Gale."
"God forbid!" he muttered.
"Please, I'm serious," Pet insisted.
"But none of them will be you. Can't I get it through your head that I love you? It isn't just desire or physical gratification. It's love."
His mouth closed onto hers to convince her of the difference. Pet became quite enchanted with his efforts as his weight pressed her onto the soft bed of sand. She was breathless and starstruck when he finally transferred his attention to the hollow of her throat. She splayed her fingers through his dark hair, quivering as his hands worked deftly at the buttons on her blouse.
"Do you think this is a proper behavior for a lady?" she whispered with a trace of teasing amusement. "Letting a man make love to her on a public beach? After all your lectures, Dane Kingston, what will people think if they see me?"
"Dammit, Pet!" He started to get angry, then laughed. "I have champagne chilling in my room." He kissed her hard. "And if you dare say a lady wouldn't go to a man's hotel room, I'll strangle you?"
She linked her fingers around his neck and gazed at him impishly. "Who ever said I was a lady?"
