by Diana Palmer
“Yes,” he said, as if her expression told him everything. And it did. She wanted him. She’d let him do anything he wanted to do, and he felt hot all over.
She moved against the seat, her body in helpless control now, begging for something, for more than this. Her head went back, her full lips parting, hungry.
He slid his arm under her neck, bringing her body closer to his, his mouth poised just above hers. He watched her as his hand moved, and his lean fingers slowly closed over her breast, taking its soft weight and teasing the nipple with his thumb.
She cried softly at the unexpected pleasure, and bit her lower lip in helpless agony.
“Don’t do that,” he whispered, bending. “Let me…”
His hard lips touched hers, biting softly at them, tracing them warmly from one side to the other. His nose nuzzled against hers, relaxing her, gentling her, while his hand toyed softly with her breast. “Open your mouth, baby,” he breathed as his head lowered again, and he met her open mouth with his.
She moaned harshly at the wild excitement he was arousing in her. She’d never dreamed that a kiss could be so intimate, so sweetly exciting. His tongue pushed past her startled lips, into the soft darkness of her mouth, teasing hers in a silence broken only by the sounds of breathing, and cloth against cloth.
“King,” she breathed under his lips. Her hands bit into his hair, his nape, tugging. “Hard, King,” she whispered shakily, “hard, hard…!”
He hadn’t expected that flash of ardor. It caused him to be far rougher than he meant to. He crushed her mouth under his, the force of it bending her head back against his shoulder. His searching hand found first one breast, then the other, savoring the warm silk of their contours, the hard tips that told him how aroused she was.
He forgot her age and the time and the place, and suddenly jerked her across him, his hands easing her into the crook of his arm as he bent his head to her body.
“Sweet,” he whispered harshly, opening his mouth on her breast. “God, you’re sweet…!”
She cried out from the shock of pleasure his mouth gave her, a piercing little sound that excited him even more, and her body arched up toward him like a silky pink sacrifice. Her hands tangled in his thick black hair, holding him there, tears of mingled frustration and sweet anguish trailing down her hot cheeks as the newness of passion racked her.
“Don’t…stop,” she whimpered, her hands contracting at his nape, pulling him back to her. “Please!”
“I wonder if I could,” he murmured with faint self-contempt as he gave in to the exquisite pleasure of tasting her soft skin. “You taste of gardenia petals, except right…here,” he whispered as his lips suddenly tugged at a hard nipple, working down until he took her silky breast into his mouth in a warm, soft suction that made her moan endlessly.
His steely fingers bit into her side as he moved the dress further down and shifted her, letting his mouth press warmly against soft skin, tracing her stomach into the soft elastic of her briefs, tracing the briefs to her hips and waist and then back up to the trembling softness of her breasts.
She found the buttons of his jacket, his silk shirt, and fumbled at them, whimpering as she struggled to make them come apart. She wanted to touch him, experience him as he was experiencing her. Without a clue as to what he might want, she tugged at the edges until he moved her hand aside and moved the fabric away for her. She flattened her palm against thick hair and pure man, caressing him with aching pleasure.
“Here,” he whispered roughly, moving her so that her soft breasts were crushed against the abrasive warmth of his chest.
He wrapped her up tight, then, moving her against his hair-roughened skin in a delirium of passion, savoring the feel of her breasts, the silkiness of her skin against him. His body was demanding satisfaction, now, hard with urgent need. His hand slid down her back to her spine and he turned her just a little so that he could press her soft hips into his, and let her know how desperately he wanted her.
She gasped as she felt him in passion, felt and understood the changed contours of his body. Her face buried itself in his hot throat and she trembled all over.
“Are you shocked, Tiffany?” he whispered at her ear, his voice a little rough as if he weren’t quite in control. “Didn’t you know that a man’s body grows hard with desire?”
She shivered a little as he moved her blatantly against him, but it didn’t shock her. It delighted her. “It’s wicked, isn’t it, to do this together?” she whispered shakily. Her eyes closed. “But no, I’m not shocked. I want you, too. I want…to be with you. I want to know how it feels to have you…”
He heard the words with mingled joy and shock. His whirling mind began to function again. Want. Desire. Sex. His eyes flew open. She was only twenty-one, for God’s sake! And a virgin. His business partner’s daughter. What the hell was he doing?
He jerked away from her, his eyes going helplessly to her swollen, taut breasts before he managed to pull her arms from around his neck and push her back in her seat. He struggled to get out of the car, his own aching body fighting him as he tried to remove himself from unbearable temptation in time.
He stood by the front fender, his shirt open, his chest damp and throbbing, his body hurting. He bent over a little, letting the wind get to his hot skin. He must be out of his mind!
Tiffany, just coming to her own senses, watched him with eyes that didn’t quite register what was going on. And then she knew. It had almost gone too far. He’d started to make love to her, and then he’d remembered who they were and he’d stopped. He must be hurting like the very devil.
She wanted to get out of the car and go to him, but that would probably make things even worse. She looked down and realized that she was nude to the hips. And he’d seen her like that, touched her…
She tugged her dress back up in a sudden flurry of embarrassment. It had seemed so natural at the time, but now it was shameful. She felt for the straps and pulled the bodice up, keeping her eyes away from her hard, swollen nipples. King had suckled them…
She shuddered with the memory, with new knowledge of him. He’d hate her now, she thought miserably. He’d hate her for letting him go so far, for teasing him. There were names for girls who did that. But she hadn’t pulled away, or said no, she recalled. He’d been the one to call a halt, because she couldn’t.
Her face went scarlet. She smoothed back her disheveled hair with hands that trembled. How could she face her guests now, like this? Everyone would know what had happened. And what if Wyatt should come along in the Jaguar…?
She looked behind them, but there was no car in sight. And then she realized that they were on King’s property, not hers. Had he planned this?
After another minute, she saw him straighten and run a hand through his sweaty hair. He rebuttoned his shirt and tucked it back into his trousers. He did the same with his evening jacket and straightened his tie.
When he finally turned back to get into the car, he looked pale and unapproachable. Tiffany glanced at him as he climbed back in and closed the door, wondering what to say.
“I’ll drive you home,” he said tersely. “Fasten your seat belt,” he added, because she didn’t seem to have enough presence of mind to think of it herself.
He started the car without looking at her and turned it around. Minutes later, they were well on the way to her father’s house.
It was ablaze with lights, although most of the cars had gone. She looked and saw the Jaguar sitting near the front door. So Wyatt was back. She didn’t know what kind of car he was driving, so she couldn’t tell if he’d gone or not. She hoped he had, and his cousin with him. She didn’t want to see them again.
King pulled up at the front door and stopped, but he didn’t cut the engine.
She reached for the door handle and then looked back at him, her face stiff and nervous.
“Are you angry?” she asked softly.
He stared straight ahead. “I don’t know.”
&nbs
p; She nibbled her lower lip, and tasted him there. “I’m not sorry,” she said doggedly, her face suddenly full of bravado.
He turned then, his eyes faintly amused. “No. I’m not sorry, either.”
She managed a faint smile, despite her embarrassment. “You said it had to happen eventually.”
“And you wanted it to happen with me. So you said.”
“I meant it,” she replied quietly. Her eyes searched his, but she didn’t find any secrets there. “I’m not ashamed.”
His dark eyes trailed down her body. “You’re exquisite, little Tiffany,” he said. “But years too young for an affair, and despite tonight’s showing, I don’t seduce virgins.”
“Is an affair all you have to offer?” she asked with new maturity.
He pursed his lips, considering that. “Yes, I think it is. I’m thirty-four. I like my freedom. I don’t want the commitment of a wife. Not yet, at least. And you’re not old enough for that kind of responsibility. You need a few years to grow up.”
She was grown up, but she wasn’t going to argue the point with him. Her green eyes twinkled. “Not in bed, I don’t.”
He took a deep breath. “Tiffany, there’s more to a relationship than sex. About which,” he added shortly, “you know precious little.”
“I can learn,” she murmured.
“Damned fast, judging by tonight,” he agreed with a wicked smile. “But physical pleasure gets old quickly.”
“Between you and me?” she asked, her eyes adoring him. “I don’t really think it ever would. I can imagine seducing you in all sorts of unlikely places.”
His heart jumped. He shouldn’t ask. He shouldn’t… “Such as?” he asked in spite of himself.
“Sitting up,” she breathed daringly. “In the front seat of a really elegant European sports car parked right in front of my house…”
His blood was beating in his temple. She made him go hot all over with those sultry eyes, that expression…
“You’d better go inside,” he said tersely.
“Yes, I suppose I had,” she murmured dryly. “It really wouldn’t do, would it, what with the risk of someone coming along and seeing us.”
It got worse by the second. He was beginning to hurt. “Tiffany…”
She opened the door and glanced back at his hard, set face. He was very dark, and she loved the way he looked in evening clothes. Although now, she’d remember him with his shirt undone and her hands against that sexy, muscular chest.
“Run while you can, cattle baron,” she said softly. “I’ll be two steps behind.”
“I’m an old fox, honey,” he returned. “And not easy game.”
“We’ll see about that,” she said, smiling at him. “Good night, lover.”
He caught his breath, watching her close the door and blow him a kiss. He had to get away, to think. The last thing he wanted was to find himself on the receiving end of a shotgun wedding. Tiffany was all too tempting, and the best way to handle this was to get away from her for a few weeks, until they both cooled off. A man had to keep a level head, in business and in personal relationships.
He put the car in gear and drove off. Yes, that was what he should do. He’d find himself a nice business trip. Tiffany would get over him. And he’d certainly get over her. He’d had women. He’d known this raging hunger before. But he couldn’t satisfy it with a virgin.
He thought about her, the way she’d let him see her, and the aching started all over again. His face hardened as he stepped down on the accelerator. Maybe a long trip would erase that image. Something had to!
Tiffany went back into the house, breathless and worried that her new experiences would show. But they didn’t seem to. Wyatt came and asked where she and King had been and she made some light, outrageous reply.
For the rest of the evening, she was the belle of her own ball. But deep inside she was worried about the future. King wasn’t going to give in without a fight. She hoped she had what it took to land that big Texas fish. She wanted him more than anything in the whole world. And she wasn’t a girl who was used to disappointments.
Chapter 3
“Well, King’s left the country,” Harrison Blair murmured dryly three days after Tiffany’s party. “You don’t seem a bit surprised.”
“He’s running scared,” she said pertly, grinning up at her father from the neat crochet stitches she was using to make an afghan for her room. “I don’t blame him. If I were a man being pursued by some persistent woman, I’m sure that I’d run, too.”
He shook his head. “I’m afraid he isn’t running from you,” he mused. “He took his secretary with him.”
Her heart jumped, but she didn’t miss a stitch. “Did he? I hope Carla enjoys the trip. Where did they go?”
“To Nassau. King’s talking beef exports with the minister of trade. But I’m sure Carla took a bathing suit along.”
She put in three more stitches. Carla Stark was a redhead, very pretty and very eligible and certainly no virgin. She wanted to throw her head back and scream, but that would be juvenile. It was a temporary setback, that was all.
“Nothing to say?” her father asked.
She shrugged. “Nothing to say.”
He hesitated. “I don’t want to be cruel,” he began. “I know you’ve set your heart on King. But he’s thirty-four, sweetheart. You’re a very young twenty-one. Maturity takes time. And I’ve been just a tad overprotective about you. Maybe I was wrong to be so strict about young men.”
“It wouldn’t really have mattered,” she replied ruefully. “It was King from the time I was fourteen. I couldn’t even get interested in boys my own age.”
“I see.”
She put the crochet hook through the ball of yarn and moved it, along with the partially finished afghan, to her work basket. She stood up, pausing long enough to kiss her father’s tanned cheek. “Don’t worry about me. You might not think so, but I’m tough.”
“I don’t want you to wear your heart out on King.”
She smiled at him. “I won’t!”
“Tiff, he’s not a marrying man,” he said flatly. “And modern attitudes or no, if he seduces you, he’s history. He’s not playing fast and loose with you.”
“He already told me that himself,” she assured him. “He doesn’t have any illusions about me, and he said that he’s not having an affair with me.”
He was taken aback. “He did?”
She nodded. “Of course, he also said he didn’t want a wife. But all relationships have these little minor setbacks. And no man really wants to get married, right?”
His face went dark. “Now listen here, you can’t seduce him, either!”
“I can if I want to,” she replied. “But I won’t, so stop looking like a thundercloud. I want a home of my own and children, not a few months of happiness followed by a diamond bracelet and a bouquet of roses.”
“Have I missed something here?”
“Lettie said that’s how King kisses off his women,” she explained. “With a diamond bracelet and a bouquet of roses. Not that any of them last longer than a couple of months,” she added with a rueful smile. “Kind of them, isn’t it, to let him practice on them until he’s ready to marry me?”
His eyes bulged. “What ever happened to the double standard?”
“I told you, I don’t want anybody else. I couldn’t really expect him to live a life of total abstinence when he didn’t know he was going to marry me one day. I mean, he was looking for the perfect woman all this time, and here I was right under his nose. Now that he’s aware of me, I’m sure there won’t be anybody else. Not even Carla.”
Harrison cleared his throat. “Now, Tiffany…”
She grinned. “I hope you want lots of grandchildren. I think kids are just the greatest things in the world!”
“Tiffany…”
“I want a nice cup of tea. How about you?”
“Oolong?”
She grimaced. “Green. I ran out of oolong a
nd forgot to ask Mary to put it on the grocery list this week.”
“Green’s fine, then, I guess.”
“Better than coffee,” she teased, and made a face. “I won’t be a minute.”
He watched her dart off to the kitchen, a pretty picture in jeans and a blue T-shirt, with her long hair in a neat ponytail. She didn’t look old enough to date, much less marry.
She was starry-eyed, thinking of a home and children and hardly considering the reality of life with a man like King. He wouldn’t want children straight off the bat, even if she thought she did. She was far too young for instant responsibility. Besides that, King wouldn’t be happy with an impulsive child who wasn’t mature enough to handle business luncheons and the loneliness of a home where King spent time only infrequently. Tiffany would expect constant love and attention, and King couldn’t give her that. He sighed, thinking that he was going to go gray-headed worrying about his only child’s upcoming broken heart. There seemed no way to avoid it, no way at all.
Tiffany wasn’t thinking about business lunches or having King home only once in a blue moon. She was weaving dreams of little boys and girls playing around her skirts on summer days, and King holding hands with her while they watched television at night. Over and above that, she was plotting how to bring about his downfall. First things first, she considered, and now that she’d caught his eye, she had to keep it focused on herself.
She phoned his office to find out when he was coming back, and wrangled the information that he had a meeting with her father the following Monday just before lunch about a stock transfer.
She spent the weekend planning every move of her campaign. She was going to land that sexy fighting fish, one way or another.
She found an excuse to go into Jacobsville on Monday morning, having spent her entire allowance on a new sultry jade silk dress that clung to her slender curves as if it were a second skin. Her hair was put up neatly in an intricate hairdo, with a jade clip holding a wave in place. With black high heels and a matching bag, she looked elegant and expensive and frankly seductive as she walked into her father’s office just as he and King were coming out the door on their way to lunch.
