Affair Of Risk

by Jayne Castle

urgency in his hold, only a light pressure that brought her onto his chest, still gripping the dress.

  Kendra's hair fanned out across his naked body, and his gaze flared as he felt the silky touch.

  "I wanted to take your hair down during dinner," he confessed with a small, very male grin. He plunged his hands into it. "I was wracking my brain, while you ate the duckling and drank my wine, trying to think of a way to talk you into staying the night."

  "I certainly never intended to do any such thing. I would never have come back here with you if you hadn't threatened to make things difficult at the hotel. Oh, Case! None of this should ever have happened! If you hadn't forced me to return this evening, I could have left in the morning with nothing changed!" she wailed helplessly.

  "I know you're going to hate me for saying this," he growled, "but I may have done you a hell of a favor this evening!"

  "You mean restraining yourself from raping me?" she said bitterly. "Thanks!"

  "I meant by having taken you down a peg or two before you got yourself in really hot water, you little idiot," he retorted, his hands sliding onto her shoulders and kneading them sensually. "I know this isn't a good time to ask you to see reason—"

  "Reason!"

  "But try and imagine how you'd be feeling now if you had tried your tricks on someone else who'd had as much back-alley experience as I've had but who didn't bother to curb his desire for revenge!"

  He was right. Knowing he was right only made things worse somehow.

  "Honey, you're an amateur. Your technique is good, but you lack real-life experience."

  "I seem to be getting that tonight!"

  His mouth twisted in acknowledgment of her heavy

  sarcasm. "You remind me of the guy who takes a few karate lessons and then starts wandering down tough streets with hundred-dollar bills hanging out of his pockets! No common sense. You bought yourself a feeling of power and didn't bother to consider the fact that there are other folks out here in the world with just as much of it and more. And in the last analysis you panicked."

  She dropped her face into her hands, which were resting on his chest. That accusation was probably the worst of all.

  Again his fingers moved caressingly, soothingly over her skin. "The real world isn't a safe practice mat, sweetheart. It's good to know how to protect yourself, but the best defense is to stay clear of trouble, not to welcome it with open arms!"

  "I didn't!" She lifted hurt, offended eyes up to his face. "What should I have done? How should I have gotten out of here tonight? I tried to talk my way out! You wouldn't let me go!"

  "You weren't in any danger, and I think you knew that," he countered, his mouth tightening. "I would have let you sleep alone tonight if that's really what you would have wanted."

  "That's not what was worrying me! I wanted to stay clear of you, don't you understand? I should never even have agreed to have dinner in the first place. Now you already know too much. . . ."

  "Hush," he breathed, stopping her lips with a finger. "Hush, Kendra. No more talking. Just calm down, relax."

  She wanted to argue, go on accusing him, anything to keep him from using his hands on her like this. But it was rapidly becoming impossible. Before, when she had been under attack, she had found a refuge for her assaulted senses deep in her mind by using an aspect of her training. It was a method of focusing one's inner will, and it had worked then.

  Now her senses no longer responded to her attempts to withdraw them. They were luxuriating in Case's gentle touch, beginning to rediscover greedily the beguiling masculinity slowly enveloping them. She knew that in spite of her deliberate reasoning to the contrary, she trusted Case Garrett. If he had wanted to hurt her, he would have done it already under the extreme provocation she'd provided.

  Earlier she had been intent on escape. Now she was still too stunned to think of anything except the moment. In that weakened state Case's sensitive, erotic touch was unbelievably seductive. She found herself longing to surrender to it and forget everything else, past and future.

  "I'm glad you like this part of making love at least," he whispered wistfully. "Because even when you were trying to murder me, all I wanted to do was kiss you and go on kissing you—"

  "I wasn't trying to murder you!"

  He laughed affectionately, pulling her surreptitiously a little closer and shifting her onto her side. Bracing himself on one elbow, he trailed a warm hand along the curve of her waist and hip, and then lowered his head.

  She didn't pull away from the kiss, nor did she try to remain passive beneath the slow, inviting touch of his mouth. She simply, completely, incredibly, gave herself up to the embrace with a long, tremulous sigh.

  The resistance went out of her, pushed aside by the wonder of Case's hands and lips. She would worry about the morning when it came. For the first time in two years she stopped thinking of the past and the future and of protecting herself both physically and emotionally. She wanted only to let the sensations ripple across her nerves, reawakening them, arousing them, comforting them.

  Case murmured Kendra's name thickly against her mouth, and then his tongue was moving hotly, passionately but with infinite control. He urged her response and after a moment it came. There ensued a fascinating little

  duel carried out in the secret cavern of her mouth, and all the while his hands continued to caress and excite. "Oh . . . !"

  Kendra twisted, dropping the tattered silk dress and spreading her hands across his chest instead. She heard him groan as her nails softly discovered the path of his black, curling chest hair, which tapered toward his lean waist.

  "You go to my head," he said, withdrawing reluctantly from her mouth and seeking the delicate tip of her ear. She felt his teeth sink into the skin with delicate finesse. It sent tremors throughout her whole body, and she knew he felt them.

  But the shivers weren't from fear this time, and she explored the pleasure they brought with growing exhilaration. Something exquisite and primitive uncurled in the region of her stomach, and her leg moved, seeking the hard roughness of his thigh.

  "That's it, little kitten, come close. I'll take care of you. You won't lack for anything." His hand smoothed over her hip, curving around one resilient buttock.

  Her fingertips clenched-into the thrusting muscles of his back as her body arched toward him, and once more she moaned, this time with undisguised desire.

  She felt him trace exciting patterns down to the inside of her thigh, using his leg to open her to him. She gasped when he finally touched the heart of her rising passion, her breath catching deep in her throat.

  Kendra opened her eyes very wide and assimilated the lambent fire in him, knowing it was beginning to rage again but was still safely in check. If she asked him to stop now, she knew he would.

  "Let me make love to you tonight," he pleaded, touching the tip of his tongue to the pulse at the base of her throat. "Please give yourself to me. I want you so badly!"

  "Oh, Case, I can't seem to think. . . ."

  "You don't need to think. I've done all the thinking for both of us. Trust me, sweetheart. Put yourself in my care. You want me, I can tell. I can feel the soft warmth in you waiting for me."

  She trembled again as he moved his hand erotically, sensuously at the juncture of her thighs, and she let him push her back into the thick white carpet. She had the momentary image of lying on white fur, and then he was coming down slowly on top of her, and she was reaching up to pull him close.

  "Kendra!"

  He rasped her name against her shoulder as he rained hot kisses down toward her breasts. She felt her nipples tauten into hard peaks as he circled the dark pink area around them with his fingers, and she lifted herself against his hand.

  His lips and tongue came down to replace his fingers, and a light-headed feeling swept her, dizzying and dazzling as she uttered his name and a plea.

  "Case! Case! Please . . . !"

  "Shall we be lovers tonight, sweetheart? Will you let me give you what I
'm longing to give? Take what I need?" "Yes, oh, yes, please!"

  Her eyes shut against the unexpected impact of pulsing desire, Kendra clamped her fingers into his hair as he moved slowly, gracefully, masterfully against her. She lifted her hips, curving herself around him, taking him into her with a possessiveness that would astound her later.

  "Ah ....!"

  She gloried as the passion finally broke free in him, plunging beyond control and pulling them both into the maelstrom they had created. Her nails raked through his hair, dislodging the velvet eyepatch and sending it flying onto the carpet. In that moment neither noticed.

  Then she was clinging to his strength, giving herself up to the wild rhythm, wanting only to please and be pleased. She didn't ask herself how this tender, engulfing passion could have ensued from the savage battle earlier. She didn't ask herself how a man who could threaten to kill another man, who could make his living in the shadowy world of gambling, who could virtually kidnap her, could also become a man full of restraint, finesse, and fiercely gentle passion while having sex.

  Those questions would come later. For now there was only the sensation of overpowering need, the feel of the thick carpet beneath her, the erotic weight of this man making love to her, and the driving desire. They combined to swamp her senses. She felt the wild, uncurling response as it struck through her body, and she cried out the name of the man creating it.

  It seemed to galvanize him into a last, exultant display of strength, tenderness, and power. Case gripped Kendra so tightly, his fingers digging urgently into the skin of her shoulders, she felt as if they were one being, and then she lost her breath for an instant. A violent convulsion shook her, sending her into a shivering reaction of pleasure such as she had never known.

  Her thick, impeded shout was lost in his mouth as he drained the shimmering energy from her and filled her with his own.

  Slowly, as if she were floating, Kendra came out of the intense, pleasure-filled world Case had shown her. She became aware of a warm, slightly rough palm moving over the curve of her stomach and thighs like a cat's tongue. A voice, Case's voice, spoke in her ear with the beguiling touch of a magician.

  "Sleep, my mystery lady. Don't try to come out of the fog tonight. Just go to sleep. The talking can come in the morning. "

  The temptation to obey the spell-creating voice was too much. Kendra sighed deeply, never opening her eyes. She felt herself lifted and placed onto the bed; felt his warm, damp body coming down beside her, and then she was asleep.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Kendra turned the key in the door of her Victorian town house with an incredible sense of relief. For the first time in hours she managed to shake off the sensation of pursuit.

  It was a ridiculous feeling, having no basis in reality. She had, after all, been safe since she had boarded her flight back from Lake Tahoe. Besides, there was no reason to think Case Garrett would have any particular desire to follow her. He'd gotten what he'd wanted. In his world, such brief encounters were commonplace. She had represented an amusing interlude that had temporarily intrigued him.

  The litany was the same one that had been going through her head since she'd awakened that morning in the huge white bed and found him asleep on the pillow beside her. The black velvet of his lashes replaced the missing eyepatch, concealing the empty ruin of his left eye. The darkness of his thick, tousled hair against the white pillow had been almost heart-wrenchingly attractive to her.

  He lay with the crisp whiteness of the sheet pulled only to his waist, and the bronzed skin of his chest and shoulders made her wonder how a gambler, a man of the night, ever got such a natural tan. Sunlamps, probably, she'd told herself with sudden disgust.

  Without allowing herself further thought, she'd slipped from the bed, forcing her mind to concentrate on nothing

  but escape. He stirred briefly as she slid, naked, off the bed, but he didn't awaken.

  Kendra wasted no time. Grabbing her suitcase, she'd hurried into the tropical living room. She'd pulled on her tweed skirt, copper-colored blouse, and her blazer. Snatching up her purse and coat, she'd let herself out the door, suitcase in one hand.

  Unlike the other, larger casinos, Garrett's was not open twenty-four hours a day. In the light of dawn she found it empty. The felt-covered tables stood silent, and the roulette wheel looked like a toy instead of the dangerous menace it could become. Wolf had been nowhere in sight.

  She'd found a cab to the airport, caught an earlier flight than she'd originally scheduled, and had landed in San Francisco in the rain.

  Never had the lush, yellow-gold and white interior of her home looked so welcoming. Kendra shut the door behind her and crossed the Oriental rug, which created an effective foil for the almost-French-style furnishings of the living room.

  A great deal of her profits from the employment agency in which she was a partner had gone into creating the luxurious, romantic surroundings. Twin banquettes, their white covers edged in gold fringe, framed the sweeping bay window. Gold pillows were artfully strewn on each. An ornate gilt mirror and a lacquered Queen Anne secretary added opulence to the room. French-style chairs and an elegant inlaid tea table provided another sumptuous touch.

  The French theme spilled over into the dining room, with its oval table beneath a small, delicate crystal chandelier. The bedroom had been done to create a charming study in addition to a sleeping area. A graceful lacquered desk and several bookcases occupied a portion of the room. Another large Oriental carpet extended from the

  sitting area into the section occupied by the wide, low bed. Across the bed was a rich fur throw.

  As with her clothes, Kendra indulged herself in her home. She made no apology for either. It pleased her, and she had no one else in the world to worry about pleasing except herself.

  The phone rang an hour later as she emerged from a hot, reviving shower.

  "You're back! Thank God! Tell me what happened, Kendra. Did he accept the check? Did he say anything about—about me?" Her cousin's anxious voice came over the line, conveying a picture of the delicate, small-boned creature on the other end.

  At twenty-six, Donna Radburn was a beautiful woman. Small, graceful, with a lovely profile, she was blessed with luminous green eyes, jet-black hair, which fell in a heavy curve to her shoulders, and a creamy complexion. She had an instinctive way of handling men that Kendra, in her younger years, would have dearly loved to imitate. There was a helpless, feminine quality about Donna that seemed to draw forth the protective instincts in most men. For a while it had seemed as if Austin Radburn had succumbed to the spell, too.

  "He took the check, Donna," Kendra said calmly, making up her mind that she would never tell Donna what had happened the previous night between herself and Case Garrett. But there were other things Donna should know. "There was a problem, though . . ."

  "What happened, Kendra?"

  "Someone followed me. He was sent by Austin to ask me questions about you." "Oh, God!"

  "I know. He didn't get any answers, of course, but we have to face the fact that Austin's aware that you might have contacted me. I think we'd better not meet too often

  until things are settled, and you'd probably better not come over here—"

  "Kendra, I'll go crazy if I can't talk to someone. Jason's already driving me out of my mind! If I don't have another adult—"

  "Calm down, Donna," Kendra soothed, thinking that she sounded, ironically, a bit like Case had sounded last night. "It's okay. We'll get out and do things so you won't get cabin fever. I'm just saying that we probably ought to be careful about you being over here. If Austin really thinks I know where you are, he's liable to hire someone else to watch the place or something."

  "You're right. I know you're right. I'll be so thankful when the divorce is final and I have that money. ..."

  Kendra drew a deep breath before saying very carefully, "Have you thought about what's going to happen when you do have the money, Donna?"

  "What do you mean?"r />
  "I mean, the divorce being final might not stop Austin."

  "With the money Dad left, I can afford to move Jason and myself halfway around the world. I can get lost until Austin gives up!" Donna declared firmly.

  Kendra wasn't so sure, but there was no doubt that her cousin knew Austin a great deal better than Kendra did. Perhaps Donna was right in her analysis. Perhaps Austin would eventually give up, especially after he knew Donna had her hands on the money.

  "Kendra, about Case Garrett . . ." Donna began hesitantly.

  "What about him?" Kendra asked stonily, not wanting to converse at all on that particular subject.

  "Did he . . . ask about me? Did he ask about the rest of the money?"

  Kendra heard the worried note in Donna's voice and again tried to calm her. "I told him he'd have the rest of it in a couple of months. He seemed to accept that."

  "I can't thank you enough for handling this for me. I was so embarrassed ..."

  "I don't see why. He wasn't angry or threatening about the money," Kendra observed with an effort to be honest about the matter. "I think he would have taken it from you without a fuss."

  "You don't understand," Donna sighed. "Things were so bad during the time I ran up that debt. I was feeling so terrible, so depressed. I did things I can't even believe now—"

  "There's no point in talking about it again, Donna," Kendra murmured, thinking of how bad Donna had really been. Her violent depression, her drinking, her gambling, and her attempted suicide seemed incredible to contemplate now.

  "I know. I just want to tell you how much I appreciate your facing him. I couldn't have done it—not after the way I behaved the last time I saw him!"

  Kendra frowned, wondering exactly what had happened, but she sensed Donna wasn't in a mood to go into detail, and Kendra wasn't sure she wanted to hear those details. Donna had been at a very low point in her life, reckless and wild and scared: Case Garrett was a man who knew how to soothe frightened women. No, Kendra didn't want to think about what might have happened between her beautiful cousin and Case Garrett.

  "Listen, according to the weather report, it's supposed to clear up this afternoon," Kendra said encouragingly, wanting to change the subject. "Why don't you take Jason out to Golden Gate Park? I'll meet you at the Japanese Tea Garden, and we can take him to the aquarium. He'll love that."