Affair Of Risk

by Jayne Castle

  "I know you think I should remember only that you got me to surrender willingly, but that's not the way I'll recall that night, Case," she told him evenly. "For me that memory will always be mixed up with the casual destruction of the wall against fear I spent two years building. Every time I think of you, I will remember that you were the one who showed me I had only created an illusion for myself. Do you honestly expect me to forget what you did tome?"

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  If Kendra's common sense hadn't denied it, she would have sworn that the emotion that flickered in Case's right eye was one of pain. Whatever it was, it disappeared beneath the exasperated irritation that gripped him. He gave her a small shake.

  "Apparently the memory of what happened between us isn't completely obliterated by the fact that I didn't let you clobber me!" he snapped. "You obviously had plans to continue reestablishing normal relationships with men!"

  "What are you talking about?" She gritted, angry at his typically masculine approach to the issue. He was incapable of understanding exactly what he'd done to her.

  "I'm talking about Norris Webb, dammit! You were leading him up your stairs tonight, remember? Anxious to show him how you've blossomed lately?"

  "What a disgusting thing to say! Norris has often come in with me after an evening out! We're business partners, not lovers, although I don't see what difference it should make to you!" she blazed.

  His fingers dug into the nubby fabric of her dress, and she saw the taut lines of tension around his mouth. "It makes a great deal of difference. You and I are lovers, and I know it probably sounds outdated, but I have no intention of sharing you with your business partner!"

  "For your information," she mocked furiously, "one night in bed does not make us lovers!"

  "How about two nights?"

  Before she fully realized his intention Kendra was in his arms. Hard and sinewy with the warm strength she remembered so well, his embrace swept her close against the roughened texture of his suit jacket. She inhaled the faint spicy tang of an expensive after-shave mixed with the clean, male scent of him, and the tantalizing combination made her quiver.

  "Case, stop it, please!"

  "No," he denied huskily, his deep voice sinking to a low, caressing level that stimulated her nerve endings. "I came down to San Francisco to talk to you, but since rational conversation is clearly out of the question, I'll try another method of communication!"

  "Why, you conceited, overbearing gang—gambler!" Kendra ripped out as he lowered his head to her mouth. She stumbled over the last word and changed it, but his grip tightened in warning.

  His lips closed on hers before she could whip up any more accusations. The kiss was not like the gentle, coaxing caresses she had known in Lake Tahoe. This time he meant to bring her to heel in the quickest possible way.

  She made an attempt at struggling, knowing in advance that it would be useless, as indeed it was. He only held her more securely, one arm wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her side. With his other hand he gently but firmly fixed her head in place. As his mouth moved hungrily, heavily on hers the memories of the night in Lake Tahoe flooded back, driving out her fierce resentment.

  "I know you don't think I'm good enough for you; that you've automatically classified me as some sort of lowlife because of the way I make my living," he rasped harshly against her mouth. "And now you resent me because I made you face reality. But none of that is going to keep you from melting in my arms again the way you did the other night!"

  "No, dammit, I won't—"

  The rest of her words were muffled as he took advantage of her parted lips to probe the heated honey of her mouth. His tongue assaulted with seductive menace, tangling with hers until she moaned and trembled in his grasp.

  "Did you really believe I'd let you walk away from me so easily?"

  "What do you want from me?" It was a plea. Kendra's lashes were tightly shut against the overpowering pleasure of his touch, as if by not looking at him she could pretend he didn't exist.

  "A great many things, Kendra Loring. A great many things."

  She felt her feet leave the floor, and her mind whirled with momentary dizziness as he lifted her into his arms. Her eyes flew open as she clutched instinctively at his neck.

  "This won't make any difference, Case. I'm not going to get involved in an affair with you!"

  "You already are," he murmured simply, starting down the short hall.

  There was no trick to finding her bedroom in the one-bedroom apartment, and Kendra felt a kind of helpless rage as he used his foot to open the door to the darkened room.

  "You really do like the finer things, don't you?" he growled in amusement as he settled her lightly on the bed and moved his hands deeply into the thick fur throw on which she lay. "But don't worry, honey, I can afford them."

  "How dare you!" she said in soft outrage, pulling herself into a sitting position as he stripped off his jacket.

  "If I weren't a little reckless at times, I probably wouldn't be where I am tonight," he retorted, his mocking grin a slash of menace in the dim light.

  She tried to move, sliding across the heavy fur, but he

  was much faster. Case sat beside her, clasping her ankle in one hand while he eased off his shoes before she could get more than a few inches away.

  "Case, if you have any consideration for me at all—"

  "Oh, I do!" he vowed humorously, his fingers going to the buttons of his shirt.

  "Then kindly remember that I haven't been seeing anyone seriously in two years!" she snapped. "Other than the other night I haven't—haven't been with anyone. I'm not prepared, for God's sake!"

  "Do you think I haven't thought of that?" he soothed gently. "In fact, there's a possibility that you're already pregnant, isn't there?"

  Kendra swallowed heavily, throwing one arm over her eyes in despair. The idea of again going through that trauma of waiting and hoping that she wasn't pregnant sent a cold shudder through her. She had been deliberately repressing the thought. She'd been lucky two years ago, but what if she . . .

  "Hey, honey, it's okay," Case whispered huskily, pulling her protective arm away from her face and gently stroking the side of her cheek as he smiled reassuringly. "What happened the other night is past. Tonight I'll take precautions."

  "Thanks," she said bleakly. "And what happens if it's too late?"

  "Then," he said calmly, lying down beside her and gathering her into his arms, "I'll take care of you." He eased aside the high collar of the white dress and pressed his lips to her throat.

  Kendra was so stunned by his cool words, she couldn't find the courage to ask if he meant by taking care of her that he'd pay for an abortion. She lay very still in his embrace, fighting for the uninterested attitude toward sex that she had felt for the past two years. But Case had

  demolished that barrier the other night, and tonight he was intent on reminding her of it.

  She felt the heat of his body, his naked chest crowding her into the fur. He was wearing only his slacks now, and she felt an irresistible urge to once more find the smooth muscles of his back with her fingers.

  "This time you're not going to run away after I've made love to you," he swore as he eased down the zipper of her knit dress, exposing her small, unconfined breasts. "This time we're on your territory, so there's nowhere for you to run!"

  "This won't make any difference in my attitude toward you," Kendra flung back as he found her nipple with his lips. She felt the exciting shock waves as he curled his tongue and then his teeth around the tip of her breast, hardening it into a peak of desire.

  "You might go on resenting me for a while, but you won't be able to deny yourself or me! I can deal with your resentment as long as I can make you admit you want me!""

  "Damn you—" But the cry was blocked in her throat as her skin began to tingle under his caresses. The white dress was pushed down to her hips and then off completely, along with her pantyhose. She was left in only her silky French
panties.

  "Did you think one night with you was going to be enough for me?" Case growled, his gaze flaming as he swept her body with it. His fingers lazed over her stomach in barely restrained anticipation, and Kendra twisted beneath his touch.

  "We shouldn't even have had that!" she whispered huskily as he slipped his hand just inside her panties. His lips were exploring the valley between her breasts, making their way slowly, enticingly down to the region just below her stomach.

  "Put your arms around me and say that again," he challenged thickly.

  She hesitated and then gave in tp the command, knowing already it was what she wanted. She would never be able to deny totally the attraction of this dangerous man. It had been there from the beginning when her eyes had met his gaze across the casino.

  The panties were stripped from her, and he scored his nails lightly along the inside of her thigh as she curled against him. When he traced his exquisite patterns ever higher and nearer to the dampening warmth of her, she moaned and sank her teeth into the bronzed skin of his shoulder.

  "Did you really think I'd let some other man have all this after I'd made you mine?" he growled as she inflicted the small pain. He retaliated by using his teeth gently on her thigh, sending a fierce wave of urgency through her.

  Kendra said nothing. She was beyond speaking coherently now, her mind and her body conspiring to surrender again to the ecstasy she had known once before with this man.

  He groaned as she writhed luxuriously against him, and she clenched her hands in his dark hair as he strung kisses along her hip, up to the curve of her waist, into her navel, and finally back to her breasts. All the while his hand never ceased its dazzling play, building her desire to a flaming, demanding height.

  "Oh, Case—Case ..." His name came in little gasps between her lips as she clung to him, her fingers dancing in excitement along his shoulders and down to his still-clothed taut, masculine buttocks. She kneaded the thrusting contours of his body, returning caress for caress as they left the shore and drifted together through the surging current of their mutual desire.

  When he rasped her name she took a deep pleasure in

  the evidence of his arousal, and her leg shifted on the thick fur with unconscious invitation.

  Abruptly he was pulling away from her, whispering softly as he did so.

  "Soon, sweetheart, soon. You drive me out of my mind, do you know that?"

  She heard him rid himself of his remaining garments, knew he fumbled for a moment longer in the shadows, and then he was back beside her on the fur throw rug, his hands plunging through her hair as he pulled it free of its clip.

  He loomed over her, settling his weight along her length, pulling her up into his heat and passion. She went to him willingly, holding him tightly as she experienced the exquisite shock of his claiming.

  "Oh, God, Kendra!"

  And then there was only the timeless present, the deep and primitive joy of surrendering to a man who understood the true nature of the desire he engendered.

  Kendra had told him before that, at its best, sex for a man came into the category of recreation. But she had been wrong, at least about this man. What swept over them both was too powerful, too potent a force to ever be termed recreation. It involved an entirely different level of communication, one she hadn't guessed existed before she'd met Case Garrett.

  And in the throes of his passion Case couldn't hide the depths of his need. She would have known if the sensation they were living through was affecting him to a lesser degree than it was affecting her. It might be only desire he felt, but it was a shatteringly intense emotion that captured her completely. She could no more have denied him than she could have forbidden the sun to rise.

  In a spiraling whirl, they clung together, temporarily losing themselves in each other as the sensual tension mounted. Case gripped her fiercely, crushing her breasts

  against the roughness of his chest, using his strength to set a pattern that lifted her higher and higher until she was begging him to terminate the enveloping desire threatening to consume her. "Oh, please! Please!"

  Her cry was both a command and a plea that seemed to arouse him even further. But still he held her to his rhythm, letting her twist and cling and arch beneath him but never letting her push him into the final frenzy.

  "Tell me how much you want me," he ordered heavily, his tongue circling her ear and creating unbearable pleasure. "I can feel your need, but I want to hear you tell me about it!"

  "I want you!" she moaned, her nails raking the length of his back in an agony of desire. "I want you so much!"

  "Swear to me there won't be anyone else!" he went on inexorably, his voice raw.

  "There is no one else! You know that, Case. You, of all people, know that!"

  "As long as we're together I want exclusive rights. I couldn't stand it if I thought you would let another man have you like this!"

  She didn't respond to that. She couldn't. She didn't even understand what he meant. How long did he mean to be her lover? Did he really think she could even contemplate this level of surrender with another man?

  She gasped as he suddenly increased the pace, taking her with him on a headlong flight to the finish line, sweeping past it, with her in his arms, into a shivering culmination of their passion. For Kendra reality faded to an indistinguishable speck in the distance.

  A long time later she became aware of a tender hand easing several curling tendrils of hair off her damp forehead. She stirred against the hard maleness and settled more deeply into the warmth.

  "Oh, no, you don't." The words were an amused, indul-

  gent chuckle above her head. "You're not going to go to sleep on me this time. I learned my lesson, young woman. This time we talk, first!"

  Kendra yawned like a cat and ignored him until he shook her gently into sleepy-eyed alertness. "I mean it, honey," he said more seriously, as she would have nestled back against his chest. "There are things you and I have to discuss!"

  "Like what?" she mumbled with a complete lack of interest, her fingers moving lazily along his chest.

  "Stop that," he ordered with a muffled laugh. "You're tickling me."

  "You probably deserve it." She shrugged, eyes closing again.

  "Come on, I can see this is hopeless!"

  "Where are we going?" she protested as he slid off the bed and reached down to pull her up beside him.

  "We're going to take a shower and wake you up so that you're able to carry on a serious conversation!"

  "I don't want to take a shower now," she explained carefully as he guided her toward the bathroom, which opened off her bedroom. She caught sight of the time as they passed a gold-and-glass-cased clock. "It's late!"

  "It's not even midnight."

  "I'm usually sound asleep by midnight!" she argued.

  "Well, I'm not. It occurs to me that one of us is going to have to adjust to the other's schedule." He grinned good-naturedly as he switched on the light in the bathroom and glanced around. "Good Lord, even in here! You're as bad as I am when it comes to interior decorating! What's your private fantasy, honey? Going back a couple of hundred years to an age of ballrooms and royalty that probably never existed?"

  "What's wrong with my bathroom?" she charged, coming awake at last to peer at the walls papered in a formal stripe in the traditional French Directoire colors of black

  and gold. A gold basin set in a marble counter and an elaborately carved gilt mirror added to the lush look.

  "Nothing, as long as the plumbing isn't two hundred years old, also," he placated.

  "I'll bet even the plumbing of two hundred years ago is better than what you're going to find on that South Seas island of yours when you eventually get there!"

  "How did you know I was going?" he drawled, sweeping aside the gold shower curtain and thrusting her gently inside. "Here, put your hair under this cap or we'll be up all night drying it."

  With a sigh, Kendra obeyed because it was easier that way. When the
hot shower finally brought her awake she realized she wasn't the only one standing in it.

  "Case," she asked abruptly, lifting her head finally and noting he had removed his velvet patch. "What happened to your eye?" At any other time she wouldn't have had the courage to ask such a personal question. But tonight it seemed all right for some reason.

  "A knife fight in Singapore," he told her laconically and ignored her instinctive flinch, turning his face into the water with relish.

  "What—what happened to the other guy?" she dared, her eyes flickering along his hard, tanned length.

  "Don't ask," he advised, his lashes closed against the force of the water. "It was a long time ago."

  "I thought you said you wanted us to talk," she muttered aggressively, as she realized she wasn't going to get an answer. Reality was coming back now, and she was beginning to assimilate the fact that she was standing in her shower with a man she would never have dreamed of associating with under normal circumstances.

  "I do and we will," he confirmed, his mouth crooking slightly at the corner as he turned, soap in hand, and began to scrub her vigorously. "But we're going to talk about the present, not the past."

  His soap-slickened hands moved over her intimately, sliding across her breasts and hips with the intimate, proprietary touch of a lover. Well, Kendra thought in confusion, that's what he is, isn't he? He'd made himself her lover. And what in hell was she going to do about it?

  In spite of his obvious pleasure in bathing her, Case made no move to initiate another session in bed. Instead she was thoroughly rinsed and dried with one of her gold towels until her skin glowed.

  When he finally released her, Kendra scurried out into the bedroom and found her quilted champagne-colored satin robe. She was safely wrapped in it, her hair brushed free down her back, when he emerged.

  "You'd better go put on some coffee or something or we won't be getting much talking done after all," he told her meaningfully as he stood there surveying her.

  His soft laugh followed her out of the room as she hurried away to follow his advice.