The Passionate Lover

by Carole Mortimer

  There had only been one thing Shelby was adamant about, and that was that she wanted none of Gavin's money once she had been left alone. At his insistence she had opened O'Neal's shortly after their marriage, the salon attracting the rich and the famous, and she didn't want any more than that from him, knew that would only convince all the cynics that they had been right about her motives in marrying him. But Gavin had been just as stubborn, insisting that as his widow she was entitled to all that he had. She hadn't wanted or needed it, had desperately tried to think of a way to convince him that she didn't want his money. Finally he had taken pity on her dilemma and agreed to the suggestion that she now knew had made Kenny change his mind about marrying her. While she was Gavin's widow his millions would remain hers, as he wanted them to, but if she ever did decide to marry again—and Gavin had insisted that she should, that she was too young to be alone for the rest of her life—then the money would revert back to his two sisters.

  She had informed Kenny of that provision in Gavin's will the evening before the blizzard, believing it would be unimportant to him when he was obviously so rich himself. She had soon learnt how wrong she was about that, once he had got over the shock he had dropped her so quickly it had left her breathless. It wasn't even as if she were penniless, O'Neal's would keep her in relative comfort for the rest of her life, in fact she hadn't touched a penny of Gavin's money since his death. But what would still be hers once she married Kenny obviously hadn't been enough for him; Wendy had proved to be a much more profitable prospect when he considered his options.

  'No, not as your wife,' she answered him now. 'What a shock that must have been to you.'

  'That's an understatement,' he grimaced. 'All those months wasted!'

  'Yes,' she snapped. 'And all the time I thought how noble you were being by offering to live in London so that I could continue to run O'Neal's.'

  'I have to admit that the idea of living in London did appeal to me, but I can't have everything,' he shrugged. 'The Seymore ranch isn't anywhere near as big as this one, but at least one day it will be all mine.'

  'And Wendy's.'

  His mouth twisted. 'You've already said it yourself, Wendy does as I tell her. It was something I had to consider when I realised you weren't anywhere near as rich as I thought you were.'

  'So you sold yourself to the most amenable of us!'

  'Yes.'

  'God, I pity her,' Shelby shook her head disgustedly. 'But I'm grateful to her too, I could so easily have been in her place,' she explained insultingly.

  Kenny flushed angrily. 'Don't sound so self-righteous, I was the one who changed my mind— remember?'

  'Yes,' she shuddered at the lucky escape she had had. 'Thank you!'

  'My pleasure,' he drawled.

  'Maybe,' she snapped. 'But leaving me out in that blizzard was going a little far, wasn't it?'

  'I knew Kyle would find you,' he said without remorse.

  'You couldn't be sure of that,' she grated. 'It was pure luck that he did.'

  Kenny shrugged. 'You're safe now, and from the sound of it the two of you had quite a good time during those two days, so what are you making such a fuss about?'

  'Why you—'

  'Calm down, Shelby,' he bit out as he warded off her nailing hands. 'Can't you take a little teasing?'

  'Teasing!' she glared up at him. 'Your innuendoes about Kyle and myself, when he saved my life, are tasteless!'

  'Don't be so melodramatic,' he dismissed.

  'I could have died out there, damn you! And how do you think Kyle would react if he knew the real reason you abandoned me?' she flashed defiantly.

  'He would probably beat me to a pulp,' Kenny mused in an unworried voice.

  Shelby wrenched away from him, just his touch sickening her now. 'You don't seem very concerned at the prospect,' she eyed him with suspicion.

  'Because I'm not,' he smiled. 'You won't tell Kyle the truth about that day.'

  'Why won't I?' she said with indignation.

  'Because you no more want him to know the terms of your husband's will than I do,' he explained confidently. 'Kyle is already convinced you're a fortune-hunter.'

  'With a great deal of help—and misconception—from you!' she glared at him.

  'True,' he nodded. 'But do you think knowing the details of your marriage, the fact that your husband was very rich and so much older than you, will convince him to the contrary?'

  She flushed at his taunt. 'I loved my husband!'

  'I'm not disputing the fact,' he shrugged. 'In fact, having come to know you as well as I do I'm sure that you did.'

  'Well, then?' she challenged.

  'Do you honestly think the fact that you thought you were marrying the young and rich half-owner in a cattle ranch will make any difference to Kyle's opinion of you?'

  She went very pale. 'I would still have agreed to marry you if I had known the truth about you from the beginning, wealth has never been important to me.'

  'Unfortunately it's very important to me,' he drawled.

  'I know that now!'

  'There's no point in discussing that now, the point I'm trying to make is that Kyle will never believe you're uninterested in wealth. Who do you think he would believe if I were to tell him that was what we argued about that day?' he mocked. 'That I had finally told you the truth about myself and you had walked off. Do you think he would believe your version or mine?'

  She was breathing hard in her agitation. 'You know that isn't the way it happened,' she gasped.

  'Only the two of us know that.'

  She swallowed hard, feeling sick again. 'Why should you want to lie about it?'

  His mouth twisted into the ugly caricature of a smile. 'Because something did happen out there between the two of you, no matter how much you deny it. And I'm certainly not going to have you as a cousin-in-law.'

  'You needn't worry about that,' she scorned. 'Kyle doesn't think of me in that way.'

  'And you?' Kenny's eyes were narrowed. 'How do you think of him?'

  She daren't think of him in any way, knew that with this last threat Kenny had irrevocably closed the door on any hopes and dreams she may have had about Kyle and herself. They had been impossible dreams anyway, Kenny had just made them more so.

  She met Kenny's gaze unblinkingly. 'I think of him as the man who undoubtedly saved my life. I'll never forget that.'

  'Your gratitude is duly noted—and completely unnecessary,' Kyle rasped from behind them, causing Shelby to turn sharply, her face pale as she knew by the steely implacability in his eyes that he had misunderstood the statement and now imagined she had made love with him out of a sense of gratitude.

  How wrong he was about that. If she were grateful to him for anything it was because he had made love to her. She had loved Gavin, but they had been friends before they became lovers, had had a deep emotional relationship first, before the physical relationship. It hadn't happened that way with Kyle at all, she had become physically excited by him the way she never had been about another man, had grown to like and respect him after that. The physical awareness was there between them all the time, giving her a feeling of constant excitement, of expectancy. Kyle had taught her to live and love again in a way she had never dreamed of, and for that she would always be grateful.

  'I decided to join you for coffee after all,' he added harshly as she made no reply. 'I had no idea I would be interrupting a cosy chat between the two of you. Where are Helen and Wendy?'

  'All finished?' Helen appeared with a bright smile as if on cue, Wendy following her carrying the laden tray.

  'I think we are—aren't we, Shelby?' Kenny taunted challengingly.

  She was still shaken by Kyle's unexpected appearance and the wrong conclusions he had jumped to; answering vaguely, 'Yes, we've finished.'

  Wendy moved to put her arm about her husband's waist. 'Everything all right, darling?'

  Kenny smiled confidently. 'Couldn't be better.'

  'I think I'll take my cof
fee back to the study with me,' Kyle told Helen abruptly as she handed him the cup. 'I still have some things to do.'

  'You work too hard,' she chided.

  'Possibly,' he rasped. 'But it keeps the tax-man at bay.' He turned on his heel and left the room, not even sparing Shelby a second glance.

  'Poor Kyle,' Helen sighed. 'I'm afraid a lot of work has piled up while he's been away.' , 'If you're trying to make me feel guilty, Mother,' Kenny drawled, 'then don't bother. Kyle may work hard, but it hasn't been all work the last couple of weeks.' He gave Shelby a sly glance.

  She stood up abruptly. 'Excuse me. I think I'll go to my room.'

  'But you haven't drunk your coffee, dear,' Helen gave her a worried look.

  'I don't think I'll bother after all,' she dismissed. 'An early night would do me more good.'

  There was no argument from either Wendy or Kenny as she hurried from the room. But she didn't go up the stairs, instead she went to the back of the house, knocking on the door to Kyle's study before she had time to change her mind.

  'Yes?' The door was wrenched open within seconds, Kyle obviously not welcoming the intrusion.

  Shelby moistened dry lips. 'I wanted to talk to you.'

  'Oh yes?' He made no move to stand aside and let her enter.

  She nodded, determined not to lose her courage now. 'I wanted to explain what you heard me say to Kenny earlier.'

  'What I heard?'

  'Don't pretend you don't know what I mean, Kyle,' she said impatiently. 'You know exactly what I'm talking about.'

  'Do I?' he drawled, standing aside to let her pass him, closing the door before moving back to sit behind the imposing desk, instantly making things formal between them. 'Explain away,' he watched her with narrowed eyes.

  'Kenny was making innuendoes.' She gripped her hands together in front of her. 'About the two of us. I was just trying to convince him how wrong he was.'

  'After telling him earlier how right he was!' Kyle taunted harshly.

  'I didn't,' she defended heatedly. 'He was just being so unbearable, assuming that I still loved him and wanted to marry him.'

  'And you don't?'

  'No!'

  'The deep love you felt for him just died, hmm?' he derided tautly.

  'It didn't just die, he killed it!' she snapped. 'Or have you forgotten he's married to Wendy now?'

  'I haven't forgotten a thing, neither that or the fact that I'm still considered available.' His eyes were like chips of ice.

  'What is it about you Whitney men that makes you think you're irresistible?' she scorned angrily. 'I just came in here to tell you that no matter what you may think to the contrary, what conclusions you may have drawn from my conversation with Kenny, that I enjoyed our night together at the cabin.' She blushed at the honesty of her words, could see he was taken aback by them too. 'Now you can draw some more conclusions from that!' she added heatedly, turning to leave the room as quickly as she could with the hindrance of her injured ankle.

  She was breathing hard by the time she got to her bedroom, glad of the privacy to hide her blazing cheeks. She hadn't meant to be quite so frank with Kyle, but somehow he had just angered her into it. The way he angered her into most things!

  But she wasn't going to lie about that night, and no matter what else stood between them, she had wanted Kyle to know how she felt about it.

  The fact that her forthright statement still made her blush was beside the point.

  She turned sharply as her bedroom door opened quietly, her defences rising as Kyle entered the room, instantly on her guard against any caustic comments he cared to make.

  'I gave what you said some thought,' he told her softly, standing just inside the room. 'And the conclusion I came to,' he moved stealthily towards her, his gaze holding hers, 'was that I enjoyed that night too.'

  It was so far from what she had been expecting him to say that her mouth fell open in surprise.

  He stood in front of her now, the warmth of his body and the smell of the woodsy aftershave he wore reaching out to her senses. 'In fact,' his strong hands clasped her arms, pulling her body into his, 'I enjoyed the experience so much I'd like to repeat it.'

  Shelby felt as if all the breath had been knocked from her body, staring up at him with wide eyes as she felt the evidence of his arousal against her thighs, unable to move away from him, unable to speak.

  'Say something, Shelby,' he lightly mocked her dumbstruck expression. 'As you have already pointed out, we're both adults, there's no reason why we shouldn't enjoy the time together that you have left here. Is there?' The last was added harshly, as if he still slightly mistrusted her.

  He was offering her a brief affair—and she knew she was going to accept the offer with both hands! 'No reason at all,' she agreed huskily, curving her body even more intimately against his. 'Can I tell you now how much I missed you this last week?' She gave a tentative smile.

  'Did you?' His lips were at her throat, moving with erotic warmth against the sensitive skin.

  'Too much to express in simple words,' she admitted raggedly, quivering with anticipation as his mouth continued to caress her throat and ears.

  'Then show me how much,' he invited gruffly. 'Make love to me, Shelby.'

  'Your aunt…?' she faltered. 'She'll know you haven't slept in your own bed,' she explained at his frowning look.

  'It's my house,' he told her arrogantly. 'I'll sleep where I damn well please. Show me how much you missed me!' he repeated roughly.

  It took her most of the night to do so, as with the knowledge of Eve she brought him again and again to the brink of fulfilment only to deny him the final pleasure. Finally he took the initiative, as she had known he would, for all of his self-control, and the time until dawn passed in a haze of sensual pleasure for them both.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Shelby knew that she would hate the impersonality of airports for the rest of her life, watching Kyle with longing eyes as he came back from the airport shop with a handful of magazines for her, unable to believe she was never going to see him again after today.

  Five days—and six incredibly beautiful nights—had passed since Kyle had come to her bedroom, and during that time her love for him had just grown, while he continued to show no emotion towards her other than the physical one, and that was a response he didn't attempt to hide from her during the night hours.

  Helen must have been aware of the fact that they were sleeping together, but the older woman said nothing to Shelby about it, and she felt sure she didn't mention it to Kenny either. He would have attempted to make her life a misery if he had known of her relationship with his cousin!

  And Kyle's and her own manners to each other before they reached the privacy of her bedroom at night couldn't be faulted, neither giving any indication that they were more than acquaintances. Shelby had taken her cue from Kyle after the first night, and it had continued that way.

  When she had suggested yesterday that perhaps she ought to think about going home now Kyle had raised no objections, had agreed that it seemed a good idea. He had even offered to drive her to the airport himself this morning after making her reservations for her the evening before.

  'Here,' he handed her the magazines now. 'Would you like to go and have a coffee until they call your flight?'

  What she would really like would be to cry out the misery of parting from him on his shoulder. But she simply nodded her agreement to the idea of coffee. 'That sounds nice.'

  Kyle smiled at the way she huddled down in her sheepskin jacket, his arm companionably about her shoulders as they went to the restaurant. 'I should think you'll be glad to get back to the milder English weather,' he teased as the waitress saw them seated.

  She felt like screaming at him that she wouldn't be glad to get back to anything in England, that she wanted to stay here, with him, for ever. Longer, if possible. But she said none of those things, gratefully warming her numbed hands around her coffee mug. 'It's certainly different from here,' she answ
ered noncommittedly.

  'I know,' he nodded, shrugging out of his overcoat as she did the same, the restaurant temperature too warm for such clothing. 'I went to university there.'

  Her eyes widened at this information. 'You did?'

  'I lived in London for four years,' he confirmed.

  She knew so little about him, their relationship the last week not allowing for conversations about their respective pasts, most of their contact purely physical. 'Did you like it?' she questioned eagerly.

  He shrugged broad shoulders, looking very handsome in the dark suit. 'As you said, it's different.'

  He hadn't liked it, she could tell, her excitement that he might one day visit London again fading as quickly as it had arisen.

  He leant back in his chair, totally relaxed, dark and virile. 'I did manage to make some good friends during my time there, though.'

  'Really?' Her interest sparked again. 'Do you ever visit them?'

  'Rarely,' he dismissed with a shake of his head. 'It's over ten years since I lived there.'

  Ten years, when she had still been at school. 'That is a long time,' she said dully.

  'Yes,' he acknowledged. 'But if I should ever happen to be in London again maybe I'll look you up.'

  For another affair? Probably. But she wasn't proud, she would accept any crumb he cared to throw. 'I'd like that,' she nodded, knowing it was probably as remote a possibility as it snowing in August in England. But it was better than nothing!

  'I'm sorry things didn't work out for you here,' Kyle suddenly said softly. 'You and Kenny weren't right for each other, but I'm sorry you were hurt.'

  The disillusionment she had suffered over Kenny was nothing to the pain of having to leave Kyle. But she knew he wouldn't thank her for saying so, that he wanted to keep their own relationship in perspective. And it had been no, more than just another affair to him.

  'I'll get over it,' she was talking about him, not Kenny. 'I—' the words became frozen in her throat as she heard her flight being announced, her panicked gaze flying to Kyle's face. His expression, as usual, gave away none of his feelings. 'I'd better go,' she said abruptly.