by Janet Dailey
His hands slipped beneath the material of her tunic and began sliding it up. Gina struggled weakly to interfere with his movements, but his touch was scalding against her bare skin.
"No!" she protested even as he succeeded.
Rhyder drew her onto her tiptoes, burying his mouth in the exposed hollow of her throat. A hand was tantalizingly near the lacy cup of her brassiere. White heat raced madly through her veins.
"You cast too potent a spell, Sea Witch." As he bent her backward, the moistness of his mouth followed the curve of her breastbone.
But it was his magic that was enthralling Gina. Her arms were gliding to his neck to curl her fingers in the ebony blackness of his hair.
It was with surprise that she heard herself say, "This isn't right."
Rhyder swung her off her feet and into his arms. "You are my wife, Gina," he stated huskily, looking down at her. "You belong to me."
In her heart she knew he was right and let her lips tell him so when his dark head bent to claim them. His strength became a thing to glory in and not fight, even in token resistance.
Later, when the heady rapture was receding under a cold wave of reality, Gina shivered and would have slid away. Rhyder's arm reached out to curve around the nakedness of her slender waist and draw her back to the warming heat of his body.
"This time there aren't going to be any tears, Gina," he told her as he gently shaped her to his side, her head resting on his muscled shoulder.
A SENSATION OF COOLNESS awakened Gina the next morning. She turned to find Rhyder and nestle against his warmth, but he wasn't there. The inner radiance glowing in her eyes was dimmed by the discovery. She sat up, unable to shake the nightmarish feeling of dread that this had happened before.
Her clothes were neatly folded and laid across a chair back. Certainly they were not where they had been left. She slipped from beneath the covers to dress with hurried motion. As she started to slip the scarlet tunic over head, she heard the sound of voices in another part of the apartment. For a moment, she was paralyzed by the chilling sensation of déjà vu.
Almost against her will, Gina was driven to the bedroom door leading to the outer hall, the thin top clutched in her hands. Hesitating, she finally reached out with a trembling hand and opened the door a crack, sufficient to let the voices filter through.
"I hope you know what you're doing." At the sound of Pete's voice, Gina's stomach did a sickening somersault.
"I know exactly what I'm doing," Rhyder assured him. There was a faint arrogance in his tone at being questioned. "You just stick to the legal end of this."
"From what you've told me about Justin and what I've seen for myself, I know he isn't going to like it," Pete replied, still unconvinced.
"He doesn't have to like it. He simply has to accept it, and he will," Rhyder said complacently.
"'Aren't you being a little premature?" Pete's skepticism hadn't receded. "You haven't even talked to Gina yet, or so you said."
"After last night, I think I can guarantee that her cooperation is assured." There was a smile in Rhyder's voice, but the sound of it didn't gladden Gina's heart. A tremor of agonizing pain quaked through her. "I've put a call through to my father to tell him the news."
"My God, it isn't even final yet!" came the protest.
"It's only a matter of time and a few signatures on a piece of paper," said Rhyder, dismissing his friend's apprehensive words of caution.
"Yeah, right," Pete agreed in a disgruntled tone, adding a sighing, "I'll talk to you later."
A door closed and Gina guessed that Pete had left the apartment. Quickly she shut the bedroom door, slowly releasing the doorknob so there would be no telltale click of the latch to betray that she had been listening. She walked hurriedly to the center of the room, her heart splintering at the knowledge that Rhyder was using her again.
This time it had been for a twofold purpose—to satisfy the lust she still aroused, and to entrap her with the love he must know she possessed for him and persuade her to convince Justin to agree to Rhyder's terms in the real estate transaction.
Footsteps approached the bedroom. Her back was to it and she quickly pulled the scarlet tunic over her head as it opened. Gina felt his gaze rest on her. For a split second she couldn't move, the sensation was so caressing. She recovered and twisted her hands behind her back to close the zipper.
His long strides eliminated the distance with casual ease. Her hands were pushed out of the way as his fingers took over the task. When it was done, his hands settled firmly on her shoulders.
Then Rhyder bent his dark head to nuzzle the curve of her neck. Gina breathed in deeply, closing her eyes as she tried to brace herself against the evocative caress.
"I was hoping you'd still be in bed," Rhyder murmured against the pulsing vein in her neck.
"I'm glad I'm not," her voice trembled as he found a sensitive point. "I've overslept as it is."
"It's barely nine o'clock." He turned her into his arms. Gina's mind wanted to resist, but her body eagerly allowed him. The brilliant blue light in his eyes weakened her knees. "It isn't an indecent hour to still be in bed."
"You're up," she pointed out, lowering her gaze to the collar of his shirt, starkly white against his mahogany tan." And dressed."
"Not willingly." His arms slid around her to draw her close. "Pete stopped over early on some business," he explained, and added, "if I'd thought, I would have hung a Do Not Disturb sign on the apartment door and we wouldn't be having this discussion."
"I'm glad you didn't hang out that sign." Her hands were resting on the muscled wall of his chest, wedging a small breathing space for her senses.
Gina was achingly aware that if it hadn't been for Pete, she wouldn't have known about the way Rhyder intended to abuse her love for him. For the second time in her life, she had been about to make an utter fool of herself over him.
"Why?" He tipped his head back to have a better view of her face.
"Because I'm due in the office. I'm a working girl, remember?" Gina forced the brightness in her answer.
"To hell with the office!" Rhyder slid a hand up to cup her chin, lifting her gaze from its hypnotic study of his shirt front.
His mouth closed over hers with a practiced ease, moistly persuasive as it probed the sweetness of her lips. The icy fear running through her veins had not completely entrusted her heart, and she found herself responding to the flawless technique of his kiss. His arms circled to crush her in an iron band.
He was a master in the art of seduction, and Gina's love made her even more vulnerable to his skill. She fought through the waves of rapture breaking over her senses and surfaced from his kiss, breathing raggedly as she managed to put a few precious inches of sanity between them.
"I have to go to the office," she insisted, staring at his shirt pocket, aware of the uneven rise and fall of his chest.
One arm still half circled her waist while his other hand rested on her rib cage, tantalizingly near the swell of her breast. His head was bent toward hers, his warm breath stirring the raven hair near her temples.
"Call them and tell them you'll be late," Rhyder instructed in a voice husky with desire.
Gina trembled at its message. "I can't do that." She lowered her lashes to hide the contradictory answer in her heart.
Sensing that her resolve was wavering, he lowered his head farther, lightly breathing into her ear and making her flesh tingle as he spoke. "Why not?"
His hand slid to cup the underside of her breast while his thumb began repeating a slow circle over the material covering her nipple until a hard button was formed.
The smooth cheek against her face carried the musky fragrance of after-shave lotion. The heady scent combined with the other erotic stimulants to nearly undermine Gina's will. The searing temptation was there to seek the hardness of his mouth.
With her last ounce of will, she dragged herself away from Rhyder, not stopping until she was several feet away. Sheer luck had directe
d her to the chair where the matching overblouse was lying.
"I doubt that my clients would understand the reason for my coming in late," she answered his question at last.
"Why tell them?" His low voice was caressing, reaching across the distance to continue his persuasion.
But Gina was far enough away to resist it, although she doubted she would have the determination to resist Rhyder if he followed his words up with more deeds.
"It isn't a question of telling them."
She picked up the blouse and draped it over her arm. She walked toward the door, unable to glance at the tousled covers on the bed or Rhyder. She was already too aware of the sensual undercurrents in the room.
"They consider their appointments with me to be vitally important," he didn't make any attempt to stop her when she walked through the door, only turned to follow. "I can't cancel them simply because…" Gina stumbled over the words that would spell out the reason in stark black and white.
"—because I want to make love to you," Rhyder finished for her.
The self-conscious glance she tossed him over her shoulder quickly ricocheted elsewhere at the knowing glint in his eyes. A faint pink rouged her cheeks at his easy boldness. He was confident of his power over her, and she had given him that power by letting him see the depth of her love last night.
No wonder he had been so certain when he had talked to Pete that he could get her to do whatever he wanted. And he might have if she hadn't overheard the conversation.
"Yes, that's it," she admitted, her footsteps unerringly carrying her into the living room. She spied her briefcase almost instantly. "The reason is a bit selfish."
"Selfish," repeated Rhyder, his gaze never left her for an instant as she retrieved her briefcase. Now he was between her and the apartment door. "After nine years, I don't think it could be described as selfish."
"Perhaps not," she conceded, although she knew his motives were purely selfish.
As she started to walk past him, he caught at her free hand just above the wrist. She stopped, not because of any restraining pressure in his grip but because his touch had the power to steal the strength from her limbs. Her heart rocketed under the glittering blue of his gaze.
"There are a lot of other attorneys in the firm you work for, Gina. Let one of them handle the appointment that can't be cancelled," he suggested.
His gaze never left her green eyes as he lifted her left hand and turned its palm upward to feel the sensuous caress of his male lips in its center. If it had been love instead of lust that prompted the compelling fire in his gaze, Gina would have agreed without an instant's hesitation.
But it wasn't. "I can't do that." She shook her head, fighting the sensations the hard tip of his tongue was arousing.
"If you were ill, someone would have to take over your clients. Or if there was a family emergency. And I'm your husband, Gina, in desperate need of you." Rhyder said it lightly but with no less meaning as he turned her hand over and kissed the gold band on her third finger, the ring he had placed there.
"No!" But the gesture nearly made her forget why she was refusing him.
Roughly he pulled her to his side as if he had lost patience with the gentle tactics that had failed to gain him his objective. Bending her left arm behind her back, he arched her against his hip, the hard muscles of his leg sliding between hers.
His mouth closed over hers, parting her lips in hungry demand. Gina was lost to the exploding force of his passion. At her surrender, he released her arm and let his caressing hands melt her flesh as easily as a flame melts wax.
Although her submission was virtually complete, Gina didn't let go of her briefcase, clinging to it tenaciously as if it were her self-respect.
"Gina, call your office and tell them you won't be in—all day," Rhyder ordered against her throat.
Her head was tilted back and to the side, allowing him freer access to the pleasure points along her neck. She glimpsed the gold wedding band on her finger.
Ignoring his command, she asked, "Did you ever tell your parents about me?"
The unexpected question lifted his dark head. A curious frown creased his tanned forehead while an alertness entered his eyes.
"Of course I did," he answered, his mouth twisting in a crooked smile. "That's a strange question. What made you ask?"
"I don't know," Gina breathed. "I guess I was wondering if I was a skeleton in your family closet."
His head dipped toward her parted lips. "No skeleton in our closet ever had such beautiful bones."
His mouth had barely touched hers when the telephone rang. Rhyder cursed beneath his breath at the interruption. Although partially releasing her, he retained a hold around her waist, drawing her to the telephone with him. He kept her firmly beside him as he picked up the receiver.
Gina was close enough to hear the operator's voice. "We have your party on the line now."
It was his father. She knew instantly, remembering his comment to Pete that he had put a call through to his father. And she knew she didn't have the composure to listen to Rhyder relating the news that he was about to close the deal on the real estate Justin was selling.
Not when he would have to veil the words in sentences where she wasn't supposed to guess the part he was intending her to play in it. Firmly she began to slip from his hold.
"Hello, dad," Rhyder said. "Hold the line a minute." He slid his hand down to cover the mouthpiece as he turned to Gina. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to the office," she stated.
"I'd forgotten what a stubborn little witch you are," he smiled grimly, but his glance slipped to the telephone receiver in his hand.
"I have work to do." Gina insisted taking advantage of the fact that he was torn between the desire to speak to his father alone and to have her stay. She glanced at the telephone in his hand. "So do you."
He gave her a long, hard look, then nodded. "All right, I'll see you tonight. I'll pick you up at your office."
"There's no need. I have my own car," she answered, only implying that she was agreeing to see him that night. In truth, she had no intention of it. She couldn't risk it.
As she started to turn away to make good her escape, he caught at her hand, saying, "If you're going to make me work all day at business, the least you can do is kiss me goodbye."
Hesitating, Gina pivoted back, pressing her lips to his for a warm but brief moment. It was more of a goodbye than he knew, and it tore at her heart. She moved quickly out of reach.
Rhyder chuckled softly. "You'll pay for that tonight," he said in warning at the briefness of her kiss. Then the smile faded from his eyes. "Seriously, Gina, we have a lot to talk about tonight as well as a lot of time to make up for."
Not the least among the items to be discussed would be Justin and the terms of the sale, Gina guessed bitterly. She simply smiled wanly in response to his statement and moved hurriedly toward the door. Before she reached it, she heard Rhyder speaking into the telephone.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, dad, but Gina was here… Yes, she's just leaving."
The rest of the conversation was lost to Gina as she stepped into the hallway and closed the door. It wasn't until she was outside that she realized she had no means of transportation. Her car was still parked in the lot near her office.
She paused beside an outdoor telephone booth, debating whether or not to call a taxi, before deciding that a brisk walk in the sharp September air was just what she needed to blow away the cobwebs spun by her emotions.
It was rather startling to hear the birds singing. She felt so dead inside. A scattering of leaves on the maple trees was tinged with crimson. To most, it would have been an indication of the autumn spectacle that approached the Maine flora. But the blood red shade only reminded Gina of the deep wound in her heart.
When she arrived at the office, she felt somewhat better from the long walk. Her heartache hadn't been resolved, but her determination not to let Rhyder use her had been strengthened
. During the day Justin telephoned her twice, each time insisting it was urgent, but Gina didn't accept the calls.
She dismissed the urgency of his calls with the reasoning that Rhyder wouldn't approach him until he had his discussion with her. And he still didn't know the discussion would never take place.
A few minutes before five o'clock, Gina hurried from the office building. Despite her assurances to Rhyder that he needn't pick her up, she was half afraid he would be waiting for her. She made it to her car without anyone trying to stop her.
But she knew it wasn't over. There was still tonight. When she didn't arrive at his apartment, she knew Rhyder would telephone. And when she didn't answer the phone, which she wouldn't, he would come over.
Even if she did answer the telephone, Gina knew he would never accept her refusal to see him and would come to her apartment anyway. When he did come, she would call the police. She would have no other choice. She didn't dare listen to him; she was too susceptible to his brand of persuasion.
Her plans were well thought out and certain to succeed in keeping her from any direct contact with Rhyder, but Gina didn't feel any sense of triumph when she arrived at her apartment building. She loved him and wanted only his love in return, but to be used was more than her stiff-necked Yankee pride—a trait she had inherited from her grandfather—could bear.
Melancholy deadened her footsteps as she approached the door to her apartment and rummaged through her handbag for the key. She inserted it in the lock, turned it and pushed, but the door didn't budge. She tried it again with no success, then self-consciously double-checked to be certain she hadn't accidentally stopped at the wrong door.
