by Mollie Molay
The hard veneer he’d displayed turned soft when he was alone with her. His values, when he’d spoken of Christmas mornings and gifts under the tree, appeared to be not much different from hers, no matter what he’d said. And not when he’d given her the Christmas gifts she might otherwise never have had.
Whatever else he may be, it was obvious Luke was a gentleman. And now that he’d heard her father’s wrath, he was obviously trying to be more circumspect than ever.
If she was going to experience THE GREAT AWAKENING, she would have to make the first move.
With or without Margo’s well-meaning hints.
If tonight was going to be the last one she and Luke would spend together, she yearned to know him in the biblical sense she’d been warned against. She knew, though, that if she gave in to her desire for Luke, the reality was that by morning she’d find herself alone.
From the luminous expression in her eyes, Luke sensed that part of what Arden was thinking mirrored his own growing desire. If she were anyone else, he could have probably talked her into something more than a goodbye embrace. But this was Arden. And it was her innocent naÏveté that deterred him.
He thought of his past relationships. Always temporary, never lasting. Not that he’d ever pretended otherwise. He might not always have behaved as a saint, but he liked to think he’d always been a decent man.
He noticed fragments of mistletoe that had been tossed in the air in the terminal and were scattered in Arden’s hair, a clear invitation to a kiss. And much more, if she’d only realized how tempting she was. Nothing in her background seemed to suggest she was aware of her latent sensuality.
He contented himself with gently picking the mistletoe leaves from her hair. He was taken by surprise when her hand unexpectedly reached to cover his. He could feel the growing air of expectancy crackle through the room.
He fought the tug on his heartstrings as he gazed down at Arden. Their mutual attraction aside, he was going to be in big trouble if the surprising, tender awareness he felt for her didn’t quit, or if it turned into something more serious.
“Tell you what,” he said into her silence. “I’ll just go on outside for a few minutes until you’ve showered and changed.”
“Yes, of course, maybe it would be better,” she answered. Her blush as she turned away was enough to light up the room.
He liked the way she walked, unconsciously swinging her hips. He liked the way the bright overhead lights highlighted the golden glint in her hair. In fact, he liked everything about Arden.
Visions of holding her in his arms in the borrowed bridal negligee grew stronger as he gazed after her. He stirred restlessly as his body reacted to the thought.
“Call out when you’re ready,” he replied, pulling his overcoat more closely around him to hide his physical reaction. “I’ll be right outside the door.”
He breathed a sigh of relief when the door to the roomette closed behind him. A fragment of a sermon he’d once heard in an American evangelist church down South America way came to mind. “Get thee behind me, Satan!”
As far as he was concerned, taking Arden in his arms and making love to her would have the more likely result of visiting Heaven than Hades. He cursed softly. At the rate he was going, it looked as if he was never likely to find out.
“Gotcha!”
Luke snapped out of his sensuous reverie. With his hands in his coat pockets to simulate guns, Hoyt stood there grinning at him.
“Hey, don’t worry,” the beady-eyed man said slyly when he’d gotten Luke’s attention. He took out his hands and turned them palms up to Luke to show there was nothing in them. “I was only kidding. This ain’t the time I was talking about. I just wanted you to know I haven’t forgotten you.”
“And I haven’t forgotten you, either,” Luke spat out between cold, hard lips. Damn the man! The warm mood of the moment before vanished as if it had been snuffed out by the snowstorm outside the terminal. “You can bet your life on it. And if you keep this up, you will be betting your life!”
“Got your girl inside, I hear.”
Hoyt’s raised eyebrows and suggestive smile fed Luke’s fury. Only the time and the place and the need to protect Arden kept him from smashing a fist into that shifty smile on the guy’s face. “That’s none of your business!” he answered, clenching his fists.
“Hey, back off, I was just joking.” Hoyt threw up his hands again and broke into a broad, satisfied grin. “But I wouldn’t mind having a sample of what the lady has to offer. Must be really something to interest a guy like you.”
“I’ll give you ten seconds to get out of my sight,” Luke answered, levering himself away from the door behind him. “If I catch you hanging around here again, I won’t wait for a better time and place. And when I get through with you, there won’t be enough left of you for a hearing to keep you out of prison.”
“Not with that briefcase you have chained to your wrist, you won’t,” Hoyt said defiantly. “What’s in there, anyway?”
“’Nothing that would interest you,” Luke replied. “Why don’t you crawl back into your hole until your supplier arrives?”
“Who told you I was waiting for my supplier?” Hoyt’s grin abruptly disappeared. His eyes narrowed, his face hardened into a dark scowl. “You’re going to have to prove it!”
“You just proved it,” Luke answered. “If I wasn’t sure of it before, I’m sure of it now.” He took a menacing step closer to Hoyt. “Now get lost while you still have two unbroken legs.”
“Oh, yeah?” Hoyt sputtered. “But you’d better watch your back. And your lady friend’s, too.”
Luke drew a deep breath to control his anger as Hoyt swaggered away. Taking care of Arden’s safety was already number one on his priority list. He swore to be more watchful than ever.
“Luke!” He heard Arden call through the door.
He shook off the feeling of dread that came over him at the sound of her voice. Hoyt had been right. There wasn’t much he could do to protect Arden with the damn briefcase getting in the way.
For Arden’s sake, maybe he’d have to reorganize his priorities.
He opened the door to the roomette expecting to find Arden snugly in bed. Instead, he found her waiting for him gowned in an outrageous confection of silk and lace designed to drive a man out of his mind. The music box tinkled in the background, Santa rode his sleigh across its red lacquer cover. The sensuous fragrance of soap and perfume filled the air.
Satan had surfaced to tempt him in all his glory. Suddenly Luke wasn’t sure he had the strength to put temptation behind him. Not with the inviting smile on Arden’s face. Did she realize what she was doing to him?
“I figured you’d be in bed by now, g-getting some rest,” he stammered, closing the door behind him. On second thought, he turned back and checked the locks. After his latest run-in with Hoyt, he would have thought a sexual encounter would have been the farthest thing from his mind. But it wasn’t. Gazing at the willowy Arden, he suddenly became willing to gamble with the devil.
She was a mixture of mischievous young girl and seductive woman. A combination of innocence and naÏveé, of innate courage and of feminine independence all at the same time. The antithesis of any woman he’d ever met in his travels around the world.
Fortunately for Arden’s sake, he thought dimly as he fought to control his raging testosterone, she didn’t know what she was doing to him. Surely, her background must have sheltered her from the more sophisticated times she was living in. And from knowing men like himself.
She needed a husband who understood the woman who had blossomed in front of his eyes tonight, he told himself before he let himself get carried away. A man who loved her enough to allow her the freedom to continue to grow, to appreciate the wonderful bundle of womanhood that was Arden.
She deserved the best to introduce her to what the evangelist had called carnal knowledge. Honesty reminded him he wasn’t it.
Arden gazed back at Luke with a hei
ghtened sense of awareness. She could tell that whatever his experiences with women had been in the past, he was wary of her. Even after she thought she’d issued a clear invitation.
It was time to put the first of Margo’s tutelage into practice: “Get him to talk about himself. Men love it when they think you’re a good listener. And while he’s talking, start the touching.”
Touching?
Talking Arden understood, she’d listened to John talk about himself long enough. But touching? With Luke dressed in a suit, tie and overcoat? Just where was she to touch?
“There’s time enough to rest later,” she said as she slowly walked toward him. “I thought we could talk a little first.”
“Talk? Now?” He swallowed hard as he stared at Arden’s swinging hips. They were even more enticing in a sheer negligee than they’d been under her sweatshirt. “We’ve done nothing but talk all night.”
“Yes, but not enough,” she answered. “Maybe that’s the trouble. All you’ve ever told me is why I should forget I ever met you. But if I’m never going to see you again, the least you could do is to tell me a little more about you.”
“For heaven’s sakes, why?”
“To give me something to remember you by,” she replied softly.
Luke backed away. A few more inches and they would be toe to toe, head to head and chest to chest. Her perfumed scent wafted through the air, her rosy flesh shone through pristine lace to add to the temptation.
He swallowed the lump that rose in his throat and hurriedly put the briefcase between them. She might be unsophisticated and, he suspected, a novice to seduction. But pretty soon she was sure to realize how much he was aware of her.
“It’s getting kind of hot in here, isn’t it?” he asked as he loosened his tie and drew his hand across his forehead with his free hand.
“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” Arden replied, her gaze fixed firmly on his chest. “Why don’t you unbutton your suit jacket?”
Unbutton his jacket? Luke blinked. Definitely not! It would be taking off the armor he’d intentionally surrounded himself with through the years to keep from feeling too much, caring too much.
“And maybe your shirt?”
“Thanks, no. I’m not that warm,” he answered warily as he noted the growing interest in Arden’s eyes.
“Then tell me a little about yourself,” she asked. “What were you like when you were growing up?”
Grateful at the new direction in which things were going, Luke breathed a sigh of relief. Temptation was sure as hell easier to avoid as long as he was fully dressed. He was willing to talk about anything as long as it wasn’t the subject of unbuttoning his clothing.
“I was raised in a small town in the mid-west,” he began, forcing his thoughts off Arden and the fixed way she was studying his chest. “My dad had a drugstore and expected me to take it over someday. I had other ideas.”
“You didn’t want to-become a pharmacist?”
“No. I guess I was much the same then as I am now,” he answered, deliberately fighting the desire to satisfy the need in her eyes. And to hide the one coursing through him.
He tried to concentrate on the daredevil young boy he’d been, not so different from the man he’d become. Confessing he might be less than a knight in shining armor didn’t come easily. But there was that something about Arden that made him want to tell the truth.
“I was sure there were exciting adventures waiting for me around every corner. You might say I made sure I found them or that they found me. Unfortunately, I can’t say I was proud of them all.”
“Is that how you got the scar?” Her fingers slid gently across the scar on his chin and lingered on his lips. It felt to him as if her fingers were sliding up and down his spine.
“I’m afraid so.” He had a whole lot more scars on his body and in his mind that he was just as glad she couldn’t see.
“We are a lot alike, then, aren’t we?” Arden said, gazing into his troubled dark eyes. “All my life I’ve wanted independence and more excitement and freedom than I had under my father’s care. But it wasn’t easy to break away. Until now.”
“I guess it’s different with girls,” Luke answered. Not that he was sure he was making sense after the way his thoughts kept focusing on the pink flesh peeking out from under Arden’s negligee. “At least my sister used to say so. She stayed home and married the boy next door. They run the drugstore now.”
He took a step backward. Another few inches and he’d be backed against the door.
“Yes,” Arden answered absently as she followed him. “I couldn’t bring myself to break loose. That is, until the time came for me to marry John.” She moved closer and reached for his tie. “Here, let me help you with that.”
Luke swallowed hard. He was a red-blooded man responding to a sexy woman. The feathery touch of her fingers brushing against his chin wasn’t doing a damn thing to cool off that blood.
“Say, it’s almost three-thirty in the morning,” he said, grabbing her hand before she went too far. He had to keep his clothes on if he was going to see this night through. “If you’re going to get any rest, you’d better hop into bed. I’m beat, too. I’ll just make myself comfortable here on the floor.”
Arden blinked. Margo’s instructions didn’t seem to be working. But then, maybe Margo’s idea of losing one’s virginity wasn’t going to work with Luke. She was on her own.
“Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”
“You bet.” The flustered look he gave her suggested that what he wanted to do and what he was going to do were two different stories.
A part of Luke told him to open the door and run. The other part of him wanted to throw his conscience to the winds and pull Arden into his arms. To caress the bare skin under the sheer robe, to inhale her fragrance, to savor every moment of the woman he’d come to care for.
Care for?
The shock of putting words to what his mind and his body were telling him hit him hard. Especially when he realized the truth was that he more than cared for Arden. And cared in a way that hungered for more of her than her body for the next few hours. To his surprise, he wanted to spend a lifetime with her in his arms.
“Now what are you going to do?” Arden asked, hesitating beside the bed. She’d been as up-front as she’d dared to be. Maybe she’d gone about it the wrong way.
“Move on to the next job,” he answered, his eyes averted. “Now, why don’t you call it a night?”
Arden gave in and slid under the covers. More to take the time to mentally review what was next on Margo’s list than to rest.
“You might want to turn your back,” she heard Luke remark. “I’m going to try to make myself comfortable.”
Next item on Margo’s list: “Get him to touch you. You’ll know the right places.”
Even Margo hadn’t dared to go into details, but Arden had a pretty good idea where those places were, judging from the way her body had responded to him.
Visions of bare bodies straining flesh to flesh rose before her eyes. She pictured wrapping herself around a hard, warm male body under a hot tropical sun. Of strong arms holding her, hard lips tasting hers. Of a hand touching her in places she could only dare to imagine.
And of a love nest burrowed in hot, white tropical sands. Of clear, blue waters that would cool her heated flesh.
When she finally dared to turn around, it was to find Luke stretched out on the floor. Although his left arm was still tangled in his overcoat, he’d managed to take it off his right shoulder and put it and the briefcase behind his head. He’d taken off his shoes. His coat jacket and the top few buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned.
“Are you sure you don’t want to join me?” she asked leaning over the edge of the cot, inches away from his dark eyes.
Luke smothered a groan. A habit of his lately, she noted with a smile of satisfaction. So he wasn’t immune to her, after all.
“Arden, if I do,” he said tightly, “I’m afraid th
ere might be some consequences you might not want.”
“Consequences?”
“Come on,” Luke said bluntly, “surely you must have heard something about a man’s physical reaction when he gets that close to a woman as intriguing as you.”
Intriguing? No one had ever suggested she was intriguing before. Even John had never said anything as suggestive or complimentary. Not even in his more amorous moments.
“No, not much.” She carefully schooled her voice to hide the qualms she felt at what she was about to suggest. “But I’d like to learn more.”
Luke sensed how difficult it was for Arden to be so frank and honest with him. And he knew what might happen if he blew the moment. He’d been avoiding relationships for years, but tonight was different. Arden was different. He’d never known anyone like her. He closed his eyes, willing himself to remember the next few hours were critical.
“Arden, I’ll try be honest with you,” he managed to say as he smothered a groan of frustration. “I care for you, but not enough for a lifetime. I don’t think I’m the man to teach you the man/woman thing.”
“Well, I do,” she answered softly. “You, and only you. And only because I care for you very much. In a way I’ve never cared for any man before.”
The look in her eyes undid him.
Muttering a prayer, that he would be able to handle the situation without frightening Arden or scaring her off, he rose to sit at the edge of the bed. He vowed to himself he would be the tender lover she was entitled to. “You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Luke sensed Arden was ready to become a woman in every sense of the word. Some other man might use her and leave her emotionally bruised. Some other man might not realize the treasure that Arden was, but he did. He couldn’t face the idea of Arden with any other man but him.
He ignored the inner voice that urged him to run before he did something he might live to regret. But gazing down at Arden, he knew it was too late.
