[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
but trembling, brutally aroused by her own fantasy. Her pulse
was skidding along like skates on bumpy ice. "I was just "
"Look, you're all flushed."
He turned to get the pitcher of iced tea from the refrigerator,
and she rolled her eyes at his back. Flushed? She was flushed?
Couldn't the man see she was a puddle just waiting to be lapped
up?
ABC Amber LIT Converter http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
ABC Amber LIT Converter http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
He poured her a glass over ice, popped the top on a beer for
himself. "We've done enough for one day. I'm thinking steaks on
the grill. We'll see if you can put a salad together. Hey." He
reached out to steady the glass he'd handed her. "Your hands are
shaking. You've been overdoing it."
"No, I& " She could hardly tell him she'd just given serious
thought to biting his neck. Carefully she removed her glasses,
folded them, set them on the table. "Maybe a little. There's so
much on my mind."
"I've got the perfect antidote for overthinking." He took her
hand, pulled her to the door and outside, where the air was full
of heat and the heady perfume of roses. "A half hour of lazy."
He took her glass, set it on the little wrought-iron table beside
the rope hammock, put his beer beside it. "Come on, we'll watch
the sky awhile."
He wanted her to lie down with him? Lie down cupped with
him in that hammock, while her insides were screaming for
release? "I don't think I should "
"Sure you should." To settle the matter, he gave her a yank and
tumbled into the hammock with her. It rocked wildly, making
him laugh as she scrambled for balance. "Just relax. This is one
of my favorite spots. There's been a hammock here as long as I
can remember. My uncle used to nap in this red-and-white
striped one when he was supposed to be puttering around the
garden."
ABC Amber LIT Converter http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
ABC Amber LIT Converter http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
He slid his arm under her, took one of her nervous hands in his.
"Nice and cozy. You can see little pieces of sky through the
leaves."
It was cool there, shaded by the maples. She could feel his
heart beating steadily when he laid their joined bands on his
chest.
"I used to sneak over here a lot. Did a lot of dreaming and
planning in this hammock. It was always peaceful over here, and
when you were swinging in a hammock in the shade, nothing
seemed all that urgent."
"It's like being in a cradle, I suppose." She willed herself to
relax, shocked to the core at how much she wanted to roll on top
of him and dive in.
"Things are simpler in a hammock." He toyed with her fingers,
charmed by their grace and the glitter of rings. He kissed them
absently and made her heart turn over in her chest. "Do you trust
me, Bailey?"
At that moment, she was certain that, whatever her past, she'd
never trusted anyone more. "Yes."
"Let's play a game."
Her imagination whirled into several erotic corners. "Ah& a
game?"
"Word association. You empty your mind, and I'll say a word.
ABC Amber LIT Converter http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
ABC Amber LIT Converter http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Whatever pops into your head first, you say it."
"Word association." Unsure whether to laugh or scream, she
closed her eyes. "You think it'll jog my memory."
"It can't hurt, but let's just think of it as a lazy game to play in
the shade. Ready?"
She nodded, kept her eyes closed and let herself be lulled by
the swing of the hammock. "All right."
"City."
"Crowded."
"Desert."
"Sun."
"Work."
"Satisfaction."
"Fire."
"Blue."
When she opened her eyes, started to shift, he snuggled her
closer. "No, don't stop and analyze, just let it come. Ready?
Love."
ABC Amber LIT Converter http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
ABC Amber LIT Converter http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"Friends." She let out a breath, found herself relaxing again.
"Friends," she repeated.
"Family."
"Mother." She made a small sound, and he soothed it away.
"Happy."
"Childhood."
"Diamond."
"Power."
"Lightning."
"Murder." She let out a choked breath and turned to bury her
face against his shoulder. "I can't do this. I can't look there."
"Okay, it's all right. That's enough." He stroked her hair, and
though his hand was gentle, his eyes were hot as they stared up
through the shady canopy of leaves.
Whoever had frightened her, made her tremble with terror, was
going to pay.
While Cade held Bailey under the maple trees, another stood on
a stone terrace overlooking a vast estate of rolling hills, tended
gardens, jetting fountains.
ABC Amber LIT Converter http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
ABC Amber LIT Converter http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
He was furious.
The woman had dropped off the face of the earth with his
property. And his forces were as scattered as the three stars.
It should have been simple. He'd all but had them in his hands.
But the bumbling fool had panicked. Or perhaps had simply
become too greedy. In either case, he'd let the woman escape,
and the diamonds had gone with her.
Too much time had passed, he thought, tapping his small,
beautifully manicured hand on the stone railing. One woman
vanished, the other on the run, and the third unable to answer his
questions.
It would have to be fixed, and fixed soon. The timetable was
now destroyed. There was only one person to blame for that, he
mused, and stepped back into his lofty office, picked up the
phone.
"Bring him to me" was all he said. He replaced the receiver
with the careless arrogance of a man used to having his orders
obeyed.
Chapter 6
Contents-Prev |Next
Saturday night. He took her dancing. She'd imagined hunkering
ABC Amber LIT Converter http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
ABC Amber LIT Converter http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
down at the kitchen table with books and a pot of strong coffee
as soon as dinner was over. Instead, he swept her out of the
house, before she'd finished wiping off the counters, barely
giving her enough time to run a brush through her hair.
She needed a distraction, he'd told her. She needed music. She
needed to experience life.
It was certainly an experience.
She'd never seen anything like it. That she knew. The noisy,
crowded club in the heart of
Georgetown vibrated with life, shook from floor to ceiling with
voices and busy feet. The music was so loud she couldn't hear
her own thoughts, and the stingy little table Cade managed to
procure for them in the middle of it all was still sticky from the
last patron's pitcher of beer.
It astonished her.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]