A Murderous Game (22 page)

Oh God, what was he doing? Didn't
he know she was ready? She'd never been so ready in her life. Why was he just
looking at her now? Oh, no. He'd lost interest but didn't want to hurt her
feelings.

Abby couldn't stand it. She
squelched a groan of frustration. She couldn't discern his expression as he
studied her face. He didn't want her. She knew it.

"Bored already?" She
tried to sound like it didn't matter one way or the other as her heart slowly
started breaking. Why had she allowed this?

"Terribly," he said.

She looked away, feeling as if he'd
slapped her, but it wasn't fair to blame him. She'd known better. Damn it.
She'd known.

"If I fall asleep," Gage
drawled, rubbing his thumb over her nipple, "just poke me, won't
you?"

Abby glanced away, trying to think
of a retort to mask the devastating pain. She would never let him know how much
it hurt, never. Swallowing the enormous lump in her throat, she looked at him
again.

He was smiling down at her. His
eyes were so full of warmth and humor it stunned her. She opened her mouth, but
there were no words. He started to laugh. A spurt of joy leaped through her.
Balling her fist, she punched him in the shoulder.

"What?" He laughed
harder. "Did I doze off? I could have sworn my eyes were open."

"I hate you!" She hit him
again.

"No you don't. You love me,
remember?"

"That was mean. You know how
nervous I am." She tried not to laugh but failed. She'd brought it on
herself.

Gage grabbed her hand before she
could hit him a third time and pulled it down to where the proof of his passion
rose high and hard. "Does that feel like you bore me?"

Abby bit back a joyous grin.
"Umm, not particularly."

He growled and pushed her into the
mattress. "God, woman, don't you know how much I want you? I want to bury
myself inside you and drive you up against this headboard. I want to start at
your toes and lick my way up your gorgeous body until I sink my tongue into
your intoxicating mouth. I've wanted to devour you all night."

Abby couldn't contain the laughter
bubbling up inside her. "Then why haven't you?"

"Because, you infuriating
little fool, after dreaming about making love to you for the last month, I was
hoping to savor the experience, not rush through it as if it were some damn
race to the finish."

She leaned up and kissed him.
"Thank you," she said, her heart swelling with love.

"You're welcome." He
leaned his forehead against hers. "Now, will you please trust me?"

"I do." She lay back down
against the pillow. She wanted to hug herself. She wanted to hug him. She chose
the second option. It was much more to her liking. Grinning, she looked at him
through half lowered lashes.

"Well?" She arched a
brow.

Gage frowned. "Well
what?"

"Are you going to start
savoring or should I go down to the kitchen for some whipped cream to go with
that?"

He gave a shout of laughter, and
wrapping her in his arms, covered her mouth with his. Then he savored. He took
his time and he took her with him. He took her into a world of pleasure she
never could have imagined. He drugged her, with his words, with his hands, and
his mouth. Over and over he took her up until she knew he couldn't take her any
higher. But he did—beyond the moon, beyond the stars, to a galaxy where nothing
existed but the two of them. He took her to heaven.

~~~

She lay on her side, warm and sated
in his arms, exactly where she belonged.
His
.
Gage rested his chin on the top of her head, her hair silken soft against it,
the satin skin of her back caressing his chest. He was content. Deeply,
exhaustingly, achingly content.

After the night they'd shared, she
could no longer have any doubt about her desirability. He smiled.
Twice in one night.
Damn, the woman was passionate. He was a
sensual man. He enjoyed sex, but it had been so much more with her. He wasn't
an overly religious man, but what passed between them had been almost
spiritual.

He breathed her in, the scent of
their lovemaking clinging to her. She stirred and he pulled her closer, his
hand seeking her breast. She wiggled her hips backward against his stomach, her
very shapely little butt teasing his groin. He bit the inside of his cheek as desire
rekindled, and he grew hard again. At this rate someone would need to carry him
home on a stretcher because he wouldn't have the energy to spit.

"Are you awake?" Her
voice tickled along his nerves with husky morning newness.

"Umm
hmm."
He laid his cheek against hers. "Did you know you make
little squeaking noises when you sleep?"

She turned in his arms to face him,
and he rolled to his back, pulling her on top of him.

"Do not," she said with
the confidence of the oblivious.

Gage chuckled. "You do. And
when I do this," he said as he brushed his thumb across her nipple,
"you make this little grinding motion with your hips. I find it
very…arousing."

"You're so full of it. I don't
grind," she insisted, and smiled against his chest.

He tucked his chin to look at her.
"Oh yes, Abby my love, you most definitely grind." He tugged on the
hardened tip to prove it. Her eyes widened and he laughed.
"Told
you."

She pushed up and rolled off the
bed. "I'm going to make some coffee." Grabbing her robe off the chair
by the bed, she slipped it on.

"Don't you want to stick
around and see what happens when I lick your navel?"

Laughing, she started for the door.
"If you're done trying to embarrass me," she quipped over her
shoulder, "you can join me downstairs for breakfast,"

"Do you really have whipped
cream down there?"

"No." She laughed and
then smiled back at him as she disappeared into the hall.

Gage got up, spotted his boxers on
the floor and pulled them on. When he walked into the kitchen a few minutes
later, Abby stood in front of the counter with her back to him.

He crossed the floor and slipped
his arms around her waist, then looked down. She had Simms's card in her hand.

"How could
I.
. . or feel so happy, when—" She closed her eyes.

"Don't." Gage's good mood
disintegrated in a heartbeat. He tightened his arms. "We did nothing
wrong."

She pulled his hands away and,
grabbing the coffee carafe, walked to the sink and began filling it with water.
He knew by the stiff set of her shoulders she was withdrawing from him. Damned
if he'd let her do this to them now.

He crossed to the refrigerator and
pulled it open. Spotting a jar of strawberry jam he took it out. "Look
what I found." He held it up. Abby glanced over her shoulder, her eyes
dipping to the jar. "Not as good as whipped cream but I'll bet we could do
some interesting things with the chunks of strawberry."

She set the carafe in the sink and
turned around. "Stop it." She fisted her hands at her sides.
"Don't you understand? Dick's dead. The cops come to my house to tell me
my husband's been murdered, and an hour later I'm in bed with another man.
Doesn't that seem a little cold to you?"

"What seems cold," he
said, her reference to her ex a bitter slap to his pride, "is that you
made love to me all night, and now, after what that bastard did to you, you
stand there and refer to him as if he's still your husband."

The muscles in his jaw flinched.
"If all you feel this morning is guilt over betraying your dead
husband
,
maybe last night was a mistake."

He shoved his fingers through his
hair. Christ, what was he doing? He was jealous of a dead man, and if he didn't
get a grip, he'd say something he didn't really mean and couldn't take back.
"Look, maybe I should just get out of here until you figure out what you
want."

"No!" Her head jerked up.
"Please, don't go." She looked at him, tears swimming in her
beautiful eyes. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I didn't mean it
like that." She blinked then reached up and dashed a hand across her
cheek.

Gage cursed silently.
So much for offering her comfort, you ass
.

"It's just…when I saw the
detective's card on the counter, it…I don't know. Dick's dead, and I'm a
suspect, and—" she glanced up. "I'm sorry, please don't be hurt. A
lot's happened in the last twelve hours. I'm confused, that's all, but please
don't go." She closed her eyes and swallowed. "I don't want you to
go. That's one thing I'm not confused about."

Gage's anger melted like spring
snow. She looked so damn vulnerable. He crossed the floor and set the jam on
the counter.

"You're right." He pulled
her into his arms. "A lot's happened." He rubbed her back, making
small circles up and down along her spine. "But nothing you should feel
guilty about. I'm sorry, too, for just now but not for last night. Do you think
after what Dick did, you owe him anything?"

"No. But I didn't want him
dead."

"Of course you didn't. So stop
punishing yourself for it." He lifted her chin and gazed down at her. God
help him, he really did love her. "The next couple of weeks aren't going
to be easy. There'll be a lot of speculation and not just with the cops. The
press will be all over this. Things could get ugly. There may even be
accusations that, if you let them, could turn you against me."

He cradled her face in his hands.
"But I promise you, Abby, if you'll trust me, everything will turn out all
right. And when all this is over, I'll make you the happiest woman alive."

"And what happens when you get
caught in the crossfire? If the cops find out you stayed here last night, or if
we continue seeing each other, you could become a suspect, too."

Gage rubbed his thumb along her
jaw. "First of all, I can guarantee they already know I spent the night.
Baker might be a rookie but Simms isn't. And I became a suspect the minute I
walked through your front door last night."

"That's not right. They have
no reason to suspect you. If they start harassing you just because of your
friendship with me, well, I won't let them." She narrowed her eyes,
looking about as dangerous as a day old kitten.

"What are you going to
do?" he asked, ready to haul her against his mouth and drown her with a
flood of kisses. He wanted to carry her back upstairs and make love to her
again until she cried with pleasure. She looked like she wanted to hit someone.
All because she worried the police might consider him a suspect.

"I don't know." She
twisted her mouth into an adorable little scowl.
"Something!
They just better leave you alone, though." She glanced up and caught him
grinning. "Did I say something amusing?"

Gage took in the determined chin,
the flashing emerald eyes, and his heart swelled. "I love you."

She stared back at him for several
seconds, a kaleidoscope of emotion playing across her face. He waited for her
to make some quip in an attempt to avoid what neither of them had the power to
stop. She laid a hand against his cheek, and in a voice as warm and smooth as
fine aged scotch, she sealed her fate. "I love you, too."

CHAPTER
TEN

"
N
o comment."
Abby's hand trembled as she swiped her identification badge through the card
reader. What would happen if she just turned around and started swinging? She
was angry enough to do it.

Ever since the press picked up on
Dick's murder, they'd made it their life to make
her
life hell. Wasn't
it enough they'd camped out at her townhouse all weekend? Did they have to
stalk her at work, too?

When the phone calls started early
Saturday morning and didn't let up, Gage had spirited her away to his penthouse
for the remainder of the weekend. The only people who knew where she'd gone
were Rachael and Detective Simms, whom Gage had notified so the man didn't
think she'd skipped town.

As she waited for an elevator, Abby
closed her eyes and tried to force a calm that had become increasingly more difficult
to maintain. When she got to her office, she went straight to the phone and
without thinking about what or why, dialed Gage's office.

It amazed her how quickly she'd
come to rely on his support. He'd stayed with her again at the townhouse last night
and spent it making her forget everything but him and the wonderful things he
did to her body.

"Hello Grace, this is Abby
Carpenter. Is Mr. Faraday in?"

"He's in a meeting, but I'll
buzz him."

As busy as he was, it would be
selfish to interrupt him just because she longed for the soothing balm of his
voice.

"No, don't interrupt him. It's
not that important. I can talk to him later."

"Not unless you want me to
lose my job. He instructed me to put any calls from you through
immediately."

Within seconds Gage came on the
line. "This is Faraday." Abby was about to apologize for interrupting
and tell him she'd talk to him later when he said, "You must be psychic. I
was just thinking about you."

She twirled in her chair and faced
the corner window where a shaft of sunlight spilled into the room to play
peekaboo
with a horde of dust mites.

"You were not. You were in a
meeting. I told Grace I'd call back, but she put me through anyway. I really
shouldn't keep you."

"I most definitely was, and as
to the other, you have no choice." He made it all sound very businesslike,
and she realized whomever he'd been meeting with must still be in his office.

"About keeping you?" She
smiled into the mouthpiece.

"Correct. That's
non-negotiable. If you try to back out now, I'd be forced to take drastic
measures. Now, was there any other reason you called?"