A Scandalous Melody (8 page)

His nostrils flared, the veins corded in his neck. “You know what I want,” he moaned. “But you need to lead the way this time. Take charge,
chère.
It's your move.” He took his hands from her hips, waiting for her.

All of sudden she recognized what he was doing. He had turned over complete control. He'd put her in the position of power, forcing a decision on what would give them both the most fulfillment. She could pick up the pace, slow it down or quit altogether.

Ohmigod. No one had ever deliberately given her so much control—over what happened, over herself—never in her entire lifetime.

Always in her past, she'd had to sneak around to get what she wanted. Sometimes she'd begged. Sometimes she'd lied. Other times she'd had to coax, like she'd done with Chase earlier tonight on the veranda.

But now here she was, free to make a choice openly. For the very first time in her life. And of all people
in the universe, it would have to be Chase who had elevated her status in this way.

She wasn't too sure why he'd done it. But it was clear that he was the only one whose gift of control could've meant so much.

Blinking back tears, Kate made her move. She eased her hips down and took him a little deeper.

Chase groaned. Kate heard herself chuckle at his need, enjoying her new power game. She watched his face and saw the wildness and frustration of holding back, gleaming in his stainless-steel eyes.

“I thought you liked taking things slow,” she teased.

He reached up and palmed her nipples, kneading, begging with just a touch. “You're killing me here,” he moaned in a husky, on-the-verge-of-losing-it voice that surprised her.

Bending double, Chase took one of her achy peaks into his mouth and suckled hard. It sent Kate right over the edge. She quickly gave up her new control as the sensual lust-filled haze captured them both in tender talons. Control stopped mattering.

Slow became fast. Torment became gratification.

Kate jammed down hard and sat straight up, taking him fully inside her body. Chase gasped. His breathing started coming in short staccato bursts.

His hips jerked and surged higher, intensifying the pleasure for both of them. She raised up slowly then slammed back down, matching him thrust for thrust.

She tried to keep her eyes trained on his face as the pressure inside built to bursting. But as both of them grew slick with sweat, their eyes glazed over with need. Lost in the moment, the two were completely
oblivious to the sounds of their own primitive howls of mating.

Too soon, but unable to hold it back, Kate closed her eyes and arched, letting the overpowering climax take over. Her internal muscles clenched around his erection and she relished each squeeze. Wave after glorious wave dashed them on a precious shoreline.

She felt Chase's climax explode as he threw back his head and roared. He reached up, pulled her into a tight embrace and dragged her down against his chest. Together they circled on and on in a crazy whirl-pool…rushing toward a more dangerous place than they had ever been before.

 

When Chase finally managed to breathe normally again, he rolled to one side, taking Kate with him. He tucked her close to his body. When she snuggled in and her whole body relaxed against him, he was floored by how vulnerable he felt.

He stared up at the ceiling and had a flash of that same gut-punching need he'd experienced the night of their strip poker game. As hot for her as he still was at the moment, his body's overriding mandate seemed to be geared more toward protection. To keep her safe and warm in the circle of his embrace.

Son of a… Why?

Kate hadn't been the wronged person in their past relationship. She had betrayed
him.
Lied and schemed to get him out of town. He shouldn't trust her at all. She could obviously protect herself.

But the niggle of a memory long forgotten pushed at his conscious mind. He didn't want to think back to their
youth. Especially not now. He didn't want to face the humiliation and anger he'd felt back then—ever again.

Want to or not, the question about her motives latched on and refused to be dismissed. Why had she wanted him to leave town badly enough to lie to the sheriff about what had happened that night?

He'd been so angry and so emotionally injured for the last ten years that he'd refused to think about her motives. Now he couldn't stop thinking of them. What good had it done her to send him out of town in that particular way?

If she'd been the spoiled little rich girl he thought he'd known, she could've just as easily put her nose in the air, told him they were finished and then walked away without all the melodramatics.

Kate moaned beside him and pressed her lips to his neck, bringing his mind out of the past and back to the present with a rock-hard thud.

Her breath was soft and sultry as she whispered against his skin, “Is it still my turn to control things? If so…”

She reached out, closing her fingers around his immediately hardened erection. He hissed, sucked in air and forced himself to repack the baggage of yesteryear. He willed his mind to forget about everything—except the here and now.

Chase surrendered to the furious need to be one with her once more. There was a vague feeling of danger, pulsing inside him and urging him to name the terms of their affair. But he didn't care.

Sudden hunger raged, demanding to be set free. His heartbeat raced. When Kate pulled his head to her breast, begging him to suckle, his mind went totally
blank. Without words, she was pleading with him to stir their shared passion to the boiling point again.

He decided to answer the question first. “It's still your choice,
chère.
What do you want?”

Kate shrieked with delight and twisted beneath him. “Hot and fast,” she insisted with fervor.

Chase gave in to the haunting fury howling for release inside him. Grabbing both her wrists, he dragged them over her head and pushed into her body on one long, fast thrust.

She called his name with a whimper and begged with a smile. Chase gladly complied as he swung her knees over his shoulders, going straight to the depths of where he'd longed to be.

Her heartbeat drummed a steady beat in his ears. Her sighs of pleasure sounded a loud demand in his soul.

Taking another breath, he let the familiar scent of her play havoc with his senses.
His
Kate. His everything.

They joined together throughout the night, behaving as though they were one sole entity. Reaching for each other over and over, they gave no thought to what their joining might mean. Or to what price would have to be paid for ignoring the lessons of the past.

But off in the swamp, on a midnight-black wind, the gypsy knew. And she welcomed it.

W
ith her hair pulled back in a tightly wound ponytail, Kate wielded the spatula in the same way a swashbuckler might thrust his rapier. Shaking her head and cussing under her breath, she wondered how on earth Shelby ever managed to control the ancient stove that inhabited the plantation's kitchen.

Kate seldom did any cooking, but today she had awoken in a domesticated and homey mood. And making breakfast for Chase seemed like just the right thing to do.

But the pancakes she'd been attempting kept burning around the edges, even as their batter remained uncooked in the middle.
Et là,
she swore. Giving up, she threw out that batch and poured another. What would a sunny Sunday morning be without pancakes?

No matter whatever else she did, Kate's mind re
fused to stay focused on the job at hand. Her head was swimming with images of a sensual night with Chase.

Erotic daydreams filled the corners of her mind—quite pleasantly. She couldn't believe that she was really going to be Chase's mistress. Even if her days with him would be limited, every fantasy she'd had for ten years was finally coming true.

She vaguely remembered that as a teenager he'd been a patient and tender lover. Whoo boy. He was so far beyond that now it was incredible. Their bodies responded to each other with breathless passion. And they fit together as if they'd been built from heavenly specifications designed explicitly for mating.

Erotic visions of his urgent touches and echoes of his scandalous whispers pushed aside her usual good sense. They struck a blow, as well, to all those other subconscious warnings of impending disaster that she should've been heeding. Kate was slowly being stripped of normal inhibitions, leaving her wide open and way too vulnerable.

Oh, back in the furthest reaches of her mind, she knew that to him this was all just sex. And just temporary sex, at that. Soon enough Chase would make a final decision about the mill and then he would be gone. Off to the next casino or business in need of new management.

Kate felt fairly confident that she would be able to live through his leaving this time. She'd managed to keep on going through her devastation the last time around—and through much worse, too. But this time, although she was so much stronger now, Kate wouldn't have her home and family business to fall back on. And after last night, she wondered if she would ever be able
to get another full night's sleep without being cradled in Chase's arms.

Sighing, she caught the faint whiff of something burning and looked down at the pancakes, curling black around the edges on the grill. Damn.

“Making charcoal,
chère?
”

She jerked, swore and dropped one of the pancakes on the floor. Glaring over her shoulder at Chase standing in the doorway, Kate watched as he moved toward her with a bemused look on his face.

“Five-second rule applies,” he said with a grin. Grabbing the spatula from her hand, he flipped the pancake off the floor and back onto the griddle.

“Chase, what on earth…”

Shoving his hip into hers, he nudged her aside and began flipping pancakes like a pro. “The heat will kill any germs. Set the table, Kate. These will be done in a second.”

“You know how to cook pancakes?” She stepped over to the silverware drawer but sneaked a look back at him.

This morning he had dressed in sexy, light-blue jeans and a work shirt with its long sleeves rolled halfway up his arms. The muscles on his forearms bulged as he worked. His wonderful chestnut hair was dark and wet from a shower, and he smelled like citrus aftershave.

Her hunger turned from food to more erotic pursuits in a flash.

“Of course I can cook,” he told her with a smirk. “To manage employees properly, you should be able to do every job in the joint. Since I own and run both casinos and restaurants, I know how to cook, deal cards, reset
the slot machines, purchase supplies…even wash the dishes.”

He flipped a couple of pancakes onto a plate and handed it to her. “You hungry?”

She was, but not for food. He looked good enough to eat this morning, and that image was blinding her to anything else.

Chase poured a couple more pancakes out on the griddle. “Go ahead and start without me,” he urged when she just stood there watching him. “Don't want yours to get cold. The next ones will be done in a minute, anyway.”

Sitting down at the table, she kept her eyes trained on his back. He was so spectacular. Efficient, not afraid of a little work and sexy as hell.

A tiny bud of hope sprang in her breast. Maybe if she told him the truth of what happened that night ten years ago, he would be able to forgive her. Then she might have a chance of remaining his mistress, no matter where he went from here.

Surely Chase would admit that the sex between them was better than just good. In fact, somewhere in the mist of the erotic haze that had wiped her mind clean last night, she remembered him saying something exactly like that.

Calculating her chances for success at getting his forgiveness, she decided to find just the right time to tell him the truth. If he did forgive her, she might be able to keep them together for a while longer yet.

But she still had no intention of ever telling him the entire truth of the past. That would hurt them both too much to bear.

Nor would she be saying anything anytime soon about how she had always loved him. She'd read and heard from other women that there was no surer way to lose a man than to hold commitment over his head. And Chase had already reacted badly to what he'd called her “invisible strings.”

So she swore to keep her love a well-guarded secret.

Time. Kate needed a lot more time with him before they parted. And more time was all that mattered to her now.

 

A half hour later Chase got up from the table and moved in behind Kate at the sink. She was humming to herself and washing dishes at the same time.

Lost in her own world, she stared out the kitchen window at the spring sun beating down on the green lawns and gardens. The wild ebony curls that she'd tried to tame into a tight tail swayed back and forth as she swung her hips in time to whatever song was playing in her head. And for some reason the sight of that tail drove him crazy with lust.

The short white shorts she wore cupped her bottom and rode up her cheeks as she moved. From this close, he caught the scent of her, camellias and gardenia, the same as always. Those smells had haunted his life for twenty years. As a teenager, he'd thought them old-fashioned. Then as an adult, thinking of them at all made him angry, reminding him of betrayal and humiliation.

This morning those scents were giving him a savage hunger to take her right here—in the kitchen, despite the fact that they'd been making love pretty much constantly for the past twelve hours straight. His own stamina had surprised the hell out of him. But every time he looked at her…

He refused to give any serious consideration to the subject of just how much he wanted to make love with her again, however. It made her too important to his happiness—to his future. Kate was his history. He wanted a few weeks of her in his bed. After that, he intended for her to go right back into his past where she belonged.

But…there was lots of time yet. Time to enjoy being able to touch and to taste…to build her into a frenzy…then watch her explode just for him. Her face was so expressive, so full of life. He intended to be the cause of every emotion that filled those eyes and parted those full lips. It had become a kind of challenge.

Stepping directly behind her and sliding his arms around her waist, he dragged her up against his body. She sighed and leaned back against his chest.

Chase couldn't help himself, he bent his head and tasted the tender spot on her neck that he remembered drove her wild. She moaned and arched her back, giving his hands and mouth access to the places silently calling his name.

He inched his hands under her T-shirt, slid them up her rib cage and cupped her breasts. The tender weight of her in his palms spurred him on. He began rubbing her nipples right through the cotton bra, and thrilled to her moans in response. Furious heat rushed headlong to every inch of his body when she began to grind her hips back against the fullness that lay directly underneath his zipper.

He eyed the kitchen table and wondered if it was sturdy enough to hold them both, or if he should drag her to the floor with him instead. There wasn't much chance of them making it up the stairs to a bed.

Somewhere in the distance and through the lust clogging his brain, Chase thought he heard noises that hadn't been there a minute ago. One sound was like a truck's gears, grinding and straining close by.

Then another noise began penetrating through the thick sensual fog enveloping the two of them. He lifted his head and realized someone was pounding on the back door and calling Kate's name.

Dropping his hands and quickly stepping away, Chase tried to get himself under control as he strode slowly toward the kitchen door. He bit his tongue and surreptitiously adjusted his jeans. Close call.

When he opened the door, Shelby and Maddie smiled up at him. “Morning, Chase. There's a huge semitrailer coming up the allée. Tell Kate to come quick.”

“Hell,” he said under his breath. “I forgot.” But by then, Shelby and the baby had bounded off the back steps and disappeared around the corner of the house.

“Forgot what?” Kate asked as she appeared beside him.

One look at her, with her flushed face and hardened nipples straining up toward him, and he dammed near forgot his own name.

But he sucked it up and shrugged one shoulder. “I ordered a few things.”

“A few things? What kind of things?” She stuck her head out the door and stretched as though she could see around the solid walls to the front of the house.

“I guess I'd better go check off the bill of lading. Make sure it's all been delivered correctly.”

She folded her arms across her chest, frowned up at him and tapped a toe with feigned impatience. “What things?” she demanded. All the while she was obvious
ly trying to keep a straight face. She'd recognized that he'd been teasing, and was teasing him in return.

Her phoney frown made her look adorable and turned him on again. “Well, don't just stand there,” he said instead of grabbing her up again. He had to move. “Let's go see.” He had to get away from her heat.

Kate took a shortcut through the house and got there ahead of him. By the time he'd walked the distance around the house to the veranda, the delivery men were off-loading the first item. And the small audience that had gathered was all but holding its collective breath in anticipation.

“A brand-new John Deere,” Shelby said as it came off the truck. “Wow. No more babying that old relic, Kate. Think of that.”

“A new riding mower,” Kate whispered reverently. She looked astonished.

Good. He'd hoped she would be surprised. It was all he'd been able to think about yesterday at the dealer. Surprising Kate and getting her to smile.

But she didn't smile. Not yet. At that moment one of the men began to unload the other items Chase had ordered. Kate dashed from box to box, checking out all his purchases.

Finally she turned to him. “Chase, what have you done? Why…?”

She looked like a kid who'd been given a surprise day off from school. Another expression he'd never seen on her face before.

He fisted his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching for her. “Now that I own this plantation, I want to protect my investment. It's past time for somebody to fix this old place up.”

“Fix the place…” Kate spun around just as the ladders, paint and roofing supplies were being rolled down the truck's ramp.

She was stunned. Chase had bought the supplies necessary to fix up her family's home. Tears swam in her eyes, but she battled them back and reminded herself that the plantation no longer belonged to her family. Still, just being able to see the house and grounds brought back to their former glory would be a wonderful dream come true.

Kate turned to Chase, eager to ask about details. But the morning sun glared, making her shade her eyes.

“Who's going to do the work?” she asked with her hand against her forehead, blocking the light.

He shrugged. “I'd like to do some of it myself, but my time is limited. I'd thought…”

“Will you hire local contractors?” she interrupted. “There are tons of people without work in this parish.”

“You really have so little faith in my ability to bring the mill back to profit?” he asked soberly. But she could swear she saw a twinkle spark in his eyes and little lines appear around his mouth.

Damn. The man was teasing her again. She'd always believed he didn't have a playful bone in his body, and yet here he was with a glint in his eyes and the edges of his lips ready to turn up in an out-and-out smirk.

And the strangest thing was…he had actually said he'd planned to try putting the mill back in business. Her heart skipped wildly, but she vowed to stay calm. She needed more information.

Except—she couldn't stop the wide smile that crept across her face. “No, of course not. But even if you can
work a miracle for the mill, it will be months, maybe a year or two before everything can be up and running full force. In the meantime, couldn't you give a few people the chance to earn some money right here?”

Chase tilted his head and seemed to be seriously considering her question. Kate knew it was an act. He'd already made the decision and was still playing with her. But his new persona was intriguing. Who was this man?

“Well, yes,” he answered at last. “I suppose that would be more efficient than importing help from the city. But I don't have a clue who around here is best to hire for this kind of work. By any chance do you know a general contractor I can get to oversee the job?”

“Let me handle it,” she squeaked. Kate threw back her head and laughed. The first real laugh she'd managed in years.