His Girl Friday (10 page)

She glanced up shyly. "I wanted to," she confes ed. "But it didn't seem fair to involve you."

"I don't mind being involved. Could it be anything to do with Jenny's new project?" he asked.

"I thought about that," she said. "I don't know. It's very hush-hush." She searched his eyes. "Could you ask your father?"

"For al the good it wil do, yes." He sighed heavily. "My God, I can't believe this. At least they struck when you weren't at home."

"Yes," she agreed, but Danet a was afraid they might try again when she was at home. She couldn't quite bring herself to say that. After al , what could he do? Stand guard over her? She couldn't put him in that position, it wasn't fair. He was only her bos .

"I thought you'd been with Ben," he said abruptly, staring down at her quietly. "That's why I was so hard on you this morning. I'm sorry." Her fingers touched his jacket lightly and she gazed helples ly at his sensuous mouth. "I don't feel that way about Ben," she replied. He liked the husky note in her voice. He bent and started to brush his mouth against hers, but she turned her face into his throat.

"Don't," she whispered unsteadily. "You've been with her."

His heart stopped and then started again. His chest lifted heavily against her breasts. "No, I haven't," he said gruffly. "Not in the way you mean." He tilted her eyes up to his.

"Not ever in the way you mean. I said what I did to get back at you for what I thought you'd done." It was something she shouldn't have said, but she couldn't regret it after he'd confes ed, with his pale blue eyes cutting into hers like that. Her breath came in tiny jerks and she couldn't tear her gaze away from his.

"You don't remember, do you?" he asked softly. "I told you yesterday that I don't sleep with Karol. I meant it. I haven't slept with a woman since before Christmas." She wanted to ask him why, she wanted to understand him so much bet er than she did. He'd told her that he wasn't real y a womanizer, but she was far too shy to-ask him personal questions, even when she was lying in his big arms.

"You aren't going to give yourself to Ben, are you?" he asked suddenly, his voice curt, his eyes demanding. "No!" she burst out. He sighed angrily and took a long drag from the cigaret e, his eyes drawn to the faint lift of her breasts under the soft fabric as she tried to breathe. "I shouldn't give a damn," he muttered. "It's none of my busines what you do when you're not in this office. But I do," he said huskily, lifting his eyes back to hers. "The thought of you with another man hurts me."

She stopped breathing for a second. "Why?"

"Don't you know?" He bent to her soft mouth. "I want you, honey," he breathed, parting her lips with tender expertise. "I want your first time to be with me—" His mouth moved slowly against hers, more deeply and hungrily by the instant, until the erotic pres ure of it, added to the sweet, shocking words, brought her arms up around his neck. He felt her response and his restraint was lost to the wind. He got rid of the cigaret e, hoping he'd found the ashtray, and his big arms swal owed her. He nudged her lips apart and penetrated her mouth with his tongue in a rhythm that made her moan.

Kis ing wasn't enough. He was burning. His hand slid up her rib cage to the curve of her breast and he lifted his head enough to see her eyes as he touched her there. She stiffened a lit le, but she didn't stop his hand or say anything. His fingers moved slowly on her, the sound of them brushing against the fabric oddly loud in the quiet office.

"I can't remember a time when it was this exciting to touch a woman," he whispered, watching her responses as he moved closer and closer to the betraying hardnes and felt her tremble with each slow cares . "It's al new to you, isn't it?"

"I never wanted anyone to do this to me," she managed shakily.

"Until now. With me." He built the excitement until she was moving against him, and his body responded instantly to the warm softnes of h'er bel y when he turned her and his hand suddenly moved completely over her breast.

She cried out. She hadn't meant to, but the fierce passion she felt was uncontrollable. Her hands dug into his nape and she shuddered as his hand cares ed her.

"Baby," he whispered shakily. "Baby, I never realized.. . Kis me," he breathed against her mouth as he lifted her closer. "Kis me. Don't be afraid to let me show you how much I want you____"

She should have been, she thought with her last whisper of sanity, because his arousal was blatant and his hand was insistent at the base of her spine, moving her against him in a way that made her tremble. But she wasn't afraid of him. She registered his reaction to her with wicked delight, and when he started to unbutton her dres , her only thought was that it was going to be heaven to feel his hand against her soft skin.

He felt her tremble and loved her reactions, but things were rapidly get ing out of hand. His own arousal was hurting him, and sanity seemed to fal on him like a wal , j She was a virgin. This was his office, and it was in the middle of a busines day. He lifted his head and looked down into her drowsy, hungry eyes, and he wanted to scream his frustration at the top of his lungs. Not here, he told himself firmly. Not now.

He took a slow breath and searched her eyes, his own dark blue with unsatisfied pas ion as they searched over her yielding body, her swollen lips, her adoring eyes.

"We can't make love like this," he said unsteadily. "My God, it's not possible. Not here."

"Make. . love?" she echoed in a dazed tone.

He drew in a steadying breath, his face drawn and taut. His hand that had been holding her hips hard against his let go, and slid up her back. He shuddered* faintly and put her away from him, helping her gently to her feet. His hands caught her arms and steadied her when she swayed.

"This won't do," he said heavily. "I real y can't seduce you in my swivel chair during lunch. There's something in the office manual about that sort of thing, maybe we should both read it."

She heard the faint humor in his tone and smiled. "I gues so."

He tilted her eyes up to his. "I'm going out to Dad's for the weekend. Pack up your Irish lizard and I'l take you with me. My.. half brother, Nicky, is a lizard freak," he said hesitantly. "You and he wil get along fine."

So that was what he'd meant. She couldn't seem to get her mind to work. "But I can't go to your father's house with you," she said blankly. "I wasn't invited."

"You wil be," he said with a rueful smile, stil pale from the anguish of having to stop. "When he hears I've asked you, he'l hang from the chandelier and do a jig on the piano. He likes you." His mouth twisted wryly. "You're number one on his list of suitable candidates to marry me.'

His, but not Cabe's, she thought sadly.

He read that expres ion quite accurately. His fingers touched her cheek, lightly brushing down to her mouth. "If I had a list," he said slowly, "I think you'd be number one on mine, too. You're very sweet to make love to."

"Along with dozens of others. ." She tried to laugh it off.

His thumb pres ed down over her lips, stifling the words. "I don't want anyone else," he said shortly. "Why in God's name do you think I've been celibate this long? Ever since I caught you under the mistletoe, I've dreamed of you every damned night. I can't even get in the mood with any other woman." Her shocked eyes lowered to his chest while she let that sink in. She couldn't believe he meant it.

"I'm a playboy, isn't that what you think? A rounder who uses and discards women like paper napkins." He laughed shortly. "I'm as fastidious in my way as you are. Sex for its own sake never appealed to me.'

She breathed unsteadily and her hands were cold where they rested on his jacket.

He groaned, pulling her hands under it to warm them against his rib cage. "I wish I could make you understand what it is to go hungry for someone."

"What makes you think I don't?" she asked huskily. Her eyes lifted slowly to his, and he read in them exactly what she was trying to say.

"Do you want me that way?" he whispered, awed by the faint adoration in her soft eyes.

She bit her lower lip. It was dangerous to admit it to him, to let him know, but it seemed the time for confidences. "Yes," she whispered back, her voice breaking. His chest rose and fel heavily. His jaw tightened with the effort to control what he was feeling. He framed her face in his big, warm hands and brought it up to his.

"You're a virgin," he groaned at her lips. "My God, I can't. .!"

He put her away from him again with a harsh curse and ran his hands roughly through his thick, wavy dark hair. He looked for the cigaret e he'd discarded earlier and found it burned out in the ashtray. He lit another, fumbling with the lighter.

She stared at his broad back without moving, her arms locked around her chest, her heartbeat shaking her. It had been an altogether unexpected afternoon.

"I don't want to get married!" he ground out. He turned and glared at her. "And I'm not going to seduce you. Not if you strip naked and do a bel y dance right here." Her eyebrows shot up. He looked strange. "Wel , I've never stripped in front of a man," she faltered. "And I can't bel y dance."

"It was just a figure of speech." He sighed angrily. He lifted the cigaret e to his lips and inhaled, watching her with hungry eyes. She was lovely, with her hair disheveled and her pret y mouth swollen from his kis es. His eyes lingered on her lips. "Did I bruise your mouth?" he asked huskily. "I didn't mean to."

"No, it's. . al right," she stammered. She colored and avoided his piercing gaze. "I should go back to work."

"If you want to avoid being bent back over my desk and ravished, that might be a good idea," he said humorously. She hesitated. "Are you angry?"

"I'm frustrated," he replied quietly. "I wanted you so much it hurts."

Her lips parted. "Oh. I'm sorry.. !"

"Talking about it doesn't help." He gave her a rueful smile and went back to his desk. "Put the phone back on the hook and unlock the door. Maybe ten people wil come in and we'l be too busy to look at each other until quit ing time." He glanced back at her with eyes that almost burned. "I wasn't kidding," he said huskily. "I've heard of people making love on desks, and this one is plenty big enough. Stay out of here." "Yes, sir," she said, her eyes helples ly adoring him. "Those eyes," he groaned. He turned away to the window, shuddering. "Danet a, please, for God's sake, stop looking at me!"

"Yes, sir." She knew she sounded like a parrot, but it was fascinating to see him so vulnerable, and over her! She forced her legs to move back into her own office. She replaced the phone and unlocked the door, but nobody came or cal ed. So Cabe cal ed someone and stayed on the phone until someone did come. Danet a went through the motions of working and tried not to think about the weekend and how she was going to survive being that close to Cabe without giving in to him. In his right mind, she knew he'd never come near her, as fanatical as he was about his freedom. But he seemed to be just as vulnerable as she was, and unles they had plenty of chaperoning, it was inevitable that something was going to happen. She wondered how she'd live with it if she gave in.

By the time five o'clock arrived, she was a seething mas of doubts and fears.

Cabe came out of his office putting on his jacket. He turned off the lights, his face like stone, his eyes glit ering with blue fires.

"Get your coat, baby doll, and let's go," he said gently.

She closed up while he waited, watching her. When she turned back to him, his hand reached for hers and his fingers tangled gently into her own as he towered over her. Tingles of delicious feeling worked their way up her spine.

"Don't be afraid," he said quietly, looking down at her while they waited for the elevator. "I think I can keep my head. But you're coming with me. I won't leave you in your apartment alone."

"Your father.. "

". .is delighted," he replied. "I phoned him before I came out of the office. Cynthia extended her own invitation. I'm not thril ed about your Irish lizard, but I gues a man can get used to anything," he finished wryly.

"He doesn't bite," she promised. "He's a vegetarian."

"If you say so." He sighed, closing his fingers more tightly around hers. His eyes slid up to hers, holding them. "Lock your bedroom door tonight," he whispered as the elevator approached. "You can't afford to trust me. Not the way I feel right now."

She started to speak, but the doors opened. He led her inside and didn't say another word until they were on the ground floor and headed out to his car. And then it was al busines , as if he needed the diversion to keep his mind off her. She smiled to herself, wondering at the newnes of what she felt, of what he seemed to feel. Please, she thought fervently, please let him love me.

Six

Cabe drove Danet a to her apartment, but he hesitated noticeably at her door.

"He isn't an at ack lizard," she reas ured him, because she knew why he was reluctant to go into the apartment. "It's al right." He waited for her to open the door and then he stepped inside. Unfortunately Norman had just come out of the bathroom, and was in the hal that led to the living room. Norman was in a temper, and he wasn't used to men. He took one look at Cabe and bristled, twisting his body and dropping his dewlap and opening his pink mouth.

"My God!" Cabe backed out into the hal .

"Norman, you show-off!" Danet a sighed angrily. "Go on. Scoot!" She shooed him into the kitchen. He went, glancing over his shoulder at her as if she'd mortal y offended him. She fil ed his food bowl and the dewlap went down as he began to eat shredded carrots and avocado.

"It's safe now!" she cal ed to Cabe. "He's eating!"

He came into the apartment warily, his blue eyes narrowed and cautious as he searched for the iguana. "He doesn't like me," he said with pure irritation.

"He isn't used to men," she explained. "In fact, I don't think he's ever seen one, except for my father. He's nervous because he had a fright yesterday and then he got moved into a strange place last night and shut up. Iguanas are nervous creatures. He's real y more frightened of you than you are of him.'