His Girl Friday (5 page)

She wondered vaguely who Nicky was. It sounded as if he was a relative, and why would he like Danet a just because she had an iguana? She sighed. Her whole life seemed to be one big question these days.

She started the word proces ing program and began to type out the routine let ers that Cabe had scribbled answers on before they left the office. Three

Danet a sighed over her boss's new and distant at itude in the days that followed. He didn't offer any more conversation that wasn't absolutely neces ary, he didn't talk to her unles it was about the job. He didn't even treat her like a younger brother anymore. She had become a piece of office equipment, and he barely looked at her. She'd gone back to her sedate way of dres ing, but it probably wouldn't have mat ered if she'd come to work nude. He'd said they weren't going to complicate their relationship, and boy, was he keeping his word!

She felt alone, even more than she had when she moved here to stay with her cousin Jenny over two years ago. She'd wanted to be independent, to live her own life, and her parents had supported that need. But now she mis ed the family. She mis ed Jenny, because her cousin was a good listener. Jenny was stil off in the southwest on some hushhush as ignment. She wished she'd thought to ask Eugene last week if he'd heard from Jenny, but it hadn't been a good time. She needed someone to talk to because she hadn't realized until now how big a part of her life she'd al owed Cabe Rit er to become. She looked forward to corning to work because he was somehow bigger than life to her. His smile made her tingle, his vibrant masculinity chal enged and excited her, his dry wit made her laugh. Just being around him made her feel more alive than she'd ever been before.

She'd had erotic dreams about him ever since that morning in his big Lincoln when he'd woken al her senses with his ardor. But that morning might never have been, because his new at itude was so determinedly busines . And Karol was very much in evidence now. Cabe almost seemed to flaunt her, as if he wanted to make sure Danet a didn't get any romantic ideas about him.

She finished the let ers she'd been typing and put them aside, her slender fingers lightly resting on the stack. Perhaps he was even trying to freeze her out of his office. The thought made her uneasy. She'd gotten used to his moods and his tempers, and she didn't like the idea of working for anyone else. But if that was what he wanted.. He came in even as she was formulating distasteful plans for her future, and she jumped at the opening of the door.

"Nerves?" he commented. "That's new. What's wrong?"

She handed him the let ers with a hand that shook.

"For God's sake!" he burst out. He put down his at-tach6 case, laid the let ers aside, and pulled her out of the chair, stil holding her hand. "Let's have it. What's wrong?"

"Do you want me to quit?" she asked, her voice Uneven.

Every trace of expres ion left his face. "Do you want to?" He threw the bal back into her court. She lowered her eyes to his nice white shirt. "It's a good job," she said stiffly. "But if you'd rather I left, I wil ."

"I don't know what I'd rather," he said heavily. He'd tried not to be aware of her, he'd tried being cold, but it was backfiring. He'd hurt her again, and he felt terrible at her vulnerability. Why couldn't he forget that look on her face when he'd started to kis her? Why couldn't he find any solace in Karol's company?

With a long sigh, he brought her slender hand against his chest. Under the thin fabric of his shirt, Danet a could feel his chest, the warmth of his body. Cabe was silent as he pres ed her fingers against him and he fought the need to do much, much more than that.

She felt herself melting inside. His broad chest felt hard and warm under her hand, yet it felt soft there, too, as if he had hair on his chest. She'd never seen him stripped to the waist, but suddenly she wanted to. She wondered what he looked like under his clothes, and how it would feel if he put his arms around her and kis ed her the way he kis ed his women, the way he'd whispered to her that he would that morning at Harry Deal's rig.

She drew in a slow* shaky breath. She couldn't seem to breathe properly anymore, and now she knew her mind was going, too. Only a crazy woman would al ow herself to be curious in that way about Cabe.

His fingers stroked her neat nails, smoothing over their silky tops. He heard her breathing change and marveled at the way she stood against him, so docile and quiet. It had flat ered his ego when Ben Meadows and his father had suggested that shy young Danet a had a crush on him, then it had floored him when he'd made that involuntary pas at her in the car. He hadn't counted on her effect on him, any more than he'd expected her contempt for his life-style—or rather what she thought was his life-style. He'd often wondered what Danet a would do if he made a real pas at her. He'd been tempted a lot in the past few weeks, thanks to his father's constant remarks about Danet a, bringing her vividly to his at ention. She was pret y and she'd begun to disturb him physical y. He'd tried ignoring her, but that only made it worse. Now he was touching her, and he knew even as he did it that it was his most regret able mistake to date.

"Your fingers are like ice," he commented, his voice deep and husky because she smel ed of lavender and her softnes made such a contrast to the women he'd fil ed his life with in recent years. Women chased him, but their very aggres ivenes irritated him. There was nothing aggres ive about Danet a, and she was innocent. Her innocence made his head spin with exquisite fantasies about teaching her the mystery of intimacy. He couldn't forget the look in her eyes when he'd whispered how he wanted to kis her.. .

"It's a lit le chil y in the office," she said. Was that real y her own voice, sounding so breathles ? "I'l turn the thermostat up."

"Yes, you do that." But he didn't let go of her hand. He pres ed it closer and moved it a lit le, and she could actual y feel his heartbeat. His hand moved to her throat and his thumb pushed under her chin, raising her mouth. He looked down at the soft pink bow of it, at the soft silkines . His fingers stroked her cheek and his thumb moved lazily to her mouth. He brushed his thumb over it, first gently, then with a rough, abrasive motion that was like a delicate kick in the heart. It was exactly what he'd done before, and it provoked the same shocked delight in her eyes as she looked up at him and a tiny sound worked its way out of her throat. He liked that sound. He liked even more the shocked sensuality in her eyes as he played with her mouth. She was becoming aroused, much more than she had before. The fascination in her gray eyes spoke for itself. His thumb grew more insistent and her lips parted on a shaky breath. His free hand went to her nape and cradled it firmly, holding her head where he wanted it as he watched her intently.

"This is where the playing stops," he said roughly. "Once my mouth covers yours, there's no going back." Her gasp was audible. It almost broke the spel . But his eyes were relentles , like that maddening thumb against her mouth, like the helples trembling of her legs. "It's not fair," she moaned. "Like going fishing with a stick of dynamite . ."

"Yes," he agreed softly as he began to lower his head. His eyes shifted to her trembling mouth. "That's how it's-going to feel, too. Like dynamite going up. I like it rough," he breathed as his lips parted a breath above hers. "I like it hard and rough. Like this____"

She felt his hand contract at her nape and tasted his warm, smoky breath mingling with hers as she stood there, helples , al too wil ing to give him what he wanted. But even as his lips dragged roughly against hers in a whisper of sensual promise, in the briefest hint of contact, the harsh jingle of the telephone exploded into the tense silence and broke them apart.

Danet a was shaking as if she'd been thrown to the ground. She stared up helples ly at Cabe, oblivious to the source of the loud, irritating noise. He stared back at her, only a lit le les rat led than she was. Stil watching her, he jerked up the receiver and answered it.

"Rit er."

"Cabe, can you take an extra hour off this afternoon to at end a charity dinner with me?" Karol asked him in her soft, cultured voice. "It's to benefit the new children's hospital."

"This afternoon?" he repeated absently. "I suppose so. I'l pick you up at five." "Lovely! Thank you, darling. See you later." She hung up but Cabe didn't put down the phone. He | was stil watching Danet a's shocked eyes.

The silence between them was every bit as explosive now as it had been three minutes ago, but before either of them could speak, Ben Meadows came in the door with a file |

folder in one hand.

"Sorry to bother you, but I need some copies made," he whispered to Danet a, obviously thinking Cabe was on the telephone.

"I'l . .I'l do them." Danet a took the folder with shaking fingers and rushed away to the room where the Xerox machine was kept. Cabe hung up the phone belatedly and took Ben into his office. Danet a did the copies and went back to work as quickly and efficiently as she could. For the rest of the day, she held her breath, but Cabe didn't come near her again. She wasn't sure if she was glad or sorry, but their relationship had changed forever in those I few minutes.

She went home to her lonely apartment, wishing her cousin were home. But the older woman, a ravishing blonde, wasn't due back for a while. Jenny spent most of | her working life on expeditions to rustic places, and Da-1 net a knew that it occasional y became dangerous. A man 1 had followed Jenny home once and tried to trail her. Later they'd learned that he was actual y an enemy agent, of al j things, trying to get information on the geology report ! Jenny had submit ed to Eugene Rit er's company. Those 1 strategic metals she prospected for were important to a lot ' of people, and not al of the interested parties were Amer-| icans. Even now, Jenny's let ers home were full of intriguing innuendos about her job, and Danet a worried about her. She had once secretly envied Jenny that exciting, gypsy existence, but the longer she was around Cabe, the les the life-style appealed. Just lately, the thought of leaving her job was disturbing. She refused to consider why. She opened the door and there was Jenny, tanned and blond and exuberant.

"Dina!" she exclaimed, hugging the younger woman as she used the childhood nickname she'd always given Danet a. "Oh, how good to be home again!"

"You're not supposed to be here!" Danet a cried, her face showing her surprised pleasure. "But, oh, I'm so glad you are! You look great!" And she did, too. Her long blond hair fel in soft waves, and her white pantsuit gave her an ultrasophisticated look. Her dark blue eyes sparkled with life as she laughed. Danet a watched her and thought, if only I looked like that. She actual y sighed as she put down her purse and kicked off her shoes.

"How long can you stay?" Danet a asked as she went into the kitchen to cook something for supper.

"Overnight," Jenny said, laughing at Danet a's expression. "I'm sorry, love, but I'm en route to a new site. And that's al I can tel you, so don't pry. Nothing to worry about. Except the lounge lizard there." She grimaced, glancing toward the radiator where Norman had draped himself, looking like a smal green dinosaur. "Norman keeps staring at me like he wonders how I'd taste."

"He's not a meat eater. He's a vegetarian," Danet a reminded her. She explained the same point every time Jenny came home, and had for the past two years, ever since she'd talked Jenny into let ing her bring the smal pet into the apartment. Things had been fine until Norman began to grow. But he was undemanding company, house-trained and a walking deterrent to criminals. There had been one at empted break-in, and the perpetrator had run screaming from the apartment, almost colliding with Danet a in his terror. Norman had stood in the doorway with his mouth open, presenting his whip of a tail to lash at the intruder. When he was a few years older, that tail would be a rather dangerous weapon, too. But at the time, Danet a had never been more proud of him. Despite his prowes as a. watch-lizard, he was something of a trial to poor Jenny, and he'd frightened away one of her prospective boyfriends who had a terror of saurians.

"What happens if he takes a bite out of me and likes it? Remember Captain Hook and the crocodile?" Jenny mumbled.

"Norman's never had a taste of you." Danet a grinned. "Anyway, he likes you!"

"Does he?" Jenny frowned. "How can you tel ?" she mused, watching the lizard's habitual y blank expres ion.

"I can read his mind." Danet a studied her cousin. "I know you love your job, but is it real y neces ary, al this cloak-and-dagger stuff?" Jenny laughed delightedly. "Indeed it is. I think of this as a patriotic service to my country. Maybe even to the world, who knows? Now enough about me. Tel me al about you."

"There's nothing to tel ," Danet a said with a grin. "I'm not beautiful like you.'

"I'm not, you know. I just make the most of what I've got. In fact—" she studied her younger cousin "—so could you. You'd be an absolute dish if you tried. What is this compulsion you have to emulate potted plants and curtains?"

Danet a glared at her. "I am not imitating inanimate objects. I'm just into self-preservation, that's al ."

"Knowing your dishy Mr. Rit er, I can understand that," Jenny said with a dry glance. "He'd turn on a brick. But he isn't the only man on earth, Dina. And you're nearing twentyfour already. Don't bury yourself in that office and spend your life eating your heart out for your handsome boss," she added gendy. Danet a's lips parted suddenly. "I'm not eating my heart out for Cabe Rit er!"

"Aren't you?" Jenny got out mayonnaise and bread and put them on the table, pausing to set it with silverware and plates and napkins before she sat down to watch Danet a wielding a knife at the counter. Her blue eyes were soft and concerned. "He's al you ever talk about when I'm home. You haven't dated anyone for over a year, remember."

"I don't want to have to fight off men," Danet a faltered.

"That isn't it. You're besotted with Mr. Rit er." "That's ridiculous!" she laughed nervously. "Here, have some ham." Jenny's eyebrows rose as Danet a picked up a plate of cake she'd already sliced and absently offered it to her cousin.