Teddy Bear Heir (6 page)

* * *

She came awake slowly, as if from a deep sleep. He was touching her, stroking her hair. Just that gentle movement, that touch, was enough to heat her blood, set her emotions on fire.

She realized she'd wanted Cameron Black from the moment she'd first seen him. She'd also known, with a deep, feminine instinct, that he was out of her league. She would be badly hurt.

Now, having experienced a fair measure of that hurt, she thought of doing something so unlike her, something so deceptive—

You can't...

He grasped the back of her head, his fingers entwined in her hair.

You can't...

She couldn't seem to summon the will to stop him.

I want—

She stopped the thought before it had a chance to fully form, ruthlessly cutting it off. Then she made a move to sit up, to get away from him. Get away from the temptation.

He let go of her instantly.

Both their breathing sounded loud in the silent room. The only sound louder was the pounding of her heart.

"It's all right." Cameron's voice was soothing and low. Understanding. It brought tears to her eyes.

She would miss him so very much.

"Nothing's going to happen that you don't want," he said softly.

She started to swing her legs off the bed.

"Just let me hold you."

He annihilated her resistance with that one sentence.

She lay back slowly on the bed and he moved to her side, putting his arm around her, letting her rest her cheek on his chest. She remained perfectly still, breathing in his scent, listening to the steady beat of his heart.

Just until Nancy arrives...

How she was going to explain this to either of them was beyond her comprehension. She was already way beyond rational thought. All she knew was that she needed this man, needed his warmth and strength, needed to feel close to someone when she felt so very alone.

They lay that way for a time until emotion overcame her and she started to cry.

"Oh, no," he whispered. "Oh, no. Don't cry, little one. Don't cry." He patted her back as she sobbed and curled into him.

"Nothing has to happen," he whispered against her ear. "It was a foolish idea, after all."

She sobbed harder, not wanting to make this evening more difficult for everyone concerned than it already was. But she couldn't seem to stop what she'd put in motion.

She could hear deep concern in his voice. "Don't cry. It’s nothing that can't be repaired, after all." He cleared his throat. "I'll even subsidize your education until you get on your feet," he whispered, his voice rough with emotion. "I didn't stop to think financial desperation might have had a hand in your decision."

A gentleman to the end, she thought wearily. A good man, a kind man.

But a man incapable of love.

Magnetic and persuasive. So very ardent and loyal to the end. But something had happened along the way that had shut off his belief in his ability to love.

She wondered at his ability to offer her—not her,
Nancy—
reassurance, when he had to be in the midst of some inner turmoil of his own. Michaela sighed, her sobs spent, then realized she was pressed up against him, her fingers touching the naked, hair-roughened skin of his muscular chest.

Naked. He was naked.

So warm, so muscular. So very male.

She curled her fingers into his side so tightly she knew she had to be causing him a certain amount of pain. He didn't say a word, merely let her hold on to him, touch him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice clogged and nasal. "I'm so very sorry."

"It's all right," he murmured, still rubbing her back through her silk blouse.

There was no excuse for what she did next. Looking back, she might have tried to blame it on the Scotch she'd shared with him, or the fact that she was emotionally exhausted. She might have tried to find some sort of excuse, a weakness, even the fact that she loved him.

She barely knew him.

But she wanted him.

She'd never wanted a man more than she'd wanted Cameron Black. The thought of facing the rest of her life and knowing she'd never had the courage to reach out and take what she wanted most of all was intolerable. And unbearably painful.

If she was destined to spend the rest of her life alone and unwanted, she'd take this one night to remember him by. She wanted to make love to this man just once, then slip out the door while it was still dark and never see him again.

He would know. Nancy would know. Together they'd figure out someone else had been sleeping in their bed. But they'd never realize who it had been. Hadn't almost every woman in America been throwing herself at Cameron? Was it totally inconceivable that one of Cameron's groupies would've found a way into the master suite?

And after their brief time together was over, Cameron and Nancy would have the rest of their lives together, while she'd only take this one night. Had Cameron been truly in love with Nancy, or she with him, Michaela knew she would've never contemplated what she was about to do.

But they weren't. And she was. She loved him, she wanted him, she needed just one night with this man of her heart before she consigned herself to the emotional deep-freeze that was to be the remainder of her life.

Still fully clothed, she moved, slid up and over him, pressed herself against him and lowered her mouth to his.

* * *

Her first kiss shook him to the bottom of his soul.

Set
fire
  to his soul.

Made angels sing.

Completely demolished anything he'd ever thought about women, sex, love and desire.

Shook him, stunned him, woke him up with a vengeance.

She kissed him with desperation in the beginning then both of them were caught up in a maelstrom of desire, of pure, shimmering sexual heat. They were made for each other and even if neither fully realized the fact, their bodies acknowledged it with a deep-seated, physical wisdom.

Neither could have turned back even if they'd wanted to.

His hands spanned her waist and for a moment it surprised him how delicate and vulnerable she seemed. He'd thought Nancy would be more solid, have more substance than this girl who held on to his shoulders and kissed him as if there was no tomorrow.

He couldn't control his response to her, and for a man who prided himself on control above all other qualities, it frightened him. Aroused him. Seduced him.

He had to follow her.

He was lost and he knew it, drowning in her scent, her touch, her lips and tongue, reaching for the buttons on her blouse, unfastening them, pushing the material aside. Cupping the warm flesh of her shoulder, her arm, her breast. Doing away with the lacy barrier of her bra, then sweeping her clothes off her body and pulling her hard against him, her naked flesh hot.

He broke that first kiss then kissed her again. Heard her moan. Before, completely in control, he might've smiled against her mouth, pleased at such a feminine form of surrender. Now he could barely think as he reached for the fastening of her skirt.

He slid it off her and didn't care if she ever wore clothes again.

All thoughts of taking time with her were forgotten. All thoughts of her virginal fears were swept completely from his consciousness. He'd found his other half and all his thoughts centered on making them one, as quickly as possible.

He made short work of her panties and found her hot, wet and aroused. He rolled her onto her back, slid between her legs and entered her body with a single, sure thrust.

She answered him silently, eloquently, her body moving against his, her arms tight around his neck, her cheek pressed against his. Then he felt her head fall back, heard her deep, almost agonized breathing.

He tried to prolong it and couldn't. Too quick, too intense, too much. He heard her cry out, felt her climax. Then he followed her lead.

* * *

He woke later in the night, his arm tightly around her. He didn't have to reach for her as he had no intention of ever letting her go.

Who'd have thought he'd be bowled over by Nancy Kilpatrick? Burn at her touch? The wholesome, freckle-faced, young co-ed he'd met one afternoon in his office had turned into a sensuous, desirable woman in his bed.

Life certainly dealt you a surprise every now and then.

He stroked the silky skin of her arm.

They made love again and this time it was slow and erotic, then sweet and gentle. This time he felt as if he were giving her a part of his soul. And as he fell asleep with his face against her hair, breathing in her scent, he wanted to bind her to him, make her a part of his life forever.

He hoped he'd given her a child.

* * *

She couldn't sleep.

The enormity of what she’d done couldn't be ignored. What had happened between them had been so powerful, so transcendent, that she felt as if she were Pandora and had just completely changed the world.

He murmured something in his sleep as his arm tightened around her. And though Michaela knew she had to escape and escape now, a part of her wanted to remain with him always.

She found her blouse with her toes, then her lacy panties, moving her foot gingerly over the articles of clothing. At least he hadn't shredded them as he'd undressed her. If she could only manage to get out of the room, she'd be all right. She could finish what she'd set in motion.

Can you?

All through her childhood, her father had told her that actions had consequences. But something had happened to her tonight, something that had made her completely disregard the practical, common sense choices she usually made.

Straight A's and impeccable behavior throughout her childhood and adolescence.

A top law student, then passing the bar the first time.

A wild night of lust with an almost stranger in a darkened room, with no identities exchanged but enough heat generated to cause a nuclear meltdown.

Yet she'd never felt more alive.

She remembered...and brushed her thumb over her lips. They trembled. It had been exactly as she'd known it would be, the two of them together.

Well, not exactly.

Nothing
  had prepared her for what she'd found with Cameron. But she couldn't find it in her heart to regret what she'd done. Except...

Nancy.

The image of Cameron's young bride-to-be finding her in the suite stirred her to action. She found her skirt with her toes, then slowly bent her leg and pulled it up along the length of the large bed until she could grab the piece of clothing with her hand.

Slowly, slowly.
The last thing she wanted was to wake Cameron. What if he decided to turn on the light? She could imagine the look on his face if he discovered who'd really been sleeping in his bed.

Her skirt, her bra . . . She had a moment of absolute panic when she couldn't locate her shoes then remembered she'd kicked them off out in the front room.

The darkness in the suite gave her absolutely no sense of time. Hours could have passed or minutes. The only thing she knew was that she had to get out of this bedroom without waking Cameron.

Was he a light sleeper? Yet another thing she didn't know about the man. She'd only given in to him in the most primal, intimate way possible, exposing every single sexual secret her body had to offer. But she didn't know if he was a light sleeper or not. Or even how he usually took his morning cup of coffee.

The only thing she knew with total certainty was that he was a first-class lover, an extraordinarily gifted individual between the sheets.

This bothered her.

Michaela sensed that even if he hadn’t participated in a conventional courtship there would be many things a woman would never find out about this man.

Cameron was intensely private. It was just the way he was.

For an instant her heart went out to Nancy.

Then she continued her escape with renewed effort. Her clothes wadded into a large ball, she worked on gingerly extricating herself from beneath his muscular arm.

He murmured in his sleep.

She froze.

He pulled her more tightly against his side and kissed her beneath her left ear.

She bit her lip in frustration.

Then he stretched in his sleep and, instead of watching the muscular play in that magnificent male body, she waited for the exact moment when his hold on her lessened and slipped from beneath his grasp. Then she backed away from the large bed, her bare feet making absolutely no sound on the thick carpeting.

Cameron rolled over onto his stomach and buried his face in one of the pillows.

Silently, with as little wasted motion as possible, Michaela dressed, grabbed the jacket to her suit still draped over the chair, and slipped out of the master suite.

She stopped only long enough to grab her pumps, her briefcase, and her purse and she was out the door.

* * *

Nancy found the elusive piece of paper with the hotel's name on it when she reached the apartment she shared with two other girls. For some reason she'd stuck it on top of her dresser, not in her backpack. Now, though it was almost dawn, she figured she owed Cameron Black an explanation as to why she hadn't bothered to show up.

After all, it wasn't every day that a girl got the opportunity to marry a millionaire. She certainly didn't want him to think she was blase about the whole thing.

Now that the moment of truth was at hand and she was actually about to move in with San Francisco's most infamous playboy, she found she needed some of her familiar things around her. She packed a small suitcase and two boxes. At the last minute she stuck the paperback full of marital tips into her backpack.

Then, calling the limousine service Cameron had suggested she use in the first place, and most certainly bill to him, she sat down and waited for the driver to arrive.

This time she'd leave all directional details in someone else's capable hands. That way she had at least a fighting chance of reaching her destination.