The Ring on Her Finger (30 page)

“I don’t wear the cross because I’m a good, moral, innocent person,” she said, knowing, somehow, that was what he was thinking. “And I don’t wear it because I’m a staunch Catholic. You can’t be innocent where I’m from. I’ve done things in the past that aren’t good or moral. And there are times, Nathaniel, when I don’t know what I believe. I wear the cross because it belonged to my mother. My father gave it to her when they married. It’s all I have left of either of them. It doesn’t mean anything more to me than that.”

He glanced up at her words, his eyes darkening. “You don’t wear it because you’re a good girl?”

She shook her head slowly. “No.”

“Because you’re not a good girl?”

She swallowed hard. “I am a good girl. I just don’t always do the right thing.”

“I don’t always do the right thing, either,” he said, his voice low and rough and very, very arousing.

“But are you a good boy?” she asked, sounding a bit ragged herself.

“No. I’m not. Haven’t you heard? I’m the Bad Boy of the Thoroughbred Racing Set. Everybody says so.”

She expelled a derisive sound at that. “Where I come from, bad boys lob bombs and shoot civilians. Trust me, Nathaniel. You’re not a bad boy. You’re not a bad man, either.”

His brows arrowed downward at that. He studied her in silence for a moment longer. Then, more quietly than before, he said, “Oh, I don’t know. There’s something I’d like to do right now, and it’s something only a very bad boy would do.”

Rosemary’s heart nearly stopped beating at that. “What is it you want to do?”

He released the cross he’d fingered so gently and let it drop back against her skin. Rosemary felt its impact all the way to her soul.

“What I want to do,” he said, very quietly and very hotly, “is carry you to my bedroom, and stretch you out on my bed completely naked. Then I want to climb in beside you and turn you around, and bury myself as deep as I can, again and again and again.”

He lowered his head to hers, his mouth to her ear, and whispered more erotic promises—graphic, explicit things he wanted to do to and with her. Rosemary closed her eyes as she listened, feeling faint. But she couldn’t do that. Not yet. Not until she’d done all those things to Nathaniel, too.

“I want to take you in a dozen different ways, Rosemary. And then I want to start all over again.”

“Oh, my,” she managed to whisper. “That’s...that’s very ambitious of you.”

His smile was full of sexual intent. “What can I say? I’m an ambitious man. But I always get what I want, Rosemary. Always.”

“Do you now?”

He nodded, but said nothing. Probably because he knew he would get what he wanted tonight, too.

“You’re not a virgin, are you?” he asked. Somehow, the question seemed perfectly normal.

“No. Does that make a difference to you?”

“No. I’m a not a virgin, either. Does that make a difference to you?”

She smiled. “Not a bit. Everything that’s in the past, Nathaniel, it—”

“—doesn’t matter,” he finished for her. And he sounded vaguely surprised by the realization.

“No, it doesn’t,” she agreed. “All that matters is what happens now. And maybe, to a lesser extent, what happens tomor—”

He stopped her with a kiss, one she felt in every cell she possessed. Where the kiss they shared on Monday had been tentative and experimental, this one was commanding and certain. Looping an arm around her waist to pull her body flush against his, Nathaniel covered her mouth and gave her a long, thorough taste of what was to come. Again and again, he savored her, until she feared she would burst into flame.

With no small effort, she tore her mouth from his. “What about dinner?” she asked breathlessly.

“Dinner can wait an hour or two.” He ran his hand down the length of her arm, setting little fires wherever he touched her. “Hell, as far as I’m concerned, dinner can wait until breakfast. I’d rather heat up something else instead.”

Rosemary smiled, nuzzling the side of his throat. “Well, then, Mr. Finn. If you’ve a mind to make love to me, I guess we should get on with it.”

It was dawn by the time Rosemary got home. She’d told herself so many times during the night that she should be going, that she couldn’t possibly spend the night at Nathaniel’s house, that she really, truly, honestly had to get home. Then he would kiss her again, or run his hand along her naked body, or whisper some earthy, erotic suggestion into her ear, and she would succumb to him all over again. They had slept off and on, tangled in each other’s arms, but for most of the night...

She smiled as she grew warm inside. For most of the night, they had enjoyed each other. Immensely.

He held her hand during the drive to Harborcourt, but they barely spoken a dozen words. They smiled a lot, and giggled once or twice, but words, somehow, seemed out of place. Rosemary had already known Nathaniel was a nice man. Now, she knew he was also an attentive, affectionate lover. She couldn’t wait until the two of them could be together again.

He pulled his car to a stop behind the big house, near the back door, so she could enter without disturbing anyone. Mr. and Mrs. Cove were doubtless awake by now, but she didn’t think either of them would have made it down to the kitchen yet. Abby would certainly still be asleep.

“I’ll walk you to the door,” Nathaniel said softly.

“It isn’t necessary,” she told him.

He smiled one of his heated, sexy smiles. “Of course it’s necessary. It’ll shorten the time until I get to see you again. And by the way, when can I see you again?”

She laughed lightly. “When do you want to see me again?”

“Tonight. Have dinner at my house. We never got to it last night.”

“No, we didn’t.” The heat of a blush warmed her cheeks. They’d had other hungers to feed instead. “We got a bit sidetracked, didn’t we?”

“Boy, did we.” He gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. “C’mon.” He tilted his head toward the back door. “Let’s get you inside.”

He released her hand long enough for her to exit the car, then captured it again the moment the two of them were close. As if that small contact wasn’t enough for him, he pulled her hand up to his mouth and brushed his lips over her knuckles.

“I don’t want to let you go,” he said, as they climbed the stairs to the back door. “I can’t stand the thought of not being with you today.”

“I have to work today,” Rosemary reminded him. “And you told me you have to be in Lexington, remember?”

“Screw Lexington.” His voice went low and rough as he added, “Or better yet, I’d rather—”

“Don’t,” she said, pressing her fingertips to his lips. “Don’t talk like that, please.”

“You liked it when I talked like that last night.” He nipped the pad of her thumb lightly with his teeth. “You liked it a lot.”

“But when you talk like that, you make me want you all over again.”

He grinned beneath her touch. “I’d like to be all over you again.”

“I have to go upstairs and get ready for work,” she said firmly. “Though how I’m going to work today when I won’t be able to think about anything but you...”

The moment they were in the kitchen, Nathaniel pulled her close to kiss her again, covering her mouth hungrily with his. He dropped his hands to her hips and slowly walked her backward, until her fanny bumped into one of the countertops. He lifted her atop it and insinuated himself between her legs. Too caught up in the embrace to care about her surroundings, Rosemary hooked her legs around his waist, threading her fingers through his hair. He spanned her back with both hands and kissed her deeper, a kiss that told her he was ready to take her again, right here, right now, against the countertop, and oh, heavens, what a tempting fantasy it was...

...until a stark fluorescent light bolted on above them, and Justin Cove’s booming voice cried, “What the hell is going on?”

Guiltily, Rosemary pushed Nathaniel away and leapt down from the counter. But he caught her and pulled her back toward himself, draping an arm across her shoulders, holding her close, as if he meant to protect her from some horrible monster. It was dear of him to appoint himself her champion, but she could manage Justin Cove. She’d been doing it for years. Compared to his wife, the man was a teddy bear.

“Mr. Cove,” she began, ducking her head apologetically. “I was just about to come upstairs to see if Abby’s awake yet.”

His gaze flew from Rosemary to Nathaniel, then back to Rosemary again. “Looked to me like you were just about to do something else. And I must say, Rosemary, I’m a little surprised by your behavior.”

She said nothing in response to that, mostly because she couldn’t disagree with him. She was a little surprised by her behavior, too. But that was the way it was with Nathaniel. He could make her forget herself. Not that that was a bad thing at times, but this wasn’t one of those times. With great reluctance, she slipped out from under his arm and turned to tell him good-bye.

But her employer prevented that when he said incredulously, “You’re just now coming home, aren’t you? You’ve been out all night with Nathaniel.”

She bit her lip and, with a regretful look for Nathaniel—who suddenly looked a little pale for some reason—she spun around to face Justin. “Yes,” she said apologetically “Nathaniel and I are seeing each other, and I was with him last night. I’m sorry to be coming in so late. It won’t happen again.”

But Justin wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at Nathaniel. He expelled a single, humorless chuckle and said, “Christ, you actually did it, didn’t you? I would have sworn even the Bad Boy of the Thoroughbred Racing Set wouldn’t make it to first base with the ice nanny, but you hit a homer last night, didn’t you?” Then he grinned. “You old dog. I should have known better than to make a bet like that with you.”

At her employer’s words, something cold and hard settled in Rosemary’s stomach. She wasn’t sure exactly what he was saying, but she knew it wasn’t good. She turned to Nathaniel, hoping for clarification, but he was gazing acidly at Justin.

“It wasn’t like that,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter what it was like,” Justin replied. “Hell, if it was good, that just made winning even better for you. And you did win the bet, didn’t you? You screwed the nanny.” He sighed with what Rosemary could only liken to admiration. “And in only half the time I allotted you. Way to go, Finn. You’re my new hero. Even if you are costing me a fortune.”

As Rosemary began to get the gist of what was going on, she told herself there must be a perfectly logical explanation for it. Unfortunately, logical didn’t necessarily exclude the possibility of abominable.

“What’s he talking about?” she asked Nathaniel, surprised how calm she sounded. “What’s this bet he’s referring to?”

Nathaniel’s face had gone rigid, and his eyes were dead. Something inside Rosemary began to unravel as she looked at him. Where was the man who had held her so passionately a moment ago? Where was the man who had pulled her close with a promise of protection? This man... This man looked ready to rip someone apart.

“It wasn’t like that,” he said again. Though whether he was speaking to Justin or to her, Rosemary couldn’t have said.

When he finally turned to look at her, his expression changed again. But instead of returning to warm and affectionate, now Nathaniel looked fearful and desperate. “It’s not what you think,” he told her. Fearfully. Desperately.

Her heart sank. “How do you know what I’m thinking? Could be I’m terribly confused.”

“It’s not what it was when Justin first proposed it.”

Meaning there had indeed been a wager, Rosemary translated. Her employer had bet his friend that he couldn’t make love to her. Make love? she echoed to herself derisively. Oh, love had nothing to do with what happened last night. Not for Nathaniel, anyway. For her...

“Proposed what?” she asked, growing sicker by the moment.

It wasn’t Nathaniel who replied, however. It was Justin. “Your boyfriend there just got himself four million bucks for a horse that’s only worth half that.” He smiled an offensive little smile. “All because he’s such a stallion himself.”

She took a step away from Nathaniel. Even though she knew it was a bad idea to ask for the particulars, she asked, “And how did he do that?”

Justin chuckled, as if he were remembering the punch line to a very funny joke. “At Alexis’s last party, I bet Nathaniel he couldn’t get you into bed.” He uttered the statement so casually, as if it were the most normal thing in the world for a man to say to the woman who cared for his child. “I told him if he did—bed you, I mean—I’d buy a horse of his for twice what it’s worth. If he didn’t bed you, then I’d get the horse at no charge. He won. I lost.”

Rosemary closed her eyes at that. Justin Cove had been the one to lose something, had he? Now that was a funny joke.

“Rosemary,” she heard Nathaniel say, his voice pleading. “There’s a lot more to it than that. You can’t possibly think I’d—”

She opened her eyes and leveled a gaze on him that stopped him cold. “Oh, you don’t want to know what I think, Nathaniel. Truly, you don’t.”

It all made sense now. Why he had come looking for her in the kitchen the night of the party, why he had sought her out at the restaurant, why he had pursued her so relentlessly. So he could seduce her according to the terms of a wager and sell his horse for a nice sum of money. She’d been right to be suspicious. That tiny part of her that had never quite stopped being uncertain had known what was what the whole time. If only she had trusted her instincts.

It finally seemed to dawn on Justin how he’d delivered the terms of the bet, because in what Rosemary assumed was an effort to make her feel better, he said jovially, “Oh, don’t get your panties in a twist, Rosemary. Hell, that horse is gonna cost me four million bucks. Not many women can say they’re worth four mil.”

Oh, my, yes, she could always be proud of that.

“Still,” he continued, “I’m surprised Nathaniel nailed you as fast as he did. And I have to say, I’m disappointed. Not just because of the money, but because I always thought you were such a nice girl, Rosemary.”

That did it. Rosemary snapped. She glared first at Justin, then at Nathaniel, who seemed to have run out of words. Mostly, he just looked sick and scared. Well, that made two of them. But Rosemary wasn’t out of words. Oh, no. She still had plenty of those.