Winter Bride (9780345546197) (9 page)

She quickly reached into the shopping bag and pulled out two pairs of trousers and a blouse and bent over to place them in the suitcase. “You told Ronnie you wanted to be—” She inhaled sharply as she felt his hands cup her bottom from behind.

“We’re not on any deadline. An hour or so won’t matter,” he said hoarsely. His hands moved up and down, squeezing, stroking. “This is the only thing I want right now, what I’ve been wanting since we left the cottage yesterday.” His warm tongue darted in her ear. “And those tight jeans didn’t help. I wanted to take you in that elevator. Take them off.”

Her hands were trembling so much, she wasn’t sure she could unfasten her jeans. In the exhilaration
of leaving the island she had been only subliminally aware of the sexual magnetism pulling her toward Jed, but he’d merely had to touch her for it to come to the forefront. “They’re not that tight. They just fit me well. It’s not as if—” She broke off as he gently pinched her buttock. Her stomach clenched as she felt a liquid tingling in her womanhood. “You’re sure we have time?”

“We’ll make time.” His hands slid around her belly to rub gently between her thighs. “How else am I going to get you out of my system if I—”

The phone shrilled on the table beside the bed.

“Damn!”

The phone rang again.

“I can’t believe this,” he muttered. “It’s like an old movie cliché.”

“Do we have to answer it?” she asked.

“Yes, blast it, it might be Ronnie. She manages to get in trouble at the drop of a hat. I can’t risk not being accessible.” His hands dropped away from her and he moved toward the telephone. “But she’d better have a damn good reason for calling.” He picked up the receiver and bit out, “Corbin.”

He listened a moment. “Can’t he stay later?”

He listened again. “Okay, we’ll be there.”

He crashed down the receiver. “Finish packing. We have to get out of here.”

“I thought you said—”

“I did. We’ll have to wait until we’re on the boat. That was James Garcia, the official I called at the State Department. He said if we can get to the embassy by five o’clock, he’ll detain the clerk who can renew your passport. We’ll stop there on the way to the harbor.” He moved toward the door. “I’ll
send up a bellboy for your suitcase in ten minutes.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’ll wait in the lobby. I have to get out of here.” He slanted her a searing glance over his shoulder. “Or I’ll say to hell with the damn passport and we’ll end up in bed. I can’t take much more of this.”

The door slammed behind him.

Four hours later they were over a hundred miles out at sea, cutting through the waves in a forty-foot cabin cruiser named
Lucky Venture
.

“It
is
going to be lucky,” Ysabel said dreamily.

“What is?” Jed’s hands tightly gripped the wheel.

“The name of the boat’s a good omen. I know it.”

“I doubt if Ronnie was paying much attention to omens when she leased the cruiser. She’s one to pay more attention to the practicalities of speed and structure than to whimsies.”

“I’m not so sure. She struck me as being a strange mixture.…” She was suddenly aware the engine had stopped. “Is something wrong?”

“No more than since we left the hotel.” He grasped her wrist and pulled her out of the wheelhouse and down the short flight of steps to the cabin level. “I’m sorry to disturb your euphoric mood, but I can’t wait any longer.”

She felt her breath leave her lungs and familiar heat suffuse her body. It was going to happen.

“The only reason I waited until we were underway is that I didn’t want to be interrupted again.” He threw open a door to reveal a teak-paneled
postage stamp-size cabin. Her gaze went immediately to the narrow bunk across the room.

Jed’s gaze followed hers. “Not very wide but we won’t need much room. Undress.”

The order was succinct, made harsh by his need and a tension as erotic as an aphrodisiac.

Ysabel’s hands flew to the buttons of her shirt.

“I see you’re as obedient as usual,” he said with a bittersweet smile. “And I thought you were a new woman.”

“Why shouldn’t I obey you? I made you a promise and besides I liked making love with you very much.”

His hands clenched into fists. “It wasn’t love,” he said hoarsely.

She felt a stirring of pain but tried to smile. “I know but I couldn’t think of what else to call it.” She slipped out of her shirt and tossed it on the bed. “Why do you always make—”

“Achoo!”

The sneeze had not come from either of them but from somewhere across the cabin!

Ysabel’s gaze flew to Jed, but he was already gliding silently toward a door across the cabin. He put a cautionary finger on his lips as he stood to the left of the door and reached for the knob.

“Oh rats! I’ve blown it, right?”

Ronnie’s voice, Ysabel realized, relief surging through her.

Jed didn’t share her reaction. He muttered a curse and threw open the door. “Get in here!”

Ronnie swaggered toward them but edged warily around Jed. “Isn’t it weird how you always need to
sneeze when it’s least convenient? It must be something psychological that has to do with—”

“Explanation,” Jed rapped.

“I wanted to come and I was bored out of my mind,” Ronnie stated quickly. “And you might need me. Who’s going to stay with the boat when you go ashore?”

“So you stowed away?”

“Well, I did decide it was better to not let you know I was on board until after you left San Juan. Actually, I thought we’d be a couple hundred miles out before you came down to go to bed.” She made a face as her gaze met Ysabel’s. “Sorry about the interruption. I really did think the trip was only business. You’re not his usual type and he yells at you just like he does me.”

“I don’t yell at either one of you,” Jed said frigidly.

“Well, you growl.” Ronnie picked up Ysabel’s shirt from the bunk and handed it to her. “You’d better put this on. It’s getting cool in here.”

“Thank you.” Ysabel slipped on the shirt, fighting an absurd desire to giggle. “But I don’t think it’s the temperature.”

“It was a fake sneeze, you know,” Ronnie confided. “The wall between the cabins is so thin, I could practically hear you breathe, and I didn’t know what else to do besides clearing my throat. I thought about dropping something but then Jed might have bolted in here and given me a karate chop before he realized I wasn’t a threat. He’s not exactly popular with the underworld element these days and gets a little edgy—”

“I almost did anyway,” Jed interrupted grimly.

Ronnie ignored him as she told Ysabel earnestly, “I would have kept still if you’d only been doing it.”

“Doing it?”

“Ronnie doesn’t believe in euphemisms any more than I do,” Jed said.

Ronnie nodded. “But you were talking, too, and eavesdropping is pretty low.”

“Thank you,” Ysabel said solemnly. “I appreciate the distinction.”

“I guess we’ll have to work out something.” Ronnie’s brow wrinkled in thought. “How about whenever you want to do it, you just tell me and I’ll go for a walk on the deck?”

“I have a better idea,” Jed said. “Why don’t I just simplify matters and toss you overboard?”

She grinned. “I’d only swim after you. You’re stuck with me.”

He gazed at her for a moment and then turned on his heel and strode out of the cabin.

Ronnie flinched as the door slammed. “Maybe I’d better put on a life preserver.” She glanced at Ysabel. “You mad at me too?”

“Surprised is more the word.”

“Like I said, he didn’t treat you like the others. He was all uptight and protective and didn’t even glance at you and I thought …” she trailed off. “I promise I won’t get in the way.”

Her expression was suddenly so woebegone, Ysabel felt a surge of sympathy. “I know you won’t. Once we get accustomed to the idea, I’m sure we’ll both be very glad you’re along.”

“Really?” Ronnie brightened. “You’re not just being polite to me?”

“I believe this situation goes slightly beyond the bounds of courtesy.”

Ronnie’s wistful gaze went to the doorway through which Jed had disappeared. “He’s really mad at me this time. Maybe I’d better go up and try to cool him down.”

“Let me do it.” Ysabel turned and moved toward the door. “I think you’d better stay out of sight for awhile.”

“Oh.” Ronnie thought for a minute. “I know, I’ll go fix supper.”

“Are you a good cook?”

“Rotten,” she admitted cheerfully. “But I figure anyone can make an omelet and Jed knows me well enough to recognize it as a peace gesture.”

But indigestion might not improve his temper. Ysabel resisted the impulse to vocalize the thought as she hurried up the steps to the deck.

She saw Jed standing at the rail, looking out over the sea, the line of his spine rigid, his demeanor forbidding.

“She really is upset that you’re angry with her,” Ysabel said quietly as she joined him at the rail.

“That won’t stop her from doing the same thing again if it suits her,” Jed said curtly. “And it won’t help the present situation one iota.”

“She seems to be willing to make any adjustments to—”

“A great choice. I’m supposed to either announce my intentions to ‘do it’ to all and sundry or subject you to a silent witness in the next cabin.”

“I made no objection.”

“Well, I do.” He turned on her, his eyes blazing. “I know you’ll take anything I hand out to you, but
it’s shoddy and I won’t have you put— Why the devil are you grinning at me?”

“Because you’re funny.” And because happiness had surged through her in a golden tide at his words. “I believe beneath that tough exterior lies a Galahad.”

“Bull.”

“Then why are you trying to guard my delicate sensibilities?”

He scowled at her. “How the hell do I know? It’s just not— I’ll get over it.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think you will and I believe you know it and that’s why you’re so angry.”

He wearily rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ve been angry since the moment I met you.”

“Since you met the Winter Bride,” she corrected. “But I’m not that woman and I never was. How can I convince you?”

“It seems we’re going to have a long time to explore the subject,” he said dryly. “It may be the longest four days of my life.”

“But perhaps this has happened for the best,” she said eagerly. “We can get to know each other and you can see I’m not—”

“For Lord’s sake, don’t you understand? That’s the whole point. I don’t
want
to get to know you.” The words exploded with barely contained violence. “As long as you’re just a woman in my bed I’ll be able to—”

“I’m sorry,” she rushed in, trying to stop him and the fierce pain from igniting within her. “If that’s what you want, perhaps you should reconsider Ronnie’s suggestion to—”

“Stop saying you’re sorry!” His hands tightened on the rail. “Why should you be sorry? None of this is your fault.”

She smiled shakily. “It’s hard to break a habit. I was always the one to blame if something went wrong.”

“Blast it, are you crying?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then you’re damn close.” He turned her around to face him and looked down into her shimmering eyes. “Some Galahad.” He reached out and gently caressed her cheek. A multitude of emotions flickered over his face before he sighed. “Okay.”

Tenderness again, coming as unexpectedly as it had those two occasions in the cottage. She knew he was struggling against it, but she didn’t care how it had sprung into being. For this moment, it was here. She stood very still beneath his touch, wanting it to go on forever. “Okay, what?”

“Anything you want. Just don’t cry.” His voice was gruff. “All right, until we get to San Miguel I get to know the new woman and you put up with a man who is definitely no gentle knight.” He scowled. “But only until we reached San Miguel and get rid of Ronnie. Deal?”

She smiled brilliantly. “Oh yes, deal.” She started to turn away and then thought of something. “Where … do I sleep?”

“With me. That hasn’t changed. I have no intention of letting you become accustomed to sleeping anywhere else. Any objection?”

“No, I just thought … I could sleep up here on deck.”

“No way.” He turned his back on her and looked out over the ocean. “We sleep together.”

Jed didn’t come to the cabin until nearly midnight, but she was still awake. She went rigid in the bed, but he didn’t speak and a moment later she heard the sounds of his undressing in the darkness. She tried to look away but found she couldn’t. She could see only a moving shadow, but that made no difference. The memory of his nudity in the cabin was suddenly before her. The powerful line of his thighs, the tight buttocks, the jutting arousal of— Heat suffused her and she quickly blocked the image.

His skin gleamed pale in the darkness as he came toward the bunk, but it wasn’t pale, she remembered. He was tan and the dark hair of his chest was peppered with the same silver as his hair. He stopped beside the bunk and she could hear the rhythmic sound of his breathing as he stood over her. “I hoped you’d be asleep.”

“How did you know I wasn’t?” she whispered.

“I could sense you watching me. It was disconcerting as hell.”

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t sleep.”

“Scoot over.”

She quickly moved over to the opposite side of the bed. “It’s late. I thought you’d changed your mind.”

“And that I’d bunk on deck?” He slipped into bed beside her. “Why? I gave you my reasons and, besides, I like my comfort.” He laughed harshly.
“Though this bunk may prove a bed of nails before this trip is over.”

He lay there for a few moments, unmoving, every muscle locked and tense. “For Lord’s sake, go to sleep. I can
feel
you there.”

“I’m having a little difficulty adjusting to sleeping with a man.”

He chuckled mirthlessly. “You have no problem with letting me make love to you, but sleeping with me is too personal?”

“It’s different. Sleeping requires a lack of tension.”

“And a lowering of your guard.” He added bitterly, “And you can’t do that with—”

The door to the next cabin slammed and they heard Ronnie whistling cheerfully … and loudly.