by Leslie Kelly
Adding to the natural “spillage” danger was the fact that Kelsey wore a tight white bustier over the blouse. It laced in the front, cinching her waist to near nothingness, hugging her midriff and pushing her breasts up to a dangerous level.
A flowing white skirt skimmed over her shapely hips and fell in layered ruffles to mid-calf. Kelsey moved slightly, and Mitch saw that on one side the skirt curved into a slit that came up to her upper thigh.
Her hair was a mass of shining curls, lustrous and inviting and seductive as hell, falling in ringlets over her shoulders. Her huge green eyes stared at him from her exquisite face, and Mitch just drank in her beauty.
“What in heaven’s name are you supposed to be?” he finally asked when he regained the ability to speak.
Kelsey dropped her eyes and said, “Um…your wench.”
“My what?”
“You know,” she explained, “a pirate’s wench.”
“A…pirate’s wench?”
Kelsey bent over, and Mitch was unable to suppress a groan at the view he was given. He watched as she grabbed for the bag she’d had him carry into the lobby.
“Now, Mitch, you trust me, right?”
Mitch was able to nod, but that was all. His voice hadn’t started working yet, since she’d sucked all the air out of his body when she bent over in front of him.
“Okay, then,” she said, “close your eyes.”
Mitch complied instantly, glad for the chance to pull his eyes back into his head.
“Just bear with me, okay? Withhold judgment for a minute?”
“I’ll agree to withhold judgment if you’ll agree not to fall out of that damned blouse,” he said without opening his eyes.
A light peal of laughter was her only response. The bag she’d been carrying rustled, then Mitch heard a clinking sound and tried to place it. It registered about two seconds before he felt the shackle slide around his wrist and snap shut with a click.
“What the…”
“Uh-uh, no peeking. Just one more second,” Kelsey said, sliding the other shackle over her own wrist. “Now you can open your eyes.”
Mitch did.
They stood in front of a mirrored wall, and Mitch studied the reflection. Kelsey stared at him in the mirror, biting the corner of her lip and looking the tiniest bit uncertain. As well she might.
“Kelsey, we’re chained together.”
“Yes, Mitch, I know.”
8
MITCH’S RIGHT WRIST WAS ENCASED in a metal bracelet that looked and felt like a real prisoner’s shackle. About five feet of chain, probably three-quarter-inch links, hung down his body, then looped and traveled up Kelsey’s white-clad form, ending at a smaller shackle on her left wrist.
Though there was enough play in the chain for them to move apart, Kelsey was pressed against him, still watching for his reaction. Mitch took a deep breath, inhaling her flowery fragrance, and felt a familiar rush of excitement. He continued to study the reflection. He and Kelsey, a pirate and a wench.
“Well?” she finally asked, breaking the several moments of silence. “What do you think?”
“Hmm,” he said slowly, “what do I think?”
He saw her mouth tighten and her hand move toward her pocket. She was nervous. He figured she was about to reach for the keys.
“I think,” he finally said, “that we look pretty damn good.”
“Oh, I love you! I knew you’d be a good sport about this,” Kelsey said as she laughed and pulled him down for a quick kiss on the mouth.
Some devil inside him made him tighten his arms around her waist and deepen the kiss. Mitch didn’t question the impulse as he pressed his mouth against hers. She didn’t seem to question it, either, because she immediately tilted her head and parted her lips invitingly.
He was alive with sensation, following his instincts instead of his intellect and it felt so good. As did she. She molded against him perfectly, pressing her body against his from neck to hip. This time when they finally drew apart, Mitch didn’t regret the kiss for one second.
“Ready, wench?” he asked, glancing at Kelsey’s swollen lips, then lowering his gaze to her heaving chest.
“Oh, yeah, I’m ready,” she muttered. “I think you are, too.”
Mitch followed her frank gaze down the front of his own body. His black pants left absolutely nothing to the imagination, and certainly no room for arousal.
“You better give me a minute before we go inside,” he said, his voice a throaty whisper.
“I’d give you a lot longer than that if we weren’t standing in a public hallway.”
“Hell, Kelsey, the way I’m feeling right now, I probably wouldn’t need much longer than that!”
She laughed softly. Mitch pulled his gaze off her and stared at the ceiling, trying to calm himself down by thinking of Chinese burial rituals, bowls of cold oatmeal and his first-grade teacher, a gray-haired old battle-ax named Mrs. Dora. Finally he looked at her and nodded. “Let’s do it.”
A slow, wicked smile spread across her face.
“I mean,” he said, narrowing his eyes, “let’s go to the ball, Lady Love.”
“Is that what makes tonight different?” she asked. “Am I just Lady Love tonight, and can you forget about the fact that I’m Kelsey Logan?”
Her lips were parted and he watched as the tip of her tongue slid out to moisten them. She moved closer, laying her hand flat against his chest, and stared up at him with liquid desire in her eyes. The conservative college professor in him tried to answer logically, but his brain and vocal cords didn’t connect.
“Keep looking at me like that, Lady Love, and you’re not going to make it to the ball.”
Kelsey felt a rush of triumph fill her. “Who says I want to?”
He shook his head, then chuckled. “Come on, little wench. You need to keep your job to pay your rent.”
Kelsey sighed, picked up the empty bag she’d used to carry the chain, and let him lead her out of the alcove.
“I guess this means I won’t be doing much dancing with ‘Ginger’ tonight, hmm?” Mitch asked as he jiggled the chain.
Kelsey flushed lightly as she realized Mitch knew exactly why she’d come up with the costume idea. “Well, we don’t have to leave them on all evening. I’m supposed to spend an hour greeting people and giving out promotional stuff. After that, we’re on our own.”
“Let’s see what happens, all right? We’ll definitely stick together while Lady Love is working.”
Kelsey gave him one more chance to back out. “You’re sure about this? I mean, it might be a little embarrassing.”
“Baby, let me tell you, being chained to a beautiful woman who calls herself my wench is only going to enhance my reputation,” Mitch assured her. “Now, let’s go. I’m sure all of Baltimore is anxious to meet the infamous Lady Love.”
Kelsey nodded and they walked back toward the lobby. A brunette dressed as Cleopatra sat cozily with a man who looked like a punk rocker on one of the sofas in the lobby. The queen of Egypt stared at Mitch as they walked by. The harried-looking mommy of two, still standing at the front desk, couldn’t keep her eyes off him, either. Kelsey curled her fingers in his possessively.
The chain clinked a little as they walked, but Kelsey ignored it, proceeding as if she and Mitch were just like any other couple holding hands in a hotel lobby…half-dressed and chained together.
“Where do we go first? Do we find a table or do you report for duty?”
Kelsey glanced at the clock hanging above the double doors leading into the ballroom. “We’re right on time. I’m supposed to work for the first hour.”
“Does the station have a booth or something?”
“Yeah. And my boss left me a note that they’re setting up a special area for me.”
Mitch was moving to open the door for her when a group of twenty or so people came from behind them, laughing and complimenting one another’s costumes. The group moved toward the doors, sweeping Mitch and
Kelsey right along with them into the ballroom.
Inside, Kelsey glanced quickly around the huge parquet-floored room. There was a large crowd standing in a buffet line, and most of the tables were already full. Several couples were on the dance floor. Along the far right wall she saw a large banner with the call letters for the station, and they steered along the outside edge of the ballroom as they made their way toward it.
“Kelsey!”
Glancing around, Kelsey saw Brian approaching them. He was dressed as a large chicken and looked about as uncomfortable as anyone she had ever seen.
“Hi, Brian. You look…interesting,” Kelsey said, trying unsuccessfully to suppress a grin.
“Don’t get me started,” Brian responded with a sour look. “I reserved the Lone Ranger and Tonto costumes for Chuck and me, but the rental place messed up and I had to choose from what was hanging on the racks. I’m the chicken, and Chuck is dressed up as Godzilla.”
“I thought that lizard looked familiar,” Kelsey said.
“You need to hurry up. The station photographer’s taking a few shots over at the booth and wants you in them. Sweetie, you two look great…I can’t wait to see you in the cover.”
“The cover?” Kelsey asked, not knowing what he was talking about. Brian hurried away without responding.
Mitch didn’t protest as Kelsey squeezed through the crowd, dragging him behind her. They generated stares throughout the length of the ballroom, and Mitch nodded to a few familiar faces, chuckling at their astonishment at his appearance. He grinned at the college dean, who was dressed as a vampire. The man’s jaw dropped so hard when he saw a chained Mitch being led by Kelsey that his false fangs popped out and landed with a bubbling fizz in his drink. Mitch imagined there would be a new topic of conversation at the next faculty party.
As they approached the large WAJO banner, which Mitch could see over the heads of people pressed near the radio station’s booth, they skirted between a few tables and came up from behind to avoid the crowd. Kelsey introduced Mitch to two of the other deejays already there, then waved at a photographer standing nearby.
“Perfect timing, Kels. I want to finish off this roll, and I’ve got to get out of here soon,” Dan said. “You don’t have a problem with me taking a few shots for the station, do you?” he asked, obviously addressing Mitch.
“I guess not,” Mitch replied.
“Good,” Dan said. “I just need you to sign the standard forms.”
Mitch watched as the man felt around his camera bag and came up with two small crumpled-looking pieces of paper and a pen. Kelsey signed first, without bothering to read the card, and Mitch followed suit. His signature ended up a crooked scrawl because Kelsey accidentally jerked the chain while he wrote. “Watch it, wench,” he muttered.
“Sorry, master,” she said with a saucy grin. “Are you going to punish me later?”
Their eyes met for one charged moment. “Only if you’re lucky.”
“Okay, we’re all set,” Dan said as he shoved the signed forms back into his camera bag. “I have to say, you two look amazing. This is going to be terrific.”
“I hope you’re right,” Kelsey said. “Where do you want us?”
The photographer rolled his eyes. “In the cover, of course, right over here.”
Dan grabbed Kelsey and Mitch by their chained hands, pulling them forward to stand beneath a large wooden frame. Kelsey could only see it from the back. She assumed a special “Lady Love” promo was on the front. The frame was about seven feet tall, and contained a large empty spot in the middle. As the photographer pulled them beneath it, Kelsey realized it was built around the shape of two bodies. She and Mitch fit very nicely inside the center cutout.
“Let me pose you, all right?” the photographer asked. Kelsey didn’t protest as he grasped her shoulder and turned her to face Mitch, pushing her tight against him. Mitch’s eyes opened wider and he looked at her for an explanation, but Kelsey was as confused as he appeared to be.
“Here,” Dan said to Mitch, “grab her leg.”
Kelsey gasped as Dan pulled her right knee up and placed Mitch’s hand high up on the back of her thigh. Their bodies were pressed intimately together, with her leg almost resting on his hip. Before she could say a word, Dan had placed Mitch’s arm around her waist and gently pushed Kelsey’s shoulders back so Mitch’s arm was almost completely supporting her. Then he lifted Kelsey’s hand and placed it against Mitch’s bare chest. She couldn’t resist digging her fingers slightly into the skin next to the soft cotton shirt.
“What are you doing?” Kelsey asked softly, suddenly worried about the extreme seductiveness of the pose.
“Ah, ah,” The man held up his hand. “Just let me be creative. Kelsey, toss back that hair, purse those lips of yours. Come on, get into it, you two.”
Mitch stared down at Kelsey and caught her eyes with his own. Her lips were parted, her breath coming in short gasps, and Mitch felt another rush of desire for her. Standing in the middle of a crowd of people, all he could think was that if he bent forward a few inches, he could press a hot kiss in the hollow of her throat.
“Yes, yes, that’s it,” Dan said as he backed away and began focusing his camera.
One of the other deejays approached the microphone and cleared his throat for attention. “Ladies and gentlemen, appearing in public for the first time, WAJO’s own princess of the night, Lady Love.”
Mitch noticed a perceptible drop in conversation, at least in the tables closest to the booth. The deejay’s announcement over the microphone probably didn’t reach the far recesses of the huge ballroom, but everyone within at least thirty feet stopped their conversations and turned to watch.
“Look enraptured!” Dan whispered loudly as he began snapping pictures.
A small spotlight came up, illuminating them from head to toe, and Mitch did as Dan ordered, not because of the photographer’s request, but because he could do nothing else. He stared down at Kelsey with every ounce of pent-up desire he felt for her. He would have sworn that anyone within five feet could have felt the heat coming from them.
Someone whistled, someone else cheered, and then a loud thunder of applause washed over them. Mitch barely noticed. He studied Kelsey’s face, with her full pouty lips and her half-lowered eyelids. She looked like she wanted to be ravished. And he felt more than ready for the job. Suddenly, for some reason, the pose, the costume, her hair, everything…started to look familiar.
“Kelsey,” Mitch said as the applause continued, and flashbulbs popped, “am I standing under what I think I’m standing under?”
Kelsey, who had realized at about the same instant that her innocent words to her boss had been misconstrued and used to design this “stage,” nodded weakly.
“Oh, my God. We’re a romance novel cover, aren’t we?”
She nodded again. Watching as Mitch gritted his teeth, she wondered if he would let go of her waist and let her fall to the floor. She wouldn’t really blame him if he did. He probably wanted to strangle her!
After the applause began to die down and the photographer gave Kelsey a thumbs-up, she relaxed a little and tried to pull away from her pirate. He would have none of it.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” he said. “If I’m going to stand here doing this, I’m sure as hell going to make it worth my time!”
Mitch grabbed Kelsey’s hip with one hand, allowing the chain to dangle between them. Thrusting his other hand into her thick curls, he wound his fingers close to her scalp, caressing her slightly before gently tugging her head farther back. Her eyes widened, almost as much as his narrowed, and he jerked her body tighter against his from the waist down. He leaned forward, forcing her to arch her back even farther, and bent toward her bare throat and bosom, stopping with his lips just inches from her flesh.
The crowd began applauding and whistling all over again, and the photographer snapped away. Kelsey felt her back was going to break, but she didn’t move. She’d seen a flash of anger in Mi
tch’s eyes and didn’t want to risk making it worse. He obviously believed she had planned this entire thing and was paying her back. She probably deserved it. Her comment to her boss about “picturing a romance novel cover” had precipitated this entire mess. But this pose was killing her. Mainly because what she really wanted to do was wrap her fingers in his dark hair and pull him those scant few inches to her breast.
“Well, that’s our Lady Love, and her escort. Lady Love will be happy to visit with fans for the next hour, so if you’ve been wanting to meet her, please come do so.”
Mitch heard the deejay make the announcement. Realizing people would be approaching them, he pulled away from Kelsey, drawing her up with him. He didn’t trust himself to say anything yet, and tried to paste on a pleasant expression as people surrounded the display.
Kelsey shot him an uncertain glance out of the corner of her eye and whispered, “I didn’t know, Mitch. I swear to you…I give you my word…I had no idea they were going to do this.”
Mitch recognized the remorse in her voice and knew she was telling the truth. That made the entire embarrassing incident somewhat better. Before he could say a word to reassure her, several ardent fans surrounded the booth and began clamoring for Kelsey’s attention.
“THANK YOU, THANK YOU SO MUCH,” Kelsey said in reply to the three college students who had complimented her costume, and Night Whispers. “I’m glad you like the show. Have any of you called in?”
Mitch cast a quick glance over the three young men who looked more nervous than threatening, and determined that Kelsey had nothing to fear from them. Carefully turning to avoid yanking her with the chain, he slipped out from under the frame to look at it.
Someone had designed and created a complete seven-foot-tall romance novel cover for the ball, leaving only the center cut out so he and she could step into it and complete the picture. The board tacked to the wooden frame was painted a pale lavender, and vines and flowers, very artistically drawn, trailed down both sides. Glittery gold letters spelled out “Pirate’s Prisoner of Passion” across the top. There was even a small pirate ship on a stormy sea painted on one side. He could only imagine how the two of them had looked standing in that perfectly measured cutout center during their dramatic pose. A small grin tickled his lips.