Enthralled

by Ann Cristy

  Chazz finished his cognac, came over to her, and lifted her from the bench. "Let me help you drink that," he said, taking the snifter from her hands and tipping the contents into his mouth.

  "You've had enough," Teel said through dry lips.

  "Have I, darling? Then you have some." He fitted the snifter gently to her lips and let some of the liquid trickle into her mouth, then turned the glass and let his own lips drink from the same spot, his eyes never leaving her face.

  Teel felt as if she were falling backward through space. Chazz was standing so close that the hairs on their bodies might have been touching. A personal electricity generated between them seemed to have fused them together. Mesmerized, Teel felt Chazz outline her lips with one finger, delineate her jaw, smooth the line of her brow, and snake toward her ear. She cleared her throat and opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly his tongue was there, moistening her dry lips and entering her mouth like a brand. Against her will, her eyes fluttered shut. She felt hot, stinging bites on her neck that came lower and lower. Her skin caught fire, and her flesh seemed to curl in the heat. She tried to protest, tried to fight the heat, but all that came out was a groan. Instead of pushing Chazz away, her hands clasped his waist as his hands and mouth made sensual forays over her body.

  A sudden feeling of being swung into space made sense when she opened her eyes to find Chazz lifting her in his arms and carrying her to the bed. She met his liquid gold gaze and tried to struggle away from him. "No."

  "Yes." She felt rather than heard the throbbing answer as he lowered his body to hers. "Drop the disguise and admit you're mine," he mouthed almost inaudibly against her skin.

  She felt the rasp of his beard and realized that her dress was down around her hips and that Chazz was nuzzling her breasts. A hazy memory of the pain that Ben Windom had inflicted on her, both mental and physical, flashed before her, and she began to squirm in panic.

  Chazz lifted his head. "Let me, darling. Let me love you." His eyes were glazed, hot and wanting. He seemed to sense her panic. "I won't hurt you, love, I promise."

  Teel wanted to shout at him, to yell the question at him. How did he know she wasn't a virgin? For she was now certain of what she had suspected several times— Chazz knew she wasn't a nun. How? she shouted at him, but only a moan came from her mouth. She was both repelled and attracted by him. It was as though her body wanted Chazz but her mind remembered Ben.

  Instead of pummeling him with her fists, as one part of her screamed to do, her hands twined into his crisp black hair. His muffled groan of satisfaction sent a thrill through her as he began to caress her breasts again, his tongue making her nipples harden. His mouth stroked over her body as though to imprint himself on her flesh.

  Then he raised himself slowly over her, his mouth coming back to hers, one leg separating her thighs. "Darling. I'll always be gentle with you," he murmured.

  When she would have spoken, his mouth fastened to hers once again, wet tongue meeting wet tongue. Teel's body arched as his manhood pressed against her. She felt suffused in new blood, burning with a vibrant, driving need. There was no turning back. She surrendered to him, her mouth sighing into his, their bodies melting together as if in a dream. She felt him moving over her in restless readiness, as though he could wait no longer. But he would wait.

  "My God I've never wanted anyone like this," Chazz breathed, as if surprised. His hands skimmed over Teel again, heating and reheating her body wherever he touched. "It will be good for you, love. You'll see." His words slurred over her as his mouth moved down her body once again.

  "It's good now," Teel moaned urging him closer.

  "Love, oh love." His passion built and vibrated between them, yet still he controlled it. He seemed to sense she was ready for him, but he continued to minister to her, building the yearning in her to an intolerable level.

  "Chazz," Teel groaned.

  "Yes, darling."

  She felt his penetration and welcomed it. And then the electricity between them burst into flames, and Chazz began a mounting rhythm that was like nothing Teel had ever imagined. They crested again and again, then spun away into a warm, dark well...

  Teel felt as light as air. When she saw the confused look on Chazz's face as he leaned over her, she pulled his head to her again and began a velvet assault of her own. The tiny kisses over the stubble on his face stimulated her already overheated senses. She shocked herself by becoming the aggressor, her hand caressing him in excited possession.

  Chazz seemed delighted to relinquish control, and his lazy grin was soon replaced with a deep groan as Teel found her way through the labyrinth of his feelings, exposing the core of the man and joining her inmost self with him.

  Ecstasy took them both, and then they sank together, Chazz folding her close.

  "You took me apart, beautiful lady, you took me apart." The words were barely out of his mouth when he was asleep, his hold binding her to him throughout the night.

  Teel slept. When she awoke, it was still outside. Chazz's iron hands had loosened somewhat around her, but she was still within the protective circle of his arms. She turned her head on the pillow and looked at him long and hard. It brought a raw, sweet pang to realize that she loved him. God, what a mess! In love with a lecher who cruised the ports of the jet set seeking his prey. She sighed deeply, momentarily overcome by the hopelessness of her predicament. Still, without Chazz, Teel mused to herself, lifting one finger to gently trace his features, she would never have known what it meant to love. Her mouth lifted in a wry smile. Sweet irony.

  As she lay there she had no sense of time passing. She knew only one thing. She was leaving the Deirdre, Chazz, and everything connected with his life on the next available flight back to New York—and reality. Running away wasn't usually her solution to difficult situations, but this time she was going to gallop. The idea of Chazz ever Saline out what he meant to her threatened to tear her heart in two.

  What a paradox! She had run to the Deirdre for succor, for surcease from fear, for rescue from her ordeal in the jungle. Now she was enmeshed in as frightening an ordeal as before. Oh, she was no longer in danger of dying of exposure or starvation, but her spirit was in danger of being destroyed by Chazz Herman. If she stayed here any longer, she wouldn't be able to leave. She would end up being his concubine. She swallowed a bitter chuckle in the darkness. You're a fool, Teel Barrett. Where in all of blue Hades did you find that word? She chided herself, needing to punish herself for the weakness that kept her in bed with Chazz Herman, as if chained by love for him. How long did she think he would keep her? she scolded herself as she cuddled against the warm, hard form curved around her. He would sicken of her just as he had the rest, an inner voice promised her, the harsh thoughts freezing the blood in her veins. Go back to your work, she told herself. Maybe after a few years she'd forget him. Ha! She would never forget him. Maybe that was true, she argued with the voice, but her work was important and fulfilling. She would make it be enough for her.

  In the dawn silence she heard the ship come awake. She knew Rowan would be in the galley, preparing breakfast, serving the crew. Teel edged out of bed, grateful for Chazz's heavy breathing, aware by the sound that he was in deep sleep. He would probably wake up with a hangover. If she hurried and was lucky, she could be well away before he even thought to ask for her.

  She took a short, freezing-cold shower in an effort to remind herself of hard reality, of unrelenting necessity, while she ached for Chazz's touch.

  Darby raised his eyebrows at her appearance on deck and would have hurried off to get her breakfast, but Teel forestalled him. "Didn't you tell me that Chazz had informed the State Department of my plight and that a new passport had been issued to me?"

  Darby nodded and explained that the new passport was in Chazz's rolltop desk. He nodded slowly when she asked him if he could get it for her. But when she asked for transportation to the nearest port with an airport, Darby frowned.

  "Please." Teel placed an entrea
ting hand on his sleeve as he regarded her, open-mouthed. "I must return to my school. I'm way overdue. I must go today." She tried to keep her voice from rising. "And I want to see my aunt. She must be so worried."

  Darby stared at her for long moments, then nodded once. "I'll pack clothes for ya to take," he told her, "and don't waste your breath arguing 'cause you won't change my mind."

  Just before noon Teel boarded the dinghy, which was manned by one of the crew. Tears filled her eyes as she waved good-bye to Darby, the captain, and Rowan, all of whom stood at the rail waving back at her.

  The inhabitants of the bustling tourist town where she was let off paid scant attention to Teel. She went to the cable office and wired her aunt for money, then after picking it up at the local bank, she arranged to fly to Acapulco Airport. There she made connections to Mexico City and on to JFK Airport. In New York, tired and miserable, she booked a room at the Algonquin Hotel for one night. She knew she couldn't face even the short trip to Selby. She was exhausted.

  Once in her hotel room, she dialed her friend and assistant, Nancy Weil. "Yes, Nancy, it's really me. Yes, I'm fine. Yes, of course I'll tell you all about it when I reach home." She tried not to cry when she thought of all the memories she wouldn't be able to share with Nancy. "What? No, of course I haven't forgotten the Special Olympics tryouts here in New York next month. Are the children excited?"

  "Excited isn't the word I'd use." Nancy's laugh came over the phone. "Hysterical is closer. I'd say we're in tor a wild but wonderful time."

  "I can't wait." Teel smiled as she thought of her children at the Mary Dempsey School and some of the desperate tiredness left her. "I'll be home tomorrow," she promised.

  "Good," Nancy replied. "There is some bad news. The sweats that came for the kids aren't the ones we picked out. How would you like to make a fuss while you're in New York? Would it be too much trouble to go to the Complaint Department of Acme Sporting Goods?"

  Teel assured Nancy that she'd be happy to "make a fuss at Acme," but her nerves screamed that she wanted ' to jump down a manhole and pull the top over her.

  The next day, feeling physically rested if not emotionally revived, Teel stood before the glass and chrome doors of Acme Sporting Goods and stared at the modern skyscraper. Who would listen to one school director at this cool, sophisticated establishment? As Teel entered the posh but sterile main lobby, she felt as if she just walked into a chrome museum. She stared at the long index of office names and suddenly the words ran together in a dizzy blur because the chrome scroll informed her that Acme Sporting Goods was a subsidiary of C. Herman Associates, Inc. She would have run away then and there if her trembling legs had obeyed the fuzzy command from her brain.

  "May I help you, miss?" a uniformed attendant asked at her side.

  Teel had to swallow twice before the words came out. "I would like to speak to someone at Acme Sporting Goods about an incorrect order."

  Teel hardly heard the man, but she followed his pointing finger toward the third bank of elevators where she repeated her request. She knew the man was looking at her closely, but she couldn't help moving like an automaton. She was sure there was little chance that Chazz could be in the city, let alone in this building, still she was torn inside from wanting and loving him. She felt out of breath, as though her lungs and heart weren't functioning properly. Her legs and arms ached. Her head began to throb. She had to get over Chazz Herman. She couldn't stand the agony just seeing his name provoked. What would happen if she saw a picture of him with— with one of his women?

  She punched the elevator button with unnecessary force and glared at the light that moved from floor to floor, stopping at four.

  The receptionist at Acme Sporting Goods was very efficient and spoke to Teel as though she were a mental incompetent. If Teel hadn't been so busy looking over her shoulder in morbid expectation of seeing Chazz, she would have straightened the woman out in a hurry.

  "Now, I think we're all set, are we not, Mrs. Barrett?" the receptionist, who had introduced herself as Mrs. Eldred, asked her smoothly, handing her the amended invoice that Teel was to include with the return order of sweats.

  "Ah, yes...I guess so..." Teel looked blankly at the folded paper in her hand, then stuffed it into her purse. "Ah... good-bye Mrs. Elfred." She peered through the crack in the door out into the hallway. All clear.

  "It's Eldred," the woman called after her.

  'What? Oh... whatever." Teel jerked her head toward the woman, then scurried out into the hall to the elevator. She held her breath until the doors opened on the next floor.

  Two men entered, hardly pausing in their conversation. "I tell you, Bert, the Old Man has gone crazy. Max was downtown this morning and overheard the brass talking to him on a ship-to-shore. Max said he was raging mad, that he chewed everybody's..." The man glanced at Teel, who sensed his gaze though she kept her face averted. "... tail about anything at all. Max heard Teller say he'd never known the Old Man to have a tantrum...That's what he said—tantrum."

  "What happened on that damn cruise anyway?" the other mar. replied He should have come back a happy man. He took those two high-flying models with him, Clare Henry and Elise Burrell. He shouldn't be able to keep a smile off his face."

  The first man laughed, throwing another quick glance at Teel. "How the hell do you know who was with him?"

  "Hey, when Chazz Herman vacations on his yacht, the whole world knows who goes with him." The two men chortled.

  Teel didn't hear the rest of the conversation for the roaring in her ears. She surged into the lobby when the elevator doors opened and practically ran into the street.

  Teel was so confused that she plunged pell-mell through the door of a cab that had just disgorged its passengers in front of the building. She gave the driver the address of her hotel. It was just three blocks away.

  The Mary Dempsey School for Exceptional Children was a beehive of activity. Teel found few calm moments in her day as the time approached for the children to leave for the finals preceding the Special Olympics. Nevertheless, she welcomed the constant preoccupation with work. She was only happy when she went home reeling from fatigue and fell immediately into bed. Only then could she avoid dreaming of Chazz. Only then could she awaken without tears on her cheeks.

  Her house had always given her a quiet joy and a sense of peace. She'd decorated it with potted plants against cream-colored walls and trim and cheerful blue, red and cream braided rugs to compliment the stone fireplace. Now the place seemed a veritable torture chamber. When she beat eggs to make an omelet for supper, she saw Chazz's face in the swirling mixture. When she watched dramas on TV, she saw him dashing through the air with athletic ease to rescue the damsel in distress. It did no good to tell herself that the actor wasn't Chazz, that he wasn't kissing the full-breasted blonde. She still writhed with jealous anger. She considered talking to Alison James, the staff psychologist, but she couldn't face discussing Chazz with anyone. So she buried herself in work. It didn't solve the problem, but it helped.

  Teel hadn't planned to accompany the children to New York, but two days before departure one of the coaches came down with the flu. Teel crossed her fingers that it wouldn't spread to other teachers or the children and said she'd help chaperon.

  "I'm so glad you're going, Teel," Nancy Weil shouted over the heads of the noisy children she and Teel were shepherding onto the bus. "I couldn't believe how much you had gone through until that man from Day magazine came to interview you—Stop that, Timmy. No, get on the bus, the cat can't come—It must have been horrible for you."

  "It was, but I hope you don't think you and I are going to rest in New York with this crew." Teel laughed.

  Nancy screwed up her face. "I don't mind the kids at all, but sometimes the parents are tough going." She shrugged as she and Teel took their seats with the other moderators.

  "When the children have reached this level in sports, we don't usually have much trouble," Teel soothed. "It's the parents whose children
have never done much athletically who are the most fearful."

  "Well. I'm not going to worry," Nancy said firmly. "I'll just watch you and do the same."

  As Nancy took a cat nap, Teel watched the rolling bills of New York state, but she was barely conscious of the pine woods, the granite cliffs, or the mountains marked with ski runs. She hardly noticed the last-ditch skiers who were taking advantage of the late spring snows.

  All Teel could see was Chazz's face. It was like having a constant toothache, she thought. It was like being caught in a trap. She shook her head, trying to force his image from her mind.

  They arrived in New York with few mishaps. Their hotel, the Saratoga, was past its prime but had the advantages of being able to accommodate all the children competing and being located fairly close to Madison Square Garden. Even so, they would let none of the children walk there. Teel was adamant on that point. The bus would take them back and forth, not only for practice sessions that afternoon but also to the finals at the Garden the next day.

  Nancy came puffing up to Teel as she got the children ready for the trip to the practice session. "I need two huggers," she explained. "Somehow they missed the bus. Where am I going to find two people to greet each child at the end of each event with a hug and tell them well done? It's so important that they all feel like winners."

  "You and I will be huggers," Teel decided. "There are already enough coaches." She slapped the door of the bus and nodded to the driver, who pulled away from the curb.

  "I have to change into sweats, then we can run over to the Garden." Teel smiled at Nancy as they strode across the lobby to the elevators.

  "I hope you don't mean that literally." Nancy sagged against the wall of the elevator.