“Why, Sarah,” Juliet said, a hurt expression in her eyes. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“She means if you get tipsy like this again, those stockholders will think Tina’s operating a retreat for drunks, instead of just a bunch of old fools,” Mr. Kelly snapped.
“You are not old fools,” Tina said in a horrified whisper.
“Course we’re not,” Mr. Kelly retorted. “But they don’t know that.” He shook his head. “Never thought I’d have to go proving myself to a bunch of strangers.”
“I’m sorry,” Tina said.
“Don’t you worry about it, girl,” Sarah said, shooting a scowl at Mr. Kelly. “It’s not your fault. It’s just the way things are. We’ll all survive it. Who knows, if some people would stop complaining, we might even have a good time.”
* * *
Tina had made the hotel reservations, asking for rooms on the same floor. She had requested adjoining rooms for her and Drew, rather than the single suite she knew he would have preferred. When he made the discovery at the registration desk, she could tell that he was biting his lip to keep from an explosion that would only add to her worries. She promised herself that once the stockholders’ meeting was over, she was going to give Drew the time and attention he deserved.
When they’d finished unpacking, Drew came into her room and put his arms around her from behind. His lips burned against the soft flesh of her neck. “Let’s go out on the town.”
“I can’t. I have too much to do. The meeting’s in the morning.”
“You’re going to do beautifully,” he reassured her, turning her around so he could face her. “You’ve rehearsed your statement so often, I could recite it.”
“Would you?” she quipped, suddenly unsure of herself.
“Not on your life. I’m going to be watching you win this one from the sidelines.” He kissed her. “And I’m going to be very, very proud. Now let’s go out and do something to get your mind off of all this.”
“Any ideas?”
He tightened his embrace. Tina’s arms slid around his neck as his lips skimmed across her mouth in a tormentingly fleeting touch. “Quite a few,” he murmured. “Unfortunately, I doubt that Sarah and the others would approve.”
“What do you think they’d like to do?”
“Dad was muttering something about going to Rockefeller Center.”
“To see one of the network shows? That’s a great idea.” She frowned. “I doubt if we can get in this late. There may not even be anything taping.”
“I don’t think he wants to see a show. I think he wants to go ice-skating.”
Tina’s face fell. “Ice-skating,” she repeated blankly.
“He figures since Sarah’s never done it, it would be an experience.”
“It would be that,” Tina said weakly, then sighed.
“What’s wrong?”
“I was just wondering if Medicare covers ice-skating accidents.”
“If it doesn’t, I’ll pay the difference,” Drew offered, his eyes twinkling. “It’ll be worth it to see them out there.” He studied her closely. “What about you? Are you game?”
“Drew, you don’t do a lot of ice-skating in Florida,” she hedged.
“That raises all sorts of interesting possibilities.”
“Do you want to wheel me into that meeting in the morning with my leg in a cast?”
“Nope. But I can hardly wait to get my arms around you on the ice.”
“I knew you had to have an ulterior motive. Are you sure you didn’t put this idea into your father’s head?”
“Would I do that?”
“Darn right you would.”
An hour later they were at Rockefeller Center lacing up their rented skates. Sarah was eyeing the ice with a wariness Tina could identify readily.
“I’m not so sure this is such a good idea. That stuff looks mighty hard.”
“Stop dillydallying, Sarah. You’re going to do just fine,” Seth said, pulling her to her feet. She wobbled toward the rink, just as Mr. Kelly held out his hand to Juliet.
“Come on, gal. Let’s go show these folks how to do it.”
“Why, Mr. Kelly, I had no idea you could skate,” Juliet whispered, her cheeks flushed with excitement.
“Oh, in my day, I tried just about everything at least once. That’s the only way to weed out the things that aren’t any fun. What about you, Juliet?”
A dreamy expression stole over her features. “I haven’t been on skates since I was a girl, but I could do a lovely figure eight back then.”
“Then let’s go to it.”
Tina watched the two couples with a sense of astonishment, then looked up at Drew. He was tapping his ice skates impatiently.
“Well?” he said.
“Well what?”
“Are you going to take all night?”
“Drew, I really have very weak ankles. Couldn’t we just watch?”
“And hear about it for the rest of our lives? Not a chance.”
“Oh, hell,” she muttered and got to her feet. Her ankles promptly wobbled like a baby’s. She grabbed Drew’s arm and hung on.
“One time,” she said between clenched teeth. “We will go around this rink one time and then you are taking me into a bar and buying me a drink. A very strong drink. Got that?”
“Anything you want.”
Her face brightened. “I want to leave now.”
“Except that.”
She scowled at him. “Okay. Then let’s get moving. If I’m going to break something, I want to get it over with.”
With Drew’s arm tight around her waist, Tina lost a little of her nervousness. Still, she never took her eyes off the ice, except to gaze longingly every so often toward the gate where she’d be able to leave it. She was concentrating so hard on survival, she didn’t notice at first that everyone else had slowed, then come to a halt. When she heard the applause, she blinked and looked around.
In the center of the ice, Juliet and Mr. Kelly, their arms linked, were skating with a slow, easy stride that was surprisingly skilled. Juliet’s hair was escaping from her bun and her cheeks were flushed becomingly from the cold air. Mr. Kelly said something to her and she laughed, then twirled around and came back into his arms in an intricate step that drew more applause.
When they stopped, Sarah and Seth skated over to them, and Tina, her fear of the ice forgotten, tugged Drew along as well.
“You two were wonderful,” she said, skidding into them and almost knocking them down.
“Whoa, gal,” Mr. Kelly said with a low chuckle. “Haven’t quite got your skating feet yet, have you?”
“I will never have my skating feet if I have anything to say about it. Where did you learn to do that, though? I’m impressed.”
“Oh, there was a time way back, when the missus and me tried just about everything. I’d forgotten how much fun it could be.” He gazed down at Juliet fondly. “Thank you for reminding me of those times.”
“Thank you,” Juliet said, her eyes misty, her lips curved into a gentle smile of remembrance. “It took me back, too.”
To Tina’s amazement, they didn’t sound sad about having the past brought back to them. She gazed up at Drew and wondered if, in years—or even days—to come, the memories they shared would be as happy.
Chapter Twelve
Tina was lying in bed, her head buried under her pillow, when she felt the mattress dip beside her.
“What the hell!” She sat straight up, clutching the sheet to cover herself more effectively than her apricot satin and French lace nightgown did. At the same time she grabbed for the phone to use as a weapon. Through bleary eyes, she saw the shape of her attacker. It looked astonishingly familiar.
“Morning
, beautiful,” Drew murmured and handed her a perfect rose the exact shade of her gown.
“How did you get in here?” she demanded furiously. “You scared me to death.”
“You did get adjoining rooms.”
“But the door...” Her gaze shot to the door linking the rooms. It was wide open.
“Was unlocked,” he finished with an infuriatingly satisfied smile. “Exactly the way I left it when I slipped back into my own room at 2 a.m.” He placed the rose on her pillow and tugged at the sheet. It fell away, along with Tina’s initial anger.
“If you ask me,” Drew murmured huskily, his fingers playing along her bare flesh, “it was a waste of a perfectly good night.”
“I couldn’t have you sleeping in here with Sarah and Juliet right down the hall. For all their romantic talk, they would have been scandalized.”
“And who put them right down the hall?”
“The hotel,” she retorted brightly.
“At your request,” he reminded her.
“True. I wanted to be able to look out for them.”
“A fine job you did of that,” he teased. “They were out until four. I heard them come in, giggling and carrying on like a bunch of giddy teenagers.”
“Your father was probably responsible for that. I saw him order another round of drinks just as we left the table in the bar downstairs.”
“Actually, I don’t think they spent all that time drinking. When Dad came in, he was muttering something about having roared through Wall Street like that brokerage house bull.”
“Oh dear heaven.” Tina put her hands over her eyes and groaned.
“My sentiments exactly,” Drew murmured right before his gaze fell to a point considerably below discretion. “Now could we forget about my father, Sarah, etcetera and concentrate on us?”
“What did you have in mind?”
“This.”
His fingers trailed along the edge of her nightgown, following the dip that revealed an unladylike amount of creamy cleavage. His touch skimmed over cool flesh, leaving it feverish and sensitive. Her nipples tightened and strained against the silky fabric. When he lowered his head and took the tip into his mouth, a moan shuddered through her. Moist heat and slick friction created a volatile sensation that jolted her heartbeat from early morning laziness into a frantic midnight tempo.
Drew pushed her back until she was reclining against the pillows, open to his marauding hands and the raw hunger of his mouth. She tried to roll away from temptation, telling herself that surely they could wait another twenty-four hours to be together, but when Drew’s tongue danced across the flesh of her inner thigh, common sense and good intentions flew out the window. Her gown slid up, followed by the promise of Drew’s kisses.
Tina’s back arched and the throbbing he’d set off deep inside became a rhythmic demand.
“Damn you, Drew Landry,” she murmured, her voice raw-edged with the unexpected passion.
He stilled his tormenting touches, but his fingers remained right where they were. The pulsing heat went on, slowing, fading, but never gone. “Do you want me to stop?” he asked innocently.
Tina groaned and put her hand over his, pressing it more tightly in place. “No.” The word came out on a ragged breath and Drew’s eyes smoldered in the morning light.
“Then let me take you to the top.” Deft fingers probed and sensation coiled deep inside her, an unbearable tension that was destined for a wild explosion.
Determined not to make the trip over the edge alone, Tina fought against losing herself to Drew’s will and countered each of his strokes with bolder and bolder caresses of her own. Subconsciously, she knew it was a battle for control and, in the end, she knew she would lose. There was no way she could hold out against Drew’s persuasion, no way to keep her body from responding to the need that was building inside her.
“Come to me, Drew,” she pleaded. “Now.”
“Not yet,” he said, leaving one sensitive curve to pay homage to another as the tension coiled more tightly. “Not yet. I want you to let go. Please, darling. For once, just let go.”
“Not without you,” she said, biting her lips as she struggled beneath him. Then, as her eyes grew wide and startled, her body defied her, spinning away on a raging tide that rose and crashed with astonishing intensity.
She was still coming down from the wild ride, when Drew slowly and gently thrust into her.
“Drew?”
“Now we’ll go together,” he whispered, his voice husky.
“But I can’t.”
“You can,” he promised and then she was feeling again, feeling the heat, the shock waves as strong as any quake. Her nails dug into Drew’s back, her hips rose in anxious joining and together, slick with perspiration, they responded with a raw, primitive passion that left Tina shaken, exhausted and more in love than ever.
“That’s it,” Drew murmured some time later, propping himself on his elbow and gazing down at her approvingly.
“That’s what?”
“The look I wanted to see on your face before the meeting. You look tousled and satisfied and very, very beautiful. You’ll knock ’em dead.”
“So this was only a sort of beauty consultation,” she muttered indignantly. She tried to scowl at him, but her lips kept twitching. “Other people suggest blusher. Maybe a little eye shadow, but you could be right. There might be a major market for this sort of thing. Landry Enterprises ought to consider diversifying, hiring a stable of...what would you call them?” She lifted a brow. “Studs, perhaps?”
“What a good idea!” Drew said enthusiastically. “It would revolutionize the cosmetics industry.”
She rolled her eyes. “I should have known you’d like it.”
“I like all your ideas.”
“Even the one about your getting out of this bed and letting me get dressed?”
He paused consideringly. “Well, that one could do with a little work.”
“I suspect it’s the only sensible idea, I’ll have all day. Once the stockholders get started, I may not be able to think at all.”
He kissed her soundly. “Now there you go again. Am I going to have to start distracting you all over again?”
“I wish,” she said wistfully, but she slipped determinedly away from him. “I’ve got to get downstairs to be sure the luncheon is set up or Kathryn Sawyer will pitch a fit. She seems to think I can’t be trusted to put the proper number of forks on the table or something. Will you make sure everyone else is down there by noon? I want them to mingle with the stockholders.”
“We’ll be there,” he promised. “Now stop worrying. Everything is going to be just fine.”
Tina went to the closet where her clothes were supposed to be hanging. Puzzled, she shut the door and opened the one next to it. She was not going to panic. There had to be a reasonable explanation for the disappearance of her expensive new suit. Burglary was one possibility, but she wasn’t wild about it.
“Drew, my clothes are missing.” Her voice was amazingly steady.
“No, they’re not.”
“Drew, I am standing in front of the closet. The suit I planned to wear today is not here.”
“Oh, well, that could be,” he said agreeably.
She shot him an accusing glare. “What do you know about this?”
He cleared his throat. “Well...”
“Drew Landry, I have the most important meeting of my life in exactly two hours. I do not have time for one of your games. Where the hell is my suit?”
“I replaced it.”
“You did what?” There was an ominous note in her voice.
“I knew you wanted to look just right today, so I got rid of the suit. I mean I didn’t really get rid of it. It was probably an expensive suit and I knew you’d be f
urious if I threw it out, so I just sort of temporarily misplaced it.”
“Well, you can just get it right back again.”
“Nope,” he said, shaking his head adamantly, a pleased gleam in his eyes. “Afraid not. But there is something else in there. You probably didn’t see it. The color is just right for you. Emerald green. Remember? You told me how much you like it. I thought it would cheer you up. That dull old suit was depressing. It was exactly the same shade as mud.”
“That dull old suit was businesslike. I actually made myself pay nearly three hundred dollars for it.”
“Your first instinct was right. That’s entirely too much for that suit.” He smiled at her beguilingly. “Couldn’t you just look at what I bought?”
“Do I have a choice?” she snapped.
She opened the first closet door again with such force that it slammed into the wall. Drew winced, as well he should, she noted with satisfaction. Her hand fell on the emerald-green dress with its tailored lines. The wool was softer than any she’d ever felt before. She pulled the dress out of the closet and regarded it with caution. Actually, it was lovely. It was not too daring, as she’d feared after Drew’s assessment of the staid nature of her suit. Nor was it overtly feminine in a way that would have offended her desire to appear professional. And, she thought, the color was gorgeous.
“Damn,” she muttered.
Drew’s eyebrows shot up disbelievingly. “You don’t like it?”
“No, I do. Really. It’s just that I don’t have any accessories for this.”
“Yes, you do,” Drew said, climbing out of bed and strolling back to his room. He came back and handed her a velvet box, which she barely noticed since her eyes were riveted on his naked body. She finally blinked and looked at the box he’d put in her hands.
“You didn’t leave anything to chance, did you? You must really hate that suit.”
“I just wanted you to go in there today filled with self-confidence. Now open the box.”
Tina flipped open the lid and found an antique gold locket and tiny gold and diamond earrings. They were so incredibly right and beautiful that they brought tears to her eyes.
Safe Harbor: A Cold Creek Homecoming Page 16