by Diana Palmer
But Calhoun didn’t look any too pleased at the implication of the remark, especially when Justin slid an arm around Abby’s shoulders. In fact, Calhoun seemed almost ready to leap forward and shake his brother loose from Abby.
“I’m tired,” the blonde sighed, nuzzling her face against Calhoun’s arm. “I need some sleep. Eventually,” she teased gently, with a meaningful look at Calhoun’s rigid expression.
Abby lifted her chin, looking straight at him. “Enjoy yourself, big brother,” she said with forced gaiety. She even managed a smile. Thank God for Justin. She lifted her glass, took a sip of her drink and winked at the blonde, who smiled at her, obviously thinking Abby was a relative and no threat even if she wasn’t.
Calhoun was trying to find his voice. The sight of Abby with his brother was killing him. He hadn’t even considered that possibility. And while Justin might not be a playboy, he was a mature, very masculine man, and he had, after all, attracted a beauty like Shelby Jacobs.
Calhoun hadn’t meant to ask the blonde out. She was a last-ditch stand against what he was feeling for Abby, and a very platonic one at that. He didn’t even want her physically; she was just someone to talk to and be with who didn’t threaten his emotions. But he’d never thought Abby might see him with her. It cut him to the bone, embarrassed him. Did Abby care? Try as he might, he couldn’t find the slightest hint of jealousy in her face. She was wearing more makeup than usual, and that dress suited her. She looked lovely. Had Justin noticed?
“I said, I’d really like to go home, Cal,” the blonde drawled, laughing. “Can we, please? I’ve had a long day. I’m a model,” she added. “And we had a showing this afternoon. My feet are killing me, however unromantic that sounds.”
“Of course,” Calhoun said quietly. He took her arm. “I’ll see you later,” he told Justin.
“Sure you will,” Justin mused, his tone amused and unbelieving, and he smiled at the blonde, who actually blushed.
Calhoun noticed then how Abby reacted to the remark. She lowered her eyes, but her slender hand was shaking as it held the piña colada. He felt murderous. He wanted to pick her up and carry her out of here, out of Justin’s reach.
But Justin had his arm around Abby, and he tightened it. “We may be late,” Justin told his brother. “So don’t wait up if you beat us home. I thought I might take Abby dancing,” he added with narrowed eyes and the arrogant smile Calhoun hated.
“Yes, I’d like that,” Abby told him, smiling.
Calhoun felt his throat contracting. He managed a smile, too, but not a normal one. “Good night, then,” he said tautly. He hardly heard what the others said as he escorted the blonde out of the restaurant.
“It’s all right,” Justin told Abby, his voice quiet. “They’ve gone.”
She looked up, her eyes full of tears. “You know, don’t you?”
“How you feel, you mean?” he asked gently. He nodded. “Just don’t let him see it, honey. He’s still got a wild streak, and he’ll fight it like hell even if he feels what you do. Give him time. Don’t hem him in.”
“You know a lot about men,” she said, sniffing into the tissue she took from her purse.
“Well, I am one,” he replied. “Dry your eyes, now, and we’ll take the long way home. That ought to give him hell. He hated the very idea of your being out with me.”
“Really?”
He smiled at her expression. “Really. Chin up, girl. You’re young. You’ve got time.”
“What do I do in the meantime? He’s driving me crazy.”
“You might consider looking for that apartment,” he said. “I hate to see you move out, but it may be the only answer eventually.”
“I’d already decided that.” She wiped her eyes. “But he hates the idea of my rooming with Misty.”
“So do I,” he remarked honestly. “Did you know that she made a pass at Calhoun and he turned her down?”
“Can’t I trust anybody?” she moaned. “Aren’t there any women who don’t like him?”
“A few, here and there,” he mused, his dark eyes twinkling. “I think you might do better to find a room in somebody’s house. But that’s your decision,” he added quietly. “I’m not going to tell you what to do. You’re old enough to decide alone.”
“Thanks, Justin,” she said gently. She smiled. “You’ll make some lucky girl a nice husband one day.”
His expression hardened, and the humor went out of his dark eyes. “That’s a mistake I won’t make,” he said. “I’ve had my fill of involvement.”
“You never asked about Shelby’s side of it,” Abby reminded him. “You wouldn’t even listen, Calhoun said.”
“She said it all when she gave me back the ring. And I don’t want to discuss it, Abby,” he cautioned, his eyes flashing warning signals as he rose. “I talk to no one about Shelby. Not even you.”
She backed down. “Okay,” she said gently. “I won’t pry.”
“Let’s go,” he said, reaching for the check. “We’ll take two hours getting home, and I hope Calhoun has kittens when we get there.”
“I doubt he’ll notice,” Abby said miserably. “She was very pretty.”
“Looks don’t count in the long run,” he replied. He looked at Abby. “Odd, isn’t it, how embarrassed he was when you saw him with her?”
She turned away. “I’m tired. But it was a lovely dinner. Thank you.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Don’t thank me. I had a good time. It beats watching movies at home, anyway.” He chuckled gently.
Abby wanted to ask him why he never dated anyone and whether he was still carrying a torch for Shelby Jacobs after six years. Calhoun had said he was, but Justin was a clam when it came to his private life. And Abby wasn’t about to pry any further. She wasn’t that brave, not even with a piña colada inside her.
Chapter Five
Abby was miserable by the time they got home. She’d done nothing but think of Calhoun and the model. Justin had been kind, talking as if she were really listening to him. But she was reliving those few tempestuous minutes in Calhoun’s Jaguar, when he’d come so close to kissing her and then had insulted her so terribly. She didn’t understand his hot-and-cold attitude or his irritability. She didn’t understand anything anymore.
Justin parked his elegant black Thunderbird in the garage, and Abby was surprised to find Calhoun’s Jaguar already there.
“Well, well, look who’s home,” Justin murmured, glancing at Abby. “I guess he felt like an early night.”
“Maybe he was exhausted,” Abby said coldly.
Justin didn’t comment, but he seemed highly amused and smug about something.
Calhoun was in the living room with the brandy bottle when they got home. He was down to his white shirtsleeves, which he’d rolled up to his elbows. His shirt was almost completely open in front, and Abby had to bite her lip to keep from staring helplessly at the broad expanse of his muscular chest. He was the most sensuous man she’d ever known, so powerful and tall and huge. Just the sight of him made her body tingle.
“So you finally brought her home,” Calhoun shot at his brother. “Do you know what time it is?”
“Sure,” Justin said imperturbably. “It’s two o’clock in the morning.”
“What were you doing?”
Justin cocked an eyebrow. “Oh, riding around. And things. Night, Abby,” he said, and winked at her before he turned and went up the staircase.
Abby felt as if she’d been poleaxed. Now why had Justin said that? It had made Calhoun look frankly murderous. She cleared her throat.
“I think I’ll go up, too.” She started to turn, only to have her arm caught in a viselike grip by huge warm fingers and be pulled into the living room.
Calhoun slammed the door behind her, his chest heaving with rough breaths. His dark eyes were really black now, glittering, dangerous, and his sensuous mouth was a thin, grim line.
“Where were you?” he demanded. “And doing what? Justin’s thirty-se
ven, and he’s no boy.”
She stared at him blankly. The sudden attack had knocked the wind out of her for a minute, but then her temper came to the rescue.
“That blonde you were out with was no schoolgirl, either,” she replied as calmly as she could, even though her knees were shaking under her. She leaned back against the door for support.
His heavy brows drew together. “My private life is none of your business,” he said defensively.
“Of course not,” she agreed. “You’ve already said that you didn’t want me hanging around you like a lovesick calf, and I’m doing my best not to,” she added, although it hurt terribly to try to make light of that hurtful remark.
His heavy shoulders made a jerky movement as he looked at her and away again, as if her answer made him uncomfortable. “Justin’s too old for you.”
“Bullfeathers,” she replied, lifting her chin. “You’ve objected to every other man I’ve ever gone out with, but you can’t object to your own brother. Justin would never hurt me, and you know it.”
He did know it, but that didn’t help. He was dying at the thought of Abby and Justin together.
“Oh, for God’s sake!” he burst out, lost for words.
She took a steadying breath, though her heart was still doing a tango in her chest. “Why should it matter to you what I do?” she challenged him. “And you’re a fine one to sit in judgment on other people! My gosh, Calhoun, everybody in the world knows what a playboy you are!”
He glared at her, trying to keep his temper. “I’m not a playboy,” he said tersely. “I may date women occasionally—”
“Every night,” she returned. Even though she knew her assertion wasn’t completely true, she was too angry to split hairs. “Not that I mind,” she added with a cold smile. “I don’t care who you go out with, as long as you stop poking your nose into my business. I’ll date whom I please, Calhoun, and if you don’t like it, you know what you can do!”
He started to tell her what she could do, but before he could get the words out she’d jerked the door open and gone out and up the staircase.
“If you stay out until two o’clock in the morning again, with or without Justin, I’ll take a tree limb to you!” Calhoun yelled up the stairs.
Abby made a sound that almost drove him crazy. He muttered something obscene and went back into the living room, slamming the door so hard it shook the room.
Damn women! He could have screamed at the effect she was having on him lately. She was ruining his love life, ruining his business life. All he did was think about her damned pretty breasts….
Abby cried herself to sleep. It had been a rotten evening altogether, and every time she thought of Calhoun kissing that model she got sicker. She hated him. She hated every bone in his body, and she most especially hated his possessiveness. She had to find an apartment. She had to get away. After tonight it was going to be just plain horrible trying to stay in the same house with Calhoun until her birthday.
The next morning she slept late. She usually got up and went to church, but this time she played hooky. She didn’t want to risk running into Calhoun.
But as it was, there was nothing to worry about. When she finally went downstairs at lunchtime, wearing jeans and a beige knit top, her hair in a ponytail, Calhoun was nowhere in sight.
“Good morning,” Justin said from the head of the table, smiling faintly. “How did it go last night?”
“Don’t ask,” she groaned. She sat down and glanced nervously at the door. “Is he here?”
He shook his head and filled his cup with coffee then passed the carafe to Abby. “He’s still asleep,” he said. That was surprising, because Calhoun was usually up early. Justin actually grinned then. “What happened?”
“He thinks I should be in before two o’clock in the morning, even if he isn’t,” she said calmly. “And you’re too old for me,” she added with a faint grin, eyeing him.
He chuckled. “What else?”
“He’s going crazy, Justin,” she said. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him lately. It can’t be his love life—his model seemed to be more than willing,” she added cattily.
Justin looked at her, but he didn’t reply. He poured cream into his coffee. “Oh, I almost forgot. Misty phoned. Something about having an apartment she wanted you to look at today if you want to go with her.”
“Yes, I think I do,” she murmured with a cold glance at the staircase.
“You know I don’t approve of Misty as your prospective roommate,” Justin told her honestly. “But it’s your decision.”
“You’re a nice man.”
“I’m glad you think so. Obviously my brother thinks I’m as big a rake as he is.” He chuckled.
“Thank God you aren’t,” she sighed. “One in the family is enough!”
“If you’re going out, you’d better wear a jacket,” Justin warned. “I stepped out to get the paper and almost froze in place.”
Abby sighed again. “And they keep saying spring is just around the corner.”
She finished her breakfast and called Misty to tell her she’d be right over. Then she returned to her room to get her burgundy velour jacket. She was looping the last button when she turned to the open door and found Calhoun standing there, looking at her broodingly.
He’d just showered. He was bare chested, and his blond hair was damp. But Abby’s eyes stopped at his brawny chest in helpless appreciation of the sheer masculinity of him. He leaned idly against the doorjamb, and muscles rippled under the wedge of thick brown hair that ran down into the wide belt around his slender hips. He didn’t smile, and his dark eyes had heavy circles underneath them. He looked as tired as Abby felt.
“Where are you going now?” he asked coldly.
“Out to look at apartments,” she said carelessly. “In a little over two and a half months I’ll be needing one.”
“How does Justin feel about that?” he asked, his eyes narrowing angrily.
“Justin isn’t the one who’s trying to keep me in a cage,” she replied. She was tired of the whole thing, of his unreasonable anger and even of Justin playing cupid. “Look, Justin just took me out for a meal. He didn’t park the car and try to make love to me. He isn’t that kind of man, and you should be ashamed of yourself for thinking he is. Justin’s like a brother to me. Just…as you are,” she finished, averting her eyes. “I don’t have romantic thoughts about either one of you.”
“And that’s a damned lie,” he said in a cold tone. He jerked away from the door, slamming it behind him, bringing her shocked eyes to him as he advanced toward her. “I’m no more your brother than I’m your great-uncle.”
She backed up into a chair, swerved and made it to the wall. He looked dangerous, and she didn’t know how to handle this lightning mood switch.
“That’s what you want me to be,” she said accusingly, pressing against the cold wall. “You want me to be a kid sister and not get in your way or make eyes at you—”
“My God, I don’t know what I want anymore,” he ground out as he placed his big hands on either side of her head, his body too close, too sensuous, too deliciously masculine. The scent of him filled her nostrils, excited her senses. She could see the tiny golden tips of the hair on his chest now, glittering in the light. Glittering…like the dark, intent eyes that caught hers and held them.
“Calhoun, I have to go,” she said, her voice faltering.
“Why?” he asked.
She could see him breathing. His chest rose and fell roughly, as if he were having a hard time getting air in and out. She felt that way herself. He was too close, and her vulnerability was going to start showing any minute. She couldn’t bear to have him see her weakness and make fun of it.
“Stop it,” she whispered huskily, closing her eyes. “Damn you, stop…oh!”
He had her mouth under his so smoothly and easily that her heart seemed to stop beating. He wasn’t gentle, either. It was as if the feel of her soft body under his made
him wild, made him hungry.
In fact, he was starving for her. He leaned down so that his hips and thighs were fully against her, so that his bare chest was against the velour of her jacket. He didn’t like not being able to feel her breasts, so he snapped open the buttons of the jacket and pushed the material aside. He felt her gasp as her breasts pressed against him, and he groaned, marveling at the warm softness of her. Nudging her lips apart, he nipped sensuously at the lower one. That was arousing, too, and he wanted her. He wanted her mouth as he wanted her soft, sweet young body. His tongue pushed into her mouth, past her lips, tangling with her own, and he groaned and gave her his full weight, pressing her against the wall.
Abby was frightened. She hadn’t expected anything quite so adult, and she’d never been kissed by anyone who had any expertise. Calhoun was experienced, and he was kissing her as if she knew all the answers, too. But she didn’t. The feel of his body in such unfamiliar intimacy was embarrassing, and his mouth was doing shocking things to her own. She pushed at his chest, afraid of his lack of control.
“No!” she whimpered.
He barely heard her. His mind was spinning, his body in torment. He managed to lift his head, breathing roughly, and look down at her. But the passion and delight he had expected to see in her pale eyes was missing. They were wide, but not with desire. With…fear!
He scowled. Her hands were on his chest, but they were pushing, not caressing, and she was crying.
“Abby,” he whispered gently. “Honey…”
“Let me…go,” she sobbed brokenly. “Oh, let me go!” She pushed again, harder.
This time he flexed his hands against the wall and pushed away from her, leaving her cold, empty. She moved past him, putting half the length of the room between them. So that—that!—was what passion felt like. She shivered a little at the memory. Her mouth hurt where his had ground against it, and her breasts were sore from the hard pressure of his chest. He hadn’t even tried to be gentle. She stared at him accusingly, her eyes bright with tears as she drew her jacket closer and shivered.
Calhoun felt as if he’d been hit in the head with a hammer. Her reaction hadn’t been anything like what he’d expected. He’d almost kissed her once before, and she’d been yielding then, willing. But now she looked as if she hated him.