by Sandra Brown
Happy, who was inspecting her flower bed and missing the undercurrents between them, asked with innate curiosity, “Are you going swimming?” It was impossible not to notice that Jace was wearing only swimming trunks and an open-weave T-shirt.
Jace drew his eyes away from Katherine’s and said cheerfully, “Yes, I came to see if Katherine and Allison would accompany me to the lake. The weather’s mild enough for the baby, and the outing would be good for both of them I think.”
How like him, Katherine thought. He wouldn’t just call and ask her. He suggested it in front of Happy, who jumped at the idea enthusiastically. She hurriedly went into her kitchen to prepare them a snack to take along.
As soon as Happy was out of earshot, Katherine said, “I can’t take a four-month-old baby into that lake and you know it.”
“Okay,” he said amiably, “I’ll go swimming and you and Allison can relax in the shade.”
“I’ll have to get her ready.” Katherine stood up and headed for her apartment.
“Un-uh,” Jace said, grabbing her arm. “You’ll go up there and discover some reason to prevent our going. How ready does a baby have to get? That’s her diaper bag, isn’t it?” He indicated the tote bag that had been taken to church that morning and was now lying on one of the lawn chairs. “We’ll be back before she has to eat again.”
“And how, pray tell, do you know what her feeding schedule is?” taunted Katherine.
“Lucky guess,” he said, smiling that devastating smile that deepened the dimples on the sides of his mouth and crinkled the lines around his eyes.
Happy bustled out of her house carrying a basket. By the looks of it, they could eat out of it for at least a week. They climbed into the jeep. Katherine held Allison on her lap while Jace put the car bed on the back seat. He waved jovially to Happy as they pulled away.
The lake on the outskirts of town was man-made. Water from several rivers was channeled into it and the surrounding landscape had been turned into a public park which was an attractive spot to weekenders. Jace found a large shade tree on a grassy knoll away from the more crowded spots nearer the swimming area.
He retrieved a quilt from the back of the jeep and spread it out on the deep grass. He deposited the car bed for Allison on the quilt, then unselfconsciously peeled off his shirt.
The sight of his near-naked body was awesome. His trunks were navy blue with thin, red piping around the legs. The fabric was stretched taut across his flat abdomen. There was no line marking the border of his deep tan, and Katherine’s cheeks were suffused with color over her speculation on how such a thing were possible.
“I’ll be back soon. If you need me for anything, just yell real loud.”
“Thank you, but we’ll be fine,” she answered politely.
He shot her an exasperated look before he loped down the hill toward the water. Good! She gloried in his annoyance. Maybe it would spoil this little expedition of his.
Allison was waving her arms and kicking her legs, excited and intrigued by the branches of the tree overhead. Katherine played with her until the baby got tired and started fretting. As soon as Katherine turned her over onto her stomach, she fell asleep.
“Killjoy,” Katherine remarked ruefully as she stretched out on her back on the quilt. Involuntarily, she searched the lake, trying to distinguish Jace’s head from the others that were bobbing up and down in the sun-gilded water. She threw her hands over her head, impatient with herself for caring where he was.
She was in that position, asleep, when Jace came back half an hour later. Katherine had forgotten how revealing her cotton knit tank top could be. It had to be worn braless, for the straps were thin. Her outstretched arms caused her nipples to press impudently against the soft fabric. The matching yellow shorts hid nothing of her long, slender legs, tanned apricot by the east Texas sun.
The sun found an opening in the thick foliage of the trees and shined onto her face. She blinked several times before allowing her eyes to open all the way.
At first she believed Jace’s image to be an extention of a very pleasant dream, and her lips parted in an inviting, lazy smile.
She bolted upright when she realized he was no figment of her imagination. His black hair was still damp and several errant curls lay on his forehead. Nervously, she shifted her eyes away from his naked chest. It was covered with soft black hair that fanned across its broad expanse and tapered to a fine silky line on his stomach.
He reclined, stretching out his long legs and supporting himself on one elbow. He opened the basket Happy had provided and reached inside. “Apple? Orange?” he asked, holding up the pieces of fruit for her inspection.
“N-no, thank you,” she stammered. His arm rested near her knee and his blatant virility completely unnerved her.
“Mind if I do?” He grinned as his strong, white teeth crunched into the apple. “Swimming always works up my appetite,” he mumbled around the large bite. He concentrated on the apple for a few moments before he asked abruptly, “Like your work?” She had briefly outlined her job to him the evening before.
“Yes,” she answered carefully, not sure where this conversation was going to lead. “It’s much more challenging than what I had done before. I’d still like to branch out into other kinds of writing though.”
“Like what?”
Was he really interested, or was this his way of drawing her out, making her reveal secrets, failures? “I’d like to write copy for commercials, magazine ads, things like that.”
He nodded, but didn’t respond. “Do you like Mr.… uh… what’s his name? Welsh?”
She shrugged. “He’s all right, I guess. Sometimes I think he’s a little strange, but then, he may think the same about me.” Her attempt at humor flopped. Jace’s face remained irritatingly noncommittal.
His uncharacteristic reticence made Katherine uneasy and she asked, “What do you do for the oil company? Drill for oil?”
“No. I try, sometimes with success, to find the oil. I’m a geologist for Sunglow.”
“A geologist? I don’t think I’ve ever known one before,” she exclaimed, truly impressed.
“Would you like to get to know one better?” His eyes danced with a mischievous light as he covered her knee with his hand.
His move took her by surprise and for a moment she was too stunned to speak. Finally, in a voice not at all like her own, she asked, “How… how does one become a geologist?”
He laughed and removed his hand before answering. “I studied in Arizona and New Mexico and Texas, too, at one time. Down near Houston. Much to my mother’s horror, I did some research and experiments on an Indian reservation. I told her wild tales about scalping parties and war dances.” He paused and winked at her slyly. “Actually, we only did rain dances.”
She couldn’t help laughing, thinking how Eleanor Manning, the queen of Denver society, would feel about her son living in close contact with Indians. Her laughter subsided and she grew serious. She gnawed at the inside of her cheek before asking, “How did you find me, Jace?”
“I found you to be beautiful, completely enchanting.” His voice was tender and his words disconcerting, but they didn’t deter her from her purpose.
“Please don’t play games with me. I think Allison’s future is too important.”
He sobered instantly. “I’m sorry, and you’re right.” He sighed deeply and rolled over onto his back, clasping his hands under his head. “You covered your tracks well, Katherine. I had just about exhausted all possibilities when Elsie mentioned you and Mary. I was in my room at home, and she came in to clean. She started talking about Mary, and how sweet she was and how unhappy she’d been. Apparently they had developed quite a friendship. Anyway, she mentioned in passing that the only home Mary had ever known was Denver.
“Then she said, ‘Of course, the girls were born in Texas.’ I picked up on that and asked if she knew where. She struggled to remember, and I nearly went out of my skull until she did.”
He breathed a deep sigh that expanded his ribcage and flattened his stomach. Katherine looked away quickly, alarmed that the motion had separated the waistband of his trunks from his skin.
He shrugged. “I played a hunch and it paid off. It was a lucky break that Sunglow was going to be drilling in the east Texas oil field. I was here for three days before I presented myself at your door yesterday morning. You have been under surveillance, Miss Adams.” He smiled up at her.
Her face was averted, looking toward the lake, so he continued quietly. “Your house in Denver is sold. I tracked down the agent, and she’s deposited the money from the sale into a savings account in Allison’s name according to your instructions.”
“Good,” Katherine replied.
Jace sat up then and asked, “What did you live on, Katherine?”
She faced him and said defensively, “If I had thought for one moment that I couldn’t take proper care of Allison, I never would have taken her away from Denver.”
“I wasn’t making an accusation.”
She pushed the honey-gold hair away from her face and said, “I had a savings account with a couple of thousand dollars in it. We lived on that until I started receiving my paychecks from the college.”
“I’m sure you think you’re capable of—”
“I am capable of taking care of her. I’m twenty-seven years old—”
“Twenty-seven?” he clamored. Allison stirred in her car bed and he lowered his voice to an incredulous whisper when he asked again, “Twenty-seven?”
“Yes. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing,” he laughed. “It’s just that you look more like seventeen. I’m sorry. Continue.”
After his outburst she couldn’t remember what she had been saying. She collected her thoughts and went on. “I know I can earn enough to provide a comfortable home for Allison. It may not be as lavish as she would have had in Denver, but I love her.” Her voice cracked with emotion. She couldn’t give way now. She was fighting for her life.
“I have no doubt of that, Katherine. And you’ll be able to provide a comfortable home. But have you thought about the future? What about college? Will you be able to provide that for Allison? And clothes? And all the thousand other things that a young, healthy girl needs?”
He was hitting too close for comfort. She had thought about those things and worried over them, but pushed them from her mind. Somehow, she would manage. She always had before.
“I give credence to what you’re saying, Jace. It’s a valid argument. But did you know that I put myself through college? I supported Mary after our mother died so she could go to school. I paid for most of her tuition, clothes, and so forth when she went to art school. I’ve taken care of myself for a long time, and I’m used to it.”
Her face was set determinedly as she returned his searching stare. He ran one hand across the back of his neck several times and, when he spoke again, he completely changed the subject. “Is there anything to drink in there?” he asked indicating the basket.
Katherine raised the lid and checked the contents. “Let’s see. We have root beer, root beer, and root beer,” She enumerated as she took out one can at a time. She looked at him and laughed as he squinted his eyes in feigned indecision.
“I think I’ll have a root beer,” he stated, and they both laughed. She pulled the opener on the can and then shrieked as the drink spewed out and showered them both with the sweet effervescent liquid.
Hilarity overcame them, and it was several minutes before their laughter was spent. Jace was still chuckling as he studied her face and said, “You’re a mess.”
Wiping tears of mirth from her eyes, Katherine didn’t resist when he pulled her up to her knees so that they were kneeling facing each other.
“Let’s get some of this off,” he said as he started stroking his fingers across her face and flicking drops of root beer to the ground.
In only moments Katherine was sensitive to a subtle change in his touch. Where before it had been quick and economical, it was now slow and caressing. She raised her eyes, not knowing that they were still wet with her recent happy tears and were most appealing.
Jace searched their green depths as his thumbs swept across her trembling lips. Moving slowly, he cupped her head in his palms, his fingers entwined in her tousled hair, and drew her face to his.
The lips that touched hers were warm and sweet and gentle, and, at first, tentative. But they became more demanding as his arms went around her and pressed her into his body.
She stiffened in resistance, and he sensed her withdrawal immediately. Without releasing her, his hold became more gentle. He stroked her back tenderly. His lips changed from demanding to persuasive. His tongue circled her closed lips, and he nibbled at a corner of her mouth. Against her will, Katherine felt her mouth relaxing under his until she moaned and accepted his ardent probing.
When they were both breathless, he pulled his mouth from hers, but gave fervent attention to her ears. He kissed her eyelids.
“Your eyes are the color of a new spring leaf.” His whisper was deep and husky. “Where did you get these black lashes? Blondes don’t usually have eyelashes this dark.”
His hands and lips intently caressed each feature of her face. He ran his fingers through her hair. “Your hair is like cool silk. I want to feel it blowing across my face.” He took her mouth with more precision than before, drawing responses from her that she had never given to anyone else.
One strong hand went to the small of her back and drew her even closer to him. His knees moved apart, making his stance wider, and she positioned her legs between his. She felt the strength of his long thighs as they pressed against hers.
The sensations coursing through her were frightening, and she would have pulled away, but the lips nuzzling her neck were gentle, and the hands stroking the satin skin of her back under her tank top were tender. There was no threat of danger, was there? Shyly she raised her arms and placed them around his neck, touching the muscles of his shoulders.
“Oh, God, Katherine.” His voice was as urgent as his hands as they lifted the hem of her shirt. The hairs on his chest tickled her breasts and stomach as they were bared and pressed against him.
“Katherine, I want you.” She couldn’t ignore the evidence of his desire when they were this close to each other. “You’re beautiful… sweet…”
His hand covered her breasts and somewhere in her head alarm bells sounded. She didn’t behave this way! She should resist him. He was a Manning, and even if he weren’t—
Oh! What was happening to her? Her nipples ached with desire as he caressed them. Katherine clenched her hands on his shoulders in awakening passion.
Please, no. Jace, Jace. No, Jace. Then Katherine realized she was actually saying his name aloud and it was in the form of a sob. It mingled with his soft mutterings against her flesh.
“Katherine, you feel… Your breasts. Katherine, please—”
“No!” she screamed and pushed away from him, unbalancing him and making him fall backward. “No! Don’t touch me.” She hastily pulled down her shirt and covered her flaming cheeks with shaking hands.
“Katherine, I—”
“Don’t… don’t make any excuses. Just leave me alone.” She was sobbing uncontrollably and didn’t know why. Was it out of shame or a sense of loss? She couldn’t afford to trace the source of her tears.
She unleashed the anger she felt toward herself on him. “Did you really expect me to let you…? God, what was I doing?” As if cautiously retreating from something dangerous, she took several steps backward. “You expect everyone to cater to your whims. Was I supposed to be honored that a mighty Manning paid me some attention? And if I submitted, that would be more ammunition you could use against me. I remember what your lawyer said about my indeterminate morals. You’re conceited and selfish and arrogant and deceitful. Just like your brother,” she sneered and turned away from him.
Within a heartbeat he had gripped her u
pper arm painfully and spun her around to face him. The eyes that had been glazed with passion only moments before now blazed with fury. Gone were the deep dimples and the sensuous smile. In their place was a thin, grim slash of a mouth set in a granite-hard chin.
Katherine shrank from the latent violence that surfaced even as she watched. “Goddamn you! Don’t ever say that to me again. Do you hear me?” He gave her a little shake and her head wobbled on her shoulders. “Never compare me to my brother. Never!” He said the last word through clenched teeth, and the cords in his neck stood out.
Katherine winced with pain from his death grip on her arm. That he was hurting her finally penetrated his anger, and he released her abruptly and stepped back. Pent-up breath was released in a great expulsion of air as the heels of his hands dug into his eyes.
When he looked at her again he said hoarsely, “Forgive me. I came on too strong.”
Chapter Four
Whether he was referring to coming on too strong sexually or his attack of violent temper, she never knew. He hastily began gathering their things and packing them into the jeep.
Katherine braved one quick look at him on the silent trip home. His jaw was set and hard, his eyes were fixed on the road. When they arrived at the house, she stumbled up the stairs to her apartment carrying Allison and leaving Jason to return Happy’s basket and report on their outing.
The following morning she went to work as usual, but nothing was the same. The weekend had been tumultuous. She was nervous and edgy, jumping at her own shadow. Having no idea what Jace’s next move was going to be was tormenting.
She didn’t think he would try to steal Allison away from Happy’s house while she was working, but then, she couldn’t trust him not to. He didn’t seem the type to do something so heinous, but Peter had shone with good intentions toward his wife too.
No, despite his charm and good looks, Jace Manning could not be trusted. She would be foolish to think otherwise.
It didn’t take long for him to reveal his method of operation. When she came home from work, he was in the backyard with Happy helping her repair a window screen. He had his nerve!