Silk on the Skin: A Loveswept Classic Romance

by Linda Cajio

  “I’m virtue itself,” he announced with mock dignity.

  She made a rude noise.

  He ignored it. “Sins are not the topic of conversation. You are.”

  “Sorry. I never kiss and tell.”

  “Were you hurt that badly?” he asked.

  Shaking her head in obvious defeat, she laughed ruefully. “No, although it took me a while to figure out he’d done me a favor. I wanted loyalty, and he didn’t.”

  Dallas decided the man must have been a damn fool to throw away the rare gift she had offered. Knowing Cass, she probably had never offered it again. But would she offer it in the future?

  The question burned at him.

  “Anyone ever tell you you’re a pain in the tush, Dallas Carter?”

  He grinned. For this one, at least, he had the perfect answer.

  “Only you, Cass. Only you.”

  Taking a walk along a moonlit beach was natural. After all, she’d done it many times in the past.

  And talking about a person’s background was just natural curiosity.

  Holding hands was natural too.

  Natural things.

  She could feel his body heat across the short space separating them. Her senses were screaming with awareness at the strong yet gentle grip of his hand. Out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed the easy movement of his lean, muscular body and his long legs eating up the sand. Her breasts alternately ached and tingled in response. Stirrings of sensuality curled through her, giving her limbs a heaviness that made her feel at once graceful and clumsy.

  Even in the darkness she sensed his own gaze continually seeking her out as they walked together, and she was all too conscious of the little covering she wore. Clothing could be a formidable armor, which, in just a shift and panties, she was definitely lacking.

  Deciding she’d be less worried about natural things if he were on the defensive, she said, “So tell me about the woman who broke your heart.”

  “I was twelve the first time,” he said. “And I had a terrible crush on my teacher.…”

  Cass laughed lightly.

  “She was married, with six kids. There was no hope for us. Then, when I was sixteen—”

  “What happened to the four years in between?”

  “I was a woman-hater. As I was saying, I was sixteen when Betty Sue Macon transferred to our school. She was tall and willowy, with the biggest pair of—”

  “You can skip that part,” she broke in, lightly punching his arm.

  “I just want to be an open book,” he said teasingly.

  “Well, just shut it. I have the feeling all I’d get is smarmy fiction from you.”

  He was quiet for a moment before dropping an equally quiet bomb.

  “I was married once, Cass.”

  She stopped dead and slowly turned to stare at him. Realizing that her mouth was hanging open, she closed her teeth tightly together and swallowed back her shock.

  She sensed more than saw his shrug of dismissal. “We got married for the reason most teenagers get married.”

  Cass swallowed again. “A baby?”

  “Only, there was none.”

  “You mean she … miscarried after you got married?”

  Dallas smiled and smoothed her hair from her face with gentle fingers.

  “No. There never was a baby to begin with. At first I thought something had gone wrong with my precautions. I had been careful with her.” He looked behind her to the ocean, and she knew he was looking into the past. “I didn’t find out she had lied until after the wedding. Her home life wasn’t the best, and she must have been desperate to get away.”

  There was nothing she could say. She knew well enough that since the beginning of time men and women had been guilty of using sex for their own ends. But something inside her broke at the thought of Dallas’s being caught in such a trap. Even at a young age he’d been cautious and responsible; he must have cared very much for the girl involved. The revelation of a baby and then no baby must have been devastating.

  His gaze refocused on her. His features were softened in shadow, and the expression in his eyes was tender, as if to say the past hurts were only that: past hurts. Just as hers were. Both of them had survived the bad times, and had stubbornly forged ahead.

  It came to her suddenly that she knew this man. He was the other half of herself.

  Without thought she melted against him, her arms curving around his neck. He pulled her even closer in a tight embrace, and she buried her face into the strong warmth of his shoulder. The contented silence seemed to stretch forever.

  “I hope you’re not pitying me,” he finally said.

  She lifted her head and smiled.

  “Hell, no.”

  Her lips sought out his, offering only understanding and sweet honesty. Their mouths moved together instinctively. Tongues slowly tasted and gently dueled. Desire shuddered through her as his hands smoothed their way down her spine. They were so strong and sure, she thought dimly, as they cupped the soft flesh of her derriere. Need swirled thickly in her veins, leaving her weak.

  He raised his head and stared at her, his eyes searching her face. “I can’t wait any longer, Cass. I want you. Now. Here. But I don’t … I can’t take care of you tonight.”

  She could feel his heart pounding against her breasts, his need throbbing in unison with her own. It wasn’t in her to deny the want flowing between them. There was no need to. She had always been as cautious with her body as she was with her heart. Settling herself firmly against his body, she kissed him softly, slowly.

  “It’s okay, Dallas. I’m safe. I want you. Here. Now.”

  Their mouths locked in a deep kiss, and they sank to the sand together, the tall grasses effectively hiding them from prying eyes. They explored with lips and tongues, building the fires inside. Her hands dipped inside his shirt and found the curve of his shoulders, the indent of his collarbone, the hard muscles of his back. His hands wandered over every inch of her through the thin cotton of the shift, until her body was screaming for the satisfying touch of flesh against flesh.

  He eased her onto her back, and opened the small buttons of her shift. She barely felt the cool air as he slowly bared her body to the night. He pushed the material aside until it was spread like a blanket under them. Her fingers shook as she undid his shirt. She ran her hands up and down the light matting of hair that covered the upper half of his body, glorying in the feel of man … the right man.

  Slowly, carefully, he lowered himself until his chest just brushed against her breasts.

  The whole world suddenly seemed to explode, and the only thing Cass was aware of was Dallas’s body hard against hers. They strained into each other, as the release from denial drowned any thought of tenderness. His mouth seemed to devour hers in a flaming kiss. Her nails scored their way across his arms and shoulders as she clung to him in matching passion.

  He rained desperate kisses against her breasts … belly … thighs. Everywhere he touched was burning, crying out for fulfillment. The passion flooded through her with an urgency that left her gasping. His fingers found her moist, and she moved against him in supplication. She gave no thought to hiding her response. Instead she offered him all that she was.

  “Cass. Cass,” he chanted as he freed them both from the last of their clothing.

  He filled her with one swift stroke, sending the fires out of control. Mindlessly she moved with him in the exacting rhythm he created. She was engulfed in the scent and sounds of their love, in the magic he spun outward to every pore of her body. His hands lifted her tightly against him, and the building heat suddenly exploded. She cried out and clung to him as wave after wave of pulsing power washed through her … and then he was with her, bathing her in supreme satisfaction. They rode the crest together until it pulled them under and brought them back to shore.

  And reality.

  Nine

  The moment Cass opened her eyes, she knew she had just made the biggest mistake of her life.
Refusing to admit that she had ever considered the possibility of their making love, she thoroughly cursed herself for losing control of her common sense.

  And now his arms were holding her tightly, his hard body covering hers in the most intimate aftermath a man and woman could ever experience. Not only intimate, she thought in shock, but so incredibly satisfying.

  Panic welled up inside her, and she felt smothered. She pushed at his shoulders in an effort to regain some breathing space. Kissing her cheek, he shifted much of his upper weight to his elbows, but made no further move.

  “Dallas.” She was gasping as she struggled frantically to be released. “I can’t breathe!”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, slowly untangling their bodies and rolling next to her. “Better?”

  Nodding, she quickly pulled her shift together and sat up before he could cuddle her closer.

  “Thank you,” she said, drawing in air to her starved lungs. She snatched up his clothes and tossed them onto his legs and began inching away from him as unobtrusively as possible.

  Suddenly she felt the heat of his body pressing against her back.

  “I think we should talk,” he said quietly, while smoothing her hair back from her shoulders.

  She shuddered at the tender gesture and began fumbling the buttons of her shift closed. “We can’t do this again, Dallas. It was … it wasn’t wrong … but it wasn’t right.”

  “You’re just feeling this way now because of our involvement with the problems at Marks & Lindley,” he said.

  “Not just,” she said, rising to her feet. She faced away from him. “It is because of M & L. We’re on opposite sides of the company’s problems, and it would pull us apart if we had a more personal relationship. We both know that. I’ve been attracted to you, and I lost my control tonight. I think that’s what happened to you.”

  “You’re saying we were caught up in the moment,” he stated in a flat voice.

  “Exactly,” she said, nodding in agreement. “It can’t be repeated.”

  He didn’t say anything, and out of the corner of her eye she saw him begin to pull on his briefs. Instantly she turned her gaze toward the velvet ocean lapping rhythmically against the shoreline. She closed her eyes on the sensuality of the scene. Dammit, she thought, she didn’t need Mother Nature reminding her of her stupidity.

  “I love them, Cass. But I don’t think they’ll fit.”

  Cass opened her eyes to find her lace-and-satin panties swinging on the edge of his forefinger. With as much dignity as she could muster, she took them and stuffed them into her pocket. She’d had enough trouble with the essential buttons of her shift, and she’d be damned before she’d fall all over herself trying to put on her panties. Still, she couldn’t help smiling at his words.

  “Come on,” he said, chuckling. “I’ll walk you back to the house.”

  As she walked next to him in awkward silence she wondered if he had really accepted the common sense of the situation. He seemed to. And it was common sense, she firmly told herself. They were adults who could control their natural urges. A more personal involvement would only create impossible pressures, and she had been foolish to think otherwise. Her plan was a definite bust.

  Cass forced herself to concentrate on that idea as he took her arm to escort her up the barely visible beach-house steps. Control, she chanted silently in her mind. Be calm and in control.

  She switched off her new burglar-alarm system and unlocked the sliding glass doors. She slid the panel open, but before she could step inside he turned her to fully face him.

  He stared down at her, then said, “I’ve been trying to figure out a way to apologize to you, but not apologize for our making love. It was right, Cass. It just wasn’t the right time for us, and I knew it. My fantasies caught up with me tonight, and I hadn’t meant them to until after the mess at M & L is straightened out.”

  “Fantasies?” she echoed. The thought of his having fantasies was enticing, and, promising she’d correct him on several points in a moment, she asked, “You’ve been having fantasies?”

  “They were a poor second to the reality.”

  His shoulders loomed over her in the darkness, and she gazed at them, remembering all too well the smooth flesh and steel muscles underneath.

  “Cass?”

  She refocused her gaze on his face. His own eyes seemed focused on her mouth.

  “Yes?”

  “Do you suppose one good-night kiss would be risky? Just one.”

  Just one, she thought. But not for good night, for good-bye. “I suppose one little kiss wouldn’t hurt.”

  His mouth covered hers.

  “Dallas, we absolutely cannot do this again!” Cass exclaimed as she yanked the bed sheet about her and scrambled off her wide bed.

  “Well, I was really trying to be a gentleman,” he replied from his prone position on the mattress. He stretched his arms over his head. “But then you were all over me—”

  “I was not ‘all over’ you!” she snapped, turning around. Her eyes widened. “Dallas! Would you please put on a sheet or something!”

  He glanced down at his naked body and the lack of bedclothes, and couldn’t help grinning.

  “Cass, I hate to tell you this, but you have the sheet.”

  “Aaaaccckk!”

  He caught a brief flash of beautiful derriere before the sheet sailed over his head. He pulled it down just in time to see her wrap herself in the bedspread, which had fallen to the floor during their impassioned lovemaking. The first time had been to appease their burning hunger, but this time they had slowly explored each other to a satisfaction that reached the soul. He had never known a woman so responsive as Cass. As he gazed at her, he noted the tumble of white-gold hair about the fragile shoulders, the delicately shaped hands that had taken him to new heights, the special bloom of desire and satisfaction.

  Lord, he thought, but she was so damned beautiful.

  “Now,” she said, glaring at him. “No more one little good-night kiss. Obviously, we cannot even be alone with each other.”

  “It’s the dam effect,” he said, propping up the pillows and leaning back against the carved headboard.

  “The what?”

  “A dam gets the tiniest crack, and the floodwaters just burst out. We have definitely burst out.”

  “Well, we are not a damned dam,” she said, pointing a finger at him. “We’re adults, with common sense and logic on our side. This was just a mistake, Dallas.”

  He eyed her for a long moment, while acknowledging he didn’t like her thinking their lovemaking was a mistake. It wasn’t. “I know we didn’t mean for this to happen again. But it did. People lose control sometimes, especially when they get a taste of heaven. You are heaven, Cass. It was no mistake, only bad timing.”

  She sighed, the fight going out of her. Gingerly sitting on the very edge of the bed, she said, “Dallas, our being together like this is impossible. For sanity’s sake, it can’t be repeated.”

  He sat up, his knees bent, his elbows resting on them. The sheet lay unnoticed on his lap. “You’re feeling vulnerable right now, aren’t you?”

  She nodded.

  “I would never use this in any way against you,” he said gently. “Never. This has nothing to do with M & L. It’s between you and me, and what we feel for each other.”

  “I believe you,” she said in a near whisper. “But business and pleasure never mix. We couldn’t keep the two things separate, no matter how hard we tried.” She looked at him, a helpless expression in her wide green eyes. “I think you’d better leave and go back to New York—”

  “No.” He reached out and covered her hand. It was cold and tense. “No. This was a time for us. Just for us. But you’re right. We are on opposite sides until the board meeting. Making love shouldn’t bring regrets, and that’s what you’re feeling. And I regret it because you do. But M & L will be resolved one way or another soon. We’re adults. We can keep our hands off each other until then. After
the board meeting, we’ll talk about us.”

  “But I don’t know if there will be an ‘us,’ ” she said, lowering her eyes.

  He tightened his hand around hers, lacing their fingers together. “I know.”

  Silence filled the room for a minute, and then he thought he heard her sniffle, as if she were in tears.

  “Cass, honey? Are you crying?”

  She raised her head, and her gaze was filled with rueful laughter. She began to giggle. “Face it, Dallas. It is funny. One little kiss and we were running for the bedroom like a couple of sex-starved kids.”

  He laughed. “We were that.”

  “I’m glad we’ve sorted everything out now.”

  “Yep. We’re all sorted out.”

  Cass leaned her elbow against the edge of the bathtub and rested her cheek on her fist.

  “Dallas, we have a serious problem here.”

  “What’s that?” he asked, lifting her right leg over his shoulder as he sat opposite her in the small tub. He ran a soapy sponge down and around her calf.

  She sighed loudly. “It’s three in the morning, and I’m in the bathtub with you.”

  “That’s a relief. I thought maybe I missed a spot,” he said, his eyes twinkling.

  She splashed water at him. “Dammit, Dallas! I can’t believe we made love again!”

  “Twice.”

  “Don’t remind me,” she muttered to herself. More loudly she said, “What are we going to do?”

  “I think we’ve already decided what to do.” His gaze traveled up her body to her face. She felt her cheeks flush with the stirrings of pleasure. “It isn’t just sex between us, Cass. It’s more.”

  She took a deep breath. “I know. That’s the problem, isn’t it?”

  He ran the sponge slowly across her thigh. “I’m beginning to think that this is not the problem at all. Everything else is the problem.”

  As the sponge caressed her skin, Cass leaned back and closed her eyes at the sensual touch. She knew he wouldn’t go away, and she admitted she didn’t want him to. It had hurt so deeply and painfully even to suggest it. This was crazy, she thought. Her willpower had collapsed on the beach, and had been nonexistent ever since. She couldn’t deny the incredible pleasure they brought to each other. Like the first man and woman, they had found the forbidden fruit.…