Harlequin Blaze 51: Take Me

by Cherry Adair

  * * * * *

  He hadn't had enough sleep. He must be getting old. Traveling had never dragged at him like this. The trips were becoming mundane. He buzzed Angela to put together a list of candidates for future travel.

  Hell, he'd been almost too tired last night to love Jessie. Not that she'd been too chirpy herself. He grinned. He had left her this morning with her face buried in the pillow. He'd stroked his hand down the silky curve of her bare back, lingering on her heart-shaped butt and she hadn't moved a muscle. He'd missed too many mornings when she wouldn't have been fast asleep. And he wanted them, damn it. He was throwing away that alarm clock ASAP.

  He picked up the phone. "Ange, get me Felix, then have Craig from advertising come up. No, I'll hold while you get through. Thanks."

  "Felix? Find out where the hell Vera is off to now. I want a divorce."

  * * * * *

  Jessie jumped up off her knees as soon as the Rolls pulled up in the circular driveway in front of his house. She fought the black dots in her vision from jumping up too fast, and tugged off her soil-encrusted gardening gloves. Joshua had left before she was awake this morning. Their first morning together at the house and she'd slept right through it.

  She tossed gloves aside as she pulled open the back door of the car. "You're home early," she said happily, as he swung his long legs onto the brick. "Hi, Barlow," she called over the seat. The chauffeur grinned in the rearview mirror and touched his cap, waiting for her to slam the door shut before he took off to the garages behind the house.

  Jessie linked her arm in Joshua's as they walked inside. He set his briefcase down and turned to look at her; a small smile tugged at his mouth. "I have seven gardeners," he said dryly, taking out his handkerchief to wipe her dirty cheek. "Why are you digging in the dirt again?"

  "I'll run up and take a quick shower," Jessie said quickly.

  "I wasn't criticizing, Jess. You can do whatever you like around—" Joshua sneezed twice. "Damn." He walked into the family room and collapsed on the sofa, pushing one of the new pillows Jessie had bought behind his head and swinging his feet up. He held out his hand. "The house looks great. You did a spectacular job, Jessie. When I have more energy you'll have to give me a tour. In the meantime, come and lie here beside me and tell me what you planted today."

  "Ugh, I'm all dirty and sweaty." Jessie's nose wrinkled.

  Joshua laughed hoarsely. "I love it when you're sweaty. Come here, woman. I'm too damn tired to chase you upstairs."

  He did look tired. His face seemed paler than usual to Jessie as she lay down beside him and felt his arms come around her. She rested her head against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart.

  She was afraid to interpret what it meant for Joshua to turn off the 3:00 am alarm and then come home early the next day. She wondered if she should read anything into it before deciding not to get too excited. He was more than tired—she could tell by the way his arms held her. He was more interested in holding her than in taking her upstairs to bed. She stroked his face.

  His jaw was slightly rough with the stubble he hadn't shaved at his office. Jessie knew he usually shaved twice a day. His skin under her questing fingertips felt warm and dry.

  "Do you feel all right?" She lifted her head from his chest to look up into his face.

  His eyes were closed, but he rubbed a small circle in the small of her back where his hand held her close. "Tired," he admitted on a sigh. "Just damn tired."

  He was more than tired Jessie realized as she scrutinized his pale face, scorched with two angry red patches on his high cheekbones.

  Jessie carefully swung her legs off the sofa. "Come upstairs, Joshua. I think you should be in bed."

  He opened his eyes, taking a moment to focus on her face. "Don't think I can get it up right now, darling," he mumbled, his lids drifting shut. "M'be later."

  She laughed softly. "No sex for you, big boy." Jessie carefully slipped her arm under his back and helped him sit up. "Do you think you can get upstairs on your own or shall I call Barlow?"

  "Own." Joshua leaned heavily on Jessie's arm as he stood up, almost tumbling both of them back onto the deep sofa.

  Terrified he would fall, and alarmed at his pallor and disorientation, Jessie managed to get him upstairs and onto the bed. After undressing him and rolling him under the covers, she searched his phone book for the number of his doctor.

  "Joshua?" Jessie sat on the edge of the bed. He had fallen into a restless doze. "I need the number of your doctor. What's his name?"

  "Never get sick."

  "There's always a first time," Jessie said dryly. She rested her cool hand on his hot cheek. "What's your doctor's name, Joshua?"

  He coughed, turning his head feverishly on the pillow. "Jessie?"

  "I'm right here."

  "Jessica. Jessie. Jess," he said softly, rolling over to bury his face in the pillow.

  "That's me." Jessie went into the dressing room to call her own doctor to see if she would make a house call.

  He murmured her name again, shifted restlessly and hugged his pillow.

  By the time the doctor arrived his temperature had climbed to 104. Jessie bathed his hot face in cool water, dribbling some of the moisture between his dry lips. He didn't want to drink, didn't want to take his cough suppressant, didn't want to do anything but sleep. He sounded like a fractious child. Her heart squeezed. Who had taken care of him when he was a child? A nanny? Had the woman loved him? Or had she just done her job?

  Jessie nursed him with TLC. She managed to sponge him down without getting yelled at. First he was boiling, and then he was freezing. He hated the cold wet cloths she ran over his sweaty body. She was sweating herself by the time she'd dried him and made him take aspirin. Then she let him sleep.

  Until the next time.

  The next day his temperature was down and he was just plain bad tempered. Jessie carried on as if he were being his most charming best. She forced him to drink and take his medication. He couldn't resist her when she closed the drapes and lay down beside him. "Sleep," she'd say, stroking his hair, and he'd rest his head against her without a complaint. He'd be asleep in seconds.

  She spent every moment with him in the bedroom, coaxing, cajoling, bullying and browbeating him until he got well. It was no hardship for her to take naps with him. He was a harsh taskmaster when he was sick. Worse when he was recovering.

  After five days, he thought he was well enough to use the phone. Jessie had taken it downstairs. He was still too wobbly to try the stairs, and he fumed for hours. A short nap took care of that mood, Jessie thought with amusement watching him sleep on the eighth morning.

  Whereas she came rushing out of sleep to get on with her day, Joshua woke with a soft sigh. She loved him best like this. When he was soft with sleep, vulnerable and malleable.

  She leaned up on her elbow and touched his forehead. Cool, thank goodness. She'd made him stay in bed yesterday even though he could probably have been up. She'd teased him about how much control she had since he was too weak to fight back.

  She slipped out of bed, careful not to wake him. Dressed in navy leggings and a thigh-length cable-stitch navy-and-white cotton sweater, she pushed up the sleeves as she made her way to the kitchen. She had the coffee on and was breaking eggs into a glass bowl when Joshua came in.

  "Where's Mrs. Godfrey?" he asked, referring to the cook.

  "She took her grandkids to the park."

  "Hmm." He nuzzled the back of her neck.

  Jessie turned to look at him. He had showered and shaved and dressed in the jeans and dark-purple shirt she'd bought him in Tahoe. "Well, don't you look handsome." She moved to arm's length, eyeing him up and down. "Great buns."

  Joshua's lips quirked. "You're looking at my front, Jess."

  "Trust me, I know." She grinned up at him, automatically checking his forehead with her hand. Satisfied, she turned back to the stove. "Scrambled or omelette?"

  "Scrambled." He pulled the wide n
eckline of her sweater aside to nibble her shoulder.

  She poured the egg mixture into the pan. A comb fell out of her hair to the floor. Joshua bent to pick it up. "I don't know why you bother trying to control your hair, darling. It has a mind of its own."

  She used one hand to hold her hair up as she tried to force the comb back into the thickly curling mass. Joshua smiled, his eyes getting crinkly the way she loved. "That doesn't do any good you know. It won't stay up."

  "I can't do anything with it. I probably look like a wild woman."

  "It looks sexy as hell."

  She gave him a speaking glance. "I'm cooking breakfast here."

  He looked at her innocently. "I was just making a comment."

  She laughed. They hadn't made love since the night he'd come back from Russia. Considering his libido, she was surprised he hadn't taken her on the kitchen floor by now.

  He still looked a little pale. She decided she could always persuade him to take a nap with her after breakfast. The meal would never get cooked though if she had to hold up her hair with her hand. Too lazy to run upstairs to look for a scrunchie, she coiled her hair off her neck and anchored it with a pencil she grabbed from the cup by the phone.

  He frowned.

  "What's the matter?"

  Joshua shrugged. "Déjà vu."

  Jessie put four slices of bread in the toaster then looked at him. "Are you sure you're feeling all right? Maybe it's too soon for you to be out of bed. Should I call Dr.—"

  "Forget the doctor." He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, his eyes lambent as he pulled her closer. "I want to drag you upstairs and do sexy stuff to your body until you yell."

  Upstairs was good.

  She would make a quick detour to the bathroom before they hit the bed. She took the pan off the stove, then draped her arms around his neck and wriggled her eyebrows. "How sexy?"

  "How much can you take?" He used his thumb to stroke the slick inner surface of her lower lip, his gaze scorching her face.

  The toast popped up behind her. "You just got out of a sick bed." She tried to be reasonable.

  "Come back to it with me." He swung her up in his arms and strode out of the kitchen, across the wide entry hall and started up the stairs.

  "I don't think you should be carrying me, Rhett. You've been flat on your back for a week." She held on tighter as he picked up speed the closer he got to the bedroom.

  He kicked the door shut behind him. "Didn't I tell you yesterday I wouldn't always be weak and lying flat on my back?" He settled her carefully on the freshly made bed. "Now, my pretty, what do you have to say about that!"

  He leaned over her, the purple shirt doing wonderful things to his pale eyes. He was teasing her but his eyes were hot.

  "I say, fine." Jessie started unbuttoning the cotton shirt. Her throat felt dry and her pulse had sped up. She wanted to consume him in large bites. "Hurry." She couldn't believe that throaty voice was hers.

  She had no idea what happened to their clothing. Or who removed what. The moment her naked skin touched his, he went wild, carrying Jessie along on a tidal wave of sensation so intense she lost all sense of reason.

  Her climax was so explosive, so prolonged she almost lost consciousness. After a while she managed to slowly open her eyes. Sunlight streamed through the open window. Blankets and sheets were mounded on the floor. Jessie could feel a pencil under her right hip. She couldn't move a muscle and she struggled to draw an even breath.

  She'd forgotten the detour.

  Joshua leaned over her. His face had lost its pallor. His hair was sweaty and their skin was sticking together everywhere they touched. In a moment she would be able to speak. For now all she could gather the energy to do was gaze into his eyes. They held some emotion impossible for her to read. She felt the deep breath he took through her breast and down to the juncture of her thighs.

  "I'm sorry."

  For a moment she was so lost in the sensual haze she didn't comprehend his words. "What?"

  "I'm sorry," he said stiffly. "I lost control. Did I hurt you?" A dark frown pinched his eyebrows together.

  "No!" She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down. "I love what we did. I love knowing I can make you forget you're The Glacier when you're with me."

  Jessie felt the brief suspension of his heartbeat under her hand. It took her a moment to realize that whatever he had felt in that shattering moment, he'd caught himself and brought his emotions back under control. Damn. She'd just have to try harder. She glanced at him under her lashes. A telltale pulse pounded in his temple. So, he wasn't as immune as he liked to appear.

  "There's nothing you have ever done to hurt me. In bed or out. I promise." He lost some of the concern in his eyes. "I'm starving. Can we go down for breakfast soo—"

  The phone rang and she groaned. Joshua's business calls had stopped while he'd been ill. No doubt he'd called his secretary this morning and told her he was up and about. He was definitely up—and about to be cut off. Her fingers walked deliberately down his chest.

  Joshua stuffed a pillow behind his head. "What the hell do you mean you can't find… ?" He glanced briefly at Jessie. "The principle party?"

  She loved his crinkly chest hair, but didn't waste too much time there. He had been gone for ten days, then sick for a week. He had a lot of catching up to do. Her fingers closed around him.

  She jumped when Joshua said loudly into the phone, "Then damn well hire detectives. I want her found." There was a short pause. "As death and taxes. Keep me informed Felix."

  "Bad news?" She crossed her arms on his chest and tried to read the expression on his face.

  "Just someone I need to contact to get some papers signed."

  She made tantalizing swirls around his left nipple. "Another merger?"

  "A contract dissolution. Felix will take care of it."

  He looked pointedly at her hands folded on his chest "Wasn't this hand somewhere else?"

  Chapter 8

  Jessie emerged from the dressing room in the hotel room, her aims raised as she struggled with a recalcitrant earring. The flame-red Isaac Mizrahi she wore was one of a dozen designer gowns Joshua had surprised her with for this trip to Monaco.

  She'd felt like a kid in a candy store when she'd seen the gowns the hotel maid had unpacked earlier. Each gown was a brilliant, vibrant color, each more tempting than the last. The red chiffon had a short, frothy skirt, no back and a deceptively modest front—until movement revealed the throat-to-waist slit and a tantalizing glimpse of small firm, lightly tanned breasts.

  "Why aren't you dressed?" she asked, seeing Joshua sprawled on the bed, his arms folded under his head. Hah? the bedcovers were on the enormous bed, the other half on the floor. He was gloriously naked.

  Jessie met his bold look and his eyes darkened. "Don't you have jet lag?" he asked in a seductive drawl. "Perhaps you should come back to bed and take a little nap."

  "Oh, no, you don't, Joshua Falcon. That's what you said three hours ago." Jessie's pulse quickened under the heat of his smoldering gaze. "We've been in Monte Carlo for four hours and already made love twice." She dropped her hand when the earring back slipped home. "I thought you brought me here to gamble."

  "I did," Joshua said, rising and coming toward her like a panther, all sinewy grace and rippling muscles, arousal blatant and unashamed. "And to see you dressed like you are now. God, you look incredible." He ran the backs of his fingers inside the narrow opening of her bodice to touch bare skin; Jessie couldn't help arching her back as his hand slipped inside the opening. "You turn me on whether you're clothed or naked. I love the way your lush little breasts play hide-and-seek in this dress."

  She licked her shiny red lips, watching as Joshua's eyes smoldered. "Don't get me all jazzed up," she warned, fearing it was already too late. She stood her ground as his fingers played against her sensitized skin.

  "I want to see the casino," she said with a laugh, her fingers small around the thickness of his
wrist, as she halfheartedly tried to restrain him. He could rip these five ounces of chiffon off her and have her on the bed in a heartbeat.

  A tremor rippled across her skin. He saw it and smiled. The backs of his fingers slid from the pulse in her throat to her waist and back again. Her nipples were excruciatingly hard and blatantly outlined beneath the soft fabric of the expensive dress.

  Jessie closed her eyes, waiting for Joshua to cup her breasts, to taste her nipples as he had done just before she'd called it quits and run into the lavish bathroom for a shower not forty minutes ago. She'd locked the door, hearing his mocking laughter as she shot home the bolt.

  "You love being a woman, don't you?" Just the backs of his knuckles rode the edge of fabric over her midriff. Jessie arched an eyebrow, a trick she had learned from him. He seemed impervious to what he was doing to her as he continued in that soft, silky voice. "I love watching you get ready to go out." His touch moved a little higher. Jessie shivered.

  "I'm always fascinated by the way you primp and fuss with your hair when you know it won't stay where you put it. And no matter what, it always looks sexy, as though I've just run my fingers through it." With two fingers, he touched the pulse at her throat, and smiled down into her eyes. Her breath hitched.

  "And I'm fascinated by your concentration when you apply makeup. Every move you make is graceful, feminine. You love the textures and scents and ceremony that go with being female."

  Jessie felt hypnotized by the sensual timbre of his voice and the rhythmic stroking of his fingertips. She took a step back to clear her head. "Goodness. What brought this on?"

  Joshua shrugged. "I've never known anyone who enjoys being in their own skin the way you do." He reached over to pick up a toweling robe, then shrugged it on. He looked back at her with a small frown. "Given the way you were brought up, I don't know how you acquired your amazing sense of self-worth."

  Embarrassed and flattered Jessie didn't quite know what to say. A lot of her self-confidence was a protective device she'd perfected growing up. "I somehow managed to teach myself. I realized, even as a child, that my mother's life wasn't mine, and I did everything in my power to make sure I knew who and what I was."