Hurt pulsed through her for a second and a half, but she had enough pride to stiffen her spine. The roaming blonde cast Mitch another sideways look, and Kay stepped forward. If he wanted a few more notches in his belt, she was about to introduce him to the best notch carver in Moscow. Stephanie had been the busiest girl in high school; on successive Friday nights she’d worked her way through the entire roster of senior class boys. Some ten years later, in a white silk jumpsuit without a damn thing underneath it, she was clearly still ripe and ready.
“Stephanie!” Kay said delightedly.
Grabbing Mitch’s hand, she ignored his startled jolt, and beamed at the sultry blonde. “I haven’t seen you in so long,” she said vibrantly to the other woman. “This is Mitch Cochran. Mitch, Stephanie is one of my oldest…friends…”
Now, she hadn’t meant to hesitate on the word. Neither seemed to notice. Mitch’s eyes were riveted on the pair of nipples poking out of white silk; Stephanie thrust them forward, and Kay catapulted to the bar for a drink.
A grinning man behind the bar served her something or other. She took a sip, and grimaced. Rum. There was probably something more terrible tasting than rum, but she didn’t know what it was.
Roger caught sight of her and dragged her to the floor for a dance. Roger was nice-looking and bearded and soft-eyed, and she’d known him for years. The song was an old Michael Jackson number; no one could resist the primitive rhythm, and Roger could swing his pelvis like a reincarnation of Elvis. Unfortunately, the only thing Kay was in the mood to beat was Stephanie.
Mitch seemed to be getting along fine with her. Just fine. He was leaning over, trying to hear what that itty-bitty voice was saying. Undoubtedly, something priceless. And luckily, those nipples of Stephanie’s weren’t sharp, or she’d be ripping out of that jumpsuit and standing stark naked.
“Kay?” Roger broke into her thoughts. Clearly, he wondered why she wasn’t dancing anymore.
Kay blew him a kiss and maneuvered around the other dancing couples in a beeline for Mitch. She grabbed his arm from behind, smiling brilliantly when both he and Stephanie turned startled stares at her. “The music is terrific, isn’t it?”
Stephanie looked bewildered.
“I saw you were having a good time,” Mitch said flatly. “Don’t interrupt your fun on my account. I don’t dance.”
“I love to dance,” Kay said lightly. “Stephanie, Roger was looking all over for you.” Kay’s eyes skimmed the crowd. If he wanted notches, he could have his notches. But Stephanie wasn’t going to carve them. She hooked an arm around Mitch’s elbow, ignoring his stiffness, leading him inexorably toward a curly-headed brunette in black.
Janet at least had a brain. She was a little flat-chested, but she was presentable, intelligent and had a fantastic sense of humor.
Mitch got the message. Oh, he got the message. She was working hard at pairing him off with some other woman. Anyone but her. She didn’t give a damn.
“Kay always had the silliest sense of humor.” The brunette somewhere way below him giggled.
He glanced down. She was there, all five feet one of her. What was her name? Jane? No, Janet. “Do you want a drink, Janet?” he asked.
“Sure.”
He edged through the crowd and brought back two drinks from the bar. In the distance, he could see the flicker of star-bright silver. A burly man had his arm around Kay’s shoulders; a tall fellow swooped down for a hug. More old lovers, undoubtedly. She was laughing merrily. In her element, entertaining the boys.
“You like baseball?”
Mitch’s head swiveled around. “Football, hockey, basketball.”
Janet shrugged. “What do you do?”
“I’m in geology. You?”
She was a professor at the university. Mathematics. One of his best subjects. They had a few university friends in common, and they battled to keep up a conversation over the noise in the crowded room. But Mitch’s eyes kept straying to Kay.
She was talking to a couple, waving a drink in her hand, but there was a black-haired bastard eyeing her from across the room. Her face was flushed, her eyes overbright, and he saw her finish the drink, make a dreadful face and set the glass down on a table.
It wasn’t like Kay to drink too much. The black-haired creep wandered closer and then zeroed in on her. Kay glanced up and nodded, and Mitch watched them move to the dance floor. The number was fast, and her breasts were moving with tantalizing rhythm to the beat.
“Good heavens!”
Mitch glanced back at Janet, then with a wry look at the half-spilled drink in his hand. “I didn’t spill it on you-”
“No. Someone must have bumped you from behind. It’s so crowded in here…” Her eyes very shyly invited.
Mitch stifled a sigh. “Could I get you another drink?”
“Sure.”
When he came back with Janet’s screwdriver, Kay was still on the dance floor. Her current partner was a tall blond man with a mustache. She obviously knew him well. Very well, from the look of the hug she gave him.
Mitch handed Janet her drink and gave her his warmest smile. “You’ve been at the university how many years?” he questioned.
“Five.”
The music changed to a slow number. The blond tugged Kay close, and for a minute Mitch lost sight of them. There were too many people and too much smoke, and a half-dozen more couples had crowded the floor to dance to the seductive love song.
“Mitch?”
He forced his head back in Janet’s direction. “Sorry?”
“I just asked you-”
Kay had her hands on the blond’s shoulders. No big deal. Then the man’s hands were on her shoulders, which was also no particular big deal. Except the blond’s hands started roaming. Someone cut in front of them, and Mitch couldn’t see.
“Listen,” Janet said politely.
“Just a second, okay?” Mitch murmured. He smiled, handed her his drink and turned around. His smiled died. The blond had just made a terrible mistake, letting his hands roam down to Kay’s hips.
If he ended up alive, he’d be lucky.
***
Kay shifted nervously, trying with body language to communicate to Hal that New Year’s Eve was a festive occasion, that she forgave him ninety times over for the seven scotches he’d already had, and that she wished he’d keep his hands to himself.
When body language failed, she tried a polite “Hal,” to get his attention.
But his head seemed to be drooping over her shoulder.
“Hal,” she repeated cheerfully.
His big blue eyes met hers. “I love you, Kay,” he said groggily. “I loved you in high school. Did you know that?”
“I…no. Listen-”
Long before she could finish the thought, Hal’s roaming hands were whisked off her flesh as if airborne. Startled, Kay jerked up her head to find Mitch’s lethal eyes bearing down on an unsuspecting Hal. She didn’t have a chance to close her mouth before a long, strong body insinuated itself between her and her dancing partner. “Take a real long hike, won’t you, sport?” Mitch tried to make his voice cordial.
“Kay?” Hal’s limpid blue eyes registered total confusion, but already he was two dancing couples distant. Mitch wasn’t exactly moving in slow motion.
Tough, sinewy muscles jammed most intimately against hers, bearing her off into a corner. “Would you like to see that little mustache of his pulled out hair by hair?” Mitch murmured.
“Hal?”
“For two cents, I’d rearrange the knuckles on those busy hands of his.”
“Mitch-”
His lips covered hers. Her arms seemed to be waving around in midair, until she found the material of his shirt to hold on to. She felt the tension of a man who was furious, the tenderness of a man who loved beyond measure and the sheer sexual vibrations of the only man who stirred the same instant, abandoned response in her.
It wasn’t the kiss of a man who had his mind on pursuing other women.
Actually, it wasn’t even a nice kiss; that sweet pressure on her lips radiated possessiveness and jealousy and anger…dreadful character traits. Who would have guessed Mitch had such a temper?
Mitch’s lips lifted only when she made a tiny sound at the back of her throat. “Dammit. Did I hurt you?” he growled.
“Not really.”
His mouth homed in on the target. People were staring. They seemed to be smiling as they stared, though. Kay closed her eyes so they would all go away. Mitch was communicating some very intimate things; Mitch had always been very good at communicating very intimate things with kisses. The distant, cold man who’d arrived at her house to escort her to the party had disappeared. The man who was holding her like a tightly wrapped treasure was not at all cool, not at all in control…and Kay’s heart was inexplicably taking off on its own private jet flight. She remembered her fears that he’d want to try out his wings with other women… Well, it was hard to hold on to those fears when he was making it so very clear that a Kay-and-Mitch team was the only thing on his mind.
Mitch’s lips gradually lifted when he was sure he’d made it absolutely clear that the chemistry between them wasn’t something she should be in a hurry to throw away. His eyes locked with hers; the noise of the party returned, and he grabbed her wrist in a handcuff grip. “We’re going home,” he said flatly. “Hug all the men you want to on the way out. Just understand that every one of them is going to be decked flat out.”
It seemed wisest to just wave her goodbyes in passing. Stix would probably have been the exception, but Kay caught only a glimpse of his shaggy dark head above the crowd. Actually, there was a strangely bleak stare in Stix’s eyes, fixed directly on the two of them, before she saw him turn and make a beeline for the bar.
Polite goodbyes to the host were not Mitch’s immediate priority. Coats were, and theirs were buried amid tons of others. Mitch grabbed hers, pulled it on her and buttoned it before opening the door. On the porch, a fresh fall of snow greeted them, newly arrived in the past hour. Unfortunately, though, three cars were blocking his.
“We’ll walk,” he growled.
“All right.”
“I really wouldn’t argue, if I were you!”
“All right, Mitch,” she said mildly.
A distance of five houses wasn’t a long walk. Kay, racing along at his side, stole an occasional upward glance. Mitch looked meaner than a wildcat in a cage. Her feminine instinct wanted to pacify the wounded beast…but her heart seemed a great deal more sure of Mitch than her head was.
He didn’t talk until they’d reached the front porch and she was fumbling for her key. He grabbed it from her, shoved it in the lock and pushed open the door. She was barely inside before he slammed it and ordered her to take off her coat.
“It isn’t going to work, keeping it all nice and light and civilized, ”he said flatly, yanking off his coat and tossing it on a chair. “Maybe that’s how you usually end things. I don’t know or care. At the moment, I don’t feel the least bit civilized, and if you think anything is ever going to be over between us, you’re out of your mind.”
“Look, Mitch. You were the one-”
“I’m going to marry you, Kay. I know what you feel and I heard what you said, but you never really gave us a chance. You’re not going to tell me you’ve had a lover who loved you more than I do because it just plain isn’t true. Tell me you weren’t satisfied in bed,” he roared.
She shook her head, tears shimmering in her eyes like diamonds. “Why would I want to tell you that?” she whispered. “Why don’t you tell me that I was just the first notch on your belt, and you were already thinking about…branching out? Trying your wings? I told you you wouldn’t want something permanent once you-”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I saw you at the party,” she said stubbornly, folding her arms across her chest, not about to be intimidated just because he was standing there like a glowering behemoth. “You could hardly take your eyes off Stephanie.”
“That woman you threw in my direction?”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t have heart failure when she tossed her chest in your direction,” Kay said furiously.
“I had heart failure when you let that creep put his hands on you.”
Kay hesitated.
Mitch didn’t. His arms slid around her, gathering her up. He inhaled the sweet perfume that was Kay and savored the silken feel of her hair against his chin and he trembled, feeling the pliant crush of her breasts against him, so familiar. His voice came out in a hoarse rasp. “You need an experienced man in your bed, Kay? You’ll have one. For the next fifty years, you can play teacher.”
“You never needed a teacher, you fool. Can’t you tell when a woman’s happy?” A single tear rushed down her cheek; she tilted her head and raised trembling lips to his. “But you took off like a shot when I said the first word about your wanting to test out other waters.”
“You took off like a shot after we made love the first time. What was I supposed to think?”
“Just what did you think?”
“That you weren’t…satisfied. That you were subtly trying to tell me you wanted to move on.”
“Why the Sam Hill would I want to do that?” Kay’s voice came out in a breathy roar of outrage. How could such an intelligent man be so unutterably dense? He’d mixed up everything.
Mitch’s lips suddenly twisted in an uneven grin. A ruddy flush returned the color to his face, and his dark eyes glinted at hers, coming closer. “Darned if I know. You’ve got it all, you foolish woman. I’m more than willing to shower you in jewels, I’ll buy you plants until you’re a hundred and three, and I absolutely adore you, Kay. How on earth could you have gotten everything so totally mixed up?”
“Me?” It was amazing how one could shout through laughter, as if both of them were suddenly aware that the argument was over. It was just as amazing how fast a room could turn silent. How shadows could turn soft, how colored lights on a Christmas tree could suddenly spin and blur when the thing wasn’t moving at all. Only Mitch was moving, filling her world, the love on his face filling her heart.
His lips molded hers like warm honey, soft, smooth and sweet. “Don’t you ever be so foolish again,” he whispered. “I don’t want anyone but you, Kay. I don’t need anyone but you. If I’ve had to fight for life every inch of the way, you’re the reason why it’s been worth it. The chance to love you, live with you, be with you-”
“You don’t have to shower me with jewels, Mitch,” Kay returned softly. “I just wanted to be sure…that you would be happy.”
Mitch’s thumb gently traced the line of her cheek. He drew back. Kay watched the play of emotions on his face, the last of the tension fading to a lazy, loving tenderness, the dark intensity in his eyes subtly changing to just a hint of the hell-bent-for-leather mischief-maker he had been once. “I’m not happy,” he growled.
“You’re not?”
He cocked his head in the direction of her room. “Hey, teach,” he drawled. “If you’re still concerned that I’m looking for ‘experience,’ a few wild oats to sow-maybe you’d just better give me a few private lessons.”
“I’ll do that,” Kay said gravely, and shook her head. “These slow learners…honestly. A woman could spend her entire life-”
“Exactly,” Mitch agreed, “what I had in mind.”
About the Author
Jennifer sold her first book in 1980, and since then she has sold more than eighty books in the contemporary romance genre. Her first professional writing award came from RWA-a Silver Medallion in l984-followed by more than twenty nominations and awards, including being honored in RWA’s Hall of Fame and presented with the RWA Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award. Jennifer has been on numerous bestseller lists, has written for Harlequin Books, Avon, Berkley and Dell, and has sold over the world in more than twenty languages. She has written under a number of pseudonyms, most recognizably Jennifer Greene, but also Jeanne Gr
ant and Jessica Massey.
She was born in Michigan, started writing in high school, and graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in English and psychology. The university honored her with their “Lantern Night Award,” a tradition developed to honor fifty outstanding women graduates each year. Exploring issues and concerns for women today is what first motivated her to write, and she has long been an enthusiastic and active supporter of women’s fiction, which she believes is an “unbeatable way to reach out and support other women.” Jennifer lives in the country around Benton Harbor, Michigan, with her husband, Lar.
***
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