Right Of Possession

by Jayne Castle

  "Who? Bruce or Josh?" Sandy retorted.

  "Either of thern! But I suppose I was most surprised at Bruce. I never thought of him as a violent man. Did you see him when he got on the elevator? He looked positively arrogant! I couldn't believe it." Reva lifted a still-shaking hand to her hair, pushing it unconsciously back into place in its neat knot. "What a scene! I was so humiliated! And the blood on Josh's face!"

  "It's all right, Reva. I'm sure Josh will be fine."

  "I could strangle him and Bruce both!"

  "Well, you can take consolation from the fact that Bruce seems to have clobbered Josh pretty soundly," Sandy half-smiled, eyeing her friend curiously. "At least one of them was punished."

  "You know, that surprised me a bit," Reva admitted, sinking back into the couch to gaze blindly out the window. "Somehow I would have imagined Bruce as the one getting clobbered if anyone had suggested a fight between the two."

  "Josh probably didn't expect Bruce to lose control that far. I certainly didn't!" Sandy said feelingly. "Who would have thought a nice, polite man like that would be reduced to taking a swing at another man?"

  Reva got to her feet with determination. "I'm going to see how Tom's getting along with Josh. I hope there are no lost teeth," she muttered, thinking of the blood. What a ghastly mess, literally and figuratively! Reva went quickly out the door, aware of Sandy following more slowjy. The door to her own apartment still stood partially open and she slipped quietly inside, hearing noises from the direction of the bathroom. She really would give Josh Corbett a piece of her mind when this was all over, she told herself, but first she would make certain he was all right. The thought of him being hurt sickened her in a nearly physical way that she couldn't fully understand.

  She moved silently down the hall on the plush carpeting and stopped just before rounding the bathroom door. Tom was speaking calmly with a distinctly dry note in his voice.

  "I think you're going to live, pal. No serious damage at any rate."

  "It wouldn't matter if there were. Reva's not going to marry me for my good looks!" Josh growled. "Was it worth it?"

  "Sure," Reva heard Josh reply easily over the sound of running water. "Tanner got to keep his pride and I got to keep Reva. A fair exchange." Reva could almost see the familiar lifting of one shoulder in a dismissing shrug and her fingers closed into small fists at her side.

  "I couldn't believe it when I saw you deliberately step into that wide swing and then fake that grand collapse to the floor. Very effective," Tom said with a touch of genuine admiration.

  "What do you mean, deliberately?" Josh retorted, sounding offended. "The guy's a lot younger than me and I . . ."

  "And you're a hell of a lot faster and meaner," Tom interrupted bluntly. "Don't try and tell me you didn't plan the whole thing exactly as it happened."

  Josh sighed. "The hard part was getting him to take a swing at all. For a while there I thought he'd simply leave in a huff and I'd wind up looking the villain of the

  piece----" He broke off as he glanced into the mirror, his

  hand pausing in the act of dabbing the cut on his lip. "Hello, Reva, honey. Come to comfort the wounded?" The lion eyes looked abruptly wary.

  Reva, who had moved to stand in the doorway, met his gaze in the mirror and felt like reaching for the nearest available weapon.

  "Not only did you start the fight," she began on a low snarl, wishing he weren't so much bigger than herself— she would dearly love to curl her fingers around his throat and squeeze—"but you set poor Bruce up, didn't you? That was the sneakiest, most underhanded, conniving thing I have ever witnessed!"

  "Come on, now, sweetheart," he murmured cajolingly, his eyes still cautious, "for a while there you actually felt

  sorry for me, didn't you? I figured a woman like you would head for the side of the underdog."

  "The underdog!" she snapped, infuriated at once again having been well and truly manipulated. "Why you arrogant, deceitful . . ."

  "Please, dear, not in front of the neighbors," he said wryly, reaching with great casualness for her hairbrush on the counter as she took a step forward.

  "Oh, don't mind us," Tom instructed, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth as he surveyed the two.

  "Oh, but we must," Josh objected, still watching Reva's tense face in the mirror and still holding the brush. "Reva hates scenes. Sweetheart," he went on evenly, "why don't you go wait out in the living room with Sandy? I promise I'll let you yell at me all you like after dinner. Right at the moment my temper is a shade uncertain, however, and I'm not quite in the mood for a lecture."

  Reva stared at him, finding herself horrifyingly torn between two opposite reactions. The first was anger but the second, disconcertingly enough, was a simple desire to surrender to the inevitable. Josh Corbett certainly had to rank as the most outrageous male she had ever encountered in her life. How could you fight someone like this? Her eyes went speculatively to the hairbrush he was holding and back to meet his gaze. "Until after dinner, then," she drawled coolly, turning on her heel and walking out.

  "I thought she'd see it my way," she heard Josh tell Tom. Reva ground her teeth in response. After dinner she was going to tear a wide strip off that man if it was the last thing she ever did, she vowed silently.

  "Do I take it you'll be joining us for dinner?" Sandy asked, clearly trying to keep a straight face as she watched her friend exit the bathroom in favor of the living room.

  "I wouldn't miss it for the world," Reva told her with

  great depth of feeling. "I've been granted a license for mayhem immediately following, you see."

  The meal went off, amazingly enough, with great perfection. Josh's fancy "stew" was a masterpiece and Reva's normal appetite returned in a rush when he carried it out to the table. He played the host with great enthusiasm, pouring wine from Reva's small store with a lavish hand. But perhaps the most redeeming feature of the evening was Tom's lighthearted and genuinely cheerful mood. The happy look in Sandy's eyes every time she glanced at her husband was worth a great deal, Reva thought. And there was no doubt that Josh was the cause of it. This evening's adventure seemed to have deepened an already strong friendship. She sighed to herself, wondering what Bruce had done after leaving the building. She realized with a pang that she wasn't brokenhearted at the obvious rift in her relationship with the man. In fact, it was hard to think of him at all. It was much easier to think of Josh and all the things she was going to say to him when dinner was finished.

  It was much later, as Sandy was preparing to leave with Tom, that she took Reva aside and smiled gratefully at her. "Thank you, Reva."

  "For what?" Reva asked in surprise.

  "For letting the evening go along so nicely. You had every right to make it a miserable occasion for everyone!" she assured her neighbor understandingly.

  "My time," Reva promised smoothly, "is coming."

  "Don't be too hard on him, Reva, he meant well."

  "He meant," Reva corrected with great emphasis, "to get his own way. As usual."

  "He is a bit different from the ordinary, run-of-the-mill male, isn't he?" Sandy grinned. "Tom likes him a lot and he's usually an excellent judge of character. Well, we, uh,

  won't wait up for him," she concluded meaningfully. "See you later, Reva."

  The door closed behind her and her husband as they headed back to their own apartment.

  Reva waited a long, considering moment after seeing her friends out before joining Josh in the kitchen. He was busily stacking dishes into the dishwasher and running a sinkful of sudsy water. He glanced up with an expression of resigned patience as she came to stand beside him, her hands on her hips.

  "Should I be sitting down for this?" he asked her politely, straightening. The lion eyes gleamed as he absorbed her attitude of determination.

  "Suit yourself," she bit out with mocking politeness.

  "Thank you. I'll take the couch." Without a word he led the way back into the living room and sprawled on
the red sofa, watching her with a narrowed look. Xavier, sensing something of passing interest, trotted over and took up a position on the back of the expensive piece of furniture where he would have a good view.

  "Do I get to state my side of the case first?" Josh inquired blandly.

  "I've already heard your side of the case," Reva announced equally blandly, beginning to pace back and forth in front of the huge expanse of windows. "I saw the whole thing, remember? You deliberately goaded the man I had intended to marry, saying unkind things about me in the process. . . ."

  "I only let him know you'd slept with me," he pointed out with a quirking smile.

  "Perhaps the unkindest thing of all," Reva said softly, stopping to gaze out at the night-darkened city. "A gentleman, Josh, would not have done such a thing." Her voice was suddenly very bleak as she thought about her words.

  "Gentlemen, I will agree, do not discuss casual affairs with other men," he told her smoothly. "But it is a slightly different matter when marriage is involved. At that point it becomes very important to let other men know the territorial limitations, and there is no surer way than letting them know the full extent of the relationship."

  "You are an arrogant, conceited, and thoroughly unprincipled man! You don't deserve the home you claim to want!"

  "I know," he said softly. "But we seldom get what we deserve in this world, only what we want badly enough."

  "You must want it very badly," she shot back, whirling to glare at him, "to humiliate and disgrace me in front of someone I liked a great deal. I hope you enjoyed yourself, Josh. Did you derive a special satisfaction from knowing how you made me look?"

  "I only let him know he couldn't have you, sweetheart," Josh said placatingly. "Was that so bad? After all, it's the truth."

  "It is not the truth! You have no rights over me, Josh Corbett, in spite of what you may think. The man I marry will be a gentleman and if there was any doubt about your gaining that status there isn't any longer. Never have I seen a more disgusting display of outrageous, ungentle-manly behavior in my life!"

  "Hey, wait a minute," he protested. "It was Tanner who took a swing at me, not vice versa!"

  "Egged on by you!"

  "I only put him in possession of the facts! Furthermore, you can't say you weren't warned! What happened this evening was all your own fault!"

  "My fault!" Reva heard her voice rising on a small shriek.

  "I told you last night I couldn't let you go out with him.

  Did you really think I didn't mean it or were you just testing me to see if I could enforce my instructions?"

  Reva stared at him, shocked. My God! she thought blankly. Had she done such a thing, even unconsciously? Her inner self-doubts were mirrored in her eyes before she could control her reaction to the accusation, and Josh saw it. In an instant he was on his feet, moving toward her with that catlike, pacing stride.

  "That's it, wasn't it?" he growled softly, reaching out to snag her by the shoulders and haul her close. "You wanted to see how much you could get away with tonight, didn't you?"

  "No!" she defended herself furiously, struggling and failing to free her body from his grasp. All of a sudden it was she who was on the defensive and she could have kicked herself for allowing it to happen. A basic managerial mistake, she thought angrily. "I deliberately arranged to meet him in the lobby so that you wouldn't run into him, even accidentally!"

  "You were just trying to make things difficult for me," he disagreed. "And in any event, I foresaw that little maneuver. Why do you think Tanner came knocking on your door?"

  "What did you do, damn it?" she blazed.

  "I turned off your intercom box. He probably did try to buzz you and came on up when he couldn't get through!"

  Reva gave into the overriding impulse to slap him, lifting her hand to bring it with all her might across his cheek. Never had she been angrier with herself and with a man.

  But the blow never landed. Josh was fast, she realized dimly as he caught her wrist. Tom had been right. The lion's gaze darkened with warning.

  "Sorry about that, Reva," he mocked grimly, "but one roundhouse punch is all I'm in the mood to take tonight!"

  In the next instant he had twisted her wrist behind her back, not causing her any pain, but totally immobilizing it. Then, before she quite realized what was happening, he swept her into his arms, going down on one knee. In mother second she was flat on her back against the thick, luxurious carpet and he was lowering his heavy strength against her, trapping her there.

  "I think," he said very distinctly, "that it's time you consoled the poor loser of tonight's heroic battle!"

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  For the first time since she had met Josh Corbett, Reva knew a sense of fear. She had felt many things around this man, she acknowledged as she gazed up at him with widened eyes—gratitude, compassion, annoyance, outrage, humor, and dismay—but she had never known fear before now.

  "Josh! No!" she gasped as she absorbed the full impact of his weight along the length of her body. "Not like this! You've never forced me like this!"

  "I warned you last night there were limits, Reva," he grated, his fingers going ruthlessly to the buttons of her blouse. She had removed her blazer earlier when it became obvious she wasn't going out for the evening.

  Reva struggled, still angry from the argument which had gone before and now battling the surge of fear. "Let me go," she hissed, slapping ineffectually at his hands as they went rapidly from one button to the next. "I won't let you do this to me! Why are you behaving like this? You won tonight, didn't you? You've ruined my relationship with Bruce!" He was pushing the blouse off her shoulders, pulling on the sleeves to remove it completely. She could see only a masculine vengeance and determination in the honey-lion eyes and her heart skipped a beat at what it portended.

  "A man can get awfully damn tired of waiting for his woman to come to her senses!" he snapped, slinging the blouse off to the side and reaching for the zipper of her skirt. "How much longer did you think I'd be content to let you play your little games? Content with taking your little handouts whenever it pleased you to throw them in my direction? I told you that first night there would be hell to pay if you dragged another man between us but you bad to go and push too hard, too often!" He had her skirt off completely and was attacking her beige undergarments without any regard for the fine lacy fabric.

  Reva wedged her hands against his chest, pushing at him with all her power, but he was too heavy; much too heavy. Already her breath was coming more quickly from the exertion of fighting him. Soon she would be exhausted.

  "Please, Josh," she begged. "Stop it! Do you want me to hate you?"

  He sucked in his breath, staring down at her as he removed the last of her garments. "You won't hate me," he told her in a soft, grim voice. "You can't hate me. Deep down you want me as much as I want you. Do you think I've learned nothing from the times you spent in my arms?"

  His hands were sliding over her body, searching out the curve of her shoulder, the swell of her small breast, the contour of her waist and the promise of her thigh. His fingers were possessive, probing things that had learned her well in the past and knew many of the secret places which responded to his touch. He began to exert his mastery of her with calculated, marauding power.

  Reva twisted beneath him, trying desperately to find some room for movement. Her head moved restlessly from side to side on the carpet, destroying the design of her hair and tousling it into a sun-streaked mass of soft-

  ness. She felt her glasses almost torn from her face and then her head was caught and held between Josh's palms as he lowered his mouth to hers.

  "I'm through pleading for your warmth, Reva," he husked against her lips. "Tonight I'm going to take what's mine. Did you think I'd be satisfied waiting patiently for you to condescend to visit my bed again?" His lips ground against her mouth so fiercely she could feel his teeth collide with her own.

  When he raised his head again, her hps were bruise
d and the inside of her mouth felt ravaged. Still lying squarely on top of her crushed body, Josh raised the upper part of his torso and began yanking his shirt out of the waistband of his slacks. His eyes never left hers as he efficiently scrambled out of the shirt, hurling it from him impatiently. When he came back down on her, it was with a low groan of need. Reva felt the buckle of his belt digging into the skin of her stomach at the same instant her breasts were unmercifully scraped by the coarse hair of his chest.

  She cried out softly when he drove his knee between hers, creating a space for himself between her legs that left her feeling helpless and ravished.

  "Damn you, Josh! Leave me alone! You have no right to treat me like this! I've done nothing to you!"

  "Nothing except force me to beg outside your door when I should be inside."

  "What makes you think you can take anything you want, even me?" she managed, panting heavily with the effort she was making. With her heel she tried to kick at his leg but he ignored the small pain she dealt him,

  "What made you think you had any right to encourage another man when you belonged to me?" he countered furiously. "I've been too patient with you; too gentle!"

  Reva had a brief glimpse of the fire glittering in his eyes

  before he bent his head to toy with small savagery at her breasts. She felt his lips and then his teeth tugging at first one nipple and then the other while his hands held hers out to the side. There was damp heat on her stomach when he interrupted the passionate capture of her breasts to kiss her lower down.

  Then he was moving, shifting himself to the side and pulling her until she lay facing him. His leg still lay across hers, still trapping her, but his hands began to work down the length of her back, digging into her small, feminine muscles from the base of her neck to the curve of her hip. It was like some sort of rough, erotic massage and Reva felt herself tremble in response.

  No, she thought in shock, she must not let herself surrender to him under these conditions. She realized with dim, blind instinct that it wasn't only herself who would suffer from the consequences but also Josh. She didn't know how she knew and she didn't bother to question why she cared. She was only aware that she had to stop him before he had gone too far and reaped a harvest of regret.