by Jayne Castle
"Hello, Reva, come to help me decide?" Josh inquired smoothly, catching her eye in the mirror. "Tom thinks red's a good color to wear when negotiating with an employer. Sandy thinks something more conservative would be best. I was all set to wear this one when everyone started getting into the act." He held up a brilliantly splashed design which looked something like a Fourth of July fireworks explosion against a black background.
"You're going out this evening?" Reva said quietly, ignoring the tie after one glance. "With Miss Kemp?"
"She came by about an hour ago. Since you'd obviously given her the address, I figured you must want me to see her." Josh shrugged, reaching for the next tie in Tom's hand.
Tom smiled blandly at Reva. "Personally, with Elaine's black hair and dark eyes, I think the red one's the best, don't you? Very striking."
"Nonsense," Sandy broke in with great feeling. "It may be a date, but we must keep in mind that Miss Kemp is representing Josh's firm. This is also a business meeting and therefore calls for something conservative. Tom, you may have to loan Josh one of yours," she added thoughtfully, frowning.
"Perhaps," Josh said very quietly, the lion eyes still holding Reva's in the mirror, "All this is unnecessary. Perhaps Reva would rather I didn't go out this evening after all."
There was a tense and significant pause as Sandy and Tom turned to look at Reva with great expectancy. Reva felt the emotions which had been churning in her all day resolve into anger. Josh Corbett was trying to force her hand, she realized bleakly. Did he really think she was such a poor opponent that he could manipulate her this way? Or was he playing the game Elaine Kemp seemed to feel he was? In any event, Reva thought painfully, she would not be drawn into this ridiculous business. Josh could make his own decision about quitting his job! And if he did quit, she wouldn't have to face the guilt.
"I think," she said softly, evenly, "that one should examine all sides of a situation before coming to a decision. It's only good business to hear what Miss Kemp has to offer."
"Will I be receiving a counteroffer?" Josh mused with apparent academic interest only.
"Miss Kemp's offer might be difficult to counter," Reva returned coolly. "I understand she's been given carte blanche."
"Still," Josh went on, slowly knotting another tie, "there may be some things Elaine can't offer."
"Things you really want?" Reva heard herself say a little breathlessly, unaware of Sandy and Tom listening to the conversation intently.
"Yes..." Josh's words were cut off as the doorbell rang.
"That will be Elaine," he said calmly, finishing the knot on his tie and standing away from the mirror to reach for his jacket.
"She's picking you up?" Reva asked, astonished and appalled that time had just run out.
"Naturally," Josh told her, shrugging into his jacket, the lion eyes meshing with Reva's wide blue-green ones. "She's the one bidding for me, why shouldn't she be the one who does the running around?"
"The liberated male," Tom put in admiringly.
"Don't get any ideas," Sandy told him ferociously.
"What. . . what time do you expect her to bring you back?" Reva couldn't believe she'd asked such a revealing and ridiculous question. She'd have given anything to have the words unsaid, even though they were similar to the words Josh had said when she'd gone out with Bruce.
"Why don't you wait up for me and find out?" Josh murmured as Sandy hurried to the door and opened it.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Reva grumbled, stepping aside. "Two women 'bidding' for you!"
"I'm quite prepared to forego listening to the company's best offer tonight and hear yours instead," he told her bluntly, ignoring the vision of dark, exotic loveliness
which was stepping into the hall. "All you have to do is ask me to stay home tonight, Reva."
"You're trying to force me into making the decision!" she accused wretchedly, horribly conscious of Elaine waiting at the door.
"I'm trying to make you understand your own feelings about stray alley cats," he retorted, hard mouth quirking wryly. "Do you really want to send me back out into the cold?"
"Ready, Josh?" Elaine's soft, southern accent floated toward him and he glanced around at her.
"I guess so," he replied, slanting a last, challenging look at Reva, who stood mute, her hands clenched together so tightly the knuckles had gone white. "Good night, Reva." He turned and walked toward Elaine, who smiled with knowing victory as she took his arm. The sleek black dress she wore emphasized her mysterious air and sophisticated beauty. Small diamonds glimmered in her ears and the short black hair was a shining cap that framed beautifully made-up eyes to perfection. Reva wanted to go for the other woman's throat and the power of her own feelings stunned her so that she swayed slightly as the other two disappeared out the door without a backward glance.
"Well," Tom sighed ruefully, looking at the ties remaining in his hand, "he didn't wear the red one after all."
"I think he settled on that fireworks thing," Sandy nodded. "The one he picked out first. So much for the conservative voice in the crowd."
"He wore what he wanted to wear," Reva sighed, moving slowly toward the door. "He usually does things his own way. Good night, you two. I'll see you later."
Back in her own apartment Reva changed into her warmest, fluffiest housecoat, tied her hair into a careless knot, and fed a complaining Xavier. When the cat was at
last quietly eating in his usual efficient style, Reva glanced morosely into her refrigerator. There was nothing of interest, not even a slice of leftover pizza, she thought wryly. She poured herself a glass of wine, cut a slice of cheese, and wandered dispiritedly out into the living room to eat in front of the evening news on television.
"What do you suppose he's doing now?" she asked Xavier a few minutes later as the cat emerged from the kitchen, licking his whiskers in satisfaction. At the sound of her voice he ambled forward and leaped lightly into her lap, nosing at the cheese. "Get away from there," she ordered. "You already had your dinner." Out of self-defense she ate the cheese quickly.
"I wonder if they're going to that restaurant down by the river where Josh took me the other night," she remarked to the cat. "It's about the only place Josh knows in town." The thought was depressing in the extreme.
Reva tried to put the image of Josh pouring wine into Elaine's glass out of her mind and concentrate on the latest flare-up in the Middle East. The sort of flare-up Josh was likely to get caught in, came an unbidden thought. How much longer was he going to risk his neck for his employer?
But if he wanted out as badly as he seemed to imply, why didn't he go ahead and make the break? Why was he trying to force Reva to guarantee him a home before he actually quit his job? Perhaps she, Reva, wasn't all that important after all. Perhaps she was only being used to further his interest at the company. It was even possible, Reva told herself, that Josh did want out of the troubleshooting role but didn't want to leave the firm. Perhaps, she acknowledged, her tongue touching her lower lip thoughtfully, Josh's demands to the firm would have nothing to do with money, but with a change in assignment.
But Elaine Kemp had made it clear Josh's chief value to the company lay in his contacts abroad. Even if he got himself a less adventuring sort of assignment, he would still be traveling a great deal. No home life at all, Reva told herself, taking another sip of wine.
"A high-paid alley cat, Xavier, that's what he'll be." Reva got up and poured herself another glass of wine, glancing idly at her watch. "A high-paid alley cat doomed to wander the alleys of South America forever." The theatrical thought forced Reva to smile wanly at herself. Then she remembered Elaine Kemp and sighed, curling back onto the red sofa. The gleam of excitement in the other woman's eyes tonight had been positively revolting. Elaine loved the touch of danger and intrigue about Josh Corbett. As the dark-haired woman had said, remove it and he wouldn't be nearly so interesting to her. Reva's mouth tightened in disgust.
Josh could do better than Elai
ne Kemp. He needed someone who would love him for himself. The only thing that could be said about her own emotions toward Josh Corbett, Reva concluded, was that she didn't love him for his exotic past. Instead, she wanted to protect him from that. She might as well face it. She wanted to give him a home and love. Josh hadn't asked for love, she reminded herself sadly. But he had asked for a home and for her.
Around midnight Reva dozed gently over the mystery novel in her lap. She awoke with a small start when Xavier moved, stretching, yawning, and then hopping down off the red sofa to pad silently toward the front door. Reva stared vaguely after him and then heard the sound of hushed voices. Josh and Elaine had returned.
Stirring, Reva untucked her legs and padded after Xavier, not precisely certain what' she was going to do but feeling an overpowering urge to do something. The game
had gone on long enough. She had decided that much, if nothing else, this evening.
Not bothering to check her somewhat sleepy appearance in the mirror, Reva halted in front of the door, her hand on the knob. Listening intently she could barely make out the throaty words of Elaine Kemp.
"You'll think about our offer?" There was a meaningful pause. "My offer?"
"I'll think about it," Josh promised in a neutral tone that told Reva absolutely nothing about what he was thinking. "You'd better hurry. The cab is waiting downstairs."
Reva blinked in mild surprise. Josh wasn't even going to see his date home? Apparently he'd meant it when he said Elaine could do the running around. Of course the other woman would be safe enough going in a cab straight to her hotel, but still...! Josh was not always the perfect gentleman, Reva told herself. But, then, she already knew that, didn't she? She'd had more than one lesson on the subject.
"You're sure you won't change your mind and come back to the hotel with me?" Elaine murmured invitingly.
"Not tonight, Elaine," Josh returned quietly. "Perhaps another time."
"When you return to Houston?"
"If I return to Houston," he corrected mildly.
Reva waited no longer. She flung open the door and Xavier trotted out into the hall to greet Josh. "Does that mean," she began very carefully, knowing her whole future was being determined, "that you're still open to counteroffers?"
Head high, her regal air not diminished by the housecoat and slightly askew topknot, Reva met Josh's eyes as he and Elaine turned to look at her. She saw the
honey-colored flames leap to life in the golden-brown gaze as Josh took in the picture she made standing in the doorway.
"Yes," he told her softly, deliberately. "I'm still very much open to another offer. Are you prepared to make one?" He waited, his outwardly cool facade not quite concealing the wariness and watchfulness in his hard, lean frame. Reva saw it and was touched. He was like Xavier, trying to be so cool and manipulative and underneath wanting something so bad he couldn't quite hide it.
"Would you care to come inside and listen to my proposal?" Reva whispered. She pushed the door open a little wider and waited. Her eyes were fastened almost painfully on Josh's face and she ignored Elaine's impatient little movement.
"What's going on here, Josh?" Elaine demanded. "Why is this woman always hanging around? What's she got to do with you, anyway?"
"You've got it all wrong, Elaine," Josh said distantly, disengaging his arm from the dark-haired woman's hold. "It's not Reva who's hanging around me; I'm the one hanging around Reva. Like a stray cat. Good night, Elaine. Tell Crawford I've made up my mind. I am declining his very generous offers. My resignation is final." Without glancing again at the shocked and incredulous face of his acquaintance from Texas, Josh stepped forward, Xavier at his heels. Reva fell back into the hall as they walked into the apartment, closing the door firmly behind themselves.
Outside the door Reva heard Elaine's unstifled oath and then, a moment later, the sound of the elevator announcing its arrival.
"She's gone," Reva said gently, not taking her eyes off Josh, who stood about two feet away.
"It doesn't matter."
"You're very sure this is what you want?" she whispered.
"You're offering me marriage?" he verified cautiously, one brow lifting with unconscious intimidation.
Reva took a deep breath. "Yes." The tension vibrated between them.
"Then it's what I want." He took a step forward and paused, not touching her. "It's what I've wanted all along. Why do you think I sent the telegram to Crawford in the first place?"
"You knew he'd send Elaine?"
"It was a safe bet. Once you saw her I was fairly certain you'd be induced to save me from her clutches." There was the hint of a satisfied, if still cautious smile in the lion eyes.
"It wasn't just her, Josh, it was that whole job. She described your work to me and implied it's what you'd be doing the rest of your career. No home life at all . . ." Reva's voice trailed off a little uncertainly as she looked earnestly up into his face. She couldn't bring herself to say the rest. Not yet. The moment was too fragile, too delicate to be blurting out her love. A love he had never included in his list of demands.
"And you decided to take me away from all that?" he murmured in soft mockery. But the honey eyes were warm. "Make an honest man out of me?"
"If that's what you want," she nodded, her mouth suddenly very dry.
"What do you want, Reva?" he surprised her by asking almost tersely.
"I want you to leave that awful job down in Texas, move to Portland, and marry me," she told him starkly. And I want you to learn to love me, she added silently.
"Thank you. I accept." With a low groan, he moved, taking the last step that brought him against her and taking her into his arms.
Reva felt herself being gently and inexorably crushed into the fabric of his jacket and her arms wrapped around his waist as she surrendered to the embrace. For a long time he made no effort to kiss her, seeming content to hold her tightly against him, inhaling the scent of her hair. She could feel the shudder that went through him after a moment and knew it reflected the hunger and male need that simmered just under the surface. A hunger and need that weren't only sexual in nature. Reva sensed the feelings went much deeper than that and sighed, relaxing still further against him. She would build on those needs and teach this man to love.
"Reva?" His voice was low and husky in her ear.
"Yes, Josh?" Her head was still buried in his jacket.
"Reva, honey, I want you so badly."
"Yes, Josh."
She felt his lips on the nape of her neck and his large hands shifted to cup her hips, pulling her more closely, intimately against him. She was aware of the tremors coursing through both of them and she slid her hands up under his jacket, reveling in the warmth of his body.
"I'll take good care of you, sweetheart," he murmured deeply, arching her back against his arm so that his lips could find the hollow of her shoulder, which was slightly exposed by the collar of her housecoat.
"You've always taken good care of me," she half-smiled, feeling a rush of warmth and longing. "And I'll do my best to look after you, too."
He chuckled softly. "How can we lose?" he growled, sweeping her into his arms and heading for the bedroom. Once there he set her carefully on her feet, turned back the
covers, and began to remove the housecoat. The hungry lion eyes never left her face as he slowly undid the belt at her waist.
"I was hoping you'd wait up for me," he smiled, slipping his hands into the opening of the garment.
"Did you have any doubts?" she demanded ruefully, shaking her head as she surveyed the look of male pleasure in his face. She lifted her hands to his shoulders and smiled again.
"A few," he confessed. "I wasn't sure how quickly the catalyst of Elaine would work." Her housecoat slid to the floor at her feet and Josh stood drinking in the sight of her slenderness as he began to loosen the flashy tie. The fine, satiny material of Reva's nightgown outlined the gentle curve of her small breasts and the shape of her hip to perfection.
"But you were sure that ultimately it would work?" she teased, sliding the jacket gently off his shoulders.
He reached out and removed her glasses, smiling down into the blue-green eyes. "If it hadn't I would have tried something else. I don't give up that easily!"
With increasing urgency and mounting desire, Josh removed the rest of his clothes, tossing them into an uncaring heap on the floor. He stood for a moment before Reva, uncompromisingly male and unconsciously arrogant in his masculinity. But Reva knew of the gentleness in him and when he had stripped the nightgown from her she went into his arms with total assurance and trust.
"I don't think," he grated hoarsely as he picked her up and set her on the bed, "that I can ever get enough of you, little Reva." His face was a strange mixture of desire, restraint, and vulnerability as he followed her down onto the bed and pulled her on top of him.
Reva smiled down into his eyes, her hair coming loose
to sweep against his chest as he drove his fingers possessively through the knot of it. With her fingers she began kneading the broad shoulders, exploring the strength of him and enjoying the sensation of having him, for once, at her mercy. It was an illusion, she knew, one that would change as soon as he tired of the love game and drew her underneath him for the final claiming.
But in the meantime, Reva thought, covering his chest with kisses and using her fingers to tease and arouse, in the meantime she was free to make love to him as she wished.
She heard his groans and felt the trembling in his hands as he gently raked the skin of her back down to her thighs. She shuddered in turn and a soft moan escaped her throat. The sound seemed to please him, excite him, and a moment later Reva felt herself lifted easily, lightly from her sprawl atop his chest and settled beside him in the crook of his arm.
He bent to kiss her, his hands straying over her body, boldly caressing and striving to bring her to his own level of desire.