Window on Today

by Joan Hohl

  His speculation was so close to the mark it instilled despair in Karla, despair and doubt. Had she reacted to his apparent ruthlessness or to the account of his numerous affairs? Was she suffering indignation over his arrogant cruelty to his father—and apparently to everyone else who got in his way—or was she smarting at the possibility of being just another female at the end of a long line of willing women?

  A sharp, stabbing pain in her chest gave Karla all the answer she required. She felt her skin grow cold, and saw the light of interest gleaming in Jared’s dark eyes. Though she hoped he couldn’t read her unpalatable thoughts, she was very much afraid that he could.

  Detesting the idea of being transparent to him, she clutched frantically at the remnants of her pose of detachment. “Envy?” She raised her eyebrows in a mocking arch. “Why should I feel envious?”

  Jared didn’t pull his verbal punches, and he didn’t hesitate to hit below the belt. “Because they’ve already enjoyed the pleasure your body lusts after?”

  Karla actually felt all the color drain from her face. The remnants of her doubts drained away with it. Oh, he was ruthless in the pursuit of his own way—ruthless and enraging. Her rage was her undoing.

  “What an inflated ego you possess,” she shot back, speaking without consideration. “I certainly do not lust after you!”

  “You could’ve fooled me,” Jared observed very dryly. “In fact you did, just this morning.”

  The color rushed back into Karla’s face. “I... I wasn’t ... I didn’t—I never—” Her voice, and the blatantly false denial, deserted her.

  Jared had the unmitigated gall to grin at her—not just any everyday run-of-the-mill grin, either, but a grin so loaded with sheer male satisfaction it sent Karla’s anger to the very edge of the exploding point.

  She erupted like a seething volcano. “You ... you egotistical paint splasher!” She swept the length of his lean body with a glittering glare of dismissal, so incensed she again rushed into speech before thinking. “You’re the last person I’d ever be afraid of being alone with—anywhere!”

  Jared’s smile was a dead giveaway; she had played directly into his hands. “Bravo,” he murmured in congratulation. “I’ll make our travel arrangements tomorrow and pick you up at seven the next morning. Okay?”

  ‘*Now wait a minute!” Karla exclaimed, suddenly racked by conflicting sensations of dread and anticipation. “I haven’t agreed to go with you!”

  “Dress comfortably,” Jared continued, as if she hadn’t uttered a sound of protest. “And please be ready on time. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover in two short weeks, and I’d like to get started as early as possible.”

  Damned if she hadn’t allowed him to set her up again!

  With the stark realization that she had once again walked blindly into Jared’s trap, Karla was torn between fury and a pervasive flash of amusement. She ached to administer a blistering put-down, and would have, if she hadn’t had to fight the laughter twisting her compressed lips.

  No doubt about it: Jared Cradowg was indeed ruthless. He was also extremely clever ... and as sexy as the very devil he appeared to emulate.

  He also posed a definite challenge, which Karla, wisely or stupidly, was convinced she had to accept. Metaphorically, his gauntlet lay at her feet; figuratively, she picked it up with a fatalistic shrug.

  “May I have my wine back now, please?” Her tone was reasonable; her voice was revealing.

  Retrieving the fragile glass from the table he’d set it upon, Jared offered it to her with a slow smile and a soft question. “You’ll be ready at seven?”

  Karla hesitated another moment, covering her uncertainty behind the glass she raised to her lips. His intent gaze followed her movement, dark eyes igniting with desire as her mouth touched the glass. A responsive shiver ran through her body and alerted her to the very real need to set some ground rules.

  “Yes, I’ll be ready,” she answered slowly, but quickly added, “if you’ll agree to a few conditions.”

  Smiling his approval of her adroit maneuver, Jared inclined his head in a gesture of acceptance. “Name your conditions,” he invited expansively.

  Fully aware that he could agree to everything and follow through on nothing, Karla eyed him warily and began listing her terms. “First of all, you will take me home tonight as soon as we’ve reached an agreement.”

  Jared pulled an injured look. “You don’t trust me?”

  “I do not,” she retorted. “Besides, I’ve got a lot to do tomorrow, so I’d better have an early night.”

  “AH right,” Jared agreed. “What else?”

  Karla’s features tightened with determination. “When you make sleeping arrangements, you will reserve separate rooms ... on separate floors, where possible.”

  “You have a suspicious mind.”

  “Right.” Karla met his reproachful gaze head-on.

  Jared exhaled a soulful sigh. “Separate rooms. Is there anything else?” He raised his dark eyebrows. “Like separate tables for meals, for example?”

  Karla contrived an innocent expression. “Could you?”

  “No.”

  “Pity.” Her sigh echoed his. “But then, I suppose that not even you would have the audacity to try seduction in a public restaurant.”

  “No?” The sensuous smile that curved his mouth caused a mini-explosion deep inside Karla. “I wouldn’t make book on that if I were you, sweetheart.”

  It was utterly preposterous! Karla knew Jared was merely teasing her, and yet she experienced an anticipatory thrill that was frightening by its very intensity.

  Advising herself to get a grip on the situation, Karla calmly swallowed the last drops of wine in her glass. She returned his volley as she turned away. “Thanks for the tip; I’ll keep it in mind,” she said with exaggerated gratitude. “And now I’d like to go home.”

  “But it’s only a little after eight!” Jared exclaimed.

  Karla paused, setting her glass aside before glancing at him over her shoulder. “You did agree to take me home, Jared.” Her smile mocked him. “Didn’t you?”

  “Yes, but, ah, don’t you have any more stipulations or conditions?”

  She slowly shook her head. “Not at the moment.” She was amused by his obvious attempt to stall. “But never fear, if I think of any, you’ll definitely be the first to know.”

  Jared’s gaze shifted from her to the cluttered table in the dining area to one side of the open living room. “What about the cleaning up?”

  A smug smile played over Karla’s soft mouth. “I’ll leave that chore to you,” she said, resuming her stroll toward the door. “It’ll give you something to occupy your hands with ... later this evening.”

  “I can think of a helluva lot of more pleasurable chores to occupy my hands with,” Jared grumbled, reluctantly following her from the house.

  “I’m sure you can, and have,” Karla replied, tartly. “With any number of willing companions.”

  “Watch it, honey,” he murmured close to her ear as he handed her into the car. “Your envy’s showing again.”

  Recognition of the unvarnished truth fired Karla’s anger. Fuming, she held her tongue until he slid behind the wheel, then retaliated with two acid-sweet words. “You wish.”

  The brute had the nerve to laugh at her. “I know.” Sobering, he turned to level a hard stare at her. “I’ll gladly admit that my ego is eating up your display of resentment like a large serving of dessert, but I’ll be damned if I can figure out exactly why you’re so touchy about your predecessors.”

  “Predecessors!” Karla exclaimed, wincing at his calculated use of the plural. By his admission, Jared had confirmed Anne’s assessment of his reputation with women. With her mind’s eye, she envisioned him, stroking, caressing, loving another woman ... many other women. The vision was unendurable. In an attempt to negate the sick feeling of jealousy stealing through her, she lashed out blindly. “How many women do you need?”

  Jared�
�s fingers curled around the steering wheel. “What the hell kind of question is that to ask a man?”

  “An honest one!” Karla retorted. Since this appeared to be the night she was doomed to open mouth, insert foot, she once again blurted out her feelings without thinking. “Considering your stated intention of having an affair with me, I’m surprised my curiosity surprises you!”

  “Well, it does!” Jared snapped. “I am not in the habit of discussing my love life.” There was a definite warning woven through his controlled tone of voice. “Dammit, Karla, I’m thirty-five years old! Of course there have been other women.” He nudged one eyebrow into a peak. “Were you hoping for a virgin?”

  “No, I wasn’t hoping for a virgin,” Karla snapped back at him. “I wasn’t hoping, or even looking, for anything!”

  “Then what is this all about?”

  His question hit a nerve, especially since Karla was beginning to ask herself the same thing. “Nothing,” she muttered, inadequately. “Nothing. Your ... ah, affairs are none of my business.”

  ‘That’s right, they aren’t.” Though Jared’s response was blunt, his low-pitched voice cushioned the impact of it. “And I realize the right to privacy works both ways.” His tone took on a teasing note. “Or hadn’t you noticed that I haven’t questioned you about your previous lovers?”

  “Previous lovers?” Karla nearly choked on the sheer ludicrousness of the expression. But, of course, Jared had no way of knowing how very funny it was. And she wasn’t about to set him straight, either. “You haven’t even bothered to inquire about the possibility of a current lover,” she retorted in a cutting tone.

  To her amazement, Jared jolted back against the seat as if he’d been struck. “Is there one?” he demanded, in what sounded suspiciously like a feral growl.

  “No!” Karla replied at once, unsettled by his show of fierceness. “I certainly wouldn’t be here with you now if there were.”

  “I’m glad to hear it.” His movement languid, he raised his hand to glide his knuckles along her jaw, and smiled when he felt her involuntary quiver of response. “I wouldn’t enjoy poaching on another guy’s territory.” His voice had lowered to a raw silkiness that sent a chill skittering down her spine. “For you, I wouldn’t hesitate... but I wouldn’t enjoy it.”

  “Another guy’s territory!” Karla exclaimed, her anger engine revving up. “You ... you—”

  With a deft turn of the hand brushing her jaw, Jared clasped her chin and tilted her face up to his descending mouth.

  As a means of silencing her, his kiss was quite effective.

  As a means of arousing her, his tongue was even more so.

  Somewhere, in some forgotten corner of her consciousness, Karla knew she should be protesting his means. Yet, somehow, in some mysterious way, she found herself clinging to him, taking from him as much as he was demanding she give.

  What she was doing, and allowing Jared to do, was dangerous; she knew it. Karla had believed herself immune to the dangerous lure of the senses. Yet, in an inexplicable way, all of this was somehow comforting.

  Could a situation be dangerous and comforting at the same time?

  The concept was elusive, dancing just out of reach on the edge of Karla’s dwindling comprehension. For an instant, her consciousness engaged in a tug-of-war with her hungry senses; the opponents were unequally matched; the hungry thrill of sensation won, hands down.

  The time, place, and circumstances of their sight-seeing trip faded into the nebulous area known as “I’ll worry about it later.” Reality was encapsulated in the here, the now, and the man ... especially the man.

  And the man was inspiring sensations and feelings within Karla that she had never before experienced. She felt a bone-deep warmth that far exceeded the surface heat generated by the press of Jared’s body straining against hers. She felt a security of protection that surpassed the haven of his crushing embrace. She felt a wellspring of emotions that transcended the erotic excitement of his devouring mouth.

  Her tremulous senses recognized and identified the feelings that swirled unformed and undefined in her mind. Caught fast in Jared’s arms, inside the cramped space of his car, Karla felt as much at ease and at home as she had inside his comfortable and spacious house.

  On one level, Karla was savoring the richness and uniqueness of the experience when the bold thrust of Jared’s tongue slashed the fabric of all consideration, laying bare the inner core of sensuous response.

  Moaning soft, inarticulate sounds of encouragement, she speared her fingers into the thickness of his hair, trembling in reaction to sensations created throughout her body by the glide of the silky strands against her skin. Arching her back, she pressed her body forward as if to pierce his chest with the aching tips of her breasts.

  Jared groaned in answer to her soft moans; a dialogue commenced in a language understood only by lovers. His hands sought the arch of her spine, the curve of her waist, the flare of her hip; her fingers skipped a path from the back of his head to the sensitive nape of his neck.

  It was heady stuff and arousing play ... but not nearly, nearly enough. Every living particle and instinct screamed a silent demand for union.

  With a muttered curse, Jared tore his mouth from hers and flung his body back against the dubious safety of the door. Stunned and bereft by his abrupt withdrawal, Karla stared at him in confusion and gulped in senses-cooling breaths.

  Jared gripped the steering wheel and stared at his knuckles, which were turning white from tension. The taut, silent instant grew into a nerve-racking moment. Within that brief span of time Karla’s reason prevailed over her senses, allowing her conscience to waken and react to her surroundings ... and herself. Heat not at all sensuous in nature rushed to her head, flaming her cheeks, scorching her mind. Appalled at her wanton response to him, Karla stammered into nervous speech. “Jared, I... I don’t know what to say. I...” Her voice failed when he swung around to look at her with a strained expression.

  “I have never, ever wanted a woman, any woman, as desperately as I want you right now.” His voice was hard and raw with frustration. “Dammit, Karla, what convoluted male-female game are you playing here?”

  Karla was struck by his accusing tone as well as by the content of his angry question. “I’m not playing male-female games!” she exclaimed.

  “No?” Jared laughed; the sound produced the same effect in Karla as a nail file being scraped along a rough surface. “Then what the hell was that don’t-touch-me act you put on a while ago in the house?” His laughter grew stronger and more grating. “Arrange for separate bedrooms,” he parroted her earlier instructions. “On separate floors, where possible.”

  Karla swallowed with difficulty. “The conditions remain the same, Jared.”

  He went still, frighteningly still. “If you think I’m going to let you tie me in sexual knots for two weeks the way you did just now, you are out of your beautiful skull!” he snapped. “At each stopover I will reserve one room, which we will share.”

  Resentment warred with anticipation inside Karla; resentment won. She had allowed one man to manipulate her; she could not, would not, let history repeat itself. Lifting her head, she stared at him with hard-won calm. “In that case,” she said coldly, “I will not accompany you.” Her muscles clenched defensively as his eyes narrowed, but she forced herself to continue, “Now will you please take me home?”

  “Dammit, Karla—” he began in exasperation.

  “Jared, please,” her soft plea cut across his harsh voice. Turning away from the sight of his glittering eyes and anger-tight mouth, she stared through the side window at the star-spattered night sky. She winced at his muttered curse, then shivered with relief at the reassuring sound of the engine firing to life.

  They made the drive to her apartment in absolute silence. Jared drove too fast along the winding, sheer-sided road; Karla clenched her teeth and kept her protests to herself. She was trembling with reaction to the entire evening by the time he brou
ght the vehicle to a screeching stop in front of her building. Anxious to escape, she released her seat belt and groped for the door handle. Jared’s rough-edged voice halted her flight; he already had one foot on the pavement. “You win, Karla.”

  Her taut body already half out of the car, Karla glanced around at him. “Win?” she repeated. “Win what?”

  Jared’s mouth tilted into a cynical smile. “You win this game, sweetheart,” he said in a tired-sounding drawl. “I’ll abide by your conditions.”

  * * *

  Chapter 7

  Karla did not enjoy a restful night. She was bombarded by too many questions, too many impressions, and far too many doubts to relax, let alone sleep.

  Tired and overwrought after the events of the evening, she had given short shrift to her nightly ritual and then crawled into her cold bed, hoping against hope to slip through the escape hatch to unconsciousness. It was not to be. After enduring the mental gymnastics for a while, she tossed back the rumpled covers and left the bed. Her glance settled on her bedside clock as she shrugged into her robe. A resigned groan whispered through her dry lips as the digits pulsed out the numbers 11:59.

  “Well, Cinderella,” she muttered, wandering listlessly from the bedroom to the small kitchen. “One more minute and your brain turns into a pumpkin.”

  A self-mocking smile curving her lips, she flicked on the light and padded to the sink.

  The content of her rambling words arrested in midair the hand she’d raised to withdraw a glass from the cabinet above the counter.

  “Three days.”

  Karla frowned, no longer even aware that she was talking aloud to herself.

  “Three days?”

  Forgetting the glass of milk she’d thought to use to wash down two aspirin in the hope of reducing the throbbing ache at the back of her head, Karla sank into a chair, narrowed her eyes, and stared into space.

  Only three short days had transpired since Karla had first noticed Jared the night of the gallery opening. She expelled a burst of astonished, humorless laughter. It was absolutely unreal! she marveled. How was it possible for a man, any man, to so thoroughly disrupt her entire life in just seventy-two hours? she asked herself in utter bafflement.