CHAPTER EIGHT
BESS DIDN’T GO with Gussie to the airport. They said a quiet goodbye in the apartment, and Bess said it with mixed feelings. It was scary to be away from her mother for the first time, and at the same time it was like opening a new chapter in her life.
“Don’t forget to write,” Gussie said. “I’ll send you the address. And I’m sorry to leave you with those things to return to the store,” she added with a careless smile, “but I have to go.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Bess said, thinking that it would probably be the last time and she shouldn’t complain.
Gussie kissed her cheek. “Don’t think too badly of me, Bess,” she said seriously. “I do care about you.”
“I care about you, too,” Bess replied. “Have a good time.”
“With Carie Hamilton I’m bound to.” She sighed. “She’s a widow now, and we used to double-date years ago. She and her daughter are staying in one of the old plantation houses there, right on the beach. I imagine we’ll have plenty of time to socialize.”
“Send me a postcard,” Bess said.
“Certainly.” Her mother picked up her suitcase, grimacing. “I can’t really remember the last time I had to carry my own things. But I suppose I’ll get used to it, since I have to. Goodbye, darling. Good luck with the job.”
“I’ll be fine. So will you,” Bess said.
Gussie paused, frowning worriedly. “Will you be all right on your own?” she asked with maternal feelings she hadn’t known she possessed. “It’s a big city and you don’t really know anyone here.”
Bess had thought the same thing herself, but she couldn’t backslide now. “I’ll be fine,” she repeated. She smiled, fighting back tears. “Don’t worry about me. But do let me know that you arrived safely, will you?”
“Yes, I’ll do that. Be careful.” Gussie opened the door and the cabdriver was standing there. She sighed and put down the case. “Oh, how lovely. Can you carry that for me, please? It’s so nice to have a big, strong man to lug these heavy cases about. Goodbye, darling,” she called to Bess, and followed the burly cabdriver down the hall.
Bess watched her walk to the elevator, waved and closed the door. She wiped away her tears and leaned back against the door. Well, she’d done it now. She was completely on her own. She had to make it now; she’d burned her bridges. And while it would be a little unnerving at first, Gussie was out of her life, temporarily at least, and she had a chance to be her own boss, to make her own decisions without having to argue for them or justify them.
The apartment was so small, hardly more than the size of a bedroom in the house she’d grown up in, and it was in a section of town that was far from the best San Antonio had to offer. The furniture was shabby and the curtains were dingy, but it was her home now, and she loved every crack and peeling bit of paint in it.
She made herself a cup of coffee and two pieces of cheese toast and sat down to eat before she went to work. She put on a creamy-beige knit suit, brushed out her hair so that it curled toward her face, dashed on some makeup and started out the door. Then she remembered the fox jacket and the other things her mother had bought that had to be returned.
With a resigned sigh, she picked up the fox jacket and what was returnable of the things Gussie hadn’t ripped, along with the receipt, and started out the door.
She carried them to work, because the department store wasn’t open until ten. She could take them back on her lunch hour, she decided.
The presentation was being made that morning. She gave all her finalized drawings to a nervous Julie, wished her luck, and settled down to work on the next ad campaign, this time for a new jeweler in town.
At lunch she went out alone to the department store, the fur jacket draped over one arm and the other things in their distinctive bag in her hand.
San Antonio was a big city. There were thousands and thousands of people who lived here. But as fate would have it, there was a visitor in town that particular day, a familiar visitor who hailed from a ranch near Coleman Springs. And Bess turned a corner, with her mother’s purchases in her hand, and almost collided with Cade Hollister.
He stopped dead. He was wearing a blue pin-striped suit with his best Stetson and boots, and he looked every inch an up-and-coming businessman.
His dark eyes gazed at what she was carrying. “What kind of job did you get?” he asked with a lifted eyebrow, and the old suspicion was in his eyes again. “Or did your new friend buy this for you?”
Bess sighed. Just like old times, she thought, he was ready to think the worst the minute he saw her.
“Well, actually—”
“Oh, there you are!” A tall, elegant brunette came around the corner before she could open her mouth and took Cade’s arm with a familiarity that made Bess weak in the knees. No wonder he hadn’t written. No wonder her last letter had gone unanswered. He’d already found another woman, and after the ring he’d given her and the things he’d said... She knew her face was white.
The older woman was wearing a very expensive oyster-gray wool suit with silk accessories, and she was a knockout.
“I’m sorry, I’d forgotten my purse, Cade,” she said. Her eyes went to Bess and she smiled. “Hello. I’m Kitty.”
“Hello,” Bess replied numbly, because this was the last thing she’d expected, that Cade would have a woman with him.
Cade didn’t have time to explain. After seeing the hunted-doe look on Bess’s face, he wanted to. Damn the luck, he thought angrily, she’d just have to think the worst. But as his eyes went again to that fox thing on her arm, he wondered why he should have to justify himself to her. It looked as if her mother had managed to find her a nice rich man, and here he was with bills piling up and having to sell off one of his best seed bulls to this brunette’s husband just to stay alive.
Once more all the old, irritating differences between his lifestyle and Bess’s came back to sit on his shoulder. He’d wondered ever since the last time he saw her how it was going to be when she got a taste of city life and her mother’s close influence. Now he knew. Whatever hopes he’d been harboring were just so much smoke.
“We have to hurry. See you,” Cade said curtly, as if he didn’t mean it. His eyes cut at Bess’s with icy contempt. He took the brunette’s arm, smiling down at her in a way he’d never yet smiled at Bess, and led her down the street and through the door of a very expensive French restaurant.
Bess felt as if she’d been hit in the head, and she knew she was never going to get over it this time. Numbly she walked on toward the department store.
She barely realized what she was doing when she took the things back. She had to explain why she was returning them, but there was an understanding clerk who didn’t ask any irrelevant questions and was very nice about it. Bess had the charges removed from her charge account and then wondered how she was going to manage the several hundred dollars the two damaged dresses had cost. Well, she thought, it was probably worth it to have Gussie temporarily out of her hair.
On the way back to work, she had to pass the French restaurant again. She was torn between hunger for just one more glimpse of Cade and the realization that a quick, clean break was best. She forced herself not to look in the window as she passed it. Opening old wounds helped nobody. He thought she was getting expensive presents from other men. He didn’t know that Gussie had left. He just assumed, as he always had. Well, she thought with a spark of temper, let him think it. If he couldn’t trust her enough, even knowing how she felt about him, to stop from making unfounded assumptions about her character, she didn’t need him. And he was one to look contemptuous, him with his elegant brunette! He was squiring other women around town, and he’d never even asked Bess out for a hamburger. But he seemed to expect her to wait forever just to have him turn up once in a blue moon to raise her hopes and then dash them with his usual arrogance. Well, not anymore! She’d had it with his moods. From now on he could go away and stay away.
Back at work she kept her mind on the job and appeared perfectly normal to her coworkers. But when she got to the apartment, she collapsed into tears, her momentary flare of spirit vanishing in the wake of cruel reality. He’d found another woman already. He was going out and having a good time, and Bess was just a bad memory to him. How quickly he’d erased her from his life, just as he’d said he would before she ever left Spanish House. He’d only come to see her that night to taunt her. Maybe there was even something in what Gussie had said, that he wouldn’t be above taking out his revenge on Bess for whatever he held against Gussie. She brooded on that thought, and it made her hurt. But she couldn’t afford to let the past affect her future. If she had to go on without Cade, she’d just have to do it. The experience would make her stronger at least.
But he wasn’t all that easy to erase from her life. She mourned him as surely as she’d mourned her father. The days went by in a dull gray haze, and they seemed to merge after a time. She felt as if she was just going through the motions of living, without any real enthusiasm for it. When she’d lived at Spanish House, there was always the possibility that any day might bring a visit from Cade or a glimpse of him. But here in San Antonio that wasn’t likely. It was a trick of fate that she’d run into him.
She wondered what he was doing here. He had business interests all over the place these days, but she imagined he’d brought his lady love here for the cuisine. Odd that he’d be on a date in the middle of the day, but then Cade didn’t do anything by the book. The woman had been really beautiful, and she seemed friendly enough. But the thought of her in Cade’s arms broke Bess’s heart. She’d lost so much in the past few weeks, but it seemed unkind that she should keep having Cade dangled over her head. Fate seemed determined to taunt her with him.
During the weeks that followed, Bess began to come out of her shell. She put Cade in the back of her mind and concentrated on learning how to live as an ordinary person. It wasn’t really all that hard, adjusting to being without a great deal of money. She found that budgeting her salary was a delightful challenge. She enjoyed mundane things such as going to the Laundromat and the grocery store. She did her own hair and nails instead of going to a beauty parlor, and she even learned to cook after a few near-fatal mistakes.
The apartment where she and Gussie had been staying didn’t allow cooking, so Bess found a new one that did. It was just as small as the one she’d left, but it had charm. It was located in a group of older apartment buildings. It even reminded her of Spanish House, with its adobe facade and graceful arches, and most of the residents were elderly people who’d lived there for a long time. Bess made friends quickly, and some of the older ladies took an interest in her. She found herself on the receiving end of cuttings from flowers and small potted plants to set on her small balcony, because it was already early spring. They also gave her little things, such as homemade pot holders and refrigerator magnets.
Work had become delightfully familiar. She was given bigger and better accounts as she went along. Her drawings improved, like her personality, and before long her status was elevated so that she wasn’t only drawing mechanicals, she was writing copy, as well. That brought her a small raise, and she began to feel her worth as a person. And to top it all, one of her ads was slated for a national television advertising campaign. She was so excited to have accomplished so much so soon, and she wanted to share it with someone. But Gussie still hadn’t sent her a telephone number where she could be reached, and nobody else would be interested. It took a little of the joy out of her achievement.
The thought of Gussie made her uncomfortable. In the back of her mind she worried that Gussie might run out of people to visit and come home. Then there was Cade, like a handsome ghost, haunting her dreams. She still wore the small silver ring on her hand, and it was something of a link to him. Even if he didn’t want her, she wanted him. Love was hard to define, but it must have something to do with stubbornness, she told herself as night after lonely night passed. She couldn’t give up, even knowing there was no hope.
Gussie sent a postcard saying that she was having fun and might come back in a few weeks to visit. But she didn’t include a return address, and Bess wondered why. Gussie might not want her daughter to know where she was, she supposed, but it was an odd omission. The postmark was odd, too, very dim, and it didn’t look Jamaican.
But Bess was too busy with her greater responsibilities to worry about it because her job began to stretch into her leisure time. Not that she dated anyone, so the work was welcome. She purchased a small television so that she’d have something for company. But her biggest and best purchase was a small, older-model imported compact car. She had to learn how to use a stick shift, but she did well, and the sporty little red car became her pride and joy. It was a stretch to afford it, but it was getting hard to walk to work in the cold rain, and she wanted a way to get around because it was spring and the world was turning green again.
The weather was getting warmer day by day. Green sprouts began to appear on lifeless-looking trees, and Bess felt as if she’d become reborn like those trees. She was a different woman from the shy, nervous, insecure one who’d left Coleman Springs back in January. Being around Nell and Julie had developed her personality and given her confidence. She’d found a thrift shop and managed to buy some nice clothes, and she was coping with housework and cooking very well indeed. Gussie was going to be surprised.
She wondered what Cade would think of the new Bess, but that didn’t matter anymore. He had his gorgeous brunette, and she was sure that he wouldn’t ever look her up again.
So it came as a shock when she answered a knock on her door late one spring night and found Cade himself standing on her doorstep.
She stared at him, stifling a crazy urge to rush into his arms and kiss him until she fainted.
“Yes?” she asked, trying to sound more poised than she felt.
His eyes went over her slowly. She was wearing gold-and-cream pajamas, and her honey-brown hair was loose and sexy around her shoulders, waving toward her soft eyes and her oval face, making her look soft and sweet and delectable. She seemed older than before, more confident.
“No warm welcome?” he taunted.
She only half heard him. Her eyes were feeding on him. He was wearing the same blue pin-striped suit he’d been wearing when she’d seen him with his brunette lady friend, and he looked elegant, but she didn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing her interest.
“Dream on,” she said quietly. “You’ve already shown me what you think of me and how little I matter to you.” Her brown eyes met his levelly. “I don’t beat dead horses. Did you want something?”
His eyebrows shot up. That was new, that coolness. Was it real, or was she bluffing? “You’ve moved since I came to San Antonio last,” he replied. He took out a cigarette and lit it, apparently content to stand in the hall all night as he propped his shoulder against the door facing to study her.
“I wanted an apartment with a kitchen,” she said.
“You can cook?” he scoffed.
“As a matter of fact, yes, I can,” she replied. “I can clean house and drive a stick-shift car and all sorts of strange things. I can even hold down a job and make my own living.” She forced a tiny smile. “If you’re looking for helpless adulation, I’m afraid you just struck out, tall man. I’m all grown up now. I don’t need a hero anymore.”
One dark eye narrowed as he looked at her. She was different, all right. She was acting as if he was part of a past she’d outgrown. She was more poised and mature, and his eyes narrowed as he remembered the expensive wrap she’d been carrying that day he ran into her. This apartment was pretty ritzy, too. Surely Bess didn’t have a job that paid that kind of money. No, she was getting help. Gussie had railroaded her right into some rich man’s hands, and he felt murderous. He wanted to throw things. Bess had been his. Damn his own stupidity for thinking that he had to protect her from him. He should have taken his chances before she got out of his reach. This wasn’t the same woman he’d known in Coleman Springs.
“I didn’t come here looking for a fan club,” he replied with a mocking smile.
The way she looked was making his blood sing, but she didn’t seem to care if he looked at her anymore. That stung.
Even so, he couldn’t help coming here any more than he could make himself go away. The sight of her fed his heart. He’d been lonely, and he was only now realizing how lonely. “Can you make coffee?”
“Yes.”
He tilted back the Stetson. “I’ve driven all the way from Coleman Springs. I could use something hot.”
She felt her head spinning and she didn’t want to be alone in her apartment with him, but her heart wouldn’t let her send him away. Anyway, she told herself, she could keep a poker face and not let him see how he was affecting her.
“All right.” She stood back to let him in.
He looked around him with narrow, hard eyes. It was a much better apartment than she and Gussie had been living in. There were good chairs and tables, and an expensive-looking sofa. His dark eyes flashed as he thought of the price of this apartment compared with the other one.
“Well, it’s ritzy,” he said, giving the room a cursory glance and sliding his eyes back to hers.
She could almost read his mind. As usual he was right back on the offensive.
“That’s it, Cade, always expect the worst,” she said. She put his coffee in front of him, without offering cream or sugar because she knew he didn’t take it. But he looked at her hand with a stare that could have stopped a clock, and that was when she realized her mistake.
She was still wearing the ring he’d given her, and on her wedding finger. He couldn’t seem to drag his eyes away from it.
“I liked it,” she said defensively. “And it fits.”
His dark eyes caught hers, asking questions that she didn’t want to answer. If she was that mixed up with another man, why wear his ring?
That stare disturbed her. She put her cup down. “Excuse me a minute.”
She went into the bedroom, locked the door and changed into a colorful sundress and sandals. She couldn’t bear walking around half-dressed with Cade in her apartment, especially at night. She was vulnerable with him, and it was going to be a strain to keep him from finding that out. She should have hidden the ring before he saw it, but it was so much a part of her hand now that it was difficult to think about putting it away.
Cade’s dark eyes slid appreciatively over her slender body. “You’ve filled out,” he murmured, wondering if her lover had brought about the new sensuality of her clothing and her graceful way of moving. “City living must agree with you.”
“It isn’t the city so much as the job,” she said. “I’m doing very well, and I like the people I work with.”
“Where does the rich man fit in?” he asked suddenly, his eyes pinning her. “Jordan Ryker, isn’t it?”
She had to clamp down hard on her emotions. She smiled coolly. “Yes. Jordan Ryker. He’s the big boss. A handsome, eligible bachelor with a very kind disposition.”
“And rich, I suppose,” he said cuttingly.
She nodded. “Filthy. Mother introduced us,” she added, just to rile him. “He’s really something.”
He stared at her unsmiling. “So Gussie told me.”
She stopped and stared at him. “Mother told you? When? That night you were here?”
He dropped his eyes to his coffee, glaring into it. “No.”
It was getting more complicated by the second. She felt uneasy and didn’t understand why. “Then, when?”
“Two days ago.”
Her lips parted. She had a sinking feeling she knew why he was here. “You’ve seen her?” she asked.
“I can’t move without tripping over her, in fact,” he said through his teeth. He looked up. “My mother invited her to stay at Lariat. She’s more than willing to forget the past and forgive. Gussie called her up with some sob story and wrangled an invitation while I was out of town. My mother feels sorry for her.” His tone added, emphatically, that he didn’t.
Bess knew she was going to faint if she didn’t sit very, very still. “She’s in Jamaica,” she said.
“The hell she is,” he replied with an insolent smile. “She talked Mother into an extended visit. Amazing, wouldn’t you say, in view of the animosity she knows I have for her. I came up here to tell you that I want her out of my house.” That wasn’t why he’d come at all, but hearing her rave about Ryker had made him furious. She was missing the old life, and Ryker was one of her own kind. He’d been wrong right down the line, it seemed. Losing her wealth hadn’t put her within his reach at all. She was still upper class and he wasn’t. He was going to lose her to a richer man in spite of all his hopes, and he had no one to blame but himself. She’d been vulnerable several weeks ago. He should have moved in while there was time, before he made the fatal mistake of not telling her why he was taking another woman to lunch. That had probably pushed her right into Ryker’s arms.
He lashed out in pain, although she didn’t know it. “She’s your headache, not mine. I’m not going to support her.”
“Who asked you to?” she returned. “You’re the head of the household, aren’t you? Tell her to go.”
“I care too much about my mother’s feelings to do that,” he said quietly. “You’ll have to send word that you need her here. God knows why you let her land on us in the first place.”
“I didn’t know where she was,” she insisted, refusing to tell him that she’d thrown Gussie out in the first place. “She told me she was going to visit a friend in Jamaica.”
“She didn’t make it,” he returned.
“So I gather.” Bess groaned inwardly. She’d had a taste of freedom and now she was about to lose it again. Gussie was back and making trouble all over again. How could she have imposed herself on Elise and Cade? And why?
Bess leaned back in her chair. “I knew it was too easy,” she murmured to herself.
“What was?” he asked.
“Nothing. It doesn’t matter.”
His dark eyes narrowed on her face. His lean hands wrapped around the coffee cup half-angrily. Gussie didn’t concern him half as much as Bess’s new love, but he wasn’t going to admit that. He wanted to knock the stuffing out of Jordan Ryker. It was the tormenting thought of that man in Bess’s life that had finally driven him to come here. The memory of her had haunted him day after day, and he couldn’t bear to lose her. But it wasn’t as easy as he’d thought it was going to be. Even though she wore his ring on her finger, Bess wasn’t receptive at all, and she seemed actually to dislike having him here. Well, two could play at being antisocial.
“I want your mother out of my house by next weekend,” he said curtly. “I don’t give a damn how you do it. Just get her back here.”
She’d been so happy, so carefree. Now she was going to have her flighty mother in her lap again, and the cycle would start all over. What had happened in Jamaica? Why had Gussie gone to Lariat? She frowned, feeling her security fall apart.
“I’ll call her tonight,” she said wearily. “I’ll think of some reason to ask her to come back.”
He felt guilty when he saw that hopeless look come back into her face. She’d seemed mature and poised until he mentioned Gussie, and then the facade had fallen away. She was almost shaking. He was letting his jealousy get the better of him, but he couldn’t help it. He’d never really faced the possibility that he could lose Bess. Until now.
“You do that,” he said, his voice reflecting his frustration.
She looked up at him. “Why do you hate her so, Cade?” she asked. “What has she ever done to you?”
Well, why not tell her, he thought irritably. He was tired of protecting her from the truth. His dark eyes flashed. “I’ll tell you what she’s done,” he replied slowly. “She killed my father.”
Bess felt as if her body had turned to stone. She stared at him with only faint comprehension. “What did you say?”
“She killed my father,” he repeated coldly. “I stopped short of having her charged with it, but I know for a fact that she caused his death. I saw her hurrying out of a San Antonio hotel room just before I found him in it dying of a heart attack.”
“She couldn’t kill anyone!” Bess protested huskily, horrified at the revelation. “Mother is flighty and selfish, but she’s no murderer.”
“She’s capable of anything when she wants her own way. She was having an affair with my father,” he added with a cold smile. “He had a heart attack in her arms, and she ran out of the room and left him there, dying, to save herself from the scandal!”
Bess got to her feet shakily, uncertain of her ground. He sounded convinced, and the hatred in his eyes was very real.
“She loved my father...”
“She loved your father’s money,” he said harshly, rising from the chair with threatening ease. “But my father was good-looking, and women liked him, even your mother. She teased and tempted him until he betrayed my mother for her. She killed him, all right. My poor mother didn’t even know, until I accused Gussie in front of her. She went white in the face, but she never denied it. Not once.”
None of it made sense. Gussie wouldn’t have done that to Frank Samson, not with his best friend. But Cade seemed so certain, and it explained his hatred for her mother. It even explained Gussie’s hatred for him, because he’d revealed her part in Coleman Hollister’s death.
“I can’t believe it,” she whispered brokenly. “Not my own mother! She isn’t that kind of woman!”
But even as she said it, she saw the truth in Cade’s eyes, and she knew he wasn’t lying. But now that she knew why Gussie hated Cade, and why Cade hated Gussie, she knew that the past was going to be forever between them.
“Gussie said that you and Ryker are thick as thieves, and I guess it would take a rich man to buy you fox jackets and keep you in an apartment like this,” he added, shocking her because she hadn’t even seen Jordan Ryker lately. That was more of Gussie’s attempt to keep her out of Cade’s reach, she knew. But the fox jacket had been Gussie’s. He’d never given her the chance to tell him she was returning it. She opened her mouth to tell him so.
But before she could speak, he caught her suddenly by the arms and jerked her against him. “All the years of waiting, hoping, holding back,” he muttered under his breath, his eyes devouring her. “I’ve wanted you until you colored my life, but I wasn’t good enough, was I, Bess? You were meant for better things than the life a poor cowboy could give you, Gussie said. Maybe she was right. But if Ryker’s had you, there’s no reason I can’t, is there?” he bit off, jerking her against him. “No reason at all...”
His mouth covered hers before she had time to consider what he was saying. His hand slid into the thick hair at her nape and held her head where he wanted it while he savored the first soft touch of her trembling lips under his mouth.
It was as if he’d never kissed a woman before. All of it was new and exciting. The way her breath caught, the taste of coffee on her mouth, the softness as his mouth stilled and hardened. His head was already spinning. The feel of her warm body in his arms aroused him as he’d never imagined any woman ever could, so quickly that he shuddered as he felt his own sudden, sharp arousal. Just being near her had always stirred him, but this was unexpected and staggering in its intensity.
He wanted her with an obsession that defied logic or reason. His hard arms swallowed her up while his mouth bit hungrily into hers, drowning her in the fierce sweetness of his ardor.
Bess had tautened with the first shock of his touch, but almost at once the intimacy overwhelmed her. Sensations piled on each other, the feel of his lips for the first time, the steely hardness of his chest and stomach and thighs against her, the rough demand of his mouth as it grew slower and rougher on the trembling of her soft lips. She felt his arms sliding even more closely around her yielding body, felt him groan softly as his lean hand slid down her back and pulled her close. And then she felt the full force of his sudden arousal, and her breath caught at the undisguised need. It was the first time in her life that she’d ever known such intimacy with a man, but it didn’t frighten her. She gave in to him without the tiniest struggle, all her longing for him reflected in the clinging warmth of her arms around his hard waist, the response of her shy mouth.
She could hear his rough breathing mingling with the loudness of her own heartbeat as they kissed in the silence of the apartment. Whatever his reason, even anger, it was the sweetest pleasure in the world to feel his mouth moving on her lips, to have him holding her against his taut, muscular body. He might not have wanted her three years ago, but he wanted her now.
Heaven, she thought, after all the years of loneliness, of aching need. He was slow and very expert, and she loved the feel of his arms, the close contact with his hard, fit body. He smelled of spicy cologne and leather, and she thought that if she died now, she’d have had all life could offer. This was Cade, and she loved him more than the air she breathed. She relaxed into his taut body and let him kiss her, savoring every breathless second of the hard mouth slowly penetrating her own.
But even as she reveled in the crush of his mouth, she knew that she was going to have to stop him soon. He thought she was a tramp. He thought her mother was responsible for his father’s death. There were too many reasons why she couldn’t afford the luxury of letting him carry her to bed, even if her body was resisting reason.
“No,” she whispered halfheartedly, pushing at his hard chest.
“Be still,” he breathed into her mouth. “I won’t hurt you,” he whispered, and his mouth gentled. “Bess, I want you. Oh, God, I want you so much, honey...”
He was losing control, second by second. His lean hands slid lower on her hips and pulled her up hard against the arch of his body, and his breath caught at the feel of all that sweet softness so close to him, even as her soft moan kindled fires in his blood.
For one long second she gave in to him, let him feel the hungry response of her lips, the sinuous warmth of her body. She was starving for the touch of him, for the hard warmth of his mouth on hers. Dreams came alive while he fed on her soft lips. She looked up and saw his dark brows knit, his eyes closed, thick black lashes on his cheeks as he pulled her even closer. He looked as desperate as she felt, and she closed her eyes and savored the fierce ardor that made her weak-kneed and breathless. She let him mold her to his hardness without fear. It was as natural as loving him to feel joy in his need of her, to glory in his response to her femininity.
But she had to stop him, because she could sense that he wasn’t quite in control. He thought she’d already had a lover, for which she could thank her mother, and because of that suspicion, he wouldn’t try to pull back. If she didn’t get away, it would be too late to stop him in a very few minutes. She could feel a faint tremor in his arms already, and the arousal of his lean body was becoming more and more urgent.
“I can’t, Cade,” she whispered against his hard mouth, forcing herself to sound convincing this time.
“Why can’t you?” he demanded, his breath quick and hard on her moistened lips. “Because I’m not rich enough?” he demanded, feeling a sense of anguish as he said it.
His mouth searched for hers again, but what he’d said had given her strength to get away. She ducked her head to avoid his lips, pulled out of his arms, and moved back. She was shaking from the double effect of his unexpected ardor and her own knowledge of her mother’s betrayal of her father.
“Why?” he asked, his voice still a little shaken with the force of his ardor.
“Not like this,” she whispered. “You’re angry...”
“Not angry enough to hurt you,” he said gruffly. “Not even if you were still the virgin you were three years ago.”
“You laughed at me then,” she said with a choke. “You showed me that you didn’t want me...!”
His expression hardened. “I had to!” he said curtly. “It was even more impossible then than it is now. You were rich and I wasn’t. I couldn’t encourage you, but you almost made me lose my head. I had to make you stop flirting with me, and the only way to do it was to convince you that you left me cold. It took more self-control than I thought I had,” he said, finishing wearily. “My God, I wanted you! I still do.” He moved toward her. “And you want me. So no more games.”
She knew he wouldn’t stop this time. And once he touched her, she wouldn’t want to stop him. She had to get away. Her hand reached behind her on the coffee table for her purse and she darted to the door, jerking it open.
“There’s no need to run,” he said, his eyes dark with desire and faint contempt. “You’ve wanted me for years, just as I’ve wanted you. We might as well satisfy each other. The only reason I held back this long was because you were a virgin.”
She stared at him quietly. “Only...because of that?” she asked.
“Why else?” He moved closer, the faint scent of his cologne making her head spin as he stopped just in front of her, one lean hand touching her mouth, tracing it. “You and I were always worlds apart socially,” he said bitterly. “I couldn’t seduce a virgin, even to satisfy an obsessive hunger. But you don’t have that restriction anymore, and I want you like hell. So come here, honey, and let’s see how good we can be together.”
“I don’t want that,” she stammered, backing through the open door.
“Why not?” he asked mockingly. “I can’t marry someone like you—especially not with the past between us—but there’s no reason we can’t have each other. Not now that you’re earning your money the hard way. And to think I believed you that first night you went out with Ryker,” he added coldly. “I actually believed that you’d never let anyone touch you except me! Did you even love me, or was that just an act? Did you laugh behind your hand, thinking you could play me for a fool because you had money and I didn’t?”
Tears stung her eyes. “How can you believe those things about me?” she whispered brokenly.
“How can I believe otherwise?” he shot back. “Your own mother said—”
“You’re so quick to believe her, when you know she hates you, that she doesn’t want me to even associate with you! You want to believe those things, don’t you, Cade?” she cried. “You want to believe them because all you want from me is sex! Oh, what does it matter?” she moaned, hearing all her dreams torn to pieces. She’d loved him, and now he was confessing that all it had ever been with him was desire! “I can’t take any more of you or my mother! I can’t take any more!” She ran through the open doorway.
“Where do you think you’re going at this hour of the night?” he called harshly, suddenly struck by the apparent hysteria on her face.
“As far away from you as I can get!” she burst out, heading for the staircase that led down to the parking lot.
“Bess!” he burst out. He hadn’t expected her to bolt and run. He went out the door after her, without considering how much his pursuit might affect her.
She panicked. She didn’t know what he might do, and she couldn’t let him overwhelm her with his ardor. He’d find out how innocent she was the hard way, but his conscience would force him to marry her. She didn’t want him that way. Her mother had really fixed things this time, she thought miserably. She’d never forgive Gussie for this!
Gussie. As she ran, she saw the utter hopelessness of the future. She was going to be landed with her mother again. There would be no more peace, no more freedom. She was going to be hog-tied and owned, working herself to death to support Gussie’s spending, and now that she understood Cade’s reasons for hating her mother, she knew that it would have been impossible for him ever to have cared about her. She’d been living in a fool’s paradise. It had just come abruptly to an end, thanks to Gussie and to Cade’s own admission that it was only desire on his part, and she couldn’t face it.
She ran for her small car and jumped in, locking the door. She drove out of the parking lot wildly because she could see Cade running toward her. She was too weak to last through another round of his ardent lovemaking, and she couldn’t hide what she felt any longer. He was out for revenge and he’d only humiliate her again. It was only sex he wanted. He’d said so. He didn’t love her, he never had, never would. He only wanted her. She couldn’t bear it, she couldn’t...!
She pulled out into traffic just as a speeding car rounded a corner and plowed right into the driver’s side of her car. There was a sound of breaking glass and a hard thud, and a lightning bolt of pain. And then, nothing.
Cade reached the car seconds later. His face was white, his eyes so black that the driver of the car that had struck Bess’s got out and ran for his life. But Cade didn’t follow him. He fought to get the door open, but he couldn’t. Bess was trapped in crushed metal. He couldn’t get the other door open either. Somewhere voices rushed in on him, other hands helped, but they still couldn’t free her. She was bleeding, and he knew with terrible certainty that she was badly hurt. Someone called an ambulance, and Cade began to pray.