CHAPTER FOUR
BLAIR LOOKED DOWN at Niki, at the glorious beauty of her young face, when the spray from Old Faithful hit her and she laughed. She held up her hands, enjoying the mist. She was so young. His heart clenched at the sight she made. Other men, even married ones, were staring at her, their expressions as revealing as Blair’s. Niki was like spring personified.
The spray was making patterns on her bodice. Under it, her nipples were hard from the cool sting of the water. She laughed, glancing at two young men nearby who were staring at her so intently that Blair felt himself bristle. The way they were staring at her was disturbing. One of them started to move closer, smiling like a predator. She stopped what she was doing and glanced at Blair worriedly.
“Come here,” Blair said in a hushed tone, and curved her into his side, holding her so that her soft breasts were pressed gently into the warmth of his broad chest. He gave the approaching man a glare so hot that he went back to his friend, and they quickly left the geyser.
“Why were they staring at me like that?” she asked under her breath.
He looked down into her wide, curious gray eyes. Eyes like a September fog, he thought to himself. Soft and warm, full of dreams.
“Blair?” she prompted.
He bent his head so that his lips were right against one small ear. “Your body is reacting to the mist, but they thought it was them.” He said it through his teeth. He didn’t like other men staring at her. “Especially the one who started to talk to you.”
“I don’t understand,” she whispered, shaken by the feel of his powerful body so close to her own, by the heavy thud of his heartbeat right against her.
He drew back. The black eyes that stared down into hers were narrow and glittery with some undefined emotion. “Don’t you?” he asked, and he moved away from her just a breath, his eyes on her bodice.
She looked down at herself, but she didn’t see anything that should disturb someone. Her wide eyes searched his.
She was so damned innocent that he wanted to throw back his head and scream. She didn’t know. She had no idea what secrets her body was betraying.
He half turned toward the erupting geyser. “I’ll explain it to you when we get back to the car. Watch the geyser.”
His arm contracted. She pressed her cheek against his broad chest, aware of hard muscle and soft, cushy hair under his cotton shirt. She loved the way it felt, being close to him. The people around them vanished. The geyser was erupting, and she hardly noticed it. Blair’s arm was strong and comforting, and just for these few minutes, there were only the two of them in the whole world. It was a moment out of time, out of space, when the impossible seemed possible. She closed her eyes, savoring his breath against her forehead, drinking in the sexy, masculine scent of his cologne, loving the warmth of him against the faint chill of early spring air.
Blair was trying not to notice his own body’s reaction to Niki. She was sixteen years his junior. They were a generation apart. But her breasts were firm and soft, and he wanted to touch them with his mouth. She needed a younger man. Her heartbeat was so strong, she was shaking, he could feel it. She was struggling to breathe normally. He looked down at her pretty bow-shaped mouth and wondered if she’d ever been kissed by anyone who knew how.
“Gosh, that was great!” a young boy exclaimed from nearby. “Can we stay until it goes off again, Dad? Please?”
There was a deep chuckle. “Sorry, kiddo, we’ve got hotel reservations in Billings, and it’s almost an eight-hour drive.”
“Awww, Dad...”
The voices drifted away.
Blair moved back from Niki, averting his eyes. “We’d better get moving, too,” he added. “It’s a long drive home.”
“It really was something to see,” she said, not quite meeting his eyes as she smiled. “I’ll remember it all my life.” Truth be told, the geyser wasn’t what she’d remember, but she wasn’t about to confess that to him.
* * *
HE PUT HER into the car and slid in beside her.
“You said you’d tell me what happened, at the geyser,” she reminded him.
He stared at her quietly, his black eyes narrow and somber. “Niki, what you know about men could be written on the head of a straight pin,” he sighed. “You don’t have a clue what was going on.”
“You could just tell me,” she prompted with a smile.
His big hand touseled her long, pale blond hair affectionately. “It will sound stark.”
“So?” She searched his eyes. “You’re my friend.”
“I am.” He drew in a long breath. “Honey, a woman’s body gives away secrets. The spray hit your blouse, and the tips of your breasts went hard.”
She flushed, but she didn’t look away. “And...?”
“And cold water isn’t the only thing that makes them that way. Desire has the same effect. You were getting some pretty intense attention from two men nearby, especially when you smiled at them. They thought it was a come-on,” he added quietly.
“I...didn’t know!” She averted her eyes and folded her arms across her breasts. “Oh, gosh!” She grimaced. “I went all the way through college, and I didn’t know that, about my own body,” she added miserably.
“I shouldn’t have said anything,” he said roughly. “Niki, I never meant to embarrass you. I’m sorry.”
She shifted, her eyes out the window as she fought down raging self-consciousness. “They never talked about things like that in health class,” she said. “Dad never had that sort of conversation with me, and Edna’s just as repressed as he is. I didn’t know!”
He pulled her into his arms and wrapped her up tight, burying his face in her throat, against her soft hair that smelled of wildflowers.
“You’re so uninhibited,” he groaned. “I love it. Men want you, honey. It’s a very natural reaction. You’re very pretty.”
She drew in a breath, so happy that she could have died of it. She sheltered in his arms, feeling safe, secure. Her face nestled in his warm throat. She had to fight the hunger to kiss it.
She breathed in the male scent of him, heady and delightful. “Does it always happen, when women feel desire?” she asked in a husky, shy tone.
“Yes.”
“Does it happen to men, too?” she asked suddenly.
He chuckled. “Yes. But men swell in other places, as well.”
Her face was flaming. “Blair! I’m not that dim!”
“Never mind,” he mused. “We’ll leave that discussion for another time. Right now,” he said, moving her away, “we need to get home. It will be dark before we get there.”
She buckled her seat belt. “Thanks, Blair,” she said without looking at him.
“For what?”
“Explaining it to me.” She shrugged. “I’m just grass-green.”
“We all were, once, Niki. Don’t sweat it.”
She drew in a long breath, and her fingers went to the bracelet he bought her. “Thanks for my bracelet, too.” She glanced at him. “I’m sorry the hotel brought back sad memories for you.”
“I went into it thinking it would be the perfect marriage,” he sighed.
She smiled. “I remember. You were engaged, and you were so happy. I hoped that it would be a good marriage, that you’d have kids and she’d take care of you...” She stopped when she saw his expression. “Sorry,” she said quickly. “Will there be any more animals in the road to stop and look at, do you think?” she asked, changing the subject.
“Some, perhaps. But we’re going back another way. We probably won’t see many.”
“I’ll keep my eyes peeled for deer, just the same,” she added. “I remember one of Daddy’s friends ran into one on the highway. It totaled his car and almost killed him. The deer ran away, but he found it dead the next day in a ditch near the accident.”
“They can cause serious injuries,” he agreed.
“Do you hunt?” she asked.
He smiled. “I don’t have the time,” he said. “Business takes up most of my life.” His face hardened. “I haven’t had time for a lot of things.”
“If I’m hiding at home, from men, aren’t you hiding in your business from life?” she wondered aloud, then ground her teeth together at having made such a personal remark. “I’m sorry, Blair. I shouldn’t have said that.”
His hand had contracted on the steering wheel until the knuckles were white. But it slowly relaxed. “The one time I didn’t hide, I had my heart torn out of me,” he said coldly. “Never again.”
She winced at the raw anguish in his tone. He’d loved his wife. It must have been pure hell to end up like this, to lose her. But it hurt to hear him say that, about Elise. Niki loved him, and he was never going to love her back.
She swallowed. She hated his wife for the way she’d treated him, but there was no accounting for human emotions. People couldn’t help who they loved. She glanced at him. “Isn’t there a chance that she might come back?” she asked quietly. She wanted him to be happy, even if it wasn’t with her.
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” The way he said it went through her like an arrow. He’d never used that tone with her in all the time they’d known each other.
She started to apologize again and thought better of it. She turned her attention out the window and watched the landscape passing by until darkness fell over it.
* * *
IT WAS A long, silent ride home after that. He pulled up in the driveway of the Ashton ranch. She didn’t wait for him to open her door. She climbed out and went ahead of him through the front door. The television was on in the living room. She had a glimpse of her father’s blond hair before Blair caught her arm and pulled her right back out the door.
He closed it again and looked down at her in the dim light from the windows. “It’s hard for me to talk about her,” he said after a minute. “I’m not used to sharing things, personal things, with anyone. But that’s no excuse for snapping at you the way I did. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she managed. “I won’t do it again.” She forced a smile, moved away from him and went inside. She called to her father before she made an excuse and went up to her room. She managed to hold the tears back until then.
* * *
WHEN SHE GOT up the next morning, after a sleepless night, her face showed the ravages she couldn’t camouflage even with makeup.
She went downstairs and hesitated at the dining room door. Nobody was up except Blair. He was sitting at the table, dressed in gray slacks and a yellow knit designer shirt, sipping black coffee.
He looked up when he heard her. His own face looked worn, as well.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Good morning,” she replied. “Is Edna up?”
He shook his head. “I made coffee.”
“Thanks.” She went into the kitchen and fetched a cup from the cupboard. She was pouring herself a cup of coffee when she felt the warmth of his big body behind her. His hands went to her waist and tightened. She felt his breath at the back of her head.
“You didn’t sleep, did you?” he asked deeply.
She swallowed. “I said stupid things...”
He turned her around to face him. He didn’t let go of her waist. “So did I,” he said curtly. “Stupid, hurtful things. I can’t leave like this. Not with you hating me.”
“I don’t...hate you,” she managed.
He smoothed back her long blond hair, his black eyes intent on hers. “It’s hard for me to share things,” he began. “I keep it all inside. I hate my marriage. I hate remembering it.”
“I know. It was my fault. I should never have brought it up.”
He drew in a long breath. His eyes had dark circles beneath them. He looked so tired. She reached up impulsively and smoothed the frown between his eyes. “Don’t brood so much,” she said softly, her eyes adoring him. “Life is sweet. Every day is a miracle. You have to look ahead, not back, Blair.”
One big thumb smoothed over her soft mouth. His eyes were oddly intent on it. “So they say,” he replied quietly.
“I’m going to apply for that job at your mining company,” she said with a pert grin. “There. How’s that for getting out of the house?”
The frown came back. “Niki, that’s a field geology position. The pollen...”
“No, not that one,” she corrected. “The clerk’s position. You know, filing and stuff in an office.”
“You’re overqualified for it.”
She shrugged. “Hey, it’s a job, right?” she teased.
He drew in a breath. “It isn’t a clerk’s position. It’s a personal assistant position, in the vice president’s office. He hasn’t started interviewing for it. If you want the job, it’s yours.”
“That wouldn’t be fair...”
He put his thumb squarely over her soft mouth. “I own the damned company. I can hire who I please.”
His thumb was disturbing. Her heart kicked into overdrive. She laughed. “All right. But if the knives come out from other women who wanted the job...”
“Send them to me. I’ll deal with it.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
His eyes narrowed. “You haven’t worked before, have you?”
“I’ve worked for Dad,” she countered. “Keeping the books at home, filing, doing computerized searches, things like that. I type very fast.”
“That isn’t what I mean,” he said. “You haven’t had to hold down a nine-to-five job, five days a week.” He looked concerned. “It’s a grind, even for someone in good health.”
Her chin came up. “Teddy Roosevelt had terrible asthma. He exercised and pushed himself and did amazing things. I can follow his example.”
He lifted an eyebrow and grinned. “Okay. But try not to overdo it.”
“You make me the same promise, then,” she chided.
His black eyes softened. “You’re the only confidante I have,” he said after a minute. “I don’t want to lose you.”
Her heart jumped, but she tried not to read too much into the impulsive comment. She grinned back at him. “I’m not robust, but I’m stubborn. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Okay, then.”
“Have a safe trip home.”
He nodded and searched her eyes. “We’ll go back to Yellowstone another time and see the mud flats and the other geysers. Maybe up to Hardin, Montana, and walk over the Little Bighorn battlefield.”
“I’d like that.”
“Maybe you’re right,” he conceded. “Maybe I do hide behind my business.”
She smiled. “If I can stop hiding, so can you.”
He laughed mirthlessly. “Easier said than done.”
“Drive safely.”
“I’m flying,” he pointed out.
“Well, fly safely.”
“I will.”
He hesitated and started to say something else, when he heard footsteps. He let Niki go and opened the door. “I hear breakfast making its way to the table,” he mused.
She laughed. “So do I. Let’s go grab it!”
* * *
IT WAS SEVERAL weeks before she saw Blair again. He was in the middle of a conference in Colorado and stopped by to talk to her father about a new drill site.
“You should stay overnight,” Niki said, worried by the gaunt look of him.
He shrugged. “Don’t have time, honey. I’m between meetings.”
She frowned. “When’s the next one?”
“Monday. In Los Angeles.”
“It’s Saturday,” she reminded him. “You can get up early tomorrow and fly out, can’t you? That gives you a whole day before the meeting.”
He drew in a breath and glowered at her. “Worrywart.”
She grinned.
“How’s the new job?” he asked.
She smiled. “It’s nice,” she said. “Mr. Jacobs is a wonderful boss. His old assistant still works for the company, just in another office, as an executive. She’s been teaching me the job in her spare time. I like the people there, too.”
“I handpicked Jacobs for the job, mainly because he knows how to keep his mouth shut,” he said pointedly.
“I see,” she teased. “That would include secrets like how I got my job.”
He chuckled softly. “Something like that. Not that I think there would be gossip. Most of the executives know I’m best friends with your father. They’d figure I owed him a favor, if anything was said about it.”
She just nodded.
He cocked his head. “Any nice, single men over there?” he asked with a twinkle in his black eyes.
“There’s a guy from San Francisco,” she said. “He sits with me at lunch in the cafeteria sometimes.”
He didn’t like that, but didn’t dare let it show. “Young guy?” he asked pointedly.
She smiled. “Well, a few years older than me,” she said.
“Yes, but in the same generation, I gather,” he added. He stretched and groaned. “God, I hate flying!”
“No wonder, if you have to be all scrunched up in a seat for hours on end, even in an executive jet,” she added.
“If I didn’t own the jet already, I’d buy one,” he said flatly. “I hate commercial flights. The last time I had to take one, the only seat available was in Economy.” He made a face. “I sat next to a woman with a baby in one seat and a five-year-old in the seat beside her. He talked nonstop, and I mean nonstop, from Seattle to Fort Worth!”
She laughed out loud. “Oh, you poor man,” she said.
“It almost put me off kids for good.”
“Almost?” she probed.
He shrugged and smiled at her. “I love kids, usually. I hadn’t slept in twenty-four hours, and I had a sinus infection at the time, as well.”
“Flying didn’t do that any good,” she guessed.
“No good at all.”
“So you’re staying?” she prodded. “Edna made a chocolate pound cake,” she said, enticing him.
“Damn!”
Her eyebrows arched over twinkling gray eyes.
“I can’t leave when there’s chocolate pound cake,” he muttered. “Hit me right in my weak spot, why don’t you?”
She just grinned.
* * *
BLAIR SAT AND watched television with Todd and Niki until late. There was a movie on pay-per-view that they all liked, a funny adventure one. She loved to hear Blair laugh. He did it with his whole heart. His eyes shimmered, that sexy broad mouth tugged up at both ends, his chest heaved. Niki wondered if he did everything that wholeheartedly. She loved to see him smile. Because he did it so rarely.
Her father got a phone call just then and went into his office, because it was from the other side of the world, he’d said.
Niki walked up with Blair to the guest room.
“You look well, despite the pollen,” he mused.
She laughed. “I use my meds these days. I don’t want to cost you or the company money by taking too many sick days.”
He moved a step closer and tilted her chin up to his black eyes. “If you’re sick, you stay home. I’ll know if you don’t. And I won’t be happy about it.”
“Now who’s the worrywart?” she chided.
“You’re fragile, young lady,” he said, tracing a path down her cheek with one long finger. “I don’t want you taking chances on my time.”
That finger was erotic. It made her pulse dance. It made her breathing come quick and jerky, as if she’d been running. She flushed and hid it in laughter.
“I won’t take chances. I promise.”
He drew in a long breath. His face was harder than she’d seen it in a long time.
“What’s wrong?” she asked softly. “Can I help?”
His face contorted. “It’s Elise,” he said gruffly.
“Your ex-wife,” she recalled.
He nodded. “She wants her alimony allowance raised again. She can’t afford the right couture garments to suit her lifestyle, she says.” He said it with utter disgust. He was recalling Niki’s delight over an inexpensive bracelet, when Elise had never thanked him for a single thing he’d bought her.
Niki didn’t know what to say. He looked...defeated.
He glanced down and her expression melted the hurt away. He drew in a breath and managed a smile for her. “I don’t cope with it well,” he said. “My attorneys handle the requests and forward the checks. I have no contact with her at all. That suits us both just fine.”
She just stared up at him, her expression one almost of grief. “Why is money so important to some people?” she asked. “You really can’t take it with you when you go. Why buy fancy clothes to impress other people who are wearing fancy clothes, trying to impress you?”
He chuckled softly. “What a way to phrase it,” he mused.
“Fakers faking fakers,” she said, pursing her lips. Her gray eyes twinkled. “It’s like a con game with clothes.”
He threw back his head and laughed.
“There. That’s much better,” she said, and she smiled.
He shook his head. “You chase the black clouds away, every time I see you. What a rare gift, Niki.”
“Incurable optimism,” she said with a grin. “It’s contagious.”
“It must be. I felt like ten miles of rough road when I walked in the door.”
“Get a good night’s sleep. Then you can have a day to get to California and a night to rest there before you jump back into negotiations again.”
“Good idea.”
“I hope you sleep well,” she said.
“I always do here,” he said. “Even the night sounds are soothing. No ambulances. No police sirens.”
“You live in Billings,” she recalled.
“Yes. It’s close to the office.”
She didn’t say what she was thinking. It was too close. He spent far too much time on the job, too little time enjoying life.
“I have to fly to Cancun next week for trade talks.” He hesitated. “Go with me.”
Her lips parted on a sudden breath. “Me? Go with you?”
Her expression confused him. “Yes, with me.”
She bit her lower lip. She wanted to go, desperately. But how would it look?
“Oh. I see.” He pursed his lips. “Should I have added that your father is also involved with the trade talks, at the hotel we’ll be staying in?”
It was like the sun coming out. “Really?”
“Really. I look out for you, Miss Ashton, old-fashioned ideals and all. I’m sure your father will approve,” he added with a glimmer of amusement, “of the care I take of his daughter’s reputation.”
“Don’t tease,” she said softly, flushing.
“Honey, I like you just the way you are,” he said softly. He bent and brushed his mouth over her soft cheek. “Sleep tight.”
“You, too... Oh, gosh, Blair, I can’t go. I have my job!” she exclaimed, suddenly remembering her commitments.
“Jacobs won’t be in the office Friday and Monday, so we’ll leave Thursday and come home Monday. You won’t need to be at work when he isn’t. Just to make sure, I’ll have a talk with him.”
She grimaced. “He’ll think I asked you!”
“No, he won’t.” He drew her close for a few seconds, savoring the touch of her soft, young body. “Stop worrying.” He bent again. His mouth hovered over her lips for a few aching seconds before it lifted to press a tender kiss on her forehead. He let her go abruptly and went into his room, closing the door between them.
Niki went down the hall to hers, almost floating. He wanted to take her to Cancun. But more exciting than that was the way he’d held her. He’d wanted to kiss her, and not chastely. She saw it in his face.
She was so excited that she didn’t sleep a wink all night. When she got up, far too early, her eyes were bloodshot, and she was moving like a zombie.
Edna met her at the kitchen door. “Good Lord, what happened to you?” she exclaimed.
“Didn’t sleep a wink,” she confessed, laughing.
“Oh, dear. Are you all right?”
“Yes, yes, my lungs are fine,” Niki corrected.
“Then why didn’t you sleep?”
“I’ll tell you all about it later,” she said, because until her father agreed that she could go, she wasn’t leaving the country with Blair, regardless of her feelings for him. A chaperone would be just the thing, to keep her from throwing herself at him.
* * *
THEY WERE HALFWAY through breakfast the next day before her father glanced at her with a raised eyebrow. “I hear we’re going to Cancun next week,” he mused.
She laughed and glanced at Blair, whose eyes were glimmering with amused pleasure.
“That’s what I hear, too,” she said.
“We both think you need a holiday,” Blair told her. “The trade talks will only take a day or so. We’ll have time left to explore. I could use a vacation myself, and I know Todd could. The Yucatán Peninsula is fascinating. There are Mayan ruins, and our hotel is right on the Gulf of Mexico. There’s a long, beautiful beach.”
“It sounds lovely!” she replied. Although his reason for asking her to go away with him dulled her spirits just a little. He made it sound as if he was giving a child a treat. She was sure he probably meant it that way, too. He was determined to keep space between them. Because of his marriage, she supposed, because he’d been in love and that vicious woman had savaged his heart. Now he didn’t trust his emotions, and he wasn’t going to let another woman close. Not even Niki.
But then, she reminded herself, Rome wasn’t built in a day. So she smiled and listened to travel plans, as if she hadn’t a care in the world.