Page 92 of The Honorable Texan
She’d just gotten her wild heart under control, and now it was galloping all over again from that sultry tone, from the dark, intent caress of his eyes on her face.
“Listen, I work for you,” she began with a tremor in her voice.
He got up from the chair and moved toward her with a lazy, almost arrogant stride.He drew her up in front of him and started pulling out hairpins.Her hair, unbound, fell in soft waves down her back, almost concealing one eye.
“It’s hard to manage when it’s down,” she said self-consciously.
“I love long hair.”He tangled his lean hands in it and coaxed her face up to his.He searched her eyes at point-blank range.“I’ve kissed girls years younger than you who knew even more than I do.Why are you still a novice?”
She swallowed hard.He was making her knees weak again.She couldn’t quite get a whole breath of air into her lungs.Her hands rested on his chest lightly and she felt her heart choking her with its rapid beat as she stared into his narrowed, dark eyes.
“What?”she asked, barely having heard much less understood the question.
His hands were exploring the cool length of her hairwith fascination.“You’re not bad-looking, Meredith.Surely you’ve dated.”
“Yes,” she said, disconcerted.“But I’m old-fashioned.”
Both eyebrows went up over a cynical smile.“That’s a pitiful excuse in this day and age.”
“Why?”she asked, her clear grey eyes staring up into his with no thought of subterfuge.“The whole reason for the women’s movement is so that women can have the freedom to do as they please.I’m not promiscuous.Why should I need an excuse?”
He blinked.She made his question sound unreasonable.“I thought sexual liberation was the soul of the movement,” he drawled.
“Being chaste is sexual liberation, in my book,” she replied.“You’d be amazed how many women in my graduating class practiced abstinence.”
“In high school, I gather,” he said absently, tracing the length of her hair with his hands.
She almost corrected him, but then, she really mustn’t destroy the illusions he had about her as a domestic.“Yes.In high school.”
He moved closer to her, his lean body a sensual provocation that made her breath catch.He laughed softly.“Care to test the hypothesis?”he murmured softly.
“I work for you,” she repeated, playing for time.
“So?”
“So it’s not wise to mix business…”
“…with pleasure?”He caught her waist and drew her close.“It’s been a while since I found a woman so desirable,” he whispered, bending to her mouth.“Experience bores me.You,” he bit off against her soft lips, “are a challenge.”
“Thank you, but I don’t want to be,” she whispered, trying to pull away.
He lifted his head and searched her eyes.“No curiosity about the great unknown?”he taunted.
“No desire to treat it as a sophisticated game,” she corrected abruptly.
He hesitated, but only for an instant.His lean hands contracted and then released her.He went back to his chair and sat down.“Touché,” he said with a curious glance.“All right, Meredith, I’ll sit here and eat my sandwiches and we’ll pretend that we’re still strangers physically.”
“Good idea,” she approved.She reached down for her half-empty coffee cup and put it in the sink.
He was halfway through a sandwich when she excused herself and went to fluff up the pillows in the living room and put magazines and books back in their places.Leo had left things strewn about before he’d gone to the Brewsters’.She was glad, because it gave her a valid reason not to sit next to Rey with her emotions in turmoil.
By the time she’d gone back to the kitchen, Rey had finished his sandwiches and coffee and was coming out the door.
“You’re safe,” he drawled.“I’m going to change and get to work in the study.Where’s Leo?”
“Having supper at the Brewsters’ house,” she told him.“He said he’d be early.”
“That means he’ll be late,” he mused.“Janie Brewster will have found twenty excuses to keep him talking to her father.She’s one determined young lady, but Leo’s equally determined.He doesn’t want ties.”
