between you and I. Now you stay put I’ll be up there in a few hours. I can get away earlier than planned. We’ll talk this out in person.“
„Go ahead and drive up here, David, if you like. But I won’t be here. I mean it, I’m not seeing you again.“ Kalinda felt her patience and reasonableness slipping away. The firmness in her words was unmistakable. „Let’s just agree we were on the verge of doing something we both would have regretted and let it go at that“
„No! Kali, listen to me You would never have agreed to see me again if you weren’t still interested. You know that We can recapture what we once had if we only give it a chance…“
„Oh, go to hell, David!“ she finally snapped, disgusted with him and with herself for having gotten into the mess. „Do you want to know the real reason I agreed to meet you up here? I was going to let you drive all the way up with notions of starting an affair and then I was going to encourage you to think I was equally interested. I was going to let you wine and dine me, make you think you were on the point of seducing me and then I was going to laugh in your face! I never had any intention of rekindling our old romance, you idiot! How could I after what you did two years ago? You destroyed whatever we might have had together and I have no interest in raking through the ashes. Good-bye, David. Don’t call me again!“
She set the receiver firmly back into the cradle and surged irritably to her feet Dammit! She hadn’t meant to wind up the phone call that way, but he’d asked for it She wanted out of the awkward situation and she’d offered him a reasonable way of calling it quits. He had only himself to blame for having annoyed her to the point where she’d told him the truth.
She glanced around the small motel room, impatient to escape now that the decision had been made and action taken. She wanted away from these mountains, away from the scene of the canceled fiasco.
She went to the closet and began packing the chocolate leather luggage. She wore the white cotton tuxedo shirt she’d had on the first day with the khaki trousers and her hair was in the neat twist behind one ear. She felt as cool and self-confident as she looked. She had made the right decision.
Or had it made for her, she reflected ruefully, thinking of Rand Alastair as she swung the soft leather case into her silver Mercedes.
By the time she checked out of the motel it was nearly nine o’clock. She climbed behind the wheel of the car and wondered what Rand was doing. Was he thinking about her? Concerned about what her final decision would be?
Kalinda sat quietly in the seat before starting the engine. staring straight ahead through the windshield and thinking about Rand. She would never see him again and that seemed rather strange, considering the effect he’d had on her during the past two days.
But it was for the best, of course. There was no chance for anything solid and lasting between them. He was obviously content to live the undemanding life here in the mountains and she was both to thrive in the city. There would be other lady tourists to amuse him and with the coming of ski season he’d probably have to close up the shop completely in order to handle both his skiing and his dates, she told herself grimly.
With a decisive gesture she started the engine and backed the car out of its slot No, Rand wasn’t her sort of man by a long shot. She needed someone altogether more like herself. And she didn’t need an affair that came to life only on the weekends she managed to drive up into the mountains.
But somehow Kalinda wasn’t altogether surprised to find herself guiding the silver car along the narrow lakeside road toward Rand’s home. She would only stop long enough to say good-bye, she told herself. He deserved to know his arguments had been effective. She really believed he’d been genuinely concerned for her in this matter.
She was still justifying her reasons for stopping to say farewell several minutes later as she parked the Mercedes next to the Lotus and opened the door. The sight of the sleek, white sports car brought up the depressing image of a professional gigolo again and Kalinda told herself she was absolutely right in her decision not to see Rand again after this morning. Two ships passing in the night.
The morning sunlight was corning cheerfully through the swaying pines as she knocked tentatively on the door. She really didn’t know that much about his habits, Kalinda thought as she waited for a response. Perhaps he’d gone fishing. Or perhaps he was still asleep. Maybe today he would rouse himself sufficiently to open the gallery.
She was running through the list of possibilities for not finding him at home when the door was abruptly flung open.
Whatever Kalinda had planned to say was squelched before she could form the words by the sight of him standing on the threshold staring at her. He looked terrible! The chestnut hair was ruffled as if he’d been combing his hand through it The hazel eyes were dark and strained and there was a desperately tired, haggard look about him which caught at her heart He was wearing the faded jeans and an unbuttoned white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He held a cup of coffee in one hand.
In the instant of silent regard that passed between them, Kalinda felt the taut emotion vibrating in the atmosphere. She met his eyes and began a frantic search for something reasonable to say. He didn’t look at all reasonable, however.
„Rand, I… I only stopped by to tell…“ she began.
His hand fell away from the door and the cup of coffee was set down on a nearby stand. The hazel eyes flared to life with a deep, hungry gleam as he reached for her.
„You came to tell me you’ve changed your mind about meeting Hutton tonight at the motel,“ he stated evenly, his fingers sliding around her neck while his thumbs went under her jaw to hold her face so that she could not look away.
„Yes,“ she said simply, feeling the currents of physical awareness passing through her. He looked awful, she told herself again, and somehow he made her want to take him in her arms and comfort him. How could that be?
„It’s about time you got here,“ he whispered thickly, pulling her gently, inexorably toward him. „I’ve spent most of the night walking the floor over you, Kalinda Brady. Thank God you’ve finally decided to put me out of my misery!“
His mouth came heavily down on hers before she could think of a way to respond to his words. And as soon as she felt his warm, aggressive passion flood her senses, Kalinda realized this was the real reason she’d talked herself into saying good-bye to him.
„I was sure I could get you to make the right decision,“ he said huskily against her lips. „So sure. But there was always the possibility I’d guessed wrong.“
„Are you often wrong about people?“ she asked softly, her hands sliding up his chest, pushing aside the loosely hanging shirt.
„Very seldom,“ he replied equally softly. „But it’s never been quite this important to be right before!“
Then his mouth closed fiercely over hers once more, the tip of his probing tongue flicking across her lips and ultimately claiming the inner warmth of her mouth.
Kalinda shivered beneath the onslaught, thrusting aside her common sense and knowing as she felt his hands move on her that this morning she was going to surrender to the pull of an intense passion she’d never known before.
He heard the soft sigh with which she accepted the reality of their desire and Rand folded her tightly, tenderly against him, an answering groan of need deep in his chest.
His fingers found the line of her spine and tracked upward, sending out little eddies of sensuous current at every point along the way. Kalinda felt him arch her against his lower body and she moaned her aching response.
„I’ve wanted you from the moment I saw you,“ he breathed, stringing slow, damp little kisses along her cheek to the nape of her neck. With one strong hand he held her face buried in his shoulder while his teeth nipped erotically at the vulnerable neck he was baring.
The tuxedo-styled shirt and lacy bra seemed to float free of her body, leaving her nude from the waist up. The morning sunlight danced along the silky skin of her shoulders and she heard Rand’s indrawn breath. Gently he freed her hair.
„I’m exhausted from pacing my floor; I’ve had so much coffee it’s a wonder I’m able to think at all. Never in my life have I had so many doubts about my own judgment, but suddenly I feel fantastic,“ Rand growled as she played her fingers across the muscles of his back, her hands moving under the white shirt.
