the last three years while I took Hawk’s money and saw the world.“
„Hawk must be as generous as he is handsome.“
Raven smiled crookedly. „Technically the money’s mine, but Hawk is the one who made it for me. The man’s a bloody genius with investments and land. Not long after he and Angel met, I gave him a few thousand dollars. A year later he gave me back a few million.“
„I lost most of it the following year,“ Raven said matter-of-factly. „Storms and fickle fish. Hawk just laughed and showed me how to make it all over again.“
Janna waved her wineglass in a vague circle that took in the
Raven shrugged and dipped another oyster in the thick sauce. „Like Hawk says, money’s just a way of keeping score. It’s nothing to build a life around. Angel is, though, and he knows it. Smart man, Hawk.“ Raven chewed the oyster thoughtfully. „Still a bit saucy.“
„Is that what you’re doing?“
„Being saucy?“ he asked innocently.
But Janna didn’t smile. Questions were crowding her tongue, reckless questions fueled by frustration and potent wine. „Are you building your life around Angel, too?“ she asked, forking up another oyster.
The smile vanished from Raven’s face, leaving behind the silence and blunt strength that was his very core. „I’m not a fool, Janna,“ he said quietly. „Angel will never love anyone but Hawk. He feels the same way about her.“
„And so do you,“ Janna said bleakly.
She drank more wine, hoping that it would finish the job of numbing her brain that the first glass had already begun. Her tongue, however, wasn’t yet numb. She had drunk just enough wine to say whatever came to her and let the chips hit the fan. Vaguely she realized that wasn’t quite what chips were supposed to do. Well, the chips would just have to look out for themselves. She lifted her glass in a mocking toast.
„To love,“ she said. „The best antidote to happiness yet devised by man.“
The bitterness in Janna’s voice surprised Raven. His eyes narrowed as he saw the unhappiness the wine had revealed beneath Janna’s humor.
„You aren’t drinking.“ she noted.
Raven said nothing.
„Ah well,“ said Janna carelessly, shrugging, „not everyone likes the truth. There are times when I sure as hell don’t.“ She drained her glass.
„And what is the truth?“ he asked in a deep voice.
„You’re hung up on Angel.“
„There have been other women in my life.“
„But only one Angel,“ Janna retorted recklessly. „The perfect willowy blond, green eyes full of mysteries and tragedy. Meanwhile the rest of the women in the world can forget it. Whatever they have to offer you isn’t wanted.“
„That’s not true.“
Janna muttered something succinct and contradictory beneath her breath as she reached for the wine bottle. It was empty. Startled, she looked at Raven’s glass. It was also empty.
„More wine?“ he asked smoothly. „This is getting interesting.
„I have just enough brains left to know that more wine would be a really dumb idea for me,“ Janna said, stabbing an oyster so hard that her fork grated on the shell. „But don’t let that stop you. I’ve been on a roll lately. One dumb thing after another. Next thing you know I’ll be bleaching my hair and learning the harp and shopping for paper wings. Sure, bring on the wine. Fantastic idea. Should have thought of it sooner. Does wine make you tragic and mysterious, too?“
„What in hell are you talking about?“ Raven asked in a mild tone.
„Wining and dining,“ Janna said, waving an oyster at him.
„Was that with or without an
For an instant Janna didn’t understand. Then she heard the echoes of her own bitter words coming back to her. „Whining,“ she whispered too softly for Raven to hear.
„Of course,“ he continued, „most oysters do tend to complain when dining with a walrus. From their point of view…“ He saw the brittle animation suddenly leave Janna’s face, revealing the pain beneath. He curled his hand comfortingly over hers. „Janna? I was joking.“
„Yes, of course,“ she said automatically. She looked at the big hand covering her own and knew that she couldn’t keep up the pretense any longer. Her hand slid from beneath his.
„Excuse me,“ she said carefully. „I’ve had about all the comfort I can handle for one night. I have some sketching I should do while the images are still fresh in my mind.“
Without waiting for Raven’s answer, Janna grabbed the tablet and pencil from the counter. She retreated to her bunk in the bow, shutting the small door behind her, leaving her words to echo in Raven’s mind.
Raven didn’t know that his hand had clenched into a fist until he heard the sudden shattering of the wineglass. Slowly he opened his hand and let the glittering fragments fall to the table. Absently he wiped the bright dust from his palm. He should have known better than to buy such fragile glasses. He wasn’t any good with fragile things. Too damned big. Too damned strong. Too damned brutal. The really fine things of life were invariably crushed within his grasp. Like Angel.
And like Janna.
Raven leaned his head back against the bulkhead, closed his eyes and swore tiredly.
Chapter 6
Raven awakened instantly, silently, completely. His senses told him that the storm was over. The wind was little more than a fading whisper. The
And nearby, someone was crying very softly.
Before Raven could stop himself, he was halfway out of bed and heading for Janna’s bunk in the bow. With an effort of will he forced himself to lie down again. If he went to her, he would give her more than comfort. He would lie beside her and caress her until those beautiful legs opened for him. Then he would slide his hard, violently sensitive flesh into her softness, finding the sweet and wild union that he had been aching for ever since he had seen her struggling so bravely against the storm.
Even as Raven tried to tell himself that surely he could comfort Janna without making love to her, he knew that it wasn’t true. His whole body was flushed with sexual heat, pulsing with the hard beating of his heart. He had never felt so close to the limit of his self-control with a woman. The need to comfort and ravish, to soothe and incite, to find wildness and peace within Janna was tearing him apart.
Grimly Raven lay very still, fighting his unruly body and his equally unruly emotions, knowing that it would be a long time before he got to sleep again. He had been a long time getting to sleep in the first place. He had waited for hours for Janna to stop sketching and come out of the bow cabin so that
