Corporate Affair

3

Rand stared at her for a long, taut moment, his expression hard and unreadable.

„You can’t go through with it,“ he finally said flatly. „It’s too damn dangerous.“

„Dangerous!“ Kalinda almost smiled at that „David’s not the physical type. He wouldn’t…“

„Rape you? Don’t be a fool. Any man could be dangerous in a situation such as you’re planning! And you’ve already misjudged him once, haven’t you?“

She winced at his pointed comment „That was two years ago. I’ve learned a lot since then. I know him for what he is.“

He shook his head. „What makes you think that?“

„I learned everything I needed to know about the man when he came to me after my father’s funeral and said he was breaking off the engagement!“

„All you learned at that point was that he’d wanted to marry you in order to gain control of what he’d assumed was a successful company. You discovered he was no longer interested in you or the company when its financial status had been revealed. But you didn’t learn anything about what he’d be likely to do in a confrontation such as the one you’re planning!“ Rand’s voice was chilling. „Face it, he might very well turn vicious. But that’s not the only risk you’re running!“

She frowned, wishing on the one hand she’d never let him discover her real reasons for being in town and knowing on the other that some part of her had wanted to talk to another human being about the reckless plan. Why had that convenient human being turned out to be this unsympathetic male?

„What other risk could there be?“ she snapped, goaded by his glowering disapproval.

„Are you sure revenge is the real reason you’re planning this?“ he growled. „Two years ago you were in love with the man. Maybe you’re really here to see if you can pick up the pieces…“

„No!“ The idea was ludicrous! „After what he did to me?“

„He hurt you. People hurt other people all the time but that doesn’t always kill the love they have for each other.“

„I assure you a healthy dose of reality killed any-feeling I might have had for David Hutton two years ago,“ she blazed.

„You still feel strongly enough about the man to want revenge,“ he reminded her coolly. „They say hate is akin to love.“

„That’s absurd and you know it,“ she scoffed with great certainty. Whatever else she felt for David Hutton after two years, Kalinda knew love had nothing to do with her emotions.

„Exactly what did happen two years ago after David took back his ring?“ Rand regarded her probingly, sounding as if he were trying to get to the bottom of a serious mystery.

Kalinda lifted one shoulder casually. „I had my hands full trying to salvage the business. I didn’t spend a lot of time brooding over my tragic romance, if that’s what you’re thinking.“

„Brady Data Processing, I take it, is no longer on the skids?“ he murmured dryly.

„No, it’s not“ That remark brought an unconscious smile of pride and satisfaction to Kalinda’s lips. „We’re on the way back. We’ve shown profits for the last three quarters, in fact.“

One chestnut eyebrow lifted in acknowledgment of the accomplishment „You must have worked hard during the past two years.“

„1 did,“ she admitted simply. It was the truth. She had literally buried herself in her work. And now, finally, it had all begun to pay off. She could afford to relax and enjoy her well-earned success.

„Why?“ he asked evenly.

She hesitated. „I had to.“

„In order to forget Hutton?“ he demanded, sounding thoroughly irritated at that possibility.

She shook her head, her mouth quirking upward. „It had nothing to do with David. I had to try to salvage the company because so many people were depending on me. You don’t know what it was like.“

„An old, established family firm with employees and members of the board who’d started out with your father while still in their teens?“ he hazarded dryly. „People who’d spent their whole working lives there?“

She looked at him in astonishment „How did you know?“

„I told you, we aren’t totally isolated up here,“ he retorted cryptically. „I’ve heard of companies like your father’s. So bound by traditional ways of doing things that they gently begin to sink beneath the waves of progress. Is that what was happening at the time your father was killed?“

„I’m afraid so. After I got my degree in business administration I went to work for another company. I knew I wouldn't fit in at my father’s firm. Then he was killed and the board of directors asked me to consider taking over the day-to-day management After all, I’d inherited it and them along with all those long-time employees. It was almost feudal!“

„And you didn’t have the heart to liquidate or sell out?“

„How could I do that to all those people? But after a few months I realized there was more to it than just a sense of responsibility…“

„It became a challenge?“ he murmured.

„As I’ve said before, you’re very perceptive,“ Kalinda smiled.

„So now, two years later, you’ve got the company back on its feet and David Hutton is trying to slip back into your life. Doesn’t that strike you as something of a coincidence?“

Kalinda stared at him, shocked at that line of reasoning and then shook her head firmly. „David is thoroughly involved with his own firm; the manufacturing business where he was vice-president at the time of my father’s death has moved him up to president Why should he be interested in Brady Data Processing now?“

There was a lengthy silence from Rand’s side of the picnic blanket.

„Simple greed?“ he finally suggested caustically.

She thought about that, wryly admitting that finding out David’s renewed interest in her was once again based on Brady Data Processing would be a blow to her ego.

„He married well. Very well. He’s running a successful business.“

„All of which might make him more greedy than ever.“

„Where did you gain all this vast insight into the motivations of other people?“ she grumbled. „You must meet quite a wide variety of tourists up here!“

„I do.“

„Well, what you’ve just suggested only makes me more determined than ever to go through with my plan. If I’m right I’ll have the satisfaction of denying him me. If you’re right, I’ll have the satisfaction of denying him the firm!“

„Neither of which is an adequate reason for taking the risk of seeing him again, dammit! You could get hurt in more ways than one, can’t you get that through your head? What’s the matter? Hasn’t mere been any other man in the past two years who could take your mind off him?“

Kalinda gave him a startled, too-revealing glance and he nodded in grim satisfaction. „So that’s it. He’s the last man you were serious about. You’ve spent the past two years devoting your energies to your firm and you haven’t had time for a proper, flaming romance which might have dimmed the memory of your ex-fiance!“

„That’s a crazy line of logic! And here I was thinking you so perceptive!“ she hissed, infuriated with him suddenly.

„What you need is someone to replace the memories with a much more interesting reality.“ Rand reached for her as Kalinda, seeing the flicker of intent in his eyes, started to edge away. But she wasn’t quick enough.

„Rand, don’t…“

„Give me one night, Kalinda,“ he grated, his hands on her shoulders. „Just one night…“

„Why, you egotistical fool! What makes you think one night with a vacation fling would be enough to wipe out the memories of another man? How dare you even suggest…“

Her words were choked off as she was pressed back onto the blanket Rand moved swiftly, anchoring her twisting legs with his thigh and catching her wrists in one of his callus-roughened hands. Memories poured through her at his determined touch, but the memories were of the previous evening, not two years ago.

„You weren’t thinking of Hutton last night, were you?“ he challenged, holding her still beneath him, his hazel eyes gleaming with purpose and the beginnings of desire. „And somehow, I get the feeling you’re not thinking of his kisses right now either!“

„Rand, listen to me,“ Kalinda pleaded, knowing she was not exactly in a position to goad him further. She would have to use reason and the truth if she wanted to calm him. „I’m not carrying a torch for David Hutton. I’m angry at him for what he did to me two years ago, but I’m not still, in love with him! Believe me! I just want a chance to pay him back for treating me so shabbily. It’s called poetic justice!“

„It’s called being stupid,“ he retorted, leaning his weight across her chest and gently crushing her breasts beneath the thin covering of the tunic top. With his free hand he lightly stroked the line of her throat Kalinda felt the slight tremor of response in her body and knew he’d felt it, too.

„I can assure you that calling me stupid is not a good method of seducing me!“

His fingers trailed to the unbuttoned collar of the tunic and he smiled crookedly. „Who knows? Perhaps lady executives respond to the more unusual methods!“

„Let me go, Rand,“ she ordered forcefully, her eyes narrowed as she looked up at him from the vulnerable position.

His face softened and she heard the new, coaxing note in his voice. „Honey, can’t you see you’re on the verge of making a gigantic mistake? You’ve said I’m perceptive. Why don’t you pay attention to that perception? Regardless of your motivations, the risks are too great In addition to being perceptive, Fm also a man. Give me some credit for being able to predict how another man might react in the situation you’re trying to set up?“

„How would you react?“ she whispered, eyes widening with the question. She didn’t know what had made her ask it. Overhead the pines swayed, breaking the path of the sunlight so that it dappled their bodies. Kalinda was violently aware of the warm strength of Rand and the way his maleness seemed a part of their wild surroundings. The clean, musky scent of him reached her nostrils with a tantalizing tang that elicited a response from her body.

„That’s not easy to answer,“ he confessed a little roughly, „because I can’t conceive of ever letting you go in the first place.“

„Of course you can,“ she scoffed bitterly. „I’ll bet you’re an old hand at managing the short-term affair!“

„If I did find myself in Hutton’s shoes for whatever reason,“ he went on deliberately, ignoring her provocation, „I doubt I’d meekly sit back and let you have your revenge. If I’d arrived at an isolated mountain resort expecting to rekindle an old romance, I’d make damn sure something did, indeed, get reignited. You’d wind up in my bed, Kalinda, regardless of your intentions.“

„But you’re not David!“ she shot back warily.

„No, I’m not Hutton,“ he agreed deeply and lowered his head to take her lips with a passion that Kalinda forced herself to admit she’d wanted to taste again. Ever since he’d first exposed her to it last night.

His mouth moved on hers with mounting desire as his hand slid down the buttons of the tunic, unfastening each in turn. When his fingers found her unconfined breasts, Kalinda gasped, the soft, broken moan in her throat stifled by his probing tongue.

Her own tongue moved instinctively to engage in the small, intimate duel with his and her arms circled him. She raked her nails almost tenderly down the back of his neck and under his collar, delighting once more in the reflexive arching of his body against her.

„Kalinda, Kalinda,“ he groaned as he slid his leg between hers. „Give me one night Just one night I swear you’ll forget all about him by morning!“

He reached down to push her legs farther apart, letting his hand trace an erotic pattern against the material of her white pants. She sucked in her bream as he wove the pattern steadily upward along her inner thigh. His mouth began to explore the line of her throat, moving slowly, inevitably toward the hardening peak of her breast.

„Oh, Rand, Rand,“ she cried softly, „I shouldn’t let you do this to me. I know I shouldn’t Ifs crazy…“

„Stop worrying about it and just accept the way things are between us,“ he murmured against the warmth of her skin. „There’s nothing wrong with two people getting very lucky unexpectedly.“

Before she could summon her thoughts for a rational protest, his teeth had closed carefully on one nipple, sending electric waves through her. The seductive hand traveling along her thigh reached the warm juncture of her legs and she closed her eyes tightly, knowing he must be aware of the heat he was generating in her.

„Honey, you’re practically melting in my hands,“ he breathed with beguiling satisfaction as his fingers closed briefly over the feminine heart of her desire. „Don’t you realize I must have all of you? I have to know what it’s like to lose myself completely in your body. I’ve never ached so badly for a woman in my life!“

Kalinda writhed, arching herself against his hand and felt the instant response of his own body. Trembling, she began a sensitive, questing path down his side until she reached the barrier of the jeans. Restlessly, deliciously, she slipped her fingers just inside and heard his hoarse reaction.

„Please touch me,“ Rand begged, even as he began to fumble with the clasp of her white trousers. „I need to feel your hands on me. So soft, so exciting.“

Unable to resist the urgent demand in him, Kalinda slowly undid the fastening of his jeans. She felt the trembling in him and knew a womanly power she had never known before. It was somehow very important and wholly satisfying to know she could make this one particular man respond. As her senses whirled dizzily some vague instinct told her that this was the only man in the world whose response counted.

With delicate, tender caresses she explored the hard, fully aroused male frame. He reacted to the butterfly touches as if they were glowing lasers. When she sank her fingers into the muscular buttock, she heard him call out her name with a fierceness that excited her beyond reason.

But even as she sought to inflame him further, Kalinda was slipping rapidly under the spell Rand was working on her own body. She felt the possessive spread of his fingers on her stomach and turned her head into his shoulder with a sigh of need when his hand went lower.

„You can’t respond like this to me and still be thinking of that other man,“ Rand groaned huskily, his mouth on the silky skin of her stomach. „You can’t! I won’t let you!“

„No,“ she whispered brokenly. „I’m only thinking of you. I can barely think at all!“

„That’s the way it should be. Lose yourself in me, sweetheart, just as I’m losing myself in you.“

Kalinda felt the waves of desire wash over her, knew a surging excitement she’d never experienced and slowly common sense fell aside.

With a deep sound of pleasure and anticipation, Rand moved, rolling onto his back and pulling Kalinda down across his chest. She blinked as her equilibrium swam momentarily and then reacted to the hot invitation in his eyes.

Dropping passionate little kisses along his shoulder, Kalinda pushed aside the sport shirt Rand wore. Recklessly she wound her fingers in the hair on his chest, tugging gently.

„Vixen,“ he muttered enticingly and tightened his grasp on her hip until she gasped from the curious pleasure-pain.

„You’re a menace to the male of the species, do you realize that?“ he charged on a husky note of impassioned laughter.

„No,“ she denied vehemently, her light-colored hair falling loose to swirl across his chest as she dipped her tongue into the pit of his firm stomach. „I’m not normally like this,“ she added uncomprehendingly. „I've never felt quite like this. You do something crazy to me, Rand Alastair.“

His hold on her became at once soothing and even more demanding as he heard the honest bewilderment in her words.

„The feeling,“ he growled, „is mutual My God, woman! To think we could have gone for the rest of our lives not knowing this sensation! If nothing else, I shall have to be grateful to Hutton for luring you up here!“

Kalinda froze. David’s name was like a dash of cold water in her face. Slowly, with a gathering sense of amazed confusion, she lifted her head. What was she doing? This was utterly insane! She hardly knew this man and here she was making love to him as if he were a lover of long-standing!

Mutely she met his eyes, knowing he was at once aware of the self-disgust in her own bleak gaze.

„Kalinda?“ he whispered pleadingly. „What’s wrong, sweetheart?“ His hands encircled her waist, holding her in place above him. „Stop looking at me like that I’m not going to hurt you.“

„I… I know,“ she managed, struggling to bring her reeling senses back under control. „But I never meant… I didn’t mean to get involved like this again today. I don’t understand what you do to me, but it’s all wrong! We’re all wrong. We… we don’t belong together…“

Painfully, she tried to separate herself from him, thrusting a hand through her hair to sweep it back from her face. She sat up with the greatest care, as if the movement was incredibly difficult His eyes never left hers and she saw dismay and a growing coolness begin to wipe out the passion that had looked out at her from the hazel depths.

„Damn it to hell,“ he muttered, his hands still on her waist „It was Hutton’s name mat did it, wasn’t it?

What a fool I am. You’d think a man would know when to keep his mouth shut!“

In spite of the charged atmosphere, Kalinda knew a rueful spark of humor as she listened to him condemn his own stupidity. „I’m sorry, Rand. I should never have let things go this far. I honestly don’t know what got into me.“

He regarded her with a narrowed, seething glance. „You’ve been a chief executive officer for so long you automatically accept the responsibility for whatever happens around you or to you, right? I’ve got news for you, darling, I was involved in this, too! In fact, I started it!“

He sat up, releasing her to rake his hand impatiently through his thick, tousled hair. „And it’s all my fault it’s ground to a premature halt!“

„For which I’m very grateful,“ she flung back, stung by his scathing tone. „I have no intention of being a one-night stand for you, dammit!“

„And I have no intention of letting you be a one-night stand for your ex-fiance!“

„How many times do I have to tell you, that’s not the way it’s going to be? I’ll be in charge tomorrow night and I know exactly what I’m doing!“

„The hell you do! You’re so blinded by your memories of that bastard you can’t see the stupidity of your own plans! If you ran Brady Data Processing with that degree of insanity, you would have lost it to bankruptcy long ago!“

„What do you know about running a company into insolvency?“ she gritted tersely. „Don’t talk to me about how to run my life or my business. We live in two separate worlds and you aren’t in any position to give me advice!“ She leaped to her feet, madly straightening her clothing and frantically trying not to cry. Why the threat of tears? She wished desperately she could figure out why this man had such an incredible affect on her. It made no sense at all!

He stood up beside her with a quick grace and caught her wrist „Kalinda, I’m sorry,“ he muttered. „Please believe me. I never meant to shout at you like that But it’s so damn frustrating…“

„A man your age must know how to handle a little masculine frustration by now!“

„Fm not talking about the way you just frustrated me physically,“ he rasped, giving her a small shake. „I’m talking about how frustrating it is to try to make you see reason. You can’t go through with your plans for tomorrow night It’s too dangerous.“ His voice lowered gruffly, persuasively. „Please give me a chance to make you change your mind. I meant what I said a little while ago. Give me one night and I can make you forget him.“

„Your ego is as vast as David’s!“

The moment the words left her mouth Kalinda could have bitten her tongue. Red stained the tanned heights of his cheekbones as he reacted to the comparison of himself with the other man. His fingers on her wrist tightened bruisingly.

Impulsively, without stopping to think, Kalinda lifted her hand to touch the side of his face with a placating gesture, her eyes soft and apologetic.

„I’m sorry I said that,“ she whispered huskily. „I didn’t mean to imply you were anything like him. I know you’re not, believe me.“

She waited in an agony of suspense, watching the play of emotions across his features. She hadn’t meant to hurt him, hadn’t really stopped to think that he could be hurt. Not by her. He hardly knew her!

„That,“ he finally said evenly, „was a rather low blow!“

She winced, unconsciously sinking her teeth into her lower lip as she met his hard, accusing stare.

„I know. I’m sorry.“ She didn’t know what else to say.

He searched her face a moment longer and then appeared to relax slightly. „But maybe you weren’t so far off the mark,“ he sighed. „I suppose it must sound like sheer male ego talking when I tell you all I need is one night to put that man out of your head forever.“

Kalinda said nothing, but she didn’t deny his statement. His mouth twisted wryly. He raised his free hand and wrapped it around her neck under the fall of brown-blond hair. She felt him lightly massaging her nape and against her will her knees seemed to weaken. She didn’t understand his affect on her but she knew it was dangerous. Far more dangerous than any risks she might be running in her plot to avenge herself on David.

„All I can say, sweetheart, is that it isn’t my ego talking, it’s that ‘perception’ you keep crediting me with,“ he half-smiled. „Won’t you listen to it?“

„Rand, we aren’t meant for each other. Not even for a night,“ Kalinda said sadly. „Can’t you understand that? We’re two entirely different people. You need an easy-going, outdoorsy sort of woman. Perhaps someone who is also an artist“

„And you’re a high-powered, competitive female executive who likes the good things in life, right?“ he finished for her with a knowing look. „A woman who knows what she wants in a relationship and doesn’t think she’s going to find it in me. After all, I’m a lazy, good-for-nothing, ski-bum-fisherman who sells a few artsy-craftsy things on the side to keep the wolf from the door. Completely lacking in the good old American work ethic.“

Kalinda thought about the white Lotus and the expensively furnished home by the lake and refrained from inquiring as to the source of those things. She might not like the answer. The thought that she had met up with a professional gigolo and had almost let him make love to her was totally unnerving. She didn’t want to know which rich lady tourist had paid for the Lotus last winter!

But even as she thought the worst of him, Kalinda knew she didn’t have all the facts. She barely knew him. She would try to refrain from judging him. He had his own life to live just as she had hers.

„Rand, please, don’t put words in my mouth. Let’s just say we come from two different walks of life, okay? We should never have let ourselves get carried away like this on the basis of a simple physical attraction.“

„Well, at least you’re admitting we have got that much going for us!“

She smiled weakly, shaking her head in exasperation. „I can’t very well deny that, can I? But it’s not enough. I’m not in the market for a weekend affair and that’s final. I think I’d better be getting back to the motel.“

„What about dinner tonight?“ he countered coolly. „I’ve already bought the steaks and the wine.“

She looked at him helplessly. „And changed the sheets on the bed, too, I expect?“

He stared at her for a second and then grinned that engaging, slightly feral grin which was so unbelievably attractive on him. „How did you guess?“

„I have this strange feeling you’ve got the routine down pat!“

„No,“ he denied at once, sobering. „This time it’s special. There’s nothing routine about it Please, Kalinda. Have dinner with me tonight“

„So you can spend the evening trying to talk me out of my plans?“ she sighed.

„Yes.“

„No thanks!“

„I swear I won’t drag you off to bed.“ There was a meaningful pause. „Unless, of course, you decide that’s where you belong, after all. Just promise to have dinner with me. I swear I won’t muscle you into the bedroom.“

„We’ll only spend the time arguing over what I’m going to do tomorrow night,“ she protested, knowing she was weakening before the persuasiveness in him.

„Have you got anything better to do than argue with me?“ he murmured, his fingers on her nape moving lightly, seductively. „Think of it as an opportunity to convince me you know what you’re doing!“

„How can I refuse such a charming invitation!“ she muttered dryly, wretchedly aware that spending the evening with him was exactly what she wanted to do, regardless of the complications involved.

„You high-powered female executives are all alike,“ he taunted on a soft rumble of laughter as he bent to brush his lips against hers. „Can’t resist a challenge!“