Silk on the Skin: A Loveswept Classic Romance (6 page)

He smiled at her. “A company has to be run by what’s best for the whole. Too many people depend
on it for their livelihoods to stand on good manners. You’re letting one man get in the way of what’s best for everyone else.”

Determined to puncture his argument, she rested her elbows on the fake marble veneer of the Formica top, and smiled sweetly. “That’s the problem, isn’t it, Dallas? I don’t know that what you’re saying is the best thing for Marks & Lindley.”

“Yes, you do.” He placed his forearms on the counter. Their hands nearly touched. “You know Lusty Lingerie is totally wrong for the company. And you wonder why you were never made aware of the line.”

She stared into his tawny brown eyes, fascinated by the tiny flecks of green flame she saw in their depths. “I’m not wondering about anything. I missed the announcement, that’s all. I’m a lousy reader.”

His features seemed to loom closer, yet she could have sworn he hadn’t moved. “You can’t read what isn’t there, Cass. Aren’t you wondering what else you ‘missed’?”

He had the beginnings of a dimple on his right cheek. Odd that she’d never noticed it before, she dimly thought. “What else could I have missed?”

“This.”

His mouth captured hers in a fierce kiss that sent a sudden and shocking explosion of desire rocketing through her body. She tried to resist it, to force herself to break away, but a loud buzzing was in her head, cutting off all logic and sensibilities. Mindless, she pressed closer, greedily trying to draw in the incredible sustenance she found. His hands, strong and sure, knotted around her ash-blond tresses, his lips coaxing hers to open.

Helplessly, she responded as he deepened the kiss. Her hands threaded through his hair, her fingers clenching and unclenching with her rising need. For long minutes their tongues swirled together in the first dance of mating, teasing and tormenting their desire to greater heights. As if she’d been kissing him all her life, she instinctively sensed the changes of movement and adjusted her mouth to his each time. The promise of satisfaction sang through her, as did the desperation to possess it. Breathing was impossible and unnecessary. It wasn’t fair, she thought, that he could kiss like this.…

She was never sure who ended the kiss first. Suddenly, though, his lips were gone, and at the same time she was straightening away from the counter. They gazed at each other across the solid barrier between their bodies.

Finally he spoke. “We can’t do that again, Cass.”

“No,” she agreed, refusing to turn away from him. He’d think she was hurt by his words. And she wasn’t hurt. She ignored a shot of odd pain that raced through her. Common sense never hurt anybody, she acknowledged. It was just a case of libidos exercising their freedom of speech … so to speak. One little kiss was nothing to get excited about.

Cass swallowed against the lie.

“Right.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “You about ready to go?”

She looked around for the bank bag she knew she must have knocked over when she’d been kissing him. It was on the floor. Promising herself she’d come in early to clean the store, she picked
up the bag and forced a smile to her lips. “I just have to lock up.”

Without looking at him again, she finished her tasks and strode proudly out the door.

In the small hours of the night, Cass glanced at her illuminated clock radio and groaned. Three in the morning, and she still hadn’t fallen asleep. Dammit, who could, after getting kissed like that?

He was the wrong man, she told herself for the hundredth time. The wrong man. He was underhanded and ruthless. He was funny and charming. She liked him, and she didn’t. She was attracted and repulsed.

Yet she had kissed him as if he were the only man on earth and she were starved for him.

“I’m so confused!” She moaned, crossing her arms over her eyes.

Why did it have to be Dallas Carter who sent her body soaring with delight? She was too old not to know a unique physical attraction when she found it. Still, that didn’t mean her body ruled her. After all, she was a grown woman, and totally in control when around the human male.

The problem, unfortunately, was that he was different from the wealthy spoiled men she knew. Dallas had a hardness to him that spoke of an uneasy road to maturity. He seemed like a man who had learned a few lessons over the years, just as she had.

The kiss ran through her mind, and instantly the sensations were flowing around and through her again. Her breasts ached, and her blood swirled thickly until it settled in her pelvis.

Gritting her teeth to dispel the feeling, she decided he was absolutely right. They definitely couldn’t do that again. She reluctantly acknowledged a bit of admiration for him. He must have some sort of honor code even to suggest a kiss was wrong.

So why had she had this urge to kill ever since he’d said it?

Now, that, she admitted bitterly, made no sense whatsoever. What she ought to be doing was figuring out how to keep him busy until the board meeting on the twentieth.

Cass frowned, remembering how she had looked through her papers and still hadn’t found a notice of the meeting date—or an announcement about Lusty Lingerie. It wasn’t like her to misplace them. Shrugging, she decided she’d been smart to call Ned. She should be receiving his packet by the end of the week at the latest. Then everything would be cleared up. She hoped.

In the meantime, all she had to do was never be alone with Dallas Carter again.

A faint snicking sound caught her attention, and she strained her ears at the unusual noise. Lord, she thought, please don’t let that be a gas leak. Why the house was suddenly falling down around her, she couldn’t understand. She mustn’t be as good a homeowner as she thought she was.

She froze at a sudden screech of metal across glass, followed by a muffled curse. If that was a gas leak, it was definitely getting human help.

Someone was trying to break in through her sliding-glass front doors.

She knew that even if the person outside managed
to unlock the door, he still wouldn’t be able to open it, since she kept a piece of broomstick between the door channels to prevent just such a thing from happening. Still, the thought didn’t stop the fear from roiling inside her.

Swallowing heavily, she slowly lifted the covers and quietly slid her feet over the side of the bed. She picked up the receiver of the phone on the nightstand, breathed a sigh of relief at the sound of a dial tone, and immediately punched out the number of the police. A calm, reassuring voice answered.

“Help,” she whispered. “Somebody’s trying to break in.”

“Could you speak up, please?”

“Hell, no, I can’t speak up!” she whispered frantically, nearly covering the mouthpiece with her hand so the person outside wouldn’t hear her. “Somebody’s trying to break in! Two-oh-seven Shore—”

“Hello? I can’t understand you. Are you drunk?”

“Help, police! Somebody’s trying to break into my house!”
she bellowed into the phone, terrified that the dispatcher would become disgusted and hang up. “Two-oh-seven Shore Drive! Hurry up!”

“Thank you, miss. We’re dispatching a patrol car now. What is the address again?”

She nearly screamed in frustration. “Two-oh-seven—!”

From outside, she heard a sudden tumble of feet running across the deck and stumbling down the stairs.

Slumping, she muttered, “He’s gone, thank goodness.”

“Shall I recall the car?” the voice asked.

She ground her teeth together and said, “No. I’d like an officer to check the lock.”

“Fine. Name, please.”

When she finally hung up the phone, she flopped back in the bed and groaned aloud. She felt as if she’d just run an obstacle course and lost. She could understand that the police needed information, but by the time they were finished getting it, an intruder could have done his dirty work and been halfway to California. She doubted hers would be back that night. She’d probably frightened him as badly as he had her. Still, she’d feel a whole lot better after the police arrived.

One good thing about being scared out of her wits, she thought in dry amusement. It had driven Dallas’s explosive kiss from her mind.

Her home had almost been violated, though, and she dreaded the thought of staying there alone for the rest of the night. Jean, she decided, was about to have unexpected company.

She ignored the little voice inside that said a certain man would prove a more pleasurable host.

Five
 

Standing next to WinterLand’s back door, Dallas frowned as he watched Jean’s car come around the side of the building. He was sure the work schedule said she had this day off.

He strode over to the car as Jean emerged from it. “Isn’t Cass supposed to be here?”

“She’s taking my day off,” Jean said while locking the door on the driver’s side.

“She’s—”

“I bargained hard during negotiations and got the entire weekend in a trade.” Jean laughed. “It nearly killed her.”

“Dammit,” Dallas muttered, realizing he wouldn’t see Cass at all today. “She can’t do this.”

“Tell it to the boss.”

Her words gave him an idea, and he smiled evilly. “I will. How do I get to her house?”

“She’s not there,” Jean said.

He cursed again.

“She’s going out on her boat today,” Jean added. “But I think you can still catch her at the marina—”

“What marina, and how do I get there?”

She gave him directions, and as he ran for his car, she called out, “Shall I call Joe and tell him you’re trading days with him?”

Reaching his car, he turned around and said, “Tell him if he will, then he’s got the weekend off too.”

“He’ll kiss you for it!”

“I hope not,” Dallas muttered, unlocking the door and scrambling inside. He had his suspicions about Joe.

Gunning the car to life, he grabbed his sunglasses off the dash and put them on as protection against the sun’s bright glare. Another hot one, he thought absently, then backed the car out of the slot and took off for the highway. He smiled to himself. It was obvious Cass had thought to avoid him by taking the day off. He wasn’t about to let that happen. Not after the kiss they’d shared.

Dammit, he thought. Why had he ever told her they couldn’t kiss again? No sooner had the words come from his mouth than he’d sensed the trap he’d set for himself. The strong attraction he’d felt for her had settled in firmly with the kiss. Avoiding it wouldn’t make it go away, any more than avoiding him would make him go away. She’d face it; he’d see to that.

When he reached the marina he drove slowly, searching for a sign of her. He spotted her about halfway down one of the small docks. She was loading a cooler onto a tiny rowboat with a small outboard motor hanging off its stern. Reading the
boat’s name, he chuckled to himself.
WinterLand II.
Nice advertising touch, he acknowledged, and it reached a new group of potential customers. No flower child could have thought of that.

He parked the car, got out, and locked it. He strode down the ramp and onto the dock. Coming up behind her, he asked, “Do you always take the day off when you don’t want to face something?”

She jerked for an instant, then set down the beach bag she was holding and turned around. Her expression was cool, almost blank. “Good morning, Dallas. When you go back to the store, please tell Jean she’s definitely fired for blabbing about my burglar.”

“What burglar?” he asked, suddenly confused. He pushed his sunglasses onto the top of his head.

She made a face. “Me and my big mouth. I take it you didn’t come down here about my burglar.”

“What burglar?” he demanded, his stomach muscles suddenly tensing.

“My place was nearly burgled last night.…”

He stared at her with growing amazement as she told him about hearing noises at her door and scaring the person away with her call to the police. She added, “Actually, I don’t know who was more terrified—him or me.”

“Lord, Cass,” he said, grabbing her by the shoulders as an odd stab of protectiveness washed through him. Silently he cursed himself for not being there. The burglar, if he had known it, had been let off easy with a scare. “If he had gotten in—”

“I’m okay,” she interrupted firmly, stepping away
from him and picking up a large wire basket. She set it in the boat. “It was probably just a kid, who’s had all thoughts of a life of crime scared out of him. I hope. Now, what are you doing here?”

He picked up a second basket and tossed it in the boat. “I’m going fishing with you.”

She started, then turned around. Her eyes were wide with shock. “The hell you are, Dallas Carter.”

“The hell I’m not, Cass Lindley,” he replied nonchalantly.

“But you have to go back to the store! Jean—”

“Joe is filling in for me.” He laughed. “I will be working the weekend with you.”

Cass moaned.

“You ought to know by now you can’t get rid of me,” he said. “Just think of me as a bodyguard. A fish could try to mug you out there, and without me along, where would you be?”

“A whole lot safer,” she muttered just loudly enough for him to hear.

He grinned.

In a normal voice she added, “Knowing you, you’d swim alongside the boat, just to bug me to death.”