For just a moment she leaned against him, letting him support her with his hard strength. It was too tempting; when his arms were around her, she wanted to forget everything and shut the world out, as long as he was holding her. That kind of need frightened her, and she stiffened in his arms, then pulled free. She swiped her palms over her cheeks, wiping away the dampness, and stubbornly blinked back the remaining tears.
His voice was quiet. “I thought you knew.”
She threw him an incredulous look before turning away. What an opinion he had of her! She didn’t mind his thinking she was spoiled; her father had spoiled her, but mostly because he’d enjoyed doing it so much. Evidently John not only considered her a common whore, but a stupid one to boot.
“Well, I didn’t. And whether I knew or not doesn’t change anything. I still owe you the money.”
“We’ll see my lawyer tomorrow and have the deed drawn up, and that’ll take care of the damned debt. I’ll be here at nine sharp, so be ready. A crew of men will be here in the morning to take care of the fencing and get the hay out to the herd.”
He wasn’t going to give in on that, and he was right; it was too much for her, at least right now. She couldn’t do it all simply because it was too much for one person to do. After she fattened up the beef cattle and sold them off, she’d have some capital to work with and might be able to hire someone part-time.
“All right. But keep a record of how much I owe you. When I get this place back on its feet, I’ll repay every penny.” Her chin was high as she turned to face him, her green eyes remote and proud. This didn’t solve all her problems, but at least the cattle would be cared for. She still had to get the money to pay the bills, but that problem was hers alone.
“Whatever you say, honey,” he drawled, putting his hands on her waist.
She only had time for an indrawn breath before his mouth was on hers, as warm and hard as she remembered, his taste as heady as she remembered. His hands tightened on her waist and drew her to him; then his arms were around her, and the kiss deepened, his tongue sliding into her mouth. Hunger flared, fanned into instant life at his touch. She had always known that once she touched him, she wouldn’t be able to get enough of him.
She softened, her body molding itself to him as she instinctively tried to get close enough to him to feed that burning hunger. She was weak where he was concerned, just as all women were. Her arms were clinging around his neck, and in the end it was he who broke the kiss and gently set her away from him.
“I have work to get back to,” he growled, but his eyes were hot and held dark promises. “Be ready tomorrow.”
“Yes,” she whispered.
Chapter Four
TWO PICKUP TRUCKS came up the drive not long after sunrise, loaded with fencing supplies and five of John’s men. Michelle offered them all a cup of fresh coffee, which they politely refused, just as they refused her offer to show them around the ranch. John had probably given them orders that she wasn’t to do anything, and they were taking it seriously. People didn’t disobey Rafferty’s orders if they wanted to continue working for him, so she didn’t insist, but for the first time in weeks she found herself with nothing to do.
She tried to think what she’d done with herself before, but years of her life were a blank. What had she done? How could she fill the hours now, if working on her own ranch was denied her?
John drove up shortly before nine, but she had been ready for more than an hour and stepped out on the porch to meet him. He stopped on the steps, his dark eyes running over her in heated approval. “Nice,” he murmured just loud enough for her to hear. She looked the way she should always look, cool and elegant in a pale yellow silk surplice dress, fastened only by two white buttons at the waist. The shoulders were lightly padded, emphasizing the slimness of her body, and a white enamel peacock was pinned to her lapel. Her sunshine hair was sleeked back into a demure twist; oversized sunglasses shielded her eyes. He caught the tantalizing fragrance of some softly bewitching perfume, and his body began to heat. She was aristocratic and expensive from her head to her daintily shod feet; even her underwear would be silk, and he wanted to strip every stitch of it away from her, then stretch her out naked on his bed. Yes, this was exactly the way she should look.
Michelle tucked her white clutch under her arm and walked with him to the car, immensely grateful for the sunglasses covering her eyes. John was a hard-working rancher, but when the occasion demanded he could dress as well as any Philadelphia lawyer. Any clothing looked good on his broad-shouldered, slim-hipped frame, but the severe gray suit he wore seemed to heighten his masculinity instead of restraining it. All hint of waviness had been brushed from his black hair. Instead of his usual pickup truck he was driving a dark gray two-seater Mercedes, a sleek beauty that made her think of the Porsche she had sold to raise money after her father had died.
“You said your men were going to help me,” she said expressionlessly as he turned the car onto the highway several minutes later. “You didn’t say they were going to take over.”
He’d put on sunglasses, too, because the morning sun was glaring, and the dark lenses hid the probing look he directed at her stiff profile. “They’re going to do the heavy work.”
“After the fencing is repaired and the cattle are moved to the east pasture, I can handle things from there.”
“What about dipping, castrating, branding, all the things that should’ve been done in the spring? You can’t handle that. You don’t have any horses, any men, and you sure as hell can’t rope and throw a young bull from that old truck you’ve got.”
Her slender hands clenched in her lap. Why did he have to be so right? She couldn’t do any of those things, but neither could she be content as a useless ornament. “I know I can’t do those things by myself, but I can help.”
“I’ll think about it,” he answered noncommittally, but he knew there was no way in hell he’d let her. What could she do? It was hard, dirty, smelly, bloody work. The only thing she was physically strong enough to do was brand calves, and he didn’t think she could stomach the smell or the frantic struggles of the terrified little animals.
“It’s my ranch,” she reminded him, ice in her tone. “Either I help, or the deal’s off.”
John didn’t say anything. There was no point in arguing. He simply wasn’t going to let her do it, and that was that. He’d handle her when the time came, but he didn’t expect much of a fight. When she saw what was involved, she wouldn’t want any part of it. Besides, she couldn’t possibly like the hard work she’d been doing; he figured she was just too proud to back down now.
It was a long drive to Tampa, and half an hour passed without a word between them. Finally she said, “You used to make fun of my expensive little cars.”
He knew she was referring to the sleek Mercedes, and he grunted. Personally, he preferred his pickup. When it came down to it, he was a cattle rancher and not much else, but he was damned good at what he did, and his tastes weren’t expensive. “Funny thing about bankers,” he said by way of explanation. “If they think you don’t need the money all that badly, they’re eager to loan it to you. Image counts. This thing is part of the image.”
“And the members of your rotating harem prefer it, too, I bet,” she gibed. “Going out on the town lacks something when you do it in a pickup.”
“I don’t know about that. Ever done it in a pickup?” he asked softly, and even through the dark glasses she could feel the impact of his glance.
“I’m sure you have.”
“Not since I was fifteen.” He chuckled, ignoring the biting coldness of her comment. “But a pickup never was your style, was it?”
“No,” she murmured, leaning her head back. Some of her dates had driven fancy sports cars, some had driven souped-up Fords and Chevys, but it hadn’t made any difference what they’d driven, because she hadn’t made out with any of them. T
hey had been nice boys, most of them, but none of them had been John Rafferty, so it hadn’t mattered. He was the only man she’d ever wanted. Perhaps if she’d been older when she’d met him, or if she’d been secure enough in her own sexuality, things might have been different. What would have happened if she hadn’t initiated those long years of hostility in an effort to protect herself from an attraction too strong for her to handle? What if she’d tried to get him interested in her, instead of warding him off?
Nothing, she thought tiredly. John wouldn’t have wasted his time with a naive eighteen-year-old. Maybe later, when she’d graduated from college, the situation might have changed, but instead of coming home after graduation she had gone to Philadelphia…and met Roger.
They were out of the lawyer’s office by noon; it hadn’t been a long meeting. The land would be surveyed, the deed drawn up, and John’s ranch would increase by quite a bit, while hers would shrink, but she was grateful that he’d come up with that solution. At least now she still had a chance.
His hand curled warmly around her elbow as they walked out to the car. “Let’s have lunch. I’m too hungry to wait until we get home.”
She was hungry, too, and the searing heat made her feel lethargic. She murmured in agreement as she fumbled for her sunglasses, missing the satisfied smile that briefly curled his mouth. John opened the car door and held it as she got in, his eyes lingering on the length of silken leg exposed by the movement. She promptly restored her skirt to its proper position and crossed her legs as she settled in the seat, giving him a questioning glance when he continued to stand in the open door. “Is something wrong?”
“No.” He closed the door and walked around the car. Not unless she counted the way looking at her made him so hot that a deep ache settled in his loins. She couldn’t move without making him think of making love to her. When she crossed her legs, he thought of uncrossing them. When she pulled her skirt down, he thought of pulling it up. When she leaned back the movement thrust her breasts against her lapels, and he wanted to tear the dress open. Damn, what a dress! It wrapped her modestly, but the silk kissed every soft curve just the way he wanted to do, and all morning long it had been teasing at him that the damned thing was fastened with only those two buttons. Two buttons! He had to have her, he thought savagely. He couldn’t wait much longer. He’d already waited ten years, and his patience had ended. It was time.
The restaurant he took her to was a posh favorite of the city’s business community, but he didn’t worry about needing a reservation. The maître d’ knew him, as did most of the people in the room, by sight and reputation if not personally. They were led across the crowded room to a select table by the window.
Michelle had noted the way so many people had watched them. “Well, this is one,” she said dryly.
He looked up from the menu. “One what?”
“I’ve been seen in public with you once. Gossip has it that any woman seen with you twice is automatically assumed to be sleeping with you.”
His mustache twitched as he frowned in annoyance. “Gossip has a way of being exaggerated.”
“Usually, yes.”
“And in this case?”
“You tell me.”
He put the menu aside, his eyes never leaving her. “No matter what gossip says, you won’t have to worry about being just another member of a harem. While we’re together, you’ll be the only woman in my bed.”
Her hands shook, and Michelle quickly put her menu on the table to hide that betraying quiver. “You’re assuming a lot,” she said lightly in an effort to counteract the heat she could feel radiating from him.
“I’m not assuming anything. I’m planning on it.” His voice was flat, filled with masculine certainty. He had reason to be certain; how many women had ever refused him? He projected a sense of overwhelming virility that was at least as seductive as the most expert technique, and from what she’d heard, he had that, too. Just looking at him made a woman wonder, made her begin dreaming about what it would be like to be in bed with him.
“Michelle, darling!”
Michelle couldn’t stop herself from flinching at that particular phrase, even though it was spoken in a lilting female voice rather than a man’s deeper tones. Quickly she looked around, grateful for the interruption despite the endearment she hated; when she recognized the speaker, gratefulness turned to mere politeness, but her face was so schooled that the approaching woman didn’t catch the faint nuances of expression.
“Hello, Bitsy, how are you?” she asked politely as John got to his feet. “This is John Rafferty, my neighbor. John, this is Bitsy Sumner, from Palm Beach. We went to college together.”
Bitsy’s eyes gleamed as she looked at John, and she held her hand out to him. “I’m so glad to meet you, Mr. Rafferty.”
Michelle knew Bitsy wouldn’t pick it up, but she saw the dark amusement in John’s eyes as he gently took the woman’s faultlessly manicured and bejeweled hand in his. Naturally he’d seen the way Bitsy was looking at him. It was a look he’d probably been getting since puberty.
“Mrs. Sumner,” he murmured, noting the diamond-studded wedding band on her left hand. “Would you like to join us?”
“Only for a moment,” Bitsy sighed, slipping into the chair he held out. “My husband and I are here with some business associates and their wives. He says it’s good business to socialize with them occasionally, so we flew in this morning. Michelle, dear, I haven’t seen you in so long! What are you doing on this side of the state?”
“I live north of here,” Michelle replied.
“You must come visit. Someone mentioned just the other day that it had been forever since we’d seen you! We had the most fantastic party at Howard Cassa’s villa last month; you should have come.”
“I have too much work to do, but thank you for the invitation.” She managed to smile at Bitsy, but she understood that Bitsy hadn’t been inviting her to visit them personally; it was just something that people said, and probably her old acquaintances were curious about why she had left their circle.
Bitsy shrugged elegantly. “Oh, work, schmurk. Let someone else take care of it for a month or so. You need to have some fun! Come to town, and bring Mr. Rafferty with you.” Bitsy’s gaze slid back to John, and that unconsciously hungry look crawled into her eyes again. “You’d enjoy it, Mr. Rafferty, I promise. Everyone needs a break from work occasionally, don’t you think?”
His brows lifted. “Occasionally.”
“What sort of business are you in?”
“Cattle. My ranch adjoins Michelle’s.”
“Oh, a rancher!”
Michelle could tell by Bitsy’s fatuous smile that the other woman was lost in the romantic images of cowboys and horses that so many people associated with ranching, ignoring or simply not imagining the backbreaking hard work that went into building a successful ranch. Or maybe it was the rancher instead of the ranch that made Bitsy look so enraptured. She was looking at John as if she could eat him alive. Michelle put her hands in her lap to hide them because she had to clench her fists in order to resist slapping Bitsy so hard she’d never even think of looking at John Rafferty again.
Fortunately good manners drove Bitsy back to her own table after a few moments. John watched her sway through the tangle of tables, then looked at Michelle with amusement in his eyes. “Who in hell would call a grown woman Bitsy?”
It was hard not to share his amusement. “I think her real name is Elizabeth, so Bitsy is fairly reasonable as a nickname. Of course, she was the ultimate preppy in college, so it fits.”
“I thought it might be an indication of her brain power,” he said caustically; then the waiter approached to take their orders, and John turned his attention to the menu.
Michelle could only be grateful that Bitsy hadn’t been able to remain with them. The woman was one of the worst gossips she’d ever met, and she
didn’t feel up to hearing the latest dirt on every acquaintance they had in common. Bitsy’s particular circle of friends were rootless and a little savage in their pursuit of entertainment, and Michelle had always made an effort to keep her distance from them. It hadn’t always been possible, but at least she had never been drawn into the center of the crowd.
After lunch John asked if she would mind waiting while he contacted one of his business associates. She started to protest, then remembered that his men were taking care of the cattle today; she had no reason to hurry back, and, in truth, she could use the day off. The physical strain had been telling on her. Besides, this was the most time she’d ever spent in his company, and she was loathe to see the day end. They weren’t arguing, and if she ignored his arrogant certainty that they were going to sleep together, the day had really been rather calm. “I don’t have to be back at any certain time,” she said, willing to let him decide when they would return.
As it happened, it was after dark before they left Tampa. John’s meeting had taken up more time than he’d expected, but Michelle hadn’t been bored, because he hadn’t left her sitting in the reception area. He’d taken her into the meeting with him, and it had been so interesting that she hadn’t been aware of the hours slipping past. It was almost six when they finished, and by then John was hungry again; it was another two hours before they were actually on their way.
Michelle sat beside him, relaxed and a little drowsy. John had stayed with coffee, because he was driving, but she’d had two glasses of wine with her meal, and her bones felt mellow. The car was dark, illuminated only by the dash lights, which gave a satanic cast to his hard-planed face, and the traffic on U.S. 19 was light. She snuggled down into the seat, making a comment only when John said something that required an answer.
Soon they ran into a steady rain, and the rhythmic motion of the windshield wipers added to her drowsiness. The windows began to fog, so John turned the air-conditioning higher. Michelle sat up, hugging her arms as the cooler air banished her drowsiness. Her silk dress didn’t offer much warmth. He glanced at her, then pulled to the side of the road.