He reached out, grasped her by the arms, and gave her a far from gentle shake. “I’ve spent my entire life fighting the prejudice that my IQ inspired in those around me,” he said grimly. “Most people are either intimidated by me or harbor an active dislike because they imagine I look down on them like some sort of god from Olympus. Even my own father couldn’t force himself to feel any affection for me. I’ll be damned if I’ll accept that kind of thick-headed thinking from you! What we’ve got together is too important to risk. We fit together in every way that could possibly matter. You’re a woman of infinite variety, and I fully expect you still to be surprising me on our golden wedding anniversary. So if I ever hear you give me any of that crap about my getting bored with you, I’m warning you that I’ll slap you silly!”
Kelly stared wide-eyed into his stormy face. “I’ll remember that,” she said faintly. Then recovering quickly, she gave him a breezy grin. “It was only a temporary aberration anyway. Once I’d thought about it, I realized what an incredibly lucky man you’d be to get a prize packet like me.”
“Right,” Nick agreed, pulling her into his arms. “Now that that’s settled, let’s get down to basics. Your five minutes are up.” His lips covered hers in a kiss that was firm and sweet and dizzily persuasive. Not that persuasion was really necessary. It seemed like weeks, not hours, since Nick had made love to her, and she was as hungry for him as he was for her.
It was clear that Nick was very hungry indeed, as he tumbled her back in the sand, his body hardening in arousal as he pressed her into its grainy embrace. “I’ve been wanting you ever since I left you this morning.” He deftly unbuttoned her tunic blouse and unfastened the front closure of her lacy bra. “I’ve been starved for the feel of you all day.” Then his lips were working teasingly at one taut nipple while his thumb caressed the other.
Kelly could feel the familiar heat flow through her as she ran her fingers through his thick hair. “Nick, we can’t,” she protested weakly. “Not here.”
Nick pressed his aroused loins to her and rubbed himself against her with a frank sensuality that caused her to give a little gasp. A jolt of pure desire shook her. “Can’t you feel how I need you, love? I’m aching to have you hold me in that sweet, tight way you have.” His teeth were nibbling and pulling her lower lip. “You said yourself that there was no chance of us being interrupted on a night like this.”
Then his lips were covering hers. Kelly’s arms slid slowly around his neck and pulled him even closer to her. Perhaps he was right. It seemed that they were alone on an alien planet, so complete was the privacy afforded by the thick blanket of mist that surrounded them. Strange that the abrasive sand beneath her body, instead of detracting from her arousal, actually increased it, as did the cool swirl of the fog and the sound of the surf hitting the shore somewhere nearby.
Nick was tearing at the buttons of his shirt, and at last his hard chest was pressed to her swollen, sensitive breasts. The hot surge of desire that shot through her banished her last inhibitions, and she clutched him to her with the same aching frustration that she felt in him.
“Love me, Nick,” she whispered. “Please, love me.”
His only answer was the harsh, ragged rise and fall of his breath as his hands moved over her in fevered, intimate caresses. Then his lips were exploring hers once again as he fumbled blindly at the tie at her waist.
At first she didn’t notice it, so enraptured was she by the symphony being played with hands and lips. It was only after a wave washed over their supine bodies, almost completely engulfing them, that the cold shock of the water caused her to come abruptly to her senses.
“Hell’s bells!” Nick roared, rolling off her and looking around the water-soaked sand with an expression of such outraged indignation that Kelly couldn’t suppress a giggle. “What the hell’s happening?” Another wave washed over them as if in answer, and Kelly started to laugh in earnest.
“I think the tide’s coming in,” she said, grinning and looking down at her waterlogged velvet skirt and sopping wet blouse. “And I always thought that beach love scene in From Here to Eternity was so romantic. What went wrong, Nick?”
He looked down at his own drenched clothing and shook his head, then chuckled in amusement. “God knows, sweetheart. Maybe next time we’ll try it with a warmer surf and an appropriate musical score by John Williams.” He got to his feet, grimacing as the water squished in his shoes, and reached down to pull her to her feet. He rescued the pocket flashlight, which was still working despite its dousing. “Much as I’d like to try it again, I think I’d better get you to some sort of shelter before you catch pneumonia.” He swiftly fastened her bra and buttoned her tunic. “I have a rented car parked back at Devlin’s house. We’ll find a motel and continue this later.”
“We’ll do no such thing,” Kelly said firmly, her chin lifting stubbornly. “We’ll go back to the cottage, and you can apologize to Mac for all those terrible things you said to him. I’m not having the two favorite men in my life at odds with each other.”
Nick scowled ferociously, and for a moment she thought he was going to refuse. Then, shrugging, he said gruffly, “Okay. I guess I was a little rough on him.” He darted her a suspicious look. “You’re sure that he has only paternal feelings toward you?”
“I’m sure,” she said. “And if you’re extremely charming to him, he might be persuaded to lend you something to change into while your clothes are drying.”
“That won’t be necessary. If he’ll just lend us a bedroom, our own clothes will be dry before I let you out of bed anyway.”
Nick’s hand was linked with hers as they strolled almost leisurely up the beach. They were both cold and shivering, and there was absolutely no reason for them to be so wildly, ecstatically happy. No reason but the love that was flowing between them in an almost visible current of power. She felt as if they must be lighting up the misty darkness with their shining beacon of happiness.
“I hope we’re going in the right direction,” Nick said uneasily. “I was so angry that I didn’t pay much attention to where we were heading after we left Devlin’s house.”
“I think we are,” Kelly said, not really caring. She shot him an impish glance. “Don’t tell me that you don’t have a good sense of direction?”
“Lord, no,” he admitted. “I’ve been known to get lost in a parking garage.”
“Ah, a weakness at last,” Kelly said teasingly. “I bet you’re not Superman, after all.”
“Only with you by my side, sweetheart,” he said quietly, his hand tightening on hers. “Only with you in my arms.”
BOOKS BY IRIS JOHANSEN
White Satin Dead Aim
Tender Savage Magnificent Folly
Notorious No One to Trust
One Touch of Topaz Body of Lies
Everlasting Final Target
And the Desert Blooms The Search
The Treasure The Killing Game
Lion’s Bride The Face of Deception
Golden Valkyrie And Then You Die
Capture the Rainbow Long After Midnight
A Summer Smile The Ugly Duckling
The Bronzed Hawk Dark Rider
Stormy Vows/Tempest at Sea Midnight Warrior
Stalemate The Beloved Scoundrel
An Unexpected Song The Magnificent Rogue
Killer Dreams The Tiger Prince
On the Run Last Bridge Home
Countdown The Golden Barbarian
Blind Alley Reap the Wind
Firestorm Storm Winds
Fatal Tide The Wind Dancer
Iris Johansen, The Bronzed Hawk
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