Scarlet Woman

With her heart lodged in her throat, she knocked on Blake’s office door the next afternoon at three-thirty. He opened the door, smiled, and her pulse kicked into overdrive.

“Hi.”

Not hello, but hi. She looked up at him and tried to smile back, but she suspected she hadn’t succeeded. What had caused this about-face?

“Hello. Uh…hi.”

If he noticed her lack of composure, he didn’t let on. “I wish you’d brought some fries or something. I didn’t get any lunch. Been preparing for a trial tomorrow morning.”

“I could go get some,” she said, wondering at his turn of mind.

His fingers touched her elbow, and he walked with her to his desk. “No need for that. I’ll order something by phone. What would you like? I’m having French fries and ginger ale.”

“You haven’t eaten since breakfast, and you’re ordering French fries?”

A sheepish expression flashed across his face. “Come to think of it, all I had for breakfast was a glass of V-8 juice.”

She shook her head in wonder. “How can you look the way you do if you don’t eat properly?”

His eyebrows went up, and she knew she’d said the wrong thing.

“How do I…Never mind. Most days I eat bran flakes and a banana. That better?”

“Decidedly,” she said and put forth a lot of effort to prevent his seeing how relieved she was that he hadn’t finished that sentence. When he’d eaten the French fries, he opened both bottles of ginger ale, wrapped a napkin around one, and handed it to her.

“Ready?”

She nodded. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

A grin converted his whole face into a thing of beauty. She’d better concentrate on that board of directors, or anything other than him that would occupy her mind. The man was safer in a less jovial mood.

“Let’s try Alice Pride first,” Blake suggested. “She craves social status, so she ought to be a shoe-in.”

And indeed she was. “I’m just so glad to do some good for my town,” Alice said. “Just let me know when you’re calling the first meeting. I’ll be there.”

And so it went for the first two calls. Then Melinda dialed Luther Williams and told him the purpose of her call.

“What?” she asked, and her face must have mirrored her horror at Luther Williams’s indictment of her, because Blake snatched the phone.

“This is Blake Hunter. We’re working on setting up this foundation according to Rodgers’s will. What’s the problem, Luther?”

“Well…I…You know what everybody says. I mean, you don’t expect me to join in with a kept woman to—”

“What the hell are you talking about, man? This foundation was Prescott Rodgers’s bequest. And what do you mean by trashing a woman’s reputation on the basis of gossip? That’s slander.”

Melinda put the list on the desk, picked up her pocketbook that she’d placed on the floor, and started for the door.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” he called after her and slammed the receiver into its cradle. “Is that all it takes to make you tuck your tail in and run? Is it?”

She whirled around and slammed into him. “You don’t know what it’s…like,” she whispered, as the fire began to blaze in his eyes. The belt on his trousers touched her belly. So close. Lord, he was there, and she could have him. She closed her eyes to hide the temptation before her.

“You’re not a coward, are you? You won’t let them beat you down. I won’t let you run. Do you hear me? Stand up to them. Show the bastards you don’t care what they say.”

“Bu…bu…but I…I do care. I do.”

Shivers coursed through her as he locked her to him. Startled, she looked into his fierce eyes, then dropped her gaze to his mouth and parted her lips. For a brief, poignant moment, he stared down at her. Open. Pliable. Susceptible to her. His tremors shook her, and her nerves tingled with exhilaration when she heard his hoarse groan of capitulation. Then his mouth was on her, and his tongue stabbed at her lips until she opened and, at last, had him inside of her. His big hand gripped her buttocks and she undulated wildly against him as his velvet tongue promised her ecstasy, plunging in and out of her and testing every crevice of her mouth. Strong and commanding like the man himself. He held her head while he plied her mouth with sweet loving, stroked her back, her shoulders, and her buttocks until she sucked his tongue deep into her mouth and feasted. When his hand went to her breast, she pressed it to her while his fingers twirled her turgid nipple. Hungry for all of him, she spread her legs and he rose hard and strong against her. She slumped into him and might have fallen if he hadn’t lifted her, carried her to the sofa, and sat down with her in his lap.

For a long while, he sat there, rocking her and stroking her, soothing her with a tenderness she’d never known.

“It wasn’t any use, was it?” he said at last.

She knew what he meant and didn’t pretend otherwise. “Looks that way. But it shouldn’t have happened. I have enough problems as it is.”

“I won’t argue with you about that. We have to work together on this foundation, and don’t forget, there’s one more clause.”

“How could I forget that?” she asked, getting to her feet. “I think I’d better go now.”

“Do you want me to…Can I drive you home? I mean…do you need me for…something?” He gasped it, as if releasing the words pained him all the way to his gut.

She shook her head. “I drove, but thanks.”

He walked with her to the door and stood looking down at her. Nobody had to tell her what he was thinking or what he wanted. Suddenly, his right shoulder lifted in a quick shrug, and she knew he’d won over temptation. A least one of them had sense. If he’d kissed her again, she wouldn’t have left the way she entered. That much strength she doubted she had. But what about tomorrow and the next day and the next?

He winked at her and grinned. “Don’t worry, Melinda. There isn’t much I set myself to do that I can’t manage. See you tomorrow.”

By the time she reached her car, her breath came in short gasps, but that didn’t explain her inability to steady her fingers enough to get the key in the ignition and start the vehicle. After a few minutes, she gave up. Why had everything become so difficult? She wanted to lay her head on the steering wheel and wake up in Italy, Switzerland, Kenya, or anywhere but Ellicott City.

The people had the same character as the town: museum pieces, all show and little substance. If she got involved with Blake, the busybodies would assume they’d been right all along, and if she stayed in Ellicott City, she didn’t see how she could avoid it. He might have the mental toughness of a samurai warrior, but she’d been in his arms, and she knew how badly he wanted her. The next time…For five years, she’d hungered for him, locked him in the privacy of her heart and the recesses of her mind, never revealing to anyone what she felt and how it pained her. And now, he’d transformed her into a hot and passionate woman, a willing lover. She didn’t believe in lying to herself, so she didn’t promise herself she’d resist him.

Blake stood at the window in his office and looked down on Old Columbia Pike where he could see the top of Melinda’s green Mercury Sable. Why didn’t she drive off? He didn’t want to become involved with her, but he’d had her in his arms, felt her tremors, smelled her heat and tasted her sweetness, and he wouldn’t bet five cents that he wouldn’t touch her again. When a woman wanted him as badly as she did…He swallowed hard. His hands had roamed her body and she’d relished it, had opened herself to him, as uninhibited as a tigress in heat. And he was starved for her.

“Blake, I’ve been buzzing you,” Irene said, and he turned to see her standing in the doorway between their offices.

“Oh, thanks. What is it?”

“Lacy Morgan’s on line one.”

He swore. “Tell her I emigrated to Alaska.”

“What? I beg your pardon.”

What a great idea. “You heard me. Tell her exactly that.”

“Bu…but…How do I phrase it? I can’t just lie.”

“Tell her I told you I moved to Alaska.” He snapped his finger. “Oh, yes, and I didn’t leave a forwarding address, a phone number, fax number, or an e-mail address.”

She stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. “That is an order, Irene.”