Diana Palmer - Escapade

He took the hamper, and she walked silently beside him back to the launch.

On the way back, their uncomfortable silence was broken by a sudden gale. It wasn’t at all frightening to her. Nothing was, with Josh at the controls. She’d seen him in all sorts of dangerous situations over the years. Once, a sudden squall had come up when they were in the twin-engine plane he’d owned before the Learjet. His cool nerve and unruffled competence had stayed with her as he’d turned what could have been a tragic accident into an adventure.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked on the way across to New Providence, his voice sounding odd in the purr of the engines.

“About how well you handle danger,” she replied honestly. “You’re very cool under fire.”

“I had extensive training, having to face my board of directors with expansion proposals,” he said dryly. “It takes nerve to make money.”

“Don’t I know it.” She grimaced. “I don’t know if I’ll have anything to inherit when I’m twenty-five. It looks as if Ward Johnson is going to lose it all,” she said irritably. “His mind isn’t really on the job lately.”

“Give it up,” he advised. “You ought to know by now that I don’t budge when I think I’m right.” His fingers danced over the controls as Opal Cay came into view on the horizon. “Hold tight.”

He pushed the throttle forward, and his dark eyes danced as he fought the squall and the whitecaps on the way in to the small marina.

When they were on the pier, he smiled with wicked amusement at the look on her face. “I thought you trusted me at the controls.”

“I do. But I really don’t like getting into anything that’s over my head.”

“Don’t you?” In his dark eyes there was a soft, sensual threat that made her pulse leap. But he didn’t follow up on it. He took her arm and the hamper and walked briskly toward the house.

Dinner that night was delicious, but Amanda had no real appetite. The lethal combination of Josh’s sexy company and the certainty that she had to go back to Texas soon took the edge off the pleasure of the evening.

“Do you want something else?” he asked with concern.

“It’s not the food. It’s wonderful,” she said. She put down her fork. “I really have to go back.”

“Why?” he asked irritably. “Are you afraid the business will fail in a week if you aren’t there to save it?”

“Don’t be sarcastic,” she said. “And that just might be the case, even if you won’t believe me.”

“Don’t try to live your life in a flaming rush, Amanda,” he cautioned. “You’ve got all the time in the world.”

“Have I?” She looked down at his hand on the white linen cloth, with its dark tan and scattering of blond-tipped brown hair. “The most exciting thing I’ve ever done was to go to a professional wrestling match where the audience became the feature attraction.”

He chuckled. “I remember. I had to rescue you. As I recall,” he added with malicious glee, “you started it.”

She shifted restlessly. “Well, they called my favorite wrestler a bum and started cheering for that madman who was stomping his face.”

“And you rushed to his rescue.”

“Somebody had to!”

He burst out laughing, his dark eyes soft with indulgent humor. “You’re delightful, did you know? You don’t primp for hours, you don’t demand diamonds and furs, you don’t even insist on going the party rounds every night. You’re unique as a companion.”

“Unique as yours, I suppose,” she said without looking at him. “Or don’t you usually take your dinner companions to bed?”

“If I didn’t respect you so much, I’d take you there in a minute,” he replied easily. He finished his cocktail. “But we share too much history. I have nothing to offer you,” he said solemnly. “Nothing at all.”

The finality with which he made the statement chilled her. The bleak look in his eyes puzzled her, because coexisting with it was a frank, blistering hot hunger.

“You want me,” he said suddenly. “But you still aren’t quite sure how you want me, are you, Amanda? You’re looking for fairy-tale situations, roses and perfume, happily ever after.”

“No,” she began, unsure of where this conversation was going.

“A relationship isn’t all candlelight and soft music, honey,” he said quietly. “It’s raw and sensual, and people get hurt. A man changes when he’s been with a woman he desires.”

“Yes. He doesn’t want her anymore,” she said knowledgeably.

“Not always,” he said sharply. “Sometimes he wants her all the time, to the exclusion of business, honor, morality, anything! That happened to me with Terri. I got careless because I needed her so badly. That’s why you saw us that night on the beach. I thought of nothing but her body, was so enthralled by it that I couldn’t go even one night without having it. She was just as hungry for me. That kind of attraction can blind you, even when love isn’t involved.”

“Oh.”

“That kind of desperation leaves you out of control,” he persisted. “It can convince you to make love in a parked car in the middle of rush hour traffic. That’s why I don’t have love affairs anymore. I have casual encounters that end almost as soon as they begin.” He dropped his eyes to her hands, which were locked together on the table. “I hate addiction. I smoke cigars instead of cigarettes because they’re easier to give up. I drink brandy, not whiskey, because I can take it or leave it. I never have more than one drink at a party, because I don’t want the risk of losing control.”

Amanda had known these things, but she also knew he was addicted to smoking, whether or not he admitted it to himself. It cut her heart to know that he wanted no deep relationship again. Because she did.

He got to his feet. “I have to meet someone at the airport in Nassau. Ted’s going to take me over in the launch.”

“All right.”

He paused, staring down at her. “You and I have been friends for a long time. I don’t want to lose that because we touched each other and flames kindled, or because you want something in business that I don’t want to give you.”

“You’ll always be my friend, Josh,” she said, smiling tightly. “I hope I’ll always be yours.”

He moved closer to her chair and, leaning a hand on the table, bent so that his face was much too near. His breath brushed her lips when he spoke.

“I owe you more than a broken heart.”

She reached up and touched his face. It tautened, and his eyes kindled.

“Do you want me?” she asked in a husky whisper.

“I’m bleeding to death for you,” he replied, his voice rough with passion. “And do you know what I’m going to do about it?”

Her lips parted on a rush of breath. “No. What?”

“Absolutely nothing.” He moved away from her, and the tension in his body was visible. “It’s the only noble thing I’ve ever done in my life. How’s that for a joke?”

He laughed bitterly. A minute later he was gone.

CHAPTER FIVE

BRAD CLOSED THE deal in Montego Bay, but he took his time getting back to Opal Cay. He had real problems. He had to find a way to cover his bets before he lost something more precious than money. He needed cash, fast. His only hope was to persuade Josh to pull his irons out of the fire one more time. But that wasn’t really likely. Josh didn’t understand weaknesses, because he didn’t have any. He wasn’t vulnerable. Calculated business decisions were his life. He was one of the world’s strongest people, who never leaned or needed to lean on others. How could he possibly understand a passion for gambling? Not, Brad reflected, that he couldn’t quit whenever he wanted to. It’s just that until now, he hadn’t wanted to. Next time, for sure.