After Midnight by Diana Palmer Page B

her hand tangled in the thick, wavy hair at the back of his head and she pulled his mouth down to the soft curve under her collarbone.

Chapter Four
    K ane’s head was spinning, but when Nikki coaxed his mouth down, he came to his senses with a jolt. It was a public beach, for God’s sake, and he was a man who didn’t need this sort of complication!
    He jerked his face up and put her down abruptly. He stepped back, trying not to show how shaken he was. It had been a long time since he’d felt anything so powerful. He looked into her dazed, misty, half-closed green eyes.
    She was shaken, too, and unable to hide it. His lips had almost been touching her bare skin when he’d withdrawn them. She felt as if she’d been left in limbo, but she had to keep her head.
    â€œThank you,” she said. “I knew that you couldsave me from myself,” she managed with irrepressible spirit.
    He smiled in spite of himself. “I suppose I did. But I’d never have believed it of myself. I’m not one to throw away opportunities, and you have a mouth like a ripe apple.”
    â€œI’m thrilled that you think so.”
    He burst out laughing, absolutely delighted. “In that case, don’t you want to come with me to a quiet, deserted place?”
    â€œOf course I do.” She pushed back her disheveled hair. “But we’ve already agreed that it wouldn’t be sensible.”
    â€œYou agreed. I didn’t.”
    She was having trouble with her legs. They didn’t want to move. And the throbbing need in her body was getting worse, not better. How ironic of her to suddenly explode with passion for a man after all this time, and the man had to be her brother’s worst enemy in the world!
    â€œStop tempting me to do sordid things,” she told him firmly. She pushed back her disheveled hair. “I’ll have you know that I’m a virtuous woman.”
    â€œThat may not last if you spend much time around me. How about going sailing with me?”
    Her hand poised above her hair. “Sailing?”
    â€œYour eyes lit up. Do you like sailing?” he asked.
    â€œI love it!”
    He chuckled. “I’ll pick you up early tomorrow.” He paused. “If you’re free?”
    She knew what he was asking. He meant, would her “live-in lover” mind?
    â€œHe isn’t jealous,” she said with a slow smile.
    â€œIsn’t he?”
    His dark eyes sketched her face and he began to worry. He knew he was losing his grasp on reality, to take this sort of chance. She appealed to him physically. That was all. There was an added threat. What if she found out who he was?
    His own apprehension amused him. What if she did, for God’s sake? What could she do, blackmail him because they’d spend an innocent night together?
    â€œThe man I live with and I…we have an…open relationship,” she assured him.
    â€œI hope you aren’t entertaining ideas that I might be willing to take his place,” he said slowly. “I enjoy your company, and I find you very attractive. But I’m not in the market for a lover. I already have one.”
    Why should that shock her? She shifted a little and averted her eyes to the beach. She wasn’t shopping for a lover, either. Not with her past. So wasn’t it just as well that he didn’t want one?
    â€œThat suits me,” she replied absently. “I don’t care for purely physical relationships. I wouldn’tmind a friend, though,” she added suddenly, her green eyes linking with his as she smiled. “I have very few of those.”
    â€œI doubt if anyone can boast more than one true friend,” he said cynically. “Okay. Friends it is.”
    â€œAnd no funny stuff on the sailboat,” she said, returning to her former mood with mercurial rapidity. “You can’t lash me to the mast and ravish me, or strip me naked and use me to troll for