Now and Forever by Diana Palmer Page B

her pulse raced. His breath was on her lips.
    â€œYou told Eileen you knew how to kiss,” he said in a low deep tone. “Show me.”
    â€œNo!” she whispered frantically, and her face burned as she met his dark, dancing eyes.
    â€œAfraid, Tish?” he murmured, and his thumb came up to brush sensuously across her lower lip.
    â€œYes! No! Oh, Russell…!” she groaned irritably.
    He laughed softly, drawing back. “Coward,” he chided. “I wouldn’t have hurt you this time.”
    Those final two words were the ultimate humiliation, as if he were reminding her of that day last summer, of the angry crush ofhis hard mouth, the painful bruising of his arms.
    â€œI…I wish you wouldn’t make fun of me,” she said quietly.
    â€œIs that what I’m doing?” he asked. He tilted her face up to his, and the darkness of his eyes was unnerving. “You’re very young, Miss Peacock.”
    She clutched her napkin as if it were a life jacket. His nearness was making her tremble, and she’d rather have died than let him see it. “I thought you old people liked having us merry adolescents around,” she hedged. “To keep you young, you know.”
    His big hand slid under the soft weight of her hair to caress the nape of her neck. He eased her mouth precariously just under his, so it was almost but not quite touching. Her heart raced like a drumroll.
    â€œOld, am I?” he taunted softly. His mouth whispered across hers like a warm, smoky wind, teasing her lips.
    â€œR…Russ…?” she whispered breathlessly. Her eyes were misty and stunned and unusually soft as they met his searching gaze.
    His hand froze at her neck and tightenedfor an instant. All at once he let go and pulled his tall frame erect. “Come on down to the Smith branch when you finish,” he told her. “I’ve got a few calves you can pet.”
    â€œCalves?”
    â€œFour. All Jerseys.”
    â€œOh, Russell, could I?” she asked.
    â€œSure, I’ll have Grover fetch you,” he added idly, bending his head to light a cigarette. “Tell him to show you the new App stud, too.”
    She wondered at the surge of disappointment she felt. She felt…empty all of a sudden, because Russell wasn’t going with her to see the calves.
    â€œYou used to let me name the little ones,” she said, “before I found out about baby beef.”
    â€œI used to take you to see them, too,” he replied, and his eyes narrowed as he looked down at her. “I can’t let you get too close, honey. There’s no future in it.”
    â€œWhat?” she asked curiously.
    â€œForget it. I’ve got work to do.”
    She watched him stride away while a potfull of bubbling emotions brewed inside her. For some reason, she wanted to cry.
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    After the incident at breakfast, Tish was careful to keep upstairs until she heard Russell leave the house, and she did her level best to stay away from the supper table as well. It wasn’t hard to find enough old friends, including Nan, to visit in the evenings. And if Russell noticed that her absences were deliberate, he never let it show. That was the trouble, she thought dejectedly, he never let anything show. It would be good to have Frank for company. There was barely a week before he and Belle were to arrive, and she was looking forward to it until she remembered how Belle had hung onto Russell and visualized her at Currie Hall. It ruined the day for her, even the excitement of baby bulls and thoroughbred Appaloosas.
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    The day of the homecoming party, she carried the case of beer to the fields without really understanding her own motives, although she convinced herself that it didn’t have anything to do with Russell’s indifference. In the old days of her childhood, she’dlugged jugs of iced tea out to the rich fields where the harrows had laid the earth open to the