Her gaze ran lingeringly over him as he sat naked in the firelight, a discreet distance from her own position on the cushion. He’d made no effort to veil his own nudity, she noticed with a tiny thread of resentment. He lit one of his slender brown cigarettes and inhaled deeply, his eyes determinedly fixed on the blazing logs as he drew up his knees and locked his arms loosely around them.
“Don’t you think you owe me an explanation?” Alex asked finally, darting her a glance as stormy as black lightning. He took another pull on the cigarette. “Is that cowboy you live with gay?”
“What?” Sabrina said blankly, then swift color pinked her cheeks. This was zooming back to reality with a vengeance. She straightened slowly and drew the drapery about her almost defensively. “No, I don’t think I owe you an explanation,” she said with equal sharpness. “If you’re referring to the fact that I was a virgin, it’s no one’s business but my own.”
“The hell it’s not,” Alex said roughly, turning to face her and tossing his half-smoked cigarette into the flames. “I regard it as very much my business. It’s not every day I make love to a woman I’ve been given to understand has been living with a man for over two years and find she’s green as grass.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” Sabrina said tartly. “Perhaps your next seduction will live up to your expectations.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said impatiently. “You know very well I nearly went crazy loving you. We were completely fantastic together.” He frowned. “It’s just that I’ve run into something that I don’t understand at all.” His lips tightened. “I don’t like not understanding even the tiniest thing about you, Sabrina. It makes me damned nervous. Now what the hell is Bradford to you?”
She smiled sadly. “I told you before, Alex,” she said quietly. “I have a commitment to him. I think that’s really all you have to know.”
“And I told you, you’d have to forget about it.” His voice was sharp as a glittering scalpel. “The bond between you can’t be all that strong if he was able to keep his hands off you while he was living in the same apartment.” His lips twisted. “Two years! I wouldn’t have lasted two minutes in the same circumstances! He doesn’t have any leaning toward the priesthood by any chance?”
“No,” she said wearily. “You don’t understand, Alex, and at the moment I don’t feel in the mood to make explanations. David is part of my life and there’s no reason why you should be allowed to dissect that particular aspect of my existence just because we shared a rather unique physical experience.” She drew a deep, steadying breath. “We both know what happened tonight has no real bearing on our everyday lives. We each have our own paths to walk and tomorrow this probably won’t even seem real.”
“But, it was real, damn it,” he said moodily, “and I don’t agree tonight is an isolated episode out of time. What we had just now, we can have again, and a hell of a lot more. You’re crazy if you think this physical chemistry between us is commonplace attraction.”
“I don’t deny that it’s more than that,” Sabrina said huskily, glancing away from the burnished copper beauty of his naked figure by the fire. God, this was painful. Each phrase she spoke was tearing at her raw emotions like the flick of a whip. She’d known it would be a mistake to commit her body to Alex in this ultimate physical surrender. Why else had she panicked and run away? Well, the time for running was over. “All I’m saying is that it isn’t enough. Sex is all very well and good, and it may be sufficient for the type of relationship you have in mind”—she drew a deep, shaky breath—“but I need more than that, and I don’t believe you’re capable of giving it.”
“I can give you anything in this whole damn world,” Alex said roughly. “I told you that before. Name it.”
She shook her head, her long lashes lowered to mask her pain. “Will you give me your trust, Alex Ben Raschid?” she asked softly. “Not just for a day or a week, but forever? Will you give me your laughter and your friendship as well as your passion?” She tried to smile. “You see, the price is too high for you. And it would be too high for me as well if I found you couldn’t meet it after I’d committed myself.”
There was a moment of tension-fraught silence. “I’d try,” Alex said gruffly, and her gaze flew back to him in surprise. “We’ve already established that I haven’t an overabundance of faith in the human race, but, by God, I’d give it my best shot. As for the other, how can I promise you friendship when all I want to do is come back over there and have you wrap those lovely golden legs around me and bring me home to you.” He ignored the little gasp she gave and continued tersely, “Friendship has to grow and you’re not willing to give me the time for that growth.” His expression was oddly stern. “I don’t think you’re long on trust yourself, Sabrina.”
“Perhaps not,” she agreed quietly. “Your actions since the night we first met haven’t been calculated to inspire me with that particular emotion. You frightened me.” Her eyes met his with a directness that was like a challenge. “But don’t think you’ll be able to accomplish that feat again, Alex. I’ve been acting as insipid and wishy-washy as a mid-Victorian virgin and I assure you it’s not my nature to be so meek. Like you, I was caught off guard. I’m usually not so easily intimidated.”
There was a flicker of tenderness in the darkness of his eyes and a thread of pride in his voice as he said lightly, “If that’s a warning, little flame, then I’m the one that will probably be intimidated. If you’re going to display more independence and defiance than you have to date, I’ll have my work cut out for me just keeping you from dominating me.”
Sabrina could feel a reluctant smile tugging at her lips, despite the gravity of the moment. The idea of Alex being dominated by anyone, much less her, was laughable. “I don’t think we need to worry about that,” she said.
“I’m not so sure,” he said, frowning. “Now that you have this hold on me, I may have a hell of a lot to worry about.”
“Hold?” she asked, her eyes widening in surprise.
His expression had darkened moodily. “I thought I was obsessed with you before, but it’s nothing to what I feel now that I’ve had you. Desire can be a very powerful whip to hold over a man. I don’t appreciate your having that kind of power over me.”
Sabrina could feel her mouth drop open in surprise before it snapped shut and she glared at him with angry impatience. “For heaven’s sake, Alex, could anything illustrate how far we are apart than that asinine remark? I have no intention of wielding any emotional whips and I certainly don’t want any so-called power over you. Why don’t you just admit there’s no possibility of your ever being able to trust me? It would be a great deal less painful for both of us.”
“The hell it would!” His dark eyes flickered angrily. “Okay, so I backslid a little. I said I’d try, not that it would be easy. For God’s sake, give me a chance. I told you we need time. I need time, blast it!”
“How much time?” Sabrina asked wearily, feeling the aching pain surge through her now that her anger and indignation were ebbing away. “I’m afraid I’m not willing to give you a great deal, Alex. You could hurt me too badly in the interim.”
“You may not want to wield the whip but you have quite a natural talent for snapping it, Sabrina,” he said dryly. “Will you give me four days to convince you that what we have is worth keeping? It’s not as long as I’d like but I think I can make it do.”
“Four days,” she repeated softly, gazing at him with a yearning tenderness she found impossible to conceal. She had little hope that the time he asked would yield any lasting resolution to their problems. Yet she desperately wanted to wrest those four precious days for herself. Would it be too much to ask for that time with Alex before she once more resumed her responsibilities?
His raking glance read and deciphered that softening, and he moved with swift aggressiveness to take advantage. “Four days,” he said coaxingly, his voice like dark velvet over the words. “Give me four days and I promise you’ll
never want to leave me again, Sabrina. I won’t even mention that damn cowboy during the entire time. It’ll be just you and me starting out fresh and new. You can teach me to trust, and I’ll teach you what that lovely body of yours was meant for.”
His glance was a scorching brand as it went over her with lingering thoroughness. Sabrina could feel her breasts swell beneath the cloth she was clutching around her, until the sensitive nipples rubbed with erotic abrasiveness against the material. She felt a hot, melting ache begin to throb in her loins and she shook her head in instinctive rejection as she realized how her body’s need was interfering with what should be a coolly logical decision.
Alex evidently mistook her confusion for a negative decision, for his face hardened. “Don’t turn me down, Sabrina,” he warned with soft menace. “I’m not asking much, but I will have those four days!”
“Threats, Alex?” she asked quietly.
“I’m not above using threats if they will get me what I want,” he said, his lips tightening. “I don’t fool myself that personal threats would have any influence on you, but you’re still very vulnerable. There are people out there in your world whom you care about.”
He didn’t have to say any more. There was that lethal menace about him that Donahue had honed to razor sharpness. “Not a very pleasant way to start a relationship,” she said sadly.
“Do you think I want to threaten you?” he asked huskily, and, incredibly, there was a flicker of pain in his face. “Don’t you know that I want to give you what you need from me? But, damn it, you’ve got to give me the opportunity to do it!”
“It seems I have little choice,” she said. Then she shook her head impatiently. “I’m not being altogether honest, Alex,” she said quietly. “I won’t pretend to be a victim when I’m nothing of the sort. I would have given you those four days anyway, but you didn’t give me the chance, did you?”
“That’s very generous of you,” he said slowly, and there was no trace of sarcasm in his voice. “Will you be equally honest and admit it’s what you want, too?”
“Yes, I’ll admit it’s what I want,” she said faintly. His eyes were narrowed on her with a hot intimacy that was causing her heart to accelerate and her chest to tighten with emotion. Her tongue ran over her lower lip nervously. “I want you, Alex.”
Suddenly he was beside her on the cushion. “Then take me, Sabrina,” he urged huskily. “Do you know that little pink tongue has darted out and teased the hell out of me at least three times during the past few minutes? I don’t think you were even aware of it. My God, what a waste when I’m crazy to have you do that to me.” He leaned forward so that their lips were almost brushing. “Give me your tongue, little flame.”
Her lips parted and her tongue slowly caressed the full warm curve of his lower lip, before licking hungrily at the corners of his firm mouth like the flame he had called her.
Then Alex’s tongue was darting out to touch her own in a hundred glancing kisses that were like an erotic minuet. She felt as if she were on fire, every inch of flesh on her body exquisitely sensitive, even though as yet only their tongues were touching.
Alex’s hands were on her shoulders and he was brushing the drapery impatiently aside. One gentle hand was closing around her breast while the other reached between her thighs in a bold assault that robbed her of breath. There was something she had wanted to ask him, but for a moment she couldn’t remember what it was through the sensual haze that was enveloping them. Then he was pushing her gently onto her back on the cushions and coming over her with an aroused urgency that caused her to give a little gasp of surprised pleasure.
“Alex,” she asked breathlessly. “The four days. Where are we going to spend them?”
“At the moment I’m not at all sure if we’ll ever get away from in front of this fireplace,” he muttered thickly, as his lips lowered to nibble teasingly at one engorged nipple. “Let’s talk about it later, little flame. Now I want to see you burn for me again.”
She was already burning for him, she thought feverishly. He was right, there would be time to talk later. This was the only thing of importance in the universe at the moment. She pulled him down eagerly into her embrace.
SEVEN
ALEX WAS UP before she awoke and had flagged down a Mexican farm worker in an ancient rusty pickup. How he convinced the old man not only to wait until he had brought her from the ranch house, but also to drive them to the Corpus Christi Airport, she could only guess.
He had ignored all her protests against going to the airport in her disheveled condition, that she must contact the Bradfords and Señor Mendoza and let them know she was all right, that she couldn’t just fly off blindly to some unknown destination.
“You can call the Bradfords from the airport,” he said arrogantly, dispensing with her objections one by one. “Clancy Donahue will contact Mendoza. He’s waiting at the Corpus Christi Airport with the Lear jet. You can get everything you need to last you for a few days at the airport shops.” He smiled with a teasing intimacy that brought hot color to her cheeks and a boneless melting to her limbs. “You won’t need very much. After last night, I may not let you wear a stitch for the entire time I have you in my power, woman.”
“That may prove a little embarrassing unless you intend to spend the next few days at a nudist colony,” Sabrina said dryly.
He shook his head. “Not a nudist colony,” he said, an impish grin lighting the darkness of his face. “Though the idea has definite possibilities.” He cocked his head as if pretending to consider. “No, I’d be much too jealous to share your charms with a bunch of gawking strangers. We’ll just have to settle for Londale’s Folly.”
“Londale’s Folly?” Sabrina asked blankly.
“It’s a private island owned by Sedikhan Petroleum, in the gulf about eighty miles south of Houston,” he said briefly. “Very private. I have a house there.” There was a hint of grimness in the glance he shot her. “I’m not taking any chances of your changing your mind about allotting me my full time with you. You’d find it a bit difficult swimming back to Houston from the Folly.”
“Your faith in my word is touching,” Sabrina said, with an ironic smile.
“That’s what you’re supposed to teach me, remember?” he asked lightly.
The pickup was permitted immediate entry by the security officer at the high wire gate to the field, and chugged directly to the Lear jet at the far end of the tarmac. The pilot, Don Whitehead, opened the door to admit them and didn’t bat an eye at Sabrina’s rumpled clothing and bare feet when Alex introduced her. Well, why should he, Sabrina thought, knowing a twinge of the green-eyed monster. Piloting a man with Ben Raschid’s penchant for lovely bedmates must have accustomed him to seeing a good many women in strange states of dress.
“What’s the matter now?” Alex asked impatiently, noticing the tiny frown creasing her forehead after the pilot had retired to the cockpit.
“Nothing,” she said quickly. She glanced around the interior of the jet. “This is really quite lovely, Alex.”
The furnishings of the plane were sumptuous. The chairs and couch were upholstered in rich cocoa and gold tweed, the walls paneled in mahogany. There was not only a bar at the far end of the cabin but even a tiny kitchen.
Alex pointed to a cream extension telephone resting on a built-in mahogany desk. “You can do your telephoning from here while I go to the terminal and do some shopping for you, then I’ll get Clancy working on the arrangements. I’ll send catering over to stock the kitchen. Do you have any preferences?”
“Just a sandwich,” she said absently, her mind on the difficult call she was about to make.
He nodded briskly. “There’s a restroom and shower adjoining the kitchen area if you want to use it. I’ll use the VIP facilities at the main terminal.” He turned and strode out the door and down the portable metal steps.
Sabrina stared at the phone, biting her lip worriedly, and then reached for the receiver. What the devil was she g
oing to say to Jess and Sue? “Sorry I didn’t come home last night, but I was being ravished by a dashing sheik who is whisking me off to his lair for a few more days of dalliance?” Well, she’d come up with something. She drew a deep breath and rapidly punched the Bradford number.
The task turned out to be much easier than she’d expected. It was Jess who picked up the receiver and, after expressing relief at her safety, he listened quietly to her halting explanation that she was going away for a few days.
“I can’t say it comes as a surprise, Bree,” he said slowly. “The phone lines have been on the fritz since last night, but Juan Mendoza finally got through early this morning. He was a little concerned, to say the least, when both you and this Ben Raschid disappeared without a word. He felt a bit responsible that he’d been manipulated by Ben Raschid into staging the cocktail party. I take it you and Ben Raschid are … friends?” The last word was uttered with embarrassed gruffness. “You’re sure this is what you want to do?”
“I’m sure,” Sabrina said softly. “Tell David I’ll be back on Monday and we’ll return to Houston the day after.” She paused. “Sue did tell you we’d be leaving?”
“She told me,” Jess said with a terseness that covered a thread of pain. “It looks like you’re still carrying the ball, Bree. It’s no wonder you want to run away for a while. God knows we don’t have any right to ask what we do of you.” He drew a deep, shaky breath. “But I do ask it of you. I have no choice. You will be coming back, won’t you, Bree?”
“I’ll be back Monday,” she repeated gently, her throat aching at the almost pleading note in his voice. “And you’re not asking anything of me that I wouldn’t do anyway. I made my choice a long time ago, Jess. I love David and there’s no way I could desert him now.”
“You couldn’t say we’d shown it in the last two years, but Sue and I feel you’re as much our child as David, Bree,” Jess continued bitterly. “We’ve taken a hell of a lot from you, haven’t we? You probably wouldn’t be forced to go on this little illicit jaunt with a man like Ben Raschid if you were at liberty to form a more lasting relationship. But what man would be willing to accept the responsibility of a problem like David?”