The Waiting Game

  She obeyed, wrapping her arms around his neck as he touched her with growing intimacy. When his prowling fingers found the hot damp center of her need she said his name again, this time with an urgency that matched his own.

  „Sara, my sweet, Sara.“ He pinned one of her legs with his strong thigh and probed her deeply with a deliciously questing touch. When she shuddered, he muttered hot, dark words of encouragement into her ear.

  She lifted herself against his hand, unable to resist the caress. Never had she responded so completely and so readily. Her senses seemed inflamed, thoroughly alive and aware in a way that was new to her. Fascinated by the world of sensation that was beginning to spin around her, she stroked his smoothly muscled frame. Her palms slipped over the sleek contours of his back, down to the hard planes of his thigh. Then, with gentle boldness she moved her fingertips around to find the flat terrain of his stomach. For an instant longer she hesitated. Then her hand went lower.

  „Yes,“ he grated with harsh need when she dared to tease his male hardness. „Take me inside, sweetheart. Let me have all of you. I need you so.“

  She couldn’t find words but he seemed to know she was ready. With passionate aggression Adrian pushed her into the pillows and lowered himself down along the length of her.

  „Put your arms around me, Sara, and never let go,“ he commanded. „Never let go….“

  She did as he instructed, pulling him to her until she felt the blunt hardness of him waiting at the gate. The knowledge that he was on the verge of entering her fully and completely brought a brief, startling flicker of alarm. For an instant Sara had a vision of the reality that lay beyond tonight. This man was unique. After tonight nothing would ever be the same.

  The fleeting glimpse of the future was gone an instant later as Adrian moved heavily against her. All of Sara’s senses returned to the moment, lost once more in the pulsating excitement.

  „Oh, Adrian…“ The words were torn from her as she felt the full impact of his body taking possession of hers.

  „Hold me, Sara.“

  Instinctively she obeyed as she adjusted to his sensual invasion. Then he began to move within her, slow, tantalizing strokes that pushed her senses into tighter and tighter bundles of energy that strove for release.

  The end was a revelation to Sara, a new understanding of her body and its responses. She found herself clinging to the man above her with an abandon that she would never have believed if she hadn’t experienced it firsthand.

  „That’s it, honey,“ he rasped as she cried out his name once more. „Let go. Just let go. I’ll take you with me all the way.“

  Willingly, unable to do anything else, Sara gave herself to him completely and gloried in the knowledge that he was returning the gift in full measure. She heard the sound of her name as it was wrenched from him and then he was pushing deeply into her one last time. His hard body shuddered for a long moment and then collapsed. Outside the window the night breeze briefly stirred a stand of fir and then all was silent.

  It was a long while before Sara became aware of the sprawled weight that still trapped her in the depths of the bedding. She opened her eyes to find Adrian lying on top of her, his head on the pillow beside hers. He was watching her from behind half-closed lashes.

  „Am I too heavy for you?“ he asked lazily.

  „Umm.“

  His mouth flickered in brief amusement as he recognized her deliberate imitation of his characteristic response. „What does ‘umm’ mean?“

  „I don’t know. You’re the expert. You tell me.“

  „It means ‘uh-huh.’“ He sighed regretfully and slowly rolled onto his side. Then he gathered her close. „Too bad. You’re very comfortable.“

  „Am I?“

  His head inclined downward once in a short nod. „Incredibly comfortable. I can’t recall when I’ve been this comfortable. Or this relaxed. Or this content.“

  „Neither can I,“ she said honestly. It was the truth. Tonight there were no pretenses or games or caution. Her fingertips worked small, idle patterns on his chest. „Adrian, I’ve never felt quite like this before in my life.“

  „You don’t sound as if you’re sure you like feeling this way.“ He touched her cheek.

  Nothing will ever be the same. „It feels strange.“

  „We’ll get used to it,“ he assured her.

  „Will we?“

  „You’re nervous all of a sudden, aren’t you?“

  „No,“ she denied quickly.

  „Sara, honey, don’t try to fool me now. You can’t do it,“ he told her gently.

  „Well, maybe I am a little nervous. It was too soon, Adrian.“

  „It was inevitable, so the timing doesn’t really matter.“

  „We hardly know each other.“

  „You were a gift to me, remember? I was bound to open you as soon as I could.“

  She flushed. „I thought you were a great believer in patience.“

  „Only when it’s the best option.“

  „You don’t think we should have waited awhile longer? Made certain of our feelings?“ she asked anxiously.

  „I am certain of my feelings,“ he told her roughly.

  „I don’t want you confusing your feelings of responsibility for me with… with your, uh, more personal feelings.“

  He looked down at her in mocking pity. „Believe me, I’m not mistaking a sense of responsibility for raw passion. From my point of view the two are quite distinct. You’re the one who sounds confused.“

  „You’re not?“

  „Not at all, Sara. If anything, tonight just makes everything even simpler and more straightforward.“

  She eyed him curiously. „What does that mean?“

  „It means we don’t have to have any more arguments about my right to take care of you, for one thing.“ He brushed her parted lips and then drew back to study her expression. „You belong to me now. That gives me all the rights I need.“

  „I’ve never met a man so anxious to assume responsibility,“ she tried to say lightly. But she was very much afraid her voice cracked a little on the last word.

  „I’ve never been particularly anxious to assume responsibility for anyone else,“ he told her seriously. „With you, it’s different.“

  „And what do you want from me in return?“ she asked carefully.

  „I’ve already told you, remember?“ He pushed a strand of hair back behind his ear. „I want you to love me. I like the idea of having you love me. I like it very much.“

  „You think it would be ‘pleasant,’“ she couldn’t resist saying somewhat tartly.

  „You said you fell a little in love with the hero in Phantom.“

  „So?“ she challenged softly.

  „How do you think he would treat a woman whose love he wanted?“

  The question startled her. She frowned. „I think he would take care of her. She could trust him.“

  „I want you to trust me the same way.“

  She half smiled. „You’re not Phantom.“

  „I created him. There must be something of me in him and vice versa.“

  Sara studied his intent features. She had asked herself so many questions about the similarities between Adrian and his hero the previous night when she’d read the manuscript. „Yes, I think there might be.“

  „Trust me, sweet Sara,“ he grated, rolling onto his back and pulling her down on top of him. „Trust me with your love. Like your uncle, I know what has value in life. I’ll take good care of you.“

  „Aren’t you worried about how well I’ll take care of you?“ she parried, aware of the renewing tautness in body.

  „You won’t play games with me.“

  „What makes you so sure?“ she demanded, rather irritated with the certainty in his voice.

  „Because it would tear me apart if you did,“ he said simply. „You wouldn’t do that to me, would you, Sara?“

  Horrified at the thought, Sara cradled his face between her palms.
„No, Adrian. Never that,“ she vowed.

  Unaware of how deeply she had just committed herself, Sara kissed him, translating the verbal promise into a physical one. His hands came up to wrap around her waist and he arched his lower body demandingly into hers.

  „Adrian?“

  „Umm.“

  She didn’t bother to ask him what he meant. It was becoming very obvious. Sara parted her legs for him and her mouth locked with his as he began the spiraling climb to passion.

  The first hint of dawn was in the sky the next time Sara came awake. There was a moment of lazy curiosity as she opened her eyes and absorbed her surroundings. Adrian’s room was a thoroughly masculine affair, with its warm cedar walls and heavy, clean-lined furniture. It was as orderly and controlled-looking as the rest of his house. She was finding it interesting until she became aware of the weight of his arm across her stomach. Then she awoke completely.

  Memories of the night filtered back in a haze of lingering passion and midnight promises. She turned to look at Adrian and was grateful to discover he was still sound asleep. What exactly had she agreed to last night, she wondered with a sudden feeling of panic.

  There had been talk of love and responsibility and a promise not to play games. But it seemed to her that most of the dangerous, reckless promises had come from her. The only thing he had vowed in return was to take care of her.

  It was crazy, Sara chided herself as she cautiously slipped out from under his arm. She hadn’t intended to let things go so far. She had never meant to wind up in bed with him, at least not so soon. She had barely met the man. This was exactly the sort of behavior she had instinctively avoided in the world she had just left. What on earth was the matter with her?

  Adrian stirred restlessly when she slid off the bed but he didn’t awaken. On silent feet Sara fled down the hall to her own room and scrambled about for her jeans and a shirt. She badly needed to get out of the house for a while. She needed time to think and reevaluate the whole situation. Her family had often warned her that her periodic bouts of impulsiveness would land her in real trouble someday.

  Even Uncle Lowell had felt obliged to point out that there were some risks involved in playing games with life.

  But last night had been no game. Last night had been for real. Twenty-four-karat real.

  Shoving her feet into a pair of sandals, Sara yanked a lightweight Windbreaker out of her suitcase and hurried down the hall to the living room. She let herself out the front door and stood on the porch, inhaling deeply of the sea-sharpened morning air.

  For a moment she hesitated, unable to think clearly enough to decide on a destination. Then she remembered the car she had left parked in the inn parking lot. With a small sigh of relief at having provided herself with a focus for the morning walk, she hurried down the steps and out to the road. She would walk back toward town and pick up her car. Wonderful. It would give her something useful to do while she tried to sort out her future, she thought. Sara patted her jeans pocket to make certain she had the keys.

  Behind her she was unaware of the house purring to life with news of the unauthorized exit. Adrian came instantly awake as the nearly silent vibration in the headboard jolted him. The alarm-clock radio beside the bed was blinking in a fashion that had nothing to do with its normal function. The message was quiet but clear.

  The house was doing its duty. Faithfully it undertook to warn its owner that Sara was gone.

  With an oath that was half rage and half pain, Adrian threw off the covers and reached for his clothes.

  Chapter Six

  The flash of rage and pain gave way to another emotion even as Adrian slipped out the front door. Fear began to claw at his insides, and in that moment he could not have said whether it was fear for Sara’s safety or fear that she was leaving him. The two seemed to combine in the bottom of his stomach, forming a knot of tension that increased as he realized she was already out of sight. He was at a loss to explain how he could have been so sound asleep that he hadn’t even felt her leave the bed. Normally he never slept that deeply. Last night had altered something as fundamental as his sleeping patterns and that was unnerving in some ways.

  The truth was he hadn’t handled last night all that well. He’d practically pushed her into bed, Adrian berated himself. He should have waited. He’d known it was much too soon. She hadn’t spent nearly a year with a fantasy nibbling at the edge of her mind the way he had. She couldn’t know what it was like to have a fantasy become reality. As far as Sara was concerned she’d only known him a couple of days. She must have awakened this morning with a head full of doubts and anger aimed at him.

  So she’d taken off without bothering to say good-bye.

  Damn it, he thought furiously, where the hell could she have gone? There had been no sound of a car. She must be on foot and that meant she couldn’t have gone far.

  The car. Hers was still at the inn and it probably represented escape to her. The road would seem the fastest way into town to her, Adrian decided. Without hesitating a second longer, he loped down the steps and started up the drive toward the winding road that led into the Winslow.

  He saw her just as he reached the pavement. She was walking briskly along, her light-brown hair catching a sheen of gold from the dawn light. It complemented the faint gleam of gold from the little chain on her wrist. He remembered the way the tiny little bracelet had glittered last night against her skin. She had told him that her uncle had given it to her a long time ago. Her slender, soft body moved with an ease that seemed to emphasize the intriguing roundness of her hips and the subtle, feminine strength he recalled so vividly that morning. Adrian watched her in silence, remembering the sweet passion he had tapped during the night.

  The year’s wait had been worth it, he acknowledged to himself as he began to pace silently a few yards behind her. He had not set himself up for disappointment by allowing Lowell to build an image in his head. In his wildest imaginings, though, he could not have envisioned that she would wrap her arms around him with such abandoned demand. Nor could he have dreamed up the clean, womanly scent of the real Sara Frazer. It was unique to her and he would never forget it. There was no way his fantasies could have created the exact feel of her soft thighs as she opened herself to him and there was nothing in fantasy that approached the real-life sensation of sinking himself deep into her soft, clinging warmth.

  But it was the words he remembered with such stark clarity that morning. Her soft words of need and the promises he had coaxed from her lips. He had thought the words would hold her even if the lovemaking could not. She had told him she would not play games with him and she had said she wanted him.

  But this morning she was running from him.

  It would be easy enough to catch her. She wasn’t even aware of him prowling along behind her on the empty road. Her mind seemed focused on her destination, whatever that was. Was she planning to take the car and head back to San Diego? Or would she go to Kincaid’s house and wait there for her uncle?

  Not that it mattered, Adrian thought grimly. His hand curled and uncurled briefly in a subtle act of tension. He couldn’t let her leave.

  He ought to just catch up with her and explain very succinctly why he couldn’t let her off the island. Perhaps she would be rational about the matter. Or he could simply overtake her, scoop her up and carry her back to the house. She’d probably start screaming. Then again maybe it would be simplest if he caught her and swore never to touch her again as long as she did as she was told. And just how would he manage to keep a promise like that?

  None of the alternatives seemed viable. With a savagely stifled oath, Adrian continued to trail her along the narrow road. It was ridiculous following her like this, unable to make up his mind about how to handle her. Kincaid would collapse in laughter if he could see him now. The Adrian Saville he knew had never been prone to indecision or uncertainty.

  Several yards ahead Sara walked toward town with an energy that was fueled by a sense of impendi
ng fate. She couldn’t explain the feeling of being caught in a trap, but the sensation was strong in her mind. A part of her could not regret last night no matter how hard she tried. But another side of her warned that everything had happened much too quickly. It was so completely alien for her to catapult herself into a situation like that. She shook her head morosely, unable to comprehend her own emotions. Throwing herself into bed with a virtual stranger was one game she had never played.

  There was no denying that the unfamiliar blend of emotions she had experienced around Adrian had taken her by surprise. In a way, it seemed almost logical, almost inevitable that they had culminated in last night’s sensual conclusion. That sense of inevitability, however, was new and disturbing. What irony that Adrian had been worried about her playing games with him! Nothing had ever seemed less like a game than her own fierce response in his arms. Perhaps if it had seemed more like a game, she would be feeling far more comfortable this morning.

  Of course, Sara decided caustically, she could always reassure herself that Adrian wasn’t exactly a stranger. Hadn’t Uncle Lowell apparently chosen him for her? Dear outrageous, unpredictable and not infrequently brilliant Uncle Lowell. The man should be dangled over hot coals for creating this mess.

  Uncle Lowell.

  Her uncle’s name brought a dose of common sense. This whole mess had been precipitated by Lowell Kincaid. Where was he and when would he return?

  Sara’s brows were shaping a thoughtful line above her hazel eyes when she finally reached the inn on the outskirts of the small town. Her car was still waiting patiently for her in the parking lot. She hoped the inn management wasn’t upset about her tardiness in picking up the vehicle. Digging into her pockets for the keys, Sara started forward.

  She had her hand on the door handle, absently trying to identify the slip of paper she noticed resting on the front seat when the shock of Adrian’s voice behind her spun her around.