"But it is enough to justify an affair, isn't it?" he whispered deeply, lips grazing the tip of her ear. He pressed her closer, deliberately melding her body with his until she was keenly aware of the hard warmth and the beginnings of arousal in him.

"Rand, I don't think we ought..."

Her fumbling words were gently cut off as he turned her head with one hand and kissed her. It was an incredibly seductive experience, Kalinda discovered, to be kissed on a dance floor. The lazy, probing pa.s.sion of it somehow combined with the flow of music and the gleaming shadows. She melted against him as she always seemed to do when he held her like this.

Sensing her surrender to the moment, Rand slowly, deliberately began to increase the physical tension already blossoming between them. His mouth moved moistly on hers, parting her lips, sipping her honey. He used his hands to fit her close to the cradle of his thighs, shifting his feet occasionally so that his leg somehow lodged suggestively between hers.

Kalinda knew the need and want in her was being coaxed into a smoldering fire but she told herself she was safe enough on the dance floor. And when he took her home later she would have the long ride in the Lotus during which to cool off.

He lifted his mouth from hers, finding the nape of her neck, the line of her jaw, the edge of her eyebrow with his lips. Kalinda shivered and she could feel his satisfaction at the obvious sign of her response.

"Why did you turn down my proposal tonight, sweetheart?" he asked gently.

"I came much too close to a... a business marriage once before," she breathed shakily, not meeting his eyes. She wished he would stop talking and just hold her.

"And you're afraid that's all it would be between us?" he pressed huskily.

"I think Brady Data Processing is only a first step for you on your road back to an empire. I don't want to be used...."

"Used!"

"I know you wouldn't do it deliberately," she placated urgently, feathering her fingertips on the back of his neck. "You really believe you're offering a fair deal."

"Aren't I?" he demanded roughly.

"I suppose. But it's not enough..." she trailed off helplessly at the glittering expression in his gaze.

"Then that leaves us with the affair, doesn't it?" he said coldly.

She drew in her breath, knowing the seductive moment was over and she now had to make her stand. The same stand she had tried to make during the early-morning walk in the park.

"I don't think that's very wise, Rand," she began steadily. "You need time to readjust to the business world. Your interest in me is bound to be fleering once you've reestablished yourself."

"And you're afraid I'd be using you, just as you're afraid I'd be using you if we were to marry," he broke in grimly.

"Wouldn't you?" she dared, lining her lashes to meet his eyes.

"Use you? I don't care what you call it at this point," he bit out with impatient savagery. "Whatever it is, it's going to happen. Because I'm going to take you back to your apartment tonight and make love to you until you are no longer capable of finding reasons for it not to happen!"

"Rand!" His name was almost a cry. He meant it. She could see the intention in his eyes, knew he wouldn't be stopped now that he'd made up his mind.

"Come on, Kalinda," he ordered, his tone softening but becoming no less determined. "Let's go home."

The tension that tautened between them on the drive back to Kalinda's town house was palpable. It was also very silent Kalinda didn't know what Rand was thinking, but she knew her own mind was whirling with arguments and counter-arguments. He intended to make love to her tonight and she knew of no practical way of stopping him because, deep down, it was what she wanted, too.

Rand said nothing as he guided her forcefully through the door of her home and locked it firmly behind them. And he said nothing as she tried to step nervously out of reach.

But his hand closed on her upper arm in an unshakable grip and she was hauled against his chest, the sequined shawl slipping unnoticed to the green carpet to lie in a sparkling heap.

Wordlessly they stared at each other and then whatever bits of protest Kalinda might have found were blocked as Rand began to renew the claim he had on her.

She should have known, Kalinda told herself as he rained aggressive, mastering kisses down her throat, that she could never withstand such a sensuous a.s.sault The need in him was genuine even though at this moment it was combined with a desire to subdue. And her desire to match and satisfy that need was equally genuine, even though she told herself it was a dangerous path. She couldn't fight her own love for him.

"Kalinda, you can't deny this feeling between us. You can't possibly say it's based on business!" The words were grated roughly against her skin as he began to undo the velvet jacket.

"No, Rand," she acknowledged gently as the jacket fell to the floor beside the sequined shawl.

"Admit you want me, sweetheart," he commanded gruffly, sliding the silk blouse off her shoulders. "You must know I want you. Admit that you feel the same. Neither of us could walk away from an affair!"

It was the simple truth. With a moan of acceptance of her fate, Kalinda wound her arms around his neck, returning his kisses with pa.s.sionate, yielding intensity. She had no choice but to acknowledge the effect he had on her and to admit her inability to walk away from him. He might not know it was based on love, but she knew it.

"I want you, Rand," she whispered against his throat as his hands found her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and began bringing them to fullness. She wanted to say she loved him but knew he wouldn't want her love. He wanted an affair and, perhaps, a business-oriented marriage.

"I know that, darling," he husked. "You can't hide it I see it everytime I look in your eyes, everytime your body comes alive under my hands. But it's so d.a.m.n frustrating hearing you try to wriggle out of our affair!"

"I won't try anymore," she vowed thickly, pushing his dinner jacket onto the floor with inviting, eager hands. She went to work on the b.u.t.tons of his shirt. "I should have known I couldn't out-reason a skilled manipulator like you," she added wistfully, her mouth lifting at the corners.

"Not when you're all wrong in your reasoning process!"

"Am I, Rand?" she whispered.

"Yes," he growled as the last of their clothes fell to the carpet "All wrong..."

He ran his hands caressingly down her back, sinking his fingers into the curve of her bottom and letting her feel the hardening maleness of him against her thighs.

Kalinda spread her fingers across his chest, delighting in the roughness of the crisp hair even as his hair-roughened leg moved boldly between hers.

She closed her eyes in expectation as he bent to lift her into his arms. But instead of carrying her into the bedroom, he settled her on the thick green carpet beside the pile of clothes.

He came down beside her, sweeping his hand across her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, pausing to draw teasing circles around each nipple before moving lower. She turned into his arms, the need in her shining in her eyes.

"Did you really think I'd let you try to talk me out of an affair?" he demanded hoa.r.s.ely, pinning her gently to the carpet with his leg.

"Yes, no, I don't know. I haven't been thinking all that clearly lately." She reached up and pulled his head down to hers.

Committed now, she kissed him with all the longing in her heart, using the ancient, womanly wiles buried in every nerve ending. Letting her own need and desire take over she explored his mouth with a pa.s.sion that clearly aroused him deeply. Once more, as she always seemed to do with this man, Kalinda put the future aside. It just didn't seem as important as expressing her love in the present. Even if that love must remain mute.

She felt his fingers on her thighs and then released his head as he groaned and began to kiss her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Fingers locked in his chestnut hair, she held him to her and let her senses swirl.

"You're so perfect for me," he said throatily. "So exactly what I need. You must see I can't give you up, sweetheart"

She arched upward and felt his lips on her thigh. The tiny, stinging caress nearly drove her insane with desire. The shimmering, promising currents began gathering once again in her body, seeking the release they had learned to expect from this man.

He caught her arching hips with his hand, holding her in delicious bondage as she struggled to complete the union. The sensation of being held back seemed to hone her need to an even higher peak. Kalinda twisted and curled, grateful for each new teasing, tormenting touch, but determined to have it all.

"Please, Rand, please," she begged, grasping at him, trying to pull him down on top of her.

He kissed her navel and then the slope of her small b.r.e.a.s.t.s, letting her writhe against him but not letting her take control of the lovemaking.

"Tell me again that you want me, sweetheart," he whispered beguilingly.

"I want you. Oh, G.o.d! How I want you!" Trapped in the depths of her own desire she would have told him the truth if he had asked it of her. She would have willingly told him of her love. But he didn't ask that question. Instead, incredibly, he asked another. One she wasn't prepared for at all.

"If you really want me so much," he grated heavily, "then there's no reason for us not to marry, is there? I could never tolerate letting you go to another man after what we've shared. Say you'll marry me, sweet Kalinda. Make the engagement real."

Stunned by the demand, Kalinda tried to think logically, tried to remember her fears. But it was impossible to do so while cradled so tightly against him. She loved him and he was asking her to marry him.

Weakened with longing and unable to argue with herself in that moment, Kalinda heard herself whisper the answer.

"Yes, Rand. I'll marry you. I'll do anything you want"

Nothing had changed. She knew the odds were that he was still caught up in a combination of desire and grat.i.tude to her for providing him the excuse he'd needed to return to the business world. He had said nothing of love.

But she no longer had the strength to turn down that which her heart so desperately wanted. She loved him. Perhaps, in time, she could teach him to love her. If not, if the time ever came when he realized he no longer needed her, she would not regret the time she'd been his. Real love might eventually cause sadness, but not regret.

10.

Two days later a somewhat tired-looking Rand appeared in Kalinda's office doorway. She had seen him only at work since the night he had seduced her into marrying him. He'd made compelling love to her on the plush carpet, whispering words of aching need. And when it was over he'd carried her tenderly to the bedroom, kissed her good-night, dressed, and left.

The next day at work he had been all business, never mentioning the traumatic events of the evening. He had devoted himself to his task at Brady with single-minded determination. She knew he'd talked to people high up in David Hutton's firm, spelling out exactly how Brady Data Processing was prepared to match the hostile merger offer to shareholders or to find a friendly corporate marriage partner. That night he'd taken Kalinda home late after work and left her politely on her doorstep.

She had just put down the receiver, a small smile on her face as she considered David Hutton's call when Rand appeared, leaning in the doorway with deceptive casualness. But she saw the flicker of excitement and satisfaction in his eyes.

"It's all over but the shouting, honey," he advised laconically. "You should be hearing something soon. I just talked to my contact at Hutton's firm. They're throwing in the towel. We're... I mean, you're going to get out of this relatively unscathed."

"Thanks to you." Her smile broadened as she absorbed the manner in which he was hiding his personal satisfaction. "I just got word from David, himself." She gestured at the telephone.

Rand lifted one chestnut brow inquiringly. "So soon?"

"He's withdrawing the offer." She decided there was no point mentioning what David had said prior to calling off the hostile merger attempt. "He wasn't particularly pleased, but you managed to leave him with very little option. He can't afford us. Not with the kind of credit we can command at the banks."

"He was counting on Brady's traditional dislike of using credit," Rand nodded as if to himself. "And sheer panic."

"Which didn't develop because we knew we had the best player on our team," Kalinda inserted warmly. There was something more than satisfaction in Rand's expression. A hint of anxiety? Perhaps even wariness? She didn't understand it, but if it was simply a matter of his ego needing a little stroking she had no objections. He deserved it.

"It's over, Rand, and you're the reason Brady is still an independent concern." Kalinda depressed the intercom b.u.t.ton and leaned forward slightly. "George, would you please round everyone up in the main conference room as soon as possible?"

"Everyone, Miss Brady, or just management?" George asked carefully. He knew she'd just taken a call from David Hutton.

"Everyone, George. Including you."

There was a fractional hesitation and then George's curiosity got the better of him. "Good news, Miss Brady? Or bad?"

"The best, George. And as soon as you notify everyone about the meeting would you mind taking a minute to find us a place that can accommodate a celebration this afternoon?"

"A place that will accommodate everyone?" he stressed cautiously.

"The entire staff, George."

"Yes, Miss Brady."

She released the intercom b.u.t.ton and stood up, meeting Rand's dryly amused gaze.

"What's the matter?" she grinned. "Not used to being on the side of the underdog?"

He winced, as if she'd stung him. "Frankly, I've never seen it from this side," he admitted.

"Well, I'll have to confess this is the first time we at Brady have had this particular excuse for celebrating. But we' ve had practice at the annual Christmas party!" She spoke lightly, trying to erase whatever it was she'd just said that had made him look so rueful.

"You'll be picking up the tab personally?" Rand asked.

"We don't run to office slush funds here at Brady," she affirmed with a grimace. "I'll be paying the bill. But it will be worth it"

Two hours later the jubilant Brady staff adjourned from work early to take an extended lunch hour which, Kalinda guessed with amus.e.m.e.nt, would last all afternoon.

George had succeeded in finding a colorful beer and pizza tavern that was willing to welcome so many people on such short notice. Foaming mugs of beer and pizzas with "everything" were being ordered unstintingly. Kalinda decided not to concern herself with the inevitable price tag. It was far cheaper than a merger would have been!

She glanced around the room as the staff began to break up into familiar groups. George sat at a corner table surrounded by the other secretaries, all female. The word processing group had claimed another table nearby. First-line supervisors were drifting cheerfully into their own territory and Brady's upper management occupied a long table with Kalinda and Rand in the center.

Kalinda smothered a grin as a toast went up, beer mugs on high. It was one of several and the subject this time was Rand. She could have sworn he was turning a dull red. Amused, she leaned close and under cover of the cheers, whispered, "One thing about being on the side of the good guys: We're big on heroes!"

In the dim light, Kalinda was positive Rand turned an even darker shade of red as he slanted her a wry glance.

"It's not a role I'm accustomed to playing."

"Hero? But you're a natural for the part!"

He looked at her with sudden sharpness. "You think so?"

"Definitely," she laughed.

He continued looking at her levelly for a long moment. "Kalinda, I have to talk to you."

"Now?"

"As soon as possible."

She chilled, remembering the wariness in him earlier. What was wrong? Had he changed his mind about the marriage already? Realized he was now back in his natural milieu and no longer needed her? Beneath the rustically carved table, Kalinda's palms went strangely damp.

"All right, Rand. I don't think we'll be missed" She didn't look at him as she spoke.

There were several good-natured calls protesting their departure, but no one seemed unduly upset In fact, Kalinda thought sardonically, everyone looked a little too understanding; a little too smugly pleased It didn't take much insight to realize her slightly feudal staff had decided Rand would make an excellent consort for their president!