"Gee, you really loved it, huh?"

"No," he replied in a sarcastic whisper. "I thought the same thing your parents would have thought-this cannot be Kelsey Logan. Kelsey Logan would not get on a public station and talk like some p.o.r.n movie star."

She gasped. "That's out of line, Mitch Wymore. Way out of line, even for you."

"Is it? That's what you sounded like. Some kind of self-appointed love G.o.ddess bestowing her s.e.xual wisdom on us mortals."

Kelsey gritted her teeth, determined not to have this argument, even though she'd actually been expecting it. "You know what? I'm not going to have this discussion with you. It's the middle of the night, and I'm tired," Kelsey said as she tried to push by him and go up the stairs.

He reached out to grab her arm as she pa.s.sed. "You're not going to gloss over this, Kelsey. Does your family have any idea what you're doing? What do you think they'd say about you becoming some publicity-seeking s.e.x G.o.ddess?"

Kelsey stopped with her hand on the banister, turned and, as her eyes were becoming accustomed to the dark, leaned until she was scant inches away from Mitch's face. "Just who do you think you are? When were you appointed to the Baltimore morality police?"

"Look, Kelsey, you're attracting the worst kind of attention. There are a lot of wackos out there who would just love to get Lady Love alone and force her to put her body where her mouth is."

She gritted her teeth, determined to remain calm and not throw a hissy fit on the stairs in the middle of the night. "Back off, Mitch. Your college professor past is showing. G.o.d, is there anyone more sanctimonious than a reformed tough guy?"

He didn't so much as grin. He obviously was not going to be teased out of his anger. "Kelsey, this just is not you."

"How would you know? You don't know me. You know nothing about the Kelsey Logan standing here with you right now. You see me as some pigtailed little kid who needs looking after, but you know what? I'm all grown-up, Mitch. And what I do is none of your business."

Kelsey tried to squeeze past Mitch and move up the stairs, to no avail. He was right in her way, and he wasn't budging. He grabbed her shoulders and forced her to stand where she was.

"I know enough about you to know that you've got a h.e.l.l of a lot of talent. You could do a lot better than just t.i.tillating the public with some sordid little talk show."

Kelsey drew up a fist and punched against Mitch's chest. A cinder block might have felt softer against her fist, and she winced as pain shot up her arm. He didn't flinch.

"You're wrong. I'm an entertainer, Mitch, a performer. My audience responds to me because they like me." Kelsey suddenly wanted him to understand in spite of the fact that she really shouldn't have to explain herself to him. "And I do make them laugh. It's not always like it was tonight. Sometimes it's all lighthearted and fun, and I do wacky voices, and it's very innocent."

Mitch didn't release his grip on her shoulders, and she could see through the shadows that his stiff jaw had not relaxed one bit. He would never understand this. She could waste her breath from now until the end of the new millennium, and he'd still disapprove.

"Look, Mitch, you are not not my brother, nor my father. You are nothing to me...." Kelsey stammered. "Nothing except my landlord, and the subject of some amusing childhood memories. So mind your own business and let me go!" my brother, nor my father. You are nothing to me...." Kelsey stammered. "Nothing except my landlord, and the subject of some amusing childhood memories. So mind your own business and let me go!"

Kelsey ended on a shout, and Mitch gritted his teeth to avoid shouting right back. Nothing? Nothing? He'd watched this stubborn, willful female grow up, had put up with years of abuse, longer years of her schoolgirl crush, and yet he was He'd watched this stubborn, willful female grow up, had put up with years of abuse, longer years of her schoolgirl crush, and yet he was nothing nothing to her? Her body shook beneath his fingers, her anger as obvious as his own. to her? Her body shook beneath his fingers, her anger as obvious as his own.

Her husky voice echoed in his ears, and the smell of her filled his senses. Her chest heaved with her deep breaths. Her full lips were parted and she looked as if she was about to say something else. Mitch really didn't want to hear it. He just wanted her to shut up.

He had to kiss her.

Bending swiftly, he captured her open mouth with his own. She moaned, a wild sound from somewhere deep in her throat, and he pressed harder, urging her lips farther apart and sweeping his tongue against hers. She hesitated for not more than a second, then he felt her arms circle his neck as she pulled him hard against her body. Her sweet mouth welcomed him, beckoned him as he tasted her.

Kissing Kelsey was sweet and agonizing and arousing and fulfilling, all at the same time. Mitch moved his hands up her neck and cupped her face, stroking her temples and letting his fingers tangle in her loose hair. He felt her hands press into his back, pulling his body against hers. She fit against him as he'd imagined she would, as if they were made for each other.

Kelsey clung to Mitch like a drowning woman to a life raft. He filled her senses-his smell, the feel of him. In his arms, with his hot mouth on her own, she could admit that when she'd spoken of sensuous pleasures, the most rapturous one she could have imagined was the feel of this man's kiss.

And then he pulled away.

There was cold where there had been warmth. A chill touched her face and Kelsey shivered. She reached for him, wanting to draw him back, but he jerked away from her touch as if she burned him.

"I'm sorry, that should never have happened," Mitch insisted. "I was angry, and wanted to shut you up."

"It's all right," Kelsey replied, still adrift in sensation. "You didn't do anything I haven't been wanting you to do."

She smiled at him and raised a shaky finger, intending to trace the outline of his lips. He grabbed her hand, stopping her before she could touch him, and gripped it tightly.

"No, Kelsey, this was a mistake. We were both angry. It won't happen again."

He didn't want her. She bit her lip, watching the self-recrimination cross his features. He already regretted kissing her. She knew he'd been as affected by the kiss as she had, but for some reason, Mitch was not about to admit it.

"I shouldn't have ambushed you like this." He raked his hands through his hair in angry, jerky movements. "I should have waited and spoken to you in the morning, when we could both be rational about it. Let's do that, all right? We'll talk tomorrow."

He was talking about the show again, she could tell, and Kelsey's stomach tightened into a hard knot. "No, Mitch, we won't talk tomorrow. There's nothing to talk about."

"I mean," he explained, "we'll talk about the show, not about...well, what just happened."

"I know exactly what you meant." Kelsey crossed her arms firmly in front of her chest. "And, as I said, we have nothing further to discuss. It's none of your business what I do for a living. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. So I'll thank you to back off."

"Oh, right," he said, his voice silky and dangerous. "Like you took care of yourself a minute ago when I kissed you? You didn't fight too hard, Kelsey. What if I'd been one of Lady Love's overamorous fans?"

Kelsey narrowed her eyes and leaned forward to whisper, "Then you'd be bent over, talking in a real high-pitched voice right about now."

A light flicked on upstairs, and Kelsey jerked her head at the sound of footsteps. Fred and Celia's anxious faces peered over the rail, and she realized they must have woken them with their shouting.

"Is everything all right?" Fred asked.

"Everything's fine," Kelsey replied. "Mitch and I were just saying good-night." She stared coldly at him. "Good night, Mitch."

Not waiting for his response, Kelsey rushed up the stairs. Her feet hadn't hit the top step when she heard his door slam shut below. Tears p.r.i.c.ked the corners of her eyes, and for the life of her she could not make her key fit into the lock.

Kelsey heard Celia's and Fred's low voices. She didn't protest when Celia approached, gently took the keys out of her hand, opened the door and led her inside.

"Thank you," she said, as Celia steered her toward her own sofa.

"No problem, honey, you look upset. Let me make you some tea to calm you down."

"I'm all right," Kelsey insisted, "though I'm about ready to strangle one overbearing anthropologist!"

Celia smoothed back Kelsey's hair and then handed her a tissue. Fred's girlfriend looked like a little wren, with an incredibly expressive face dominated by huge brown eyes and a gentle smile. Kelsey could never imagine her raising her voice, much less screeching at a man loud enough to wake the upstairs neighbors in the middle of the night.

"I'm sorry about this, Celia. I can't believe we woke you up."

Celia filled a kettle with water and placed it on the stove. "It's all right. Though I'm sure Fred's going to turn five shades of red the next time he sees you because you and Mitch now know that I slept over."

Kelsey laughed softly, her bad mood quickly evaporating with Celia's rueful smile. "Oh, right, we never suspected. It's not as though I can see your car parked across the street when I get home at three o'clock or anything."

"I won't bother trying to hide it anymore, then," Celia said with a grin. "So, do you want to talk about...anything?"

She didn't, really. What was there to talk about? She knew from the moment she took the job at the station that Mitch and her family would never approve. His reaction tonight had come as absolutely no surprise.

"It was just a typical argument. Mitch heard my show for the first time tonight. He wasn't pleased," Kelsey admitted as she curled up in one corner of the sofa.

"I could tell," Celia said nodding slowly. "From what Fred tells me, you and he have a sort of love-hate relationship?"

"I guess you could say that." Kelsey kicked off her shoes and tucked her feet beneath her. "Mitch and I have always gotten under each other's skin. I was a pretty rotten kid, and he was the target of a lot of my pranks. Not that he was much better. He was h.e.l.l on wheels himself."

"Mitch? Our Mitch?"

Kelsey grinned at the disbelief in Celia's voice. "Yes, nice, dependable, studious Mitch. He was a regular juvenile delinquent. He didn't really straighten up until he was about seventeen."

"I can't believe it. I mean, I don't know him that well, but from what Fred has said, Mitch seems almost..."

"Conservative? Don't let the brains fool you. He's somehow managed to keep his emotions suppressed, but I imagine they're still churning away somewhere deep inside. He just needs someone to remind him they're there."

"Volunteering?"

Celia laughed, but Kelsey didn't join in. "Maybe that's not such a bad idea." A slow smile spread across her lips.

"I recognize that look. That's a Lady Love face. Let me guess, you feel anything but sisterly toward him, right?" Celia asked as she carried two cups from the kitchen.

Kelsey sighed deeply. "Celia, I have been incredibly attracted to that man for years. And now, finally, I know he feels the same way. But when he allows himself to give in to those feelings for a moment, he yanks away as if he's committed some crime."

Celia didn't respond. Kelsey almost regretted taking her into her confidence. She'd never told anyone that she had the slightest interest in Mitch. It had been her secret, a schoolgirl fantasy, for many years. It was the dream she would indulge in while drying her hair or, lately, while bathing. Now that she'd said the words out loud, it was too real.

"You didn't see the way he looked at you when you stormed up the stairs," Celia said with a gentle smile. "I thought for a second he was going to grab you and throw you over his shoulder and carry you off or something...it was terribly romantic."

Kelsey gave her a sour look and stirred her tea. "If Mitch wanted to throw me anywhere, it wouldn't be over his shoulder...it would be off a bridge."

Celia sipped her tea silently. She looked like a Cheshire cat, full of secrets, sure of what she knew, and Kelsey couldn't resist asking, "You really mean it? About carrying me off, I mean?"

"He looked like a man in pain, Kelsey."

Kelsey couldn't stop the little stab of malicious pleasure that thought gave her. There had been plenty of girlish nights when she'd cried into her pillow because Mitch had called her "little brat" or given her noogies on her head.

"I think the problem is that Mitch is too decent a guy," Celia continued. "He's protective of you, wants to keep you safe from the big bad boys who might take advantage of you. And what he's feeling for you now, well, suddenly he's found out maybe he's still one of the big bad boys."

Kelsey nodded ruefully. Celia wasn't saying anything she didn't already know. Mitch was never going to willingly get involved with her. He was too honorable, too loyal to her parents. He'd accepted the "big brother" mantle her family had thrust on him and would likely never let himself touch her again. Unless...

"Celia, I've always meant to ask you. How did you ever get Fred to ask you out? The man is so shy."

"Simple," Celia answered with a smirk. "Every time I saw him, I flirted, teased and seduced him without ever letting him know I was doing it."

"Seduction, hmm? Gee, seems to me I've heard a few things about seduction."

Celia's eyes lit up as she caught Kelsey's drift. She nodded, a speculative look in her eye.

Kelsey propped her feet up on the coffee table, patting the vacant seat next to her on the sofa so Celia would sit next to her. "Tell me more."

And Celia did.

5.

SOMEONE WAS POUNDING.

Kelsey buried her head under her pillow, but it did not block out the noise. She rolled over, groaning in frustration. Opening one bleary eye, she glanced at the clock. It was nearly nine.

The pounding continued. As she came more fully awake, Kelsey realized the noise wasn't coming from next door, or the street. It was coming from her front door. It had to be Mitch. Kelsey rolled out of bed, grabbed her robe and staggered out of her bedroom.

"Do you know what time it is?" she snarled as she yanked the door open.

"Good morning to you, too," Mitch said as he breezed past her into her apartment. "Like bagels?"

He looked bright and chipper and Kelsey really wanted to sock him one. "You know I hate bagels."

"I know. That's why I brought doughnuts," he said as he made himself at home at her small cafe-style kitchen table and tore open the bag. Her efficiency kitchen was really not much larger than a closet, and flowed right into the living area. Kelsey had placed the table and chairs as a sort of divider, and his large form dominated the small s.p.a.ce.

"What do you want?" she grumbled.

"Coffee would be nice. Or even milk."

She knew full well he was stalling. "I mean, why are you here?"

"I think we need to talk," he replied. "I did a lot of thinking last night."

"Then how come you're up so early?" she asked, shooting him a glare from behind lowered lids. Kelsey plopped onto the sofa, leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

"I never need more than six or seven hours of sleep. Don't you remember?"

Of course she remembered. When they were kids, Mitch had always been the first one awake in the house, which had driven her right up the wall on many Sat.u.r.day mornings when she'd come downstairs to watch Land of the Lost Land of the Lost and he'd already been engrossed in and he'd already been engrossed in Johnny Quest Johnny Quest.

"Right. Mr. Perfect. Now, what do you want?"

Kelsey realized she wasn't being friendly. So much for her conversation with Celia about how to attract or, more accurately, seduce, Mitch. Right now she just wanted to shove him back down the stairs, get a little more sleep and face him later in the day, after she'd at least had a chance to brush her teeth.

"I came to apologize."

Kelsey opened her eyes and sat up straight. "So...apologize."

"I'm trying to," Mitch said ruefully. "It's not easy."

"I'm sure you're not in the habit of having to admit you were wrong."

Mitch helped himself to a powdered sugar doughnut. "That's not why I'm having a problem. I wasn't wrong. I still believe everything I said to you last night. I'm just apologizing for ambushing you and for taking advantage of the situation."