Lady Be Bad (17 page)

"Are you all right?" Came Arthur Kingman's
quizzical voice.

"Yes...uh…no." He patted his leg. "Had a
rough night, I think the high humidity may be rusting my metal
joints."

"Why don't I have our coffee served inside,
and we can continue this interview in air-conditioned comfort."
Arthur stood up. "I definitely want you to take some photos of my
library. There's a big screen HDTV projection system in there that
Noah has cleverly concealed behind some carved panels."

Noah deliberately lagged behind while the
three men preceded him through the keyhole archway that led from
the grotto into the castle. His increased limp was caused by an
ache that had nothing to do with metal knee joints. "So this is the
bathing suit that graced
Sports
Illustrated?"
He
intoned, stopping at her chaise
.

Marlayna fluttered her lashes. "Why, yes.
One nice man wrote that he saved on his heating bill for February
by buying extra copies of the calendar."

His fingertip followed the string that
spanned her thigh, his voice was husky. "Well, you succeeded in
blowing my thermostat, too, and I didn't laugh this time, either."
Noah scrutinized the men that congregated around the pool. "I'd
prefer it if you'd change into something less, less . . ."

"Why? Most of the women here are wearing
less . . . less." Her hand rubbed the fragrant oil across her
collarbone. "Actually, I'm a bit overdressed. Even Gwen's bikini
was less . . . less."

Noah leaned over her. "I don't give a damn
about her or any of the others." His tone was sharp. "But you are
private stock. Mine. I don't want any poachers."

Marlayna patted his cheek and whispered,
"Don't worry, Noah, you're the only one who gets to trespass. You
shouldn't keep Arthur waiting; he might come back and see me and .
. ."

"Oh, hell. Behave and be good."

"Can't do both." She gave him a push in the
direction of the door.

***

When the dinner gong summoned the guests to
the buffet that was set up on the terrace, Noah was relieved to
discover that Marlayna was wearing a very conservative outfit.

At least it seemed that way until the
evening breeze began to press her stunning silk evening pajamas
against her beautiful body. Soft mauve splashed with red and silver
blue clung in sensuous folds that delineated each feminine curve.
It was impossible for him to take his eyes off her.

Noah became more and more aroused. He
watched her every move. He wanted to shout to the world that this
woman was his, that he and he alone knew all her intimate secrets.
That it was only he who had ever shared her bed and knew her love.
And he did just that, in the privacy of his mind and heart, while
he waited for time to pass so he could end this night in her arms
and begin tomorrow the same way.

The clock on the mantel in the Queen Anne
Suite registered two when Noah pushed the hearth closed. "Mimi,
turn on the light." Slowly he limped his way across the darkened
room. "Come on, Mimi. You won. Your plan to seduce me all day
worked and now it's time to pay up. Mimi?"

His hand groped along the mattress and found
the bed linen uninterrupted by a female body. He turned on the lamp
and discovered that the bedroom and the adjoining bathroom were
quite empty. "Now where the hell can she be?"

The passageway was dark and chilly but Noah
was becoming extremely hot. His heat was associated with anger,
frustration and a modicum of fear. "Where the hell is she?" He
moved heavily along the upward incline.

During dinner, Marlayna had never been out
of his sight. He had enjoyed watching her efficient handling of an
ever-persistent Arthur Kingman and had seen her having an extended
conversation with Gwen. The topic, Noah surmised, must have been
himself, because Gwen had been blessedly distant and preoccupied
for the entire evening.

King Arthur's face loomed large in his
thoughts. Noah began to wonder if he had somehow waylaid Marlayna
after she had said her goodnights thirty minutes ago. "If he dares
touch a hair on her head. . ." His fingers clenched fiercely around
the curved handle of the cane.

Noah took a moment to rest against the
clammy stonewalls, trying to steady his erratic breathing while he
assessed what he should do next. "I'll enlist Perkins. Maybe he can
figure out how to tactfully check on whom Arthur's entertaining in
his private suite."

His eyes focused on the amber light that
sliced the darkness. The narrow beacon announced that he was
approaching the sliding panel that he had wedged open in his room.
Using his cane for leverage, Noah pushed the thick mahogany
partition to the right and walked into and through the bedroom
wardrobe.

"Well, this is something I never expected to
see," drawled a familiar female voice, "Noah Drake coming out of a
closet!"

Relief made him instantly weak. The anger
that followed made him tough and belligerent "Very funny, Mimi." He
ambled to the massive bed where she was sitting Indian-style,
filing her nails and wearing nothing but the ruffled evening shirt
he had discarded. "I nearly had a coronary when I got to your room
and found it empty. Where have you been?"

She flashed him a quick, toothy grin.
"Having a little tete-a-tete with Gwen." Marlayna inspected the
smooth curve of her nails. "You have that girl tied to the stake of
passion." Hearing his disgusted snort, she tossed the emery board
on the night table. "Really, Noah, those were Gwen's exact words.
As a matter of fact, that seems to be her favorite phrase."

Stretching out on the mattress, she flexed
her ankles and wiggled her toes. "So I've been trying my best to
tell her that you're not the passionate type, that you're too old
for passion."

"Gee, thanks." He hung his cranberry silk
bathrobe on the cannon ball bedpost.

"You should thank me." Marlayna came up on
her elbow, her gaze traveling the length of his nude body. Her
hunger for him was increasing by the minute. "My plan is working
perfectly. I've been redirecting Gwen's interest toward that young
golf pro, and she has invited him to stay the rest of the week.
I've also thought of a way that you and I can be together all the
time. Day and night."

Noah settled himself on the bed. "How?" He
began to ease open the buttons on her shirt.

"I've decided to hire you as my architect."
Her eyebrows wiggled up and down. "Not bad, huh? At breakfast I
will bubble forth with the news and off we'll go."

"To where?"

She looped one arm around his neck and
pulled him closer. "I told Perkins to put a hold on one of the
canopied pontoon powerboats and pack us a big picnic lunch." Her
fingers filtered through the truant lock of brown hair that fell
across his forehead. "Think of it, the whole day, just the two of
us, floating around in the St Lawrence, talking, laughing …" her
knuckles caressed his cheek, the dark stubble feeling wonderfully
masculine against her skin, "…and maybe loving a little."

"Speaking of loving, I went to your room to
surrender myself into your seductive arms."

She stared into his eyes, the brown irises
nearly obliterated by glittering black pupils. Suddenly a deep heat
pulsed from her very center, radiating through her body, making her
blood circulate faster and her breathing become shallower. "Right
now, I'd say you were the one with the seductive arms." Feeling his
palm cup her breast and his thumb tease the nipple, she hastily
corrected herself, "seductive hands."

"Let's try seductive lips." Noah lowered his
head, his insistent tongue thrusting into her mouth when his lips
met hers. Her tongue lustily greeted its mate and enjoyed the
sweetness of sharing an intimate duel. "All day, you've been just
out of reach," he murmured against her mouth, "and it's been
driving me crazy."

Her fingertips traced his collarbone. "I
just wanted you to look at me and see more than bread and butter."
She smoothed the furrows from his brow and wriggled in discomfort.
"Oh, it was the damn comment that I reminded you of your mother,
apple pie and, God forbid, clean laundry."

She gave his shoulder a playful swat. "Stop
laughing! Gee, Noah, no woman wants to hear that, especially one
who's been deprived of love and romance for as long as I have. I
want to hear words of poetry and passion."

His teeth nipped her earlobe. "I thought you
said I was too old to be passionate."

"Actually, what I meant was that Gwen was
too young to handle your passion." Her tone was a seductive
purr.

"And you can?"

"I think so." Marlayna's hand moved across
the taut contours of his chest. "But what about you?" Her fingers
weaved a sinuous trail down his stomach, pausing briefly to circle
his navel before trespassing even lower. "What do you think?" She
stroked and caressed him, glorying in the hard virility she had
brought to life.

"I think you can handle me just fine," he
said huskily. "And I'm sorry that I wasn't more poetic. If you
remember, I'm a man of action rather than pretty words."

"What kind of action do you have in mind,
Mr. Drake?"

"How about this?" He pressed hot, urgent
kisses over her swollen breasts. His tongue circled and stroked a
taut peak until it hardened so he could suckle its sweetness. He
could feel her slow, sweet trembling.

He journeyed lower, bathing her body with
the warm dampness of his mouth. She reveled in the rasping caresses
of his tongue against her heated flesh. Her soft whimpers of
pleasure invited further exploration.

His hand stroked apart her legs. He kissed
the sensitive skin on her inner thigh before the loving lash of his
tongue delved deeper into the very center of her femininity.

Her body arched as a million tiny explosions
turned her blood into molten fire. She wasn't sure how long she
could endure his erotic torture. Her body shuddered in ecstasy.
"Oh…damn…you should be illegal." She tugged at his hair, pulling
his head back up to hers. "Noah . . . please . . . now."

In one powerful stroke, his body locked into
hers. She bit into his shoulder as he drove his thick shaft hard
and deep inside her. He could feel her pulse and spasm around his
cock. Nothing had felt this good in so long.

Their mutual needs were so profound, so
intense, that in a matter of a few frantic, wildly ecstatic minutes
each conquered and pleasured the other. He erupted in violent
spurts as her body milked him.

When his breathing and heart rate returned
to a normal level, Noah lifted his head from the curve of
Marlayna's shoulder and smiled. "I think I'll take my architectural
fee out in trades like this."

"But only with me."

"Most definitely." He kissed her damp
forehead.

***

"I...I beg your pardon." Gwen blinked in
surprise, her hand moving to the open collar of her yellow knit
golf shirt. "What did you say?"

Marlayna smothered her second yawn with
polite fingers, smiled and repeated herself. "I said that after
spending two delightful days wandering through the castle, I was so
impressed with Mr. Drake's work that we're discussing his designing
a house for me."

Gwen looked across the patio breakfast table
at her father before turning back to their guest. "I could have
sworn Daddy mentioned that you had a place on Fifth Avenue."

"No, I just sublet. I do own a darling piece
of real estate in Oyster Bay, and being here…" her arm made a
graceful gesture, her voice lilting "…surrounded by the peace and
tranquility of water, has made me realize that now's the perfect
time to build a place of my own." Marlayna's dark lashes fluttered
coquettishly. "Nothing quite as lavish as this of course,
Arthur."

Kingman's laugh was forced. "I'm sure Noah
is very flattered but --"

"Oh, he is," she interjected hastily, "and
anxious to learn more about my property and what I'm looking for in
the way of design. Since no interviews were scheduled today, we
thought why not start immediately." Her blue- gray eyes looked past
Gwen's stricken face. "Here comes Noah now."

She gave her host a dazzling smile. "I know
you won't mind, Arthur. We're taking one of the pontoon boats out.
You know how important it is to get the feel of the environment.
Work with nature. I want the most environmentally advanced house
Noah can build." Marlayna's expression turned serious. "This is a
major investment for me, and I want to make sure no mistakes are
made."

Arthur cleared his throat and dabbed the
corners of his mouth with a white linen napkin. "Why do you want to
conduct business on a boat? Surely, the library would be…"

"Now, Arthur …" she sounded like a teacher
scolding a student "it's important for me to feel the water around
me, to embrace its power, to sample its strength. After all, my own
property is a peninsula."

"You sound more like an actress trying to
live her part than a model wanting a new house," Gwen retorted
waspishly.

Marlayna gave her a patronizing smile and
stood up. "Models are actresses, dear, and I do like to experience
life and I will be living that life in my new house. Ahh...Noah,
you're all set. Perkins has already brought our picnic basket down
to the dock." She linked her arm into Noah's and ignored the
questioning look on his face. "We're off! Bye-bye, everyone."

Gwen's lower lip protruded a good half inch.
"I don't like the looks and sounds of this. She was wearing a
bathing suit under that white top and shorts; I saw the straps. And
Noah wasn't even carrying a sketch pad!" Her blue eyes tracked the
couple until the elevator door closed. "This is all your fault,
Daddy."

"What the devil are you talking about?"

She sniffed. "You were the one who went
ahead and put the engagement announcement on the invitations. Since
then, Noah hasn't said one decent word to me or even given me a
smile and now. . . now . . ." Gwen sniffed again. "Did you see how
he smiled at her? I thought you were going to monopolize all
Marlayna's time. Instead you've been courting that bleached blonde
from California and …"