Winds of Heaven (12 page)

“Such as?”

He smiled slowly and seductively as he bent his head to demonstrate his meaning. Kylie parted her lips to accept his kiss. The anticipation that trembled within her brought her up on tiptoe and into his arms.

Her hands followed the curve of his shoulders to caress his muscled back. His touch was gentle and deep, unhurried and yet full of urgency. She pressed against him, the clefts and angles of her body seeking and finding his corresponding symmetry. Entwined in his embrace, she discovered new delights, new sensations, which rippled through her like an incoming tide.

Kylie marveled at the pleasure that arced between them, at the almost unbelievable sense of belonging she felt. She wondered if Nick felt the same, if he experienced the same awareness of blending emotions, melding desires. It was the special quality that had drawn them inexorably together and now bound them in the tenuous threads of passion. And judging by her heated response, the threads seemed destined to forge a web of interwoven strengths.

At the gentle prompting of his tongue she opened her mouth to receive him. She welcomed the exploration and wanted to invite more. She felt her body sigh in surrender and knew she would never get enough of his touch.

In a smooth line from her neck to her waist to her hip, Nick’s hands glided down her back. He drew her closer with tantalizing strokes. His knuckles brushed the outer swell of her breast and then retreated to the indentation of her waist. Reluctantly, lingeringly he broke the contact of their lips and traced a pathway of warm kisses to her earlobe.

“If this thing doesn’t have a zipper,” he whispered huskily, “how do I get you out of it?”

With a soft laugh Kylie stepped from the circle of his arms and slipped the dress up and over her head as easily as she had slipped it on only moments before. Her hands moved to the hem of the camisole, but Nick stopped her, obviously intent on removing it himself. Kylie looked into his eyes with a teasing smile. “It doesn’t have a zipper either.”

“I think I can manage,” he said and proceeded to prove that he could. His gaze caressed her slowly, sending a thundering wave of longing through her. She reached for the dangling ends of his tie and tugged him closer. Her fingers trembled a little as she unbuttoned his shirt.

His hands rested like warm patches low on either side of her waist, and his chest rose and fell beneath the brush of her fingertips. Kylie thought he must surely hear the quickening rhythm of her heartbeat. With delicious curiosity she placed her palm flat against him and listened with her body to the sound of his matching rhythm.

Lifting her chin, she looked into his eyes, sharing the wonder of two hearts beating a duplicate pattern of desire. Nick responded by pressing his hand above her breast before he lowered it to cover the firm silky flesh.

A slow, intoxicating weakness filtered through her, and she stepped back, clutching the ends of his tie once more to pull him with her. Just as she felt the edge of the bed against her knees, he gave her a gentle push, and she toppled onto the coverlet.

His tie came with her, but Nick remained standing at the foot of the bed, half-dressed and looking down at her with a slumberous, expectant gaze. She returned his look with an encouraging tilt of her head, and then, in wanton anticipation, she gripped the waistband of her pantyhose and wiggled free of the sheer covering.

At the sound of his deep, indrawn breath a sudden unaccountable shyness came over her, and Kylie wanted to pull the coverlet around her nakedness. But instead she lifted her hand to him.

Nick reached out to cup her fingers in his. His touch was strong, reassuring, and tender. Infinitely tender. As if he understood, better than she, the emotions that flamed within her and betrayed her into eagerness. Then he undressed, leaving his shirt and slacks to gather wrinkles on the floor, lowered himself onto the bed, and gathered Kylie into his arms.

Her moan of pleasure was quickly smothered by the scorching possession of his kiss, which went on and on. He intensified the pressure, then drew back to tease and tantalize her mouth before once again deepening the caress. Her desire sparked and burned hotter as Nick led her skillfully into the fire. His hands were emissaries of passion, burning her with sensuous mastery. Kylie interpreted their message and communicated her own rising need with long discovering strokes of his body.

Fevered shivers of pleasure followed one another down her back as he moved her beneath him and began to satisfy the ache he had created. It was a gentle, leisurely fulfillment that built to an impassioned climax, then ebbed into a beautifully complete satisfaction. Pliant and yielding, Kylie feathered her fingers through the silken wetness of his chest, wanting nothing more than to stay curled against his warmth for the rest of the night.

Nick rubbed her shoulder in sleepy circles, as if he were reluctant to leave the cozy nest of her arms. “I think we’ll be fashionably late in arriving at the party now,” he said with a trace of regret.

“I don’t know,” Kylie murmured in protest. “Maybe we should procrastinate a little longer.”

His low chuckle vibrated beneath her hand. “Any longer and we’ll arrive with the sunrise—if we arrive at all.”

With a nod she sighed and pushed determinedly out of his hold. “All right, then. We’d better get dressed— again.” As she slid from the bed and began to look for her clothing, Kylie glanced back at him over her shoulder. “Honestly, Nick. Why didn’t you think of this before I got dressed the first time?”

“Oh, I thought about it.” He raised himself on an elbow to grin at her. “But you see, I heard this lecture today on self-discipline, and I was trying to—”

“Practice what I preach?”

“In a manner of speaking. Actually I was trying to find the flaw in your theory.”

She sent him a sweet smile. “Well, you obviously found it. Otherwise we’d be at the party already, wouldn’t we?”

“Would we, Kylie? I didn’t notice any awesome display of self-discipline on your part, either.”

“That’s different. I was merely practicing some positive thinking.” She walked around the bed to the bathroom door, ever-conscious of his appreciative regard.

“Positive thinking?” he asked, stopping her exit from the room.

She turned and lifted her shoulders in a provocative shrug. “I was thinking that it was
positively
ridiculous to go to a party when we had so many
better
things to do.”

The curve of his lips held her captivated as he swung his feet to the floor and stood, a virile, enticing example of masculinity. “Better
things?”
The arch of his eyebrow was a teasing challenge. “You mean there’s more?”

“That’s for me to know and you to find out—later.” She stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

“You bet I will, Kylie. You can count on it.” The amused confidence of his voice carried clearly to her ears as she leaned against the door and let the smile that threatened have control.

“I am, Nick,” she whispered in a voice too low for him to hear, and yet Kylie knew that somehow he had heard.

* * * *

The party was at full tempo when Kylie and Nick slipped almost unnoticed into the crowd. It was a lively gathering with some forty or more guests dressed in everything from denims to diamonds. The noise level was somewhere between subdued and deafening, although it tended toward the latter. The food was good, the conversation varied, and the atmosphere quaint. A wandering guitarist strolled through the crowd, serenading anyone who glanced in his direction.

Kylie was impressed by the dark, Spanish beauty of Glynnis Claybrook and by the warmth of her welcome. But Kylie was less than impressed by the way Nick introduced her, first to her hostess and then to other guests. It wasn’t what he said so much as what he didn’t say. Not once did he mention the reason for her presence in Santa Fe.

It was an oversight on his part, she knew. Purely unintentional, but bothersome just the same. She could have mentioned the seminar, of course, quite naturally, and she felt sure Nick would have taken the cue. But for some perverse reason it seemed important that he recognize the omission on his own.

She told herself it was silly to be upset over something as trifling as an introduction, but she knew it went deeper than that. Nick saw her as a woman, first and last, and her profession had little or no significance for him. It was the way Colin had seen her, too, and she had allowed him to treat her accordingly. But she wouldn’t allow it now, not from Nick.

“Kylie?”

With relief she turned from her disturbing thoughts to the woman behind her. From her softly curling hair to her softly curving smile, Stephanie looked light-years removed from the efficient, tailored, and cuffed Bunny.

Her vivid red gown began with off-the-shoulder ruffles that tucked neatly into a slender waist and flared in romantic tiers to the floor. “Stephanie,” Kylie said warmly, “I’ve been wondering where you were.”

“Alex has been showing me the garden.”

It was a shy admission, almost reluctantly made, and it gave Kylie pause. That Alex had changed his attitude so abruptly was hard to believe, but the gentle blush on Stephanie’s cheeks was evidence that something had changed. “And have you been showing Alex that brunettes can be far more fascinating than blondes?”

The blush deepened, but the blue eyes sparkled with pleasure. “I don’t know about fascinating, Kylie, but he’s talking to me. Really talking. And he hasn’t mentioned the office more than once or twice.” She stopped, and when she continued, her voice had lost some of its enthusiasm. “Well, maybe he’s mentioned it three or four times, but still ... it’s a start, don’t you think?”

Kylie smiled her encouragement, wondering privately how Alex inspired such affection. “Where is Alex, by the way?”

“He’s getting me a drink.” Stephanie nodded toward the bar where Alex stood chatting with Nick. “I’m in love with him, you know.” Her blue eyes met Kylie’s brown ones, then looked away. “I have been for a long time, but I never thought there was a chance ...”

Kylie shifted uncomfortably, cautious about getting into a discussion of Stephanie’s chances with Alex. With a guilty feeling of relief she noticed Nick turn and start toward her.

“I didn’t think,” Stephanie continued, “that Alex would ever see me as a woman and not as a secretary. Until your seminar, Kylie, I didn’t realize that he saw me exactly the way I saw myself. I’ve been too efficient in the office, too willing to take on responsibilities that weren’t mine. There are going to be some changes in the executive suite, and Alex may not like them. But I’m not going to be afraid to stand up for myself, either in or out of the office. It may take a long time, but one way or another I’ll earn his respect.”

“More important, though, Stephanie, you’re learning to respect yourself, to appreciate your own worth.”

“Thanks to you.”

Kylie shook her head in denial. “No. Motivation comes from within. You deserve the credit, not me.”

“But I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Secrets?” Nick asked as he handed Kylie a glass and smiled disarmingly at Stephanie. “Are you two plotting to liven up this party?”

“Of course,” Kylie answered. “We were just waiting for you to join us.”

“Breathlessly, I hope.”

“Absolutely limp with anticipation.” Stephanie colored but managed to meet Nick’s amused look.

“Ah,” he said wickedly. “At last, a female who appreciates my charisma. You’re a woman after my heart, Stephanie.”

“All right, Cousin.” Alex joined the conversation to complete the foursome, “You can quit flirting with my secretary now.” He slipped a proprietary arm around Stephanie’s bare shoulders. “The next thing I know, you’ll be trying to steal Bunny and advance her up the corporate ladder to the home office.”

Stephanie stiffened at his touch. Her eyes darkened in disappointment and then brightened with determination. Unobtrusively she moved free of Alex’s hold. “If there’s ever an opening in the home office, Mr. Braden, you wouldn’t have to
steal
me. Just ask. I think I might like to live in San Francisco.”

“Oh, come on, Bunny. You wouldn’t leave Southwest and me. We need you.” Alex assumed his best soothing manner, but Stephanie responded with a cool stare.

“I need a drink, Alex. Did
you forget?” With enviable control Stephanie spun away from any excuse that he might offer and walked toward the bar.

Alex muttered something under his breath as he watched the swirl of red skirt that marked her path. “Now what’s wrong with her?” He turned to Kylie in accusation. “What did you say to her? We were getting along fine until she started talking to you. I suppose I’ll have to apologize now.”

“Why don’t you try two dozen roses?” Kylie suggested.

“Roses?” His blond brows soared in surprise. “For Bunny?”

“Her name is Stephanie,” Kylie said crisply.

But Alex had turned his back and was hurrying across the room.

Pressing her lips together, Kylie glanced at Nick and caught the glint of amusement in his eyes. “You might have said something, you know.”

“Oh, no. I’m not getting involved in that love triangle. It’s strictly none of my business.  Unless it starts to affect my business.” He sipped his drink, cool, unconcerned, and opinionated.

“I understand completely.” She kept her voice low to conceal the twinge of irritation she felt at his attitude. “You’ll allow, will even be entertained by, these minor skirmishes between two of your employees, but the instant they pose a threat to you personally—”

“Hey, what is this?” Nick interrupted with a questioning frown. “I’m just a bystander in all this. Alex and Stephanie can skirmish all they want outside of the office. Although it amazes me that any man could clash with such a potent combination of innocent blue eyes and that Scarlett O’Hara dress.”

It was such a typically male comment that Kylie focused on it as the final straw to all the evening’s minor irritations. “That’s a very chauvinistic remark.”

“Why?”

“Because it just is.” She drew a deep breath. “You could have noticed something more important about Stephanie tonight. Like the confident way she’s been speaking to people—to you, to Alex. That’s the difference, you know. She’s finally gained some self-confidence.” Kylie flashed him a challenging glance. “You might at least admit some grudging admiration of her spirit.”