tried hard to live by her mother’s code. The
opportunity to seal the still-open wound in her pride, however, must not be
allowed to slip by simply because she couldn’t convince one very stubborn
venture capitalist to go along with the plan.
Angrily Samantha pushed the sliding glass door open wide and
stepped out onto the balcony. Below her the sandy beach met the rhythmically
pulsing waves. A yellow glow from the outside lights around the house illuminated
the scene faintly, revealing a touch of glittering phosphorescence in the
cream-topped breakers. The beach stretched empty for miles. The few other homes
secluded along the curving miles of coastline were not even visible from where
Samantha stood.
The breeze off the ocean chilled her. She couldn’t stand out
on this balcony much longer unless she went back inside and found a jacket.
Samantha straightened from the railing and stepped back through the sliding glass
door.
Her eyes fell on the vague outline of her folded jeans lying
in the open suitcase as she walked back toward the bed. On a sudden impulse she
reached down and picked them up. Then, without giving herself a chance to
think, she whipped the apricot nightdress off over her head. She stepped into
the jeans without bothering to search for a pair of panties and felt through
her clothes for the cotton shirt she knew was buried somewhere in the case. A
few minutes later Samantha let herself out into the beige-carpeted hall.
Shoving her arms into the sleeves of a black leather jacket,
she made her way softly through the shadowy living room toward the door which
would let her out onto the beach. She needed to walk off her restlessness if
she hoped to get any sleep tonight at all.
From his bedroom window Gabriel watched her leave. He had
heard her go out onto her own balcony and had known the exact moment she had
opened her door and walked down the hall. She had been moving with a purposefulness
which had alarmed him.
He had climbed out of bed and had his hand on the doorknob
before he realized she wasn’t heading for her car. She was going out onto the
beach, not running away from him.
He had yanked his large, square hand off the doorknob as if
it had grown hot beneath his palm, but in truth what had startled him was his
rush to the door in the first place. He hadn’t stopped to think; he had simply
charged out of bed, uncaring of his own nakedness and prepared to stop his
witch if she were indeed intent on taking flight in the middle of the night.
The unexpected rashness of his own actions was unnerving. He
crossed the bedroom in three long strides and was mildly disgusted to find his
hand was shaking slightly as he braced it against the metal frame of the sliding
glass door. Even more unsettling was the surge in his loins as he watched her
walk over the sand toward the water’s edge. What was he letting the woman do to
him, for God’s sake?
It was just that he had been too long without a female,
Gabriel decided, and knew in the same instant that he was lying to himself. It
had been a long time, but that was because it hadn’t been very good the last time.
He had been in no rush recently to satisfy the basic needs of his nature; not
when physical satisfaction had to be purchased at the price of feeling empty
and emotionally shortchanged afterward.
A man of his quiet, plodding characteristics counted the
cost of everything, Gabriel thought grimly. And the cost of taking to bed a
woman for whom he felt only superficial desire was painfully steep. It made him
feel compromised in a way he couldn’t quite explain. He consoled’ himself with
the knowledge that at least the short, fleeting relationships were honest, if
unsatisfying and almost boring. But he always felt as though he had paid too
much and received too little in exchange.
Watching the woman on the darkened beach, however, Gabriel
realized what was so different about the attraction he felt toward Samantha.
This time he didn’t want to
opportunity to seal the still-open wound in her pride, however, must not be
allowed to slip by simply because she couldn’t convince one very stubborn
venture capitalist to go along with the plan.
Angrily Samantha pushed the sliding glass door open wide and
stepped out onto the balcony. Below her the sandy beach met the rhythmically
pulsing waves. A yellow glow from the outside lights around the house illuminated
the scene faintly, revealing a touch of glittering phosphorescence in the
cream-topped breakers. The beach stretched empty for miles. The few other homes
secluded along the curving miles of coastline were not even visible from where
Samantha stood.
The breeze off the ocean chilled her. She couldn’t stand out
on this balcony much longer unless she went back inside and found a jacket.
Samantha straightened from the railing and stepped back through the sliding glass
door.
Her eyes fell on the vague outline of her folded jeans lying
in the open suitcase as she walked back toward the bed. On a sudden impulse she
reached down and picked them up. Then, without giving herself a chance to
think, she whipped the apricot nightdress off over her head. She stepped into
the jeans without bothering to search for a pair of panties and felt through
her clothes for the cotton shirt she knew was buried somewhere in the case. A
few minutes later Samantha let herself out into the beige-carpeted hall.
Shoving her arms into the sleeves of a black leather jacket,
she made her way softly through the shadowy living room toward the door which
would let her out onto the beach. She needed to walk off her restlessness if
she hoped to get any sleep tonight at all.
From his bedroom window Gabriel watched her leave. He had
heard her go out onto her own balcony and had known the exact moment she had
opened her door and walked down the hall. She had been moving with a purposefulness
which had alarmed him.
He had climbed out of bed and had his hand on the doorknob
before he realized she wasn’t heading for her car. She was going out onto the
beach, not running away from him.
He had yanked his large, square hand off the doorknob as if
it had grown hot beneath his palm, but in truth what had startled him was his
rush to the door in the first place. He hadn’t stopped to think; he had simply
charged out of bed, uncaring of his own nakedness and prepared to stop his
witch if she were indeed intent on taking flight in the middle of the night.
The unexpected rashness of his own actions was unnerving. He
crossed the bedroom in three long strides and was mildly disgusted to find his
hand was shaking slightly as he braced it against the metal frame of the sliding
glass door. Even more unsettling was the surge in his loins as he watched her
walk over the sand toward the water’s edge. What was he letting the woman do to
him, for God’s sake?
It was just that he had been too long without a female,
Gabriel decided, and knew in the same instant that he was lying to himself. It
had been a long time, but that was because it hadn’t been very good the last time.
He had been in no rush recently to satisfy the basic needs of his nature; not
when physical satisfaction had to be purchased at the price of feeling empty
and emotionally shortchanged afterward.
A man of his quiet, plodding characteristics counted the
cost of everything, Gabriel thought grimly. And the cost of taking to bed a
woman for whom he felt only superficial desire was painfully steep. It made him
feel compromised in a way he couldn’t quite explain. He consoled’ himself with
the knowledge that at least the short, fleeting relationships were honest, if
unsatisfying and almost boring. But he always felt as though he had paid too
much and received too little in exchange.
Watching the woman on the darkened beach, however, Gabriel
realized what was so different about the attraction he felt toward Samantha.
This time he didn’t want to
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