His Girl Friday by Diana Palmer Page B

refrigerator.
    "It's Norman's," she explained. "He likes quiche and spinach souffle. ."
    "Oh, for God's sake, you don't need to carry food for him. Just tel Mrs. Fitchens what he eats and she'l fix it," he as ured her. She looked dubiously at Norman. "Does Mrs. Fitchens like lizards?"
    "Not a lot," he replied. "My father told me that she went after one of Nicky's with a broom once when it got loose in her kitchen. She's mostly sane, but reptiles upset her. Thank God Nicky only likes lizards and not snakes."
    "How old is Nicky?" she asked softly because shesensed the boy was a painful subject for him.
    "Nicky is eight," he said quietly. He moved restles ly toward the living room. "Cynthia got pregnant the same year my mother died. It damned near kil ed me."
    "I'm sorry," she said, moving close to him. She slid her arms around him and held him, laying her cheek against his hard chest. "You must have loved your mother very much."
    "Too much," he said huskily. He wrapped Danet a up against him. "More than I was ever able to love Eugene. When she died, something died in me. Eugene was remarried in no time, and no sooner married than he was an expectant father. He couldn't have loved my mother and done that so quickly after she died."
    "What's Nicky like?" she asked softly.
    His body moved against hers as he shrugged. "I don't real y know. We're not very close."
    So that was what Eugene had meant when he said that Cabe hurt Nicky. Probably the boy worshiped him and didn't understand why his half brother resented him so much.
    "But I do know that he likes lizards," he added on a laugh. "And frogs."
    "I like frogs, too," she murmured.
    "It figures." He drew away from her, frowning. "Why lizards? Why not something sensible, like a cat?"
    "I'm al ergic to fur," she said simply. "I wanted a pet and then I found Norman in a pet shop. He had an infected mouth and nobody else would bother trying to feed him. But I did. He must have liked me, because he lived. Mostly sick baby iguanas don't. They take a lot of special care." He brushed back the hair from her face, his eyes soft on her beautiful complexion, her adoring gray eyes. "You're a giving person," he said quietly. "Be careful not to give too much."
    "You can't give too much," she said. "Only not enough."
    His expres ion began to close up.
    "I didn't mean you, Cabe," she whispered, smiling up at him.
    His body tingled with a myriad of confusing sensations. She appealed to him far too much. She made him hungry for that special warmth that she seemed to have for everything and everyone.
    He took her by the waist and lifted her on a level with his eyes, muscles bulging under his jacket as he held her there with easy strength.
    "I don't know if I like having my mind read," he murmured.
    "Wel , let me know when you decide," she said, smiling into his eyes. "You're very strong," she murmured, liking his strength.
    "Working on oil rigs wil make a man strong or break him." He brushed his mouth over hers. "I like carrying you around, Mis Marist. You don't weigh much, do you?"
    "A lit le over a hundred and ten pounds," she protested. "I'm heavy."
    He grinned, nuzzling her mouth with his. "No, you're not."
    "You taste of cigaret e smoke____"
    "Do I?" His mouth hardened on hers and his arms slid around her, pulling her into a long, hungry embrace. She wondered why it felt so strange to be close to him, and then she realized that they'd never kis ed each other standing up before. It had always been sit ing down.
    He let her slide down his body, against the arousal he couldn't help, and she moaned at the blatant hunger, at the sudden sharp pleasure she felt in her stomach.
    "We haven't done it like this, have we?" he asked huskily, holding her hips to his with both hands, dragging her closer while he watched her react to him. "It's different this way."
    "Yes," she groaned, helples to keep her response from him. Her teeth ground together and she gave in to it, let ing her body go limp, let ing him