me to make love to you! The next thing I know you're seducing
some other man in my swimming pool! I ought to break your neck!"
She flinched as his fingers sank into her naked shoulders.
"Holt, please, you don't understand. . . ." She was growing
frightened. The anger in him was a seething fire ready to flare out of control
and she didn't know how to placate him.
"You're always saying that!" He gave her a small,
bruising shake. "And I'm beginning to think you might be right! I didn't
understand earlier. I thought there was plenty of time left to reason with you
but you've convinced me there isn't. We'll do things your way. You wanted an
affair, Lacey Seldon; very well, you'll have an affair. With me. And it's going
to begin tonight!"
Too late
Lacey read the danger in him. Hastily she tried to step back out of reach but
he moved too quickly, scooping her up into his arms and turning to stride
toward the old Victorian-style summer home attached to the main lodge.
6
Regardless of the
menace in Holt, Lacey's first reaction to being held tightly against his chest
was one of relief. The warmth of his body warded off the chilling effects of
the cold night breeze on her damp skin. Instinctively she wanted to nestle
closer. But common sense shouted for attention and, out of habit, Lacey
listened to it
"Holt, you can't do this," she gasped, clutching
her clothes to her as he carried her over the graveled walk and toward a short
flight of steps.
"Not
very long ago you were begging me to do it!"
"You're the one who called a halt back in my
cottage," she flung at him. "You can't just change your mind like
this. . . ."
"Why not?" he asked with a mocking reasonableness
as he climbed the steps to the glassed-in front porch. He set her down while he
opened the door but he didn't let go of her arm.
"Because . . . because all the reasons you gave me an
hour ago are still valid!" she squeaked as he hustled her inside.
Lacey barely noticed the old-fashioned white wicker
furniture and the hanging greenery which filled the shadowy porch. Even had she
chosen to study her surroundings there wasn't time to do so. She was firmly led
across the sun porch and into the house.
"Listen to who's trying to argue rationally how!"
Holt turned her into his arms as he closed the door behind them and switched on
a light "But it's too late for the rational, reasonable approach, Lacey;
you've convinced me of that. You're determined to try the wild side of life.
Why shouldn't I oblige? Why should I stand back and watch you try your
experiments on Todd?"
"That's not what was happening!" she protested,
collecting her anger as a defense. In the light of the hall lamp Holt looked
hard and determined. The silvery-hazel eyes were almost metallic and the grim
lines etching his mouth told of his inner tension. Lacey trembled beneath his
hands and it wasn't from the cold.
"Come on," he said abruptly as he felt the small
convulsion rack her body. "I don't want you catching a chill on the first
night of our affair!"
One hand on the nape of her neck, he urged her through a
living room that, under normal circumstances, would have fascinated her.
Preoccupied as she was with the threat of the moment, however, she had only a
fleeting impression of a gracious, masculine room which could have belonged to
a nineteenth-century sea captain.
Beneath her feet an old and elegant oriental carpet covered
a large section of the polished wooden floors. Out of the comer of her eye she
spotted an antique seaman's chest with brass fittings. Fleetingly her mind
catalogued a variety of exotic items: a beautifully worked silver bowl which
had probably come from Mexico, a wall hanging with a Caribbean motif, a huge
screen with an oriental design. All of them set amid dark, comfortable-looking
wood and leather furniture.
"Holt, this has gone far enough," Lacey managed
as she found herself being dragged into a huge, surprisingly modem bathroom.
"I know you're upset,
some other man in my swimming pool! I ought to break your neck!"
She flinched as his fingers sank into her naked shoulders.
"Holt, please, you don't understand. . . ." She was growing
frightened. The anger in him was a seething fire ready to flare out of control
and she didn't know how to placate him.
"You're always saying that!" He gave her a small,
bruising shake. "And I'm beginning to think you might be right! I didn't
understand earlier. I thought there was plenty of time left to reason with you
but you've convinced me there isn't. We'll do things your way. You wanted an
affair, Lacey Seldon; very well, you'll have an affair. With me. And it's going
to begin tonight!"
Too late
Lacey read the danger in him. Hastily she tried to step back out of reach but
he moved too quickly, scooping her up into his arms and turning to stride
toward the old Victorian-style summer home attached to the main lodge.
6
Regardless of the
menace in Holt, Lacey's first reaction to being held tightly against his chest
was one of relief. The warmth of his body warded off the chilling effects of
the cold night breeze on her damp skin. Instinctively she wanted to nestle
closer. But common sense shouted for attention and, out of habit, Lacey
listened to it
"Holt, you can't do this," she gasped, clutching
her clothes to her as he carried her over the graveled walk and toward a short
flight of steps.
"Not
very long ago you were begging me to do it!"
"You're the one who called a halt back in my
cottage," she flung at him. "You can't just change your mind like
this. . . ."
"Why not?" he asked with a mocking reasonableness
as he climbed the steps to the glassed-in front porch. He set her down while he
opened the door but he didn't let go of her arm.
"Because . . . because all the reasons you gave me an
hour ago are still valid!" she squeaked as he hustled her inside.
Lacey barely noticed the old-fashioned white wicker
furniture and the hanging greenery which filled the shadowy porch. Even had she
chosen to study her surroundings there wasn't time to do so. She was firmly led
across the sun porch and into the house.
"Listen to who's trying to argue rationally how!"
Holt turned her into his arms as he closed the door behind them and switched on
a light "But it's too late for the rational, reasonable approach, Lacey;
you've convinced me of that. You're determined to try the wild side of life.
Why shouldn't I oblige? Why should I stand back and watch you try your
experiments on Todd?"
"That's not what was happening!" she protested,
collecting her anger as a defense. In the light of the hall lamp Holt looked
hard and determined. The silvery-hazel eyes were almost metallic and the grim
lines etching his mouth told of his inner tension. Lacey trembled beneath his
hands and it wasn't from the cold.
"Come on," he said abruptly as he felt the small
convulsion rack her body. "I don't want you catching a chill on the first
night of our affair!"
One hand on the nape of her neck, he urged her through a
living room that, under normal circumstances, would have fascinated her.
Preoccupied as she was with the threat of the moment, however, she had only a
fleeting impression of a gracious, masculine room which could have belonged to
a nineteenth-century sea captain.
Beneath her feet an old and elegant oriental carpet covered
a large section of the polished wooden floors. Out of the comer of her eye she
spotted an antique seaman's chest with brass fittings. Fleetingly her mind
catalogued a variety of exotic items: a beautifully worked silver bowl which
had probably come from Mexico, a wall hanging with a Caribbean motif, a huge
screen with an oriental design. All of them set amid dark, comfortable-looking
wood and leather furniture.
"Holt, this has gone far enough," Lacey managed
as she found herself being dragged into a huge, surprisingly modem bathroom.
"I know you're upset,
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