Heart Of Gold (13 page)

“Then
it matches the ones you already have.”

“Who's
the blonde?”

Carter
stopped what she was doing. “Since when did you get into sociology? I
don't remember your ever being so interested in people before.”

“I've
never seen you attracted to someone before.”

The bald
statement made Carter feel like she'd bashed her thumb again. “What are
you talking about?”

“Am
I wrong?”

“Of
course you're wrong!”

“What
are you torturing C.C. about?” Ellie asked as she emerged from the woods.
Her arms were filled with twigs and branches.

“Tall,
dark, and hostile down there,” her father replied.

“Oh,
him.” Ellie dumped the load in the vicinity of the fire pit. “He
seems a little scary.”

Mercifully,
the subject was dropped when Ellie asked about the site. As Carter gave them an
update about what she'd accomplished so far, the three finished setting up the
new tents and then headed to the circle of stones. With the sun setting fast,
there was only time for a cursory review before they had to head down the
mountain. On the descent, Ellie and her father had a bounce to their steps.

Carter
felt like she was dragging an anchor after her.

She
couldn't believe she was about to spend the evening with a sixteen-year-old who
had a crush on her, a man she'd kissed on a regrettable impulse, and the
latter's socialite girlfriend whose nickname was Blondzilla.

Buddy was
right. It was the stuff of a Monday Night Movie.

But the
real problem was less the company she'd be in than the truth she couldn't
escape. Seeing Nick Farrell again had been like getting whipped with a
high-voltage wire.

She had
to get a grip if she was going to make it through the meal. Desperate for some
reasonable explanation for her feelings, she reminded herself that she hadn't
had a date in God only knew how many years. Surely that had to count for
something. The night she had kissed Nick had been the first time she'd kissed
someone in ages. Of course she was going to feel something when she saw him
again. It was called embarrassment.

Right?

And as
for dinner, the minute it was over, she was going to hightail it up the
mountain and not come down again until she could control herself.

It was
only one meal. How long could it last?

* * *

Only a
bloody lifetime, Carter thought later as she checked her watch.

The
others around the dining room table had just polished off a strawberry mousse.
She hadn't touched hers, however, just as she'd only picked at the rack of
lamb. Her stomach had been in knots as soon as she'd stepped through the front
door.

The
evening had been grueling. Nick continued to give her most of his attention. He
spent the remaining time shooting Buddy cold looks. At the head of the table,
Candace chafed at the lack of interest being thrown her way and made
increasingly obvious and awkward attempts to get it. The kids didn't seem to be
enjoying themselves, either. Cort was stone-faced and silent and Ellie was
quiet through the ordeal.

“I
simply adore Paris,” Candace was saying. “Don't you remember,
darling, that wonderful weekend we spent there?”

Nick
shrugged and took a drink from the glass of scotch he'd brought with him to the
table. His eyes flashed to Carter and she looked away from him.

“We
so enjoyed the shopping, didn't we. Darling?”

“Yes,
you did,” Nick countered.

Across
the way, Ellie was nodding off in her chair. Buddy cleared his throat and
dropped his napkin. When Carter glanced over, he nodded for her to lean down
with him.

“We've
got to get out of here,” he whispered when their heads were together.
“My daughter's melting.”

“Right.”

As they
sat back up, Carter interrupted another one of Candace's earnest attempts at
engaging Nick in conversation. “Thanks for a lovely evening but I think
it's time we all headed back up the mountain.”

“You're
right, C.C.,” Buddy chimed in. “We've got an early start planned for
the morning and it's been a long day.”

“I'd
like to see you in my study,” Nick said authoritatively as he got to his
feet.

Carter
was already out of her chair and halfway to the door when she realized no one
was following her. Turning around, she saw all eyes were pointed in her
direction. Nick had been talking to her.

“Can
it wait until tomorrow?” she asked.

“No.”

Candace
inserted herself in Nick's line of vision. “Darling, do wait until the
morning. You wouldn't want to keep me waiting, would you?”

Carter
felt a pang of jealousy and waited for Nick to acknowledge the offer being
pressed against his side. He didn't.

“My
study,” he repeated. “Now.”

Carter
frowned, angry at him and herself. Jealousy was not something she had any right
to and she resented like hell his domineering attitude.

“Fine.”
Anger seeped into her voice and she struggled to get in touch with the emotion,
knowing it would save her.

“We'll
wait for you,” Buddy offered.

“That's
okay, I'll meet you up there.”

Carter
followed Nick out of the room, her heart beating triple time.

* * *

When they
got to his study, Nick shut the door and poured himself another scotch over
ice. Leaning against the bar with one hand planted firmly on the marble, he
swirled the drink around but remained quiet. He was about to lose it and knew
he needed a minute to calm the hell down.

Carter
had been a source of torture from the moment she'd walked into his house with
the others. He'd spent the evening watching the candlelight play over her skin
and seeing different expressions flare in her face. He liked the way she
fidgeted in her seat and incessantly crossed and uncrossed her legs. She was so
alive, so vibrant, that he just wanted to reach out and touch her. Among other
things.

Thanks to
his fantasies, he'd been in a state of rigid arousal for most of the evening.

All of
his pent-up need made the very air Buddy Swift breathed aggravating. The
bastard had been shooting Carter looks all night long, his eyes soft behind
those stupid gold-rimmed glasses, his expression tender like he couldn't wait
until they were alone. Nick wanted to toss the guy out on his ass.

Even
worse to watch was Carter's response to the man. Every once in a while, she'd
send her partner a glowing smile. It was obvious there was something going on
between the two, and he couldn't believe they were carrying on in front of
Swift's daughter.

By the
time the mousse had arrived, Nick was seething and infuriated with himself for
letting them sit side by side. He was also frustrated as hell that she was with
that archaeologist instead of him.

“So
what do you want?” Carter asked him.

He looked
over his shoulder at her. Her hands were on her hips, a stance that pulled her
shirt tightly across her breasts. He was instantly distracted by the memory of
what they had looked like doused in sunlight and river water.

“I
can't believe you're acting this way,” he said gruffly.

“Excuse
me?” Her expression was of total surprise.

She was a
hell of an actress.

“You
and that... Swift man.” He had another word he'd rather have used. Quite a
few of them, actually.

“What
are you talking about?”

“You
women,” he derided, tossing the drink back and putting the glass down with
a crack. He turned around. “You're all the same.”

He
watched as her anger grew. Her cheeks got a lovely brush of red across them and
her mouth parted. He became consumed with the need to stroke her bottom lip
with his tongue.

“Thank
God that's not true,” she huffed. “That blonde in there and I have
nothing in common.”

“No?
She's had affairs with married men, too.” Carter's expression of disbelief
was so close to genuine, he laughed out loud. “Although I don't recall
she's ever had the temerity to screw someone in front of his daughter.”

“You
think Buddy and I—”

“You're
actually going to deny it?”

She shook
her head with admirable conviction. “Where the hell did you get the idea
we were—”

“Oh,
I'm sorry,” he bit out sharply, “I suppose people who grope under the
dinner table are just trading napkins.”

“What?
I—he ... Oh, that.”

“Yes,
that. And don't roll your eyes at me like it was nothing.”

“I'll
go one even further,” Carter said, heading for the door and opening it.
“I'm going to pretend this conversation never happened.”

“Can't
handle someone calling you on your actions?”

She
wheeled around, her luxurious black hair swinging across her shoulders. Her
face was flush with indignant rage, her eyes sparkling with hostility.

God, he
wanted her.

“You
are hardly one to talk,” she bit out.

“I'm
not complicit in adultery.”

Carter
marched back toward him. “Considering how you kissed me the other night,
you might want to drop the holier than thou act. You're no poster child for
monogamy.”

“You
kissed me first.”

A hiss
sounded from behind them. They turned and looked in the direction it came from.

Cort
stood aghast in the doorway of the study. He turned and looked at Nick with a
combination of rage and pain.

“You
kissed her?”

“Now,
hold on a minute...” Nick raised a hand.

“I
can't believe you,” Cort spat. “Do you have to take everything away
from me?”

In a
flash, he tore off down the hall.

As Nick
rushed out of the study and watched Cort run upstairs, he realized the kid must
have a crush on Carter. He wasn't sure how it had happened but that didn't
matter.

His
vision receded to a pinpoint of light as irrational anger went through him.

In a
rage, he turned on Carter, who'd followed him out into the hall. “I don't
care what you do to that other family but I'm not going to let you ruin
mine.”

“What?”
she asked, astounded.

“Stay
the hell away from Cort,” Nick growled.

“If
you want fun and games, pick on someone your own size. I can take it. He
can't.”

Carter
stuttered in disbelief and then blurted out, “Are you out of your mind? I
never intended: for him—”

“What
the hell did you think was going to happen?” Nick's eyes narrowed on her.
“Dancing around in those damn shorts, flashing your legs, wearing those
God-forsaken little T-shirts. He's too young to know the difference between
attraction and love although you've just taught him a damn good lesson. What
else were you planning on teaching him?”

Carter's
pupils dilated. She raised her hand and slapped him across the face. His cheek
stung as blood rushed to the skin.

“How
dare you,” she snapped. “He's just a boy.”

“Yeah
and thanks to you, he's taken one more step out of childhood. He's had his
heart broken.”

Nick was
headed for the stairs, intent on finding his nephew, when she called out
indignantly, “Assume what you will about my partner but I never encouraged
Cort.”

He
wheeled around. “I don't think you know how not to attract men. Magnetic
north draws the compass arrow. It's a goddamn fact of nature.”

His eyes
roamed over her body, and he didn't bother to hide his lust for her.

“Don't
look at me like that,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“So
is that the kind of woman you are?” Nick laughed harshly. “It's all
kicks and giggles until someone takes you up on your offer?”

“I'm
not offering you a thing.”

“That
wasn't what it felt like the other night. I could have taken you, right then
and there.”

Her eyes
narrowed with derision. “You vastly overestimate your appeal.”

Nick
moved so fast, she didn't have time to run away from him. Grabbing her hard
around the waist, he dragged her against him and put his lips on hers in a
blaze of frustration and hunger. She fought against him, struggling in his
arms, until suddenly she opened her mouth and let him in, kissing him back with
equal fury. With a groan of need rising from his throat, he buried his hands
deeply in her hair and pressed her back against the wall. Her body was all
delicious curves, and he moved himself against her, driven to be inside of her.

With
disordered thoughts, he began to plot how they could make it into his study
with their bodies still entwined. Behind his closed door, they could shed their
clothes and fall onto his couch. He could cover her bare skin with his mouth,
delve into her softest parts, make her moan under him.

And he would
make her moan, he vowed. Until she forgot everything but him. Everyone but
him.

“Let's
get out of the hall,” he said roughly, against her neck. “We can't do
this here.”

He felt
her stiffen and then her hands pushed hard against his shoulders.

“Stop
it,” she told him breathlessly. “Stop this now.”

He pulled
away with grave reluctance.

When she
finally spoke, her voice was dead.

“As
long as you can kiss me like that with your woman in the next room, don't you
ever talk to me of infidelity again.”

She took
off in a hurry, fleeing from him. From his house. From his fantasy of how the
evening should have ended.

Nick
swore out loud, planting his fist into the wall with a thunderous noise.

The next
morning, Carter woke up to the smell of pancakes and coffee. Fumbling out of
her tent, she took in with gratitude the sight of Buddy working a pan over the
hot plate. After a night spent with an empty stomach and a head bloated by
images that made her cringe, a big breakfast was just what she needed to start
the day.