Winds of Heaven (17 page)

“I can’t do that. Not after what happened today. Now, at best, your seminar will become a platform for discontented, loud employees who want a place to be heard. And at worst it could provoke a full-fledged mutiny. I’ve seen that kind of thing happen, Kylie. After much less significant incidents.”

“Didn’t you listen to what I just said, Nick? That’s the very reason I should continue the training course. I’m teaching a way of thinking that can change a negative situation into a positive one. Your employees need to know that their opinions count, and my training will show them positive ways to express those opinions. The best thing you can do now is to allow the seminar to go on as usual. No break in routine. It will work for you, Nick. I know it will. Just let me complete what I started.”

“Contrary to what you may think, Kylie, I do have some experience with assertiveness training. It can get out of control. And under these circumstances, well, I just can’t take the chance on that happening here—with you.”

“It won’t happen, Nick. You’ll see.”

“I won’t see, because there will be no more seminar. It’s just too chancy. I can’t be here to monitor the sessions, and I don’t have time to worry about what might be happening in my absence. You’re going home.”

Monitoring? Kylie could hardly believe it. All the time she’d thought his presence at the seminar indicated his interest in what she had to say. But instead he’d been monitoring employee reaction, ready to rescue her should anything get out of hand.

“I don’t need your protection, Nick,” she said coolly. “And I don’t need you to order me home like a rebellious child. I am not in any way responsible for the problems you have at Southwest, and you won’t treat me as if I am. You may have the authority to cancel the sessions, Nick, and you can certainly order me to leave your house, but you can’t force me to leave Santa Fe. I’m staying whether you like it or not.”

“You’ll do as you’re told,” he said tightly and knew immediately it was the worst possible thing he could have said to her. But damn, what did she expect? He’d spent a terrible afternoon trying to straighten out the mess Alex had made. And in a few hours he had to face a family row that would rage for days. The last thing he needed right now was Kylie’s complete disregard for his judgment.

Would she never stop fighting him? He watched her eyes darken, watched the stubborn tilt of her chin, and made himself repeat the hollow command. “You’ll do as you’re told.”

Resolutely he resisted the impulse to add
“please.”

Kylie straightened her shoulders and faced him, anger seeming to add to her stature. “I haven’t done what I’ve been told to do for a very long time, Nick. I don’t take orders, and I certainly don’t need anyone to make decisions for me, least of all you.”

She might have imagined the bleak look that appeared in his eyes, but she couldn’t miss the chilling appraisal that followed it.

“Apparently you don’t need me for any reason, Kylie. So if you’ll excuse me, I have some important things to do.” He walked past her, taking obvious care not to touch her in even the most casual way.

She waited, hoping vaguely for the sound of a slamming door. Something, anything that would show some emotion, take the sting from his last indifferent remark. But there was no sound from the inner sanctum of the house, and somehow that seemed frighteningly final.

It was all his fault, she thought as she absently rinsed his glass and put it in the dishwasher. Blaming her for Alex’s mistake was unforgivable. And Nick’s whole attitude about the seminar was prejudiced and autocratic. If he would just once listen to her with an open mind, he’d realize that.

Kylie frowned at her attempts to rationalize her position. In all honesty she hadn’t done much listening to his point of view either. Of course, in this case she was in the right, but still she could have considered his feelings. Nick was torn by the unfair expectations of his family. He was trying to make the best of a bad situation, and she had done everything she could to make it worse. Somehow knowing she was in the right didn’t make her feel better.

The fact remained that Nick was leaving. He was probably packing at this very minute. And God only knew when she would see him again. The very thought shriveled inside her. How many empty days before he would return to her? Or would he return at all? She certainly hadn’t given him any reason to suppose he’d be welcome. What if…?

She couldn’t face the question, much less the answer, and decisively she turned to the door.
You don’t need me.
His words rang in her ears, mocking all arguments against going to him. She couldn’t let him leave believing such a lie. She needed him desperately, in so many ways. There had to be some way to show him that, despite their differences of opinion, she loved him, needed him.

“Nick?” Kylie prefaced her entrance into his bedroom with the question. “Nick?” she called again as she stepped inside and found the room empty, A suitcase lay open on the bed, and Kylie averted her gaze, feeling the loneliness that already seemed to be settling over the house and her.

“Need something?” Nick’s drawl was dry and not at all encouraging.

Her gaze swung toward the bathroom doorway, where he stood, minus shoes, socks, and shirt. His hair was mussed in the most appealing way, and the muscled expanse of his chest beckoned to her senses. Kylie clasped her hands behind her to keep from following them into his arms—a place she wouldn’t be welcome at the moment.

“I—uh—thought we might ... talk,” she suggested hesitantly.

The quick lift of his brows expressed his opinion even before he discouraged any further suggestions by closing the bathroom door. Kylie stared at the door, took a step forward, stopped, took another step, and finally touched the knob before her courage failed entirely.

Think positive. Be assertive.
The thoughts came easily, but opening the door that separated her from Nick proved to be more difficult. And when at last she managed to push it open, it took all her effort not to close it again.

From mirrored tiles to sunken tub to the see-through shower panels, the room was an exact match for the bath that adjoined her bedroom. A match, that is, except for the man who stood, completely nude, with one foot inside the shower. Kylie couldn’t control her unabashed stare, which traveled lingeringly from that one foot up and over his lean symmetry. A blush tinted her cheeks as she helplessly admired all that made him so devastatingly male.

Totally oblivious of her scrutiny, Nick glanced over his shoulder and shook his head. “If you want to take a shower, Kylie, you’ll have to wait your turn.”

“I... I’m not very good at waiting.” She tried for the most nonchalant tone in her repertoire and knew she fell far short of the goal. “And I don’t want a shower. I want....” Pausing, she swallowed hard. “You.”

His eyes darkened perceptibly. “And I want....” The words trailed into a husky whisper, and Kylie waited breathlessly. “…a shower.”

It took a full minute before her mind registered that what she’d heard was not what she’d expected to hear. The sound of water noisily slapping the glass walls aroused her temper. She could almost feel the spray prickling her skin with pinpoints of irritation. He had a hell of a nerve.

When she jerked open the shower door and felt the moistness on her face, Kylie considered the wisdom of following her impulse into action. But one look at the cool gray eyes regarding her with solemn expectation told her it was too late for a graceful retreat. Determination pushed a weak smile across her lips. “I told you I wasn’t very good at waiting,” she offered faintly.

“Then by all means join me,” he said with a sweeping gesture.

“Oh, no, I didn’t....” she began even as his fingers closed around her wrist. With a firm tug he pulled her into the cubicle. “Nick, I’m dressed and....” The sentence drowned as he pushed her beneath the full force of the water. In a matter of seconds the caftan was plastered uselessly against her every curve.

Well, perhaps not so uselessly, she decided as she caught the subtle change in Nick’s expression. Pushing the dripping hair from her eyes, she tried to turn her reproachful glare into a provocative look. “I only wanted to talk, Nick.”

“I’m your captive audience.” He reached past her for the soap, his forearm brushing against her breasts in the process. Her gasp was soft, but she knew by his sly smile that he had heard and correctly interpreted her reaction. His hands cupped the roundness of her shoulders and maneuvered her away from the direct spray and himself beneath it. “Here,” he said, placing the bar of soap in her hand. “While you talk make yourself useful. Wash my back.” Then he turned so she could obey the command.

Kylie wanted to protest. In fact, she fully intended to protest, but at the sight of the unlimited opportunity before her, she forgot what she had intended to say. She rubbed the soap until her palms were frothy with lather. Then she reached past him to replace the soap, letting her arms imitate his action and brush seductively over his taut stomach before sliding around to his back and upward to his neck.

Her thumbs found the corded muscles at his nape and began a rhythmic massage. The ripple of pleasure he felt and resisted communicated itself to her through the sudden tension beneath her fingertips. Her lips curved with satisfaction and the temptation to test the limits of his resistance.

Slowly her hands massaged the lather onto his shoulders and down his back. The stinging spray washed the soap from him almost as quickly as she rubbed it on, leaving his skin satiny slick to the touch. With tiny, circling strokes she washed him until her fingers discovered the curve of his waist and moved lower to his hips. Unable to resist, Kylie stepped forward and pressed a moist kiss on the center of his back.

But when she tried to reinstate the distance between them, the saturated material of her caftan clung to Nick, rubbing sensuously against her breasts and refusing to release its damp bond on either side. Deciding that it was too much trouble to disentangle herself, she cupped her body to his and let her arms slide around his waist.

This time Kylie couldn’t be sure whether the shiver of pleasure emanated from Nick or from within her. Her cheek tingled where it touched his skin, and the clean, wet taste of him was warm in her mouth.

The cascading water enveloped them in a steamy embrace, and the rapid beating of her heart duplicated the uneven pattern of his breathing. For several long seconds he stood passive, his hands covering hers, and then he turned in her arms and cradled her close.

Her lips investigated the wiry tendrils of hair on his chest and discovered first one male nipple and then the other. She heard his quickly drawn breath and felt it echo in her throat as his fingers moved against the wet fabric covering her breast and began a stimulating massage.

Kylie sent her hands on a lingering exploration from his hips to the backs of his legs and around to the sensitive skin of his inner thighs. Tilting her head so she could look into his eyes, she allowed her fingers to touch him intimately, caressingly.

A groan rumbled in his throat. “I thought you wanted to talk,” he said thickly.

“And I thought I was communicating rather well.” Kylie smiled, reveling in the knowledge that he wanted her. “Nick, has anyone ever made love to you in the shower?” She paused. “On second thought, don’t answer that.”

He twisted a finger in the dripping curls at her temple. “I’ve never before been seduced by a water sprite in a sopping wet gown. I thought they wore only drip-dry.”

“Actually,” Kylie said, sliding her hands up the deep vee of dark chest hair to his shoulders. “Water sprites wear nothing at all.”

“Ahhh.” He arched his brows knowingly. “Then let’s dispense with your disguise.”

Obediently her hands found the fastener of the caftan, but the material clung stubbornly to her skin. With a slow smile Nick slipped his fingers under the fabric and eased it down and over her shoulders. Kylie freed her arms while he took his time in the sensuously slow process of lifting the covering from her breasts. The stroking caress of his knuckles sent delicate tremors of longing through her.

Unable to remain still beneath his appreciative touch, she ran her fingertips the length of his arms and let them drop to the slight indentation above his hips. The caftan slithered downward and tangled around her legs. She twisted in an effort to be rid of the nuisance, but Nick stayed her struggle and bent to strip the material from her legs.

Heat spiraled through her as his hand encircled her ankle, lifting her foot and pulling the garment aside before repeating the action with the other foot. Then Nick began the lingering ascent, exploring every naked inch of her as he straightened. Cupping her breast in his palm, he breathed a caress at the corner of her mouth.

“You weren’t wearing anything under that,” he said huskily. “That shows definite premeditation, Kylie. No one would ever believe you came in here to talk.”

The need to feel his lips on hers ached in her throat, and she lifted her hands to his face. “Don’t you ever shut up, Nick?”

He answered with a forceful kiss that demanded her complete cooperation. And Kylie gave it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and parted her lips, letting her tongue initiate a more intimate union. Her damp skin bonded naturally to his, allying thigh to thigh and feminine curves to masculine angles.

Passion altered the atmosphere around her until Kylie thought that the steamy heat must be radiating from within her. When Nick moved, she moved with him, and it wasn’t until the cool air struck her bare toes that she realized he had turned off the water and was carrying her from the shower.

Moisture began to evaporate from her skin, and she snuggled into his hold for warmth. She pressed a kiss in the hollow of his shoulder, liking the taste of the water droplets that rewarded her effort. Discovering the pleasure in this activity, her mouth returned for another sip, seeking out the tantalizing curves of his neck and the sensitive spot below his ear.

Kylie became entranced with the cadence of his pulse beneath her lips. The rhythm throbbed into the depths of her emotions and returned to him in shimmering vibrations of desire. It felt good, so good that she wondered how she had survived before Nick’s touch had awakened her and she had discovered how perfectly she fit into his embrace. Before her heart had found its missing piece.