A Woman's Touch

If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as „unsold and destroyed“ to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this „stripped book.“

ISBN 1-55.166-315-5

A WOMAN’S T OUCH

Copyright © 1989 by Jayne Ann Krentz.

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, M1RA Books, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. T hey are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

M1RA and the star colophon are registered trademarks of MIRA Books.

From the journal of Alice Cork

I sold the milk cow today. Won’t be needing her anymore. Let her go real cheap to the Mintons. They’ll take
good care of her. They lost their cow last winter and Lord knows they could use the milk. There’s another little one
on the way. Told Abby Minton to make arrangements with the doctor in town because this time I don’t think I’ll be
here when the baby arrives. She didn’t want to believe me, but I know it’s true. Got feelings about it. I won’t be
seeing another winter in this valley.

The cow was the last of the stock. Everything else is taken care of. Talked to that Denver lawyer yesterday. He
says he’ll handle things just the way I told him right down to publishing the contents of my will in the local paper.

Harmony Valley is safe. Kyle Stockbridge and Glen Ballard will explode when they find out the land is going to
distant kin of mine, but there isn’t a damned
thing they can do about it. Reckon it’s all the vengeance I’m going to
get.

I wonder what this Rebecca Wade is like. Feels strange to be leaving the land to someone I’ve never even met.

But I’ve got a feeling about her. I’ve had it for months
–
ever since I came across her name when I was putting
together the family tree last year. It’s the same kind of feeling I get when I know there’s a storm coming or when one
of the local women is expecting a baby. I just sort of know Rebecca’s the right one.

If there was more time I’d try to find her and warn her about what she’s going to be up against. But I’m just
plumb worn out. Don’t have the strength or the time left to look her up. I’ll leave that to the lawyer to do after I’m
gone. Lord knows I’m paying him enough.

But Rebecca Wade, whoever she is, is sure going to have her hands full dealing with Stockbridge and Ballard. A
fire-breathing dragon and a slick-talking sorcerer. They won’t make it easy on her. Something tells me Rebecca is
going to be the one to handle them, though.

There was a time back when I was a lot younger when I would have sworn there was no hope for any male born a
Stockbridge or a Ballard. I’d have said they were all doomed to be out-and-out bastards right from the start. But
now I’m not so sure. Kyle and Glen, whether they know it or not, aren’t mirror images of their fathers or their
grandfathers. The right woman might be able to change everything around here.

The sweeping tide of desire that surged through him was strong enough to make him shudder. It clawed at his insides and made him dangerously restless. When he had begun the search for Rebecca, he’d never anticipated this. Two months ago when he had found her, he’d been sure everything was under control. He’d been pleased with the coup.

His luck was holding, he’d told himself.

But he had wanted her violently on sight and the past two months had been torture. At first he’d told himself he could handle it. But something had gone wrong somewhere along the line. He couldn’t even pinpoint the exact moment when the situation had started to turn impossible. All he knew was that tonight he was overwhelmed with a devastating passion he could no longer ignore.

Kyle Stockbridge acknowledged at last that he’d been caught in his own trap.

Until this moment he had been the hunter – surefooted, confident, clever. But as of this instant he finally admitted he was in serious jeopardy. If he was not extremely careful, he would become the victim. And the role of victim was one Kyle Stockbridge never played.

He stared at the woman with the amber eyes, watching her as she chatted with friends and coworkers on the other side of the crowded room. Voices hummed around him. Ice clinked in glasses. The strains of background music provided by a small trio filled the air. Stockbridge tuned out everything except the sight of Rebecca Wade.

He still felt like a predator, filled with an insatiable hunger. But that hunger made him vulnerable, he told himself. He would have to be more cautious than ever.

For two months he’d been playing a reckless game with a woman who excited him as no other woman ever had.

Rebecca was not a stunningly beautiful female. She was no exotic, bewitching siren who lured men with some strange, captivating magic.

She was simply Rebecca, and she worked for him. She had only been at Flaming Luck Enterprises for two months but already she had left an indelible mark on the place.

Awesomely organized, efficient and intelligent, Rebecca had turned the place upside down. She had a flair for management. As Kyle’s executive assistant she had restructured everything from his daily routine to the way the mail clerk delivered the mail.

Most importantly, as far as his staff was concerned, Rebecca could handle the boss. Kyle’s temper was legendary, but he never lost his temper with Rebecca.
Never.

True – he argued with her frequently, occasionally growled impatiently when he was dissatisfied, and sometimes he snapped when she overstepped even the wide bounds he had indulgently allowed her. But he never really lost his temper. Not the way he did with lesser mortals.

They called her the Lady with the Magic Wand, Kyle knew. The image amused him, but there was an element of truth in it. When he was breathing fire and no one else dared enter his office, Rebecca could walk calmly into the dragon’s lair and emerge unruffled and unscathed.

He had wondered just what he had let himself in for at the end of her first week of employment. She had breezed into his office, omnipresent clipboard in hand, and announced that she was instituting a series of weekly reports.

These Friday morning reports were to be viewed as a management tool, she’d informed him.

„Your management techniques are barbaric,“ she’d stated. „I’ll grant that your blunt way of doing business attracts and holds a certain type of client who appreciates directness and honesty. But dealing with one’s employees requires a slightly different approach.“

„I’m not supposed to be honest with my employees?“

„You are supposed to be
diplomatic
with your staff.“

„Diplomacy, Miss Wade, is not one of my strong points.“

„Then you’ll have to work on that element of your management style, won’t you, Mr. Stockbridge?“ she had retorted with a charming smile. „And while you’re at it, you’ll start working on other management techniques, too. It’s time, Mr. Stockbridge, that you learned to delegate.“

„I like to know what my people are doing.“ He’d defended himself with a scowl.

„There are other ways of finding out besides looking over their shoulders.“ She’d frowned slightly in concentration as she’d bent over her clipboard. „Now, then, the first item on this week’s report is…“

„My name.“

She’d looked up quizzically. „I beg your pardon?“

„The first item on the weekly report is my name. If you’re going to take over my company, Rebecca, we might as well put ourselves on a first-name basis.“

She’d been slightly flustered. „I assure you, I have no intention of usurping your authority, Mr. Stockbridge.“

„Then try to follow a few of my orders from time to time. It will create the illusion that I’m still in charge. Call me Kyle.“

She’d smiled slowly, a little shyly. „Very well, Kyle.“

That smile had done dangerous things to his insides. He’d sat and watched as she’d returned to the weekly report, and all he’d been able to think about was what it would be like to remove her neat, professional little black-and-white checked suit and lay her down on the leather couch in the corner. He’d had a feeling Rebecca Wade’s creamy body would look very good lying nude on rich cordovan brown leather.

In the following days she had set about changing the way he functioned in his own office. For the first time in his life, Kyle was learning what it meant to delegate authority. He wasn’t sure he liked running his business that way, but so far things seemed to be working.

She was attractive enough, Kyle told himself, striving to be objective, but definitely not outstanding. There were other women in the room who were far more beautiful although he discovered he couldn’t seem to name one right offhand.

Rebecca’s rich, dark brown hair was sleek and shining tonight, he noted. She had it in a classic twist that exposed her delicate ears and the small gold rings she wore in them. The style also revealed her nape, which for some reason seemed incredibly sexy to Kyle. He had a violent urge to stroke her there where he knew she would be soft and sensitive and very, very vulnerable.

Taken individually, the rest of Rebecca’s features were unremarkable, with the exception of her spectacular amber eyes. A straight, no-nonsense nose, a firm little chin, a mouth that smiled readily – all pleasant enough, but not stunning. But the whole was animated by an intelligent awareness and an interest in others that made anyone who talked to her, even in passing, feel special. Men and women alike preened and glowed under the impact of that genuine interest.