Blue Mist of Morning (13 page)

"Downstairs?" he repeated somewhat suspiciously.

Anne smiled. "I don't think she was planning to go out
anywhere in those very skimpy short pajamas she was wearing. No doubt
she's gone to the kitchen. Teenagers must have late night snacks from
time to time."

Ty's answering smile faded almost immediately as he gazed
at Anne. Though she was unaware of it, the light from the bedside lamp
behind her silhouetted the enticing curves of her slender body beneath
her thin white batiste nightgown.

As his narrowed gaze roamed slowly over her, she sensed a
sudden, still tension in him that alerted her to danger. Her breath
caught. Before she could step back and close the door, he strode across
the hall into her room, diminishing the distance between them so
swiftly that her heart lurched painfully against her breastbone. He,
himself, pushed the door shut.

"
Ty
," she began, but her words were
halted by the finger he pressed against her lips. Then his hand dropped
down. His fingertips traced the low, square neckline of her gown,
scorching her creamy skin, his touch lingering on the delightfully
firm, yet yielding curve of her breasts. She trembled, knowing she was
insane to let him touch her that way, yet helpless to prevent it. She
liked the way his caresses made her feel: warm and week and
acquiescent. Yet, uncertainty widened her gray eyes, when his hands
spanned her waist and he abruptly drew her against the hard length of
his body.

"
Anne
," he whispered unevenly, and
the hint of appeal in his tone was irresistible. As his arms tightened
around her, she melted against him, her own arms slipping beneath his
unbuttoned shirt, her hands spreading open on his strong smooth back,
urging him nearer. It was as if she couldn't get close enough, a
feeling he obviously shared. Arching her to him, he boldly explored her
body, molding with lean seeking hands the softly curving contours and
following the delightful insweep of her small waist. Then his mouth was
on hers, firm and possessive, parting the tender softness of her lips
with ravishing intensity.

Anne moaned softly as he tasted the sweetness within her
mouth, and one strong hand clasped the back of her head, holding her
fast as his kiss deepened. Her lips clung to his. Her mouth opened
wider to the invading exploration of the tip of his tongue. Winding her
braid around his hand, he tilted her head back again and trailed
burning kisses down her slender neck to the racing pulse, and lower, to
the scented hollow at the base of her throat. His teeth, gently nipping
her creamy skin, aroused every nerve ending in her, making his touch no
longer just delightful, but also necessary. Her trembling fingers
traced the muscular contours of his broad back, and as she moved
against him, a muffled groan came from deep in his throat.

"Let me take your hair down, Anne," he whispered. And
before she could react, he moved closer still, slipping his fingers
into the loose braid and threading them through the strands until her
hair cascaded in golden disarray over her shoulders like a skein of
pure silk. His fingers tangled in it, tilting her head back farther.
"Lovely. You're so lovely," he muttered roughly, his lips burning
across her cheek. "Anne, I need you."

She needed him, too, and as his hard mouth covered hers
with persuasive power, she could no longer deny that need. When the
softness of her body came together with the long length of his, her
newly discovered love for him blazed out of control for a few ecstatic
minutes. His kiss seemed an endless act of possession itself, his lips
capturing the soft sweetness of hers, not only taking pleasure, but
also giving. An aching desire to give herself completely and
irrevocably to him spread a weakening warmth through her lower limbs.
Her small hands moved feverishly across his broad shoulders to explore
the tendons of his neck, her fingers probing his heated flesh, evoking
a soft groan from him.

Large, lean hands roved freely over her, cupping and
caressing her soft breasts until they surged tautly against his palms.
Then his hands moved down to mold her rounded hips, pressing her to his
muscular thighs. Her lips moved eagerly beneath his. Her trembling
fingers tangled in the thick hair on his nape to press his head down,
urging a rougher taking of her mouth. Aroused more than she had ever
been, she was pliant and receptive to the hand that pressed her flat
abdomen, then brushed, too fleetingly, over her breasts.

Ty lowered one strap of her gown. His questing lips sought
the delicate hollows of her shoulders, tantalizing her sensitized skin.
"Anne, I want you," he groaned, before taking her mouth once again.

His kiss deepened with near-savage urgency as his words
echoed in her head, and suddenly he swept her up in his arms and
carried her to the bed. He put her down gently on the cool sheet, then
came down beside her, covering her slight body with the stronger length
of his. His hands cupped her small face as his lips plundered the moist
tenderness of hers. Oddly, unsteady fingers lowered her gown, baring
her rapidly rising and falling breasts as he lifted his dark head to
gaze down at her.

"God, you're exquisite," he muttered huskily, his
breathing ragged, searing desire burning fiercely blue in his eyes.

With his first touch, Anne tensed instinctively, but when
his brushing fingers took possession of her full, rounded breasts, she
succumbed to the hot fire that sparkled over her skin. He traced the
satin-textured roseate peaks until they hardened beneath his
fingertips. His dark head lowered. His mouth closed around one
throbbing crest, pulling gently. Anne gasped as the aching emptiness
within her intensified unbearably, clamoring for a satisfaction only he
could give. When he nibbled the sensitized, ever-hardening peak and
pressed down one muscular thigh demandingly, parting hers, the very
intensity of the thrill that pulsated through her restored her sanity.
Much as she wanted him, she was emotionally unready for complete
surrender. Her breath coming in soft, fast gasps, she pushed at his
shoulders. "Ty, no," she whispered. "I… I can't. I just
can't."

With a soft groan, he turned over, sat up on the edge of
the bed for several long seconds, then stood to gaze down at her, an
odd mixture of tenderness, impatience and desire burning in his eyes.
As she hastily covered her bared breasts with her arms, she couldn't be
sure if his slight smile was mocking or indulgent. Then, without a
word, he strode across the room and out the door.

Pressing her fingers against lips still parted and
tingling from his kisses, she moaned softly. "Fool," she bleakly called
herself aloud. Now she had done what she had sworn to herself she would
never do again. She had gone far beyond breaking the rule against
kissing the boss—she had committed the ultimate folly of
falling in love with him.

The next Saturday, Sue unexpectedly visited the Manning
house. To Anne's delight and surprise, her sister and Jenny took an
instant liking to each other. Despite Jenny's usual protestations about
people her age being too immature and silly, she didn't seem to see Sue
that way. Taking advantage of that fact, Anne impulsively suggested
they all go into Alexandria on a shopping trip. And an astonishing
miracle occurred—Jenny agreed to go.

"I'll just dash upstairs and change clothes," she said,
grimacing at the cut-off jeans and halter top she was wearing. "I can
hardly go to town in these, but I'll be back down in a jiffy. Don't
leave without me."

"We'd never do that. In fact, Sue will go upstairs with
you while you change," Anne told her and was rewarded with a genuinely
grateful smile. Watching Sue follow as Jenny immediately bounded out of
the study, acting for the first time as a seventeen-year-old girl
should, Anne breathed a sign of relief. Perhaps she was beginning to
win the girl's trust at last.

Using the time while the two girls were gone, Anne began
to tidy the papers on Ty's desk, then tensed involuntarily when he
unexpectedly entered the study. She watched him warily as he approached
her, but his expression gave her no indication of what sort of mood he
was in. Sometimes he treated her with such warmth that she couldn't
resist him. Then, at other times, he acted as if he was lord of all and
she was his slave, obliged to obey his every command. He kept her
continually on edge, because she never knew from one moment to the next
what his attitude toward her would be. And as he came toward her now,
her wide gray eyes mirrored her uncertainty.

Ty, however, eased her tension somewhat when he smiled
casually, then sat down on the edge of the desk. While he idly examined
a brass letter opener, Anne feigned a great interest in the papers she
was arranging, though in reality she was wondering where he had been
all morning. With Millicent Beaumont?

"Is Jenny hiding in her room again?" Ty inquired finally,
breaking the silence. "When I came home, I noticed her MG was still
here."

"She's in her room, but not hiding this time," Anne told
him, enthusiasm illuminating her delicate features, as she went on to
explain that his sister had agreed to go shopping with Sue and her.
"That's a step in the right direction, don't you think?"

He nodded, his warm gaze wandering slowly over her. "I
knew you'd be good for Jenny," he said, his voice low and appealingly
rough. "I think you may even be able to convince her to forget about
Kirt Callen."

"Well, I haven't succeeded in that, yet. She still talks
on the phone to him frequently," Anne admitted regret darkening her eyes. "He's trying his best to take
advantage of her confusion about your father's death, but I'm hoping
she's beginning to have reservations about him. No doubt he would like
to seduce her, but she hasn't succumbed to the seduction, yet. Frankly,
I don't think she really wants to."

"I hope you're right," Ty replied somberly, then shrugged.
"At least it's a good sign that she didn't object to going to St. Croix
with me next weekend. Though she's always loved to go there, I half
expected her to rebel when I told her I wanted her to join me this
time. I was pleasantly surprised when she agreed to the idea so
readily."

"That is a relief."

"Since this is a business trip, I'll expect you to
accompany me, too, Anne," he said firmly, his narrowed eyes searching
her face. "In the capacity of secretary, of course."

Anne's cheeks darkened to an enticing pink. She was
completely unprepared for the idea of spending the weekend with Ty in
such a romantic setting. But before she could formulate a sufficiently
businesslike answer, the phone on the desk rang, providing her with a
brief reprieve. She swiftly picked up the receiver. "Oh hello, Mike,"
she responded after a moment. "Dinner? This evening?" Before she could
diplomatically refuse his invitation, hard fingers clamped her right
wrist in a vise-like grip. Startled, she turned to look at Ty, who was
glaring grimly at her.

"Tell Mike thanks, but no thanks," he commanded curtly,
his voice low. "You're not going out to dinner with him. Tell him that."

Resentment stormed in Anne's gray eyes. Her uptilted chin
challenged his right to issue orders, yet his piercing gaze warned her
not to be foolish enough to voice that challenge. Sheer rebellion
tempted her to consider accepting Mike's invitation, though that hadn't
been her intention. Caution at last overcame her desire to rebel. In a
strained voice, she told Mike she had already made plans for the
evening, an excuse he accepted easily, as friends do.

When the telephone call ended a moment later, Anne
replaced the receiver, then yanked her wrist free of Ty's merciless
grip. "You don't control my personal life, you know," she uttered
resentfully, glowering at him and thinking of his relationship with
Millicent. "You go out with whomever you please, and so will I. The
next time Mike calls, if I
want
to go out with
him,
I will
. You don't own me!"

"But I do pay you to be with Jenny," he countered, his
words clipped and cold. "You can't very well keep an eye on her if
you're out socializing. Mike Bennett will be going along with us to St.
Croix next weekend. I hope that won't prove to be too much of a
temptation for you! And another thing, Jenny won't be able to protect
you completely. It's a big island, Anne, so you and I will undoubtedly
be alone together sometimes. Count on it."

"Promises, promises," she taunted, then caught her breath
as he stood to tower over her.

"Yes, it is a promise, Anne," he said too softly.
"Remember that."

As if she could forget, she thought, her pulses racing
with dizzying rapidity. And it wasn't until he strode out of the study
that she finally managed to breathe again.

The next Wednesday evening Anne placed a fat file folder
on Ty's desk in the study, then watched as he quickly scanned the
documents inside it. A slight frown creased his brow, and he went
through the papers a second time, then looked up questioningly at her.

"I didn't see the statement on Bob's cumulative preferred
stocks in here," he told her. "And I'll need to discuss that with him
while we're on St. Croix."

Nodding, Anne made a notation on a small memo pad. "I'll
have plenty of time to get it from the office tomorrow night before our
flight."

"Fine. Other than that, you seem to have everything I
wanted," he said, closing the file, then leaning back in his swivel
chair and crossing his arms behind his head. "Actually, I don't have a
great deal of business to discuss with the Petersons while we're there.
That new property we acquired in San Francisco will be the main item of
business. I'm looking at the trip more as a holiday for you and me and
Jenny."

Anne nodded, relieved his tone was friendly. Apparently
their last argument had simply been another low in their roller-coaster
relationship, and now he was willing to forget it. So she decided to
try to forget it, too. Tugging at the wisp of hair that grazed her
cheek, she smiled rather shyly at him. "I just hope Jenny will have a
nice time. She needs to have some fun."