The Barons of Texas: Jill (8 page)

His hands were folded together on the table. He looked perfectly composed, but his chest was rising and falling faster than usual. He hadn’t been unaffected. The fact gave her a portion of satisfaction, but not much.

“I’d rather just leave.”

He stared at her for a long moment, and she prayed that, just this once, he wouldn’t be able to see what was going on inside her. Because if he could, he would see that a heated desire was rampaging through her body, and that out on the dance floor, she had come to realize that he and only he could assuage her desire. But finally he nodded, and she let out a long shaky breath of relief.

“Fine. Just let me pay our bill.”

Within minutes she had her shawl around her and he was ushering her out of the club. Outside, she
stopped, needing to orient herself. The streetlights seemed extraordinarily bright after the blue neon lights of the club. And the scene on the sidewalks was, if anything, more crowded than it had been when they had entered hours before.

Hours? Had it only been hours? She took a deep breath of the fresh air. It seemed as if she had lived a lifetime in the club. She felt Colin’s hand at her back and stepped away from it.

“The car’s not far away,” he murmured, gesturing in the direction of the parking lot.

She was drained, with no energy left, yet she managed to put one foot in front of the other, and soon Colin was opening the car door for her. She slid into the seat, then watched numbly as he bent to move the overflow of her skirt into the car so that it wouldn’t get caught when he shut the door.

Neither of them spoke on the drive home. Jill used the time to regain her strength, her sanity and her composure, a feat not easily accomplished. But by the time they reached her home, she had been able to come to at least one conclusion.

He pulled the car into her circular drive, braked and turned off the ignition. Silence and the beat of her heart were all Jill could hear. She looked down at her interlocked hands, knowing what she had to say, but waiting, though she wasn’t quite sure for what. Colin unbuckled his seat belt, then angled his body toward her. Without even turning her head, she could feel his assessing gaze on her, waiting….

She didn’t have the nerves left for a waiting game, so she said what she had to. “I think I’ve had enough lessons.”

“I disagree. We have at least another two or three full days’ worth. Possibly four.”

Her head jerked around.
“Days?”

He nodded. “Originally I had planned to stretch the lessons out over a couple of weeks, but after tonight, I’ve decided that we should accelerate our schedule.”

After tonight
. That said it all. Out on the dance floor, in his arms, she’d come undone. He’d entered into what he thought was a business agreement, and the first time he had taken her into his arms, she had melted into him. Quite obviously, he wanted their lessons to be over.

“You’re going to have to clear your appointments for the next few days.”

“Clear my…” The words clogged her throat. “Look, I have no idea what you have in mind, but I think tonight was enough.”

“What’s bothering you, Jill?” He leaned closer to her. “What’s really, down deep, bothering you? That you don’t understand what happened between us tonight?”

Once again he had read her mind, so why bother denying what he already knew? “That’s one thing,” she said slowly.

“Which is exactly
why
you need more lessons. You’re not accustomed to a man’s touch,
or
dancing closely,
or
anything remotely sexual. And if you know Des at all, you know that he is going to want his wife to respond to him, both in and out of bed. Just in case you didn’t know it, that’s what happens when two people fall in love.”

She cleared her throat. “I know, but I also know Des may not ever love me.”

“And you’re willing to settle for that? A loveless marriage?”

“Of course.” Her answer was automatic, one she’d had in her mind for a long time. “But I would be willing to, uh, respond to him. I mean, I know sex is part of any marriage, but I also know…or rather,
think
, that maybe in our case, we could also have a marriage that is more about business than—”

His roar of laughter interrupted her. “If that’s what you truly think, then, honey, you need my lessons more than even I thought. How could you know so little about the man you think you want to spend the rest of your life with? Des is not only going to want love and sex and babies, he’s going to want much more than that.”

Her brows drew together. What was left? “Like what?”

“Like a companion and a friend, for one.”

“That’s two.”
Babies
. She hadn’t even considered that. And
love
. Would Des really want love? She had thought he would understand a marriage arranged for the convenience of a business; plus, he had to know how happy it would make Uncle William if he married one of his nieces. But now Colin was saying that wasn’t enough.

Suddenly she felt the beginnings of a migraine. She had to get into the house without Colin realizing that she had a headache coming on. The last thing she needed was a repeat of last night.

As for tonight… She couldn’t allow her mind to follow that thought. Abruptly she opened the car door, slid out and slammed it shut.

“Wait.” Colin quickly got out of the car and was
by her side just as she was inserting her key into her front-door lock.

“I’ll think over what you’ve said and call you in the morning.” She turned the key and pushed the door open.

With his hand, he turned her face up to his. Alarmingly, her first instinct was to lean into his hand for the comfort of his warm caress.
Lord, when had she become such a slow learner?
She jerked away, stepped into her house and started to close the door. Colin’s well-placed foot stopped her.

“I know tonight upset you, Jill, and I also know why. But all it proves is that you really haven’t thought through this plan of yours. You don’t have the slightest idea how to go about getting and keeping Des.”

“I’ll do whatever I have to.” Again an automatic response, but this time it tripped her up.

“Good. Then I’ll pick you up here at nine in the morning. Be ready.”

Panic hit. “Wait. I haven’t even decided whether I’m going to continue with these lessons.”

He stepped over the threshold and ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “But you will. You will.” Then suddenly he slipped his hands along her cheeks and lowered his mouth to hers. His tongue thrust into her mouth, and heat exploded inside her. Once again, he had easily taken possession of her feelings. She wanted to cry at her lack of control, but she also wanted to learn more about what it felt like to kiss him.

His lips were full and firm, his taste heady, like the finest wine, and the inside of his mouth was moist and warm. He kissed with a surety that spoke of experience
as his tongue delved deeper and deeper, engaging hers in an intimate, sexual dance of heat and desire. She closed her hands over his wrists to steady herself.

When he finally raised his head, he whispered, “Another lesson. At the very
least
, Des will expect a kiss at the end of your first date. After that…” His shrug explained perfectly.

The headache was becoming stronger, and she wasn’t going to make last night’s mistake in thinking she could fight it with only her will. She had to get upstairs as soon as possible and take something for it. She had never known why they came, but the aftermath of tonight had certainly left her stressed. “I’ll call you in the morning,” she repeated.

“I’ll
see
you then,” he murmured, and with another soft kiss he was gone.

She closed the door and leaned back against it for support. No man had ever kissed her the way Colin just had. No man had ever held her, touched her, treated her, the way he had tonight. And because of it, she somehow knew she would never be the same.

J
ill awoke tired, but with no headache hangover. Taking the medicine at the first sign of the migraine last night, then going to bed, had been the best thing she could have done for herself. She just hated being so dependent on medicine, or admitting that there was an aspect of her life over which she had no control. But by catching the headache early, she had ensured she hadn’t had to take any of the heavy-duty medicine she’d had to resort to the night before, when Colin had spent the night with her.

With a groan, she reached for a spare pillow and pressed it over her face. Even as she did it, she knew she wasn’t accomplishing anything. Besides, it wasn’t like her to try to hide from anything or anyone. Not for a very long time.

But Colin…

With another groan, she threw the pillow across the
room. It was time to start her day. She sat up and pushed the hair from her eyes. Why was she so tired? Then she remembered and collapsed back on the bed. Erotic, disturbing dreams of Colin had filled her night.

That settled the matter. She needed to get out of their business agreement. She hated like blazes to admit it, even to herself, but she couldn’t handle another evening like the one they had shared at Midnight Blues.

She reached for another pillow but couldn’t find one, so she settled for covering her face with her hands. What was wrong with her? She couldn’t hide. She had learned that lesson well when she had been small.

Back then she would crawl into her closet and shut the door, thinking that if her father couldn’t find her, she could escape the ordeal of their nightly dinners. It was her secret. As far as she knew, even Tess and Kit didn’t know.

The only person who did was the woman who was their housekeeper at the time. She had always known where to find her. The woman wasn’t unkind, but even she had been intimidated by her father, so she would straighten Jill’s clothes and shoo her downstairs.

There, sitting as straight as they could make their little bodies, she and her sisters would be grilled about their day by their father. In turn, they each would have to tell him what they had learned that day in school and recount their participation in any scholastic or physical competitions. If they couldn’t report a win, or the top grade in their class, they would feel the iciness of his disapproval, which was formidable. Invariably she left the table with her stomach in knots.
Later she would lie in bed, hungry, trying to think of ways she could do better the next day.

As soon as she and her sisters were old enough, he saw that they were involved in individual sports, such as tennis or golf, and he would stage competitions among the three of them, pitting them against one another. To this day, she refused to play any kind of sport. She had buried her competitive nature in her business pursuits.

In fact, until Tess married a year and a half ago, Tess, Kit and she would fight tooth and nail to be the one who, at the end of Baron International’s fiscal year, had made the most money for the company. But since Tess’s marriage, Tess was so blissed out she no longer even tried. Her withdrawal made the competition a lot less fun. As for Kit, who knew what was up with her these days?

No. Hiding never worked. Besides, she wasn’t afraid of Colin. She would simply tell him there would be no more lessons, and he would have no choice but to accept her decision.

With a sigh, Jill forced herself to get up. It was past time to start her day.

She had taken exactly three steps when she hesitated and something made her look back at the bed. Her mouth fell open. She’d never seen her sheets in such a tangle. In fact, the whole bed was a mess. The contents of her erotic dreams came rushing back to her, and her face warmed. Hurriedly she made the bed.

“May I see my appointment list, please?”

“You bet.” With brisk efficiency, her assistant laid
a brown leather folder in front of her. “This is your day.”

Jill opened the folder. Her first appointment wasn’t for another hour, but once they started, they were scheduled back to back. At least she had an hour to return calls, review reports and check on several projects she had under way. “Thanks, Molly.

“Do you have something else for me? Because if not, I’m still working on the Barstow report.”

“That’s fine.” As Molly left the office, Jill lifted a cup and sipped at the decaffeinated coffee Molly always freshly brewed for her. There were mornings when she would have killed for a good strong cup of regular coffee, but because of her headaches, the doctor had banned them.

“Good morning.”

She almost choked on the coffee.
“Colin.”

He bypassed the chairs and settled himself on a corner of the desk. “Great morning, isn’t it?”

Molly immediately reappeared in the doorway. “Mr. Wynne? Did you have an appointment?”

It was Molly’s polite way of letting the intruder know he wasn’t scheduled. Jill was much less polite. “What in the hell are you doing here?”

Colin flashed Molly a grin. “Does she swear like that very often? Never mind. Before you offer, I’d love a cup of coffee, thank you. Oh, and make mine black and fully leaded.”

Molly looked at Jill. With a sigh, she nodded. Molly disappeared, but left the door open.

Colin’s sudden appearance had instantly caused her composure to disintegrate, but Jill managed to quickly pull herself together. She sat back in her chair, folded
her arms beneath her breasts and gave him a hard look. “Would you like me to repeat the question?”

“Thanks, but no thanks. I heard the first time.”

“And the answer is?”

“Fact of the matter is, we
did
have an appointment this morning. Remember? I said I’d see you at nine.” He glanced at the gold watch on his wrist. “It is now fifteen minutes after nine. Sorry I’m a little late, but I dropped by your house first. I was sure I had said I would pick you up there. My fault, I’m sure. I must have said here.” The gold streaks in his brown eyes suddenly became more pronounced, more mesmerizing. “But then, I was a little preoccupied with the evening we had just spent together.”

She sat very still, willing herself not to blush. “You shouldn’t be here, Colin. I distinctly remember saying that I’d
call
you this morning.”

He gave a nonchalant nod toward the sun currently flooding in through her office’s floor-to-ceiling windows, which offered a spectacular view of downtown Dallas. “Well, I don’t know about you, but
that
is what I call morning.”

Molly returned, carrying his coffee. He took it from her with a smile. “Thanks. Listen, Molly, please correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s morning, right?”

“Right.” Puzzled, she glanced at Jill, her brows raised in question. When Jill didn’t respond, she asked, “Anything else?”

Jill shook her head in resignation. “No, that’s it for now.”

Molly left and this time closed the door behind her.

“I had planned to call you, Colin, but it’s been a busy morning.” A well-placed little white lie from
time to time never hurt anything, and in this case it would help.

“And I said I would
see
you, but no matter. I’m flexible.” He reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a thin cell phone and held it out to her. “Want to call me?”

“You know, I never realized before just how impossible you are.” She pushed away from the desk and stood. He was looking only moderately spectacular this morning, she reflected with annoyance, along with appearing completely rested.

The lightweight sport jacket he wore perfectly complemented his chocolate-brown slacks and tan shirt, unbuttoned at his throat. And as usual, the sun had managed to turn his golden-brown hair to a dark honey. As for his eyes, since she had spotted the intensity of their gold streaks a minute ago, she was trying very hard not to look into them. She was too afraid she would see something that would remind her of last night.

Last night
. That made two nights in a row she needed to forget.

She turned her head away from him. The Dallas skyline had always been a soothing sight to her, but for some reason it just wasn’t working at the moment. Maybe because she could only see Colin in her mind’s eye. “I did what I said I’d do. I thought over the idea of continuing the lessons, and I’ve decided to stop.”

“No guts, huh?”

An irritating response delivered in a soft, almost tender manner. How was she supposed to react to that combination?

Barely contained anger seemed to be the winner.
She looked at him over her shoulder. “It’s got nothing to do with guts. I made my decision based on business considerations. First of all, there’s no way I can clear my appointments for the next few days.”

“What’s the matter? Afraid Dallas will fall down without your constant vigilance?”

“And secondly,” she said, returning her gaze to the skyline, “I’ve decided I don’t need any more lessons. I told you I’m a quick study, and I am. You’ve given me more than enough to go on.”

“Honey, you’re still at the starting gate.”

She whirled around. “
Don’t
call me honey. And what do you mean, the starting gate? After last night—” She stopped herself. Any mention of anything that concerned what had happened at the club could prove dangerous.

“After last night, what?”

Damn. She’d made the mistake of looking into his eyes, and she’d seen heat flare in them at the mention of last night. She managed to shrug. “It was fun and quite informative, but I can take it from here.” Surely there were books she could read on the subject. She would have Molly search the Internet bookstores. “Naturally I won’t renege on our business agreement. We’ll develop our land jointly.” She would assign one of her top people to it, but there was no way she was going to personally work with Colin.

“How extremely ethical of you, but I’m not letting you out of the other half of our deal. I feel a moral obligation to continue, plus—”

“Moral obligation? Give me a break. And while you’re at it, consider yourself released.”

“
Plus
last night you told me you’d do anything to get Des. I’ve never known you to exaggerate. Therefore,
I’m taking you at your word. Now—” he shot back his cuff and glanced at his watch “—it’s nearly nine-thirty. We’re already running late.” He slipped off the desk. “Let’s go.”

She must have missed something. “Go? Go where?”

“I’ve made some appointments for you. Have you cleared your calendar for the next few days as I told you to?”

“No, of course not.”

Before she knew it, he was around the desk, her hand was in his, and he was leading her out of her office. He opened her office door and breezed through Molly’s smaller office to the door that led to the reception area. “Hi, Molly. Please cancel Ms. Baron’s appointments for the next few days. Great coffee, by the way. Thanks a lot.” He opened her office door. “Bye, Molly.”

Molly stared after him with a stupefied expression on her face. “Jill?”

“I, uh…”

He briefly paused and gazed down at her. “Just do it, Jill. Please. I promise you, what’s going to happen today is not going to be near as hard on you as last night. In fact, if you allow yourself to, you’ll enjoy it.”

“Say the word, Jill, and I’ll call the police.”

Great, just great. Molly was in full-fledged protective mode. It was the last thing she wanted. She could take care of herself. She would either cope with whatever Colin had planned for today, or she would walk away and call for a cab back to the office. “It’s okay, Molly. I’m fine.”

She saw Colin flash her assistant a smile that had
brought more than one woman to her knees, but he hadn’t come up against Molly’s maternal leanings. And apparently he realized the same thing.

“I promise you she’s in no danger, nor will she be,” he said to Molly. “Have a great day.”

“Wait. My purse—it’s back in my office.”

“That’s okay. You’re not going to need it.”

Now she was curious and, heaven help her, more than a little intrigued. After this was all over, she should probably seriously consider some sort of mental-health care.

“Are you comfortable, Ms. Baron?”

The low, soothing voice of Helen, her assigned masseuse, irritated her. “As comfortable as I can be, half-naked, lying facedown on a massage table with a stranger’s hands on me.”

“I gather you’ve never had a massage before.”

“That’s correct.” She’d never had time, nor did she now. What was more, she couldn’t believe she had allowed Colin to drag her to this day-of-beauty salon.

“I’m not hurting you, am I?”

“No.” In truth, the experience so far wasn’t altogether unpleasant. The room was dimly lit. Soft, lilting music played somewhere. But she didn’t have time for this indulgence. Plus, she couldn’t figure out what having a massage had to do with getting Des.

“You’re very, very tense. I can feel it in your muscles. So just try to relax and let me do my job.”

She lifted her head off the table and looked hopefully back over her shoulder. “You wouldn’t happen to have a cell phone in here, would you?”

“No, Ms. Baron.” Helen gently pushed her back
down. “Conducting business at the same time I’m giving you a massage would be counterproductive. Besides, even the busiest of people find that an occasional day here at Jacqui’s is beneficial. But you have to give yourself a chance. So, please, just try to relax and let me see if I can get these knots out of your shoulders.”

She yawned as Helen rubbed more warm oil into her back. Despite her protestations to the contrary last night, Colin probably felt he couldn’t count on her to fulfill her side of their business agreement unless he fulfilled his. Fortunately, that was an easy fix. As soon as she returned to the office, she would put her lawyers to work on drawing up the agreement. Then Colin would
have
to believe her.

Where was he, anyway? The last time she’d seen him, he had been in the main salon, waving her goodbye, as the very beautiful Jacqui, the spa owner, had escorted her into the massage room with a graciousness that was an art unto itself. She sighed. If she only had her cell phone, she could…