The Bronzed Hawk (13 page)

“My enchantingly lovely Kelly, you were a virgin, for God’s sake,” he said patiently. “It’s very reasonable indeed to let you rest and recover before I ravage that gorgeous little body a second time.”

Oh, Lord, Nick wasn’t going to be gallant again, was he? Was this another dratted Victorian misconception that Nick had unearthed about virgins?

“I don’t need to recover,” she said crossly. Nick’s smooth, hard muscles under her hand were so beautifully powerful, she thought. “For Pete’s sake, you didn’t rape me, you made love to me. In case you didn’t notice, I was quite willing.”

“I noticed,” he said. “Nevertheless, we’ll wait awhile.”

Oh, would they? Nick was assuming control again with that same infuriating arrogance. She might be a novice, but there was no way she
would let Nick think he could have it all his own way.

“I’m sure you’re right,” she cooed meekly, her hands tracing patterns on his chest. “How lucky I am that you’re willing to give poor little me the benefit of your vast experience, Nick.” Her exploring fingers found a hard male nipple and teased it delicately. She could feel his chest contract as he inhaled sharply, and she almost purred with satisfaction. “Of course I’ll abide by your decision,” she went on docilely. “But I’m sure you won’t mind if I amuse myself while we’re waiting for me to recover.”

“Kelly!” Nick said warningly, then gave a convulsive shudder as her hands moved down and a tantalizing pink tongue stroked teasingly at the nipple while her small hands moved curiously over his hard stomach. “Kelly, stop that, damn it!”

“But why, Nick?” she asked innocently, as her hand traveled leisurely down the hard column of his thigh. “Isn’t that what you did to me? I’m only following your example.” His thigh felt so different from her own. It was rough to the
touch with its dusting of hair and the firm muscles that were tensing at her teasing exploration. She moved closer so that her breasts brushed enticingly against him. “I’m just curious. You can understand that, Nick, you have such an inquiring mind yourself. But I don’t want to bother you when you’re so determined to hold to your good intentions. You just lie there, and I’ll simply experiment a little on my own.”

“Kelly, you little devil, you’re driving me crazy, and you know it,” Nick gasped in a strangled voice. “I’m going to get you for this.”

“That’s what I’m earnestly working toward,” she said demurely, her hands moving slowly to the inside of his thigh. “Now, let’s see, what do I do next?”

“You get laid, damn it.” He suddenly rolled her over on her back and looked down at her with a curious mixture of exasperation and tenderness. She noticed with satisfaction that his eyes were blazing with desire and his chest was heaving with the force of his breathing. “You win, you bold hussy. You don’t know what’s
good for you, and you’ve made quite sure that I don’t care at the moment.”

She looked up into his beautifully sensual face, her gaze lovingly tracing the powerfully molded planes of his cheekbones. “I know what’s good for me,” she said, pulling him slowly down to her. “I know.”

When Kelly woke the next morning, she was still curled in Nick’s arms, her head on his chest and her arms holding him in possessive delight. How lovely it would be to wake every morning with the throb of Nick’s heartbeat in her ear and the warm security that those strong arms gave her, she thought dreamily. Still half asleep, she started to brush little affectionate kisses on his chest. She was interrupted most rudely when Nick’s hand came down on her derriere with a distinctly ungentle slap.

“Stop that, Goldilocks,” he said lightly, his voice depressingly wide awake. “You know damn well where that leads, and we haven’t got time.” He chuckled. “I was just lying here watching
you sleep and thinking how you looked like an innocent, sweet baby. Then the first thing you do even before you open your eyes is try to seduce me.”

“I wasn’t trying to seduce you,” she protested. “I was merely being affectionate.” She snuggled closer to him, and for a moment his arms tightened around her in a quick hug. Then, disappointingly, she felt his arms withdraw and the mattress shift as he rolled away from her and got out of the bed.

For a moment she didn’t move but lay there with her eyes closed, unwilling to give up that lovely, drowsy euphoria. Then as she heard Nick moving briskly around, she reluctantly opened her eyes. He had pulled on his black jeans and was fastening his belt, and she watched him for a moment, admiring how downright sexy he looked. The dark denim material hugged his powerful thighs and buttocks lovingly, and without a shirt, his slim waist, flat belly, and powerful shoulders looked overwhelmingly virile.

“Where are you going?” she asked sleepily, rising up on one elbow to look at him.

He looked at her and grinned. “It’s time we got on the road, wife. By the angle of that sun coming through the window, it must be almost noon, and Father Miguel said he’d meet us at the chapel at twelve-thirty.” He reached for his white shirt, slipped it on, and started to button it. “I’m going over to the cantina and see if I can persuade Carmen to heat us some water for baths.”

Kelly sat up slowly and brushed her tousled curls away from her face. “I don’t think you’ll have any trouble there. Should I wait here a discreet length of time to give you an opportunity to ‘persuade’ her?”

Nick cocked an eyebrow. “That’s definitely feline, Goldilocks,” he drawled. He sat down on the bed beside her and proceeded to put on his socks and desert boots. “And completely unrealistic. I’d have to be a superman, indeed, to be interested in another woman after the workout you gave me last night.” He grinned teasingly. “I’m just a poor shell of the man that I was before one Kelly McKenna.”

She hit him lightly on the arm with her fist.
“Beast.” She shook her head in wonderment at his bounding vitality when she was feeling so weary and languid. “You appear to be in very fine fettle to me.”

“I put up a good front,” he said lightly, then turned to face her, having finished putting on his desert boots. His eyes widened as he noticed how she had carelessly let the sheet fall to her waist, baring her creamy breasts. “But not nearly as good as you,” he added huskily, his gaze flickering with the beginning of desire.

Kelly could feel the familiar heat begin to surge through her. “I’m glad you think so,” she said breathlessly, not bothering to pull up the sheet.

It would be like locking the barn door after the horses had fled to display any hint of modesty now. Nick had enthusiastically explored every inch of her body the night before, in those long, heated hours of lovemaking. Their desire for each other had been just as insatiable the last time they had come together as the first time. No, more so, for they knew that each time had been more wildly exciting than the last as they had learned how to please each other. She would
have thought that after last night she would have been sated, but she found now that Nick had only to look at her with that kindling passion in the depths of his eyes, and she was as eager as if he’d never touched her. And that look was definitely in his eyes right now, she thought happily.

Then to her dismayed chagrin, he reached out and pulled the sheet over her breasts and carefully tucked it under her armpits. “Stop tempting me, Kelly. I’m finding it difficult enough to keep my hands off you without your throwing that brand of invitation at me. This is our only chance to get to Acapulco, and we’re not going to miss it just because I want to throw you in the sack and stay there for a week or so.”

Kelly felt hurt. How could Nick so coolly control that fever in the blood that she found irresistible? she wondered. At the moment she didn’t give a damn about Acapulco, or her story, or anything but him. Naturally, she couldn’t expect him to feel the same way, she told herself gloomily. She was the one who was crazily in love. He probably looked on last night as just another
enjoyable toss in the hay with an attractive, available female.

She looked away from him, her lashes masking the raw hurt that the thought brought. “Then you’d better hurry,” she said, her voice a little throaty. “I’ll join you at the cantina as soon as I’ve finished dressing.”

Nick swore under his breath, and his hands were suddenly on her shoulders. “Now what the hell’s the matter?” he asked, giving her a gentle shake. “You act like you’ve just been cruelly rejected when you know damn well that I’d like nothing better than to crawl back in bed with you. Don’t you want to go to Acapulco?”

“Yes, of course,” Kelly said firmly, smiling with forced brightness. “I have a terrific story to write, haven’t I? Even better than the one I would have had if the balloon had actually reached Acapulco.” She was staring determinedly at a delicately embroidered flower on the front of his shirt. “I think I may leave a few minor details out, however. I wouldn’t want to make any of your harem jealous.”

“Kelly, look at me, damn it,” he ordered
roughly. “You’re building walls between us again, and there’s no way I’m going to go back to square one after last night. Why the devil won’t you tell me what’s bothering you?”

“Because there’s nothing wrong with me,” Kelly said clearly. With no little effort she raised her eyes to meet his. “Perhaps I was a little disappointed that you didn’t find me totally irresistible,” she said flippantly. “But then I guess I couldn’t really expect that with a man who has a little black book the size of the Manhattan white pages.”

He gazed at her flushed, defiant face for a long moment, his own expression growing stormier by the second. “You have got to be the most exasperating woman I have ever had the misfortune to meet,” he said, his hands tightening angrily on her bare shoulders. “I haven’t got time now to probe beneath that barbed little shell you’re hiding behind, but I’m not about to let you stay there for long, Kelly. We’ll settle this when we get to Acapulco.” He slowly released her and stood up, his eyes on her face. Then he whirled and strode angrily toward the door. “Be
at the cantina in ten minutes, or I’ll be coming back for you.” He slammed the door violently behind him.

Kelly stared unhappily at the door for a moment before she slowly got out of bed and started to dress. She had said all the wrong things in all the wrong ways, she thought miserably. She couldn’t have admitted to Nick how terrified she had suddenly become at the thought of returning to civilization, but she hadn’t had to act like a jealous bitch. She shook her head as she thought of how angry Nick had been when he left. If she didn’t gain control of her emotions and overcome her jealousy, she’d certainly drive Nick away from her. Yet how did she know that Nick wouldn’t regard their arrival in Acapulco as the end of their romantic interlude, anyway?

Kelly inhaled sharply as that thought stabbed painfully through her. She didn’t think she could bear it if Nick cut short their affair so abruptly. She must have time to prepare herself before they parted, or the parting would rip her to pieces.

She finished dressing, then swiftly made the
bed and straightened the little room that now seemed very dear and familiar. She opened the door and gave the room one last nostalgic look before she closed it behind her and hurried down the dusty street toward the cantina.

T
HE
A
CAPULCO
S
TAR
Hotel was a fabulously beautiful modern structure located high on the cliffs overlooking the stunning blue waters of Acapulco bay. Stunning was definitely the descriptive word for any number of the aspects of this gorgeous resort town, Kelly mused, as Father Miguel’s ancient gray Buick chugged steadily up the twisting road that led to the towering mammoth skyscraper at the top of the cliffs. The radiant, jewel-bright colors and sheer beauty of the town were almost an assault on the senses.

“Like it?” Nick asked quietly, his gaze on her face as she peered eagerly through the window
of the passenger seat of the car. Nick was sitting between her and Father Miguel, and his hard, muscular thigh was lodged intimately against her own as he leaned over to point out various points of interest.

Kelly nodded. “Who could help it? I thought the Italian Riviera was spectacular, but this is absolutely incredible. I gather you’ve been here before?” At his nod of assent she enthused, “I don’t see how you could ever leave it!”

“Yes, you can,” he said. “Think about it, sweetheart. I’d say you’d be able to take this leisurely jet-set atmosphere for a maximum of three weeks tops, before you went completely bananas. It’s too easy for people like us. You don’t even have to make the effort to go look for a magnificent view because there’s one wherever you turn. There’s no challenge if it’s all laid out for you.”

“Well, I fully intend to enjoy myself thoroughly while I’m here, despite your arrogant cynicism, Nick O’Brien,” Kelly said loftily. “And if Acapulco is so boring, why did you decide to come back?”

“I didn’t say it was boring, I merely said it wasn’t my cup of tea,” he said quietly. “I come here occasionally to relax and do some deep-sea fishing.” His arm was on the back of the seat behind her, and he began to play casually with the curls at her nape. “You’ll probably enjoy your stay here very much after the strain of the last few days. In fact, I’m looking forward to showing you the sights.”

Kelly smothered a little sigh of relief. If Nick was making plans that included both of them, then he couldn’t be thinking of suggesting that they go their separate ways just yet. On the trip from Matzalea, she had tried to repair the damage she had done and get back on at least companionable terms with Nick. This hadn’t proved the easiest thing in the world with the verbose Father Miguel as chaperone. The priest had chattered away jovially in Spanish from the moment they had left the village the previous afternoon. She had thought that she would have an opportunity to smooth things over when they stopped for the night, but the humble hacienda where Father Miguel had chosen to break their
trip had afforded no privacy whatsoever. Kelly had found herself sharing a bed with the lady of the house and her youngest child, while Nick and Father Miguel had bedded down on a mattress on the floor in the other room.