Page 22
Story: Capture the Rainbow
“You have need for,” Yusef paused, searching for the word he wanted, “aphysician?”
“No,” Kendra said quickly. The darkness was fading rapidly now and there was no way she was going to let anything interfere with this evening with Joel. “I was only a little dizzy for a moment. I’ve probably been working too hard lately.” But she hadn’t worked at all for the last week and she had had another little dizzy spell like this only a few days ago, she remembered. It had been much lighter and she hadn’t come close to fainting as she had this time, but she had definitely suffered the same vertigo. No, she wouldn’t think about it. She was feeling better every minute.
She sat up straight in the chair and smiled with determined cheerfulness at Yusef, who clearly was worried. “I’m fine now,” she announced as she brushed a lock of hair from her eyes. “Sorry to have worried you. You can let me go, Yusef.”
He reluctantly removed the support of his arms. “You are certain?” he asked, a frown on his face. His keen gaze flicked for an instant to the thrusting fullness of her breasts before returning to her face. “Perhaps you should lie down and rest. At times the faintness returns.”
She cast him a bewildered glance as she stood up. He sounded remarkably knowledgeable, she thought in amusement. Perhaps in that bordello where he’d worked he had become accustomed to thinking of women as weak and persecuted dolls who fainted at the drop of a hat. Well, she was definitely not in that category.
“I’m perfectly all right now,” she said firmly. “I think I’ll just meet Mr. Damon outside.” Yusef still looked uneasy and she wouldn’t put it past him to mention that brief dizzy spell to Joel, if his protective instincts were as aroused as she thought they were. “Tell Billie not to worry if I don’t come back tonight.” Yusef was still frowning as she paused at the door. She smiled at him gently. “You mustn’t be concerned, Yusef. Mr. Damon will take good care of me.”
“Mr. Damon,” he repeated thoughtfully. Then his face brightened with relief. “Yes, he is a man who would care for his own. He will watch over you.”
“Right, Yusef,” Kendra said lightly. “Don’t worry about me. You’ve got your hands full just keeping an eye on Billie.”
“She is one who requires much care, it is true,” he said in a gentle tone. “But you will need me now, too. I will be pleased to help you when your man cannot.”
Her man.Joel and she had made no attempt to hide the affection growing between them in the last week, but she hadn’t been aware that Yusef had noticed. It was ridiculous even to begin to think of Joel in terms of that primitively lovely phrase. Still, those two words caused her heart to lift joyously. She closed the door softly behind her. Her man.
SEVEN
JOEL THREW OPENthe door to the hotel room and allowed her to precede him. He smiled when he saw the puzzled expression on Kendra’s face.
“To save you the trouble of asking, let me assure you that, no, this hotel wasn’t chosen by me. I made the mistake of having Billie make my reservations. Instead of the Marasef Hilton, I found myself here. She told me it would be asinfulwaste to actually live in a country and not absorb a little of the native atmosphere.” His hand moved in a mocking gesture. “Behold, the real Marasef.”
“I like it,” Kendra said. It was obviously not a five-star hotel, but it was clean and neat and had a simple charm that was very soothing. “But you’re right. I wouldn’t think it would be quite your cup of tea.” She glanced at him curiously. “Why didn’t you move out and go to the Hilton after you saw it?”
“I planned on doing just that, but it didn’t seem worthwhile for the few days I’d be here before I moved on to the location site.” His lips twisted wryly. “There’s a simplicity, a basic earthiness here that’s very appealing to a man as surrounded by illusions as I am.”
“Perhaps you’re guilty of creating a good many of those illusions yourself,” Kendra said quietly. “Your House of Rainbows doesn’t appear to be the setting of a man who’s very interested in maintaining a sense of reality.” She opened the French doors and stepped out onto a small balcony. The view was delightful: The city, bathed in the glow of the sunset, was straight out of an Arabian nights movie.
“That’s why I brought you here tonight.” He was behind her, his arms encircling her waist and his lips nibbling at her ear. “There’s a time when illusion has to end and reality take over. We started at the wrong end, Kendra. Everything about that first night was based on misunderstandings…except the knowledge that something very special happened to both of us.” He turned her around in his arms; his expression was grave. “I don’t think either one of us recognized it for what it was, but we both knew it was strong enough to scare us silly.” His lips pressed a fairylike kiss on her temple. “But tonight there aren’t going to be any cases of mistaken identity, no rainbow illusions.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “I’m not going to let you have even one glass of wine. Everything is going to be honest and real and as clear as the dawn.” His lips touched her own in a kiss of velvet tenderness. “And I think we’re going to have the answers to some very important questions before the evening is over.”
She laughed shakily. “I thought I was being brought to your lair to be seduced. Didn’t anyone ever tell you that seducers aren’t supposed to be so earnest in the middle of their campaigns?”
“I take my seductions very seriously, indeed,” he said with a grin. He kissed her again. “But this isn’t seduction; it’s something very different, isn’t it, Kendra?”
She felt as if those green eyes were hypnotizing her and she nodded slowly. “Yes, it’s something very different, Joel.”
She loved him. The knowledge was suddenly as clear as the words he’d just spoken. Why hadn’t she seen that quiet golden joy for what it was before? Now it seemed impossible she hadn’t recognized the signs from the beginning, since the first evening atIllusion de l’Arc en Ciel.The physical magic had been so potent that it overshadowed everything else, yet even then she had been aware of something else playing upon her mind and emotions. Perhaps she’d been too frightened then to admit to herself that she had been caught in the sorcerer’s enchanted web. But in Sedikhan she’d discovered the sorcerer was also a man: a man who could feel pain and guilt, who could laugh at himself on occasion, who could be gentle and affectionate with those he cared for. The sorcerer could invoke a frenzy of desire, but only the man could inspire love.
“Hey, snap out of it.” Joel’s eyes were twinkling with amusement as he gave her a little shake. “Don’t you know that a lady’s not supposed to go off into a gray fog when a man’s making a serious declaration? It appears I’ll need to concentrate all my energies on keeping your attention tonight.” His arm slipped around her waist as he propelled her through the French doors back into the room.
“I ordered dinner to be served in our room when I checked in downstairs and I want to get you fed.” His glance appraised her critically. “I thought if I took the pressure off and let you rest for a week you’d put on some weight, but I don’t think you’ve gained an ounce.”
“Just because I wasn’t working, doesn’t mean that I let myself get out of shape,” she said lightly. “I still exercised for three hours before I joined you on the set every day. In my business I can’t afford the indulgence of taking a full week off.”
“Oh, yes, your business.” His tone was sour. “That’s another thing we’ve got to straighten out tonight.” Then, as he saw the troubled frown cross her face, he smiled. “But not right now. Now I want to tell you how beautiful you are. I want to hear you talk to me in that scratchy little whisper.” He sank into the large, cushioned straight-backed chair facing the balcony and pulled her down on his lap, cradling her in his arms with infinite tenderness. “I want to hold you like this and watch the lights of Marasef go on.”
Her cheek rubbed against the linen of his sport coat, and she could smell the familiar scent of soap and spice. He laughed softly and gave her a swift, affectionate hug. “Sometimes you remind me of a sensuous little kitten when you move like that against me. In the back of my mind I know how much strength and stamina there is in that slender frame, but when you’re lying in my arms. I have trouble remembering it.” His lips nuzzled the throbbing pulse point beneath her chin. “God, you’re sweet.” He drew a deep, shuddering breath, “Talk to me, sweetheart. I need something to distract me or I’ll blow all my good intentions and tumble you into bed in a very unromantic fashion.”
She laughed as she nestled closer. “But a very ful-filling fashion,” she said teasingly, gazing up at him through her lashes. “Even if I wasn’t quite myself that night, I seem to remember that you made my first experience quite a satisfactory one.”
“Satisfactory?” He frowned in mock outrage. “It was a hell of a lot more than satisfactory. I’m not a satisfactory lover. I’m superb.” His green eyes were suddenly dancing as his hands slid to cup her breasts. “Perhaps you need something to remind you how talented I am. Just sit still and relax, love. I’m always glad to be called upon for demonstrations.”
She could feel the heat of his hands through the thin cotton of her dress, and she inhaled sharply. “I think I’m going to find it a little hard to relax,” she said breathlessly. Her eyes followed his strong, sensitive hands as they moved across her, stroking her as if she were truly the sensuous kitten he had described.
His breathing was as shallow as hers, Kendra noticed hazily, and she could see the jerky cadence of his heart in the hollow of his throat. “Well, at the moment there are portions of your anatomy that I’d be very disappointed to see relaxed,” he said thickly, his eyes fixed on the territory his hands were arousing so expertly. His thumbs and forefingers began to roll the sensitive tips of her nipples between them and she felt a sudden flash of heat that caused her to cry out.
“No,” Kendra said quickly. The darkness was fading rapidly now and there was no way she was going to let anything interfere with this evening with Joel. “I was only a little dizzy for a moment. I’ve probably been working too hard lately.” But she hadn’t worked at all for the last week and she had had another little dizzy spell like this only a few days ago, she remembered. It had been much lighter and she hadn’t come close to fainting as she had this time, but she had definitely suffered the same vertigo. No, she wouldn’t think about it. She was feeling better every minute.
She sat up straight in the chair and smiled with determined cheerfulness at Yusef, who clearly was worried. “I’m fine now,” she announced as she brushed a lock of hair from her eyes. “Sorry to have worried you. You can let me go, Yusef.”
He reluctantly removed the support of his arms. “You are certain?” he asked, a frown on his face. His keen gaze flicked for an instant to the thrusting fullness of her breasts before returning to her face. “Perhaps you should lie down and rest. At times the faintness returns.”
She cast him a bewildered glance as she stood up. He sounded remarkably knowledgeable, she thought in amusement. Perhaps in that bordello where he’d worked he had become accustomed to thinking of women as weak and persecuted dolls who fainted at the drop of a hat. Well, she was definitely not in that category.
“I’m perfectly all right now,” she said firmly. “I think I’ll just meet Mr. Damon outside.” Yusef still looked uneasy and she wouldn’t put it past him to mention that brief dizzy spell to Joel, if his protective instincts were as aroused as she thought they were. “Tell Billie not to worry if I don’t come back tonight.” Yusef was still frowning as she paused at the door. She smiled at him gently. “You mustn’t be concerned, Yusef. Mr. Damon will take good care of me.”
“Mr. Damon,” he repeated thoughtfully. Then his face brightened with relief. “Yes, he is a man who would care for his own. He will watch over you.”
“Right, Yusef,” Kendra said lightly. “Don’t worry about me. You’ve got your hands full just keeping an eye on Billie.”
“She is one who requires much care, it is true,” he said in a gentle tone. “But you will need me now, too. I will be pleased to help you when your man cannot.”
Her man.Joel and she had made no attempt to hide the affection growing between them in the last week, but she hadn’t been aware that Yusef had noticed. It was ridiculous even to begin to think of Joel in terms of that primitively lovely phrase. Still, those two words caused her heart to lift joyously. She closed the door softly behind her. Her man.
SEVEN
JOEL THREW OPENthe door to the hotel room and allowed her to precede him. He smiled when he saw the puzzled expression on Kendra’s face.
“To save you the trouble of asking, let me assure you that, no, this hotel wasn’t chosen by me. I made the mistake of having Billie make my reservations. Instead of the Marasef Hilton, I found myself here. She told me it would be asinfulwaste to actually live in a country and not absorb a little of the native atmosphere.” His hand moved in a mocking gesture. “Behold, the real Marasef.”
“I like it,” Kendra said. It was obviously not a five-star hotel, but it was clean and neat and had a simple charm that was very soothing. “But you’re right. I wouldn’t think it would be quite your cup of tea.” She glanced at him curiously. “Why didn’t you move out and go to the Hilton after you saw it?”
“I planned on doing just that, but it didn’t seem worthwhile for the few days I’d be here before I moved on to the location site.” His lips twisted wryly. “There’s a simplicity, a basic earthiness here that’s very appealing to a man as surrounded by illusions as I am.”
“Perhaps you’re guilty of creating a good many of those illusions yourself,” Kendra said quietly. “Your House of Rainbows doesn’t appear to be the setting of a man who’s very interested in maintaining a sense of reality.” She opened the French doors and stepped out onto a small balcony. The view was delightful: The city, bathed in the glow of the sunset, was straight out of an Arabian nights movie.
“That’s why I brought you here tonight.” He was behind her, his arms encircling her waist and his lips nibbling at her ear. “There’s a time when illusion has to end and reality take over. We started at the wrong end, Kendra. Everything about that first night was based on misunderstandings…except the knowledge that something very special happened to both of us.” He turned her around in his arms; his expression was grave. “I don’t think either one of us recognized it for what it was, but we both knew it was strong enough to scare us silly.” His lips pressed a fairylike kiss on her temple. “But tonight there aren’t going to be any cases of mistaken identity, no rainbow illusions.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “I’m not going to let you have even one glass of wine. Everything is going to be honest and real and as clear as the dawn.” His lips touched her own in a kiss of velvet tenderness. “And I think we’re going to have the answers to some very important questions before the evening is over.”
She laughed shakily. “I thought I was being brought to your lair to be seduced. Didn’t anyone ever tell you that seducers aren’t supposed to be so earnest in the middle of their campaigns?”
“I take my seductions very seriously, indeed,” he said with a grin. He kissed her again. “But this isn’t seduction; it’s something very different, isn’t it, Kendra?”
She felt as if those green eyes were hypnotizing her and she nodded slowly. “Yes, it’s something very different, Joel.”
She loved him. The knowledge was suddenly as clear as the words he’d just spoken. Why hadn’t she seen that quiet golden joy for what it was before? Now it seemed impossible she hadn’t recognized the signs from the beginning, since the first evening atIllusion de l’Arc en Ciel.The physical magic had been so potent that it overshadowed everything else, yet even then she had been aware of something else playing upon her mind and emotions. Perhaps she’d been too frightened then to admit to herself that she had been caught in the sorcerer’s enchanted web. But in Sedikhan she’d discovered the sorcerer was also a man: a man who could feel pain and guilt, who could laugh at himself on occasion, who could be gentle and affectionate with those he cared for. The sorcerer could invoke a frenzy of desire, but only the man could inspire love.
“Hey, snap out of it.” Joel’s eyes were twinkling with amusement as he gave her a little shake. “Don’t you know that a lady’s not supposed to go off into a gray fog when a man’s making a serious declaration? It appears I’ll need to concentrate all my energies on keeping your attention tonight.” His arm slipped around her waist as he propelled her through the French doors back into the room.
“I ordered dinner to be served in our room when I checked in downstairs and I want to get you fed.” His glance appraised her critically. “I thought if I took the pressure off and let you rest for a week you’d put on some weight, but I don’t think you’ve gained an ounce.”
“Just because I wasn’t working, doesn’t mean that I let myself get out of shape,” she said lightly. “I still exercised for three hours before I joined you on the set every day. In my business I can’t afford the indulgence of taking a full week off.”
“Oh, yes, your business.” His tone was sour. “That’s another thing we’ve got to straighten out tonight.” Then, as he saw the troubled frown cross her face, he smiled. “But not right now. Now I want to tell you how beautiful you are. I want to hear you talk to me in that scratchy little whisper.” He sank into the large, cushioned straight-backed chair facing the balcony and pulled her down on his lap, cradling her in his arms with infinite tenderness. “I want to hold you like this and watch the lights of Marasef go on.”
Her cheek rubbed against the linen of his sport coat, and she could smell the familiar scent of soap and spice. He laughed softly and gave her a swift, affectionate hug. “Sometimes you remind me of a sensuous little kitten when you move like that against me. In the back of my mind I know how much strength and stamina there is in that slender frame, but when you’re lying in my arms. I have trouble remembering it.” His lips nuzzled the throbbing pulse point beneath her chin. “God, you’re sweet.” He drew a deep, shuddering breath, “Talk to me, sweetheart. I need something to distract me or I’ll blow all my good intentions and tumble you into bed in a very unromantic fashion.”
She laughed as she nestled closer. “But a very ful-filling fashion,” she said teasingly, gazing up at him through her lashes. “Even if I wasn’t quite myself that night, I seem to remember that you made my first experience quite a satisfactory one.”
“Satisfactory?” He frowned in mock outrage. “It was a hell of a lot more than satisfactory. I’m not a satisfactory lover. I’m superb.” His green eyes were suddenly dancing as his hands slid to cup her breasts. “Perhaps you need something to remind you how talented I am. Just sit still and relax, love. I’m always glad to be called upon for demonstrations.”
She could feel the heat of his hands through the thin cotton of her dress, and she inhaled sharply. “I think I’m going to find it a little hard to relax,” she said breathlessly. Her eyes followed his strong, sensitive hands as they moved across her, stroking her as if she were truly the sensuous kitten he had described.
His breathing was as shallow as hers, Kendra noticed hazily, and she could see the jerky cadence of his heart in the hollow of his throat. “Well, at the moment there are portions of your anatomy that I’d be very disappointed to see relaxed,” he said thickly, his eyes fixed on the territory his hands were arousing so expertly. His thumbs and forefingers began to roll the sensitive tips of her nipples between them and she felt a sudden flash of heat that caused her to cry out.