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beautiful mouth. Matt's dark eyes blazed down into hers. "No more games. I'm taking you home with me," he said huskily. She started to speak, to protest, when Carolyn came striding angrily out the door. "Does she have to be carried?" the older woman asked Matt with dripping sarcasm. "Funny, she was dancing eagerly enough a few minutes ago!" "She has a bad leg," Matt said, regaining his control. "Here's the car." The limousine drew up at the curb and Ed got out, frowning when he saw Leslie in Matt's arms. "Are you all right?" he asked as he approached them. DIANA PALMER 69 "She shouldn't have danced," Matt said stiffly as he moved the rest of the way down the steps to deposit her inside the car on the leather-covered seat. "She made her leg worse." Carolyn was livid. She slid in and moved to the other side of Leslie with a gaze that could have curdled milk. "One dance and we have to leave," she said furiously. Matt moved into the car beside Ed and slammed the door. "I thought we were leaving because you had a headache," he snapped at Carolyn, his usual control quite evidently gone. He was in a foul mood. Desire was frustrating him. He glanced at Leslie and thought how good she was at manipulation. She had him almost doubled over with need. She was probably laughing her head off silently. Well, she was going to pay for that. Carolyn, watching his eyes on Leslie, made an angry sound in her throat and stared out the window. To Ed's surprise and dismay, they dropped him off at his home first. He tried to argue, but Matt wasn't having that. He told Ed he'd see him at the office Monday and closed the door on his protests. Carolyn was deposited next. Matt walked her to her door, but he moved back before she could claim a good-night kiss. The way she slammed her door was audible even Page 23 Palmer, Diana - Long Tall Texans 21 - Matt Caldwell - Texas Tycoon inside the closed limousine. Leslie bit her lower lip as Matt climbed back into the car with her. In the lighted interior, she could see 70 MATT CALDWELL: TEXAS TYCOON the expression on his face as he studied her slender body covetously. "This isn't the way to my apartment," she ventured nervously a few minutes later, hoping he hadn't meant what he said just before they got into the limousine. "No, it isn't, is it?" he replied dangerously. Even as he spoke, the limousine pulled up at the door to his ranch house. He helped Leslie out and spoke briefly to the driver before dismissing him. Then he swung a frightened Leslie up into his arms and carried her toward the front door. "Mr. Caldwell..." she began. "Matt," he corrected, not looking at her. "I want to go home," she tried again. "You will. Eventually." "But you sent the car away." "I have six cars," he informed her as he shifted his light burden to produce his keys from the pocket of his slacks and insert one in the lock. The door swung open. "I'll drive you home when the time comes." "I'm very tired." Her voice sounded breathless and high-pitched. "Then I know just the place for you." He closed the door and carried her down a long, dimly lit hallway to a room near the back of the house. He leaned down to open the door and once they were through it, he kicked it shut with his foot. Seconds later, Leslie was in the middle of a huge DIANA PALMER 71 king-size bed, sprawled on the beige-brown-and-black comforter that covered it and Matt was removing her wrap. It went flying onto a chair, along with his jacket and tie. He unbuttoned his shirt and slid down onto the bed beside her, his hands on either side of her face as he poised just above her. The position brought back terrible, nightmarish memories. She stiffened all over. Her face went pale. Her eyes dilated so much that the gray of them was eclipsed by black. Matt ignored her expression. He looked down the length of her in the clinging silver dress, his eyes lingering on the thrust of her small breasts. One of his big hands came up to trace around the prominent hard nipple that pointed through the fabric. The touch shocked Leslie, because she didn't find it revolting or unpleasant. She shivered a little. Her eyes, wide and frightened, and a little curious, met his. His strong fingers brushed lazily over the nipple and around the contours of her breast as if the feel of her fascinated him. "Do you mind?" he asked with faint insolence, and slipped one of the spaghetti straps down her arm, moving her just enough that he could pull the bodice away from her perfect little breast. Leslie couldn't believe what was happening. Men were repulsive to her. She hated the thought of intimacy. But Matt Caldwell was looking at her bare 72 MATT CALDWELL: TEXAS TYCOON breast and she was letting him, with no thought of resistance. She hadn't even had anything to drink. He searched her face as his warm fingers traced her breast. He read the pleasure she was feeling in her soft eyes. "You feel like sun-touched marble to my hand," he said quietly. "Your skin is beautiful." His gaze traveled down her body. "Your breasts are perfect." She was shivering again. Her hands clenched beside her head as she watched him touch her, like an observer, like in a dream. He smiled with faint mockery when he saw her expression. "Haven't you done this before?" Page 24 Palmer, Diana - Long Tall Texans 21 - Matt Caldwell - Texas Tycoon "No," she said, and she actually sounded serious. He discounted that at once. She was far too calm and submissive for an inexperienced woman. One dark eyebrow lifted. "Twenty-three and still a virgin?" How had he known that? "Well...yes." Technically she certainly was. Emotionally, too. Despite what had been done to her, she'd been spared rape, if only by seconds, when her mother came home unexpectedly. Matt was absorbed in touching her body. His forefinger traced around the hard nipple, and he watched her body lift to follow it when he lifted his hand. "Do you like it?" he asked softly. She was watching him intensely. "Yes." She sounded as if it surprised her that she liked what he was doing. DIANA PALMER 73 With easy self-confidence, he pulled her up just a little and pushed the other strap down her arm, baring her completely to his eyes. She was perfect, like a warm statue in beautifully smooth marble. He'd never seen breasts like hers. She aroused him profoundly. He held her by the upper part of her rib cage, his thumbs edging onto her breasts to caress them tenderly while he watched the expressions chase each other across her face. The silence in the bedroom was broken only by the sound of cars far in the distance and the sound of some mournful night bird outside the window. Closer was the rasp of her own breathing and her heart beating in her ears. She should be fighting for her life, screaming, running, escaping. She'd avoided this sort of situation successfully for six years. Why didn't she want to avoid Matt's hands? Matt touched her almost reverently, his eyes on her hard nipples. With a faint groan, he bent his dark head and his mouth touched the soft curve of her breast. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |