Friends and Lovers by Diana Palmer Page A

blessing, because I’ll have to take a long time with you.” He kissed her softly, tenderly, “Oh, God, let me have you, baby,” he whispered huskily. “Let me love you. Let me show you the pleasure it can be when two people…care about each other.”
    She trembled against him. “I only want to please you,” she said softly. “I want to give you…everything.”
    “And I want to give you everything,” he whispered into her mouth. “I don’t want sex. I want to make love. I want to possess you, and be possessed by you. To take and be taken. Total union, mind, body, soul…with you, only with you…!” His mouth ground into hers and he trembled wildly with the force of his own hunger. She held him tenderly, her body yielding, her mind accepting him, wanting him—loving him! There was no room for fear or second thoughts now.
    “Only with you,” she echoed, and her words were swallowed up in the sound of the pounding rain. He moved, lifting her, and she reached up to press her lips gently against his as he carried her down the long, dark hall into his bedroom, and closed the door.

Chapter Six
    I t was still raining when Madeline’s cab turned off the Loop onto the street where she lived. She leaned forward, her eyes peering worriedly at the downed limbs and scattered lumber.
    “Is this becoming a new construction site?” she laughed shakily, taking in the evidence of the night’s violent storm.
    “Had some bad wind last night,” the elderly cabdriver remarked. “And lightning with it. Speaking of lightning, bet it did that. What a mess!” he added, nodding toward the little yellow Volkswagen which had been crushed under the fallen trunk of a mighty oak that was now resting in the middle of Madeline’s living room.
    “Oh, no!” she groaned. Her fingers clutched the little purse that matched her gold gown. “Oh, no, that’s my house! Please…uh, please just stop here, I’ll walk across the street. How much do I owe you?”
    He told her, his weathered face sympathetic, and watched her run across the rain-wet street with a shake of his head.
    She felt tears mingling with the rain on her cheeks as she gaped at the destruction. The car was a total loss. Her house didn’t look much more salvageable.
    She wasn’t a weak woman; she’d weathered worse disasters than this, including the death of her father. But the world looked black just now, and she wished with all her heart that John Durango were there instead of jetting his way to a business conference in Denver.
    With a sob, she wrapped her arms around herself, staring at the crushed front of the house. John had warned her about that tree. The trunk was split, as if by a mighty hand, and it was obviously going to take more than her two hands to repair the damage.
    “Madeline!”
    She turned, to see Donald Durango approaching her from Miss Rose’s house next door. With a sob, she ran right into his arms.
    “Thank God!” he breathed. “I’ve been out of my mind. Where were you?”
    Now there was a question, and she wasn’t about to answer it. “Never mind that,” she moaned. “Look at my house. Look at my poor little car! Oh, Donald…!” She wiped her eyes. “I was going to go inside and make myself a cup of coffee,” she said bewilderedly, staring at the house blankly. Shock made her numb all over.
    “Come on home with me,” he suggested. “I’ve got that garage apartment, and I won’t be needing it as a studio for a while. You can have it until you get that roof fixed. And the tree removed from your living room,” he added with a faint smile. “Everything’s going to be all right.”
    “My car…!” She wept.
    “You needed a new one, anyway,” he said. “The engine in that one was shot.”
    “It wasn’t,” she grumbled, scowling. “It had at least another hundred miles on it.”
    “You’ve been spending too much time around John,” he pointed out. “It’s only good for junk.”
    She looked down at her dress. “I