My Little Runaway (Destiny Bay) by Helen Conrad Page A

fingertips trailing softly, and then his gaze dropped to her breasts. The nipples were high and tight, the fabric of her nightgown almost transparent, so they looked dark and enticing beneath the pink cotton.
    She closed her eyes to keep from calling out to him. Her heart was beating so loudly that it seemed to fill the room with an urgent pounding, a sensual pulse that rocked her, rocked him. He softly kissed her neck as his fingers touched the very tip of her nipple before he took her waiting breast in his hand. Then he was jackknifing away from her with a muffled curse.
    “Get dressed,” he said harshly without looking at her, “I expect you down at breakfast in fifteen minutes.”
    And she was alone again.
    She rose and picked up the scattered and crumpled papers of the letter, smoothing them, then folding it. When she went across the room to replace the yearbook, she could feel the warmth on her breast where he’d touched her. She closed her eyes for a moment, recapturing the sense of his body on hers, his kisses, his caress, and she caught her breath. Why was he rejecting her?
    Because sex is not what he wants, you idiot, she berated herself. He brought you here for a reason, and he doesn’t want to confuse it with other things. What else could it be?
    She dressed slowly. She looked out the window at her parents’ house. Memories of Tony came floating back—Tony laughing and running, Tony teasing her, Tony telling her his dreams. It was such a crime that he died so young. He’d had such a lot to give the world. The hurt, empty feeling returned, but she didn’t cry. She never seemed to cry anymore. Maybe some things were beyond tears.
    “It doesn’t look as though anyone is there,” she told Reid later as they sat across the breakfast table from one another. “The yard is all neat and clean, and everything looks healthy, but”—she hesitated—“it looks lifeless.”
    “That’s the way it’s been lately.” He wiped his mouth with a linen napkin and took a hurried swallow of coffee. “I’ve got to get going. I’ve got a meeting in half an hour, but I’ll be back this afternoon.”
    He got up from the table and shrugged into his impeccable suit coat. “Will you be able to keep yourself occupied until then?”
    She smiled at him. “Of course. No problem.”
    “Do you have some old friends you’d like to look up? I want you to feel comfortable. Use my MG if you want. I’ll take the Mercedes.” He extracted a car key from his ring and put it on the table.
    She was warmed by that gesture of trust in her— even an apology in a way, for what he’d done last night when she’d taken Nita home
    He hesitated and she almost thought he was going to lean down and kiss her, like a husband on his way to work in the morning. But he patted her shoulder instead.
    “Bye.”
    “Bye.”
    And so she was all alone. What would she do to pass the time? More exploring? But she didn’t think it would be appropriate to rifle through his current bedroom, looking for clues to the adult Reid.
    What did he want? He most certainly had been as aroused as she’d been on the bed, so why had he jumped away? They were both mature, experienced adults. What would have been so wrong in sharing their affection for each other?
    She puzzled over that while she ate the piece of toast he’d left behind. Suddenly, she thought she had the answer. He was in love with someone else.
    She put down the crust of the toast and stared into her coffee, a knot of misery in her stomach. He was attracted to her on a purely man-woman basis, but there was someone else. Someone he wanted to remain faithful to. Perhaps that beautiful blonde she’d seen him with days before?
    “Sounds like Reid,” she muttered in disgust, but that was merely window dressing for her real emotions. Actually, she admired him. It was a rare man who understood and practiced fair play and that sort of devotion in this day and age. She would have loved to have a man like