The Count From Wisconsin by Billie Green Page A

at her hands for a moment, mentally putting a lid on her curiosity as she recognized the sincerity, the urgency in his voice. "What demands have there been ... if not for money?" she asked.
    "In the beginning, Tony merely received letters that let him know that someone was in possession of certain . . . facts concerning his past." Alex's features were grim as he spoke. "Then they started to become more threatening." He paused. "Tony has been offered a wonderful opportunity, an opportunity that could change his whole life. Whoever wrote the letters wants him to give up that opportunity ... or they will make certain things from his past public."
    She examined his face in detail, the worried lines around his eyes, the sternly held lips. "This is really important to you, isn't it?" she asked finally.
    'Tony's important to me," he said quietly. "It's not often that you get to pay back a debt the size of the one I owe Tony. I won't let the chance go by. I'll fix this for him because I owe him and because I love him."
    She had never heard a man confess his love for another man. But there was no hesitation in Alex's voice, no embarrassment. In her eyes he grew another three feet, and there in a car parked outside an unknown village in France, Kate thought for a moment she had glimpsed the beginning of the third and most important act of her life.
    As though he read the change in her eyes, Alex caught his breath and began to lean slowly closer. "This time I won't ask," he said softly, then bent the final few inches to press his lips against hers.
    And this time she wouldn't have said no, she thought as she felt the warmth of his full lips on hers. She closed her eyes and waited for the powerful sensations that were caused only by Alex to return to her.
    But it took only a few seconds for her to realize that it wasn't at all like it had been the night before. Then she had been confused, even frightened, by the new feelings he aroused. Now, as the vibrating warmth raced through her limbs, she felt as though his touch and the accompanying pleasure were things she had been waiting for forever.
    Although her feelings were even more powerful than they had been the night before, she no longer felt threatened by them. It was as though her body had finally accepted the strange sensations as a part of her.
    Her lips parted naturally beneath his and the kiss deepened by mutual consent. Groaning, he slid his seat back and pulled her into his lap. "I was wrong," he whispered, staring into her eyes. "Kathryn is not for making love. Kathryn is too cold for someone as warm and receptive as you are. You're Katy . . . my Katy love."
    He moved his head the fraction of an inch it took to cover her lips and she received him hungrily as though he had been away for years instead of seconds. His fingers were spread wide on her rib cage, resting just below her breast, and she felt every centimeter of the flesh there as though his touch magnified ordinary sensation.
    He pressed her down against him, flexing his thighs slightly at the same time, and the delicious magnification spread to other aching places. A pulsing need grew within her, urging her to get closer and even closer.
    He pulled back, just a breath away, and touched her lips with his tongue, then leaned the side of his head against hers, his breathing unsteady.
    She stared straight ahead and after a moment whispered a soft, breathless "Wow."
    Alex made a rough noise that could have been a laugh. He sounded breathless too. "I was thinking something more along the lines of hot damn!"
    With a hand on her neck he turned her head back toward him. When she moved a flash of red caught her peripheral vision. As his lips grazed hers, she murmured, "Aren't we supposed to be watching for the Jaguar?"
    "Hmmm?" he said against her lips.
    'The red sports car. The . . . um . . . the—" She forgot what she had intended to say as he deepened the kiss.
    "The sports car?" He dipped his head to her neck, then sat up