Cage laughed good-naturedly. “I did. Too many to count. I’ve given up most of them.” He winked suggestively. “Except screwing. Jenny and I do that a lot.”
The men laughed together. “God, that feels good,” Linc said after a moment. “I haven’t talked with a man who fluently speaks my language in over a month. Heard any good jokes lately?”
“Clean or dirty?”
“Dirty.”
While Linc smoked his cigarette, the occasional silences between them were comfortable. They didn’t have to work at being companionable because the groundwork for a new friendship had already been laid. It was based on mutual respect, a genuine liking, and perhaps recognition of each other’s maverick nature.
That’s why Linc didn’t take umbrage when Cage said, “About that fifty thousand dollars...”
“I don’t want the damn money.”
“I didn’t think so.”
Cage dropped the subject then and there. He didn’t probe for answers because Linc didn’t seem inclined to discuss the money. Cage could respect that. And Linc liked Cage better for not probing.
“You and Jenny seem very happy together.” Talking to a happily married man about his wife was a new experience for Linc, and he felt awkward about broaching the subject.
Cage, however, responded without compunction. “We are.”
“You’re lucky. I haven’t seen too many happy marriages.”
“I haven’t either. I never take ours for granted though. Jenny gave up a lot to marry me.”
“I know you gave up smoking and some hell-raising. What did she give up?”
Cage grinned wryly. “Her common sense.” They chuckled and Cage shook his head with chagrin. “Marrying her was the only way I could have her, and, well, you know how it is. We do things for a woman that we would never do otherwise.”
You’ve got that right, buddy, was Linc’s self-critical thought.
“Speaking of Jenny,” Cage said, “I’d better go inside and see how she’s feeling. Enjoy your cigarette. See you in the morning.”
“I’ll buy some clothes tomorrow. Thanks for the use of these. Thanks for everything.” They shook hands. Cage walked back toward the house and closed the screened front door behind him.
Linc finished smoking his cigarette meditatively. He liked the Hendrens tremendously. He also envied them their closeness to each other. He’d never been that close to another human being
. Not to either of his parents. Not to a special friend. Not to anyone.
Cage’s and Jenny’s gentle teasing was based on affection. The love they shared for their little boy created an almost visible bond between them. By all indications, their bedsheets were kept warm with frequent and ardent activity.
Linc had intercepted numerous loving glances between them. He felt a twinge of jealousy that no one had ever looked at him with such unqualified love. In the farthest corner of his mind, he acknowledged that maybe he’d missed something.
Hell, what was he thinking about? Had a brush with death that morning turned him into a philosopher?
He had it made. He enjoyed a terrific career that involved travel and adventure. It was lucrative. It had won him acclaim. Women were easy to come by. They were drawn to him by his money, his fame, his reputation as a lover. He gave them the expensive gifts, the introductions to influential people, and the pleasure they wanted. And he was interested in only one thing from them. Once his craving for sex was satisfied, he thought no more about them.
The women in his life were bodies only. They were transitory. Women with no substance. Not like Jenny Hendren. Not like—
Uttering an impatient oath, he rubbed Kerry’s name from his mind. He also tried to eradicate her image, but was less successful at accomplishing that. He couldn’t forget the way she had looked when she came down to dinner. He hadn’t expected her to look so...womanly. He had expected a nun’s habit.
Instead, she had shown up wearing a dress that was made of some soft material that had clung temptingly to her delicate body. The skirt had whisked against her bare legs. Each time she turned, the shape of her breasts had been clearly profiled for him. Her hair had shone in the candlelight every time she moved her head. Her lips, faintly tinted with gloss, had looked as ripe and juicy as a berry ready to be plucked. And that’s all he could taste.
Oh, he had done justice to the meal. His stomach had cried out for the nourishment it had been denied for the past few days. But with every bite of food, he had also swallowed a taste of Kerry.
Linc groaned with resignation as he felt himself grow hard with a desire that would surely condemn him to hell. He couldn’t indulge the longing that heated his blood. He could only try his damnedest to cool it.
“How does that feel?”