And he had been a good lover, she thought with a little tremor, a wonderful lover, fierce but tender, as giving as he was demanding.
Why wouldn’t he be? Women probably threw themselves at his feet. He’d have had hundreds of chances to refine his technique by now, thousands of opportunities to learn the special places a woman wanted to be touched and kissed…
Pain choked her heart. Everything he’d done to her, he had done before. Worse, he would do all those things again to the women who would follow her, all those wondrous, secret things he’d taught her, those fantastic moments they’d shared.
She flung back the blankets, shot to her feet and snatched up her clothing. Enough was enough! That damned medicine must have wrecked her thought processes, destroyed them so completely that she didn’t know when it was time to cut her losses and run.
Cut and run. If that wasn’t basic psychological philosophy, it certainly ought to be—
She gasped as Cade’s hands fell on her shoulders.
“Hey,” he said, and turned her toward him. A towel was knotted around his waist; drops of water glistened in his hair and on his shoulders. A puzzled smile tilted across his mouth. “Where are you going, sugar?”
Angelica took a deep breath. There was no sense in beating around the bush.
“I’m leaving.”
His smile grew even more puzzled. “I don’t understand. What do you mean, you’re leaving?”
“Come on, Cade.” She shrugged his hands away and reached for her dress. “It’s not a difficult concept.” Quickly, she slipped the dress on and began buttoning it closed. “I am going home.” Her eyes met his and she smiled as coolly as she could. “Is that clear enough for you?”
He wasn’t smiling now, she saw with satisfaction; he was looking like a little boy who’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
If only he’d put on some clothes!
“Don’t be a fool, Angelica. You know you’re not going anywhere.”
“But I am.” She tossed the hair from her face and combed her fingers through it. “And before you bother telling me you’ll remove me from my job if I don’t perform my duties adequately—”
“To hell with your job!” His hand closed around her wrist and he pulled her toward him. “I’m talking about us.”
“Us? What do you mean, us?” Angelica’s mouth narrowed. “There is no us, Cade.”
“No?” He jerked his head toward the bed behind her. “Are you going to tell me I imagined what went on in that bed this afternoon?”
She flushed, but her eyes remained fixed on his. “That was—it was just something that happened.”
Cade’s lips drew back from his teeth. “Really,” he said softly.
“And it’s certainly not going to happen again!”
He laughed softly. “Is that a warning, sugar, or a challenge?”
“It’s a statement of fact. Just because you managed to—to seduce me doesn’t mean—”
“Ah. I see. This piece needs a villain, and I’m it.”
“Look, Cade, I don’t want to quarrel about this. I just—”
“You just think you’re going to turn around, walk away from me, and that I’m going to let you?”
“Let me?” Angelica smiled tightly. “You can’t stop me.”
His smile was slow and sexy, and it sent a flash of heat sizzling through her bones.
“Can’t I?”
“Dammit, Cade—”
“Dammit, Angelica,” he said, his voice soft and teasing, and he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her.
She let him, sensing that to fight him would only give him the advantage—and he already had that, she thought helplessly, as she felt his mouth settle gently over hers. The cool touch of his lips made her want to stroke the tip of her tongue against his, to put her hands against his naked chest and give herself up to the kiss.
She swayed a little when he drew back, but she met his gaze without flinching.
“Nice,” she said. “Very nice—but it doesn’t change anything. I’m still leaving.”
Cade’s face turned to stone. “The hell you are!”
“Cade, don’t do this! You can’t force me to—”
She cried out as his hands went to her shoulders and he spun her around.
“Look at yourself in the mirror,” he growled. “Take a good, long look, sugar, and tell me what you see.”
“This is preposterous. What do you want? A testimonial? You’re a good lover, you know it, and I—”
Her breath caught as she stared at her reflection. She had never seen herself like this before. Her mouth was still soft and swollen from Cade’s kisses, her throat bore the faint impression of his teeth—but it was much more than that which held her enthralled.
Her eyes had never been so deep and dark a green, her skin so luminous. There was a glow about her, a look that said she was a woman who had been loved, and loved well.
Her eyes met Cade’s. “Are you really going to walk away from the man who made you look like that?” he said softly.
Angelica choked out a laugh. “My God, listen to yourself! Are you really going to take credit for—for…”
“For what happened in that bed?” He shook his head, his eyes still locked on the mirrored image of hers. “No, Angel,” he whispered, cupping her shoulders. “If I’m the man who’s made you look the way you do, then you’re the woman who’s made me feel—made me feel…”
A muscle knotted in his jaw. What did he feel? He wasn’t sure any more. A little while ago, he’d told himself that what he’d shared with this woman was nothing but fantastic sex.
Now, looking into the emerald-green reflection of her eyes, he wasn’t so sure.
All he knew for certain was that something was happening here, and he’d be a fool to let either of them walk away from it until they knew what it was.
Slowly, he turned Angelica toward him.
“I don’t know,” he said softly. “I only know that we were tremendous together.” He lifted his hand and ran his fingers th
rough her hair. “You were the sun, all flame and fire scorching my flesh when you took me inside you, and I—I was a god, fated to be consumed and reborn by flame.”
Angelica shuddered. “Cade,” she whispered, “please, don’t do this. It isn’t—it isn’t fair. I admit, what we did was—”
“We made love, Angel. Is that so hard to accept?”
She swallowed dryly, trying to ignore the feel of his hand as it moved against her cheek.
“We—we slept together,” she said shakily. “And—and I admit, it was—it was—”
“Fantastic,” he said, his mouth against her throat.
“Yes.” Her head fell back as his lips traced a soft line of kisses down her skin. “Yes,” she sighed. “But—but—”
“Angelica.”
His fingers were at the buttons of her dress, opening them one by one. Stop him, she told herself—but she knew, in her heart, that she didn’t want to stop him. Not now, not ever.
The dress fell away from her, and the rest of her clothes. Cade’s eyes darkened as he looked at her.
“Angel,” he said in a husky whisper, “my perfect Angel.”
His hands rose and cupped her breasts; she moaned as she watched his thumbs move across the pale pink crests.
“Do you still want to leave me?” he whispered.
Her eyes met his, and her blood, already pulsing through her veins, began to pound. Something was happening, she could feel it deep inside her. She had never needed anyone in her life, but she needed Cade, needed him not just to bury himself inside her but—but…
“Tell me you won’t leave me,” he said in a rough whisper.
The words burst from her lips. “I won’t leave you!” Angelica’s voice broke as she went into his arms. “Never,” she said fiercely, “never!”
And, as Cade bore her down into the soft tangle of sheets and blankets, she finally faced the truth.
She had built her life in rejection of everything Cade Landon represented.
But that hadn’t kept her from falling desperately, hopelessly in love with him.
* * *
They ate dinner by candlelight at a small table beside the window, sipping Kristal champagne and dining on lobster bisque and boeuf en croute.