IT WASN’T Daniel, it was Warren. He tossed back his silky brown fringe of hair and gave her a leering smile that was obviously meant to be the last word in sensuality.
‘Hello, Beth,’ he said huskily.
Beth stepped back a pace. ‘What are you doing here?’ she asked in dismay.
Warren smiled. ‘Come on, Beth,’ he said in caressing tones. ‘That’s not very friendly. Anyway you know damn well what I’m doing here. I came because I simply couldn’t stay away.’
‘Don’t be silly,’ said Beth sharply.
‘Aren’t you going to invite me in?’ asked Warren.
And without even waiting for an answer he stepped inside and shut the front door, leaning against it. Something about the look on his face made Beth feel deeply uneasy. There was a gloating look of anticipation in his eyes and around the corners of his mouth.
‘Please go,’ she said in a taut, nervous voice. ‘I’ve already told you, it’s over between us.’
Warren took a swaggering step forward.
‘You don’t expect me to believe that, do you?’ he asked. ‘We’ve had our little tiffs in the past, but they’ve always blown over. I couldn’t leave you forever, Beth. I love you too much.’
Beth felt a cold chill settle in the pit of her stomach. Once this declaration would have touched her, but now it only filled her with despair. As he took another two steps towards her she retreated hastily behind the coffee-table.
‘You’re wasting your time, Warren!’ she exclaimed.
‘I get it,’ said Warren. ‘You’re still angry about that girl I went to bed with in Los Angeles. But that didn’t mean a damn thing, Beth. It’s you I’m in love with, not her, and I’m going to prove it to you.’
His eyes in the firelight had a strange glint and too late Beth regretted that she had not switched on the overhead light, but now there was no way she could reach it without passing Warren. And Warren no longer seemed like the petulant boy she had once known. There was a new aura about him that was not only vicious but rather frightening. He took another step towards her, stumbled, and regained his balance, lurching slightly.
‘You’ve been drinking,’ said Beth in disgust.
‘Well what if I have?’ demanded Warren belligerently. ‘You’re enough to drive me to it, aren’t you? All these years you’ve pretended you loved me but now when we hit the big time you just want to abandon me. It’s not fair, Beth, and I won’t stand for it. Don’t you love me any more?’
He was so close now that Beth could smell the whisky on his breath. She flinched and shook her head.
‘I don’t think I ever did, Warren,’ she said soberly.
‘Bitch!’ shouted Warren. ‘I know what’s going on. You’re having an affair with that Pryor chap, aren’t you?’
‘No,’ Beth choked.
‘Liar!’ cried Warren. He grabbed her by the shoulders. ‘What’s he like in bed?’
Beth tore herself free.
‘I have no idea!’ she cried acidly. ‘And I think you’d better go, Warren.’
‘I’m not going till I’ve had what I came for!’ shouted Warren. ‘You do it for him, don’t you, so why not for me?’
Beth backed away again but found that there was no further room to retreat. Her legs hit the couch and with a muffled gasp she collapsed on to it. A moment later Warren was on top of her, scrabbling at her clothes.
‘Let me go,’ she shouted, twisting desperately. ‘This is ridiculous, Warren. You’re drunk! You’ll regret it in the morning.’
‘The only thing I’ll regret is if I don’t have you,’ insisted Warren. ‘I love you, Beth, and I know you love me. You want this just as much as I do.’
‘I don’t!’ cried Beth.
Dragging one hand free, she slapped his face. But Warren snatched her wrist in a cruel grip and stared down at her. For the first time she felt real terror. Then suddenly he lunged forward and ripped open her blouse, exposing the lacy wisps of her bra and her rapidly heaving breasts. Beth tried to struggle free but found herself pinned relentlessly down. She screamed and went on screaming.
‘Don’t be a fool,’ urged Warren, fumbling clumsily at the buckle on his belt. ‘I’ll marry you if you want me to.’
‘I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man alive,’ panted Beth, still writhing fiercely in his hold.
His mouth ground down on hers, warm and wet and insistent, making her bite her tongue. She jerked her head to one side and let out an eerie wail of terror.
‘Let me go! Let me go!’ she cried.
At that moment there was a splintering crash as a door flung open and swift footsteps came racing across the room. Warren was snatched off her body and slammed into one of the walls. He tried to rise groggily to his feet and then collapsed on the floor. Wide-eyed with terror, Beth found herself being hauled to her feet and scrutinised fiercely by Daniel.
‘Are you all right?’ he demanded. ‘He didn’t hurt you?’
She gave a dazed sob and shook her head.
‘No, I’m all right,’ she said.
Daniel swung round and turned his attention to Warren again. Seizing him by the lapels of his shirt, he hauled him to his feet.
‘Get out!’ he said in a low, deadly voice. ‘And thank your lucky stars that we don’t prosecute you for this.’
But Warren was still defiant. Lurching slightly, he grabbed at a chair for support and stared at Daniel with an expression of blazing hatred.
‘You bastard!’ he said. ‘You’ve turned her against me, haven’t you? But it’s not fair! I did most of the designs in that collection and I’m entitled to the profits. I’ll sue you both for this, you just watch me.’
Daniel stared at him with contempt.
‘You’ve been paid and paid generously for anything you did,’ he snarled. ‘And let me tell you this, buddy. If you ever come near Beth again, you’ll really get what’s coming to you. But you won’t like it, I promise you. Now get out.’
Warren stood swaying thoughtfully for a moment, as if trying to size up whether Daniel’s threat was genuine. Evidently he decided it was, for he shrugged suddenly.
‘Have it your own way,’ he said indistinctly. ‘Just gimme my car keys.’
He gestured to a spot on the couch where his keys had fallen from his pocket during his struggle with Beth. Daniel snatched them up.
‘No,’ he said crisply. ‘You’re in no condition to drive. You can pick them up from the office tomorrow.’
‘But it’s four miles to Buellton!’ protested Warren.
‘Then you’d better start walking right away!’ retorted Daniel.
In a series of swift movements he hauled open the front door, swung Warren around and booted him out on to the veranda. Then he slammed the door behind him and tossed the keys into a corner of the room.
‘What the hell was he doing here?’ he demanded.
Beth gave a half hysterical gulp of laughter. ‘Asking me to marry him,’ she said, and burst into tears.
Daniel came across and joined her on the sofa. Putting his arms around her, he rocked her gently against him until her shudders subsided.
‘I could have killed him,’ he snarled. ‘I almost did. Are you sure you’re all right?’
She swallowed hard, blew her nose and nodded. Her fingers rose unconsciously to a sore place on her chest. She tried to speak and failed. It was hard to believe that the ordeal was over. Daniel took her hand gently in his.
‘There’s a scratch there,’ he said. ‘Do you want me to bathe it for you?’
She looked down and realised that Warren’s wristwatch must have grazed her skin. It was nothing serious, but it brought home to her what might have happened. She shuddered again, but shook her head.
‘No,’ she said huskily. ‘I’ll be all right now.’
‘Are you sure? Isn’t there anything I can do for you?’
‘Just hold me,’ she begged.
His arms tightened protectively around her and he drew her against him. She could hear the rapid, uneven beating of his heart, feel the crisp cotton of his shirt against her cheeks, smell the fragrance of wood-smoke. Bit by bit she began to feel calm again and her breathing steadied. It was almost a pleasure to sit there watching the orange flames flare up the chimney, hearing the hiss and crackle of the logs and feeling Daniel’s arms so safely about her. I love him, she thought despairingly. Whatever he’s doing with Sunny, I still can’t stop loving him. But it’s madness to stay here like this with his arms around me. She tried to pull away, but he held her gently imprisoned.
‘Why did you run off like that tonight?’ he demanded.
In the red glow of the firelight his dark eyes glinted down at her with a strange expression. Too flustered for pretence, Beth blurted out the truth.
‘Because I couldn’t bear to see Sunny Martino all over you.’
Daniel groaned.
‘Beth,’ he said, seizing her shoulders and staring at her intently. ‘There is nothing between Sunny and me which should cause you a moment’s pain or unhappiness. I swear it.’
He saw the indecision in her face and slowly released her. Beth gazed back at him, agonisingly conscious of the way her heart was hammering frantically under his touch, of the way her mouth felt dry and her breath was coming in shallow gulps—conscious above all of the insane urge to cast herself back into his arms. Wordlessly she gazed at him and the silence lengthened. She heard a clock ticking in the kitchen, saw a log shift and fall glowing into the embers, smelled the arousing masculine tang of Daniel’s body crouched close to her, and still they both remained motionless. A kind of excitement as potent as a thunderstorm seemed to be brewing ominously between them, but she felt powerless to resist it. Sensations she had never dreamed of were uncoiling deep inside her, sending a fierce pulsating warmth into every corner of her body. All she could do was gaze at him, trying to ignore the aching hunger he woke within her. A muscle twitched sharply in Daniel’s temple and she heard him take a sharp, uneven breath. In that moment she knew without words that he wanted her every bit as badly as she wanted him. Moistening her lips, she tried to speak and failed.
He made as if to rise. ‘I’ll go, then.’
Beth caught his arm. ‘No, don’t!’ she breathed.
‘Sweetheart,’ warned Daniel. ‘If I don’t go now, you know what’s going to happen.’
A tremor passed through Beth’s body. Yes, she knew. Knew, and gloried in the knowledge. The old warnings clamoured faintly in her head. You might get hurt. He doesn’t love you. Men can’t be trusted. But they no longer had any power. All she cared about now was that she loved Daniel, and in a moment’s blinding insight she knew she would take any risk on earth to be with him.
‘It’s all right,’ she said. ‘I want it to happen.’
‘Are you sure?’ demanded Daniel in a tormented voice.
Her only response was to lean forward into his arms. With a smothered groan he crushed her against him and pressed urgent, devouring kisses on her throat and hair. Deliberately turning her head, she brought her mouth around to his. For an instant she thought he would refuse her even then. But when her trembling, questing lips met his, madness seized them both. Threading his hand savagely through her tumbled hair, Daniel kissed her with an urgency and passion that left her breathless. The room seemed to spiral around her in a dizzying whirl as he bore her ruthlessly down to the floor. She felt the warm tickle of the sheepskin rug under her shoulders, the heat of the fire dancing on her left side and the coolness and darkness to the right of her. But nothing mattered except Daniel’s hard, masculine warmth crushing her so satisfyingly into the floor, the scrape of his rough chin against her softness, the frantic thudding of his heart and the way he looked at her. Oh, heavens, how he looked at her! Every plane and angle in his rugged face seemed taut with longing and his eyes flared with an unmistakable savage passion as he kissed her again and again in the firelight. Then suddenly he hauled himself up, so that he was kneeling astride her and gazing fiercely down at her.
‘Are you sure you want this?’ he demanded hoarsely.
Thrills of excitement pulsed through her entire body and a delicious, melting weakness seemed to overtake her. Reaching up her hand, she caressed his stubbly cheek. I love you, she thought fervently. Oh, Daniel, I love you. But she didn’t say it. Instead she simply nodded.
‘Yes,’ she whispered.
With a sharp intake of breath he was on his feet and hauling off his clothes, flinging them heaven knew where. For a moment he stood there in nothing but his briefs, the fireglow highlighting every muscle and sinew of his magnificent body. He was superbly built, with the powerful shoulders, narrow waist and tapering hips of an athlete. Beth swallowed convulsively when she saw how the firelight turned his skin to bronze, gilding the dark hair on his chest and belly and showing unmistakably the evidence of his arousal. Then slowly, insinuatingly, he peeled off his briefs and lay down beside her. He said nothing, merely looking down at her with the same hungry impatience in his eyes. Then he kissed her again and she let herself yield to wave after wave of throbbing, insistent eagerness. The spicy masculine scent of his body, the skilful, arousing touch of his hands, the urgent warmth of his kisses were driving her to a level of arousal she had never experienced before. And yet beneath the incredulous rapture she felt an aching sense of longing. If only Daniel loved her this would be pure ecstasy, but without love it came dangerously close to torment. Then suddenly his deft fingers stripped away her blouse and the flimsy remnants of her bra and she forgot everything in a blaze of passion that swept over like a forest fire.
Daniel’s lips moved over her breasts, warm and teasing and totally shameless. A tingling thrill of pleasure shot through her, making her gasp, and suddenly she was moving in rhythm with him, pressing herself against him, sighing and writhing and offering herself to him. Only when she was ready, maddeningly tormentingly ready, did he go further. She heard his low groan of frustration and her eyelids fluttered open as his hands seized the zip on her jeans. For a moment their eyes met. She could feel her breath coming in rapid, shallow gasps. And she could see the question in his eyes.
‘Yes!’ she breathed hoarsely.
He was no longer gentle; her remaining clothes were torn free and flung away in a frenzied passion and he rolled wildly with her, pressing her against him so that she ached and burned and shuddered with need, but there was no longer any need for gentleness; both of them were so inflamed with longing that, when at last he entered her, she welcomed him with a cry of gladness. And when they moved together she soared over some invisible edge and turned her face into his neck, gasping his name. He caught her against him, holding her as if he would never let her go and, when he too reached his climax, he seized her hand and kissed it fiercely. Collapsing on top of her, he buried his face in her neck with a long shuddering sigh.
‘Oh, Beth,’ he groaned.
Her lips twisted in a whimsical smile. Lying there in the firelight, an exalted sense of joy swept through her. Oh, he hadn’t told her in so many words that he loved her, but for the first time she felt certain that it was true. What else could this ecstatic union mean? Turning her head she kissed him warmly on the cheek.
‘Oh, Daniel,’ she whispered.
* * *
Beth woke slowly the following morning with a drowsy feeling of contentment. For a moment she lay quietly, watching the sunlight on the white wall casting filigree patterns through the lace curtains. Then memory came rushing back and she rolled hastily over to find Daniel lying beside her. He was breathing deeply and his face, relaxed in sleep, looked different from his waking self. Some of the brooding harshness had vanished and the tautness around his mouth was softened. He lay on his side with one arm flung out towards her as if reaching for her.
Beth propped her chin on her hand and gazed down at him, smiling wistfully. There was a special kind of intimacy involved in watching him as he slept and seeing the way the dark blue and white quilt rose and fell with his breathing. Holding her breath, she reached out and stroked the coarse dark hairs on his forearm experimentally. His arm twitched and he made a faint gesture as if he were dashing away a fly. Suppressing a bubble of laughter, Beth leaned forward and dropped a butterfly kiss on his cheek. This time he stirred and reached for her, but still did not wake properly. Beth reached over the edge of the bed, snatched up a couple of lacy pillows and thrust them behind her head. Then she leaned back and resumed the blissful pursuit of watching Daniel. She had been half aware of him sleeping beside her all through the night, of his warmth and hardness and length in the bed, of the deep, regular sound of his breathing, of the drowsy caress of his hands whenever she strayed too close to him. But that was nothing to the happiness she felt now, sitting here wide awake and glorying in his presence.
Memories came hurtling back to her of the previous night. First the jumbled nightmare of Warren’s presence, but that was soon banished by a kaleidoscope of passionate, loving sensations. A feeling that was close to reverence took hold of her as she remembered how Daniel had taken her in the firelight. I love him, she thought. And knew that the bond forged between them would last until the day she died. She took in a deep, shuddering breath, wanting to record every detail of the sensations she felt so that this moment would last forever in her mind. She was acutely conscious of the lavender scent of the sheets mingled with the aroma of spicy cologne and a raw tang of masculinity that emanated from Daniel’s body. Impulsively she leaned forward and kissed him again. This time one eyebrow rose and a dark eye regarded her sleepily. A faint smile curved the edges of his mouth and then, as suddenly as if a gate had slammed shut, a complete change came over him. He swore softly under his breath and hauled himself up against the bedhead.
‘What’s wrong?’ asked Beth in dismay.
‘Everything,’ he growled.
Her clenched fist flew up to her mouth and she bit on her knuckles, feeling the pain.
‘What do you mean?’ she stammered. ‘You don’t regret what happened, do you?’
He gave a mirthless sneer of laughter and ran his fingers through his dark wavy hair. In spite of her misgivings Beth noticed how the movement sent a ripple through the muscles of his arm and she felt a renewed flicker of desire. But his next words sent a fresh jolt of dismay through her.
‘Regret it?’ he growled. ‘Of course I regret it.’
She cast him a stricken look. He looked back at her, his eyes smouldering with anger or perhaps something else. Then suddenly his face softened and reaching for her, he seized her hair and framed it in twin bunches on either side of her face.
‘Don’t look like that,’ he ordered hoarsely. ‘I didn’t mean it that way.’
‘Then how did you mean it?’ she demanded with an edge in her voice. ‘Wasn’t I exciting enough for you?’
He gave an impatient snarl and released her.
‘Exciting?’ he retorted. ‘You were too damned exciting for my sanity. That’s the whole trouble!’
‘What do you mean?’ asked Beth in alarm.
Daniel leaned back against the polished cedar bedhead and interlaced his strong fingers, offering no reply.
Beth’s lips quivered angrily.
‘If you don’t want me, I wish you’d just come right out and say so!’ she exclaimed.
‘Want you?’ he grated. ‘I want you. That’s not the problem.’
‘Then what is the problem?’ demanded Beth.
Daniel’s face took on an intense serious look. He caught her by the arms and stared at her with blazing dark eyes.
‘This is the problem,’ he said through clenched teeth. ‘If we continue with this, it may not mean the same thing to both of us.’
Beth felt as sick as if he had suddenly punched her in the stomach. Now I understand, she thought bleakly. He’s warning me that he doesn’t want to take this relationship seriously, that it won’t last forever. For a few seconds she stared at him in anguish and when the words came her voice sounded dry and brittle.
‘I don’t expect it to be the great love-affair of the century, Daniel,’ she said lightly. ‘But you told me once I should take risks and trust my instincts more. Well, I know what my instincts are telling me. I want you, Daniel.’
She wanted to say ‘love’, but the word stuck in her throat. Daniel gave her a bleak, hostile stare.
‘That’s all you want from me?’ he asked.
Beth gave him a tormented look. No, it isn’t, she wanted to cry. I want more, much more than that. I want you to love me and marry me and give me children and stay with me for the rest of my life. But what a fool she would seem if she said these things aloud!
‘Yes, it is,’ she said unsteadily. ‘That’s all I want.’
And reaching forward she touched his cheek and let her hand trail delicately down until it met the rough mat of hair on his chest. Teasingly she let her fingers circle his nipple until she felt the sensitive flesh harden. Then her hand continued down over the hard muscles of his belly, making them clench. Daniel caught his breath and seized her wrist.
‘All right,’ he said stormily. ‘If that’s what you want, that’s what you’ll get.’
His swift movement took her by surprise and a moment later she found herself pinioned against the pillows. His mouth came down on hers in a warm bruising kiss that sent thrills of excitement coursing through her body. Then he drew back and looked into her eyes.
‘But there are to be no pressures, do you understand? No high-flown talk about love or permanence. Let’s just get to know each other and see how we go. Agreed?’
‘Agreed,’ whispered Beth.