She was talking to a couple, waving a drink in her hand, but there was a black-haired bastard eyeing her from across the room. Her face was flushed, her eyes overbright, and he saw her finish the drink, make a dreadful face and set the glass down on a table.
It wasn’t like Kay to drink too much. The black-haired creep wandered closer and then zeroed in on her. Kay glanced up and nodded, and Mitch watched them move to the dance floor. The number was fast, and her breasts were moving with tantalizing rhythm to the beat.
“Good heavens!”
Mitch glanced back at Janet, then with a wry look at the half-spilled drink in his hand. “I didn’t spill it on you-”
“No. Someone must have bumped you from behind. It’s so crowded in here…” Her eyes very shyly invited.
Mitch stifled a sigh. “Could I get you another drink?”
“Sure.”
When he came back with Janet’s screwdriver, Kay was still on the dance floor. Her current partner was a tall blond man with a mustache. She obviously knew him well. Very well, from the look of the hug she gave him.
Mitch handed Janet her drink and gave her his warmest smile. “You’ve been at the university how many years?” he questioned.
“Five.”
The music changed to a slow number. The blond tugged Kay close, and for a minute Mitch lost sight of them. There were too many people and too much smoke, and a half-dozen more couples had crowded the floor to dance to the seductive love song.
“Mitch?”
He forced his head back in Janet’s direction. “Sorry?”
“I just asked you-”
Kay had her hands on the blond’s shoulders. No big deal. Then the man’s hands were on her shoulders, which was also no particular big deal. Except the blond’s hands started roaming. Someone cut in front of them, and Mitch couldn’t see.
“Listen,” Janet said politely.
“Just a second, okay?” Mitch murmured. He smiled, handed her his drink and turned around. His smiled died. The blond had just made a terrible mistake, letting his hands roam down to Kay’s hips.
If he ended up alive, he’d be lucky.
Kay shifted nervously, trying with body language to communicate to Hal that New Year’s Eve was a festive occasion, that she forgave him ninety times over for the seven scotches he’d already had, and that she wished he’d keep his hands to himself.
When body language failed, she tried a polite “Hal,” to get his attention.
But his head seemed to be drooping over her shoulder.
“Hal,” she repeated cheerfully.
His big blue eyes met hers. “I love you, Kay,” he said groggily. “I loved you in high school. Did you know that?”
“I…no. Listen-”
Long before she could finish the thought, Hal’s roaming hands were whisked off her flesh as if airborne. Startled, Kay jerked up her head to find Mitch’s lethal eyes bearing down on an unsuspecting Hal. She didn’t have a chance to close her mouth before a long, strong body insinuated itself between her and her dancing partner. “Take a real long hike, won’t you, sport?” Mitch tried to make his voice cordial.
“Kay?” Hal’s limpid blue eyes registered total confusion, but already he was two dancing couples distant. Mitch wasn’t exactly moving in slow motion.
Tough, sinewy muscles jammed most intimately against hers, bearing her off into a corner. “Would you like to see that little mustache of his pulled out hair by hair?” Mitch murmured.
“Hal?”
“For two cents, I’d rearrange the knuckles on those busy hands of his.”
“Mitch-”
His lips covered hers. Her arms seemed to be waving around in midair, until she found the material of his shirt to hold on to. She felt the tension of a man who was furious, the tenderness of a man who loved beyond measure and the sheer sexual vibrations of the only man who stirred the same instant, abandoned response in her.
It wasn’t the kiss of a man who had his mind on pursuing other women. Actually, it wasn’t even a nice kiss; that sweet pressure on her lips radiated possessiveness and jealousy and anger…dreadful character traits. Who would have guessed Mitch had such a temper?
Mitch’s lips lifted only when she made a tiny sound at the back of her throat. “Dammit. Did I hurt you?” he growled.
“Not really.”
His mouth homed in on the target. People were staring. They seemed to be smiling as they stared, though. Kay closed her eyes so they would all go away. Mitch was communicating some very intimate things; Mitch had always been very good at communicating very intimate things with kisses. The distant, cold man who’d arrived at her house to escort her to the party had disappeared. The man who was holding her like a tightly wrapped treasure was not at all cool, not at all in control…and Kay’s heart was inexplicably taking off on its own private jet flight. She remembered her fears that he’d want to try out his wings with other women… Well, it was hard to hold on to those fears when he was making it so very clear that a Kay-and-Mitch team was the only thing on his mind.
Mitch’s lips gradually lifted when he was sure he’d made it absolutely clear that the chemistry between them wasn’t something she should be in a hurry to throw away. His eyes locked with hers; the noise of the party returned, and he grabbed her wrist in a handcuff grip. “We’re going home,” he said flatly. “Hug all the men you want to on the way out. Just understand that every one of them is going to be decked flat out.”
It seemed wisest to just wave her goodbyes in passing. Stix would probably have been the exception, but Kay caught only a glimpse of his shaggy dark head above the crowd. Actually, there was a strangely bleak stare in Stix’s eyes, fixed directly on the two of them, before she saw him turn and make a beeline for the bar.
Polite goodbyes to the host were not Mitch’s immediate priority. Coats were, and theirs were buried amid tons of others. Mitch grabbed hers, pulled it on her and buttoned it before opening the door. On the porch, a fresh fall of snow greeted them, newly arrived in the past hour. Unfortunately, though, three cars were blocking his.
“We’ll walk,” he growled.
“All right.”
“I really wouldn’t argue, if I were you!”
“All right, Mitch,” she said mildly.
A distance of five houses wasn’t a long walk. Kay, racing along at his side, stole an occasional upward glance. Mitch looked meaner than a wildcat in a cage. Her feminine instinct wanted to pacify the wounded beast…but her heart seemed a great deal more sure of Mitch than her head was.
He didn’t talk until they’d reached the front porch and she was fumbling for her key. He grabbed it from her, shoved it in the lock and pushed open the door. She was barely inside before he slammed it and ordered her to take off her coat.
“It isn’t going to work, keeping it all nice and light and civilized, ”he said flatly, yanking off his coat and tossing it on a chair. “Maybe that’s how you usually end things. I don’t know or care. At the moment, I don’t feel the least bit civilized, and if you think anything is ever going to be over between us, you’re out of your mind.”
“Look, Mitch. You were the one-”
“I’m going to marry you, Kay. I know what you feel and I heard what you said, but you never really gave us a chance. You’re not going to tell me you’ve had a lover who loved you more than I do because it just plain isn’t true. Tell me you weren’t satisfied in bed,” he roared.
She shook her head, tears shimmering in her eyes like diamonds. “Why would I want to tell you that?” she whispered. “Why don’t you tell me that I was just the first notch on your belt, and you were already thinking about…branching out? Trying your wings? I told you you wouldn’t want something permanent once you-”