He hesitated, as if testing the determination in her and then he shrugged eloquently. „Okay, boss, if that’s really what you want“
They must have made a rather strange sight, Kalinda decided later as they walked briskly along the path of a nearby park. It was one of many such islands strung throughout the city. There were more than one hundred and fifty parks in Denver and Kalinda would have been willing to bet that few of them were being used at this hour of the morning by a couple dressed in business suits that had recently been slept in.
But it was invigorating. The beginning of a Colorado summer day shone down on them and to the west the mountains seemed to hold out the same promise they had for generations.
„Do you do this a lot?“ Rand grinned wryly, clasping her hand as they walked.
„Of course not. I’d be afraid of getting mugged!“
„You think I can protect you?“ he asked, slanting her an interested glance.
„If anyone dares menace us we’ll just tell him who you are and use your reputation to scare him off!“
He winced. „That took you by surprise yesterday, didn’t it?“
„Your reputation? Frankly, yes,“ Kalinda said simply, inhaling the morning air. „I’m told you really were the shark you joked about being that night at the party.“
„Does that worry you?“ he asked with surprising hesitation, not looking at her.
„Should it?“
„No. It’s supposed to convince you I’m the sort of man you admire,“ he said softly.
„Which brings us to the subject I wanted to discuss,“ Kalinda said, amazed at the calm in her voice.
„I had a feeling it might,“ he sighed. „What’s wrong, Kalinda?“ His fingers tightened around hers, as if he were preparing for physical struggle.
„There’s nothing wrong, Rand. I just want to make it clear that I meant what I said yesterday morning about maintaining a… a businesslike relationship for a while. There’s a lot we have to learn about each other…“
„You were upset about finding out about my past, weren’t you?“ he interrupted harshly. „But, honey, it’s that past which is going to help your company. Don’t you see?“
„I see. And I’m grateful. But that’s not the point.“ She tried to speak rationally, keeping her emotions under control. But it was difficult with him looking at her like that, as if she really were more important to him than business.
He drew her to a halt on the path, turning her so that she had to face him. „Then what is the point, Kalinda? What are you trying to say?“
She faced him bravely. „Rand, I’m grateful for your help in this crisis. But, please, don’t confuse your feelings about coming back to the business world with… with any feelings you might have for me!“
„What the hell are you talking about?“ he rasped, his hands tightening forcefully around her upper arms, his face darkening.
„Please,“ she begged earnestly, gray eyes wide with concern for him, „don’t be angry. I’m just pointing out the obvious. You’re finding it exciting to get your feet wet again in the world in which you were once so successful. It was very clear yesterday that you were enjoying yourself. And if it’s what you want, then I don’t mind having been the catalyst that drew you out of the mountains, really I don’t…“
„Catalyst!“
„Yes! Remember how I asked you a couple of times if you were bored with your trout fishing and the little gallery? You denied it, but I think the truth is that you were getting restless. After a year and a half, you felt the urge to compete and win getting the better of you. When I came along representing a portion of the world you’d left behind, something clicked, didn’t it? I became an excuse, a reason, for coming back to Denver and picking up the reins of business.“
He stared at her. „You’ve got it all worked out, haven’t you?“
„Is my conclusion so very far from the truth?“ she whispered sadly. „Are you going to deny that you’re enjoying yourself as you begin to wheel and deal again?“
„That’s a very neat trap you’ve worked out, Kalinda Brady,“ he muttered icily, hazel eyes hardening as he surveyed her face. „I can’t very well deny the fact that there is something in the business world which challenges and interests me. You saw me at work yesterday. I never stayed up half the night working on a piece of pottery!“
She nodded in mute understanding, trying to hide her unhappiness.
„And I’m not going to deny that I might have been growing bored with my lifestyle in the mountains. A year and a half of fishing and part-time employment can be a bit more than relaxing. It can make a man restless…“
„I knew it,“ she murmured, lowering her eyes as she listened to the confirmation of her fears.
„But you’re caught in the trap with me,“ he went on relentlessly, lifting her chin with thumb and forefinger. „You made it very clear in a lot of little ways that you weren’t interested in an affair with a lazy trout fisherman and pottery-maker! You wanted a man from your own world. Okay, you’ve got him. I not only understand and function very well in your world, Kalinda, I can dominate it if I wish. I’m giving you what you asked for in a man. Don’t you dare try to back out of our deal now!“
Kalinda froze at the cold, hard edge in his voice. „We didn’t have any sort of ‘deal,’ Rand!“
„We do now,“ he countered and crushed her lips beneath his own as if to seal it.
It was a harsh, ruthless, dominating kiss, with none of the warm, seductive persuasiveness she’d known in the past It was as if he was intent on letting her know that he could dominate not only the world in which she made her living, but Kalinda, herself.
His mouth moved aggressively on her lips, forcing them apart and giving her no option but to accept the invasion of his tongue. Desperately Kalinda tried to pull away, break the ruthlessness of the kiss, but he only wrapped his arms around her and forced her closer. In the chill morning air he molded her body to his own, letting his inner heat trap her.
When she tried to free her lips, he used his teeth to nip warningly and she crumpled against him at the first threat. He accepted the surrender as if it were his due, not taking his mouth from hers until she had stopped fighting him completely.
When at last he lifted his head to gaze forbiddingly down at her helpless face, Kalinda sagged in his arms.
He let her bury her face against his shoulder, holding her with bonds of steel.
For a long moment they stood silently. Kalinda knew she was trembling with reaction. Not just to the kiss, itself, but to all the male implacability that lay behind it. He did want her. Regardless of his other reasons for following her out of the mountains, he wanted her. Would that ever be enough?
„Don’t fight me, Kalinda,“ he finally got out on a hoarse thread of sound. „Please don’t fight me!“ He turned his lips into her hair, kissing her gently now, almost apologetically. She felt a tremor go through him and knew he was shaken by the moment.
„Is that a warning, Rand?“ she managed, her words muffled by the fabric of his jacket „Are you saying I’ll get hurt if I don’t go along with what you want?“
His grasp on her tautened. „I would never hurt you, honey. But I can’t let you go, either. I need you too much!“
„Rand…“
She wasn’t sure just what she was going to say under the tension of the moment, but whatever it might have been died in her throat as he gently set her a little ways from him and forced a quirking smile.
„Don’t say anything more this morning, sweetheart For both our sakes, I think we’d better get back to business. Come on, let’s go find ourselves some breakfast“
Without waiting for a response, he tugged her gently down the path.
The rest of the day passed much as the preceding one. Rand was constantly on the phone to banks, old acquaintances who owed him favors, and people who knew an astonishing amount about the inside workings of David Hutton’s fledgling empire. When he wasn’t using her telephone, he was going through the endless paperwork generated by a thriving enterprise such as Brady Data Processing.