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She waited, not daring tothat if he took her in his arht collapse—but he didn’t He studied her in silence, a ave a curt nod
“As you wish, of course Actually you’re quite right Too h she suspected the effort cost hiive me a minute to dress and I’ll see you home”
“No! No, I’ll take a taxi”
Da toward her “Don’t be ridiculous”
“I’ myself home”
“Perhaps” His voice had taken on a flinty edge, as had his gaze He folded his arly, that even in the splendor of his nudity, he“But this is New York City, not some little town in Connecticut, and I am not a man to permit a woman to travel these streets, alone, at this hour”
“Permit? Permit?” Laurel drew herself up “I don’t need your permission”
“Hell,” heto quarrel about”
“You’re right, it isn’t Goodbye, Damian”
His hand fell on her shoulder as she spun away fro harshly into her flesh
“What’s going on here, Laurel? Can you e to tell me that?”
“I have told you I said—”
“I heard what you said, and I don’t believe you” His touch gentled; she felt the rough brush of his fingertips against her throat “You know you want more than this”
“You’ve no idea what I want,” she said sharply
He set dressed, we’ll have coffee and we’ll talk”
“How many times do I have to say I’m not interested before you believe me, Damian?”
His eyes darkened Long seconds passed, and then his hand fell from her shoulder He turned, strode into his bedroom, picked up the telephone and punched a button on the dial
“Stevens? Miss Bennett is leaving Bring the car around, please”
“Why did you do that? There was no need to wake your chauffeur!”
He looked at her, his lips curved in a parody of a s up the phone
“I’htfulness, but he’s been withawakened to perform such errands Can you find your oay to the lobby, or shall I ring for the doorman?”
“I’ll find my oay,” she said quickly
“Fine In that case, if you’ll excuse me?”
The door shut gently in her face
She stood staring at it, feeling a rush of cri him, and then she spun away
Would she ever forget the stupidity of what she’d done tonight? she wondered, as she rode to the lobby in his private elevator
More to the point, would she ever forget that the only place she’d ever glimpsed heaven had been in Damian Skouras’s arms?
In the foyer of the penthouse, Da at the tiny lights on the wall panel as they e to the lobby He’d put on a pair of jeans and zipped the low on his hips
What the hell had happened, between the last ti a warm, satisfied wo dressed in the hallway
No, not a stranger Laurel had metamorphosed back into who she’d been when they’d ue like a razor and the disposition of a grizzly bear And she’d done her daone on between theht stand
The light on the panel blinked out She’d reached the lobby, and the doorman, alerted by the call Damian hadto hand her safely off to Stevens
Still glowering, heinto the car Stevens shut the door after her, climbed behind the wheel and that was that
She was gone, and good riddance
Who was he kidding? She wasn’t gone, not that easily Her fragrance still lingered on his skin, and in his bed The sound of her voice, the way she’d sighed his na love, drifted like a half-remembered tune in his mind
He had lied to her, when he’d said Stevens was accusto at the beck-and-call of an e he’d hated, in his youth; he’d vowed never to behave so imperiously with those who served him
Besides, waking Stevens had never been necessary before
No woht grietting rid of the them to stay