But even as she reached up to cling to him and draw him down to her, Kalinda was aware that he was determined to hold off the ultimate union a little longer.

„Please,“ she whimpered, becoming incredibly aroused as he stoked the fire in her ever higher. „Please, Rand. I… I need you!“

His response was to move against her with a teasing, provoking movement that nearly drove her out of her mind when he failed to complete it.

„Tell me,“ he commanded, a yearning tone lacing the fierce order, „Tell me how much you need me; how much you want me…“

„More than I’ve ever wanted any man,“ she confessed raggedly, her head thrown back against the pillow, her body arching with consummate pleading into his. „I’ve never even known how… how necessary it could be!“ That was nothing less than the shattering truth. Never had she felt like this, wanted a man so desperately.

„That’s how I need you,“ he swore deeply. „I had to hear you say it. I had to know!“

His hands gripped her shoulders and his body surged passionately against hers, claiming it utterly and completely. Kalinda’s breath caught in her throat and she could only cling and cling and cling to the powerful masculine body. Instinctively she sought to envelope his strength, make him a part of her.

Rand held her so tightly they seemed to merge into one being. He licked at the sheen of perspiration that shimmered on the slope of her breast as he set the rhythm of their desire.

„My God, sweetheart,“ he groaned. „You’re flaming like a torch for me!“

Kalinda could only gasp her wonder and desire. No man had ever beckoned to her deepest needs with the irresistible lure of such honest and overwhelming male hunger. It was primitive and it was real yet it was astonishingly tender at times. It cut through all the layers of civilization and sophistication.

She cried out as the threshold was reached, her body shivering with a sudden convulsive energy she’d never known before. It arched her throat, tautened every muscle in her and brought a mind-spinning sense of release.

Above her she heard the harsh, muffled shout of satisfaction and male triumph as Rand followed her over the magic threshold, wrapping her rightly to him in preparation for the long, languid descent on the other side.

„Kalinda, my sweet Kalinda,“ he breathed over and over again as the sunlight played across their damp, naked bodies. The fragrance of the mountains drifted through the open window, combining with the earthy, honest scent of their passion and Kalinda inhaled it deeply.

„Tell me the truth,“ Rand grated urgently. „Do you have any regrets about not seeing that other man? Any at all?“

She turned against him, lifting her eyes to meet the surprisingly vulnerable expression in his own.

„None,“ she smiled softly.

He closed his coppery lashes for a long moment and she felt the gratitude in him.

„You had me so damn scared,“ he admitted wryly, leaning back against the pillows to stare intently at the ceiling. „So damn scared!“

„Somehow I can’t envision you scared of anything,“ she retorted lightly.

„You should have seen me at four this morning!“

„Were you really so concerned about me?“

„If you hadn’t shown up here or at the shop by this afternoon, I would have taken matters in my own hands. I couldn’t let you meet him, Kalinda. It would have been so dangerous!“ He shook his head once on the pillow as if awed by the near miss.

„I appreciate your interest,“ she murmured gently, „but it really wasn’t that big a risk! He’s simply not the violent sort!“

„You’re a little naive, sweetheart, but that’s okay,“ he half-grinned, lifting a hand to ruffle her already tangled hair as he turned to look at her. „Even if you were right about his degree of potential violence, there was my other, equally strong fear!“

„That I’d fall back under his spell? That was never a possibility, Rand. Believe me.“

„But you still felt so strongly about him,“ he persisted.

„No, talking to you made me realize all I felt was the habit of hating him. The feeling that he ought to be punished. But it was a hollow sort of emotion. It was a relief to call the whole thing off. Then, too, I kept thinking about his poor wife. In the end, I just thanked my lucky stars I wasn’t in her shoes as I so easily could have been.“

„How did he take it when you phoned him this morning?“

Kalinda lifted one bare shoulder dismissingly. „He wasn’t very pleased. I gave him all the logical reasons why we shouldn’t meet His wife, our reputations. I tried to make it sound as if two reasonable people should agree to call the whole thing off before it got started.“

„Did he buy it?“ There was a wary look in the hazel eyes as they narrowed slightly.

„He kept trying to talk me into staying here until he could arrive and talk me around,“ she confessed. „I finally got fed up and told him the truth, that I had agreed to the weekend in the first place because I wanted a Utile revenge for the way he’d treated me two years ago. Then I told him not to call me again and hung up the phone.“

„Hmmm.“

„What’s that supposed to mean?“ she demanded, mouth curving at his skeptical tone.

„Forget it, honey. We’ll talk about it later.“ He yawned extravagantly. „Hell, I’m exhausted! You wore me out,“ he chuckled affectionately.

„You wore yourself out pacing a floor for no reason at all!“

„Oh, I had my reasons,“ he retorted sleepily. „But my reasons are all tucked safely into my bed for the moment. Will you think I’m a callous brute if I grab a nap, honey?“ He slanted her a pleading glance.

He looked so sleepy that Kalinda found herself smiling with a tenderness she’d never felt toward a man. Almost lovingly she stroked the angled plane of his cheek.

„No.“

„We’ve got a lot to discuss,“ he murmured, already half-asleep.

Kalinda felt the moisture behind her lashes and blinked it away determinedly. She waited until she felt his hold on her loosen and knew for certain he was making up for the sleep he’d missed the previous night.

Then, aware there could be only one ending for this kind of passionate interlude, she slowly rose from the caramel bedspread and began to dress.

Kalinda stood at the window of her office in downtown Denver and looked out across the Mile-High City with remote eyes. Situated on the plains with the mountains nearby to the west, Denver had become the lively, thriving headquarters of the business empire of the Rocky Mountain states.

The swirl of new money from the energy boom which had so affected the city had, in turn, stimulated other businesses. Gleaming highrise buildings in the downtown area gave evidence of the investment capital pouring into the area.

Oil, coal and uranium had beckoned the modern prospectors and speculators. In the last century it had been the lure of gold. But Denver’s residents, while they may have been lured to the gateway city by the promise of new opportunities, soon became a fiercely loyal lot for other reasons.

Not the least of those reasons was the city’s proximity to the fabulous vacation areas of the Rockies. During the winter the mountains offered some of the finest powder snow for skiing that could be found in the world. Many claimed the Colorado mountains were the United States’ equivalent of Europe’s Alps. During the summer those same mountains were a breathtaking wonderland of craggy peaks and green valleys.

And that, Kalinda thought with disgust as she turned away from the window, was all she seemed to be able to think about for the past two days. The mountains. Was she doomed to remember the man she had met there everytime she looked out her window?

How long did it take to recover from a weekend fling? she asked herself for the thousandth time as she poured a cup of tea and moodily surveyed her office. It was an attractive office with gold carpet and a heavy mahogany desk she had inherited when she took over her father’s role. The colors weren’t hers, but there had been more important uses for the company’s funds during the past two years than redecorating the president’s quarters!