A Touch of Silk (14 page)

“Liam is rushing Candy to the hospital in Juneau. It looks like she might be in preterm labor. Your father’s been at the station all day, and I need him at home. My ankle is giving me fits. Is there any way you can sub for Liam tonight?”

“Right now?”

“Yes, dear. Meggie’s at the station for now, but Liam and Candy want her to fly with them.”

Quinn took a deep breath. He loved his family and he was distressed to learn that Liam and Candy were having a crisis, but tonight of all nights? When he’d promised Kay he would make love to her?

He glanced at Kay again. She’d gotten to her feet and was looking at him with a quizzical expression on her face.

Helplessly he met Kay’s gaze. “I gotta go,” he muttered, holding a palm over the phone so his mother couldn’t hear. “Minor emergency.”

Kay nodded.

“Okay, I’ll be right there,” he told his mother.

“You’re a good son.”

He told her goodbye, hung up and gave his attention to Kay.

“I hope everything’s all right,” she said.

Briefly he explained what was happening. “I’m so sorry,” he apologized. “I intended for us to spend the whole night together.”

“Hey, it’s not your fault.” She shrugged. “There’ll be other nights.”

“But you’re leaving on Saturday.”

“And this is only Sunday. Go. Help out your family.”

“You’re sure?”

“Don’t be silly, of course I’m sure.”

Her forgiveness and easy understanding filled him with an odd sensation. When he first met her, he’d been attracted to her physically, but he’d thought that was as far as the attraction went. In all honesty, he’d seen her as a spoiled, rich socialite. But here she was acting anything but spoiled. And in that moment Quinn knew his attraction had jumped to a whole new level.

HOW COULD SHE get upset with Quinn, even though her body was aching for his attention? Devotion to his family was one of his most attractive traits. She loved that his family meant so much to him, that they were so close. She wished his family was hers. She wished she could be a part of such a loving community.

In six days, she would be gone. His family was here for a lifetime. How could she begrudge him his choice?

She didn’t, but as she watched him shrug into his coat, she couldn’t seem to tamp down the torrent of loneliness washing through her.

Alone again.

Alone and super horny. She wanted more sex. More orgasms. More of him.

“Stay here,” Quinn instructed, coming over to brush her lips lightly with his. “I’ll be back after midnight. Eat some supper, watch a movie, finish off that glass of wine, take a nap, but don’t you dare go anywhere. Got that? We’re not through yet.”

She nodded, even though a nagging voice in the back of her head was urging her to go to the bed-and-breakfast, pack her things and head back to New York right now. They’d yet to take that irrevocable step toward becoming full-fledged lovers. This was her chance to back out before she made a fool of herself. Before she got seriously hurt.

Because she was already starting to care for Quinn far more than was prudent.

“Say it.” He leaned over to nibble on her earlobe. “Say you’ll be waiting here for me when I get home.”

What was it about this man? He seemed to know every errant thought that passed her mind. How? She had spent so much of her life learning to cloak her feelings, keep her countenance unreadable, her head clear, her mind undisturbed, and yet she could never fool Quinn. What gave her away? she wondered. How had he known she was panicking?

His gentle nipping of her earlobe was more than she could bear. “I’ll be here,” she promised huskily. “Now go.”

“I could get used to this,” he said. “Having you to come home to.”

Kay inhaled sharply. “It’s not me you want, Quinn. It’s a wife.”

He stepped back a moment, studied her in the foyer light. Too bad she couldn’t read his mind the way he seemed to read hers.

“Yeah,” he said. “You’re right. Long term, I do want a wife, but for tonight…” His gaze raked over her body. “I can’t forget what sizzling, sexy blonde will be waiting for me.”

He turned and walked out the door, leaving Kay feeling more confused than ever. She wandered about the house, snooping a little and finally ending up in the large room upstairs where he’d taken her the night he’d shown her the northern lights.

She didn’t open any closets or drawers, but she did touch the things that were lying out. His ice skates, the blades cleaned and freshly sharpened. His gloves. His heavy snow boots—good grief, he wore a size fourteen. She fingered his hockey jersey, which she held to her nose to breathe in the scent of him. The smell aroused her with a perplexing kick to the belly. Immediately she dropped the jersey back on the chair where she had found it.

She drifted over to the stereo system, flicked on the radio, then settled herself on the couch with her wine to watch the show outside the window. The northern lights were in full swing, flickering and dancing hypnotically.

“Hello, listeners.” The soothing sound of Quinn’s voice came through the speakers and wrapped around her like a thermal blanket. “You’re listening to KCRK, number 840 on your AM dial. Sorry folks, but you’re stuck with the native son tonight. Mack’s flying Liam and Candy into Anchorage as we speak. Seems little Liam Junior is trying to put in his appearance two and a half months too early. I know they’ll appreciate any prayers you can send the family’s way.”

A knot formed in Kay’s throat. Bear Creek was such a caring community. Small, intimate, cozy, a place where neighbors looked out for one another and nobody worried about stupid, inconsequential things like what kind of wine went with what kind of meal, or which pair of earrings to wear to an art-gallery opening.

Kay realized she’d invested too much of her life worrying about things that didn’t really matter.

“On a lighter note,” Quinn was saying, “Millie Peterson and Doodles are doing just fine. Millie’s staying with her sister over in Haines for a while in case anyone wants to run by and say hi. And thanks to everyone who donated money and clothes. Also, I’d like to thank everyone for helping out our visitor from New York City, Kay Freemont, with her article on Bear Creek. The magazine will be hitting the newsstands in mid-May, so be sure and drop by Leonard Long Bear’s to get your copy.”

Kay grinned at the radio, brought her wineglass to her lips and took a sip.

“And speaking of Kay, I’d like to dedicate this next song to her.”

Rod Stewart’s “Hot Legs” soon issued forth.

Kay hooted her approval and started tapping a foot in time to the lively music. After it was over, Quinn came back on. “It’s an open request line tonight, folks. So call in—577-5555 for those of you with bad memories—and let me know what you’d like to hear tonight.”

Getting to her feet, Kay padded back downstairs, took her cell phone from her purse and punched in the numbers to the radio station.

“I’d like to request a song,” she said.

“Yes, ma’am, what can I play for you?” He gave no hint that he knew it was her, but how could he not know?

“‘Natural Woman’ by Aretha Franklin. Do you have that one?”

“Why, yes, ma’am, I believe we do.”

She grinned again, sat down in front of the fire and kept the cell phone in her lap. She hummed along with the song that expressed her sentiments exactly. Quinn did make her feel like a natural woman. Sexy, feminine, loving.

“We gotta another dedication, folks,” he said, when “Natural Woman” was over. Then he played a very provocative Barry White number, and Kay knew he was playing that one for her as well.

It was naughty, suggestive, and Barry’s deep-throated voice sent spikes of hot desire down her spine. Damn! At this rate she wasn’t going to last until midnight, which was when the radio station went off the air and Quinn returned home.

Kay felt herself go soft and moist and warm inside. She picked up her cell phone and dialed the station again. “How about ‘You Sexy Thing’?”

“Coming right up,” Quinn replied. He played her request followed by “You Can Leave Your Hat On.”

That gave her an image to giggle about. She programmed the radio station to speed dial and whispered seductively when he answered, “‘Let’s Get It On.”’

“Your wish is my command.”

Kay giggled again and pressed the back of her hand to her mouth.

He topped “Let’s Get it On” with “Feel like Making Love.”

“Keep those requests coming,” Quinn said, when the song had played. “Oh, wait, I’ve got a call right now. Go ahead, caller.”

“Hey!” Kay recognized the voice as that of old Gus. “Why don’t you two have sex, already?”

Quinn sputtered into the microphone. “Er…I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve only been taking requests.”

“Stop yanking my chain, Scofield. Obviously the lady’s hot for you, and the rest of us would like to listen to something a little less arousing. Play something decent, like big-band tunes.” Gus huffed loudly, then disconnected.

Kay burst out laughing.

Quinn put on “In the Mood,” which only made her laugh harder. Why was she sitting here? Kay wondered. Why not toddle on over to the radio station and surprise him?

She grabbed the bottle of wine from the hearth where Quinn had left it, hurried into the kitchen, dug a wheel of cheddar cheese from the fridge and scooped a loaf of crusty sourdough bread off the counter.

Then, just before she put on his grandmother’s fur coat, she took off her dress. Wearing nothing but stockings, garter belt, stilettos and the heavy sable coat, she got into the Wagoneer and drove to the radio station.

At nine-thirty, the main street of Bear Creek was deserted. Fat snowflakes spiraled from the pitch-black sky. The only vehicles she passed were the few trucks and cars gathered outside the Happy Puffin bar. Her heart hammered as she parked in front of the KCRK station. She could see Quinn through the window, seated in the booth, headphones over his ears.

The sight of him made her stomach go all jiggly.

Her breath came in frosty puffs. She knocked on the door, balancing precariously on her too-high heels, the bottle of wine in one arm, the cheese wheel and loaf of bread in the other.

A second later Quinn pulled open the door with such force he knocked her off balance, and she tumbled into his arms.

“Whoa.” He grabbed her shoulders to steady her. “What are you doing out in this weather?”

“Coming to see you.” She grinned up into his face. “I realized old Gus was right. It is high time we had sex, already. Real sex. Not just playing around.”

“You called what we did earlier ‘just playing around’?”

“Uh-huh. Now I’m ready for the hard stuff.”

“Get in here.” He tugged her inside and shut the door against the swirling cold. “Silly woman.” He pressed her to his chest, breathed into her hair.

“I brought sustenance.” She held out the wine and bread.

His eyes glimmered. “You’re one hell of a woman, Kay Freemont, you know that?”

He parked her on a tweed couch in the studio. “Have a seat. I gotta go give the call letters and put on some more music. Got a request?”

“You pick.” She smiled and settled back against the seat.

He did so in record time, the strains of Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable” seeping into the room. In his hands he held two paper cups. He appropriated the wine from where she’d set it on the floor, filled the cups and passed one to her.

“To the sexiest woman on the planet.” He raised his glass.

“I can’t drink to that. I’m not the sexiest woman on the planet.”

“You are to me,” he growled softly.

She drank then to the sexuality she’d repressed for so long. The sexuality that Quinn had so lovingly cultivated and coaxed from her over the course of the past eight days.

“I’m ready, Quinn,” she said, finishing the wine and blinking in surprise at her sudden boldness. “No more games. I want you. Right here. Right now. Right this very minute.”

GOD, BUT SHE WAS gorgeous, swaddled in his grandmother’s fur coat with nothing showing but her legs from the calf down encased in crimson silk stockings. Her sweet feet were in sexy stiletto heels.

Her hair, normally perfectly controlled, was mussed, and her lipstick had come off on the edge of her paper cup.

He liked her this way. Relaxed. Natural. Asking for what she needed from him.

She was so beautiful and yet so out of place here on the worn tweed couch in his parents’ radio station in Bear Creek, Alaska. She deserved to have her first orgasms at the Plaza Hotel in New York City while dining on chocolate-covered strawberries and expensive champagne, not supping on stale sourdough bread and third-rate wine. She deserved so many things he couldn’t provide.

She reached out a finger, ran it along the crease cleaving his forehead. “Stop worrying,” she murmured. “Everything’s going to be all right.”

But was it?

Quinn studied her, knowing she didn’t belong here, knowing he had no right to want her as badly as he did. She was on the rebound, after all, looking for sex as a way to rebuild her self-esteem. He was a vehicle to her goal, and although he couldn’t blame her for that, he couldn’t seem to stop himself from wanting more.

Take what you can get. When the ad comes out in the magazine, you’ll be knee-deep in women and Kay will be nothing but a pleasant memory. Make the most of it.

“Let me just make sure we’re not interrupted.” He went to the door and slipped the lock into place with a resounding click. He flicked off the overhead fluorescent bulb, leaving them bathed in the glow of red and green lights from the control panel.

Her almond eyes widened, and she ran the tip of her tongue along her lips, making him hotter than the volcanic Ring of Fire bubbling beneath Alaska’s crust.

She was like Alaska itself. A cool, perfect beautiful exterior with a hot, smoldering center just waiting to erupt. He’d sensed this about her from the moment he’d seen her on the plane.

And her exciting combination of fire and ice stirred something inside him, just as his homeland did.

He admired so many things about her. The way she carried herself, regal and self-confident. The little noises she made when he caressed her. The taste of her mouth. Her unexpected laughter, her inquisitive mind, the special smile she gave him when he’d pleased her.

How he loved making her smile. He was ready to please her any way he could. All night long.

Kay shifted on the couch. She lounged against the armrest, swung her legs across the cushions until she was sprawled out provocatively. Her teeth sank into her bottom lip as he sauntered nearer.

He grinned wickedly, and his fingers went to the buttons of his flannel shirt. Kay sat up straighter, her eyes riveted to his fingers, watching as, one by one, he undid the buttons and stripped off the shirt.

Next came his sweater, then his T-shirt and at last his thermal top. When his chest was completely exposed, Kay’s mouth dropped open and she rubbed the back of a hand across her forehead.