The Best is Yet to Come Part 10

"I am honest," he corrected. "You are free for lunch, yes?"

She glanced toward Ryder and barely escaped blanching at the expression on his face. He looked murderous, and the way he was staring at her companion didn't bode well. He'd been talking to another businessman while everyone was being seated. Now he'd returned, to find himself supplanted by a younger, obviously smitten foreigner, and he didn't like it. He couldn't have made his disapproval more obvious if he'd fired a gun.

"You'll have to ask my boss about that," Ivy said evasively, and dropped her eyes, leaving Ryder to deal with the gentleman.

She didn't know what was said. But the young man actually flushed as he got quickly to his feet, murmuring something that sounded vaguely like an apology.

"Pardonez-moi, mademoiselle," he said fervently, and perfunctorily kissed her hand before beating a hasty retreat with a wary glance at Ryder as he departed.

"Did you tell him you were a hit man or something?" Ivy asked, all eyes as he sat down in the chair the Frenchman had vacated.

He didn't answer her. He was obviously still smoldering. "You're here to work, not to get involved with amorous playboys," he said shortly.

"Was he a playboy?" she asked curiously, refusing to let him needle her.

He shifted restlessly and seemed to relax a little. "Yes," he replied. "His people are well-to-do. t.i.tled, in fact."

"How flattering that he noticed me, then," she murmured demurely.

"Flattering, h.e.l.l!" He glowered at her. "Unless you want to see him knocked senseless in front of your eyes, don't encourage him again."

Her eyebrows arched in sheer surprise. "Ryder!"

"You just don't understand, do you?" he bit off. "My G.o.d...!"

The speaker's voice blared out from the microphone, cutting off Ryder's heated reply. He crossed his long legs and glared straight ahead, but he was still bristling. She could almost feel him vibrating.

She didn't understand. Well, that was an understatement if she'd ever heard one. He was violent about her, and probably that violence should have frightened her, but it didn't. It was oddly flattering, that he didn't like other men flirting with her. It could, of course, be a purely physical jealousy...

Her mind dismissed the unpleasant thought. She had to start thinking positively. He was very protective of her, he loved kissing her, he wanted her madly and he was jealous. That had to add up to more than just desire. She was just going to have to work a little harder, that was all.

He didn't make it easy. After the workshop, he took her to lunch and translated the more useful remarks he'd memorized from the workshop. He did it rapid-fire, watching her scramble to get it all down on paper and apparently even enjoying her discomfiture.

"You're being vicious," she muttered between mouthfuls of a delicious chicken-and-rice entree.

"Of course I'm being vicious! I bring you to Paris, and the first chance you get, you start appropriating natives!"

"I was not trying to appropriate him," she shot back, and her black eyes glittered in a face reddened with temper. She put her fork down. "He asked me to go to lunch with him. Just that. He was a nice, kind young man."

"He was a wolf looking for a woolly appetizer," he countered doggedly. "A man knows when another man's hunting, honey. It's an inborn instinct."

"I wasn't going to go out with him," she protested.

"Weren't you? I arrived in the nick of time to prevent it unless I'm blind."

"You sure might as well be blind," she raged. "You alternately freeze me out and turn on the heat. One day you're Mr. Cool, the next day you're Romeo, and the day after that you suddenly discover that you harbor brotherly feelings for me! It's like swimming in a blizzard!"

"You're shouting," he observed.

She took a deep breath and tried not to see the amused looks she was getting. With her long hair smoothed down her back, and the neat navy-blue dress with white collar she was wearing, she looked very young and very pretty. Not to mention very angry.

Ryder, his dark suit complementing his olive complexion, was watching her with mingled exasperation and amus.e.m.e.nt. In a temper, she was vivid-not the shy, biddable little creature he remembered from her girlhood. He very much liked her tempestuous outburst. Not that he was going to admit it to her.

"I don't know what you want from me," she muttered.

"I'll drink to that," he agreed, lifting his winegla.s.s with a mocking smile.

She was having wine, too, although she was carefully sipping hers because she wasn't used to it. Everyone drank wine with lunch, except for an occasional diner sipping Perrier water. Ivy had no taste for what she thought of as plain seltzer, so she'd opted for a light, dry white wine. Now she was regretting it, because it made her temper worse and fractured her credibility.

"If I'm to be just the a.s.sistant, why can't I go out on a date?" she asked.

"You're the one who told me you were still in mourning for your husband," he said harshly. "Or was that because I'm too old to suit you?"

She wondered if she'd actually heard him say that. "Too old?" she parroted.

"Handy to flirt with, but not to get too close to, is that it?" he continued, fanning the flames of his temper. "Maybe the young Frenchman is more your style. After all, you married Ben, and he was barely a year older than you-not a jaded, aging workaholic like me."

He looked as if he meant it. Worried, she slid her soft hand over his big one. "Ryder, I've never thought of you as old or jaded."

His jaw clenched. "Haven't you?"

She looked down at the long fingers hers were caressing. Strong hands. No jewelry on them. Flat nails, immaculately clean. "You're the one with the doubts," she said quietly. "I think it's that I don't appeal to you."

His hand turned and clenched hers. "And that is a lie," he said.

"Physically, maybe I do," she said, refusing to look up. "But your world and mine are so different. I never felt-" She stopped, shocked at what she was about to admit.

But he wouldn't let it go. His hand contracted again. "You never felt what?" he demanded. "Tell me!"

She drew in a steadying breath. "I never felt that I was good enough for someone like you," she said miserably. "I was too young, too unsophisticated, and too poor to ever fit in your world."

He was quiet for so long that she looked up, surprising a glimpse of some horrible deep wounding in his lean face.

"You never told me that," he said after a minute.

"You must realize that you're rich," she chided softly. "Ryder, I barely knew which utensils to use in this very exclusive restaurant. If you hadn't ordered for me, I couldn't have read the menu. I don't drink wine as a rule, and I don't know how to act in high social circles. It embarra.s.ses me and frightens me."

"Baby," he breathed huskily, "why didn't you tell me?"

Her spine tingled at the way he said it, at the way he was looking at her. "I didn't know how."

He sighed and brought her hand, palm up, to his warm lips. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize there was a difference between us socially. I've always accepted you as part of my own circle. Mine, and Eve's."

He meant it! Her eyes searched his curiously and were trapped by the same dark electricity that always held her in thrall when he was close. His mouth brushed sensually over her damp palm while he looked at her.

"That was partly why you ran from me, wasn't it?" he asked slowly.

She shrugged and lowered her eyes. "Well...yes."

"So many misunderstandings," he murmured. "Too many. Sometimes I wonder if we'll ever get it all straight."

"We won't...if you keep running away," she said boldly, and couldn't look up as she said it.

"When you can put Ben in the past, and start thinking ahead, then I might stand still. It depends," he added in a dry tone, "on what you have in mind. I'm not easy."

That shocked her into looking up, and when she saw his face, she laughed with pure delight.

"Are you sure?" she replied mischievously. "Eve used to say you had to beat women off with a stick."

"I was younger then," he reminded her, forcing himself to release her soft, warm hand. "Younger and much less discriminating."

"Meaning that you're discriminating now?" she asked.

"Oh, yes," he replied with a mocking smile. "One-night stands are out, for one thing."

"But then, so is marriage," she pressed delicately.

He schooled his face to show no emotion at all. "Marriage is forever," he said. "That's a long time to spend with one woman."

She felt her heart sinking. She touched the stem of her crystal winegla.s.s and traced it. "Marriage should be forever, shouldn't it?" she asked pensively. She thought about Ben and what her life would be like even now if he was still alive, and she shivered.

Ryder's face closed up. Ben. Always Ben. He threw down the rest of his wine.

"I have a meeting this afternoon," he said abruptly, his tone pleasant, but all business. "Can you transcribe those notes for me and keep yourself occupied until I get back?"

She lifted her face, puzzled by the sudden mood change. Had it been the mention of marriage that had set him off? Probably so. She could hardly miss the contempt he had for it now, which meant that if she ever made love with him, all she could expect was a brief, casual affair. She knew deep in her heart that she could never live with that kind of lifestyle. She was too programmed by her upbringing to be sophisticated. On the other hand, she was too much in love with Ryder to refuse if he ever asked her. She could have groaned with frustration.

"Yes, I can keep busy," she murmured.

"Not with that d.a.m.ned Frenchman," he cautioned, his whole look dangerous. "I swear to G.o.d, Ivy, I wasn't kidding. If I see him within a country mile of you, I'll deck him!"

"Why do you care if I see someone?" she demanded, fighting tears as she stood up. "You don't want me!"

"Oh, h.e.l.l, yes, I do," he said in a heated undertone.

"That...way, maybe," she said in a wobbly tone, her huge dark eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g with tears. "But that's not enough!"

He glanced around irritably, remembering where they were. "We can't talk about it here," he said tersely.

"We don't need to talk about it at all," she returned. "You be the boss and I'll be the a.s.sistant. Let's leave it at that. You say I'm not ready for anything else. Maybe you aren't, either, Ryder." She picked up her purse, a.s.suming a dignity she hardly felt. "I'll go back up the suite and get to work, if you don't mind."

"Go ahead." He watched a particularly lovely French woman walk past. She was giving him the eye very obviously and, just to irritate Ivy, he smiled back. The girl smiled and then walked on slowly. "If I'm late, don't wait up," he told Ivy meaningfully, with a coldly mocking smile.

She glanced toward the woman, who was waiting around the counter with her eyes on Ryder. "I can't but you can, is that how it goes?" she asked, hurt.

"I'm a man," he returned. "What did you expect, that I'd turn down an obvious invitation?"

Tears stung her eyes. "I hate you!" she whispered violently.

He drew in a furious breath. "Oh, G.o.d!" he ground out. "Go on, will you? I'm here to work, not to pick up women, although I swear I could almost be driven to it sometimes because of you! Get to work!"

She started to leave, hesitated, and turned back toward him, all her longings and fears evident in her lovely face. "Ryder, you won't...?" she asked softly, glancing toward the woman.

"Would it matter?" he replied, his voice equally soft.

"Oh, yes," she whispered, her face briefly anguished. "It would matter...very much."

He took a long breath and his fingers reached out to touch her soft mouth, devoid of lipstick just at the moment. "I don't know if I'm sorry or glad about that," he murmured. "But at least you understand about the Frenchman now, don't you?" he added pointedly.

She tried to speak, but she couldn't. She had no defenses left. She turned and left the restaurant, trying not to see the lovely French woman who watched her go and then moved toward Ryder.

He sent her packing in a very nice way, although Ivy wasn't around to see it. He had to find something to keep him occupied tonight, or he was going to do something stupid. But another woman wasn't the answer. He wanted only her. That was his whole problem. He muttered a curse and went off to his business meeting, hoping it would take his mind off Ivy and give him a few minutes' peace. With any luck at all, she'd be asleep when he got back to the suite.

Chapter 8.

Ivy had a salad for supper and drank a pot of black coffee in the suite. Midnight came and went, and still Ryder hadn't come in. She tormented herself with the thought of him and that French woman. He'd said he wouldn't, but what if he needed a woman so desperately that he couldn't help himself? She couldn't bear to think about it-Ryder's hard, powerful body against that French woman's soft sensuality.

She put on her gown and lay down, but she couldn't sleep. It was a long time before she finally heard the suite door open. But if Ryder went to his own bedroom immediately, he didn't go to sleep.

He hadn't looked in on Ivy. Tonight, he was too raw to take the risk. He'd thought of nothing but her all day, and despite the taunt he'd made about the French woman, he wanted nothing to do with any woman except Ivy. He undressed and climbed under the sheet, trying to drive the memories of her out of his mind. He could see her the way she'd been at the Castillo in St. Augustine, feel her response on the beach in Savannah. And the more he thought about it, the more aroused he got until his body had him on the rack. He moved restlessly, stifling a groan. He had to get his mind off her!

Ivy heard his restless movements in the other bedroom, despite her closed door. His temper was so short lately that it was almost triggered by breathing. He went from bad to worse, and she didn't know what to do. She had felt him watching her, as if he were waiting for something, but she couldn't decide what. All she knew was that he was hurting in some terrible way, and she wanted to help him.

With the lights out, the noises seemed magnified. She heard what sounded like an agonized groan and, without stopping to think, she got out of bed and turned on the light.

She moved toward his door, all too aware of the dangers of walking into a man's bedroom dressed in a practically see-through blue gown with a bodice cut low in front and back. But this was Ryder, not some stranger, and he was her friend.

She opened the door quietly. The small lamp by his bed was on, but he wasn't reading. He was lying sprawled under part of the sheet, one muscular forearm thrown across his eyes.

Her bare feet made no noise as she walked across the carpet and paused, fascinated, by his bedside. The sheet only covered his hips. The rest of him, from his broad muscular chest with the thick black hair curling down below his lean waist, to his long, powerful bronzed legs with their feathering of hair, was bare to her curious eyes.

She'd never really cared to see Ben without his clothes, but Ryder was another matter. She looked at him with eyes that widened with a shock of pleasure, delighting in his masculinity, in the perfection of his body.

He moved, moaning again, and his forearm slid away from his eyes, revealing Ivy standing by the bed.

He stiffened. "I must be drunk," he said absently.

"I heard you," she said softly. "Are you all right, Ryder?"

His jaw tautened as his eyes slid over her body, lingering on the thrust of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, their creamy rise visible in the deep neckline. Her black eyes were soft, her long black hair falling gently around her creamy shoulders, and he wanted her with such an anguish of longing that it almost choked him. "Get out of here, Ivy," he said huskily. "Quick!"

He sounded dangerous, and for once, she didn't care. She felt alive as never before. She tingled all over, just looking at him.