Call It Destiny

being slowly and deliberately consumed by his.
    His kiss wasn’t quite what she had expected. For one thing she certainly hadn’t anticipated this degree of controlled hunger. Oddly dazed by the experience, she unconsciously sank her fingertips into the fabric of the tailored, pin-striped shirt he wore. His mouth moved on hers, exploring, tasting, learning the feel of her in incredibly intimate fashion.
    She felt his hands slide around her waist to find the gentle curve at the base of her spine. Then he applied a steady pressure, urging her against his thighs. It was a small shock to her body to learn the promise of heat and hardness that awaited her there. Her lips parted in a low moan of uncertainty; a moan that was silenced as his tongue luxuriously invaded her mouth.
    Heather clung to him, her body vibrantly aware of the gathering warmth of both the day and the man who held her. Her instincts responded to both and her fingertips curved around his broad shoulders in a small gesture of budding excitement. He wanted her. And the flickering uncoiling sensation in the deepest places of her body warned Heather that Jake could make her want him.
    Slowly, with infinite reluctance Jake lifted his head. He continued to hold her molded to the length of his lean body, and the gray smoke of his gaze reflected the lingering, heavily restrained desire in him.
    „Don’t fight it, Heather. There’s no reason we shouldn’t want each other, is there?“ he murmured with soft male persuasion. „After all, we’re going to be married.“
    Heather tried to speak, swallowed and tried again. „No, there’s no reason. It’s just that I…we, well, we hardly know each other and there’s been so little time.“ She was stumbling over the words, and the knowledge both alarmed and irritated her. After all, she was nearly thirty years old with several years’ experience in handling all kinds of males. She had dealt with them as friends, co-workers, employers and employees.
    But all things considered, she hadn’t dealt with them very often as lovers.
    „Heather, we don’t need that clause in the contract. Trust me this much, will you? A little trust is a valuable ingredient in any kind of relationship, marriage or business.“
    „You won’t rush me?“
    „I won’t rush you.“
    „You won’t make demands?“
    „I won’t make demands.“
    „You won’t sulk or argue or give me the silent treatment if I take my time deciding what I want?“
    „I can guarantee I won’t sulk.“ There was amusement in his lightening expression.
    Heather responded to it, her lips curving in an equally humorous smile. „Then I suppose we can keep that part of the contract on a verbal agreement basis,“ she declared judiciously.
    „You drive a hard bargain, lady.“
    „My father was an excellent teacher.“ Heather pulled free of his light embrace and started down the path toward the kitchens. When he fell into step beside her, slowing his long gliding stride to match hers, she knew a pleasant sense of having resolved an uneasy issue.
    „Call it a compromise, Heather,“ Jake suggested gently.
    „Mother has been lecturing me all week on the necessity of compromising in marriage,“ Heather admitted with a tiny grin.
    „You’ve been very patient with Ruth’s attempts to organize our wedding. It means a lot to her.“
    „I know.“
    „Are you trying to make up for the way you ran off eleven years ago?“
    „Perhaps.“
    Jake considered that in silence as they walked through the side doors of the gleaming kitchens of the Hacienda Strand. Whatever he would have said in response was lost as they confronted the scene of energetic, highly skilled activity that greeted them. The kitchens had been redone two years previously and as a result they were a model of stainless-steel efficiency and cleanliness. Heather remembered this place as a refuge in her childhood. Here she had been able to come after school for a chocolate-chip cookie and a glass of milk. It was here, too, where she could make herself scarce whenever her father was annoyed with her. For some reason he never thought to come looking in the kitchens. And it had been here where she had found someone to teach her how to ride a motorcycle that last year in high school.
    „Miss Strand! You made it. We’ve been looking forward to your visit. Come on in, come on in.“
    „Hello, Julian,“ Heather said with a smile as the robust chef, Julian Richards, came toward them through the