Call It Destiny

inside his head tonight like loose shrapnel.
    „Do you think going away for a few days to Santa Fe is really necessary, Jake? After all, we’re already living in the kind of place people go for honeymoons,“ Heather joked softly.
    He became still, gazing down into his cognac. This wasn’t the first hesitation she had voiced about going away together. He wished he knew exactly what she was thinking. When he kissed her he could sense the beginnings of a response, but there was no way of knowing whether or not she’d allow herself to give in to that response next week or next month or six months from now. Heather Strand might once have been a creature of passionate impulse and spirited rebellion, but Jake knew she governed herself now with drive and determination. Her success in California and her cool poise could not have been bought with any other coin.
    But he wouldn’t have gotten where he was without the same type of currency. And for him the risk had been greater. There had been no rich welcoming family to fall back on in case he hadn’t succeeded. He knew how to get what he wanted just as Heather did, but Jake told himself that, out of necessity, he’d learned to play a rougher game than any Heather had been forced to learn, „Your family will expect us to go away for a while,“ he pointed out, seeking the most powerful argument he had at his disposal. Right now she seemed so anxious to please her family. Would she ever be equally anxious to please him? „So will the staff.“
    „I suppose so.“ She lifted one shoulder languidly beneath the beautifully hued silk. „Well, I think I can tolerate Santa Fe for a few days,“ she added with a flash of amusement. „I’ve never seen a town so devoted to being quaint and cute in my life as Santa Fe, New Mexico. Except possibly Carmel, California. We can go through the galleries and take in some of the concerts. It might be a nice break for both of us before we come back here and get ready for the season.“
    Jake’s head came up, his face momentarily expressing some of the annoyance and frustration he was unable to totally repress. „It’s supposed to be a honeymoon, not a ‘nice break.’“
    „Jake-“
    „Heather, I’ve told you I won’t push you. But in return I expect you to let things happen naturally.“
    „Naturally to a man generally means jumping into bed at the first opportunity, doesn’t it?“
    She was teasing him, he thought. It was impossible to tell exactly what she was thinking. The only times he trusted his reading of her responses were those rare moments when he held her in his arms. The temptation to push past her barriers of self-confidence and poise welled up in him.
    „Why are you fighting it, Heather?“
    She didn’t pretend to misunderstand. „Because there’s something in you that I don’t quite understand yet. Something I don’t know about you. I can’t explain it any more clearly than that. I just know I need time.“
    He brushed aside the impatience he felt and put out a hand to touch the side of her cheek. „There are things I don’t know or understand yet about you, either. But I think if we are honest with each other on this level…“ He set down his glass and leaned forward to brush his mouth lingeringly across hers. „I think if we are honest on this level,“ he continued in a voice that was thickening slightly, „the rest will follow.“
    He let his lips hover above hers, watching both emotion and intelligence flicker in her hazel eyes. She did want him, he told himself exultantly. All he had to do was find a way to release her from the bonds of restraint she had placed on herself. He wanted to free the passionate rebel that must still be locked inside her somewhere.
    Deliberately he lowered his mouth again, delighting in the small tremor that went through her when he crushed her lips beneath his own. She tasted of sweet womanly promise and of cognac; of late-night warmth and barriers that were not quite so strong at this hour. And when he thrust his tongue past her teeth, Jake was certain he tasted the beginnings of passion.
    Slowly he crowded against her, removing the glass from her hand without lifting his mouth from hers. Her fingertips came up to sink into the fabric of his jacket and when he groaned in response she slid her hands inside.
    „Your fingers feel so good on me,“ he growled against her mouth. „So good.“
    „Oh, Jake….“
    „Relax, honey. We’re going to take this slow.