From the Heart

Millicent’s eyes?”
    “What the hell does that have to do with anything?”
    “Only to point out that people rarely notice the people who serve them. I waited tables in college, and—”
    “You were a waitress?”
    “Yes, does that surprise you?”
    “It flabbergasts me.” He grinned at her. “I can’t picture you balancing trays and scribbling orders.”
    “I was a terrific waitress.” She frowned and pushed her glasses up on her nose. “What was I trying to say?”
    “When?”
    “How is it you can be so clear-eyed and annoying this morning when you didn’t have any more sleep than I did?”
    He smiled at that as he rose and walked to her. “Because I’ve been sitting here listening to you spout information on the Arapaho and various Plains tribes and thinking that the thing I want most to do is make love to you again.” He pulled her to her feet. “Right now.”
    She accepted the kiss with a murmur of agreement. If she had one disappointment, it was that she had been unable to wake beside him that morning. But there had been Alison to think of. Last night, she thought now as her mouth heated under his, had been much too short. And the night to come was too far away.
    “I don’t think we’re going to get much work done this way,” she murmured.
    “We’re not going to get any done.” Jordan slipped the glasses from her face and put them behind him on the desk.
    “Come on.”
    “Where?”
    “Upstairs.” He was already pulling her to the door.
    “Jordan.” Kasey laughed and tugged on her hand. “It’s eleven o’clock in the morning.”
    “Ten minutes of,” he corrected, glancing at the clock as they passed through the parlor.
    “Jordan, you’re not serious about this.”
    “Tell me that in half an hour.” He was propelling her up the stairs. “Alison’s in school, my mother is at one of her famous committees and I want you.” He opened the door to his room. “In my bed.”
    She was inside and locked in his arms. There was no denying his hunger. She was already dizzy from it. His mouth was ravaging hers as if he had been starved for the taste.
    “Jordan.” Kasey managed to breathe when his lips sought her throat. “We’re hardly alone here.”
    “I don’t see anyone else,” he murmured as his lips trailed up to her ear.
    She moaned and tried to keep her balance. “There are servants all over the house this time of morning.” He pulled her to him for a brief, hard kiss, then released her. Kasey felt the earth tilt.
    In two strides, Jordan was beside the phone. He lifted the receiver and pressed a button without taking his eyes from her. “John, give the staff the day off. Yes, the entire staff. Right now. You’re welcome.” Jordan replaced the phone and smiled at her. “Fifteen people are about to be very grateful to me.”
    “Sixteen,” Kasey corrected. “Thank you, Jordan.”
    He crossed back to her. “For what?”
    “For understanding that I needed to be alone with you. Really alone. It’s important to me.”
    He lifted a hand to her cheek. She was becoming important to him, he realized. Very important. “You will have to make your own coffee, now,” he murmured.
    “What coffee?” With a smile, Kasey began to unbutton his shirt. “Would you like to hear my opinion of coffee?”
    “Not now.” Jordan felt the need pushing at him as she moved to the second button.
    “Well, I suppose I might bore you with it,” she mused, loosening the third button.
    “The one thing I don’t think you could possibly do is bore me.”
    Kasey’s fingers stopped, and her smile spread slowly. “Thank you, Jordan. That’s a very nice thing to say.”
    Deliberately, he took his fingers to the top button of her own shirt. “But if I were to tell you that you were the most generous, the most genuine, person I’ve ever known, you’d change the subject.”
    The warmth filled her and clouded her brain. She didn’t know how to answer, was terrified she would overreact and spoil the moment. Being in love, she discovered, made it more difficult to harness the emotions—and more necessary. “Yes, I imagine I would. I’d probably say something like, ‘Where do you get your shirts? This material is really marvelous.’ ”
    “Kasey.” Her eyes came back to his. “You’re beautiful.”
    She laughed at that, instantly more at ease. “No, I’m not.”
    “You have a dimple at the right corner of your mouth when you smile. When you’re aroused, your eyes darken