Mystic Mountains

crestfallen, darling. You have a queue of officers waiting for the pleasure of your company."
    "But I don 't want them, Tiger, darling. I want ..."
    Tiger swore , holding up a hand. "Don't say another word. You've got all you want, Selena, all you could ever need." He cast his eyes around the sumptuously furnished room.
    "You 're a son of the devil," she spat at him, sliding her long legs over the edge of the bed and slipping into her peach silk robe. Walking towards him with the edges hanging loose to expose her voluptuous curves she touched a finger to his mouth, letting it linger on his bottom lip.
    "That 's no news, Selena." He lifted his arms in a nonchalant shrug. "Always have been. I can't change now any more than you can. Let it be."
    "Who is it?" she asked, her lips curling.
    "Who is what?"
    "The woman?" Her brows arched and there was a spiteful gleam in her almond-shaped eyes. He 'd always been aware she had a vicious streak, despite the great lengths she always went to in order to project a persona of sweetness and charm.
    "Why do women always presume to know what the answers are?" He turned for the door again. She put a restraining hand on his arm. His muscles clenched.
    "Come now, Tiger, don 't take me for a fool. You're not the kind of man to go without a woman in your bed for any length of time. There has to be someone else."
    "Does there?" He gently removed her hand, glancing at the bountiful breasts now heaving with suppressed anger, the smooth line of her ivory hips, the graceful curve of her waistline. "If there is , that is my business and mine alone, Selena." She had successfully put the final nail in the coffin.
    "I 'll get even with you for this, Tiger Carstairs!" Her slim pale hands clenched into fists, and for a moment he thought she might throw caution to the winds and rake his cheek with the talons she'd used many times to excite him in bed.
    "Oh, Selena, darling. " His sigh was exaggerated as he ran a finger down one of her flushed cheeks. "Don't get melodramatic, please. We've had some good times together. You're a woman of the world and knew the way of the game. Let's not spoil what we've shared."
    "I 'll find out who it is, and make her pay." Her eyes narrowed with menace, and for a moment she looked more than her age, the lines about her eyes and mouth more pronounced.
    "Do that and you'll rue the day." With that steely summation he pointed a finger at her, opened the door and walked out. 
    Tiger paused fractionally as she slammed it so hard behind him the walls seemed to vibrate. He went through the front door with his back rigid, then heard her yelling like a wharf -side doxie for her maid as he reached for Satan's reins.
    There was a bitter taste in his mouth as he rode home. Your trouble, Timothy Carstairs, he rebuked himself, is you 're too soft in the centre. Never did like hurting a female. If it were any other woman he would likely have had little regret about ending the affair. But Selena, for all her sharp words, had been a fine mistress, meeting his every need with a fervor matching his own.
    Was he a fool? Perhaps. Too late now for going back. The matter had been drawing to a head for months now, ever since a certain red-haired shrew entered his life and turned it around. Closing his eyes he let Satan find his own way home.
    The little wench had felt so soft, so womanly in his arms that one time he 'd held her. Her curves were not as luscious as Selena's, her legs not as long, and her face nowhere near as beautiful, so why did his every waking thought settle on her?
    Was it the way she stirred his protective instincts and brought out something essentially masculine in him? She was his property, after all. His to sample any time he chose. He laughed out loud at that bit of foolishness. What an assumption. She 'd likely go for him with a carving knife if he tried to bed her. Mind you, the little chit wasn't immune to him; he'd proved that much. He sighed, still able to feel her pliant softness beneath his hands. Tiger groaned as desire rose up in him, strong and deep. Then he called himself all the fools. Thelma would kill him if he took liberties with the girl. And likely demand he wed her.
    The marriage trap was one he' d thought seriously about lately. Truth was, a man with his background had a very well defined path to tread here in the colony. His aim was to find a presentable female from the upper echelon. Looks meant little; it was the title and position he was after.