Witchcraft

aware of a presence standing in the doorway behind her. She swung around abruptly, Cavenaugh's warning about not going beyond the rock wall slamming into her head. For an instant as she stared at the figure silhouetted against the sun she couldn't see who it was. A shaft of fear sizzled through her. And then he moved. " Cavenaugh ! It's you." She smiled in relief. "You scared the daylights out of me." He remained where he was, dark and rather intimidating as he filled the doorway. He had his familiar suede jacket hooked negligently over his shoulder. Dressed in jeans and a blue work shirt he could have passed for one of his own employees except for the air of grim command that emanated from him.
    "Let's see how good our nonverbal communication is, Kim," he suggested sardonically. "Why don't you try reading my mind?" Kimberly grimaced wryly. "Right now I can read you like an open book. You're angry because I disobeyed orders and went beyond the wall, aren't you? Going to yell at me?"
    "I probably should. I didn't give those orders lightly, Kim. I gave them for your own protection."
    "I know," she said, sighing.
    She slowly hung the old harness back on a rusty nail. "You'll have to make allowances for me. I've never been very good at taking orders from people who thought they k new what was best for me. Go ahead and yell."
    He stepped through the door, his face moving out of the shadows and into a ray of light streaming through a crack. Green eyes met hers with a flash of genuine understanding. "I have a feeling chewing you out wouldn't do a whole lot of good. Besides, I know why you disobeyed orders in the first place. And I guess that if I'm perfectly honest I can't say I blame you. It can get to be a bit much." She smiled weakly.
    "Your family and your employees are all very nice, Cavenaugh ."
    "But they drive you crazy at times." She looked at him with gratitude. "I'm just not used to big families."
    "You're not used to any kind of family, are you?"
    "No, I suppose not. For a long time there was just mom and me and then there was just me."
    "And you like it that way."
    "It's been pleasant." "Lots of freedom," he observed, taking a step closer so that he could look directly down into her face. "Don't you think I know what that feels like? Not having to worry about anyone but yourself? Not having to solve everyone else's problems? Being free to come and go as you like? Not being on call for everyone from your sister to your aunt's nutty friends?" And suddenly Kimberly realized that she wasn't the only one who craved some time alone. Her stay in the household was only temporary. Cavenaugh , however, was trapped by the responsibilities he had undertaken. And being the man he was he would never walk away from them. "Ah, Cavenaugh ," she whispered softly, lifting a hand to touch the side of his face. "I hadn't realized, hadn't understood how it was for you." Her amber eyes brimmed with comprehension and gentleness. "Kim," he muttered, letting the suede jacket slide to the dusty floor. "Kimberly, I ... " He bit off the words, reaching out to pull her into his arms with a rough hunger that seemed to explode out of nowhere. His sudden passion swamped her. Kimberly felt his arms close around her, his hands sweeping with aching longing over her body as his mouth captured hers. She parted her lips willingly when he demanded the intimacy. And when he cupped her hips, drawing her jeaned thighs against his own, she moaned softly. His body hardened violently as it encountered her gentle curves. Beneath the snug fabric of his clothing she could feel the unmistakable evidence of his arousal. The primitive knowledge thrilled Kimberly, filling her with a rush of heady desire.
    She had been telling herself for the past three days that she didn't know this man well enough to even think of becoming involved with him.
    What she did know about him seemed to indicate that he was all wrong for her, in any event. Yet this afternoon she had finally understood that they weren't so very different, after all. Cavenaugh had been trapped in a situation she'd always avoided, but that didn't mean his longings weren't the same as her own. He could never be really free the way she was, but she empathized totally with what his self-denial must have cost him. "Can you read my mind now, Kim?" he demanded huskily as he drew his mouth reluctantly away from her own. His palms slid up under her cotton knit shirt, finding the clasp of her bra. When it came