Raven’s Prey(49)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

His voice hardened. “In spite of what you seem to think is some sort of unnatural relationship between me and my plane, I am capable of a few other interests in life!”

“Such as a good steak?” she challenged with a mischievous smile. “Or a glass of tequila?”

Belatedly he saw the laughter in her and answered with a crooked smile. “Exactly,” he said very smoothly. “Shall we go into the restaurant and eat? I seem to have worked up an appetite.”

“Is it such an effort to keep your fingers from going around my throat?”

He grinned, a slow, laughter-filled grin that reached his eyes. “You know me so very well,” he murmured, getting to his feet and taking her hand.

“They say you never really know a man until he’s tried to teach you flying,” she quipped.

“Who says that?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Surely any number of women who have known pilots,” she answered vaguely.

The mood for dinner seemed to have been established. Somehow the conversation began to flow more freely after that, enlivened by Honor’s natural propensity to tease and Judd’s equally natural tendency to react to her mockery.

The words began to come so easily to him that Judd found himself wondering how he could ever have been worried. Hell, it was obvious that under the right circumstances he was a fantastic conversationalist. Almost as good as the guy in the three-piece suit. The right circumstances, though, seemed to be limited to being with the right woman. It was only Honor to whom he could imagine himself talking so fluently. He found himself telling her about his first solo landing, the times he had flown into incredibly narrow jungle landing strips, the strange people he had worked for off and on through the years and a lot more that he had never told anyone else.

During the course of the evening his rampant curiosity about Honor led him, in turn, to ask one question after another. He learned more about the fierce independence that animated her, finding it an odd complement to the equally strong romantic side of her nature. She fascinated him, and at last he was beginning to understand some of the reasons why.

It was after dinner that he remembered he had promised her an opportunity to dance in the lounge. He had a pang of regret at the rashness of the offer but then recalled that it would give him a perfect chance to hold her in his arms for a while. That thought consoled him as he wondered if he was going to make a fool of himself on the floor. It had been so long….

Honor went into his arms without any such concerns. Any man as coordinated and intrinsically graceful as Judd Raven would just naturally have to be a good dancer. She was right. He held her a little too close but other than that there was no real problem. She wasn’t in a mood to try a lot of fancy steps anyway. The slow, romantic music was just what she wanted that night.

Judd’s hand seemed to glide along the length of her spine, urging her closer with each step. Honor found herself relaxing against him, her head nestled on his shoulder and the warm, masculine scent of him filling her nostrils. Here on the floor, wrapped in his arms and the music, she found it was easy to forget the uneasy nature of their relationship. Why was it so simple to forget the past and the future whenever she found herself in Judd’s arms? It must have something to do with the limited vision of love. Or perhaps it was just that love set its own priorities.

Conversation lagged again while they were dancing, but this time it was a comfortable silence. “Thinking about the Cessna?” she joked after a while. “Wondering if it’s all tucked in for the night?”

“Actually I was thinking about what it would be like to tuck you in for the night,” Judd retorted gently. His hand slipped to the curve of her hip and he felt the tiny shiver that went through her. Instantly his grip tightened until she was pressed close against the hard line of his thighs.

“But you’re not going to find out, are you?” she asked, trying to keep her tone light and wicked. “I seem to recall a certain vow you made to keep your hands off me for the next couple of days. And we all know about your amazing self-control… Oh!” She gasped as he came to a halt in the middle of the floor.

“You should know by now that you have the power to make me forget all about my self-control,” he muttered thickly. His hands settled at her waist and he lowered his head to find her mouth.

She could feel the imprint his strong fingers were leaving on her skin and the room spun as he crushed her mouth with avid hunger. Around them the other dancers moved like shadows. Honor’s arms crept up to circle Judd’s neck and she sighed very softly,

Slowly he began to move them once more to the subtle beat of the music, his mouth lingering on hers. “Honor?”

“Ummm?” She stirred languidly in his grasp.

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to live up to my promise tonight,” he growled huskily against her cheek. His hands flexed at her waist as if he badly wanted to touch her bare skin. “Will you let me take you home and make love to you?”

“Do I have a choice?” she whispered, trembling a little at the urgency of his tone.

He hesitated and then said bluntly, “No, not if I can help it. God, I want you, woman. Please don’t fight me.” Judd lifted his head and stared down at her with glittering obsidian eyes that seemed to burn into her soul. “Let me take you home and make you mine. I’m going out of my head just thinking about the feel of you under me, the way you turn to flame when I touch you. I can’t—”

“Judd, stop it!” she cried softly, her knees growing weak under the spell of his undoubted passion. “You mustn’t talk like that. Not here on a dance floor, for heaven’s sake!” But she knew he had already felt her reaction. How could she stop him tonight when she could feel the rising desire coursing through her veins? She was in love with this man. She would probably never be able to stop him from making love to her whenever he chose.

“Then let’s get out of here,” Judd said briskly, dropping his hands from her waist and taking her wrist. He started toward the door.

“Wait a minute! We’re supposed to be on a date. You promised me dancing and a lovely evening and everything!” She tried unsuccessfully to free her fingers from his grasp but he had her out the door.

“You already know damn good and well I’m not the romantic type!” he growled as he pulled her toward the parked jeep.

“Then what type are you?” she demanded.