Diamond Spur. Diana Palmer

very possessive lately,” she said, but it flattered her that he cared, that he didn’t want anything to happen to her.

      “Of course I’m possessive. I owe you my life a time or two.” He sighed roughly. “I don’t want a man to...hurt you,” he said finally, and his dark eyes were troubled. “Inevitably, if you move in those circles, you’re going to meet some experienced men, and you won’t know how to handle them. You could get drunk one time too many in the wrong company, or you could be flattered too much by a man’s attentions. And the first time, if a man isn’t damned gentle....” He stopped, frowning as he searched for the right words. “I don’t want you used.”

      She smiled, because she knew what he was trying to say. It delighted her that he had trouble saying it when most men were permissive and worldly and blunt. He wasn’t a virgin, she was sure, but he wasn’t all that experienced, either. She dropped her eyes to his chest. “I promise I won’t jump into bed with the first man who asks me, Jason.” She stared at his chest. “Anyway, I don’t like it when men touch me. Except that I’ve always wondered what it would be like...if you did.”

      He felt the ground go out from under him. Until the past two days he’d never thought of Kate as a woman, and now he couldn’t think of her any other way. Her mouth was sweet and responsive and he wanted it again. He wanted to put his hands under that silky blouse and touch her bare breasts, to see if they were really as soft as they felt lying against his chest. He wanted to drag her hips back against his and make her feel the strength of the arousal he hadn’t wanted her to know about.

      “Don’t make jokes,” he said tersely.

      Her face felt warm, but it wasn’t the time for subterfuge. “I’m not,” she said honestly. “If I ever...well, if I wanted anyone, I mean...” She was as bad as he was about this, she thought, almost laughing at her own inefficiency. “I can’t imagine being that intimate with someone I’ve only just met,” she murmured. “It would have to be someone I knew very well.”

      “Like me?” he prompted quietly.

      Her body tingled. She couldn’t quite meet his eyes. “Yes.”

      “If I’d let you,” he said after a minute, trying to lessen some of the tension that was building between them and playing hell with his good intentions, not to mention his agonized body.

      She glanced up to find a faint, rather forced amusement in those dark eyes. “Oh, so it’s that way, is it?” she took him up, delighted at the new familiarity they were sharing so unexpectedly. “I’d have to seduce you, I gather?”

      “Damned straight,” he returned. “I’m not one of those fast city boys. You won’t get me into bed without a fight.”

      She laughed, her eyes sparkling, her face radiant. “Well, I never.”

      “I know,” he mused.

      She hit his chest with a small, playful fist. “Tease.”

      “Flirt.”

      She stared up at him with pleasure and adoration written all over her. “If you’re going to play hard to get, I’ll just go home.”

      “That might be wise,” he sighed. He dragged a cigarette from his pocket with fingers he had to force to be steady, and lit it. “You’re getting me all stirred up.”

      Her eyebrows lifted. “Well, you started it.”

      “I guess I did.” He touched her cheek gently. “Are you sorry?”

      She shook her head. “If we’re making confessions, I’ve wondered for a long time what it would feel like if you kissed me.”

      His chest swelled. “I’ve wondered the same thing about you, just lately.”

      She smiled with aching pleasure. “I thought you were mad at me when you came out here.”

      “I think I was.” He drew from his cigarette, and said, “I just don’t want to lose you.”

      “And I’ve already told you, I’m just going to a few fashion shows, that’s all. I’m not going to have my head turned by fancy living.”

      “It’s easy to say, isn’t it?” he asked with faint cynicism. “I grew up poor, honey. I remember what it was like when we started making money here. But that’s something you’re going to have to find out for yourself, I guess.”

      “That doesn’t make sense,” she said softly.

      “It will. Kiss me good night and go home. Want me to follow you in the Bronco to make sure you get there all right?”

      She was still staggering from his request. Her wide eyes welded to his, she couldn’t be bothered to worry about getting home.

      “Kiss you good night?” she whispered.

      “Don’t you want to?” he whispered back, bending. “This kind of thing can get addictive, especially when it feels this sweet. Come on. Open that soft little mouth and fit it to mine, Katy,” he murmured as his face came closer.

      She obeyed him, trembling as she felt the moist warmth of his lips so close against her own. She parted her lips and nudged them up against his, and moaned when he returned the caress with biting hunger. The sound worked on his blood like fire. He looped an arm around her shoulders and brought her roughly against his chest while the pressure of his mouth pushed her head back onto his muscular arm. Time hung like the stars while they fed on each other, and it was a long time before Jason could manage to drag himself away.

      Jason’s eyes were almost frightening with their hot glitter as they searched Kate’s. “You and your damned soft breasts are giving me hell,” he breathed shakily. “Next time, wear a bra, unless you want to watch me strip you to the waist out of sheer frustration.”

      Her mouth opened on a gasp and he bent long enough to crush his own over it for an instant. Then he let her go and moved back a step. She tried to stop shaking.

      “Jason!” she exclaimed.

      “I’m not made of solid rock,” he reminded her. His eyes went to her blouson, where the sharp tips of her breasts were straining against the thin fabric. “God, that excites me,” he said roughly.

      She blinked, because in some ways, her education was a little faulty. “What?”

      He sighed wearily. “Kate...this.” He brushed the back of his hand softly over her breast, and she jerked back on an inverted breath. “Didn’t you know that a woman’s body shows arousal that way?” he asked her gently.

      “I do now, thanks,” she fumbled, wrapping her arms around herself in a flurry of embarrassment.

      “Stop that,” he scolded gently. “Remember who I am, Kate.”

      “I’m trying,” she replied lightly, her eyes fascinated with him and this new and sudden intimacy. But she moved her arms. Odd, how her body tingled when he looked at her breasts. For one wild instant, she thought about what he’d threatened, about stripping her to the waist and looking at her there....

      “Why the wild blush?” he asked, his voice deep and velvety. He kissed her closed eyelids. “If you want to experiment, I’ll let you do it with me. At least you’ll be safe that way.”

      “Oh, Jason,” she moaned, “I feel so strange...!”

      “And so threatened. And there’s no need.” He pressed his mouth to her forehead. “I’m going to take exquisite care of you. Now go home before things get out of hand. Lovemaking is one thing, but sex is something else again.” He lifted his head and searched her eyes. “I won’t let you sleep with me, Kate. Virginity is something you should save for marriage.”

      “Nobody else does,” she replied.

      “Bull,” he shot back. “That’s another myth. It’s the fashion to be sexually liberated these days, but it’s damned dangerous,