Part 13 (1/2)

away her old pain and fear with a single kiss. She reached out and, brus.h.i.+ng his hand away, slid her

fingers over his thigh. Slowly, gently, she began to knead the muscle the way she had watched him do.

”G.o.d, that feels good.”

The anger was gone from his voice, and the old Blu, the one she felt safe with, returned. Kristen moved closer, continued to ma.s.sage his thigh, her fingers enjoying the feel of him, as well as her body. ”Blu?” ”Hmm...” ”Remember last night when you kissed me at Spirit World?” ”I remember.” ”You kissed me because you thought I was going to scream?” ”That's right.” Kristen's hand stilled on his thigh. ”And that was the only reason?” She watched him open his eyes and suddenly they were locked in an intense silent stare. When he said nothing, Kristen slowly sat up. Then stood. ”Take it easy now.” He sat up, shoved his black hair away from his face. ”It was just a way to keep you quiet. You've got nothing to worry about.” A way to keep you quiet. No backbone. Naive. Weakling.It registered, then, what he was really saying.

Of course she didn't have anything to worry about. No man was interested inused merchandise.

Kristen took a step back. He had a right to feel disgusted by what she had allowed Salva to do to her, that was true enough. She was disgusted herself. Still, the lump in her throat was cutting off her air and making her eyes sting. Oh, G.o.d, she didn't want to cry. It would make her look twice as naive. Twice the weakling. And she had actually thought he had enjoyed kissing her.

Kristen blinked fiercely and won the battle. But the Blu Devil was a man who was used to reading between the lines. ”What is it? What's wrong? You have no reason to be afraid.”

”Nothing's wrong. And I'm not afraid. I'm fine.”

”You don't look fine.”

Kristen sniffed. ”Thanks a lot. You're just full of wonderful words to describe me tonight. Disgusting. Naive. Now I'm ugly. That's just what every girl wants to-”

”What the h.e.l.l are you talking about?” He was really studying her now, his eyes searching. ”Are you going to cry?”

”Over your opinion of me. Ha!” Kristen wanted to leave with dignity, but instead she bolted out of the room-she'd been such an idiot.

She was up the stairs and almost across the boat deck before she was wrenched off her feet and fused to Blu's hard body.

”Let go!” Kristen fought as she had never fought before. ”I said, don't touch me you ... you oversize ... tree.” She kicked out, swung her fists, forgetting all about his injuries. He grunted in pain, but his arms still banded around her. She slapped his cheek, then bit his shoulder.

He swore when she tried to lift her knee into his groin.

While she still pummeled him, he turned and carried her back down the stairs. She was still screaming, still abusing him as he pa.s.sed through the galley and made it down the hall to the bedroom. He dumped her on the bed, backtracked and shut the door, then leaned against.i.t.

Kristen scrambled off the bed, her pride wounded, her nostrils flaring. ”I want out of here!”

”Not until I've figured out what the h.e.l.l just happened.”

His cheek was red where she'd slapped him, and she'd left a faint imprint of her teeth on his left shoulder. Kristen felt ashamed. She'd been crazy to think Blu could be interested in her. After all, she was a woman with no memory and a bruised body that clearly defined her as another man's plaything.

”Listen, I already told you you can trust me. After what Maland did to you I understand your fear. I agree that kissing you at Lema's wasn't the smartest idea. We let ... I let it go too far. When I touched you like I did... Well, I know I had no right to do that.” He held up a hand, as if he were a Boy Scout swearing an oath. ”Don't worry, I don't intend to touch you like that again. I don't enjoy...”

Kristen refused to cry. ”I think the word you're looking for is 'wh.o.r.e.' I know what letting a man climb all over me makes me. What men think about women like that.”

”What? h.e.l.l, that's not what I'm thinking. Where did that come from?” He started toward her. ”You've got it all wrong.”

”Don't.” Kristen shook her head, took another step backward. ”Don't come near me. I get the picture.”

”No, I don't think you do.”

He took two more steps. This time it was Kristen's turn to hold up her hand. ”Don't. Don't even think about touching me.”

”Oh, I'm going to touch you. That's the one thing you can be sure of,fille.” ”No!” ”I was keeping my distance for your sake, trying to ease your mind. I didn't want you to think I was helping you for the wrong reason. But what you're thinking now is far worse.”

”You said you kissed me to shut me up.”

”Okay, I lied.” He shrugged. ”I gave you the excuse I thought you needed to hear to feel safe.”

”I told you I wasn't afraid of you,” Kristen argued.

”Meaning what? Exactly what do you want from me?”

Kristen didn't feel confident enough to admit that his kiss had rocked her world. That she had wanted

him to kiss her again, to hold her. To do more than just hold her. She fell back on safe words. ”I know

what I am, and you do, too. A man doesn't want another man's-”

”Don't tell me what I want. It's been h.e.l.l keeping my hands off you. I've been living with tight jeans for days.”

His admission shocked her, then sent her gaze to his crotch. It was true, his jeans were taut in all the right places. A distinct bulge aligned his zipper.

He started toward her again. Kristen backed up until she had put herself in the corner. ”Blu...”

”I like my name coming out of that sweet little mouth of yours. I like the way you run your tongue over your bottom lip afterward.” He took two more steps and rocked forward, sniffed. ”I like how you smell, too. Like sweet gra.s.s and lemon.”

Kristen couldn't move, couldn't help wondering what he would do next. She wasn't fool enough to believe that a night spent in Blu's arms would change everything, but she knew for certain that if there was a man on this earth who could cleanse her body and her soul it was Blu duFray.

He reached out and tangled a finger around a long strand of her hair. There was a deep sigh, a rush ofair. Kristen was holding her breath so she knew the sigh was his. His eyes roamed her face with agalvanized stare that made her s.h.i.+ver. Again she knew he was trying to read her. Well, she was trying toread him, too. Andthat look, coupled with his body language was making things very clear-the BluDevil was going to do more than kiss her before the night was over.

So there was no mistake what he read in her eyes, Kristen rested her hands on Blu's bare chest, then, as she parted her lips, she slid her hands upward and wrapped her arms around his neck.

* * * Salvador Maland found his missing sailboat in the coastal village of Punta Gorda. The last stop before the Guatemalan border, the primitive, edge-of-the-world outpost was the last place he had expected to find his expensive sailboat.

He'd spent days searching for Kristen and with each one that pa.s.sed, his temper slipped a notch. Daily he barked out orders to his men, and at night he paced the deck of his sixty-foot luxury yacht with a military stride that warned his crew his mind was in a very dark place.