Just Kate: His Only Wife (Bestselling Author Collection) Read online

  “What?” she demanded, nettled.

  “I’ve missed you, Katie-did,” he said.

  Kate didn’t know what that meant and was afraid to ask. She hadn’t suspected that Sean ever thought about her, let alone missed her. “I guess you knew I had a major crush on you,” she commented.

  He reached out, placed an index finger under her chin and lifted it. “I was flattered,” he told her.

  She felt her cheeks heat up again. “You were my sister’s husband,” she reminded him, feeling the old guilt rise up within her.

  “It’s no sin to care about somebody,” he reasoned, and for just a moment, shadows flickered in his eyes, sad and dark. Kate knew he was thinking about Abby, and she felt like an intruder.

  “Did you love my sister?” she asked.

  “Once,” Sean answered, and there was no more talk of past loves after that. They finished their meal, and Sean drove Kate back to her building. He was parking the car, while she waited near the elevator, when Brad appeared.

  He looked terrible. There were dark smudges under his eyes, his hair was mussed and he needed to shave. “How could you do it?” he rasped. “How could you sell me out like that?”

  Kate automatically retreated when he took a step toward her. He lunged in a burst of rage, and Kate screamed when his hands closed painfully over her shoulders.

  The next thing she knew, Brad was sailing backward, colliding with one of the concrete pillars that supported the floors above.

  Sean had finished parking the car.

  Chapter 3

  Brad raised himself cautiously from the floor, one hand on his jaw. He was glaring at Sean, but he spoke to Kate. “It didn’t take you long to replace me, did it?”

  Kate was shaken. A brutal headache was taking shape behind her eyes. Beside her, Sean was silent, though she could feel his fury. “Please,” she muttered, avoiding Brad’s eyes. “Just go away.”

  She saw her former fiancé sway slightly on his feet and caught the scent of liquor. It was early afternoon and Brad was drunk.

  “Thanks to you,” he said, “I might be going away for a long time. Didn’t I mean anything at all to you, Kate?”

  Unconsciously, she moved a little closer to Sean, but she met Brad’s gaze without flinching. “I didn’t turn you in, Brad,” she said. The elevator arrived then, and she stepped into it.

  Sean followed, while Brad stared at her from outside.

  “I won’t forget this, Kate,” he vowed.

  Kate covered her eyes with one hand and sank against the back wall of the elevator the moment the doors were closed. “Damn,” she whispered. Her stomach began to churn as the headache intensified.

  Without speaking, Sean put an arm around her. She leaned against him, too shaken to resist.

  When they left the elevator at her floor, Sean held out his hand. “Let me have the key,” he said softly.

  Dazed, Kate found her key ring in the bottom of her purse and handed it to him. “It’s the one with the number engraved at the top,” she told him.

  Sean opened the door, then surprised Kate by lifting her into his arms. “It’s time somebody made a bit of a fuss over you, love,” he said huskily, carrying her inside.

  Kate didn’t even think of resisting when he carried her to the bed and laid her carefully down on top of the comforter. He spoke soothingly as he took off her shoes and tossed them aside, then massaged her calves.

  She wondered how Abby could ever have described this man as cruel.

  He left her, and she heard the door of the medicine cabinet open and close in the bathroom. Soon he was back with a glass of water and a couple of aspirin.

  Kate swallowed the pills gratefully and fell back to her pillows with a little moan. She rarely took aspirin because it always knocked her out.

  When she awakened, the room was full of shadows, and Sean was stretched out, fully clothed except for his shoes, on the bed beside her. His hands were cupped behind his head, and he appeared to be asleep.

  Kate gasped at the rush of sensations that washed over her, and lay down again. She was afraid to move or speak, in case Sean would awaken and leave her.

  After a long time she became aware that he was already awake, despite the fact that his eyes were closed.

  “Feeling better, Katie-did?” he asked in a low voice.

  Kate licked her lips. She could feel the hard heat of his body to the marrow of her bones, and she was terrified of what she might betray when she spoke. “Much,” she managed.

  He opened his eyes and turned onto his side. Lightly he brushed her lips with his own, and rested his hand just beneath the fullness of her breast. “Good,” he said.

  Kate barely held back a whimper as he brushed his thumb over her nipple. “Sean,” she whispered, and the word was a plea. She wanted him to touch her, and not to touch her.

  He kissed her thoroughly, as he had the night before in his car, his lips mastering hers, his tongue foreshadowing an invasion of another kind. Kate eased her arms around his neck and responded with everything that was in her.

  She did not want to think of how wrong she’d been before when she’d fallen in love with Brad Wilshire.

  Presently Sean pushed aside her jacket and began opening the tiny pearl buttons on her blouse. She tensed, arching her back in a spasmodic surrender, when he pushed up her bra and cupped a naked breast in the warmth of his hand.

  “Please,” she whispered. Please stop, please go on, please be the man I believe you to be.

  Sean slid downward and took her nipple into his mouth in a bold suckling kiss. Kate cried out, entangling her fingers in his hair to press him closer.

  He reached beneath her skirt, grasping her through the thin material of her panty hose, forcing her to spread her thighs for him. He spoke quietly as he caressed her and, fevered, she put her hands behind his head and drew him back to her breast.

  He chuckled as he nipped at the peak.

  Kate, always cool and professional, was out of control. Between the stimulation of her breast and the masterful motions of his hand, she was losing her mind. She thrust her hips upward, and Sean immediately peeled her panty hose down to the middle of her thighs. She longed to part her legs, but she couldn’t, and Sean took immediate advantage of her position.

  Then, with the same finger, he invaded her. She sobbed his name and dug her heels into the bed so that she could lift herself to him. All the while suckling and plying her with his thumb, Sean worked her into a frenzy.

  “Take me,” she pleaded, clutching him. “Oh, Sean, please—please—take me!”

  He left her breast to nibble and kiss the length of her neck. “Not this time, Katie-did,” he said, just as Kate exploded and became a part of the sunset.

  Her body jerked with sweet aftershocks for several moments, then she fell, exhausted, to the comforter. Sean withdrew his finger, caressed the pulsing bit of flesh where a lifetime of pleasure lay waiting to be shared, then raised himself on one elbow to look down at her. After studying her face, as if to memorize it, he kissed her and then sat up.

  Sensing that he meant to leave her, Kate scrambled into a sitting position and laid her hands on his shoulders. “Sean, make love to me.”

  He shook his head once and then drew gently away from Kate to stand with his back to her. “Giving you pleasure is one thing,” he said in a hoarse voice. “Taking it is another.”

  Kate was completely confused. She hadn’t had a whole lot of experience with men, but she knew Sean wanted her as much as she wanted him. Her fingers were awkward as she tossed away her panty hose and tried to button her blouse. “I—I wanted to give myself to you.”

  At last he turned to face her. “I know you did, sweet,” he said, “but you’re not ready for that.”

  Kate gave up on her blouse and went to the closet, keeping her shoulders straight. “I’ll be thirty years old in two weeks, Sean,” she said, finding her pink terry cloth bathrobe. Turning, she tossed it onto the bed and began undressing.
“Just how ready do I have to be?”

  Sean looked at her the way a starving man looks at meat as she deliberately stripped away her jacket, her blouse, her tangled bra and skirt. She saw him swallow convulsively when she lowered her half-slip to stand before him naked.

  “My God,” he whispered. “Put your robe on.”

  Kate didn’t move.

  He shoved the splayed fingers of one hand through his hair. “Katie, if you don’t do as I say, I’ll walk out of here right now.”

  She reached for her robe and put it on. The motion of her hands was quick and angry.

  Sean rose out of his chair. “In two days,” he said gently, reasonably, “I’ll be going back to Australia. I can’t make love to you and then leave you behind.”

  There was a sob in Kate’s voice as she shrugged and asked, “Why not? Don’t guys do that every day?”

  “Katie, don’t,” he pleaded hoarsely.

  It had been another awful day, and sure as hell, Kate thought, her horoscope probably promised roses and moonbeams. “You don’t have to feel guilty,” she said as tears slipped down her cheeks. “After all, I came on to you—”

  “Stop it!” Sean rasped, rounding the bed and grasping her by the shoulders. She winced, since Brad’s hold had bruised her earlier, and saw her own pain reflected in Sean’s eyes.

  He pulled her close and held her. “Katie,” he said, and that one word explained everything and nothing.

  A few moments later Sean released her. “I’ll go and get us something to eat,” he said.

  Kate didn’t want food, she wanted Sean, but she knew he wouldn’t violate his principles by making love to her. He probably still loved Abby very much, and that would make his guilt unbearable.

  When she heard the door close, Kate went into the living room, opened the curtains to let in the sparkling night view of the city and put on some soft music. Her body was still reverberating with the savage pleasure Sean had introduced her to such a short time before.

  About half an hour had passed when Sean returned with take-out hamburgers, sodas and french fries. By that time, Kate had lit the gas fireplace, brushed her hair and misted herself with her favorite perfume.

  Sean looked at her and shook his head. “I was hoping you would have changed into a sweat suit by now,” he said.

  Kate smiled. “You’re lucky I’m not naked,” she told him.

  He shook his head again. “I don’t think lucky is the right word,” he observed, and the paper bags rustled as he took out the fragrant food.

  “This stuff is terrible for us,” Kate said, just before she took a big bite of her hamburger. She was sitting near the hearth, and Sean joined her.

  He glanced at the flickering fire, then the spectacle beyond the windows, then the sound system. “Are you trying to seduce me?” he asked forthrightly.

  “Yes,” Kate answered, chewing.

  He laughed and brushed a crumb from her chin. “I ought to turn you over my knee,” he said.

  “Kinky,” Kate replied, wriggling her eyebrows.

  Sean reached out suddenly, yanked Kate across his lap, and gave her derriere a sound but painless swat. Laughing, she struggled to sit up, and in the process her robe opened and her breasts were bared. The firelight played over them with shadowy fingers, and Sean choked on a french fry.

  Kate didn’t move. She couldn’t have, even if she’d wanted to. It was as though the whole world, all of time and creation, was holding its breath.

  Like a man bewildered, Sean reached out to touch her. She closed her eyes and let her head fall back as his fingers gently shaped her nipple. Within an instant, he drew back, and Kate trembled with humiliation, unable to meet his eyes when she felt him close her robe.

  There were tears glistening along her lashes when she forced herself to look at him. “I’m sorry, Sean,” she said brokenly.

  He laid his hand to her cheek. “Don’t be,” he told her. Then he got to his feet and went to stand at the window, looking out. It had begun to rain, and the city lights were shifting, shimmering splotches of color against the glass.

  Kate sniffled and rose from the floor. Carefully, almost primly, she retied the belt of her robe, as though to prevent what had already happened. She had to say something; she couldn’t bear the accusing silence. “I’m really glad you were with me today when we ran into Brad.”

  Sean didn’t look at her. “Does he have a key to this place, Katie-did?” he asked.

  Kate supposed she deserved the kind of disrespect that question indicated, but she still had some pride. She lifted her chin. “What if he does?” she countered.

  “If he does, I’m staying the night,” Sean answered, glaring at her over one shoulder. “He might decide to come back here and avenge his honor or some such rot.”

  Recalling the way Brad had grabbed her, Kate shuddered. She’d seen a side of the man in the past twenty-four hours that she’d never suspected was there. “He might,” she agreed.

  Sean was examining the couch. “Does this thing fold out?” he wanted to know.

  “Why?” Kate retorted. “Are you tired?”

  He pointed a finger at her. “Yes,” he answered. “And you stay away from me, sheila.”

  Kate wanted to scream and throw things. After all, she hadn’t been the one to start all this.

  She stormed across the room, picked up the newspaper that had been delivered earlier and turned to the horoscope page. She could expect everything to go her way that day, according to the prediction.

  “Sure!” she yelled, wadding up the paper and flinging it down.

  *

  Sean’s mind was not on the business of buying a fleet of airliners. He’d already read all the reports and blueprints and, most important of all, he’d taken the plane up several times. He was relieved when the last meeting with the Simmons Aircraft people ended and he was free to leave.

  He was behind the wheel of his rented sports car, loosening his tie with one hand and turning the radio dial with the other, when the news story broke. Senator John Blake had suffered a heart attack en route to Washington. He was in critical condition in a Seattle hospital.

  Even in the days when things were still good between him and Abby, Sean and the senator had not been friends. Abby’s lies and the kidnapping attempt against Gil had made things infinitely worse. For all of that, Sean was sorry to hear the news.

  His first concern was Kate. She was a little fragile these days, given the falling-out with her father and the broken engagement. She was probably pacing in some waiting room, feeling guilty as hell.

  He pulled out into traffic and headed in the general direction of the hospital mentioned on the newscast. When he arrived, there were news vans everywhere, along with a small contingent of reporters. He pushed his way through and strode up to the admissions desk.

  “I’m Senator Blake’s son-in-law,” he told the clerk.

  The young woman gave him a look of mingled appreciation and skepticism. “I’ll just check that out, if you don’t mind. Your name, sir?”

  “Sean Harris,” he answered, watching the woman press a sequence of numbers with a long manicured finger. That told him all he needed to know, but he waited politely while she relayed his name to someone on the other end of the line.

  “That was Ms. Blake,” the receptionist said. “She says it’s all right for you to come up. It’s suite 4102. We have to be very careful, you understand…”

  Sean nodded impatiently and walked to the elevators.

  Kate was waiting for him when he got off. She was dressed in jeans and a yellow cotton shirt, and her dark hair fell free around her shoulders. Her beautiful blue eyes were swollen from crying, and she kept running her palms down the legs of her jeans.

  Wordlessly Sean held out his arms, and she flew into them.

  “How is he?” Sean asked after a few moments, still holding her tightly.

  She looked up at him and sniffled. “The doctors think he’ll be okay,” she said. “If only I
hadn’t—”

  Sean laid a finger to her lips. “Don’t say it, Kate. Don’t even think it. The senator’s heart attack wasn’t your fault.”

  She drew back from him, but caught his hand in hers. “I wish I could be so sure of that,” she said.

  Sean wanted to take her home with him, to shelter and spoil her, to make love to her endlessly. She’d done what a long line of models, businesswomen and stewardesses hadn’t been able to manage—she’d won his heart. A fraction of a moment before she’d swung her purse at that mugger’s head, before Sean had realized who she was, he’d fallen in love.

  He took Kate by the arm and ushered her to a plastic sofa, where they both sat down. Mrs. Blake was probably in the room with her husband, and no one else was around except for a couple of members of the senator’s staff.

  Kate was studying Sean’s face. “You have to go back to Australia,” she remembered with a note of resignation in her voice.

  He nodded. Gil would be expecting him back, and the other members of Austra-Air’s board of directors were anxious to hear his report on the new jet. He’d spent two nights on Kate’s couch already, and he couldn’t protect her forever, even though he wanted that more than anything.

  “Did you have the locks changed?” he asked, worried about Brad Wilshire and his temper.

  Despite everything, a grin formed on Kate’s pale, fine-boned face. “I didn’t need to,” she confessed in a mischievous whisper. “Brad never had a key. I just wanted you to stay.”

  The knowledge made Sean happy, though he tried to hide it. It wasn’t proper to jump up in the air and shout for joy when somebody was suffering from a heart attack just a few walls away. “Let’s have a promise that you’ll come and see us,” he said softly, curving one finger under her chin.

  She ran her tongue over her lips. “That’ll depend on how Daddy is,” she answered.

  “He’s made of iron, love,” Sean assured her. “He’ll be mean as ever in a few days.”

  Kate lowered her eyes, and Sean hoped devoutly that she wasn’t retreating back into that one-dimensional identity she’d cultivated. “Maybe,” she said.