Not Even for Love(24)
He reached under the fur jacket she held in the crook of her arm and took her hand, squeezing it lightly. She returned the pressure and they smiled at each other. Reeves looked toward Helmut, who was chatting amiably with two young women, obviously wide-eyed tourists.
He leaned down to set his camera case on the floor of the cable car. When he straightened, he dextrously managed to whisk his lips across her cheek.
“Reeves!” she admonished softly. “Helmut.”
CHAPTER 5
He doesn’t watch you very carefully. Doesn’t he ever get jealous?”
She looked at Helmut, who was blessing the two women with one of his dazzling smiles. “No. He’s too self-confident to think that I’d be interested in anyone else.”
“He’s a fool.” He spoke with such intensity that she looked up into the green eyes that flashed with some emotion she couldn’t name. “No man should ever take a beautiful woman for granted.”
His eyes dropped to her mouth. The lips were slightly parted. Her delicate pink tongue lay just beyond the row of small teeth and he could recall vividly how it felt against his own. He had kissed many women all over the world. But as soon as the kisses stopped, he forgot them.
Not with Jordan. He knew exactly how she would taste if he kissed her now. Once her initial caution had been overcome, he had been surprised at the unbridled way she responded to him. It wasn’t feigned. It was as though Jordan’s passion had lain dormant in her for a long while. Suddenly it had roiled to the surface, and he had been the lucky instigator of that freedom.
Or was that part of a game she played? His eyes swept back up to hers, but he read no deceit there. He was certain that if he pulled her into his arms now she wouldn’t resist. But what would it mean to her? Was she playing games? Did she know the power she had over his mind and body?
He hadn’t realized he had voiced the words until he heard himself say, “And you are a beautiful woman, Jordan.”
A tiny tremor shook her mouth. “Do you think so?”
“Yes. And you’re courageous. This is the second time you’ve saved my life. Once during a thunderstorm and now on this treacherous mountain.” His tone was bantering now and she answered in kind.
“This heated, comfortable, highly technical cable car is hardly treacherous,” she countered.
“But the thunderstorm was fearsome.”
“Yes,” she conceded. “But you know what they say. ‘Any port in a storm.’ ”
He laughed. “Hardly. I doubt that if you’d been a gray-haired grandmother I’d have… thanked… you in quite the same way.”
“Then you were only expressing gratitude?”
He was still smiling, but the expression changed character. It became intimate, tender, heart-melting. “No. Gratitude had little or nothing to do with it.”
They bumped together slightly when the cable car jolted to a halt. A low groan was emitted from Reeves’s throat as her fingers, still entwined with his beneath the cover of her parka, inadvertently pressed against his body. Jordan gasped softly and looked at him guiltily when she realized what she was touching. The crowd, eager to disembark, formed a tight, wiggling circle around them, and for long, agonizing moments they couldn’t move.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, sneaking a shy look up into his face. Her cheeks were flaming scarlet.
“Don’t apologize on my account.” The corner of his mouth lifted in a provocative grin that made her heart thud painfully in her chest.
When the crowd began to thin, Reeves let go of her hand and they made their way to the sliding door of the cable car. Helmut was kissing the hands of the two girls in turn and saying in French, “I hope you have a most enjoyable holiday.” The girls twittered and fluttered their eyelashes as they waved good-bye to him. “There you are,” he said when he saw Jordan and Reeves step out the door. “I had a most pleasant trip up. Quite nice girls. Did you two manage to amuse yourselves?”
Jordan nearly choked, but Reeves answered easily, “It was thrilling.”
Jordan knew well that “it” he was referring to. His eyes twinkled at her mischievously and she wasn’t successful in hiding her secret smile.
The summit of Mount Pilatus was blanketed in clouds. In fact, if one stood still he could feel a fine, icy mist settling on his face. The weather, however, didn’t dampen the carnival atmosphere. Music blared from speakers mounted on light poles. Tourists milled about, browsing in the gift shop, ordering sandwiches and drinks from the snack bar, and competing for the open-air tables scattered around the area. A melodic voice periodically announced in several languages the departure of the cable cars.