Free The Silver Snare by Unknown Page A

Kirk. All the
    time.“
    He had the grace to redden slightly. „Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply…“
    „That we spent the five days making passionate love in the sand?“ Damn! Why did she have to sound so
    defensive? Probably because it was too close to the truth.
    „I guess the two of you really don’t look like each other’s type,“ Kirk allowed consideringly.
    „We’re not. Now if you don’t mind, I’d rather not discuss him.“
    „My pleasure,“ he agreed readily and pulled her a little closer.
    Jessica didn’t spot Lucas in the lounge until after her second dance with Kirk and when she did it wasn’t so much
    a case of spotting him as it was a feeling of awareness that prickled the skin at the nape of her neck. It was an
    irresistible, tingling sensation, which made her turn her head toward the far end of the crowded room, as Kirk walked
    her back to their small table. Lucas was at the bar, one elbow braced against the upholstered edge, one heel hooked
    casually over a rung of the stool he occupied with negligent ease.
    He was watching her, a brooding expression in the shadowed eyes which met hers across the intervening
    space. He was nursing a glass of what looked like bourbon and water. Even as Jessica’s glance slid away
    from his she saw the tall, attractive redhead slip gracefully onto the stool beside Lucas. A single man on
    board a cruise ship was fair game.
    When Jessica saw him again he was dancing with the redhead. There was a slow, somewhat stilted style to his
    movements that surprised her. It was not at all the way she would have expected him to dance. Her memories were of a
    lean, coordinated strength that could master a woman in bed or on a dance floor. She would have expected him to be a
    smooth, forceful partner. Well, it was none of her business. Resolutely she tried to pick up the thread of Kirk’s
    polished conversation.
    The next time Jessica happened to see Lucas in the crowd, he was no longer with the redhead. A slightly older,
    sophisticated blonde was in his arms on the floor. The sight was oddly annoying.
    As the evening progressed, Lucas appeared with one new woman after another. Jessica knew that statistically
    women outnumbered men on most cruises, so it was no wonder he seemed to have a wide choice of dancing partners.
    Still, it was curious that he showed no sign of settling down with any one woman for the evening. Perhaps that rather
    stilted style he was exhibiting was the reason!
    „Looks like your friend is making up for his five days of enforced abstinence in the desert,“ Kirk remarked with a
    small chuckle as he nodded in Lucas’s direction.
    Jessica ignored the comment and the warmth that washed up under her cheeks at the memory of at least one night
    that had not exactly been a model of abstinence. She made a subtle point of shifting her gaze derisively away from the
    sight of Lucas partnering a very determined-looking woman who seemed weighted down in Mexican silver jewelry and
    little else.
    „If he doesn’t make a choice fairly soon, he’s going to wind up spending the night alone,“ Kirk went on knowingly.
    „Meaning you don’t intend to?“ Jessica demanded coolly, her head coming around sharply in automatic hauteur.
    „Take it easy,“ Kirk soothed. „I didn’t mean…“ He broke off abruptly as a strong, square hand descended on
    Jessica’s shoulder.
    „Excuse me,“ Lucas murmured. „I’d like to dance with Jessica.“ The iron eyes were on Kirk’s, daring him to refuse
    permission. Under the branding touch of his hand, Jessica froze.
    Then, when Kirk made the only possible response and nodded brusquely, she sighed inwardly and got slowly to
    her feet. Her mouth thinned in resigned acceptance of the situation, but there was nothing particularly resigned about
    the unexpected flutter in the pit of her stomach. As Lucas took her wrist and led her out onto the floor without a word,
    Jessica was unable to halt the rush of unwelcome fantasy.