Free Fabulous Beast by Unknown Page B

between the way she aroused him and the way she relaxed him.
    But he knew which sensation was going to carry the day. Already his body was tightening with awareness.
    “That feels so good, Tabby,” he growled as she worked on his aching leg. “Much better than aspirin.
    “How did you hurt your leg, Dev?” she asked in a soft voice, as if afraid of intruding on his privacy, but unable to resist the question any longer.
    “I had an accident a couple of years ago. Zigged when I should have zagged,” he returned as nonchalantly as possible.
    “A skiing accident?”
    “No, uh, car accident,” he corrected automatically. The story should be automatic by now. He’d told it enough times. “Got cut with some flying glass.”
    “Yes, I can see the scars,” she whispered, tenderly kneading the area around the knee where the evidence of the accident still persisted. He heard the gentleness in her voice and smiled to himself. It was so nice to have her fussing over him like this. Who would have thought after all these years that he’d find himself wanting to immerse himself in a woman’s tenderness? Having a female for an occasional bed partner had always seemed more than sufficient in the past
    It wasn’t just her attention and compassion he was enjoying, Dev realized with a flash of honesty. He was also enjoying playing the role she had assigned him. He rather liked being the kind of man she admired. Tabby found him intelligent, a stimulating conversationalist, well traveled and very much the gentleman. With her he actually felt like a cultured, gracious businessman who was on a cruise for pleasure as well as business. God! She’d be utterly appalled if she knew what sort of tip he’d actually left behind in the cocktail lounge this evening!
    But Waverly deserved what he’d gotten. Tabby was Dev’s own private discovery and damned if he was going to let another man come along and steal her away just when he had her halfway into bed.
    Actually, she was sitting on his bed right now. He felt her adjust the warm compress on his ribs.
    “Any better?” she asked after a moment.
    “Much. You’re a natural nurse, Tabby. Probably missed your calling by going into the book business.”
    He kept his eyes closed, aware that her hands were fluttering a bit awkwardly on him now. She wanted to touch him more intimately, he realized, and she didn’t quite know what kind of excuse to use to do so.
    Maybe he should pretend to fall asleep again. Last time she had stayed all night. If he could get her to lie down beside him tonight, he’d have it made, he was sure of it. Experimentally, he tried a yawn.
    “You must be exhausted, Dev. Will you be able to sleep with your leg hurting?”
    “It’s not hurting nearly so much now,” he told her in a voice that was rapidly thickening from something besides weariness. How much more of this was he going to be able to take? When would she realize how his body was reacting to her? Damn it, she’d been a married woman. Regardless of how lousy her husband had been in bed, she must know when a man was becoming aroused! Maybe he should just grab her. Hell, he’d waited long enough, hadn’t he? She was so close and he knew she was aware of him as a man.
    But if he could just hold off a little while longer, she’d take the initiative, and he wouldn’t have to risk spoiling her image of him as a shy, vulnerable gentleman. His hand clenched under the sheet. How much longer?
    Dev sensed Tabitha’s increased agitation. Her own sensual awareness was there in her touch now. He could hear her increased rate of breathing and even though he steadfastly kept his eyes closed he had a mental image of what the action was doing to her lovely breasts. Her rounded thigh was pressed against his as she sat beside him on the bed, and it was all he could do to resist closing his hand over the intriguing curve.
    When she leaned over him to adjust the sheet, he held his breath. Perhaps now. Last night she’d