Free Will of Steel by Diana Palmer Page A

fair.”
    â€œJust making the point.” He slid his arm around her and pulled her against him. She caught her breath.
    He hesitated, his dark eyes searching hers to see if he’d upset her.
    â€œMy…goodness,” she said breathlessly.
    He raised his eyebrows.
    She averted her eyes and her cheeks took on a glow. She didn’t know how to tell him that the sensations she was feeling were unsettling. She could feel the muscles of his chest pressed against her breasts, and it was stimulating, exciting. It was a whole new experience to be held close to a man’s body, to feel its warm strength, to smell the elusive, spicy cologne he was wearing.
    â€œYou’ve danced with men before.”
    â€œYes, of course,” she confessed. She looked up at him with fascination. “But it didn’t, well, it didn’t…feel like this.”
    That made him arrogant. His chin lifted and he looked down at her with possession kindling in his eyes.
    â€œSorry,” she said quickly, embarrassed. “I just blurt things out.”
    He bent his head, so that his mouth was right besideher ear as he eased her into the dance. “It’s okay,” he said softly.
    She bit her lip and laughed nervously.
    â€œWell, it’s okay to feel like that with me,” he corrected. “But you should know that it’s very wrong for you to feel that way with any other man. So you should never dance with anybody but me for the rest of your life.”
    She burst out laughing again.
    He chuckled. “You’re a quick study, Jake,” he noted as she followed his steps easily. “I think we may become famous locally for this dance once you get used to it.”
    â€œYou think?” she teased.
    He turned her back over his arm, pulled her up, and spun her around with skill. She laughed breathlessly. It was really fun.
    â€œI haven’t danced in years,” he sighed. “I love to do it, but I’m not much of a party person.”
    â€œI’m not, either. I’m much more at home in a kitchen than I am in a club.” She grimaced. “That’s not very modern, either, for a woman. I always feel that I should be working my way up a corporate ladder somewhere or immersing myself in higher education.”
    â€œWould you like to be a corporate leader?”
    She made a face. “Not really. Jobs like that are demanding, and you have to want them more than anything. I’m just not ambitious, I guess. Although,” she mused, “I think I might like to take a college course.”
    â€œWhat sort?” he asked.
    â€œAnthropology.”
    He stopped dancing and looked down at her, fascinated. “Why?”
    â€œI like reading about ancient humans, and how archaeologists can learn so much from skeletal material.I go crazy over those National Geographic specials on Egypt.”
    He laughed. “So do I.”
    â€œI’d love to see the pyramids. All of them, even those in Mexico and Asia.”
    â€œThere are pyramids here in the States,” he reminded her. “Those huge earthen mounds that primitive people built were the equivalent of pyramids.”
    She stopped dancing. “Why do you think they built them?”
    â€œI don’t know. It’s just a guess. But most of the earthen mounds are near rivers. I’ve always thought maybe they were where the village went to get out of the water when it flooded.”
    â€œIt’s as good a theory as any other,” she agreed. “But what about in Egypt? I don’t think they had a problem with flooding,” she added, tongue in cheek.
    â€œNow, see, there’s another theory about that. Thousands of years ago, Egypt was green and almost tropical, with abundant sources of water. So who knows?”
    â€œIt was green?” she exclaimed.
    He nodded. “There were forests.”
    â€œWhere did you learn that?”
    â€œI read, too. I think it was in Herodotus.