Free Renegade by Diana Palmer Page B

yet. He reached around her and lifted her completely off the floor in his embrace, and his mouth became passionate on her soft lips.
    She shivered at the need in him that she could feel like a living pulse. His mouth was fierce in its possession of her lips, his body began to tauten. She heard him groan huskily into her mouth as his arms tightened roughly at her back.
    She should have been frightened. He might never lose control with another woman, but he was quickly losing it with her. She was flattered at the need she sensed in him. She recalled dazedly what he’d told her once, about it having been a long time between women. He was hungry and she wasapparently willing. What if he didn’t want to stop? What if he couldn’t stop?
    He felt her enthusiasm wane and he drew away from her at once, letting her slip back to her feet. He lifted his head, watching her, his face wiped clean of expression. Only his glittery dark eyes were alive in it.
    She swallowed hard. “Just checking,” she managed weakly.
    â€œTo see if I really could stop?” he mused with a smile. She nodded, embarrassed.
    He traced her swollen mouth. “You’re not what I expected.”
    â€œNeither are you.” She hid her face against him for a moment, remembering the blatant question he’d asked her earlier. Even in memory, it aroused her. She thought of feeling him deep inside her body. She shivered with exquisite pleasure. But just as she started to say some thing equally blatant to him, he drew back.
    He bent and kissed the tip of her nose. “We’d better go. We’re going to throw everything off schedule.”
    She looked up at him, hesitating. She felt hot all over, strained, hungry. Her eyes were full of unsatisfied need. “If I asked you…”
    â€œYes?” he prompted.
    She swallowed and forced herself to speak. “If I asked you to make love to me…”
    He pressed his thumb against her swollen mouth. His eyes flared. “I want to! You can’t imagine how much. But I don’t start things I can’t finish.”
    â€œBut I could finish this,” she said with painful emphasis.
    â€œI could, with you!”
    His body actually shuddered. He put her away from him.He didn’t dare accept that invitation. He should be shot for what he’d already done and said tonight.
    â€œWell, you’re not going to. Not tonight. I offered you dinner and the ballet,” he said brusquely, moving to the door. “Only that!” He glanced at her. “Are you coming?”
    She felt ashamed that she’d made such a rash offer, and to Cash Grier of all people. She was furious at him for making her feel that way. He’d started it, after all. Throwing his perfect body at her like that and then slapping her down when she got aroused! Were all men like that?
    â€œDinner and the ballet,” she agreed curtly, wrapping her coat around her tightly and buttoning it up to her chin. “And don’t worry, I won’t try to seduce you in the front seat of the car!”
    He glared down at her. “Thanks. I was really worried.”
    She swept by him in a fury.
    They ate without knowing what, and Tippy felt guilty, because it was delicious. They went from the elegant restaurant to the ballet, where she sat beside Cash and never saw what was happening on stage except for noting the beautiful colors and how they reflected on the dancers. She was angry. She was elated. She was eaten up with physical desire that she’d never felt before in her life. She was blinded by her hunger for him. She wanted to jump on him and tear his clothes off where he was sitting. Outraged and mortified by her own helpless urges, she ignored him throughout the performance.
    As if he understood completely what she was feeling, he didn’t say a word or even touch her until the bal let was over and they were filing out of the theater. He took her arm to help her across the