Michele Dunaway - Taming The Tabloid Heiress

Yet when Kit shook her head, her strawberry-blond hair danced about her chin, and his throat went dry. Air. He could do with air.

Suddenly Kit stood up, whispered something to the man, grabbed her purse and left the table. After waiting a respectable minute the man followed.

“Joshua, are you okay, darling?” Marilyn’s eyes narrowed, her suspicion evident. “You haven’t heard a word I said.”

“I’m not your darling, Marilyn, and I never listen to what you say. Excuse me, I need to work the crowd.” Joshua stood up just in time to see Kit heading out the exit door, the man on her heels. That woman needed a keeper. Marilyn’s look of fury wasn’t lost on him, but he ignored her and strode off.

KIT THREADED HER WAY through the crowd, going past the exit that led to inside hallways. She stopped in the ladies’ room just long enough to convince the man that when she said good-night, she meant good-night. Upon leaving her hideout, she climbed the outside steps to the Compass Deck. A gentle breeze played havoc with her short hair, and Kit walked to one railing and looked down at the netted and empty pool. Tomorrow it would be full and active with people.

Still exploring, she turned and walked to the stern railing. From the heights of the highest deck she could see the ship’s foamy wake. Kit inhaled the fresh night air teasing her face. At least today wasn’t a total loss. She was at sea.

The ocean waves lapping against the shore of her parents’ Long Island house were one of her earliest and favorite memories. As the midnight-blue ocean churned playfully with the boat’s wake and created white foam, Kit reveled in the soothing peacefulness that reminded her of home. Night created a blanket of black and starry white, which was swallowed where it touched the horizon.

A childhood memory claimed her suddenly, and impulsively Kit looked up and focused on the first star her gaze landed on. “Starlight, star bright, I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.” She whispered the words aloud and then mentally added the rest. “I need to get my father off my back. I need a break.”

Kit sighed and slowly exhaled. Cinderella thought a dream was a wish your heart made, but Kit had learned those didn’t come true, either, despite her mother’s insistence to the contrary.

As a tear slid silently down her cheek, Kit impatiently pushed it away. “Mom? Did I really tell you someday I would marry my prince?” She whispered to herself with a sad smile. How far away those days seemed, and how ironic that being at sea made her think of her childhood and home.

Her mother had loved the elegant, gilded, aged house on Long Island more than any co-op or town house, and so her father had commuted daily to the city. Ever since her mother’s death three years ago the house had been shuttered, and Kit had been confined to the high-rises of New York City. She missed Summerset house and the Oyster Bay seashore.

And I miss you, Mom, she thought. A movement to her left made her start.

“Hey, you aren’t planning on jumping, are you? I’m afraid I have no desire to take off my boots.” The low, husky, already too-familiar voice made her shoulders tense. Broken from her reverie, Kit turned to face Joshua Parker.

A few feet to her left, he leaned against the rail with ease. In spite of herself Kit gave a short laugh.

“You aren’t wearing boots.”

“Ah, well maybe that’s why I didn’t write the screenplay to Titanic.” He smiled, and Kit’s eyes narrowed at his sudden change of attitude. “Too much icy cold water.”

“Really?” She parried easily. “I would have thought it was because you didn’t understand the notion of class. And, despite my having a very bad day, you won’t get rid of me that easily. I’ve got no desire to take a swim. A jerk like you isn’t worth drowning over.”

“Oui.” Joshua grinned and came to stand beside her. “The furious lady in the little black dress has a temper. By the way, that is a great dress. Definitely très séduisante. Anyway, I digress. I came up here to tell you I’ve been a cad, and therefore I humbly apologize.”

Kit peered up at him and couldn’t tell if he was serious. His brown eyes appeared as fathomless as the water churning beneath the boat. Although his gaze revealed nothing, when her eyes connected with his, a small chill of anticipation ran up and down her spine.

“What’s the catch? Let me guess. You saw me crying and now you’re trying to be nice. Don’t bother pitying me. I don’t believe it, and I don’t need it.”

“Ah, that one tear so angrily brushed away,” Joshua mused. “Such a noble yet sad gesture. You can admit your weaknesses to me, Kit. After flying with you, I’m discovering that perhaps you hide behind that bad attitude you wear like armor. In truth, you’re probably a very sensitive person beneath all those outrageous antics you do for charity.”

“Excuse me? Not only do you read about me, you follow me out here to psychoanalyze me?” She drew herself up to her full five-foot-eight-inch height. “Look, Freud, go find someone else to torture with your psychobabble.”

The light breeze caressed through his long, sexy hair and he clucked his tongue slightly. “Ah, good old Freud. We studied him in college, but let’s not bring him into the moonlight with us, shall we?”

Kit simply rolled her eyes in exasperation. The man was impossible. First he was pushing her away, and then he was following her and teasing her in the moonlight.

“By the way, my name is Joshua.” Joshua reached up and pushed his hair away from his face. “We never really did introduce ourselves.”

Kit wondered if it was the wind caressing her hair that sent the quiver down her spine, or if it was the deep, meaningful look that accompanied Joshua’s dare to use his name. “Look, Joshua—” Kit emphasized his name “—I’m not getting involved with you.”

“Ah, she speaks my name.” He grinned, ignoring her statement as he stepped towards her.

When his body invaded her space she made motion to step backward, out from under the force of his magnetism, but her feet stalled. Her body lodged itself against the deck rail, the steel oddly warming the bare skin of her back.

“After holding you close and realizing I liked it, I promised myself that you would dance with me again. Finally a lady that needs nothing from me, and I nothing from her. Only the pleasure of two consenting adults.” Joshua’s brown eyes glittered dangerously as he dangled the bait.

“Look, you don’t know me or why I’m here.”

“I know all I need to know.”

The breeze raised the hairs on her bare arms, causing her to shiver. The spaghetti-strap dress that had seemed appropriate earlier now was proving otherwise. Kit rubbed her biceps. “Sorry to disappoint you. My dance card’s full. Seems I have a bum foot, and one dance is all it could handle. I guess you’ll just have to get yourself another girl. I’m sure someone else will oblige, you being such a big celebrity and all.”

“But what if I don’t want anyone else?” His voice was liquid velvet, and Kit felt it caress her like a feather. “What if I want you?”

Ooh-la-la! Her body shouted. Control! Her conscience shouted. It won.

“Then I guess you have a problem, don’t you?”

“What about your problem? Shouldn’t you give in to your own wants?”

Was she that readable? “You can go to—” She paused before she spit out the unladylike curse words. “I have principles!”

“I was beginning to wonder.” A small, pleased smile teased the edges of his lips, erasing his cynical look. The result was sensual. “It’s nice to hear.”

“Yeah, right. You’re changing your tune. Are pigs flying?” Kit’s voice let him know how much she believed his statement. She shivered and rubbed her arms again.

Joshua moved even closer, and Kit’s heart began to flutter. “You’ve intrigued me, Kit O’Brien. I want to dig beneath your surface and discover what makes you tick.”

“Now who’s bringing Freud into it? What gives you the right to analyze me?” The wind teased at the black chiffon hem, and she angrily pushed it down.

“Ah, you worry. Your hidden secrets wouldn’t be for public consumption. Just mine. Every single delicious and decadent thing would remain just between us.”

Kit could have sworn his brown eyes twinkled in the moonlight. At that moment she felt the strangest longing wash over her. The power Joshua Parker held over her froze her, enticed her. All he had to do was stand near her and she lost the control she was trying so hard to keep. Her heart raced, her legs weakened and her resistance melted. Desire flowed through her, sending another chill of wanton anticipation down her spine.

“Cold? Let’s get you warmed up.” Strong fingers found her upper arms and he rubbed his palms across her skin. The friction he created did more than simply warm. At his touch Kit felt an inferno burn through her. Her body acted on its own volition. Her back arched, and her knees folded as he pulled her to him. He crushed her to his warm, broad chest, and Kit’s body fused to it as if preordained to fit. He stood only four inches taller, and with her heels it was shortened to two. Her chin lifted as the last bit of her stubborn pride shattered.

“You’re a dangerous man, Joshua Parker.”

Joshua’s comeback failed him, and with a groan he lowered his mouth and claimed hers. The sensation of his touch sent a current through her, setting off bells of pleasure resounding in her head. His grip tightened, and he pulled her even deeper into his arms. His full lips seared hers, branding her.

“I’ve been wanting to do this all day,” he murmured, his mouth again descending to possess hers. Kit yielded to his delightful plunder, all conscious and rationale thought fleeing at his simple caress. He pressed his tongue against her teeth, inviting himself in, and Kit’s knees wobbled as her body ceded all resistance.

The call of his tongue caressing the roof of her mouth robbed her of any remaining sanity. With an ardor she didn’t know she possessed, Kit responded to his kiss as she had to no other. Her arms snaked around his neck and into the long, silky locks that tantalized her fingers. Her tongue ventured forth to mate and dance with his in the ritual as old as time.

Joshua’s right hand slid under her chin as he deepened their kiss, and a wanton moan escaped her as he slid his left forefinger under the spaghetti strap of her dress and playfully stroked her shoulder. Kit now understood what someone meant when she said the earth shook and the world exploded.

Fireworks detonated inside her head, and lights flashed around her as Joshua’s kiss deepened even further.

“Well, well, well. I’d say you’re certainly working on fan relations.”

The high-pitched voice shattered the beauty of the moment, and Kit pulled away, the back of her hand automatically wiping her swollen lips.

Joshua’s grip tightened on her arm, and she jerked free. One woman Kit recognized as being a cast member of Last Frontier, but the other woman discreetly slipping a digital camera into her cavernous bag caused Kit to worry. Press. Instinctively she knew it. Her father was going to kill her if that photo was published.

“You’ll pay for this, Marilyn.”

“I,” Kit began, but the words escaped her so she simply snatched her purse and walked off in the direction of the stairs.

Joshua’s fury knew no bounds as he watched Kit disappear down the outside stairs, her black scarf trailing like a kite. Neck muscles bulged as he checked his rage.