and supports a few workers. I can go first class when I please. I can afford to run a Rolls and buy a town house in Lincoln Park. But I work hard, Georgia. None of it came easy, and I wasn’t born rich. I worked for every dime I’ve got. I think that entitles me to enjoy a little of it.”
She turned, her back to the door and looked up at him sadly. “Oh, I didn’t mean that,” she said defensively, “I’ve read about you. I know what a rough road it was to the top. You’re quite a success story. But you and I are worlds apart,” she added, feeling it was important that she make him understand what she was saying. “Cal, my people have been farmers for three generations. Not plantation holders, not rich people. Except for a fourth cousin who made a million selling lightning rods, I don’t even know any rich people. I...I can’t cope...”
“You’ve been coping,” he shot back. His eyes darkened in that broad, hard face. “My God, you’re the first woman I’ve ever met who ran the other way when she knew my net worth. Don’t you want a mink or a new Ferrari?” he added, his voice lightly teasing.
Her lower lip trembled with sheer fury. Her hand lifted and he caught it, taking it to his chest.
“No, mink wouldn’t suit you, would it?” he asked softly. “Neither would strands of diamonds or sports cars. You’re a wildflower girl. Daisies and jonquils in carpeted meadows, and the wind in your hair.”
She caught her lip in her teeth, trying to stem the tears. She loved those flowers; she picked bouquets of them in season and made arrangements for the table. Ralley had never thought of her that way. He hadn’t really considered who or what she was; she’d been more a possession than a person to him.
His fingers went to cup her oval face, holding it up to his dark, gentle eyes while he studied her in a silence rich with emotion.
“Nikki,” he murmured deeply, savoring the name on his lips. “Nicole...”
“Cal, it won’t work...” she whispered shakily.
“We’ll make it work,” he whispered as he bent toward her, taking his time about it, fitting his mouth exactly to hers until it touched gently every single curve of her quivering lips. “Kiss me, Nikki,” he murmured against her mouth, and she felt his big arms swallowing her as the kiss made a mockery of every other caress she’d ever known. There was a strange tenderness in him as he explored her mouth, a treasuring of it as if it was a fragile, delicate thing that he mustn’t be too rough with. He drew back far too soon, and Nikki saw the turbulence she was feeling mirrored in his wood-brown eyes.
“I hope you’re properly flattered,” he said gruffly. “It’s been one hell of a long time since I’ve been that careful with a woman’s mouth.”
She was still working on words. Her eyes, her mind, was full of that dark face above her that had suddenly and unexpectedly become her world. “You’re very experienced,” she whispered.
“What did you expect? A computer with hands?” he asked dryly. “I was married for twelve years, and I wasn’t a saint when I proposed.” His face clouded. “Nor since,” he added roughly.
“I’m not a sophisticated woman,” she told him with a voice that felt sandpapery. “I come from a relatively small town, I’ve never been a partygoer and I hate what I know of socializing. Cal...” She let her eyes drop to his broad chest. “Cal, I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to get...involved with you.”
He tipped her face up to his with a long, broad finger. “Honey, you’re already involved,” he said quietly. “So am I. And we’re getting in deeper by the minute. I touch you, and I tremble like a boy. Haven’t you noticed that? The same thing happens for you. I’m thirty-eight years old and I’ve never felt that way before. Don’t expect me to walk away from you at this stage.”
Her face contorted with indecision, with longing. He was right; he affected her exactly the same way she affected him, but she couldn’t make him understand what she was talking about. She’d be winnowed out of his society in less than a week; she wasn’t strong enough for the kind of people he associated with. She knew nothing about big business, less about entertaining, and she’d only be a hindrance