Ulterior Motives (23 page)

This fresh air is wiping me out,” Shelley said as she stretched herself awake in their hotel room on Sunday morning.

“You’re telling me,” Ross replied with exaggerated disgust. “There I was in that big, king-sized bed, all ready for round three last night, and you were sleeping so soundly even my energetic ardor couldn’t rouse you.”

“Sorry, did I miss something?”
 

“I can make up for it now,” he offered gallantly.

“Mmm,” Shelley sighed dreamily as he took her in his arms and nuzzled her throat. There was a discreet knock at the door. “What’s that?”

He guided her hand. “Obviously that’s my—”

“I mean that knock at the door,” she chided.

“Oh.” He rolled his eyes heavenward with a why-do-I-even-try look. “I suppose that’s breakfast.”

“Breakfast in bed? Oh, Ross, you are good to me. Let him in, I’m starved!” she exclaimed, slipping into her bathrobe.

They were staying at a small country inn outside of Lexington that Ross had chosen. Characteristically, it was elegant, charming, and very expensive. Seeing her dismay at the price tag, Ross had insisted he would pay and—she had agreed that, yes, he certainly would.

Shelley uttered little sounds of delight as a sumptuous breakfast feast was laid out on a small table with elegant silver and linen. There was even a bottle of champagne to mix with the orange juice.

“Now where were we?” said Ross when they were once again alone. “Just about here, I think,” he pulled her into his arms, “and I was about to—”

“Let’s eat first. It’ll boost your strength,” she said, pulling away and sitting down eagerly at the table.

“I have plenty of strength left. Surely you noticed—”

“Yes, I couldn’t help but notice. But I’m starved, Ross.” She grinned with delight at his consternation. It was wonderful to be wanted so badly by such a gorgeous man.

“You have no soul,” he sighed, sitting down across from her.

“But plenty of appetite.” Her look was full of promise as she added, “For all sorts of things.”

Thus encouraged, Ross applied himself to breakfast. When they were done, he applied himself to Shelley.

“Hmmm,” Shelley sighed as he pulled her down onto the bed. “Are you sure you’re not using that aphrodisiac you read about in college? Your energy is quite remarkable.”

“You’re all the aphrodisiac I need,” Ross said gallantly, loosening the belt of her bathrobe.

Shelley affectionately pushed his jet-black hair away from his forehead and stroked his cheek, tracing the beginnings of his five o’clock shadow.

“You look really sexy when you don’t shave,” she murmured.

“Right now, I
feel
really sexy,” he confided.

“But Ross, we had agreed we would visit two more horse farms today. Daylight’s burning.” She rolled away from him and tried to hop off the bed. He grabbed her arm to keep her from getting very far away.

“I propose a change of itinerary,” he said huskily.

“Now, Ross,” she chided breathlessly. Her pulse raced as his eyes deepened to a dark, smoky blue.

“Face it, Shelley, when you’ve seen one multi-million dollar racing farm you’ve seen them all. Actually, after yesterday, I feel like we
have
seen them all.”

“I thought that was the whole point of our trip down here,” she said, letting him pull her a little closer.

“No,
this
was the whole point of our trip down here.” He shoved her down into the pillows and kissed her lingeringly. “The horse farms were just something for you to tell Wayne and Francesca about when you get back.”

Shelley grinned mischievously as she avoided another drugging kiss. “Then we’ll have to see a few more to keep my cover story credible.”

“Undercover work is my specialty. Get under the covers and leave everything to me,” he whispered, pulling apart the front of her robe as she tried to slide away from him.

She gasped as his hands found her breasts. He touched her with the sureness of a familiar lover, knowing so well how to excite her. She wondered how it was possible that every time they made love it got better and better.

“Horse farms,” she said weakly.

“Your heart’s pounding, darling.” He smiled as he slid his hands down her flat stomach. “Is the thought of wandering around a bunch of smelly stables that exciting?”

“Don’t we have to check out of the room now?” she asked, rapidly losing interest in everything but him.

He kissed the soft hollow between her breasts. “I requested an extended check-out time.”

“You did?” Shelley fumbled at the belt of his bathrobe.

“You should know by now that I always think of everything.”

She pushed his robe off his shoulders then ran her hands across his back, loving the smooth play of his muscles as he shrugged out of the sleeves and then lifted her slightly to pull her robe out from underneath their entwined bodies.

“How much time do we have?” Shelley whispered against his lips.

He rolled over with her so they were closer to the bedside table. He peered at the clock. “About an hour.” He arched a brow inquisitively as he looked down at her. “Think it’ll be enough time?”

“If it’s not,
I’m
not paying for another day in this room,” she warned him.

“In that case...” he began suggestively, his hands sliding down her body to draw her thighs around him.

“We’d better get down to business,” she finished for him.

Closing her eyes, Shelley pulled his face down to hers and kissed him lingeringly, opening her warm mouth to his questing tongue, clinging to him as passion chased away their teasing mood for more serious matters.

She arched her back and pushed her hips up to meet his thrusting entry into her body, welcoming him physically and emotionally.

“Open your eyes. Look at me,” Ross whispered.

She did as he asked, wanting to please him in every way possible. The tenderness and vulnerability in his eyes swept through her, making her feel more womanly than she’d ever felt before. With their gazes locked and their bodies joined, she felt powerful emotion pouring through her. It was too strong for words, and she expressed it naturally, in the only way she could, by tightening her arms around his back, her legs around his hips, her softness around his hardness.

Ross shuddered and kissed her roughly. They moved against each other with a slow, burning intensity that robbed Shelley of breath or speech or thought. Her breasts were pressed so tightly against his chest that the labored rhythm of his breath became her own. Through the swirling fire of her passion she could hear fast ragged breathing and soft moans of pleasure, but Ross had become so much a part of her that she didn’t know which sounds belonged to whom. She knew only that their pleasure was shared, mutual, and ever soaring, lifting them both to a higher plain before shattering them and letting them drift back down, softly, slowly, to return to the sweet weariness of their entwined bodies on a sun-soaked bed.

“Shelley?” Ross murmured a long time later, stroking her hair, as she lay curled against him.

“Hmmm?”

“We should get dressed,” he said reluctantly, unwilling to give up the special warmth of afterglow he always felt in her arms.

She rubbed her face against him and inhaled deeply. “Five more minutes,” she mumbled, tightening her arms around him.

He smiled and kissed the top of her head. “Have I ever denied you anything?”

Tired as she was, Shelley found the strength to pinch him.

“Can I drive?” Shelley asked hopefully as they put their luggage in the Porsche that afternoon.

“Of course.”
 

She’d confessed her fantasies about the car to him, and he was glad to be able to make them come true for her. He wanted to make everything she’d ever dreamed of come true. But in their current position he was the man who would destroy some of her dreams. She was a woman of generous spirit, but he wasn’t certain she could forgive him for that. He was growing increasingly certain he would never forgive himself for it. So, what was he going to do about it? There was always an alternative if one wanted something enough, he reminded himself. And he wanted her most of all.

“I had a wonderful time this weekend, Ross,” she said before starting the engine.

“So did I, darling.” He kissed her cheek and admitted, “I even liked the horse farms. All of them,” he added wearily.

“Thanks for humoring me yesterday. It was something I’ve wanted to do ever since I came to Cincinnati.”

“I wasn’t humoring you.
This
is humoring you,” he said as she stomped on the brake to avoid hitting a tractor. “I had fun, anyhow.”

“Where did you learn so much about horses?” She added, “You can let your breath out, Ross, I see the Stop sign.”

“My family had horses, here and in France.”

“Oh. Do you visit your family much?” she asked curiously.

“When I can. I’d like to see some of them more than I do. I’m always moving around so much.”

“Yes,” she said hollowly, feeling the weight of that reminder. She couldn’t imagine her life once he moved on to some other city. “Ross...” she began hesitantly.

“Yes?” He wondered whether she, too, couldn’t bear the thought of their living apart. His mind was already working on possible solutions to that problem.

“I read that you disappeared from Elite for about six months last year. No reason why, no knowledge of your whereabouts.”

“That’s comforting,” he said dryly. “I didn’t broadcast my reasons.”

“Why did you quit? Only the truth,” she added.

“I was tired. It’s really that simple. Henri has always rewarded me well for the work I do. I had made enough money to give up work and just live on investments. I was tired of continent-hopping and sleeping in hotels and firing people and having no roots. I was exhausted, depressed, short-tempered. I quit. Henri asked me to consider it a leave of absence and to come back to work for him when I felt better. I refused because... because that seemed like a safe way out.”

Shelley nodded, understanding a decision in him that she would have regarded as impractical in herself. “So where did you go?”

“I bought a seventeenth-century farmhouse and some land in Provence.”

Shelley glanced at him in surprise. “You really did mean to settle down then?”

“Absolutely. I just wanted to live simply.”

“And were you happy?”

“For a while. I renovated the house myself. It’s a fabulous place, and it wasn’t in bad shape really, but the work gave me satisfaction. It seemed positive and productive. And it was tiring in a healthy way. I was glad to be near my family there. I enjoyed the slow pace, the simplicity. If I got bored, it was an easy drive to Nice. I had time to read books I’d been putting aside for years, time to think about my life and my past and get some perspective on it. It was good for me.”

“So, why did you leave and go back to Elite?”

He frowned thoughtfully before replying, “Once my battle fatigue wore off, I discovered that I liked to work for a living and missed it. I could have been one of the idle rich just by living off my trust fund and coaxing an allowance out of my mother. I realized I had never done that because I
wanted
to work. The farmhouse stopped seeming peaceful and started seeming pointless.” He shrugged. “I decided to go back to work. I considered all my options, which were considerably broader than they had been when I’d first won my job from Henri in a poker game. But there was nothing that suited me as well as my job with Elite. It gives me more scope and freedom than anything else I could do, and it’s always interesting and challenging. And, as a line of work, I like the language schools. It’s a people-oriented business.”

“Hmm,” Shelley agreed. “Henri must have been very glad to have you back.”

“He was. At the risk of sounding immodest—”

“Who, you?”

“I’m the best at what I do. And he’s fond of me. He was hurt when I said I wanted to quit, and he nagged me incessantly to come back.”

“I’m not surprised,” she murmured. She, too, would be hurt when Ross left and would long for his return.