A Lasting Love Read Free

This
spring. . . don't forget. And tonight. I'll see you tonight, blue
eyes." He made a notation in the folder, then closed it and handed
it to her. "My dossier. Check me out. You'll find I'm respectable
enough."
    Angrily Loren stared after him, even after his
square frame had disappeared through the door. He was unnerving,
that man. He was not at all the kind of
man she was usually attracted to. His hair was too dark and his
eyes too penetrating. But, then, no one caught her attention for
long. The man was right in observing that she usually
played hard-to-get. She was simply too busy to be hindered by the numerous males who pursued her in this town. She wasn't interested in these men who were too soon gone. Of course, no one had intrigued her like this man. This Arizona
man, Reid Mecina.
    She hoped fervently that she wouldn't see him
tonight. Then he would know that her "date" for the
evening was fifty-six-year-old Representative Steiger and two of
his office staff. They all lived in Alexandria and
generally went together to these dull functions. It
gave them some one familiar to chat with.
    Loren packed her briefcase with files she
needed to read over the weekend. She would brief Congressman
Neilson on Monday. There was always something to prepare for which was what made her job so interesting. She picked up the folder left by that arrogant man. She certainly didn't want to leave it around for someone else to
find. Curiously Loren let the folder fall open and
glanced down the first page. Her eyes flew over the
neatly typed informa tion to the bold scrawling at the
bottom of the page.
    ‘ Make love in April in a field of bluebonnets
with Lor en, the girl with the bluebonnet-blue
eyes.’
    "Damn!" Loren's mouth dropped open, and
she snapped the folder shut and stuffed it into her
briefcase. The rude audacity of that man. First, he
follows me home and scares the hell out of me. Then he
gives a false name to the staff at my office and seeks
me out personally. Now he hands me an official dossier
where he has noted to make love to
me — in a field of flowers in Texas yet.
The nerve.
    The ambassador's dinner was crowded with the
elegant ly attired elite of Washington. Champagne and
liquor were flowing freely under glittering
chandeliers; the sound of false laughter was
everywhere.
    "You wouldn't be trying to give me the slip
tonight, would you?"
    Loren's stomach gave a disparaging flip, for
she knew that the masculine tones stinging her ears
were from the very man she was trying to avoid. She
wheeled around and gave a silent gasp, hoping
fervently that her rapidly beat ing heart wasn't
apparent through her low-cut gown. Musical strains
from the full orchestra filled the background and, before she could
respond to the man, Loren found herself swept into his
sturdy arms and onto the dance floor.
    "You know, of course, that you stand out in a
crowd, even in four hundred. Every man in the room is
ogling you in that dress. The color exactly matches
your eyes, and it exactly fits . . . everything." He
held her loosely, watching her face for a reaction to
his bold statement.
    Loren blushed all the way down to the creamy
swells of her breasts, hating herself for not being
able to control her emotions any better. Her
frustration sputtered out in a small explosion. "I
should have worn a black sack."
    "Ah, I would be able to spot you in anything,
Loren. Those blue eyes can't be camouflaged." His
smile radiated through her, and she warmed under his
gaze. There was also that single intriguing dimple in
one creased cheek.
    "Neither can your intentions, Mr. Mecina!"
Loren prayed she was disguising the erratic beat of
her heart as his dark eyes created havoc with her
self-control. Even her skin tingled under his velvet
gaze.
    He pressed her closer, bringing her taut
breasts in slight contact with his shirt. She could
feel the warmth from his chest reaching out to her.
There was a certain strength, an energy, that drew
them together, and it