A Treasure Worth Seeking Read Free

"Melanie should be back shortly. She went out to run a few errands."
    "How long have you been married?"
    He paused as he handed her the glass of Coke. "Several years now," he answered lightly. He smiled charmingly, and for the first time Erin saw two rows of perfectly matched, startling white teeth. He really was quite handsome when he wasn't wearing that surly suspicious expression. "You're married, I see," he commented non-chalantly as he took the chair across the table from hers.
    She followed the direction of his eyes to the large diamond ring on her left ring finger. "No," she muttered.
    "Just engaged." For some reason, she didn't want to tell him about Bart right now. Bart had a way of dominating a conversation, and she didn't want even a mention of him to intrude on the special, rare intimacy of this first meeting with her brother. "Tell me about your work," she blurted out in order to change the subject.
    "What about it?" he asked evenly. Erin was alarmed to see that he was staring at her again with that narrow-eyed stare that made her feel like a laboratory animal under a glass.
    "What exactly do you do? I know you work at a bank."
    "Yeah," he shrugged. "I guess I do a little of everything."
    "I see," she said, though she didn't.
    "You?" he asked. "What do you do?"
    "I have my own business in Houston."
    The thick golden eyebrows raised in silent query.
    "What kind of business?" He leaned his elbows on the table and propped his chin on his fists. The backs of his hands and his knuckles were sprinkled with crinkly blond hairs. His fingers were long and tapering, not thick and stubby like Bart's. His nails were well cared for, she noted objectively.
    Erin raised her eyes to his. She could barely see the blue irises through the brush of thick eyelashes that screened them. His good looks made her uneasy. It was almost as if his handsomeness were a barrier to her getting to know him better. For some reason intimacy between them seemed dangerous.
    " I . . . uh . . . my business organizes and stages fashion shows," she answered.
    "I've never heard of anything like that," he said.
    She laughed. "That's what makes us unique!" she piped and playfully tapped his hand with her own.
    Exhibiting that same swiftness of action she had witnessed before, he captured her hand with his and held it tightly. For endless moments they stared across the table at each other. When he spoke, it was in a low, vibrating voice.
    "You said a few minutes ago that you wanted to get to know me. I want to know you, too. I think we should start now, don't you?"
    She swallowed convulsively and wished he would release her hand. It would be useless to try to retrieve it. His fingers seemed to be made of steel. She could see herself reflected in the pupils of his eyes, and her own. revealing expression frightened her. She whispered tremulously,
    "Start what?"
    "Start getting to know each other."
    Before she could blink, he had stood up and come around the table. Before she could breathe, he had pulled her to her feet and encircled her with his arms. One hand embedded itself in her dark, rich curls as he tilted her head back and looked down into her face.
    "What better way to get to know each other than with a kiss of reciprocal filial affection?"
    The face that descended toward hers bespoke nothing of brotherly fondness. That was Erin's last conscious thought before she felt his mouth invade hers. His fingers were wound so tightly through her hair that tears of pain joined those of mortification that had already flooded her eyes. His other arm was secure across the middle of her back, pinning her arms to her sides and pressing her against his unyielding body.
    She squirmed against him, but her movements only strengthened his hold on her. Deep in her throat she screamed, screams that were swallowed by his mouth that covered and absorbed hers. Her lips throbbed under the bruising pressure of his, and they were powerless to prevent his relentless tongue from