Desert Rain Read Free Page B

Mongrels like that one need a firm hand if
     you want them to show well in the Companion Class.
    Wind whipped Hollys hair across Lincs face as she leaned forward. He flinched as though
     her hair were black fire.
    Ill bet youre one of those tall, tight-lipped men who is only good with dogs and horses,
     she murmured.
    Roger moved uneasily. Shannon
    Holly shook off his warning and gave Linc her most seductive smile. Through the tinted
     glasses her eyes were dark, nearly brown, brilliant with anger and pain.
    To be so close to Linc again and see only contempt in his look was almost more than Holly
     could bear. She had hoped he would be drawn to her beauty, that he would see her and
     return her love, a love that hadnt wavered in all the long years of their separation.
    Dogs, Linc drawled, are docile, obedient andloyal, unlike beautiful women.
    You noticed, Holly murmured, lowering her thick lashes.
    That youre beautiful? Linc shrugged. Lightnings beautiful, too, but only a fool wants to
     touch it.
    Then crawl back under your rock, tall man, Holly said between her teeth. Lightning wont
     reach you there.
    For a moment there was only charged silence beneath the awning of the catering truck. Then
     a pouting, breathless voice spoke from behind Lincs back.
    There you are, Linc, honey. Ive been looking all over for you.
    Numbly Holly watched as the stranger rubbed against Lincs arm like a hungry cat. The woman
     was everything that Holly was nottiny, blond, and lushly built.
    Next to Lincs hard body she looked delicate and delicious. If her figure had a fault, it
     lay in her ample bottom. Few men would have noticed the flaw, or objected if they did.
    Linc smiled down at the woman. Even though she was wearing very high heels, the top of her
     head barely reached to his breastbone.
    Hi, Cyn, Linc said. Tired of shopping already?
    Cyn gave Linc a pout that Jerry would have loved to photograph. Fingernails as pink as the
     tip of her tongue scratched lightly down Lincs arm.
    I picked out three dresses and the cutest little negligee you ever saw, she said.
    Then Cyn glanced sideways at Holly. Her blue eyes were as hard as glass. The negligee is
     meant for a woman, not a giraffe, Cyn added sweetly. Linc laughed and wound a lock of her
     fine blond hair around his finger. Sharpened your claws, too, didnt you? he asked.
    The last of Hollys dream broke around her as she watched the easy intimacy between the man
     she loved and the lush, beautiful woman called Cyn.
    Well, now I know why he never wrote me, Holly thought starkly.He was too busy with his
     busty blond.
    Holly felt like running away and hiding, but her face showed nothing at all. She was every
     inch the professional model posing for the most important assignment of her career.
    Life had taught Holly that you either fought back or went under. She hadnt gone under when
     her parents died. She would survive the death of her childish dreams, too.
    At least, Shannon would survive.
    You bought only dresses? Holly murmured, glancing at Cyns hips with a knowing smile. Roger
     could design a pair of pants for you. Im sure we have some cloth around here somewhere,
     dont we, Roger?
    Roger cleared his throat.
    Oh, I forgot, Holly said, her eyes wide and innocent and cold. The material is only
     forty-four inches wide. That wont quite get the job done, will it?
    Cyns mouth sagged, then snapped shut. Her full lips flattened into a line.
    Before she could think of anything appropriately cutting to say, Holly dismissed her with
     a small smile. She turned and spoke to Linc in a voice that was both cool and oddly
     intimate.
    Now I see why you were so nasty on the subject of parasites and prostitutes, Holly said.
     Id sympathize, except you have only your own bad taste to blame.
    She turned her back on the pair and spoke only to Roger.
    Ill be at the hotel if you need me, she said.
    With outward calm Holly sauntered across the burning asphalt street to her hotel.