Calamity Mom by Diana Palmer Read Free Book Online Page A

indiscreet in mind. I thought you might like the impromptu Latin concert on the beach, so I came to get you.”
    “Am I substituting?”
    He tilted her face up to his and shook his head, holding her eyes. “Oh, no,” he said quietly. “Not you.”
    She smiled gently. “That was nice.”
    “I am nice,” he replied, letting go of her chin. “It takes some people longer than others to notice it, of course.”
    She laughed. “Conceit, yet.”
    “I am not conceited. In fact, my modesty often shocks people.”
    “I’ll let you know if I feel in danger of being shocked.”
    His silver eyes twinkled. “You do that.”
    “You aren’t what you seem,” she said with faint curiosity. “I thought bankers were staid and businesslike.”
    His powerful shoulders rose and fell. “I am, when I’m in the office.” He glanced down at her. “I’m not in the office tonight, so look out.”
    She chuckled. “I can hardly wait.”
    The music got louder the closer they got to the beach. A boom box was blasting Latin rhythms and food and beer were being passed around while couples danced in the sand. A crowd of merrymakers had gathered to watch, including some of the students Shelly was travelling with. One of them, unfortunately, was Pete.
    “So this is where you went to!” he said impatiently, glancing warily at Faulkner. “Want to join us?”
    Faulkner slid a possessive arm around her waist, and smiled at Pete. It wasn’t a pleasant smile. “She’s with me,” he said quietly.
    “Yes, I am,” Shelly added. “Thanks for the invitation anyway.”
    Pete didn’t say another word. He stalked back off to the other group.
    “He’s been drinking again,” she said. “Ordinarily he’s very nice.”
    “Nan told me that she was barely able to peel him off you last night,” he said curtly. “I don’t like that. A man who’ll take advantage of an intoxicated woman is no man at all.”
    She stared at him. “Which means that you wouldn’t seduce me if I got drunk?”
    “Of course not. Besides, even cold sober, a college freshman is a little green on the tree for a man my age,” he added, and his voice was unusually soft.
    She should have been glad that her subterfuge had been successful. But instead, she was miserable that he thought she was too young for him.
    “Will you relax and enjoy the music?” he chided.
    “Sorry.” She smiled. “I’m glad you asked me. I love music.”
    “So do I.”
    “Elevator music and classic rock and roll?” she teased.
    He cocked a thick eyebrow. “Axl Rose and Aerosmith,” he shot back.
    She chuckled. “Mr. Scott, you are nothing like your image.”
    “Thank God for that.”
    The music got louder and couples moved into the circle to dance. Because her parents were ballroom dancing fans, she’d grown up knowing how to dance the mambo and tango. Faulkner seemed surprised that someone of her tender years would know how to do a sophisticated tango, but after he gauged her style, they seemed to flow together to the passionate refrain.
    The music was wild. What she felt with every sensual brush of his body against hers was wilder. Her heart ran awaywith her. There was no tomorrow—only tonight. She began to act as if the moment was all that existed, deliberately tempting him with the brush of her breasts against his broad chest, the soft glide of her thighs beside his, the intoxicating fencing of her steps with his.
    She hung beneath his narrowing gaze, feeling the effect she was having on him in his quickened breath, the tightening of his hands on her waist and then, sliding lower, on her hips as he brushed her body against him.
    It was arousing and she was too hungry to hide her reaction to him. As the music built to a climax, her eyes found his and held them. By the time it wound down, she was clinging to him, like a life preserver.
    They finished the dance with a trembling Shelly draped over one powerful arm. Faulkner’s mouth poised scant inches above her own. The whole