For All of Her Life by Heather Graham Read Free Book Online

trying to talk Kathy into coming to Star Island for a week,” Jordan said. “Naturally, you’re welcome as well.”
    “Oh, but...” Jeremy began.
    As subtly as possible, Kathy stomped on his foot.
    “I really don’t think he can convince me to come,” Kathy said, smiling at Jeremy. “But I certainly wouldn’t go alone.” She hoped that Jeremy could see the plea in her eyes—and that Jordan could not.
    “Well, let me know what you decide,” Jeremy said. He lifted her hand to his lips, then kissed it, and it seemed he felt he needed to go a step farther for her, for he pulled her close to him, brushed a kiss on her forehead. “Call me, Kathy. Mr. Treveryan, again, it’s been a pleasure.”
    He left the apartment.
    “Are you ready?” Jordan asked. “Or is the fire department coming as well?”
    She shrugged. “You shouldn’t have surprised me,” she told him defensively.
    “You should have remembered that your...er, friend was on the phone.”
    “I was startled.”
    “I didn’t know I could still startle you that badly. Ten years is a very long time.”
    “You took it in stride.”
    “So did you,” he commented, a glow of amusement in his eyes once again.
    She swore beneath her breath. He heard her.
    “Well, it was good to know the police could just about fly in like that, wasn’t it?”
    “Oh, yeah?”
    “They didn’t point their guns at you,” he reminded her.
    “They didn’t find you half-dressed!”
    “I’d rather be naked than shot,” he said dryly.
    “I wasn’t naked,” she said defensively.
    “Then why the outrage?” he demanded softly.
    “Do you want to go to dinner or not?” she asked.
    He swept out a hand, indicating the front door. “I would very much like to go to dinner.”
    She walked on past him, then paused just as she had gone on by him. “Why?”
    “Why what?”
    “Why do you want to go to dinner with me so badly?”
    “That’s obvious, isn’t it?”
    “Is it?”
    “I want you to come to Star Island.”
    “But I don’t want to.”
    “You do.”
    “I don’t.”
    “I’ll convince you.”
    “You won’t.”
    “I will.”
    “You won’t—”
    “Damnation, Kathryn!” he exclaimed suddenly. Then she was startled to feel his hands on her shoulders, startled by the tension and passion evoked by his touch—and by seeing the dead-set determination in his eyes. Her breathing and her heart seemed to stop, and yet she sensed the mad surging of her blood, the hot racing through her veins.
    Let me go! she thought in sudden panic. He was really too close now, touching her. And he felt the same. His hands...she knew the feel of them; he had held her like this before. Time slipped away, so softly, as if it hadn’t been. And the way he held her now, touched her, stared at her, it was as if the years had slipped away for him as well. As if they could almost pick up from where they had left off—without the gap of a decade in between.
    Yes. She knew Jordan. Knew his touch, the feel of his hands...that look in his eyes. Something was haunting him, driving him. Yet despite his tension, his voice was deceptively soft when he spoke again.
    “You’ve got to come. It’s extremely important. So help me, Kathryn, unless I die trying, I will convince you to come!” he exclaimed. “By God, I will!”

Four
    “W HY?” SHE REPEATED STUBBORNLY , after a minute. She pulled away from him nervously.
    He lowered his eyes and his head briefly. She saw him knotting his fingers into fists at his sides, saw him release them with determination.
    When he looked at her again, there was a smile on his lips, a casual light within his eyes once again.
    He sighed with exasperation. “It’s an honest, polite invitation. The girls want you to be there.”
    Ummm. He was taking a different route now. One that would surely get to her.
    And she fell for it, despite being certain there was more behind this “honest, polite” invitation.
    “The girls have known all about this for a