The Burning Point by Mary Jo Putney Read Free Book Online Page B

for a half a dozen steps before saying in a voice that didn't invite comment, "My parents are dead, so I kind of shift around between relatives. I always leave before they get tired of having me underfoot."
    Kate was taken aback. How horrible it must be not to have a place of his own, where he'd always be welcome. Wordlessly she slipped her hand into his. He threaded his fingers between hers in a warm, intimate clasp. For the second time, she felt tingles.
    They left dark footprints in the snow as they walked around the corner to an enormous, white frosted car. "The blue barge at your service." Donovan unlocked the passenger door and opened it for Kate. "When you said your name was Corsi, I thought it was something WASPy like C-o-u-r-s-e-y. Obviously not."
    "Hell, no, paisano ." She slid into the car. "I'm half Italian, just like you."
    " Corsi . Is the family business Phoenix Demolition?"
    When she nodded, he said in an awed voice, "PDI does fantastic stuff. Hell, your father practically invented the whole field of explosive demolition. He's like Red Adair is for oil well fires. Now I understand why he doesn't want you working for him."
    "Don't you dare say another word about that! I've had quite enough bossy men for one night!"
    "I didn't say a word," he said with a grin.
    He closed her door and circled to the driver's side. After getting inside and shutting the door, he turned to look at Kate. The windows were covered with a translucent layer of snow, transforming the glow of the streetlight halfway down the block into a dim, pearly luminescence.
    All levity vanished, replaced by a tension as old as Adam and Eve. The expression in his eyes made her feel hot and breathless and a little alarmed. Not fear of him, but of an attraction beyond anything she'd ever experienced. This was happening too fast. She fumbled nervously for her seat belt.
    "Don't buckle up yet." He reached out and gently rubbed her cheek with his knuckles. "You're so pretty. Radiant. Not quite real."
    The skin to skin touch made her heart beat faster. How could something so simple be so arousing?
    He slid across the seat until the hard length of his thigh was pressed along her leg. "Your hair looks better down." His fingers caressed her head with a tenderness that was both soothing and erotic.
    She felt fragile, ready to crumble under his touch. She really should tell him to stop. A single word from her would prevent this from going any further. He would start the car, drive her to Rachel's, and that would be that.
    She didn't move. Scarcely breathed, her gaze locked on his.
    "I've wanted to do this ever since you shimmied out of that limo." He lowered his head and kissed her. His lips were warm and soft, gentle in pressure yet sending hammer-beats of excitement through her veins.
    She kissed him back, sliding her fingers into that silky, sexy dark hair. Who would have dreamed that a high IQ Hell's Angel type could be so irresistible?
    Hesitant exploration dissolved into fire and desire as reality narrowed to his taste, his touch, his closeness. Every sensation was shockingly heightened. She wanted to devour him, absorb him, learn him so deeply that they would become one.
    Her sensual haze was pierced by an internal voice that said very clearly, You will marry this man.
    The words shocked her. She broke the kiss and drew her head back to stare into Donovan's shadowed eyes. Marry him? But they scarcely knew each other!
    The voice repeated, You have just met your future husband.
    She would have laughed, except that her sensible mother claimed to have experienced the same flash of inner knowledge when she'd met Sam Corsi.
    But marriage? She didn't even know his whole name! Yet her certainty was utterly convincing, and surprisingly plausible. Under the biker facade he was intelligent and kind, responsible, with a sense of humor that matched hers. Not to mention liking babies and being drop-dead handsome. Exactly what she would want in a husband--when she got