To Have and to Hold by Diana Palmer Read Free Book Online Page A

dumb reason for it—like being in love with him. Shards of white-hot metal pierced her heart. In love! Never, not again, not that, not Cal!
    She shook herself. People simply didn't fall in love with each other this quickly, not in a few weeks. She drew a deep breath. It was the loneliness, and suddenly having someone to share it and lessen it, that was all. Naturally she felt offended when someone came between her and Cal—he was her friend.
    The puzzle got worse the more she thought about it. She didn't want to think about it anyway. He wasn't the only man in the world. There were lots of other men. She looked around the room at some of them. They were all with women—couples. The world Went around in pairs, and singles had all the gaiety of dinosaurs. Why had she come to this dumb theater anyway when it only emphasized her aloneness?
    But the picture was about to start. It was a chilling horror show, and that was what she needed to get her mind off Cal. So she bought a bag of popcorn, sat stuffed in between two sets of necking teenagers, and watched the creature eat the crew of the spaceship. They all, for some reason, had dark wavy hair and gray eyes.
    It was after midnight when she ran out of places to sit and drink coffee, so she went home in defeat. He'd be in bed now, anyway she thought, and felt the tears running down her cheeks as she remembered the brunette.
    She parked the car and got out, her head bent with an emotional exhaustion she hadn't felt in a long time. She put the key in the lock and started to turn it when she heard familiar footsteps.
    "Burgundy," he said from somewhere over her left shoulder, but she didn't look at him.
    "Oh, hello," she said brightly. "I went to see that new movie, you know, the one about the spaceship...."
    "Knock it off," he growled. "I know damned good and well you weren't in that kind of hurry to see some movie!"
    "I was, actually," she replied calmly. "I hope the pie was all right, I didn't mean to interrupt...."
    "Oh, God, what are you trying to do to me?" he asked in a husky whisper, moving closer.
    She looked up, and heard him draw a sharp breath as he saw the tears. The next minute he caught her almost savagely into his big arms and crushed her body against his.
    "You damned little scalded cat," he whispered at her ear, "why did you have to look at me like that, as if I'd dumped boiling water over your head? I damned well told you I was no monk. Didn't you hear me?"
    Her cheek moved restlessly against his hard, warm chest, as it rose and fell and pounded comfortingly against her ear. "I'm sorry," she whispered, choking on the words. "I didn't see the car, honest I didn't, or I'd...."
    "I know!" he said curtly. "That's what hurt the most. I could taste the embarrassment. You wore it like perfume! Don't you think I know you'd never interfere in my life? I could beat the breath out of that sweet young body!"
    His arms tightened as if to emphasize the point, and she gasped in pain. "You're crushing me," she whispered.
    "You make me want to hurt you, little girl," he growled, catching her long hair to tug her face up to his blazing eyes. "I've been half out of my mind wondering where you were. Did you know that?"
    She lowered her swollen eyes. "I can look out for myself. I've had lots of practice."
    His hands contracted and hurt her. "Don't, honey," he said in a barely audible threat. "Don't push me one step further, or you're going to see a side of me that may shock that prim little mind."
    In the silence that followed, some mischiveous imp dared her to push him that one inch further, to test him, to find out...frightened of her own thoughts, she pressed gently against his shirt.
    "I'm so tired, Cal," she murmured.
    "Feverish, too, unless I miss my guess," he growled, feeling her forehead. "You look like hell."
    "I like you, too," she replied.
    "Impudent brat." He let her go. "Go to bed and take a couple of aspirin. And from now on, I'll hang a white handkerchief over the gate