Read Online Lady Moonlight by Rita Rainville - Free Book Online

on the horizon.
    But Dane, she remembered hazily, had announced his intentions. He wanted her in his bed. And not to sleep or, perchance, to dream. He wanted her awake and willing. And drifting away definitely wasn't part of his plan.
    His hands brushed over her body, softly investigating this curve, that hollow. She murmured incoherently against his lips, and his arms tightened. At least her dress, the caftan, was relatively manproof, she thought dreamily. No back zippers, no front buttons.
    No encouragement there.
    Doing what came naturally was potent stuff, Kara concluded a few minutes later. Not nearly as confident as she had been, she unwrapped her arms from around Dane's neck and tried to use them as a wedge.
    But a wedge, an effective one, required a certain amount of room. And there was none between his hard body and her soft one. None at all. Furthermore, both his large, warm hand and the hem of her caftan now rested on her bare thigh.
    She pushed against his shoulders and slowly, reluctantly, he lifted his head. Dropping back against the arm of the couch, she drew in a deep, ragged breath.
    She was flushed and disheveled and looked, Dane thought, utterly delectable. And, he noted, her expression was no longer one of amused expectation.
    It was the satisfied gleam in the silvery-green eyes that loosened Kara's tongue. "As the . . . pouncee in this affair, I request that we take a break."
    Kara closed her eyes in exasperation as she heard her own husky, breathless voice. She took a peek at his expression and sighed. His eyes remained unwaveringly on her face. And even though he was leaning back, she could still feel the warmth..of his arms, his lips, his ...
    She reined in her errant thoughts. That could only lead to trouble, big trouble, she decided. He was doing just fine on his own. He certainly didn't need her encouragement. She had the feeling, though, that regardless of what she did, he would stubbornly hack away at her objections until he got what he wanted.
    Kara groaned silently. She was the peace-at-almost-any-price type and; whenever possible, avoided battles----of will, or any other kind. Up to now she had enjoyed her large circle of friends and changed partners so often that no relationship had ever gone beyond the platonic. She had seen too many friendships ruined by the onset of that old devil, sex.
    Charged atmospheres and frustrated passions were not for her. She liked her life the way it was. Simple.
    Spur of the moment parties; her orphans; laughter at the small absurdities of life. It was a comfortable life. She wanted it to stay that way. Was that asking too much?
    One look at Dane's determined expression assured her that it was. He had the look of a man with a mission. And it didn't take a genius to figure out where he was directing his attention. He intended to shake up her life with the same casualness he would display when he shook sand out of a blanket after a beach party
    "Oh, my gosh!" She sat up and grabbed Dane's wrist, looking at his watch. "What time is it?"
    "Almost nine-thirty. Why?"
    "I'm late. I was supposed to make a phone call fifteen minutes ago." She slid off his lap, opened a drawer in a small desk and rummaged through it, sending a shower of paper to the floor. "I know I put it in here," she muttered. "It was on a blue piece of ... here it is!"
    "What's the hurry?" Dane asked.
    "He doesn't have a phone, so he's waiting at a store," she answered absently as she checked the written number and poked buttons on the white receiver.
    "Who?"
    Kara mumbled in disgust as she hit the wrong button. "Will you wait a minute? Now I have to start all over." She tapped a nail impatiently as the phone buzzed in her ear.
    "Juanito? Hi. I'm sorry I'm late. I . . uh," she glanced obliquely at Dane, "got held up. No, no, everything's okay."
    Her eyes remained on Dane's face, watching in fascination as his expression ranged from curiosity to recognition to grim determination. "I just wanted to make