Read Online Amanda by Kay Hooper - Free Book Online Page B

damned well he wouldn’t be the last, and once he’d gotten past the natural worry that it might cost him his job, he’d enjoyed their frequent couplings just as any healthy thirty-year-old male would have. It had been more than six months now, and if she was getting bored with him he hadn’t seen a sign of it.
    “it’s Amanda, isn’t it?” he probed as she smoothed her skirt down over the long, sleek legs he loved. “Her coming back here got you tied in a knot.”
    “You think I only come to you when I’m tense?” Her voice remained calm, a long way from the husky moan that passion roused from her.
    “I think you
usually
come to me when you’re tense. I’m a glass of warm milk, Kate. I’m a pleasant way of unwinding after a rough day.”
    She looked at him oddly. “And that doesn’t bother you?”
    Ben shrugged. “Why should it? I sleep a lot better myself after a visit from you. Hey, if you just wanted something presentable to wear on your arm in public, you bet your ass I’d be bothered. In fact, I’d be gone. I’m no toy. And I’m no gigolo to be pampered and paid and turned into a rich woman’s pet. But as long as you want to have fun between the sheets—or against a wall—I’d be out of my mind if I objected.”
    Her gaze was still thoughtful, considering. Automatically, her slender fingers checked to make sure her blouse was buttoned correctly and tucked into her skirt, that the skirt hung as it was supposed to. A quick touch reassured her that her hair was still neat, caught up in a twist.
    Every inch the lady, Ben thought. There was just something
about
her, something beyond the way she dressed and moved, beyond the tranquil beauty of her face and the cool intelligence of her voice. Catherine Daulton was the kind of lady that a man instinctively respected—even when he watched her dress after a bout of hot sex.
    “God, you’re gorgeous,” he said, shaking his head.
    She was momentarily surprised, and a faint smile flitted across her lips. “For an old bag, you mean?”
    Honestly surprised himself, Ben said, “Somebody been calling you old? It sure as hell wasn’t me. If it comes to that, I don’t even know how old you are. What the hell difference does it make, as long as we’re both past the age of consent?”
    “No difference at all,” she said after a moment. “Give me a few minutes before you leave; we don’t have to go out of our way to stir up any more gossip.”
    “About us? There isn’t any, Kate, at least not forpublic consumption. In case you didn’t realize it, most of the people around here like you.”
    She didn’t say anything to that, but Ben thought he had startled her yet again. It didn’t surprise him this time. He was no psychologist, but it didn’t take one to figure out why Kate would be surprised that people cared about her.
    After all, her own father didn’t give a shit about her and didn’t care who knew it.
    At the door, she turned suddenly to look at him. “Come to the house tonight.”
    Ben knew very well he wasn’t being invited to supper. “I told you how I feel about that, Katie.”
    “Don’t call me that,” she interrupted. “I’ve told you.”
    She had indeed told him; she was as adamant about her name as she was about using protection. Maybe, Ben thought, she believed the diminutive lessened her in some way. He didn’t know, and hadn’t asked her about it.
    He half nodded in acknowledgement, then continued on the subject of his visiting the house. “Aside from the danger of running into those bloodthirsty mutts of Jesse’s, I’d rather not creep in and out of your bedroom like a damned thief.”
    “It wouldn’t excite you?”
    “I don’t need to sneak anywhere to find you exciting. That’s hardly the point.”
    “Oh? And what is the point?”
    Ben realized he was still holding the washcloth, and tossed it toward the bathroom. “We both know what it is,” he told her wryly. “You aren’t quite brave enough to tell