Champagne Girl

Hal flew out sometime in the night and wasn’t at the breakfast table the next morning. Betty was, though. And Matt.

He watched Catherine over his second cup of coffee, his eyes mocking as she fumbled her way through bacon and eggs.

“Such a lovely day, after all that rain,” Betty was saying. “I think I’ll drive into Fort Worth and do some shopping. Catherine, can I pick up anything for you?”

“No, thank you, Mama,” Catherine replied, trying to stop her renegade heart from running wild every time Matt looked in her direction. He was wearing a three-piece gray suit, and he looked debonair and worldly.

She had on a simple short-sleeved green knit top and a skirt, and was worried that she might be overdressed for her first day on the job. “I didn’t know what to wear this morning,” she began hesitantly.

“Angel and the other girls usually wear dresses or skirts,” Matt told her. “Jack, our sales manager, wears a suit. I alternate between suits and jeans, depending on my schedule. Today I have to fly down to San Antonio, so I’m a bit more formal. But we don’t have a dress code. You can wear jeans if you like.”

“I’ll remember tomorrow. Do I get my own office?” she asked with a smile.

“You can share mine, honey. I’ve got an extra desk.” He finished his coffee. “Ready?”

“Yes. See you later, Mama,” she murmured, rising as Matt held her chair. She couldn’t help but be puzzled by his new polite behavior. Even Betty seemed to notice, but she only smiled.

It felt strange riding beside Matt in his Lincoln. He glanced at her curiously; it wasn’t like her to be so silent, so subdued.

“What’s wrong?” he asked gently as he pulled up in front of the ranch office.

“Nothing,” she said quickly and gave him a flashing smile. “I was just thinking up ideas for the sale.”

Fortunately, he took that at face value. He got out and opened her door, but he paused when she expected him to move, so that she cannoned into him.

His hands, firm and strong, caught her shoulders and he was so close that she felt his breath in her hair. He smelled of spice and tobacco, and the muscular warmth of his body enveloped her from head to toe. She couldn’t quite breathe, and she didn’t dare look up. Her heart was beating like mad.

“You’ve avoided looking at me all morning,” he said quietly. “Is it because I tried to kiss you…or because I stopped too soon?”

Her face burned in reaction. And still she couldn’t look up. Her lips parted on a rush of breath. “It’s…new.”

“Yes.”

“Matt…”

“What?”

“Just…Matt.” She lifted her face then, and her misty green eyes sought his. He seemed to stop breathing and just stared at her. He didn’t smile. His eyes searched, probed.

“Don’t be afraid of me, Kit,” he said, his voice deep and slow and soft.

“You’re a stranger.…”

He shook his head. “No. You’re just looking at me in a different way.”

“Why?” she asked, needing to know.

His hands tightened on her shoulders. “One day at a time, honey,” he said then. “Don’t ask questions until you want the answers. Let’s get to work.”

He turned her and prodded her toward the big one-story building that housed an impressive computer setup. He had four young women working for him and two salesmen. Hal, when he was in town, had his own office, as well. It was a smoothly run operation. Thousands of dollars’ worth of cattle were bought and sold without a single head being moved physically. Matt even had cattle on videocassettes so he could show them to prospective buyers out of town. It was a wildly progressive kind of business, and Matt ran it with ease.

He showed her into his private, carpeted office. The room looked like it belonged to Matt, all tough leather and earth colors and hardwood. There were two desks: his and a smaller one, where a computer and printer sat.

“You know how to use this, don’t you?” he asked, smiling amusedly.

She glared up at him. “Yes. I had one just like it at school.”

His eyes dropped to her mouth, and she was glad there were other girls working here. It kept him from doing what she really wanted him to do.

“If you have any problems with the computer, Angel can help you. She’s the brunette at the desk outside my office. She has the preliminary information on the sale, as well. Until I volunteered you, it was her job to get it together for the public relations people. Okay?”

“Okay.” She sat down and stared at the keyboard, a hundred conflicting emotions making her restless, disturbing her. She was hot despite the air-conditioning. It was already late September, but the weather was getting hotter instead of colder, if today was any indication.

“Don’t wear your hair like that tonight,” he said suddenly.

She glanced up, remembering that she had her chestnut waves in a bun on top of her head. “What?”

“Leave it loose. I hate hairpins.”

“Do you ever stop giving orders?” she asked.

“Sure. In bed.”

Her face flushed, and he smiled—a sensual, confident smile that frightened her a little. He was a predator, and she was the quarry. That was what she’d always thought she wanted, but now that it was happening, she was afraid.

“Anyway,” she continued nervously, “I’m not sure I want to go to a drive-in with you.”

“Yes, you do,” he returned. He leaned over her, surrounding her, one hand on her chair, the other on the edge of the desk. His dark face was close to hers, and she could see the hard lines in it, the twist of his firm lips, the silver sprinkled in the darkness of his straight, thick hair. His cheek was very close, and she wanted to touch its hardness.

Her eyes lifted to his and got lost there. She saw the muscles in his jaw go taut as they stared at each other, and his breathing began to get ragged.

“I want your mouth, Catherine,” he said unexpectedly. “So I think I’d better get out of here before I shock a few people.”

He stood up, and she fumbled with the papers on the desk, feeling all thumbs and inexperienced while she tried to decide if she’d just been hearing things or if he’d really said what she thought she’d heard.

“I’ll, uh, get started,” she said in a husky voice.

“You do that.” He stuck his hands in his pockets, reading the flash of uncertainty on her face. “Catherine, I won’t hurt you,” he said under his breath.

She really crimsoned then, and he sauntered out of the office, catching other pairs of eyes as he walked. He really was the most devastating man!

What was she going to do? She wanted him so much. There had never really been anyone in her heart except Matt though the only interest he’d ever shown in her before was to check out the competition. He seemed to accept it as a necessity, but he made it as uncomfortable as he could for her few dates.

She wondered at the extent of his possessiveness. He’d worked his way into her life so slowly that, before she’d realized it, he’d become her life. And he knew it. That was what hurt most, that he had her in the palm of his hand while he was still going out with a string of women. He didn’t even make a secret of it. Because, she told herself, he never got serious. He wouldn’t get serious about her, either. She’d have to keep that in mind in case she got stupid and started begging him to kiss her at the drive-in.

For the time being, she decided to concentrate all her energy on preparing the publicity she would get out for Matt’s foundation sale. And that meant she needed a list of the lots of cattle he was going to sell. She pulled them out of the computer, complete with herd numbers, lineage, weights and gaining ratios. It was a complicated business, cattle raising, but Catherine knew enough about it to get by.

She worked out a set of dates for releasing information and got together a list of potential out-of-state buyers to contact, all her tumultuous feelings forgotten in her fascination with her new job. Then she went to find Matt.

“If you’re looking for Matt, he’s already gone.” Angel sighed, chin in her hands as she stared wistfully at the door. “He’s flying down to San Antonio with his lunch date. I’ll bet it’s that Laredo real estate agent again,” she murmured. “She’s been hanging around for a month. Well, at least she’s better than the oil company executive lady from New Orleans,” she added with a bright smile.

“I didn’t know there was a current lady,” Catherine said, trying to sound lighthearted. “We never see them at the house.”

“I don’t imagine so!” Angel said meaningfully. “We only know because they call him here. This last one has been around for about three months. But I think he’s getting tired of her. He’s been dodging her calls all week.”

It was a horrible reminder of what would happen to her if she let Matt get too close, of what would happen when he tired of her innocence. He wasn’t a marrying man; he’d said so. That only left one thing he could want, and after last night, she knew she was on the endangered-species list. That almost-kiss had knocked her to her knees. She could barely imagine what it would be like if he started making love to her.

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