Christmas Present Part 2

His overly polite responses grated on her nerves. She clenched her teeth. "Perhaps it would be better to wait until morning and see what the weather's like before we decide." "That sounds good." He tossed his napkin down on the table, stood, and addressed Burke and Cara. "If you'll excuse me, I think my jet lag has finally caught up with me. I don't want to fall asleep in the middle of our tour tomorrow, so I believe I better go to bed."

Burke nodded. "Certainly. Get a good night's rest."

"If you need anything," Cara said, "press three on the phone, and you'll be connected with our housekeeper."

"I'm sure everything will be fine." He looked at Bria. In spite of himself, he hadn't been able to turn down the opportunity of being alone with her once again. His only comfort was that it would be without the influence of scotch or jet lag. "I'll see you in the morning."

His touch had fl.u.s.tered her and his appearance in the mirror had caused a major disturbance in her mind, and she fervently wished she would never have to see him again. But he was a guest of her father's, and she hadn't been raised to be rude to anyone. She searched for a neutral but courteous reply. "I'll be looking forward to it," she said. His answering grin told her she hadn't fooled him.

"I think your mother's right," Burke said, his tall frame bent as he studied the mirror. "I think Shamus and Malvina must have brought this over from Ireland. Wait until York and Rafe see it. The frame is extraordinary."

Bria clasped her hands together anxiously. "But what about the mirror?"

He gazed at the reflective surface. "It's held up extremely well over the years. There's not a scratch or a mark on it. Remarkable."

"Do you see anything in it?"

He straightened. "You mean did I see anything in it besides myself?" She nodded. "Honey, what's bothering you? Your mother told me that you fell asleep in the attic and dreamed that you saw her riding Shalimar."

She gnawed on her lower lip. "Dad, I'm not sure it was a dream."

He studied her. "What do you think it was?"

It was a question she would give anything to answer. "I don't know."

"What else could it be?"

"Again, I'm not sure. I was really hoping you would know something about the mirror's history that might explain..." She debated telling him about seeing Kells in the mirror, then for a reason she couldn't name decided against it. Maybe she didn't believe what she had seen herself. Or maybe she didn't want her father to think she was losing her mind.

He grasped her arms and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Get some sleep, honey. When you've had some rest, you'll be able to put everything into perspective."

She smiled wearily. "Yeah, I guess you're right-Once her dad had left, she changed into a nightgown and prepared for bed. But when she was ready, she didn't immediately climb between the sheets. Instead, she walked to the mirror.

Her own face looked back at her.

She wiped a hand over her eyes. She felt like a fool, an utter fool. Being in the attic this morning and finding the old section had apparently kicked her imagination into overdrive. She had discovered a book of Malvina's and a picture made from Brianne Delaney La.s.siter's hair. And fantasy had taken flight in her mind. She had never known herself to conjure images out of air, but she certainly had today.

She lifted the mirror and carried it to her closet, where she placed it at the far back. It would stay there, she decided, until her parents decided where they wanted to hang it.

With the problem of the mirror settled in her mind, she went to bed. But as tired as she was, sleep didn't come right away.

Instead, Kells Braxton appeared in her head, his rigged countenance somber, his blue eyes mocking. And he stayed there all night, even after she finally fell asleep.

Bria dressed in jeans and an oversize moss-green sweater. Since she had put the mirror away, she felt as if a weight had been lifted from her, but she was still left with the problem of Kells Braxton.

As she pulled on her boots, she considered the situation. Actually, she supposed, there really wasn't a reason to try to fight the way he riveted her attention whenever he was near. She was unattached, and she couldn't remember hearing that he was married. Surely if he was, he would have brought his wife with him. No, he wasn't married. Maybe he had a girlfriend, though, someone he was serious about. Her spirits plummeted.

But he had kissed the back of her hand and touched her... Not exactly a ravagement, but a definite sensual experience. And his touch hadn't been an accidental or casual gesture. He had wanted to touch her, she was sure of it.

She frowned as she remembered something else. He had chopped her hand when she had told him her name.

She had learned early that the name Delaney was a mixed blessing. The Delaneys had enemies; they always had, undoubtedly they always would. Then there were people who thought by becoming friends with them they could use the a.s.sociation to their advantage in some way. They soon learned differently.

But Kells... His whole demeanor had changed when he had found out who she was. He had said he wished she were someone's secretary. Why?

Her father was too smart to invite an enemy into his home. And Kells hadn't given her the impression he wanted to further their relations.h.i.+p. Even when he had said he would enjoy having her show him around, his eyes had been more challenging than inviting. No, for whatever reason, the man simply wasn't interested in her. So, fine. It was no big deal. This morning she would give him the quickest tour of Killara she had ever given. Then she'd find a project to keep herself busy for quite a while so she could ignore him for the rest of his stay.

Her frown still firmly in place, she walked to a window and gazed out. Her room faced the back of the house and overlooked the pool and garden area and gave her a clear view of her father and Kells walking side by side.

Kelts -was wearing a black split-leather jacket.

Her heart stopped, then started again with a hard thud. He was wearing the same jacket she had seen him wearing in the images in the mirror. Her peace of mind fled. There was no way she could have known that he owned a jacket like that one. Slowly but with great purpose, she turned and made her way to the closet. She pulled the mirror out and carried it to a chair, then knelt before it.

Forcing herself, she looked into the mirror. For a brief moment she saw her own reflection, exactly what she had prayed she would see. Then suddenly she was gazing at something else, an image of her and Kells in a torrid embrace, clinging to each other, kissing pa.s.sionately.

She stared, mesmerized, taking in everything about the scene before her-the way his month was crus.h.i.+ng hers, the way his hands were beneath her sweater, caressing her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, the way her arms were wrapped tightly around his neck... and the extraordinary way she was responding.

The image vanished. She gave a small cry and sat back on her heels.

She had seen it; she hadn't imagined it; she hadn't dreamed it. She had seen Kells Braxton kissing her and her kissing him back. What should she do?

There was a school of thought stating that if you visualized something that you wanted to happen long and hard enough, it would eventually happen. Was that what was happening? Did she want so badly for Kells to kiss her that she had made the image appear in the mirror?

She pa.s.sed a shaking hand over her face. No, she couldn't buy that theory. There was no doubt that Kells had had an effect on her, but not enough to send her imagination soaring so that she could clearly see each and every detail of a pa.s.sionate kiss. No, no, no. Something else was going on here and she had to set to the bottom of it.

"You said you rode some," Bria said, watching Kells as he easily controlled the spirited Arabian beneath him. The supple lines of Kells's powerful body made him seem a part of the stallion. "You understand your ability."

"He's a beautiful animal," he said, as if that explained his riding prowess.

"He's a Delaney horse, bred and trained on Shamrock, just as mine is." She reached down and patted the sleek brown neck of her bay. "So where did you learn to ride?"

He shrugged. "I grew up on a ranch in New Mexico."

"Oh, yes. You did mention you were born and raised there." The day was clear and cool, and the sky was as deeply blue as his eyes. Suddenly she was fiercely glad she had agreed to take him on this tour.

"The ranch was nowhere as grand as Killara. Just a lot of brush and tumbleweed and a hundred or so head of cattle, but my grandfather loved it."

"It was your grandfather's place?"

He nodded and reflected with mild surprise that he couldn't remember the last time he had talked with someone about his childhood home. "He named it The Star because of all the stars that appeared over it every night. He pictured the ranch becoming a star among America's ranches, like Killara."

"I don't think I've ever heard of it. Did it become a star?"

"Not even close, but I honestly don't think he cared."

He smiled. She remembered the image of them kissing that she'd seen in the mirror, and she couldn't help but stare at his mouth. What would it be like to be kissed by him? His lips were firm and well shaped, and her instincts told her he was practiced in the ait of kissing. How would those lips feel against hers? Would she feel a pleasant tingle as she had so many times in the past? Or would she feel something stronger?

She blew out a long breath. Lord, help her. She needed to think of something other than Kells's mouth.

"You said it was your grandfathers ranch and that you grew up there. Did your parents live there too?" To her astonishment, she saw him stiffen.

"Both my parents died when I was young," he said curtly. "My grandfather raised me."

"I see. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up painful memories."

He glanced over at her. Her tight jeans delineated the long, enticing length of her legs, her open jacket exposed the swell of her firm b.r.e.a.s.t.s against the big sweater. Her hair swayed and rippled like a red banner in the wind, s.h.i.+mmering with every movement. Her skin was golden, and she was more desirable than he wanted to admit.

It had taken guts and grit to conquer this land, and she was part of the family who had done it. And seeing her set against the wild beauty of her land, his sense of something untamed in her was stronger than ever.

h.e.l.l, he thought. Rest and sobriety hadn't made any difference. He shouldn't have been so eager to come on this d.a.m.n tour. "It's not painful, just something that happened a long time ago."

The tone of his voice told her he had no intention of saying more about the death of his parents. She stifled her curiosity on that subject, but gave vent to it in the other area that troubled her. "Have you ever been to Killara before?"

"No, but of course Killara's legend stretches far and wide. I've heard of it all my life." His eyes scanned the range they were riding across. Meadow rolled toward meadow, where cattle grazed and saguaros raised their arms toward heaven.

Her gaze followed his and she took in the stark beauty of the landscape that had always been her home.

Kells Braxton's strength equaled that of the rugged land around him, Bria thought. He wasn't overwhelmed or overpowered by Killara, as so many people were. But nothing changed the fact that she had seen his image in the mirror, or that there had been a sharp bite to his words as he had talked of Killara...

"Do you see those mountains over there?" she asked, pointing to the craggy peaks in the distance.

"It would be hard to miss them," he said dryly.

"Those mountains are part of Killara."

His lips twisted into a wry grin. "That doesn't surprise me at all. An outsider's perception of the Delaneys

is that they own most of the world."

"Do you think that?"

He glanced at her. "No. You probably own only a sizable part of it. But there isn't any doubting a

Delaney's penchant for acquiring."

Again she heard the biting edge in his tone. "Does that penchant you just described bother you?"

"No. Why should it? Your dad didn't buy my company."

"But he tried, didn't he?" Kells smiled; her eyes went to his lips. He had beautiful lips, she thought.

Sensual. Patrick had told her that Kells was a brilliant computer engineer and that a number of heads of corporations had been after him. She supposed that over the years a great many women must have also been after him-but not for business reasons.

"Burke tried all right. But when he realized there was no way I was going to sell him my company, no matter how much money he offered, he came up with another offer." Those must have been some negotiations, she thought, regretting that she had missed them. "Another offer that was on your terms."

His eyes glinted with hard blue lights. "It's the only way I do business."

"That's usually the only way Dad does business, but you had something he wanted."

"And in the end he got it. I don't imagine there are too many things that Burke Delaney has wanted in his

life that he hasn't gotten." "I guess you're right," she said slowly, trying to a.n.a.lyze his words, his tone. There was something there; she just wished she knew what. "And I imagine that trait has been pa.s.sed down to his daughter. Tell me, Bria, what is it that you don't have that you want?" Actually, there were things she wanted, normal things, like a man to love and to be loved by, and children to raise and adore. But she was shocked to realize that when he had asked the question, her gaze had gone straight to his lips. It was with relief that she saw they had reached a stream, a glistening, clear flow of cool water that came down from the mountains and cut a path across the meadow. She dismounted and led her horse to the water. Kells followed suit, letting the silence hang loudly in the air with his still-unanswered question. But she wasn't sure she wanted to bare her innermost desires to this hard man who could heat her skin and fog her mind. She pointed again toward the mountains. "There's a road up there that comes from h.e.l.l's Bluff. It leads down to the foothills and then on down to the valley. Have you ever driven in any of the mountains around here?" "I told you, I've never been on Killara before." "Yes," she said softly, "you did say that." The image in the mirror had shown him standing on that very mountain road, looking down on Killara. But then, the mirror had also shown her kissing him, and that hadn't happened either.

Would it? To her alarm, her pulse began to race.

Kells knelt upstream from the horses and scooped a handful of water into his mouth. When he stood, he was somehow closer to her. And his voice was a husky rasp. "You keep looking at my mouth."

"I..." She couldn't deny it.

"Do you want a taste? Is that what you want?"

"No, I'm sorry if I-"

"Do you want me to kiss you?"

His question struck her dumb, because she realized the answer was a heartfelt yes.

"To h.e.l.l with it," he said roughly. "Let's both be sorry."

He reached for her and hauled her against him. But once he had her body against his, he paused. She

was all softness and femininity, pressing into him, making his gut tighten and his mouth dry-and he had

just had a drink of water. Did he really want to do this? he asked himself. h.e.l.l, yes, he answered. But the urge for caution was still in him, causing him to go slow.

He bent his head and lightly brushed his lips back and forth across hers. Lord, he thought. He had been right. She did taste like a flame. She had been braced for a hard, crus.h.i.+ng kiss and was unprepared for the surprising featherlike strokes of his mouth over hers. It was as if lie were sampling her, uncertain if he wanted to go further. But she knew he would; she had seen it happening in the mirror. And so she waited and was rewarded as a heated sweetness began to grow in the pit of her stomach and her lips started to b.u.m. With a sigh that indicated surrender, she opened her mouth.