Fit for a King. Diana Palmer

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       Chapter Two

      The reaction was almost instantaneous. “Oh!” The woman faltered, stopping beside King as if frozen to the spot. She stared at Elissa with huge, soft eyes, clearly struggling to find words, and her delicate skin colored, making her even more beautiful. “Ex-excuse me.”

      “I didn’t expect you to still be here, Elissa,” King said with a smile that was obviously forced.

      Elissa played her part to perfection, letting her eyes droop sleepily. “I’m sorry if I’ve overstayed my welcome.”

      “Don’t be absurd,” he replied. “There’s no reason you shouldn’t stay if you like. Bess, do you mind …?” he asked the blonde. “There’s a guest bathroom just down the hall.”

      “I’ll … I’ll use that one, of course.” She looked totally flustered, Elissa noted sympathetically. “Excuse me,” she whispered, her voice almost breaking. She turned and nearly ran down the hall.

      King closed the door and leaned back against it, his face without expression, his dark eyes looking at Elissa without really seeming to see her. He never gave away much, but that hard face was faintly pale under its rugged tan.

      Elissa climbed out of bed, oblivious to her state of undress. He wasn’t looking, anyway. He paid very little attention to her as a rule, and if she’d wondered why in the past, she now had a suspicion. She went to stand in front of him, her head back, her eyes curious.

      “Okay,” she said. “Why don’t you tell me all about it? I’m a clam when I need to be, and you look as if you need a friend pretty badly.”

      His jaw tightened. He looked down into her blue eyes, and she could see his control waver, just for an instant, before he got it back. “That’s Bess,” he said finally. “My brother’s wife,” he added significantly. After a pause, he continued tonelessly, “He’ll be along in an hour or so; he’s still in a business meeting.”

      She remembered his mentioning Bobby and Bess, and she also remembered that he never talked much about them. Now she had a sneaking hunch she knew why. Her eyes narrowed as she took in his look of utter dejection.

      “Is one of you in hot pursuit of the other?” she conjectured, smiling gently at his faint surprise. “Since I’m guessing, she’s after you, I imagine, and that’s why I was shanghaied into decorating your bed.”

      “It isn’t quite that simple,” he murmured, searching her wide eyes.

      “Why don’t you try telling me about it?” she suggested softly.

      Still gazing intently at her, he seemed to consider that possibility, took a deep breath and then began. “They came down month before last while Bobby was working to get a hotel complex started. He’s been deeply involved in negotiations, and now he’s finalizing the subcontracting bids,” he explained. He paused.

      “Go on,” Elissa prompted gently.

      “Bess has been lonely, so instead of going back to Oklahoma, she’s been depending on me for amusement.” He stopped, then continued haltingly, “But a couple of nights ago, the amusement did a disappearing act, and things started to get serious.” Again he stopped, then rushed on. “So I started grasping at straws and told her I was involved with you. If you hadn’t sent me that letter asking me to get the utilities on, I might still be in hot water. But I knew you’d be in tonight, so I made sure Bess would come over. To catch you in a compromising situation, that is.”

      “Too bad I wasn’t stark naked instead, then,” she said lightly, trying to cheer him up. She gave him a wicked smile. “Just picture it, gorgeous me in my birthday suit sprawled out on your satin sheets. That would have really caught her eye.”

      Oddly enough, that picture made King go hot all over. He suddenly realized he’d never really thought of Elissa as a woman before. She was so young, so naive, so trusting. She was like a little sister to him. But now, as his dark eyes wandered over her, he realized with a start that she was pretty sexy in that gown, and he wasn’t thinking brotherly thoughts at all. He blinked. Maybe he was getting old and his glands were going crazy. Either that or his confusion over Bess was getting to him. In an effort to ground himself in reality once more, he reached out and clasped her shoulders. It was a mistake—they were bare.

      Elissa started. It was a rare thing for King to touch her, and she was amazed at the pleasure the feel of his hands on her bare skin gave her.

      “I think this will do it,” he mused, even more confused yet relieved he could still find voice to respond to her joking remark. “Temporarily, at least. How about joining us for drinks, just for an hour or so? Just until Bobby gets here?”

      He sounded almost desperate, and Elissa grinned. “Sure. What are friends for?” she said easily. She wondered how much he really cared for Bess and if his only motive in the charade was to ward off his sister-in-law. Perhaps he needed a barrier against his own impulses, too, to keep himself honest? Hard to tell; he could be such a poker face. At times she wondered if she really knew him at all. She searched his dark eyes, frowning slightly. “King, is she in love with you?”

      “I don’t think she knows, Elissa,” he said, his voice quiet and tense. “She’s lonely and bored—maybe a bit afraid, as well. Bobby leaves her alone too much. I’m not sure if she’s really interested in me or just using me as a ploy to get Bobby’s attention.”

      In fact, he was afraid to take a chance on Bess’s developing any real feeling for him, since he was having a hard enough time resisting her now. But he wasn’t admitting any of that to Elissa.

      He’d always had a soft spot for his sister-in-law, he acknowledged. Few people in her current social circle knew how rough she’d had it, what with a father who drank and kept her mother pregnant all the time. Bess hadn’t even owned a decent dress when Bobby brought her home and announced that they were getting married. King had formed an immediate affection for the shy little blonde, and that tenderness had held on for the past ten years. Now it was hard to decide whether it was still brotherly affection or something more. Bess had never actively encouraged him before now.

      Elissa caught the wistful look in King’s eyes. Her lips pursed. “Did you ever have something going with her, maybe before Bobby did?” she probed gently.

      He shook his head. “She was just eighteen when they married. They were the same age, in fact.” He shrugged. “I was already eleven years her senior. Besides, Bobby saw her first.” He laughed, then instantly sobered. “They were close in those early days, when Bobby was working his way up in the business world. But now, with their years of living high on the hog and with the oil industry depressed, money’s gotten a little tight.” He frowned, studying her. “You know, I think maybe Bobby’s working himself like crazy because he’s afraid Bess won’t want him if he can’t support her in the style she’s gotten accustomed to. And because he’s ignoring her in his pursuit of new building contracts, she thinks he doesn’t care.”

      “What a mess.” She sighed.

      “You aren’t kidding. And guess who’s smack-dab in the middle of it?” he asked ruefully. “They’ve gotten along pretty well the past ten years, but then, there was always lots of money. Bess used to joke about leaving him if he ever СКАЧАТЬ