Chapter 10
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Katherine must have drawn on some surplus of discipline and self-control to keep herself from either fainting or fleeing. Instead her hands clenched into painful fists at her sides, her nails digging into her palms. Her lungs constricted. The breath seemed to leave her body by slow degrees until she gasped in an effort to sustain herself.
She tore her eyes from Lacey's triumphant mocking face to Jace's. His frustration was manifested in the slight twitch in his rigid jaw and the hard, implacable eyes. Slowly, he extricated himself from Lacey's embrace and stood up, pushing her away from him.
"That's not exactly accurate, Lacey. You are my ex-wife. A pertinent distinction, I think," he corrected.
So, he really had been married to this woman, Katherine thought. She had been clinging to a tenuous thread of hope that perhaps this Lacey was playing a practical joke on an old friend. But the pouting, seductive expression the brunette bestowed on Jace denoted that their relationship went far beyond friendship. Even a fool could see that.
"Oh, Jace," Lacey chided petulantly, "you always were annoyingly precise. I still feel married to you. I'll always consider you to be my husband. In the eyes of God, we're married."
"Oh?" Jace cocked a skeptical eyebrow. "Lacey, if God looks upon everyone who has carnal knowledge of another to be married, the world is overpopulated with bigamists." Katherine never recalled Jace sounding so bitter. Was he referring to their marriage? The pain in her heart was unbearable.
He continued to stare at Lacey closely, while she returned his look with an open invitation on her provocative lips.
Katherine felt alien and useless. She had to get out. Their intimate looks sickened her. She had interrupted a private interlude which they seemed eager to resume.
The picnic basket fell noisily to the floor. Spitefully, Katherine hoped everything would spill out and make a big mess. Maybe the wine bottle would break. As her hand touched the doorknob, Jace barked, "Katherine, where are you going?"
She looked at him with angry incredulity. Had he gone mad? Did he think she was going to stand here and witness his lust for – or love for – his former wife?
"I'm going home," she stated coldly. "I only came out to bring you some lunch."
"Now isn't that—" Lacey started, but Jace cut her off.
"Thank you," he said. His face hadn't lost that harried look, but his perception never failed. He raked her body quickly with intuitive eyes. He knew her purpose for surprising him, and she flushed hotly. Her plans for an affectionate playtime between a husband and wife now seemed obscene.
"Maybe we can share it later," he suggested.
"I don't think so," Katherine returned sharply.
Jace muttered an expletive under his breath. Every line and angle of his body radiated his agitation.
"Well, don't leave yet. I want to talk to you."
Lacey hopped up onto the desk and crossed her legs. Her blue silk slacks tightly contoured her hips and legs. Through her beige crocheted top, Katherine could plainly see her lush, coral-tipped breasts. Jace, she thought miserably, could see them too.
"Isn't Jace a dear husband, Katherine?" she purred. "When we were married, he barely left me alone for an hour at a time."
"Lacey," Jace grated.
"I still remember each time we made love, which was often," she laughed. "He makes sex an event, doesn't he?"
Katherine felt the bile rising at the back of her throat and longed to rush for the door and put as much distance as possible between her and those mocking brown eyes and sensuous mouth.
"Of course, ours was a love match and yours..." her cooing voice trailed off meaningfully. Katherine's mind caustically completed the sentence. Had Jace found it necessary to explain the circumstances surrounding his hasty marriage to Lacey?
"Lacey, you're dwelling on the past and that doesn't concern Katherine in the least." Was there a trace of warning in Jace's tone?
"Oh, on the contrary, darling." Lacey placed her hands on either side of her on the desk and leaned forward. Her heavy breasts dangled in front of her like luscious ripe melons. "I think Katherine would find it extremely interesting to learn that we divorced over the topic of children."
She took her eyes off of Jace and settled them on Katherine condescendingly. "You see, Jace has this big hang-up about families. As soon as we married, he started in on me to have babies." She pouted. "I wanted him all to myself for a while."
"Lacey. I'm—"
She leaned back negligently and swung her legs back and forth in front of the desk like a pendulum. She ignored Jace's threatening interruption and continued, unaffected by his growing anger.
"Isn't it lucky that he acquired a ready-made family by marrying you?" Her smile was brilliant, revealing sharp white teeth.
Katherine gnawed her lower lip. She refused to allow herself to break down in front of Lacey or Jace. When he made a move toward her, she jerked away from him. Everything Lacey was saying was the truth, but somehow hearing it verbalized by this gorgeous woman who had been married to Jace, lived with him, slept – Katherine shuddered. That he must have told Lacey about their personal life was an unforgivable insult. Maybe she was standing here listening to Lacey because she subconsciously sought punishment. She had been foolish to get into this marriage in the first place. Then she had gone one step further and fallen in love with Jace when she knew it was hopeless. She had come to trust him. That was her most ruinous mistake. She should have known better. Hadn't Mary loved and trusted Peter too?
"Knowing how Jace loves the family image and all, how could he not volunteer to rear poor, dear Peter's little baby girl? However, it's just like Jace to sacrifice everything for a noble cause."
"Shut up, Lacey." Jace turned toward the woman and impaled her with blue eyes that were sparking with anger. Naturally he was angry. Lacey was pointing out the unfortunate details of his marriage, and they rankled him, especially since he was obviously still in love with his ex-wife.
"Well, leave it to you, darling, to make the best of a bad situation." Lacey studied her manicured fingertips with absorbing concentration. "I mean getting Katherine that little job of hers was so generous of you. Of course, the busier you keep her, the less time you'll have to spend with her."
Lacey's last words pierced Katherine like a spear, involuntarily her muscles twitched, and she turned to Jace in fury. "You!" she cried. "What did you do to get me my job?"
"Oh, my dear, if only you could have heard him selling Daddy on the idea," Lacey drawled. "I listened on the other phone. Why Jace was practically begging Daddy to go along with the idea of these silly commercials."
Katherine listened to every word, aghast at their implication. She searched Jace's face for some sign of denial, but his only reaction was a clenching jaw and hardening blue diamond eyes.
"Is that true, Jace?" She strangled on her words. "Is it true that you contrived an unnecessary job for me?"
"Katherine, please listen—" he took a step toward her.
"Answer me, damn you," she fairly screamed. "Did Mr. Newton come up with the idea or did you?"
"You don't understand—"
"Tell me. Now!"
"Godammit!" he exploded. "I would explain if you'd let me finish a sentence."
"I don't want any of your glib explanations," she said succinctly. "Whose idea were the commercials?" When he stilt didn't reply, she shouted, "Whose?"
"Mine!" he roared.
His volume matched hers and the word ricocheted off the walls of the trailer, echoing in the small confines of the interior.
Katherine and Jace faced each other like wild, raging bulls. Their chests heaved, their nostrils flared, their anger consumed them.
Finally Katherine forced the pent-up tension out of her body. She straightened her shoulders and turned to leave the trailer. She swung open the door and stepped out onto the low step.
It surprised her when Jace followed close on her heels. He grabbed her upper arm in a viselike grip.
"Let go of me," she snarled, trying to pull her arm free.
"Not a chance. You aren't about to go running out of here like a she-devil out for revenge. That would start tongues wagging for sure."
He walked close to her. She stumbled to keep pace with his long, angry strides. "Well, we sure wouldn't want any adverse gossip about the boss's love life, would we?" she asked sweetly. "I think your caution is a trifle ludicrous when your ex-wife has already arrived in a mobile bedroom."
His grip on her arm was painful, but he tightened it even more. He ignored her sarcasm and asked, "Where in the hell is your car?"
"Over there," she indicated the station wagon parked under an oak tree at the edge of the woods.
He practically dragged her the rest of the way over the stony ground. Did he think he was fooling his men with this display of husbandly chivalry? Couldn't they tell by his rigid face and ramrod straight back that he was furious?
When he reached the car and was out of earshot from anyone who might be able to hear over the noisy equipment, he leaned down and said, "Nothing that was said or done back there has any relevance to us. Do you hear me, Katherine?" He shook her slightly.
"You're hurting my arm. Will you please let go?" She looked at him levelly, revealing none of the torment she was feeling inside.
He released her immediately, and she rubbed her arm, trying to restore circulation. "Should I expect rougher treatment when you get home? Or are you coming home?"
"Katherine," he ground out in exasperation. He looked away from her, out across the landscape that was incongruously peaceful. He sighed deeply and returned his gaze to her. "When I got you the job—"
"Thanks for nothing," she said bitterly.
"I was doing it for you!" he flared.
She laughed harshly. "Oh, sure you were." Her green eyes hardened as she said, "That was the only area of my life where you weren't in control. My career. You took over my life, my house, my..." She broke off before she made an admission that would confirm her absolute humiliation. "You had to have it all, didn't you? You wouldn't let me retain even a fragment of my pride or self-respect. God! You Mannings are greedy. Now I'm in your debt and under your supervision completely, aren't I?"
She recognized the symptoms. His temper was rising to the surface. Her words penetrated the armor. So, Katherine thought as she watched the lines around his mouth become more deeply etched, I was right. The truth always hurts, and he can't fake it.
"Okay," he said menacingly. "Believe what you will, Katherine." He took one step closer to her. "But there's one other thing I control that you failed to mention."
"W-what?" she asked tremulously, instinctively afraid of the predatory gleam in his azure eyes.
"This," he said, reaching for her and drawing her to him.
"No—" she protested before he covered her mouth with his.
After a punishing kiss, he lifted his head for a moment. "You can start paying back all those debts you owe me," he taunted. His arms held her immobile against his hard, unyielding body. He pressed his lips against her closed mouth and wouldn't give up the bruising pressure until she had opened it to him.
His tongue forced its way in, plundering her mouth. His hips thrust against hers, pushing her into the side of the car. His hands were everywhere, insulting and abusive. Thankfully, his back was to the drilling site and no one could witness her debasement.
He left her mouth and buried his lips in her neck. "You came out here for an intimate lunch together, didn't you?" he asked in a gruff voice.
She whimpered, tears on the brink of her lids, as he reminded her of her original plans. So much had happened since then. How shattered were her dreams in the space of an hour!
"I would have liked that, Katherine." He settled one long, brown hand on her breast. "I know you have nothing on under this blouse. In my mind, I can see your breasts, feel them, taste them."
He found her mouth again, and this time there was no violence in his kiss. It was devastatingly tender. His mouth sensuously sipped at her lips, her tongue, until she relaxed the steely tautness of her body.
His thumbs brushed across her nipples through the fabric of her shirt until he felt them respond. They were like hard, smooth buttons under his touch.
Katherine felt herself slipping into submission. Her resolve melted under his caresses. Her body betrayed her by responding to him. No. She mustn't. From the first she had been drawn to him by his persuasive sexuality and flagrant virility. Now she was suffering for her weakness. This meant nothing to him. He only used these embraces as a means of decreasing her will, eliminating her self- control, getting his way.
Gleaning every ounce of depleting strength, she pushed him away from her. His eyes, glazed with passion, blinked rapidly, trying to focus. When he looked down into her angry, closed face, he dropped his arms to his sides.
"You're wrong, Jace. I'm no longer susceptible. You don't influence any part of my life. I'm leaving now. By the looks of things, Lacey intends to stay a while. I'm sure she's more than willing to satisfy your baser instincts."
She got in the car and slammed the door. After she turned on the motor and engaged the gears, Jace put a restraining hand on the door handle.
"It's a pretty speech and a good act, Katherine, but it won't wash." His anger was gone. His voice was level, convincing, and deadly accurate. "You still want me as much as I want you. I'll be home at the normal time."