Enthralled (7 page)

She felt the rasp of his beard
and realized that her dress was down around her hips and that Chazz was
nuzzling her breasts. A hazy memory of the pain that Ben Windom had inflicted
on her, both mental and physical, flashed before her, and she began to squirm
in panic.

Chazz lifted his head.
"Let me, darling. Let me love you." His eyes were glazed, hot and
wanting. He seemed to sense her panic. "I won't hurt you, love, I
promise."

Teel wanted to shout at him,
to yell the question at him. How did he know she wasn't a virgin? For she was
now certain of what she had suspected several times— Chazz knew she wasn't a
nun.
How?
she
shouted at him, but only a moan came from her mouth. She was both repelled and
attracted by him. It was as though her body wanted Chazz but her mind
remembered Ben.

Instead of pummeling him with
her fists, as one part of her screamed to do, her hands twined into his crisp
black hair. His muffled groan of satisfaction sent a thrill through her as he
began to caress her breasts again, his tongue making her nipples harden. His
mouth stroked over her body as though to imprint himself on her flesh.

Then he raised himself slowly
over her, his mouth coming back to hers, one leg separating her thighs.
"Darling. I'll always be gentle with you," he murmured.

When she would have spoken,
his mouth fastened to hers once again, wet tongue meeting wet tongue. Teel's
body arched as his manhood pressed against her. She felt suffused in new blood,
burning with a vibrant, driving need. There was no turning back. She
surrendered to him, her mouth sighing into his, their bodies melting together
as if in a dream. She felt him moving over her in restless readiness, as though
he could wait no longer. But he
would
wait.

"My God I've never wanted
anyone like this," Chazz breathed, as if surprised. His hands skimmed over
Teel again, heating and reheating her body wherever he touched. "It will
be good for you, love. You'll see." His words slurred over her as his
mouth moved down her body once again.

"It's good now,"
Teel moaned urging him closer.

"Love, oh love." His
passion built and vibrated between them, yet still he controlled it. He seemed
to sense she was ready for him, but he continued to minister to her, building
the yearning in her to an intolerable level.

"Chazz," Teel
groaned.

"Yes, darling."

She felt his penetration and
welcomed it. And then the electricity between them burst into flames, and Chazz
began a mounting rhythm that was like nothing Teel had ever imagined. They
crested again and again, then spun away into a warm, dark well...

Teel felt as light as air.
When she saw the confused look on Chazz's face as he leaned over her, she
pulled his head to her again and began a velvet assault of her own. The tiny
kisses over the stubble on his face stimulated her already overheated senses.
She shocked herself by becoming the aggressor, her hand caressing him in
excited possession.

Chazz seemed delighted to
relinquish control, and his lazy grin was soon replaced with a deep groan as
Teel found her way through the labyrinth of his feelings, exposing the core of
the man and joining her inmost self with him.

Ecstasy took them both, and
then they sank together, Chazz folding her close.

"You took me
apart, beautiful lady, you took me apart." The words were barely out of
his mouth when he was asleep, his hold binding her to him throughout the night.

Teel slept. When
she awoke, it was still outside. Chazz's iron hands had loosened somewhat
around her, but she was still within the protective circle of his arms. She
turned her head on the pillow and looked at him long and hard. It brought a
raw, sweet pang to realize that she loved him. God, what a mess! In love with a
lecher who cruised the ports of the jet set seeking his prey. She sighed
deeply, momentarily overcome by the hopelessness of her predicament. Still,
without Chazz, Teel mused to herself, lifting one finger to gently trace his
features, she would never have known what it meant to love. Her mouth lifted in
a wry smile. Sweet irony.

As she lay there
she had no sense of time passing. She knew only one thing. She was leaving the
Deirdre,
Chazz, and everything
connected with his life on the next available flight back to New York—and
reality. Running away wasn't usually her solution to difficult situations, but this
time she was going to gallop. The idea of Chazz ever Saline out what he meant
to her threatened to tear her heart in two.

What a paradox! She had run to
the
Deirdre
for
succor, for surcease from fear, for rescue from her ordeal in the jungle. Now
she was enmeshed in as frightening an ordeal as before. Oh, she was no longer
in danger of dying of exposure or starvation, but her spirit was in danger of
being destroyed by Chazz Herman. If she stayed here any longer, she wouldn't be
able to leave. She would end up being his concubine. She swallowed a bitter
chuckle in the darkness.
You're a fool, Teel
Barrett. Where in all of blue Hades did you find that word?
She chided herself, needing to punish herself for the weakness
that kept her in bed with Chazz Herman, as if chained by love for him. How long
did she think he would keep her? she scolded herself as she cuddled against the
warm, hard form curved around her. He would sicken of her just as he had the
rest, an inner voice promised her, the harsh thoughts freezing the blood in her
veins.
Go back to your work,
she told herself. Maybe after a few years she'd forget him.
Ha! She would never forget him. Maybe that was true, she argued with the voice,
but her work was important and fulfilling. She would make it be enough for her.

In the dawn silence she heard
the ship come awake. She knew Rowan would be in the galley, preparing
breakfast, serving the crew. Teel edged out of bed, grateful for Chazz's heavy
breathing, aware by the sound that he was in deep sleep. He would probably wake
up with a hangover. If she hurried and was lucky, she could be well away before
he even thought to ask for her.

She took a short,
freezing-cold shower in an effort to remind herself of hard reality, of
unrelenting necessity, while she ached for Chazz's touch.

Darby raised his eyebrows at
her appearance on deck and would have hurried off to get her breakfast, but
Teel forestalled him. "Didn't you tell me that Chazz had informed the
State Department of my plight and that a new passport had been issued to
me?"

Darby nodded and explained
that the new passport was in Chazz's rolltop desk. He nodded slowly when she
asked him if he could get it for her. But when she asked for transportation to
the nearest port with an airport, Darby frowned.

"Please." Teel
placed an entreating hand on his sleeve as he regarded her, open-mouthed.
"I must return to my school. I'm way overdue. I must go today." She
tried to keep her voice from rising. "And I want to see my aunt. She must
be so worried."

Darby stared at
her for long moments, then nodded once. "I'll pack clothes for ya to
take," he told her, "and don't waste your breath arguing 'cause you
won't change my mind."

Just before noon
Teel boarded the dinghy, which was manned by one of the crew. Tears filled her
eyes as she waved good-bye to Darby, the captain, and Rowan, all of whom stood
at the rail waving back at her.

The inhabitants of the
bustling tourist town where she was let off paid scant attention to Teel. She
went to the cable office and wired her aunt for money, then after picking it up
at the local bank, she arranged to fly to Acapulco Airport. There she made
connections to Mexico City and on to JFK Airport. In New York, tired and
miserable, she booked a room at the Algonquin Hotel for one night. She knew she
couldn't face even the short trip to Selby. She was exhausted.

Once in her hotel room, she
dialed her friend and assistant, Nancy Weil. "Yes, Nancy, it's really me.
Yes, I'm fine. Yes, of course I'll tell you all about it when I reach
home." She tried not to cry when she thought of all the memories she
wouldn't be able to share with Nancy. "What? No, of course I haven't
forgotten the Special Olympics tryouts here in New York next month. Are the
children excited?"

"Excited isn't the word
I'd use." Nancy's laugh came over the phone. "Hysterical is closer.
I'd say we're in tor a wild but wonderful time."

"I can't
wait." Teel smiled as she thought of her children at the Mary Dempsey School and some of the desperate tiredness left her. "I'll be home
tomorrow," she promised.

"Good," Nancy replied. "There is some bad news. The sweats that came for the kids aren't the
ones we picked out. How would you like to make a fuss while you're in New York? Would it be too much trouble to go to the Complaint Department of Acme Sporting
Goods?"

Teel assured Nancy that she'd
be happy to "make a fuss at Acme," but her nerves screamed that she
wanted ' to jump down a manhole and pull the top over her.

The next day,
feeling physically rested if not emotionally revived, Teel stood before the
glass and chrome doors of Acme Sporting Goods and stared at the modern
skyscraper. Who would listen to one school director at this cool, sophisticated
establishment? As Teel entered the posh but sterile main lobby, she felt as if
she just walked into a chrome museum. She stared at the long index of office
names and suddenly the words ran together in a dizzy blur because the chrome
scroll informed her that Acme Sporting Goods was a subsidiary of C. Herman
Associates, Inc. She would have run away then and there if her trembling legs
had obeyed the fuzzy command from her brain.

"May I help you,
miss?" a uniformed attendant asked at her side.

Teel had to
swallow twice before the words came out. "I would like to speak to someone
at Acme Sporting Goods about an incorrect order."

Teel hardly heard the man, but
she followed his pointing finger toward the third bank of elevators where she
repeated her request. She knew the man was looking at her closely, but she
couldn't help moving like an automaton. She was sure there was little chance
that Chazz could be in the city, let alone in this building, still she was torn
inside from wanting and loving him. She felt out of breath, as though her lungs
and heart weren't functioning properly. Her legs and arms ached. Her head began
to throb. She had to get over Chazz Herman. She couldn't stand the agony just
seeing his name provoked. What would happen if she saw a picture of him with—
with one of his women?

She punched the elevator
button with unnecessary force and glared at the light that moved from floor to
floor, stopping at four.

The receptionist at Acme
Sporting Goods was very efficient and spoke to Teel as though she were a mental
incompetent. If Teel hadn't been so busy looking over her shoulder in morbid
expectation of seeing Chazz, she would have straightened the woman out in a
hurry.

"Now, I think we're all
set, are we not, Mrs. Barrett?" the receptionist, who had introduced
herself as Mrs. Eldred, asked her smoothly, handing her the amended invoice
that Teel was to include with the return order of sweats.

"Ah, yes...I
guess so..." Teel looked blankly at the folded paper in her hand, then
stuffed it into her purse. "Ah... good-bye Mrs. Elfred." She peered
through the crack in the door out into the hallway. All clear.

"It's
Eldred,"
the woman called
after her.

'What? Oh... whatever."
Teel jerked her head toward the woman, then scurried out into the hall to the
elevator. She held her breath until the doors opened on the next floor.

Two men entered, hardly
pausing in their conversation. "I tell you, Bert, the Old Man has gone
crazy. Max was downtown this morning and overheard the brass talking to him on
a ship-to-shore. Max said he was raging mad, that he chewed everybody's..."
The man glanced at Teel, who sensed his gaze though she kept her face averted.
"... tail about anything at all. Max heard Teller say he'd never known the
Old Man to have a
tantrum...
That's what he said—tantrum."

"What
happened on that damn cruise anyway?" the other mar. replied He should
have come back a happy man. He took those two high-flying models with him,
Clare Henry and Elise Burrell. He shouldn't be able to keep a smile off his
face."

The first man laughed,
throwing another quick glance at Teel. "How the hell do you know who was
with him?"

"Hey, when
Chazz Herman vacations on his yacht, the whole world knows who goes with
him." The two men chortled.

Teel didn't hear the rest of
the conversation for the roaring in her ears. She surged into the lobby when
the elevator doors opened and practically ran into the street.

Teel was so confused that she plunged pell-mell through the
door of a cab that had just disgorged its passengers in front of the building.
She gave the driver the address of her hotel. It was just three blocks away.

T
he
M
ary
D
empsey
School
for Exceptional Children was a
beehive of activity. Teel found few calm moments in her day as the time
approached for the children to leave for the finals preceding the Special
Olympics. Nevertheless, she welcomed the constant preoccupation with work. She
was only happy when she went home reeling from fatigue and fell immediately
into bed. Only then could she avoid dreaming of Chazz. Only then could she
awaken without tears on her cheeks.