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she silently warned herself that when she returned to Be n's side, she would be wise to cool down. And, for a few moments, as Linda told her she was going to lunch, Kate was distracted from Ben and her apparently uncontrolla ble behavior. But once she hung up and returned to the table, she could feel herself — with one glance at Ben—slip back into her most seductive of roles.
    "That was Linda," she said. "Going to lunch. I hadn't reali zed it was so late."
    He smiled. "Time flies when you're breaking your promise."
    Her lips parted and then curved into a smile. "Ah. Not too s ubtle, then."
    He laughed. "Very subtle. Very lovely. But sometimes thing s that are very subtle and very lovely have a very str ong impact." He inhaled deeply. "For instance — that perfume you were wearing the other day. It was gentle, almos t not there. At one moment I would sense it, and at the next, wonder if it had just been my imagination. But that night, when I closed my eyes and thought of you, Kate, I knew that every part of you, every aspect of you, had been real." He reached out and gently stroked her hand. E ach stroking movement sent a rolling wave of war mth through her, a hazy heat that made her feel heavy with longing.
    She gazed at him with a lazy half-smile. "Now I'm not
    the only one breaking the promise."
    He grinned. "But you started it. Which, as it turns out, is as meaningless a phrase as it is in childs' fights—because it could have been me." His hand moved upward, making bot, lazy circles along her arm, and she found herself leaning toward him, lips parted in desire, breathless. "And I hope you know that the reason I tried so very hard to resist," he murmured, his warm fingers moving over from her arm to the sensitive skin of her neck, "is that I just wanted to please you," he whispered.
    Please me, she thought. Oh, God, she wanted him to, but not by staying away.
    As she gazed into eyes of liquid honey, she was seared by the movement of his fingers just inside her collar. His fingers were warm, persuasive, and her breath quickened as his touch grew warmer. She could barely find her voice through thickening layers of desire. "And are you still trying to please me?" she whispered.
    "I can think of nothing better," he said huskily.
    For one moment their gazes were locked in a searing, breathless hold. And then, just as she wondered how long she would be able to wait, his hand at the back of her neck began to urge her forward, and his lips met hers in a blazing touch of exquisite lightness and intoxicating pleasure. His mouth on hers was warm, sweet, urgent, with the promise of unending passion. And then, somehow already attuned to each other's needs and wants and pleasures, they deepened the kiss together, lips parting in a moan of shared wonder and desire.
    A fierce warmth spread through her body, igniting into a deep fire within her. The swiftness of her response was
    frightening and exhilarating at the same time, for somewhere in the back of Kate's mind was the thought This is only a kiss—how can I be responding so deeply? But her body had no questions, no doubts—only a smoldering certainty of coursing desire that craved this man in a much, much deeper way.
    He tore his mouth from hers and looked at her with stormy eyes. "I've made a mistake," he murmured huski- his breath coming quickly.
    "What do you mean?" she asked, still hazy and reeling from the pleasures of his lips.
    "I had thought that perhaps we'd see—that we'd kiss, and all the undercurrents we've been fighting against wouldn't be there after all. But . . . Kate."
    She smiled lazily.
    His face was close to hers—inches from her own—and she loved the scent that had intoxicated her moments before, the closeness of his hazel eyes, the feel of his breath soft against her cheek.
    'You know what this means," he said quietly, drawing her to him once again for a gentle kiss.
    Her senses were filled with exhilaration and desire, and * :th wonder as well—for