A lump rose to her throat as he reached out and touched her cheek.

"Am I forgiven?"

"There never was anything to forgive."

He released a long breath and she felt as if she'd given him a gift.

Still, she sensed he wasn't finished, that he had more to reveal. "What else did you realize today?" she asked.

"Are you a mind reader?" he asked, laughing.

"No, but I guess I am coming to know you."

Gratitude flickered in his gaze. "Joe raised me as his son. From plain old discipline to learning journalism at his knee, he didn't treat me any differently than if he'd had a kid of his own."

"That says so much about his character. He's obviously a good man."

"I know. That's what makes this so hard to reconcile. When Joe got sick, who did he give power of attorney? Who did he trust with his biggest, most beloved asset? With the asset he taught me to love and respect? Not his son, but his wife of two years."

She heard the betrayal in Colin's voice. She felt his pain in her heart. Her words wouldn't offer any explanation or ease his hurt, but she instinctively knew exactly what he needed. Something she could provide.

Turning toward him, she held out her arms, waiting as he came forward, his lips sealing hard and fast against hers.

Rina's lips devoured Colin's with abandon, not holding back. His blood heated and blazed, desire threatening to rampage out of control.

"Let's take this into the bedroom," he suggested, breaking the kiss.

He had no doubt she'd agree. Her body spoke for her, telling him she wanted him as much as he wanted her. But more importantly, she'd listened and understood, offering the comfort he needed without him having to ask.

"Sounds like a good plan," she said, her brown eyes glittering bright with desire.

Rising from the couch, he picked her up and swept her into his arms. "You should know I didn't come back here expecting this."

She laughed and shook her head before running a finger down his cheek. "Liar."

Caught, he merely grinned. "Okay, let's say I needed you and leave it at that."

"That's more like the silver-tongued devil you usually are."

He laughed. Her acceptance filled an emptiness inside him. He could have said that gnawing hole had begun with Joe's illness, but the empty pit had been eating away at him for a long time. Since his parents' deaths.

And that emptiness had led to the need to fill the void. He'd fallen back on travel, and the old desire was beckoning again. But he hadn't been able to outrun the void in the past and he knew it wouldn't accomplish anything now. He was fighting it this time, but it was difficult.

The woman in his arms made it easier. He made his way to the bedroom with her nuzzling at his neck, her breath warm against his skin. Without warning, she began to tug at his earlobe with her teeth. The sensation was hot and erotic, shooting desire straight to his groin. She'd not only chased away the pain but she'd filled that void.

The realization struck him hard, but before he could deal with what that meant, he'd reached the bed and more urgent needs called to him.

He lowered her to the comforter and came down on top of her in the nick of time, spreading her thighs and settling his hard, aching erection between her legs. Though he was fully dressed, he realized she wasn't.

Her robe parted easily, and instead of thin silk, he discovered bare flesh, moist heat and damp folds waiting for his touch, his taste, his aching member. He curled his fingers around the down comforter surrounding them and prayed for restraint.

"Don't you think you're overdressed?" she asked.

To hell with it. Restraint was overrated. He rose and began stripping out of his clothes, mindless of where they fell, but not unaware of Rina. She watched him undress. Her bright gaze followed his movements, the need dilating her eyes an arousing sight. As was her pose. She lay on the bed, robe parted, exposing a hint of white skin and cleavage above the belted knot, and those enticingly damp curls below.

He eased himself beside her, fully naked and completely aroused. Flesh against flesh, he thought he'd died and gone to heaven, except for the hard ache he'd yet to satisfy.

"I have a surprise." Her light laughter only served to inflame his need even more.

"I like surprises."

"Then close your eyes."

He lay back and complied, his body charged, his mind barely able to focus. In the darkness, he heard her open a drawer and rummage through it. "No peeking," she warned him.

He covered his eyes with one arm for good measure.

"Ready?" she asked in a husky voice.

"That's a loaded question, Rina." And then he nearly flew off the bed as he felt the first silken touch of-"What is that?"

"What's it feel like?"

"A soft tingling," he said through gritted teeth as a featherlight sensation teased his skin and worked its way up his thighs. "A feather?"

"Wrong."

The fluttering torment continued as she caressed his lower abdomen, flirting with him, circling close to where his erection pulsed thick and ready.

"Guess again."

The sensation came once more, this time teasing the head of his penis, causing his hips to jerk upward. He nearly came then. Unable and unwilling to play anymore, he opened his eyes.

Rina straddled his thighs, a long ponytail in her hand, a warm, inviting smile on her flushed face. "I remember how much you liked the long hair, so I thought I'd satisfy that ultimate male fantasy."

"What male fantasy?"

"Wrapping long hair around your body. Don't tell me it's not something you've dreamed about." She studied him through too-innocent eyes for a woman so bewitching.

"If I admit to the obvious, do you think we can do something about this?" He glanced at his unrestrained erection.

"I think that can be arranged." With a wicked grin, she tossed the hair extension aside and covered his thighs with splayed hands, inching upward until her fingertips touched his coarse hair.

He let out a groan. This woman would be the death of him.

"But first I need you to tell me what you want." She swallowed hard and hesitated, the uncertainty more endearing than her earlier boldness had been.

He'd once asked her to tell him the same thing, and he was grateful she'd cared enough to ask. "I want you to take me in your mouth." He needed her to give to him in that ultimate, intimate way. Needed to know she was as far gone as he. "Hold me in your hand, take me in your mouth and make me come."

He held his breath and waited as she stretched out beside him, her legs near his head, her mouth hovering above his sex. "A first," he thought he heard her say, and then he heard nothing because she'd done as he'd asked.

Heat enveloped him, cushioning him in liquid warmth. At the first lap of her tongue, he nearly came off the bed. And then she bathed him with damp sweeps of her tongue, alternating with erotic grazing of teeth against his shaft.

"Sweet heaven," he muttered with an uncontrollable groan. He was lost in the most incredible whirlpool of sensation, but not so far gone he couldn't think of her, and when he opened his eyes, her bare skin beckoned to him.

It took some maneuvering and some damn fine concentration on his part not to climax first, but he managed to part her robe and find the vee of her legs. He grasped her thighs and found her slick, damp folds with his tongue, drawing her into his mouth the same way she was taking him.

"Colin?" The shock in her voice sounded at the same time the swirling arousing sensations rocking his body tapered off. Damn. "Relax, sweetheart. I want you with me when I come."

The things Rina did to him, body, heart and soul defied description. He inhaled her essence and his body trembled as he began working her again with his tongue.

A whimper escaped, bubbling up from the back of her throat, and her hips began a subtle movement, begging for more. Holding on to her thighs, he met her silent demand as she did the same for him, slickening his hard shaft with dampness and gliding her hands up and down, mimicking the thrust of lovemaking, of his body pumping into her tight, moist heat.

Within seconds, a shaking, shuddering climax hit him, harder than any he could remember, sending him into a breath-stealing moment of release and complete surrender. From the cry that escaped her lips, he knew he'd taken her along for the ride. And that notion pleased him far more than his own physical release.

Later, after a shower that involved more than washing up, they shared popcorn in bed while a mellow radio station played in the background. A dim light set the room aglow, Rina snuggled beside him, and Colin felt a contentment that had always eluded him.

"I've been thinking," she said.

"I know. I can hear those old gears grinding."

She laughed. "I'm serious. You were talking earlier about how hurt you were that Joe didn't leave the running of the paper to you in case of an emergency."

The topic sobered him, reminding him of how and why he'd ended up back on Rina's doorstep tonight. Watching Corinne sit by Joe's bedside, her gaze damp, his hand in hers, he'd felt like an outsider in a family he thought had been his. He wasn't a child and he understood how juvenile his thoughts seemed, so he'd tried to focus on the reasons behind his feelings.

It came back to the bond he'd always shared with Joe. The bond the older man had broken. The newspaper. "What about it?" he asked Rina.

"Well, I take it even before today's relapse, Joe hasn't been up to a business conversation, so you don't know why he did what he did."

"That about sums it up."

"Until you can talk with him, you won't feel much better. But you can try talking to Corinne and not fighting with her," she suggested. "I did notice you aren't exactly your charming self when she's around."