A Love for All Time (9 page)

“Want more?” Dan sat on the chair beside the bed holding his plate.

“No. I didn’t really want that, but it smelled so good I couldn’t resist. I thought you were going to make toast.”

“I am when I finish this.”

“Why didn’t you make it to eat with the omelet?”

“I eat one thing at a time. When I finish this, I’ll make the toast. Do you have any honey?”

“No. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth.”

“I don’t for desserts, but honey’s different. It’s good for you.”

“Are you a health food nut?”

“Uh-huh. So are you.”

“How do you know?”

“Careful deduction, my dear Watson. I saw the fruit, vegetables, nuts, and natural grain cereal in your fridge.”

“Clever.”

“I’m no dummy. Give me your plate and I’ll make you some toast.”

“None for me, thanks, but help yourself.”

Later he turned on the small portable TV set,
tuned it, and then stretched out on the foot of the bed as if it were his perfect right.

“We’ll watch the news and then I’ll go so you can get a good night’s sleep.” He had washed the dishes and tidied up the kitchen. “Tomorrow we’ll find a meat market and buy a couple of rib eyes and later you’ll dine on a meal fit for a queen.”

Casey swallowed hard, and before thinking too much about it, said, “How long are you staying here?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Are you tired of me already?”

Quite the reverse, she thought. Aloud, she said, “I haven’t thought about it. How did you find me? Judy was the only one who knew where I was and while I didn’t exactly tell her I was hiding, she knew I didn’t want to see anyone.”

“She told me, but don’t be mad at her. I camped on her doorstep and threatened to tell someone named Glen that I was her husband.” He laughed. “She’s a saucy little wench.”

“That was unfair,” Casey said, but smiled.

“It worked. She told me just how to get here, among other things.” He grinned in such a way, she wondered about the other things.

“Has she sublet my apartment?”

“It’s taken care of for six months. By that time you’ll want to use it again. The way the doctor explained it to me, you’ll need a series of operations, but not all of them will require a stay in the hospital.”

They were quiet for a long while. Dan watched the news, but Casey was too preoccupied to pay attention to it. The commentator signed off and the weather report came on. Dan laid his head on his arm and looked up the length of her body to her face. His hand searched and found her foot. She could feel the warmth of his hand through the covering and a small shiver of apprehension traveled the length of her spine.

“How was your trip?” The relief was enormous when the words came out evenly.

“It was going along fine until I called and found out you’d checked out of the hospital.”

“You called from … Japan?” she stammered, shocked and slightly elated that he would go to the expense to call her from so very far away.

“Surely you knew I’d call. I called you before when I was in Mexico.” He raised himself up and rested on his bent elbow.

“Mexico?” she echoed.

“The second time I ever called was from Mexico.” He paused. “Why didn’t you wait until I came back to leave the hospital? The few extra days of care would have been good for you.”

She was almost frightened by the quiet strength in his face, but not too frightened to answer back. “I didn’t need your permission to check out of the hospital, and I don’t need you telling me what is good for me.” She braced herself as she saw his face change. It changed, not to anger, but to sheer amusement. Then he burst into hardy laughter.
“And that’s another thing about you that irritates me,” she snapped. “You laugh at the most inappropriate times!”

“I can’t wait for my brothers to meet you,” he said, still laughing. He inched his way up the bed until he lay beside her, elbow bent, his cheek resting on his palm. She rolled her head on the pillow to look at him. The dark eyes and sensuous mouth were far too close.

“I doubt very much if that will ever happen.” She wanted to say “Get off my bed,” but that would let him know just how much she was bothered by his closeness.

“We won’t go into that now.” He brought his face to hers until their noses touched, then drew back to look at her. “I love to look at your eyes. They remind me of the golden eyes I once saw on a kitten, all round and gold-flecked and … wary that I was going to hurt it. But I wouldn’t have. Not for anything in the world would I have hurt that kitten.” His voice lowered in an imitation of a purr.

The touch of his arm against her stomach caused her flesh to tingle and brought a glow to her face. She felt again the warmth and sense of connection that had pulsed so powerfully between them the night in the hospital when he had soothed her with the warm pressure of his hand on her arm. With his eyes still holding hers, his hand moved and lay lightly on her uninjured breast. Oh, God! What was she to do? He was so gentle … so sweet. If only she’d met him before and could have
cradled his head to her breast and loved him. Loved him? Oh, no! She was in love with him! She’d never dreamed it could hit her like this. She’d never even imagined that love could come with such a force! She wanted to reach out and say, I’m so tired, Dan. Take care of me, love me … like I love you. But she didn’t. She lay quietly knowing he could feel the thumping of her heart beneath his hand.

“I wish I didn’t have to go.” His head was on the pillow beside hers and he whispered the words in her ear. “I could sleep right here,” he said as if talking to himself. “But I’m afraid I’d grab you in the night and hurt you,” he sighed in her ear. “You are a temptress, m’lady. And if I wasn’t the honorable knight that I am, I would ravish you.” His tongue swirled in her ear and his lips nibbled at the lobe.

“Ravish!” She almost choked on the giggle that bubbled up inside her. “Aren’t you being overly dramatic, m’lord?”

“You seek to cool my ardor with ridicule, m’lady? You tempt me sorely to teach you some respect for your lord and master.”

Casey’s eyes danced as she turned her ear into the pillow to escape his tongue. “That tickles!” Their faces were inches apart. His eyes played with hers, glowing devilishly, and his arm curled warmly across her.

“Would you believe me if I told you that I’ve never been happier than I am at this moment?” he asked with such totally unexpected vulnerability
that she answered him immediately, honestly, without pausing to think.

“Yes. I believe you.”

“And you?”

“I’m not exactly … sad,” she whispered.

He moved his face closer until their noses lay side by side and their lips barely touched. She could feel the touch of his lashes against her brows before his lips moved, ever so slightly, against hers when he spoke.

“That’s a start.”

Casey lay quietly, knowing she could turn her face away if she wanted to. Nothing else seemed at all important except the feel of his big, hard body against hers, the regular thump of his heartbeat against her upper arm, and this peaceful, relaxed feeling. She felt his smile against her lips.

“You’re like that soft, golden kitten. I can almost hear you purr,” he said in a husky whisper.

“I can scratch, too,” she murmured drowsily.

His hand searched and found hers, and ever so gently he opened her fingers and pressed her palm against his face. Then he rested his forearm between her breasts while his long fingers caressed her neck and cheek. It was such a sweet, simple gesture. It conveyed a deep longing to touch and to be touched. A wave of tenderness for this rough, sometimes overwhelming man flooded Casey’s heart. Her fingers moved in small caresses along his jawline to the dark hair around his ears.

He moved his head a fraction until their noses
were tip to tip and looked at her with a gladness in his eyes that made her pulse leap. Then his mouth tenderly and almost reverently planted a kiss on her lips. The kiss was of a totally loving nature, exacting an unreserved response from Casey. Later she was to look back on that kiss and remember it as the moment when the independent, self-sufficient Casey she had always been ceased to exist. She would from then on feel empty unless she was with him.

He continued to press soft, tender kisses on her mouth, but he resisted the demanding pressure of her hand on the back of his head to deepen the kisses.

“This is all we can have for now, sweetheart,” he whispered, and raised his head to gaze down on her reddened lips and shining eyes.

For a few magical moments Casey completely forgot her fear of personal involvement with this man. She found the feeling of being loved and pampered by him new and exhilarating beyond her wildest fantasies. Closing her eyes against the momentary giddiness, her next sensation was of him rolling away from her and leaving the bed. She opened her eyes slowly and saw him looking down at her.

“I’ll turn off the TV and the lights and lock the door so you don’t have to get up.” He held out his hand and she put hers in it. “Night, Guinevere.”

“Night, m’lord.”

He squeezed her hand gently, then switched off the light.

After he was gone she sighed for his absence, and turned her face into the pillow where his head had lain. The lemony scent of his after-shave still lingered. She was dozing contentedly with the memory of firm, warm lips, laughing dark eyes, and a strong arm holding her, when the sound of a key turning in the lock startled her to full awareness.

The door opened. “Don’t be afraid. It’s just me,” she heard Dan say softly. He closed the door and slid the bolt in place. “I took the key with me when I left,” he said, coming toward the bed in the darkness. “The bed isn’t made up over there and I’ve no desire to sleep on a bare mattress.” He sat down on the edge of the bed and she heard the thump as his shoes hit the floor.

There was a tightness across her chest, a fullness in her throat, but she couldn’t utter a word. She lay there, her hands gripping the edge of the robe she still wore, overwhelmed suddenly by the matter-of-fact way he was getting into her bed.

“Dan …” She started to get up, but his hand pushed her down.

“Have you still got on that robe? Take it off, sweetheart, and go to sleep. Oooohhh, I’m tired. I feel like I drove a million miles today.” He lifted the covers and slid in beside her. “Kiss me goodnight… again,” he said, his breath warming her lips. His mouth found hers and lingered to kiss it with proprietary ease. “Won’t you be too warm in that robe?”

“No.”

“Okay. Give me your hand. I didn’t want to leave you anyway. When I saw that bare bed it was a good excuse to come back,” he admitted. He stretched out on his back, their clasped hands lying between them. “If King Arthur is looking down on his favorite knight, my Guinevere, I think he would be proud of me—good night.”

Six

W
hen Casey awoke
, she was lying on her side, her head on the edge of the bed and her arm hanging over the side. The first thing she saw was Dan’s denim jacket flung over the back of the chair. She wanted to turn over and look at him while he was sleeping. And she also wanted to remain comfortably content and try to solve this dilemma she found herself in. During the night she had wrestled with the question of her own feelings until exhaustion had given her blessed relief. She was still without answers.

Unfortunately, once awake, she couldn’t stay still. Her back and leg muscles were screaming to be stretched. Ever so slowly she folded the robe snuggly across her breast and began to ease her feet to the floor. At her first tentative move, she felt Dan stir.

She turned to find him watching her, the slightest smile on his lips and an odd warmth in his dark eyes.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I’ve been awake for awhile.”

A shiver of pure physical awareness chased down Casey’s spine. He had slept in his under-shorts. The bedcovers hugged his trim waist. Above was a perfectly beautiful torso—wide shoulders with no coarse knots of muscle, just a huge expanse of rippling flesh with a light dusting of black hair on his tanned arms and across his muscular chest. A charmed grin spread over his face causing an instant tightening around her heart. He was a devastatingly virile and attractive man, both physically and mentally, and she was blatantly aware of it. It was the first time in her life she had ever experienced such primitive sexual feelings for a man, and she almost groaned aloud—it was the first time she had ever been in love.

“Are you one of those crazy people who wakes up early and immediately jumps out of bed, Casey?” There was a satisfied expression in his eyes when she jerked hers to meet them.

“Yes, I guess so. I’m one of those disgusting
creatures who goes to bed with the sun and gets up with it.”

“Good girl!” He lifted his arms over his head and stretched until his joints began to pop. He rested his forearms on the top of his head and gripped his elbows with his hands. He stretched first to one side and then the other while Casey watched fascinated. She had an incredible urge to run her hand freely over his body, to test the firmness of that musculature. A growing tension was building inside her and she pushed herself up into a sitting position and swung her legs off the bed.

“Give me a towel, honey, and I’ll shower over at the other cabin,” he called just before she closed the bathroom door.

She chose a towel from the shelf and tossed it through the partially closed door, then banged it shut. She heard him chuckle and imagined the boyish smirk on his face.
He knew she was attracted to him
. Casey rolled her eyes at her reflection in the mirror and grimaced. Why wouldn’t he accept the fact that they were two people coming from entirely different backgrounds? She had nothing to offer him. She groaned. She wasn’t experienced enough to be a good sex partner. He could find plenty of women among the groupies that gathered around a well-known athlete to satisfy him physically. So why her? Damn, damn. She had accepted the loneliness of her life and she wasn’t going to be so foolish as to accept a casual affair with him now.

She stripped and looked at herself in the full-lenght
mirror on the bathroom door. She may have been scarred from her knees to her shoulders, but she was strong, resilient, and proud. She’d deal with the consequences of this relationship on a day-to-day basis, she told herself firmly as she stepped into the shower and turned the water on full blast.