Midnight Flame (33 page)

“Put me down.”

Her voice pierced through his passion, but he didn’t intend to let her get away from him again. “No. You’re mine right now. I’m not letting you go.”

“I know, Tony,” she breathed, and her hands began to fiddle with the buttons of his shirt. “Your clothes are getting wet.”

Tony groaned in a purely animal fashion and held her tighter. “Damn the clothes!”

A liquid current, fast moving and hot, coursed through Laurel’s body. No matter what this man had done to her, she couldn’t deny that she wanted him with a fierceness that surprised her. By the time he had laid her across the bed, she was helping him pull off his shirt and pants, urging him to hurry. No preliminary kisses were needed between them this time. Just the feel of Laurel’s silken flesh against Tony’s body, which felt as hard and hot as freshly forged steel, sent them both into a passionate frenzy of wanting. Soft, warm breasts met a fur-planed chest. Tony’s hand pulled the green ribbon from her hair, and Laurel’s tresses fell thick and wild about her shoulders.

“I love touching your hair,” he whispered into her ear as his hand became entangled in the mass of dark brown curls. “I love touching every part of you.”

Satin fingertips trekked the length and breadth of Tony’s chest before snaking over his hip to his powerful thighs and hovering dangerously close to the center of his pulsating shaft. He grasped her wrist before she could move further. “Another movement could get you in trouble, lady.”

Laurel licked his ear. “I hope it does.”

“Wanton woman,” Tony intoned and guided her hand to his heated manhood. With gliding motions Laurel pleasured him until quickening gasps issued from Tony’s mouth. Pulling her up to him, he grabbed a handful of hair and brought her lips to his, searing her in a fiery kiss that shot through Laurel like an arrow. She moaned against his mouth when his hands massaged the roundness of her buttocks. Laurel writhed on top of him until the throbbing peak of her femininity was positioned against Tony’s desire.

His hands cupped her breasts, and Laurel moaned with mounting passion. “Love me, Tony. Love me now.”

Her legs parted and she straddled him, bringing him into her with an unashamed eagerness. Tony filled her with an urgency that only Laurel could quench. They rode the exquisite path of ecstasy, reaching higher and higher until both of them thought they would burst. In one swift motion Tony rolled her onto her back as he thrust into her. Laurel clung to him, reveling in the sudden explosion of his passion, feeling her own body careen over the edge of sanity. Slowly, Laurel and Tony became aware of the tick of the clock, the birds chirping outside the window sill.

Drained of desire and emotionally spent, Tony pulled the covers over them, and they fell asleep in the circle of each other’s arms.

“It must be past noon,” Laurel mumbled and buried her face deeper into Tony’s shoulder. The midsummer sun streamed into the bedroom and, with it, heat, which caused Tony to pull back the sheet. Laurel clutched at it in a vain attempt to cover herself again, but Tony held it fast and grinned.

“I’ve seen you naked before this,
chérie
. You don’t have to be embarrassed.”

Her face lifted at the sound of his voice until she found herself staring into the ebony pools of his eyes. “I feel so wicked to be in bed at this time of day.”

“Wicked, is it?” His finger stroked her chin. “Nothing we do together is wicked, nor is when we do it. I love you, Laurel. I’ll always love you.”

Laurel’s heartbeat speeded up. Tony’s touch always caused her body to respond. She knew that if she didn’t get out of bed, they would make love again, that she would disgrace herself and beg him to make love to her. But she couldn’t will herself to sit up, to leave him. No matter what had happened in the past, she hoped this might be a new beginning for them. Had she forgiven him for what he had done to her? She wasn’t certain. All she knew was that, without Tony, she was incomplete.

“Can we try again?” she heard him ask. “I’m not made for the monk’s life I’ve led the past few weeks. I can’t bear not touching you, kissing you. What I did was unforgivable, but I promise you that I’ll never hurt you again. I want your trust, your love, the little one you carry. Without these things, I’m nothing.”

He placed a gentle kiss upon her lips. She kissed him back, feeling his arms wrap around her in a protective embrace. She wanted to tell him that, at this moment, she loved him with her whole heart and that she was very close to forgiving him. The pain he had caused her had lessened, and she no longer felt its sting. But there was time for talk later, she decided, when a windstorm of passion swept her away.

~ ~ ~

A warm evening breeze gently stirred the leaves of an oak tree as Simone, on a white gelding, rode toward Seth. With a long leg propped against the tree, Seth smiled at her when she stopped the horse by him and helped her to dismount. But there was no welcoming smile on her lips for him. She eyed him with a hint of contempt in her face.

“Flossie gave me your message,” she began but refused to sit on the blanket he had placed on the grass for her. “What do you want?” She sounded impatient.

“I think the time has come to make some sort of a move where Laurel and Tony are concerned. I’ve been at the house for a while now, and I can tell you that my presence has not caused any dissension in their lives. In fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Laurel asked me when I’m returning home.”

Simone considered Seth a moment, then said, “What about telling her that your stepfather has worsened?”

“I thought of that already,” Seth countered, growing aggravated at Simone’s apparent coldness for him. “She won’t leave now, believe me. Laurel and Tony went into her bedroom this morning and have only come out within the last hour. When I saw her, her face was flushed, and she had eyes for no one but her husband. She won’t leave him now.”

“Damnit!” Simone paced up and down, hitting at the air with her riding crop. She turned her anger-filled eyes on Seth. “I thought you were going to seduce the witch. Can’t you even accomplish such a simple task?”

Seth grabbed hold of her shoulders. “Be quiet, you stupid whore. No one talks to me like that. No one, not even you, Simone. I admit your beauty has bewitched me, but compared to such a viper as you, I’ll take Laurel any day.”

Simone’s mouth trembled, and tears formed in her eyes. “You’re a cad. I’m carrying a child, and all you can do is call me names. Because of your bungling I’m going to lose Tony.”

“A child? Whose baby is it? Is it mine?” he asked, a part of him hoping the child was his. He had always wanted a living, breathing reminder of himself.

She shook her head and gave a tiny sniff. “I don’t know whose baby it is. That’s the problem. It could be yours, but what good would that do me? You don’t have any money either. A fine pair we’d make together. The father could be one of three other men, and none of them is wealthy.”

Seth felt deflated at how cold and calculating she could be where he was concerned. “Could the baby be Tony’s child?”

“No. Tony hasn’t slept with me since before he met Laurel. He stayed the night at Clermont in my bed when he was very drunk, shortly before he married her, but he was so inebriated he couldn’t make love to me.”

“Does Tony remember that night?”

“How could he, Seth? I told you he was drunk and passed out. He hurt me, too, the next morning when he insisted that nothing had happened.”

A faint glimmer of light began to sparkle in Seth’s brain. Simone’s pregnancy might be the answer to his prayers.

He looked at Simone and saw not the woman he thought he had loved, but a woman who would grant him the means to an end. “I think I know how to get Laurel to leave for San Antonio with me. Arrive at Petit Coteau tomorrow morning and appear pale and sick.”

“I won’t have to
appear
pale and sick. In the mornings, I am quite ill. Seth, what are you planning?” Her eyes began to brighten, somehow surmising Seth’s plan already. It was too bad they were both without money. She and Seth were perfect together. They even thought alike.

~ ~ ~

The next morning, after a rapturous night spent in Tony’s arms, Laurel agreed to accompany Seth on a buggy ride around the plantation. The rosy flush of love still glowed on her face, and she marveled anew at Tony’s prowess and the care he took with her because of her pregnancy. She finally had admitted to herself that she loved him and forgave him for everything. She still had to admit it to him, and she would, just as soon as they returned to the house.

Seth held the reins in his hands and smiled sadly at her. His voice brought her back to the present and away from the delights that awaited her in the future. “I wanted this time alone with you to tell you that I’m returning to San Antonio next week.”

“I’ll be sorry to see you go.” Laurel touched his hand. “Please don’t worry about Uncle Arthur. I’m sure he’ll be all right.”

“I’m not convinced of that,” he spoke somewhat harshly, then tempered his words with, “I had hoped that you’d come to love me as I love you.”

This was the second time Seth had proclaimed his love. She couldn’t allow him to think there was hope for anything other than friendship. “Thank you for caring, but I love my husband. I’ll always love Tony. No one else.”

“Yes, Laurel, I’m aware of that, but you can’t blame a fellow for trying.” He fell silent.

The horse clip-clopped along, and Seth returned them to the house. Simone’s carriage was parked by the front steps as they came up the drive.

“What does she want?” Laurel asked out loud.

When they entered the foyer, Laurel could hear loud weeping coming from Tony’s study at the end of the hallway. She made her way to the open door and saw Simone Lancier sitting in a chair, her face in a kerchief, and sobbing piteously. Tony stood above her, watching her with uncertainty and dismay.

“You’re lying, Simone. I know you are,” Tony spoke to her.

Simone glanced up, her eyes a washed-out shade of blue, her face pale and pinched. “Why should I lie to you, Tony? I tell you that I’m having your child, and you accuse me of lying. Ask Doctor Fusilier. He’ll confirm my pregnancy and how far along I am.”

Tony blanched. Could the child be his own? he wondered. That night when he had been so drunk he hadn’t known which end was up, and Simone had insisted they had made love. But how could he have made love to her? All he remembered was blackness until he woke the next morning.

“What do you expect me to do? Marry you? I already have a wife.”

“The honorable thing would be to divorce her and to marry me.”

“You conniving little baggage—” Tony was interrupted by a flash of blue taffeta outside the door. Laurel! He rushed after the retreating figure heading for the stairs. Seth attempted to block his way.

“I heard what that Lancier woman said to you, and I think you’re a pig!” Seth stated and made a lunge for Tony.

Tony sidestepped him, causing Seth to lose his balance a bit, and dashed past him. Halfway up, Tony ensnared Laurel with a large sweep of his arm.

“Let me go! Leave me alone, Tony. I don’t want anything to do with you.”

“You heard what Simone said?”

“Of course I heard her! Do you think I’m deaf as well as stupid? How could I have allowed you to worm your way back into my bed after all you’ve done to me? I must be crazy!”

“None of it’s true. I love you.”

“Is there a chance that Simone could be carrying your child? Answer me.”

“Yes, there might be, but I was drunk and—”

“Get your hands off of me! I’m leaving you.”

Laurel twisted away. She wanted to go to her room, but Tony held her fast.

“Remember our deal,” he hissed. “You remain at Petit Coteau as my wife. I won’t have my child growing up away from me.”

“I wish to God I had never become pregnant. I wish that night in the cabin had never happened. I wish I didn’t have to see you again.”

Laurel pushed at him with a strength she didn’t know she possessed. Free of him suddenly, she ran up the next step, but the toe of her shoe entangled in the hem of her gown. She tottered, and for a moment she thought she could right herself or that Tony would catch her. But Tony’s gaze had shifted to Seth and Simone at the bottom of the stairs. He didn’t see her falling backward and was too late to catch her.