Showdown at Lizard Rock (16 page)

“Kaylyn, if I ask you a question, will you give me an honest answer?”

“I’ll try.”

“If you were able to set up a pool in the nursing home that was heated properly and equipped for therapy and could put these people through the same exercises, wouldn’t you get the same results? I mean, isn’t it really a matter of the mind believing and the body’s being conditioned?”

“Perhaps,” she said, trying to be as honest as she could, “but in order to have the same results, we’d have to duplicate the springs’ mineral content, and there is no way we can do artificially what nature has done naturally. It’s been tried.”

“I see.” What King really saw was a woman who fervently believed in a cause, a woman whose unwavering faith had been tested and found justified. He was confused and a bit angry. How could he fight her belief in the springs without destroying what was between them?

“Kaylyn, I need to explain about our company.
Vandergriff, Inc., is a small operation that is making its first bid at the big time. We don’t own this land alone. We have investors, investors whom we have to please, investors who have put up the money to underwrite the construction costs. Even if I wanted to save your springs, I’m not sure it could be done.”

“Can’t you give them back their money? I’m sure the Pretty Springs Bank would lend you the money to build your houses.”

“Oh, Kay, darlin’, you have no conception of what’s involved in a project of this size. Even Georgia National Bank wouldn’t underwrite the whole project here. The only way it could work is if the springs could be incorporated into the center and somehow be made to pay for themselves. At the moment I can’t see a way. But I’ll try, darlin’, I promise, if you’ll give me another chance with you.”

“You mean more bartering, more ‘me for the springs’?”

“No, these springs have had you long enough. I want you for myself. I don’t want to scare you off, Kaylyn, but I want to be honest with you. This is very serious. You see, I’m not sure that I can do anything about the springs, though I’m going to try. I think I may be falling in love with you, Kaylyn. I want to think that nothing is important enough to come between us.”

Kaylyn’s feelings for King temporarily overwhelmed her, and she could only stare at him with her heart in her eyes. “What did you say?” Her voice was hushed and uncertain. The gurgle of the springs seemed to stop, and there was a thundering silence in her mind.

He took a deep breath and held on to the rough
edges of the rock to keep from vaulting over the springs and taking her in his arms. “I said, Kay, darlin’, that once I got over my anger and quit fighting the feelings you arouse in me, I realized that I was falling in love with you. I’m not sure what I should do about it.”

“Oh, dear.” She stood up and glanced around the hewn-out area in the rocks where she’d been living for the last few weeks. Moonlight had thrown a coat of soft, glittery light across the rocks, turning the streaks of minerals into smears of silver and gold. This was a magic place. She’d always known that. But she’d never felt the magic herself, until tonight. “Oh, King, I’m afraid.”

He stood. She watched the water roll off his strong shoulders, making rivulets that ran down his chest to his solid legs. He was some man, some beautiful man, and he’d just told her that he was falling in love with her. Bemused, enchanted, filled with wonder, she held out one hand, as if in protest to the feelings rushing through her. Across the springs, a wince of pain wrinkled King’s brow, and she felt his hurt as clearly as if he’d spoken it. She lowered her hand and turned it palm up so that her gesture became a plea of entreaty. And she smiled.

“King?”

He gave a cry of pleasure and came to her. There in the moonlight, on the rocks, he took her in his arms and kissed her. The springs gurgled back to life and plunged musically across the rocks to the pool.

“Thank you, you big, dumb rocks,” King said hoarsely. “You finally did something good for me.”

“Oh, King. I’ve missed you so much!” she said, choking. “I didn’t know how bad it would be.”

He kissed her again and groaned. “Neither did I. Even Harold resigned his job. Said life at the jail was more peaceful.”

“I don’t know if there is an answer or not, King, but I know that I care about you. You make me feel happy …” She struggled for the right words. “Feel happy for
me.
Do you understand?”

“Yes,” he said softly. “I think I do.” In his wildest dreams he never thought he could ache this badly, desire a woman so passionately, want so much to make her happy.

Kaylyn felt the muscles of his back tremble beneath her hands. She almost stopped breathing as he tightened his hold on her and lifted her up against him. The feel of his arousal set off an answering response within her that she made no attempt to restrain.

“King, I don’t think I can stand up much longer. I want you. I want you inside me. I think I’ll die if you make me wait.”

He didn’t. The extra-soft padding of the tent floor became a featherbed as he peeled the swimsuit from her body and laid her back. She watched him as he shimmied out of his own black suit and stood over her like the savage she’d first believed him to be.

“You’re a magnificent man, King Vandergriff. When your father named you, he must have known that this moment would come someday. I think you belong here in this place, even more than I.”

“I only belong where you are, darlin’.”

He had come prepared, and quickly readied himself. Then he knelt over her, sliding himself against the sweet moistness of her desire until he was certain she was as ready as he. Tentatively, gently, he
entered her, holding back for fear of hurting her. He felt her open herself to take him in, then she flexed her muscles, tightening herself around him. He lay still and content as the feeling inside him hovered near the point of explosion.

“You know,” he whispered as he nuzzled the spot beneath her left ear, “you’re right—what you said that first day on the rock. You are honey-colored all over.”

“And I’m going to hold you to your bragging,” she said, forcing herself to stay still beneath him.

“How’s that?”

“You said you were going to kiss every inch of my body.”

He started to move inside her, and she gasped as the rocks beneath them seemed to tremble.

“Later,” he said with a growl. “Much, much later.”

His mouth captured hers, and his tongue dove deep inside. They became one being, as every part of them was transported into a mystical realm of sensation. They gave all of themselves to each other, and even in the splendor of the moment they knew they would never again be the same.

Through the soft hours of the night they lay together and loved again and again. The magic stayed with them, and they left all conscious thought behind as they gave in to the silver-edged dreams that had become their reality. And the spring bubbled to the surface and rolled across rocks that had endured for two hundred thousand years. And in the distance the Lizard kept watch.

King was leaning on one elbow, splaying his fingers
across Kaylyn’s breast. He loved to look at her. For the last half hour he’d touched her breasts, watching her nipples stiffen and relax. He’d touched her navel and explored the mat of soft golden curls between her legs. She was a spectacular woman. He’d spent most of the night relearning the body he was watching.

“Wake up, darlin’,” he whispered, touching his lips to her eyelids.

She opened her eyes shyly. Seeing King’s sweet smile glowing down over her was a new experience. “I wasn’t asleep.”

“Oh, yes, you were. I know you well enough to know that you’d never lie still for what I’ve been doing if you hadn’t been asleep.”

“I was dreaming the most marvelous dreams. Why’d you wake me?”

“Because I have to go. I don’t want to leave you, but I’m already late for work. Will you be here when I get back?”

His question was more than an inquiry about where she’d be for the day. He was asking her for a verbal commitment that their night had meant the same to her as it had to him. She could feel the tension in his body as he awaited her answer.

“Yes,” she said softly. “I’ll be here. You have your own work to do, King, and I have mine. I have to make arrangements for prizes for the weekly bingo game at the home, but that shouldn’t take long. I’ll be back.” And she would. Even knowing that his work would hurt something she cared for, she’d return. “Somehow, somewhere, I have faith that we’ll find an answer.”

“I like your faith, Kay, darlin’. I only hope … well,
I’ll be back at lunch.” He kissed her lightly, then allowed the kiss to deepen as she responded naturally. “I don’t think I can wait any longer to see you again.”

“Lunch it is,” she agreed, reluctant now to loose her arms from around his strong, firm body. “King, this is all new to me, and I don’t want to make you late, but would you think me a wanton hussy if I asked you to kiss me once more?”

“Ah! Be a wanton hussy. Who cares if I’m late? I’m the boss, aren’t I?”

“Definitely,” she said, and gave him complete control. The prizes could wait indefinitely, she decided. The bingo game could always be postponed. The residents would have much more fun reactivating the romance pool. This was her time—and King Vandergriff was her man. She might just take out an ad in the
Pretty Springs Gazette
: “Do-gooder is done good by Good Samaritan.” She giggled. At least it started out as a giggle. What it changed to was something much more sensual and satisfying.

If the springs seemed to churn more loudly than usual, the workers beyond the rocks just wrote it off to pressure from deep within the earth.

“Sorry, bro,” Joker’s familiar bearlike growl came over the phone line, “but the investors will think you’ve split your gourd.”

“Maybe I have,” King said in a soft but determined voice, “but it could work.”

“Yeah, and frogs could take up clogging and be on the Grand Ole Opry. Look at this sensibly. Our little project is supposed to bring in folks with big bucks, folks that play tennis and golf and take jaunts out to Las Vegas and an occasional trip to Europe. That doesn’t mix with little old men and women with medical problems.”

“You don’t think they might be philanthropic with some of those bucks? These local people won’t bother the residents. All we have to do is enclose the springs in a building and allow Kaylyn to oversee the project. I’ve been considering offering her a job, anyway. Think of the great public relations.”

“Think of the money we’ll lose if our investors hate your little scheme and pull out.”

“Talk to them, Joker. This is really important—to me.”

“No way, King. You’re the smooth-talking businessman. I just deal with the ordinary Joe who has money to blow on houses, and dreams of being part of the establishment. If you want our moneyed backers sold, you’ll have to do it. I’m not saying don’t try it, but I am saying be sure you know why you’re taking the risk. Remember, your family has come a long way—the hard way.”

“But …” King thought of Kaylyn and the time they’d spent in her tent at lunch. He thought of their plans for him to pick her up after the bingo game and return to his trailer. He hadn’t promised her that he’d find a solution to the destruction of the springs, but he’d silently vowed as he held her that he was going to try. He knew that she trusted him. He didn’t want to let her down. Still, there were others to consider.

Joker had hit the nail on the head. He would be taking a risk. Did he have the right to take such a chance with a scheme that could ruin the others, for the sake of a woman’s faith in some healing springs? They’d worked for so long to reach this point, the three of them. And Diamond—this would be his sister’s first real chance to show her decorating skills. He felt the questions bounce off him like the rain had bounced off his trailer that first night with Kaylyn.

Kaylyn. All he had to do was say her name and all his worries faded away into nothing. The springs didn’t have anything to do with his problem. He
wasn’t sure he believed in their power, anyway. All of his indecision was for her, because of her quiet faith in the springs—and because she cared. And suddenly he understood that he cared too. He cared very much for the woman, and he’d do whatever it took to be a part of her life.

“I know you won’t understand, Joker, but it’s for Kaylyn, and for Harold, Luther, and Minnie. I’m not sure that I understand it myself, but they’ve taken me into their town and into their lives and made me feel like I’m one of them. For the first time in my life I belong someplace. I never realized before how much I wanted to belong.”

“Sounds like this is some woman,” Joker said quietly.

“She is. But it isn’t just her. It’s the others too. Why, you wouldn’t have believed the Founders’ Day Picnic. And …” His voice trailed off as he realized the next statement he was about to, but didn’t, make:
Someday I want Kaylyn and I to bring our children to the Founders’ Day Picnic and dinner on the grounds at the church.

“Sounds like the great man has gone and let a little Georgia girl lasso and hog-tie him.” Joker didn’t speak again for a moment, then added seriously, “I’m glad for you, King. Don’t let me blow it for you. Do whatever you think best, we’ll stand behind you. It’s always been the Vandergriffs against the world, and I’m sure that Diamond would love having another woman around to keep us in our place.”

“Thanks, Joker. I know it doesn’t make any sense, but I have to do it. I’ll fly up to Nashville tonight.”

…

At first the investors turned King down. Then they agreed to give the Vandergriffs an opportunity to come up with a workable solution.

For the next two weeks King worked with the investors. Joker advertised in major newspapers. Tommy Temple contacted teams and lined up other professional athletes who wanted living quarters in the development.

After a little prodding with the threat of bad publicity from Tom Brolin as editor of the
Pretty Springs Gazette
, the investors agreed to save the springs. The only problem was that they refused to increase their money allotment for the clubhouse. A spa and medical center for rehabilitation work would require a much larger financial commitment, and they were satisfied with the original plan. If King could do it under the present budget and the residents were willing to pay the necessary fees to change the plans, the investors would agree. Otherwise, no soap.