Summer on the Cape (19 page)

“Like you?” Allie said, smiling. She ran a finger down his chest through the dark hair.

“No, not like me.” Zach laughed. He grabbed her hand and held her fingertips to his lips, putting kisses along the inside of her hand. “I’m a very steady fellow. Now don’t interrupt me. Let me tell my story.”

“Okay.” Allie snuggled into the pillows, sipping at her wine.

“Well, this wild young man got into all kinds of trouble. No one could control him, and he made his parents’ lives really miserable. Finally, when he wasn’t more than maybe twenty years old, he ran off to sea, and people said good riddance. Then, to everyone’s surprise, not more than a year later he was back, and brought with him a girl who he said was his wife. No one knew where she came from and he wouldn’t tell. She spoke practically no English, but she was a real beauty with curly black hair and black eyes and a hot, brooding spirit. It turned out she was pregnant, and before the baby was born, the boy was off again. He abandoned her completely.

“Well, while she waited for the baby, she used to sit on the porch of their house, looking out to sea, watching for him to come back. And while she waited, she stitched up that quilt. He didn’t come back and, in the fullness of time, of course, the baby was born, a beautiful little black-haired girl, and everyone loved her. But soon after, she and the mother became ill with some dread disease, and the little girl died, several days before her mother. In the woman’s ravings, during her last hours, it is said that she put a curse on the quilt that she made.”

“Oooh. A curse! That’s spooky!” Allie pushed the quilt nervously down around her knees.

“Just listen to this.” Zach lowered his voice to sound really mysterious. “ ‘From this day forward,’ the dying woman said, ‘any Eliot man who fathers a child under this quilt and who abandons that child and its mother will be haunted and driven horribly mad by the ghost of my beautiful little Evangeline, and he will die a most terrible death, in ghastly agony.’” Allie began to speak but Zach put his fingers over her lips. “Shh. The story’s not over. Less than a year later, that wild, young Eliot boy was brought back to his family in the care of attendants. He was stark raving mad and had to be locked up in a room in the attic where, after about six months of the most awful suffering, he died horribly, his brain eaten away by some terrible malignancy.”

Zach took the glass from Allie’s hand and put it on the floor next to the bed. He put his hands on the top of the headboard behind her and leaned forward, kissing the side of her neck. “Since that day, all the Eliot women have handed this quilt down to new brides who marry into the family. And that, my dear, is why, from that day to this, all the Eliot men have been such thoroughly honorable fellows. It’s the ghost of little Evangeline that keeps us in line. None of us wants to tangle with that child. And that’s the story of Evangeline and the curse of the quilt.”

Allie was laughing at the silly story. “Well, Zach, that’s a truly frightening tale, and I can understand why you would be careful to toe the line. You wouldn’t want that unhappy spirit chasing you down. However,” Allie added, a little more seriously, feeling obliged to bring some reality into this conversation. “I’m not ready to put my faith in magic and curses, not yet, Zach. Not until I know a whole lot more about you.” She was still holding the sheet over her chest.

With one hand, Zach moved Allie’s hair back from the side of her face, and ran his tongue gently along the edge of her ear. “What more do you want to know about me?” he asked between kisses. “Isn’t the story of Evangeline enough to make you trust me?”

She closed her eyes, her senses stirring again in response to his hot, sensual touch. She was having trouble remembering what she wanted to say.

“Hardly.” She turned her head to let his kisses warm the side of her neck. “I have hundreds of questions to ask you. For example, what about the theme park? What does Adam want from you? What are you planning to do about it? Do you have any interest in it? Is Adam right about that?” Her voice trailed away as her train of thought became dimmer.

“Allie, I can’t think. I told you we couldn’t talk if I came close to you. Now be quiet, woman, and let me kiss you.” He pulled the sheet away from her, and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close to him. “You’ll just have to come snooping around my house again if you want more information.”

Allie’s eyes opened wide. “I wasn’t snooping!”

“Shh, shh.” He kissed her eyes closed again. “I love your snooping. You can snoop any time you want. Next time, I won’t throw you out. I promise.”

Allie’s hands were at his back, feeling the steel muscles rippling under her fingers as he twisted his torso, burying his kisses along the side of her neck. From the moment he’d sat down on the bed, she knew he would make love to her again. She let her fingers slide down to the top of his pants and then around to the front, where they slipped in behind the top button, opening it smoothly, and then the next...

Zach stood up, opened the last buttons and let his pants slip to the floor. There would be no patient lovemaking this time. He was over her in a moment, pressing her back onto the bed beneath him. She was startled by his abrupt, demanding move, but she wanted this as much as he did and her body did not resist his.

And in that moment—oh, it wasn’t possible—the telephone rang. On the table next to the bed, the telephone was ringing.

“Don’t answer it!”

“I have to answer it, Zach.” She twisted herself around to reach for the phone, and Zach rolled off her, throwing himself flat beside her. “I’m just one of those people who can’t let phones ring,” she said. As though she could be seen by the caller, she clutched the sheet around her.

She picked up the phone and before she could say anything, she heard Adam’s voice.

“Allie, my dear!”

“Adam?”

“Whatever you’re doing up there in Yankee land, you’ll have to drop it instantly!”

“What are you talking about, Adam?”

“That man must have his spies everywhere!” Zach exclaimed.

Allie wagged her hand at him to shush.

“Don’t waste time asking questions. There’s a plane out of Provincetown in twenty minutes. It’s the last one tonight. Be on it.”

“You must be crazy, Adam. What’s going on?”

“What’s going on is the Matsuhara Group just bought the Tillman Building. It’s going to be their United States corporate headquarters. And guess who they want to do some large seascapes for their lobby and for their boardroom and a portrait of the chairman of the board?”

“What!” Allie stood straight up from the bed, forgetting the sheet, which swirled to the floor around her feet, forgetting Zach, who was lying flat next to her, forgetting the bright moonlight and the mysterious old quilt. “I can’t believe it!”

“You better believe it. So be on that plane. We have a seven-thirty meeting with their selection committee tomorrow morning and I need you there. They won’t wait around and they won’t take excuses. If you’re not there, they’ll pick someone else. You can just make it. Marcus will meet you. Get to your apartment, get a good night’s sleep and meet me in the boardroom, Tillman Building, on Madison near Fifty-fourth, eighty-third floor, at seven-ten. No later.”

And the phone was dead.

Allie was already at her dresser drawers, pulling out panties, a bra.

“I can’t believe this,” Zach said, trying to make light of it. “It must be the ghosts of all those Eliots past. Maybe they’re trying to tell me something.”

She had the bra on, and was buttoning up her shirt. From the waist down, she was still naked. “What do you think they’re trying to tell you, Zach?” she asked. Her mind was racing ahead to what needed to be done at that meeting in the morning.

“I think they’re saying, ‘Zach, old man, this one’s not going to be easy to manage.’”

She had pulled her panties up over her hips. “Probably the best thing in the world for you,” she said. Zach groaned. “Come on, Zach, grab your pants.” She was stepping into her shoes. “You have to drive me to the airport. I’ll tell you all about it on the way.”

Chapter Thirteen

A
llie’s gaze was transfixed by the moonlit waters of the sound glistening beneath her, the drone of the little plane’s engines lulling her into sweet memories of Zach. Could it have been less than an hour ago?

She was the only passenger on this late-night flight back to New York, and she hadn’t switched on the small overhead light, preferring to be alone in the dark with her thoughts about Zach. The call from Adam had brought her such important news, she’d allowed herself to be wrenched away from the sweetest experience she’d ever had. Was that a mistake, she wondered? Her imagination returned her to the bedroom, to his arms, to the lovemaking that, right now, they would have been sharing.

And then we could have talked some more
.
There are so many questions
.

She sighed deeply as she stared out the window.

If we hadn’t been interrupted, I’d have asked why he left Boston. After such a high-powered life on the fast track, why is he now running a boat rental business, doing chores around a small-town harbor, living almost like a recluse?

And there was that silly story about the quilt. Seven generations of Eliots, indeed—including him, apparently. There was a small, private smile on her face, in the dark cabin of the plane. And why was there no Mrs. Eliot? Zach must be close to forty, she thought, and he sure didn’t have any sexual problems. If there’d been time, she’d have found out why there was no wife, or if there was, where was she?

But there hadn’t been time. Adam’s call could not be ignored. This meeting in the morning might be the most important one of her career, and she knew she had to be there.

I know I was chattering on like a madwoman as we were driving to the airport. I didn’t let Zach get a word in edgewise. He was trying to tell me something, but I was so excited about this meeting tomorrow morning, I never gave him a chance. I should have shut up, I guess, at least for a minute.

She rested her head back against the seat behind her and tried to focus on the giant strides her career was taking.

I’ll be seeing him again
, she said to herself confidently.

Those last moments together in bed, before the telephone dragged them apart, would have to be fulfilled. She could still feel the force of his arms, the tender skill of his hands, the strength of his back against her stroking fingertips.

Next time I’ll find out what he was trying to tell me. And I’ll get the answers to all the other questions. Including what makes him so angry at Adam
.

The truth was, Allie realized, she didn’t really know Zach very well. She had some background information—some biographical data—but she still knew little about the man. In fact, up until only a few hours ago, they’d done nothing but battle each other! Did it cancel out all the questions that he was wonderful—wonderful!—in bed?

Allie was smiling as the plane taxied up to the terminal. “Well, maybe it does,” she said aloud to the empty passenger seat. “Maybe it just does.”

* * *

The moon lit up the surface of the water, painting a long, bright, shimmering trail across the harbor. Was it only a few hours ago, when the sun was setting across the bay, that Zach had been sitting here in this same place, on the dock, against the piling, figuring out what he was going to do about Allie? A lot had happened in those hours, and here he was again, sitting in the same place, figuring out again what he was going to do about Allie.

They’d been wonderful hours, yet still not enough time. He shook his head ruefully, remembering the phone’s interruption. And there he’d been, as randy as a sailor on shore leave after six weeks at sea, while that lovely girl took off with not much more than a bright smile and a toss of her golden hair. Not that he could blame her, of course. There was a time in his life he’d have done the same thing. He understood perfectly. But Adam owed him one for that interruption, and Zach intended to collect on that debt.

He hated the way Allie jumped when Adam snapped his fingers. That was one of the things they needed to talk about. He still didn’t know what was going on between Allie and Adam. Maybe it really was just a professional relationship. And maybe it wasn’t.

God! He needed time with that woman! She’d been chattering away at such a clip when he took her to the airport, he hadn’t even had a chance to let her know that he had his own meeting with the Matsuhara people in the morning at nine o’clock. Probably wouldn’t be able to avoid running into each other. Even if they did, it wouldn’t be a good time to talk. Wouldn’t be good for Allie if the Matsuhara people knew of any connection between her and him. Not at this stage.

Thoughtfully, he gazed at the peaceful waters of the harbor, so different now from the way it had been earlier, when it had been a wild, murderous place, capable of dragging men to their deaths. He looked over at the end of the float where she’d struggled with that damned launch, risking her neck to help bring it in, and the scene came to life again in front of him, the screaming wind, her drenched hair whipping about, the yellow poncho, those little bare feet in the deck shoes, slipping on the treacherous surface of the float, her slim body straining against the line. He’d been so scared for her, he couldn’t think straight and he’d behaved like a madman. She must have thought he was crazy.

Zach rested his head back against the piling and covered his closed eyes with his hand. She didn’t understand what the storms out here could do, and of course she didn’t know about what had happened here eight years ago. No one around here would have told her, and apparently Adam hadn’t said anything. He was going to have to tell her himself, which was just as well. He didn’t want anyone else doing it. When there was time, plenty of time, and all the other stuff was out of the way, he was going to have to tell her.

It wasn’t going to be easy. In eight years, he hadn’t talked to anyone about that day. He hadn’t wanted to talk to anyone. Folks around here understood that a man had to handle these things in his own way, and they had left him alone to find his own peace.