“Even after hearing…my tale of woe?”
“Why would something from your past, an event that you had absolutely no control over, affect my feelings today? Yes, even after hearing the worst you could throw at me, I still care for you.”
“But even before that one awful day I wasn’t a very nice person.”
“Because you were young and liked men? Hey, I was young and liked women. Does that make either of us some kind of outcast? I don’t think so, sweetheart.”
She turned to her side and lifted her arms to encircle his neck. “You’re an unusual man,” she whispered.
Her body was against his, her arms around his neck. He could hardly believe this was happening.
Reed had said all the right things during and after her story, and maybe that was why she was snuggled against him, all but inviting further intimacy.
A fleeting thought intruded on her rather luxurious mood. She had talked to professionals about that day, over and over, in fact, but never to an ordinary person. Maybe if she hadn’t maintained complete silence on the subject, once out of therapy, but had talked openly about the horrors of victimization, she would have suffered much less than she had.
Was tonight going to change the guarded, wary woman she had become into someone like Jinni, who found joy in every day?
There was much to think about, Val realized, but did she have to ponder such weighty matters tonight? For the first time in a dozen or more years she was in a man’s arms and feeling wonderful, and she knew in her soul that she wasn’t going to say or do anything that would destroy the moment.
“Val,” Reed whispered as he breathed in the delicious scent of her hair. “We’re not drunk, are we?”
She laughed softly, the sound muffled by his shirt. “A bit tipsy, but not drunk. Nicely tipsy, to be honest. I feel as though I’m floating, but I’d rather blame it on your holding me than on the brandy.”
“Oh, babe, so would I, but I had to make sure this wasn’t happening because of too much alcohol.” He sought her lips for a kiss that became magical in seconds.
Val kissed him back, this time putting all those years of forgotten and buried passion into it. Her body caught fire and she knew he was feeling the same heat. Their kisses became wild, landing on noses, cheeks and mouths.
“Val…sweetheart.” Reed slid his hand under her sweater. “Your skin is hot,” he whispered.
“My skin is tingling and hot,” she said breathlessly. “You’ve bewitched me.”
“Other way around, babe. You’ve bewitched me.”
“Maybe we’re both a little witched,” she whispered. “A lot witched. Oh, my love…my darling.” He took her mouth again, laying claim to it with a hard, passionate kiss that all but curled Val’s toes.
She began unbuttoning his shirt, and with that one bold move let him know that undressing was the next step. Reed sat up and brought her with him. Together they got rid of their clothes. Val was so enraptured that she didn’t think of the tiny scar on her breast when Reed removed her bra. He saw it and almost said something, but common sense prevailed. He gently kissed her breasts instead of talking about them.
She was a truly beautiful woman, he realized, slender, full-breasted and utterly enchanting. He felt enchanted, at any rate, being here with her on this stormy night. How had it all happened? And then he wondered again about the flowers she’d sent him and the note she’d written on the card and what it meant. She couldn’t possibly have known he would come out here…or had she known in her soul what he would do?
The questions drifted away. Val, in all of her female glory, was completely naked, as he was. He left her briefly to do two things—feed the fire and put on a condom. Then he was back, kissing and caressing her, running his hands over the silky warmth of her skin, touching and holding her breasts.
Val’s hands were as busy and curious as Reed’s. He had a marvelous body; it was obvious that he took care of himself, and she approved.
Then, at almost the same moment, they said, “You’re beautiful,” which made them laugh, and added a joyous quality to their lovemaking.
Minutes later, after increasingly feverish kisses, Val still felt the joy but she also felt an urgency. She lay down and drew him on top of her. Before he could kiss her again she whispered, “I’m so ready, Reed. Please…do it. Make love to me.”
He looked into her eyes and knew at that moment that he did love her. He’d wondered about his feelings for her, but now he knew who she was and why she had attracted him so strongly. He’d sensed her frailty and the fears behind her businesslike approach to every facet of her life. Since his childhood he’d never been able to turn away from someone in need of rescue. In Val’s case his innate quality had turned to love without any prompting from his brain. He loved her, he was in love with her, and he wanted to tell her how he felt.
But before he could say another word, she pulled his head down for a hungry kiss, and he forgot about everything but doing as she had asked.
It was pure heaven.
For both of them.
Chapter Eleven
Sometime in the night they moved from the floor to the bed, and when Reed leaned over, kissed Val and said, “Wake up, sweetheart. Someone’s coming,” she was snuggled under a thick layer of blankets, their naked legs entwined, his warm body heating hers.
It took a second for her to come awake, but during that brief span she realized that it was morning, the storm had died down and every minute detail of the hours she’d spent in Reed Kingsley’s arms were embarrassingly etched on her brain. She almost didn’t open her eyes. He’d kissed her and she didn’t want to look at him. My God, how could she have behaved so…so shamelessly?
“Val, sweetheart, someone’s coming. Sounds like a snow-plow, but it’s not alone.”
Reed’s message finally sank in, and yes, she could hear motors. She leaped out of bed and began scrambling for clothes. The cabin was cold as ice, and she hopped around on her bare feet until she found underwear and socks. Reed was doing the same, but he was laughing and she was not. She shot him a look that he didn’t see, but it was obvious that he thought the situation funny. Someone was coming to the rescue. The storm was over and someone, probably Jinni, had called in the troops. The thought of facing family, friends or even strangers with Reed in the cabin and his crunched SUV outside making it evident that he had been there all night was a come-to-life nightmare.
“Start the fire,” she snapped, “while I make the bed and put on some coffee.”
“You don’t mind if I finish dressing first, do you?” Reed said with a chuckle in his voice.
She faced him with her hands on her hips. “I would certainly like to know what’s so damn funny! Everyone we know is going to hear about our spending last night together long before the sun sets tonight. I fail to see the humor in that, and if you had one ounce of good sense, you wouldn’t be giggling like a schoolboy over something that’s not remotely amusing!”
Working on the buttons of his shirt, Reed looked at her scowling face and realized how seriously she was taking this. “Hey, you’re making too much of something neither of us could prevent.”
“It would have been prevented if you had stayed in town, where you belonged!” Val spotted the blankets still on the floor in front of the fireplace and rushed over to them. Her heart was pounding, her stomach fluttering, and the vehicle or vehicles—it really sounded like more than one out there—were getting closer. Should she fold the blankets or leave them so anyone coming inside would think they had used two beds?
“Throw them on the sofa for now,” Reed said. “And please step aside so I can build that fire you wanted.”
“I’m freezing! I had to dress without a shower! I probably look like a…a slut and—”
“Oh, for hell’s sake, stop beating yourself up over nothing. Go put the coffee on and then fix your face, if you’re so worried about looking like a woman this morning instead of a doctor in a white coat who wouldn’t smile if he
r life depended on it.”
Val gaped at him, but he had immediately turned his back and started working on the fire. She finally shrieked, “I knew the real Reed Kingsley would eventually show up! Well, thank you very much, you…you jerk!”
Reed shook his head, but there wasn’t time for a completely unreasonable argument right now. As soon as the first flames appeared in the nest of paper and kindling he’d prepared, he got up, went to the front window and drew back the curtains. The bright sunlight nearly blinded him, but after a few moments he saw a large truck with a plow and two cars pulling to a stop directly in front of Val’s driveway. One vehicle was his brother Tag’s SUV and the other one was Jinni’s. He had no idea who was driving the truck with the plow.
He couldn’t help grinning. The whole thing was funny; Val simply had no sense of humor when it came to people knowing her business. And she could try to weasel out of the truth until hell froze over and Tag would still know what had taken place in this little cabin last night. Jinni Fairchild-Cantrell was nobody’s fool, either, so Reed couldn’t see Jinni letting her sister get away with a half-baked lie.
As for himself, he didn’t care who found out about the greatest night of his life. He’d finally broken through Val’s iron reserve, and once unleashed, she’d been as wildly responsive and passionate as a man could ever hope for from the woman of his dreams.
“They’re getting out,” he called to Val.
“Who’s getting out?” On the verge of outright panic, she rushed to the window. “Oh, my God, it’s Jinni and your brother and Jim!”
“Oh, yeah, you’re right. It is Jim. I didn’t recognize him at first, all bundled up like that.”
Val gritted her teeth. “I…I wish I had Guy Cantrell’s formula for invisibility! I don’t want to face any of them.”
“Because you’re such a terrible person, right? I mean, after all, lovemaking between two people who really care for each other is one of the worst crimes anyone could commit. We all know that, so should I start looking for a strong rope so we can hang ourselves from one of those big trees outside?”
Val glared at him. “You’re not at all funny, so stop trying to be! Why did you come out here in the first place? I didn’t need rescuing last night and if your stupid SUV wasn’t parked behind mine with a tree holding it down, I wouldn’t require anyone’s interference this morning, either!”
“Do you always wake up this grouchy?”
“Do you always wake up grinning like an ape?”
“You didn’t think I was an ape last night, sweetheart, but yes, now that you mention it, I always wake up in a good mood. You should try it sometime.”
Val could see the three people standing near the plow talking and gesturing. The sight of the tree on top of Reed’s SUV had obviously caused some discussion, and the fact that the snow was a good two feet deep between the road and the cabin also rated a few remarks, she was certain.
“Okay, it’s time to come alive,” Reed said. He took Val’s arm and pulled her away from the window. “Look, I don’t want this morning’s surprise to ruin what we accomplished last night. Something very good grew between us, Val, and I don’t want to lose it. I hope you feel the same. In fact, I’m counting on it.” He saw the way she wouldn’t quite meet his eyes, and felt a sinking sensation. “Val, you’re not sorry about last night…about us, are you?”
“I’m sorrier than I can say,” she said in a husky, misery-laden voice.
He put his hands on her upper arms and stepped closer to her. “Why, honey, why?”
“Don’t pretend, Reed. You got what you wanted and…and that’s the long and the short of it.”
“I’m pretending nothing! You’re talking about a one-night stand. Do you really believe that’s all I wanted from you? Val, if you felt that way, why did you send those flowers? And write that card?”
She drew her eyebrows together in an expression of annoyed dismay. “What on earth are you babbling about?”
He stared at her. Was she pretending? Acting as though she knew nothing at all about that bouquet and romantically inviting note? But if she hadn’t sent the flowers and written that note, who had?
No, Reed decided, she had done it and now didn’t like admitting it, probably because of how far things had gone between them last night and the arrival of those people out there—her sister, his brother and a friend. As secretive as Val usually was, she probably felt sick at heart over the situation. Anyone coming upon the scene this morning would have at least a few questions about the events that occurred last night in this tiny cabin.
Reed wanted to hold Val and tell her not to worry. They were adults and what had developed between them was no one else’s business. He ached to hold her, in fact, to gently wind his arms around her and bring her head to his chest.
But she had abruptly shaken off his hands and seemed to be running around the cabin like a chicken without a head. She looked frantic, picking up things and setting them down again, peering out the window, racing over to the bed to straighten the spread again, rushing to the fireplace to add more wood to the flames.
“Val, for heaven’s sake!” he exclaimed. “Calm down.”
She sent him a scathing look. “Keep your advice to yourself!”
“But you seem ready to explode. Look, I’m going outside. Jim and Tag are shoveling a path to the house and I should be out there helping. Where’s your snow shovel?”
“I don’t have one.”
“But…everyone has a snow shovel.”
“Not everyone,” she snapped, and since the coffeepot had finally stopped gurgling, she went for a mug and filled it. Reed, she saw, was getting into his heavy jacket. “As long as you’re going out there anyway, would you mind telling Jinni to brave the drifts and come inside?”
He almost told her no. Her completely unreasonable attitude was getting on his nerves. But saying no to a simple request simply wasn’t in him, although he wasn’t above a little sarcasm. “I’ll tell her, but since she’s your sister, I’m sure she’ll make up her own mind about it.”
Val’s glare landed on him again. “Do you consider independence to be a fatal flaw in everyone, or just in women?”
Reed threw up his hands. “There isn’t time for another fight right now. Later, though, after we’re back in town, we’ll take up where we left off this morning and have a hell of a screaming match, if you’d like.” Reed would rather kiss her than argue with her, but she barely gave him breathing room, let alone enough space to be himself and do something nice.
He strode to the door and pulled it open. Val went over to the fire with her mug of coffee and stared out the front window.
Everything outside was white and bright, and all three of the “rescuers” shouted hello at Reed. Jinni called, “Is Val all right?”
“Val couldn’t possibly be any better. She’s fine, Jinni.”
“Go ahead and have your fun,” Val mumbled when she heard that exchange, wincing when she thought of all the things Reed now knew about her. He had enough information to keep the gossips happy until spring…if he spread it around town.
Oh, he wouldn’t do that, would he? Val felt tears stinging the backs of her eyes. What had come over her last night? Yes, she’d drunk some brandy, but a little alcohol shouldn’t turn a naturally reticent person into a blabbermouth, should it?
Her sigh sounded sad and broken, even to herself. Something had definitely loosened her tongue last night, and if it wasn’t the brandy, what was it?
And then there was the other thing…the lovemaking. Val squeezed her eyes tightly shut and suffered in darkness until she heard Jinni’s voice getting closer to the cabin.
“Val? Open that door and let me see you!”
Val set her mug on the mantel and dragged her miserable body over to the door. She opened it and shaped a smile that was as phony as a three-dollar bill.
“Hi, Jinni. What’s going on? How come you joined the rush to save me? Or did you instigate the whole thing? I�
��m perfectly all right, as you can see.”
Jinni went in and stamped snow from her boots. “But none of us knew that, did we? That coffee smells wonderful. Got any left?”
“Of course.” While Val filled another mug she was well aware of her sister looking around the cabin. Val felt like crying. She had loved this little hideout from the moment she’d set eyes on it, and any time spent here had been regenerative and energizing. After Reed’s invasion last night and now this morning’s fiasco, she wondered if she would ever feel the same about it again.
“Well, it ain’t fancy but I like it,” Jinni quipped.
Frowning slightly, Val handed the mug to her sister. “You’re just saying you like it to be nice.”
Jinni took the mug of steaming coffee. “Thanks. Listen, kiddo, I’m not feeling all that nice this morning. I worried about you and kept Max awake all night with my prowling. So, believe me, I’m really in no mood to schmooze with you about your affection for this rustic but quite homey place. Having said that and put it aside, I must admit that a different and much more interesting subject leaps to mind.” She grinned teasingly at her sister.
Val felt her face turn pink. “I did not invite that man out here, Jinni.”
“I believe you. Why wouldn’t I? But that man, as you call him, has got it bad for you. I would have to describe Reed Kingsley as one of those rare males who believes that men should take care of the women they love.”
“Oh, for pity’s sake! He doesn’t love me and…and I don’t want him to!”
Jinni was wandering again, taking in the one bed and the pile of blankets on the sofa. “So, did he sleep on the couch? Or try to sleep? It’s not nearly as long as he is. He’s at least six feet tall, wouldn’t you say?”
“I have no idea how tall he is, nor do I care to discuss his physical statistics.”
“But you must admit that he has remarkable eyes. I really can’t recall ever seeing such green eyes on another man. Can you?”
There were all sorts of things going on outside. Val could hear motors and shouts of the men, and she wasn’t particularly keen on the discussion of Reed’s green eyes going on inside, so she ignored Jinni’s last question and hurried over to a window. “What on earth are they doing?”
Sweet Talk Page 14
