For all that Nate was big and covered in muscle, he could certainly move! His hips began to gyrate and Terri followed him. Grinding, hunching, moving together but not touching.
They went down, hips almost to the floor, never ceasing to move in the ancient way of a man and a woman, then they came back up.
The music changed again. Harder, faster. The audience around them was clapping.
Terri heard them, but she only saw Nate. Just him. It was like only he existed and no one else. Her body was doing the thing she dreamed of doing with him, had fantasized about. She was actually feeling his hands on her skin!
When the music stopped, Nate picked her up in his arms and she put her head against his chest. She could hear applause but only he mattered. His heart, the warmth of him. The skin of his neck was against her forehead, his hand on her bare back.
For a moment she thought he was going to carry her outside, but he didn’t. He set her down on the ground and when her feet faltered, he pulled her back against him. His hands entwined with hers. The soft, sweet warmth of them! Their hand-holding was as intimate as kisses.
Slowly, she became aware of being watched. The people from the lake were smiling in that way they do when they think they’re seeing True Love.
But the townspeople were frowning. A dance was one thing, but holding hands with the mayor’s daughter’s fiancé was quite another.
Terri put a smile on her face and stepped away from Nate. “Thank you,” she said loudly, then like Cinderella, she turned to flee the ball. Prince Nate belonged to a princess, not the boat girl.
But Nate wouldn’t let her run away. His grip on her hand was almost painful. She frowned at him to let her go, but he didn’t. Instead, he pulled her back to him in a slow dance, holding her hand over his heart, his cheek on her head.
“Stacy gave me my ring back,” he whispered.
Terri’s heart leaped at his words, and she worked to calm it. “Bad scene?”
“Brutal. It hurts to hear the truth about yourself.”
There were other dancers around them and now that they weren’t doing a show, she could think more clearly—or as clearly as she could with Nate’s body pressed against hers. “And now you expect you and me to get together?”
“That was my hope, yes.” He twisted her full circle and drew her back, smiling in a way that said he was at last getting what he wanted.
Terri took a breath and kept her voice low so only he could hear her. “I’ve lived my whole life with whispers about my mother being a loose woman.”
“That has nothing to do with you.”
“Think not? I know you’ve heard about the two boys I knocked down in high school. They were trying to rape me. They said I was like my mother and that I wanted it.”
Abruptly, Nate stopped moving and pulled away to look at her. His eyes were very, very angry.
Terri glanced at the couples around them. They were staring. She put herself against Nate. “Please. Not here. Not now.”
It took him a moment but he started to move stiffly to the music. She could feel the anger in his body.
“If you and I...if we were together I’d be known for stealing the man the mayor’s daughter was to marry.”
“I do have free will.” Nate’s teeth were clenched in anger over her reveal of the high school incident.
Terri ignored his words. “Our children would have double my problems. Mother and grandmother were harlots. I’d be afraid to let my daughter out of the house. A son would fight all the time. They—”
“That wouldn’t happen.” Nate tried to pull away from her, but she held on and kept up a semblance of dancing. Her voice was low and near his ear. “And you! You’d be so hated for hurting the mayor’s daughter that you’d never get any clients. What are you going to do? Follow me around all day and pull tourists out of the water? Are you willing to go from international diplomacy to being Terri’s ‘boy’? The guy who helps her? They’d say you were my wife. Can you handle that?”
Nate stopped moving and stared at her in horror. “This is ridiculous. You can’t let other people rule your life.”
“We shouldn’t, but we all do.” She was aware of people staring at them. She took his hand and led him outside into the cool night air. When they were alone, she turned back to him.
“You’ve thought about this, haven’t you?” he asked.
“I’ve thought of nothing else since the picnic. I thought maybe...” She trailed off.
“Thought what? That I’d come to my senses and seen how blind I’ve been?”
“That did cross my mind.” With a smile, he took a step toward her and she knew he meant to kiss her. It’s what she’d dreamed about since the day she met him. But she stepped back. “You have to go away.”
“No,” Nate said.
“Not forever. Just until the town recovers.”
“You want me to tell you what I think of this town?”
“No.” She put her hand on his chest. “In your peacemaking career did you ever advise people to take a break from each other? To give everyone time to settle down?”
“I don’t like it when you’re so smart.”
“Me neither,” she said. “I hate it! I wish I could stick my chin in the air and tell them to go screw themselves. Then you and I could... We could—”
Nate pulled her into his arms and stroked her hair. “It’s all right. Don’t cry. We’ll do whatever you want. Whatever you need.” His hand slipped down to her bare back. “You thought about our kids, did you? We Taggerts tend toward big families.” Both his hands were on her skin, his fingertips sliding under the silk at the sides. “I love this dress. Really. It’s the best dress I’ve ever seen in my whole life. Do you actually have nothing on under it?”
She pushed hard against his chest to stand a foot away from him. “I’m serious about this. You can’t stay here. You need to leave Summer Hill now. Tomorrow everyone will be talking about how we danced together so wantonly on the same night that we broke Stacy’s heart.”
“Actually, she looked more relieved than upset. Her father was downright jubilant.”
“You’re making jokes but the town won’t be. They’ll say—”
“I don’t want to hear another word about this town! Come away with me. My family will buy you a lake somewhere. You and Brody and—”
Terri turned away and started walking.
Nate caught her arm. “I apologize. I’ll come back in the fall and we—”
“That’s too soon. Make it a year.”
“Absolutely not! That’s too long.”
“Unless you can rewrite my life, that’s half the time it should be.”
A couple came outside, looked at Nate, then began whispering to each other as they moved on.
“They’re friends of Mayor Hartman.” She turned away.
“Terri, you can’t live in this fear. You can’t—”
She spun around to face him. “What do you know about it?” She was angry. “What right do you have to judge me? My father and I have spent twenty-four years trying to show this town that we’re respectable people and you want me to throw it away in one day? Why? Because you can’t wait a few months to get what you want? And besides, maybe you’ll change your mind. Maybe I’ll be the next Stacy.”
Nate’s face lost its anger and his hurt showed as he stepped back from her. “You’re right. A hundred per cent right. I’ll, uh... I’ll see you in a year. Maybe. Who knows what the future holds?” He put his hands in his pockets, turned his back on her and walked away into the darkness.
Chapter 16
“I am not going to cry,” Terri chanted to herself. “I’ll see him again. It isn’t over. I’ll—” The door to her house was standing open. She often forgot to lock it, but she didn’t usually forget to close the door.
There was a flash of li
ghtning, the beginning of a summer storm.
Terri went inside the dark house and reached for the light switch, but another flash revealed Nate in front of the windows. He was just standing there in his white shirt and black trousers, saying nothing, but he was watching her—and she knew what he was thinking.
But wasn’t that their problem? They ate alike, worked alike, thought the same things.
Tonight, she thought. We have tonight.
She let her keys slide to the floor, then she stood and waited for him to come to her. It took only a few steps and he had his arms around her.
He’d kissed her before but it was nothing like when his lips touched hers this time. He was a man who was hungry for her, who desired her down to his very soul.
Hours, days, weeks of longing were in his kiss. His lips opened over hers, his tongue sought hers. His hands encircled her body, pulling her close to him.
Terri had dreamed about this moment, fantasized about it. But the actuality was better. Their bodies were perfectly suited for each other. Strong and tight; muscular and solid.
When he stepped away from her, she started to go with him, but he held his arm out straight, his hand lightly on her collarbone.
She stood still, puzzled by what he was doing. Did he mean for this to end at a kiss? Would he kiss, then run away?
Terri frowned at him. “We can—”
Nate drew back his hand—and when he did, Terri’s dress fell forward. She caught it. He had unfastened the tie in the back.
With a wicked little smile, Nate looked at her.
Terri moved her hands, gave her shoulders a twist, and the silk dress fell to the floor.
She had the great satisfaction of seeing the smile leave Nate’s face. His eyes went to her feet, then slowly moved upward over her naked body. All of it was exposed to his view. By the time he reached her eyes, there was sweat on his brow.
Oh! The deep feeling of triumph to see lust in the eyes of the man you love.
Holding her arms out to the side, she gave a slow turn so he could see all of her, front and back. She was proud of the body she’d achieved from a lifetime of work.
When she turned to Nate, his eyes were wild. He pulled her against him, his clothes against her bare skin.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said.
She knew what he meant: pretty, delicate little Stacy. She gave a snort of contempt. “Try it.”
It was as though her words released something in him. When he picked her up, her legs went around his waist, his hand running the length of one of them from waist to ankle, all while his lips never left hers.
She didn’t know when he unfastened his trousers, but by the time he got to the wall, he was ready for her. He entered her with all the force of his desire. She arched her back against the wall and pushed against him, taking him deeper and deeper inside her.
As his strokes began, Terri lifted her arms and put her hands against the wall, pushing hard. Nate could take it. He could hold her full weight, easily stand up against her strength. He cupped her backside and pulled her even closer.
When he came, Terri was clawing at his back, trying to rip the shirt off him.
“Sorry,” he whispered into her ear. “Next time is yours.”
He carried her down the hall to what had been his bedroom.
She expected him to lay her down gently, but he didn’t. He dropped her so she bounced on the mattress.
“I spent night after night imagining this.” He was looking at her beautiful nude body on the bed.
“And here I thought you never noticed me.”
“In those shorts?” He was slowly unbuttoning his shirt, taking his time. “Did you cut them off?”
“Maybe.” She turned onto her side, drew one leg up and put her hand on the curve of his backside. “Was it too much for you to handle?”
When Nate took his shirt off, Terri drew in her breath. She was going to get to touch what she’d seen so often!
“You shortened your shorts and I lifted so heavy I nearly detached my pecs.”
She got up on her knees and ran her hand over his chest, over the curves of the hard muscles. “It was worth it.”
With a quick gesture, he let his trousers fall to the floor—and Terri saw him hard and upstanding, ready for her. She ran her fingertip down the side of him.
“Not too much for you?” he asked huskily. “All the men in my family are—”
“Do shut up,” she said pleasantly, and he did.
They made love all night. With Terri on top until her legs gave out, then Nate rolled her beneath him.
At first he was cautious about putting his full weight on her, but she just laughed. “I’m not a Townie.” They knew who she meant but she didn’t say the name. Reality, consequences, and worse, separation, would happen tomorrow.
But now, for this one night in heaven, they had each other.
Only once did Nate try to persuade her out of the year-long separation. Terri said, “We can’t build a life on the tears of an innocent person.”
After that, they didn’t talk much. But then, they’d done that and nothing else for weeks. Talked to cover their longing. Talked of work and other people and past experiences that hid what they’d really wanted to say. They’d shared experiences instead of emotions. Confessions of past feelings instead of declarations of true love.
There had been gentle hints of future wants and needs. Bits of hope that somehow they’d be together.
All these were replaced with touching, tasting, tongues, fingers, hands. Exploring bodies they’d seen but had been forbidden to touch.
They showered together. Ate spicy sandwiches, then licked mustard off each other’s skin.
Laughed. Every touch, every gesture made them laugh. Happiness that had been delayed, suppressed, came out in a joy that started inside them and erupted. If laughter could be said to come from the pores of their skin, it did.
As the sun rose, the light from inside them began to fade. They lay still, her head on his shoulder, bodies wrapped together.
There were no words that could be spoken. It had all been said. They must part. Not for themselves, but for those they loved—and would love. The sacrifice they were making was for people who did not deserve pain or in some cases, more pain. It was for the protection of the children they would have.
“You—” Terri began, but Nate put his fingertip over her lips.
He stroked her hair in a gentle way. So gentle, so sweet, that she fell asleep. And when she awoke, he was gone.
Chapter 17
Nate was in DC, sitting on the hated white couch in the apartment he and Stacy had stayed in. He was bent over, head in hands, and trying not to think that his life was over. A year! He was to stay away from Terri for an entire year.
When footsteps came down the hall, he didn’t look up.
“Might I ask what you’re doing in my apartment?” Rowan asked.
With a sigh, Nate leaned back and looked at his cousin. “Why are you here?”
“I live here, and right now I’m on holiday.”
It wasn’t easy for Nate to pull his mind away from his own problems, but Rowan looked awful. He had a big bandage on his forehead, a greenish eye and a bruise on his jaw. “You get shot again?”
“No. Blacked out and fell down the stairs, or the other way around. I don’t remember clearly.” He sat down on the opposite couch. “What about you? Last time I saw you, you were in a hospital. You looked better then than you do now.”
“Felt better then.”
“Ah,” Rowan said. “Your girl dump you?”
“Girls. Plural.”
Rowan raised his eyebrows. “That’s the most interesting thing I’ve heard in days. Tell me about it.”
For a moment they sat in silence, two very handsome men, physical oppo
sites. Rowan was as slender and lithe as Nate was big and solid. But both of them had eyes sunken with misery.
“I guess you could say I have memory problems too. I was in love with one woman, spent a couple of weeks with another one and could hardly remember the first one. First one won’t speak to me and the second one told me to come back in a year. I think your dad set me up with the second girl.”
Rowan gave a tiny bit of a smile.
Nate grinned. “The second girl, the one I like, has an old boyfriend coming back to town. Everyone likes him but the whole town wants to hang me from the courthouse.” When Rowan looked skeptical, Nate said, “First girl’s father is the local mayor.”
Rowan laughed. “I think maybe you win—or lose. So what are you going to do?”
“Can you arrest the old boyfriend? Hold him in prison for a year?”
“Is this year to allow the town to get over what you did to the mayor’s daughter?”
“Yeah,” Nate said. “And so Terri doesn’t have another mark against her in that damned town.”
“Is she the one you and I went to dinner with? Yes, and I know her. Stacy Hartman.” Rowan stood up. “Are you planning to stay here in DC or go back home?”
“Haven’t decided.”
“Who is the second girl?”
“Terri Rayburn from the lake.”
“I think I met her one time when I was with Dad. Tall girl? Can swim well?”
“Legs like a thoroughbred.” Nate stuck his hands in his pockets and stared at the floor.
“You hungry? We can order in from a place down the road. They have a chopped kale salad that’s good. Or do you want a Taggert feast of meat on top of meat?”
When Nate looked up, there was a sparkle in his eyes. “Kale, huh?”
Rowan knew it was a joke at his expense, but it didn’t bother him. “If you’re no longer welcome in Summer Hill, what are you going to do to earn a living for the next year? Don’t you have an office there?”
Nate sat up on the couch. “A big one. Stacy modeled it on this apartment.” He looked at the white furniture with distaste. “She thinks this place is beautiful.”
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