The Long Way Back

by JoAnn Ross

  Caine’s incredible plans left Nora feeling drained. She sat back in the swing and stared up at the star-spangled sky.

  “After all these years, I didn’t think there was anything you could do to surprise me,” she said finally. “But you’ve succeeded.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. But I didn’t do it as some elaborate scheme to get you back in my life, Nora.”

  “I know.”

  They resumed swinging.

  Need was a fist, twisting at Caine’s gut, crawling beneath his skin, burning him from the inside out. With effort, he pushed it down.

  As if reading his mind, Nora turned her head so that her face was inches from Caine’s. His arm was stretched along the top of the swing; the slightest movement would have it around her shoulders.

  “I guess I’d better go home,” he said quietly. “Before I stoop to begging.”

  When he began to rise—fully, honorably, intending to leave—she placed her hand on his arm. Her eyes, more gold than brown in the streaming moonlight, revealed her own desire.

  “You wouldn’t have to beg.”

  He couldn’t resist. He had to touch her, if only to cup her face with his hand. “I want you to be sure about this, Nora. Very sure.”

  “I am.” Her answering laugh was as quick and shaky as her pulse. “In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever been so sure about anything in my life.”

  She slid her arms around his neck, her smile a seduction in itself. If Scheherazade had flashed that fatal, womanly smile at the Sultan, Caine mused, she definitely wouldn’t have needed to tell the guy stories to keep him interested during those thousand and one nights.

  “Kiss me, Caine.” Nora’s soft voice curled around him like smoke. “Kiss me the way you were going to kiss me at the festival.”

  He combed his hands through her hair, gathering it into a knot at the nape of her neck, and held her gaze to his. “If I do,” he warned, “it won’t stop with a kiss.”

  “Good.” Her fingers were playing with the curls at the back of his collar. “Because I want you to make love to me.” Her eyes were open and fixed on his. “Nobody has ever made me fly so high.”

  Caine hadn’t come to Nora’s house to take her to bed. He’d only wanted to be with her, to tell her about the center, and, perhaps, ease the pain of losing his grandmother just a little.

  He thought of his promise to Maggie, to stay away from Nora until he was free.

  But dammit, Tiffany was on her way to the Dominican Republic—along with a cashier’s check—and in a matter of hours a marriage that should have been declared dead at the altar would be legally dissolved.

  Reminding himself that he’d never been bucking for sainthood, Caine tangled his hands in her hair and kissed her—a deep, drugging kiss that had heat pouring out of him and into her.

  Kissing Nora was like partaking of a feast after a long fast. Hunger. Greed. Need. They rose like ancient demons, battering at his insides.

  Fighting for patience, Caine buried his lips in the soft scent of her hair. Every ragged breath he took was an agony of effort.

  “I want to make love with you, too, sweetheart.” He ran his palms down her arms and struggled valiantly for some semblance of control. “But let’s try to keep this flight from being over too fast.”

  “I’ll try if you will. But I’ve never had a great deal of self-control where you’re concerned, Caine.”

  “I know the feeling.” Caine laced their fingers together and stood, bringing her to her feet with him.

  When he led her into the house and up the stairs, Nora experienced a moment’s hesitation—one that did not go unnoticed by Caine.

  He stopped on the landing and framed her face between his hands. “If this isn’t what you want—”

  “It is.” She pressed her lips against his quickly, cutting him off. Although she was thirty-two years old, there was no artifice in her kiss, no clever experience; only honest, feminine need.

  “I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you right now, Caine,” she whispered when the brief flare ended. “I’ve never needed anyone the way I need you at this moment.”

  It was all he needed to hear. Holding hands again, they walked the rest of the way up the stairs and into her bedroom.

  The room was a direct contrast to the proper, professional image Nora showed the world. It was pretty and feminine and smelled of flowers. It was the kind of room a man would only feel comfortable in if invited.

  Antique perfume bottles stood atop her dresser along with a trio of fat white candles and a dish of potpourri made from the petals of the scarlet roses Nora’s grandmother had planted behind the house.

  Framed photos, of friends and family, covered most of the rest of the dresser top.

  Caine smiled when he saw a picture of Maggie, standing in front of a red Stinson four-seater she’d owned back in the 1950s. She was grinning with the sheer confidence of a woman who had never let any obstacle stand in her way.

  Caine’s gaze moved to an open sandalwood box where a strand of polite pearls was hopelessly entangled with gold hoops, and a pair of discreet silver stud earrings rested on velvet beside a funky ceramic pin shaped like a gray whale.

  Caine remembered the pin well; he’d bought it for Nora on impulse one April day when they’d taken a cranky, teething Dylan on a ferryboat ride to Orcas Island. He was moved and vastly encouraged by the fact that she’d kept it all these years.

  The hand-carved bed was wide and tall; the four posters reached almost to the ceiling. The mattress was covered with a wedding-ring quilt from some Anderson bride’s hope chest. Piled atop the quilt were dozens of pillows—too small to be useful for anything other than feminine ornamentation—covered in lace and satin and pretty floral-chintz prints.

  Beside the bed, he was pleased to see, his wildflowers sat in a white china pitcher he remembered Anna Anderson pouring milk from. He plucked a petal and rubbed it between his thumb and forefinger, releasing a burst of sweet fragrance.

  “I dreamed of you that night,” Nora murmured. “On Midsummer Eve.”

  He’d known she would. Just as he had dreamed of her.

  Centuries of folklore hovered in the perfumed air between them. “But I don’t think it counts,” she whispered, “because I’ve been dreaming of you every night since you came back to Tribulation.”

  The soft admission was more than he’d dared to hope for. “Every night?”

  “Yes.” The single word shuddered from between her lips on a soft sigh. “Every single one.”

  A fierce burst of primitive satisfaction surged through his veins. “Although I’ve never been a man to worry about setting the scene for romance, I wanted to do this right.” His gaze moved lingeringly over her face; he was making love to her with his eyes. “I had it all planned: champagne and red roses and music.”

  “I don’t need champagne. Or roses. Or music.” He was standing so close to her, Nora couldn’t tell if it was Caine’s heart beating so wildly, or her own. “All I need is you.”

  His eyes didn’t waver from hers as he slowly traced the exquisite shape of her mouth with his thumb. His fingers explored the planes of her face and found her perfect. His mouth drank from hers with a gentleness he hadn’t known he possessed.

  When his tongue slipped between her parted lips to touch the tip of hers, Nora wondered how it was that her body could be so thrillingly alive while her mind remained so clouded.

  Refusing to dwell on it, she let herself slide effortlessly into this seductive, misty world. She lifted her arms, entwined them around Caine’s neck and pulled him to her. Their bodies fit just as she remembered. Perfectly. Wonderfully.

  The more she gave, the more Caine wanted. He ached for her—body, mind and soul.

  “All these years,” he told her, “I’ve tried to forget the way you felt in my arms when we made love. And the incredible, terrifying way you make me feel.”

  “I know.” She ran her fingers over his dark face. “I’ve tried to fo
rget, too. And I’ve tried to pretend that it wasn’t real—that it had been only a fantasy, a trick of memory.”

  The wonder of her admission shimmered in her voice. “But it was real.” Her fingers moved down his neck, to the open collar of his shirt.

  Something about Caine had always had Nora wanting to give him more than she’d given to any other man. Something about him always had her wanting more from him than any man had ever given her.

  She pressed her lips against his warm skin, drinking in his mysterious male taste. “It’s only ever been that way with you, Caine.” Very slowly, he unbuttoned her dress. Caine O’Halloran had always made love the way he played baseball: with a skill that made every move seem eminently natural.

  Yet, as his fingers fumbled with the small pearl buttons running down the front of her dress, he wondered why it was that this act, which he’d performed so many times before, could suddenly seem so different. So new. So frightening.

  The buttons went all the way to the hem. Breathing a sigh of relief as he released the final one, Caine folded back the material. She was wearing a silk teddy with a low-cut lace-trimmed bodice and a pair of black, lace-topped thigh-high stockings that had looked appropriately somber with the dress, but now were incredibly sexy contrasted with the pale skin above them.

  The fact that the teddy was as scarlet as sin made him smile, reminding him of the first time he’d discovered her penchant for sexy lingerie.

  When Caine slid the dress from her shoulders, Nora reached for him, but he caught her hands.

  “No, let me.” He brushed his lips against hers again, tempting, tantalizing, tormenting. “Let me see if I can make you float.”

  “You always could.”

  The crimson teddy smelled like her. Caine could have drowned in her scent. But since the temptation of her silky skin was even more irresistible, Caine dispensed with the sensual barrier. Slowly, thoroughly, he seduced her solely with his mouth. Her blood warmed, her pulse hummed. And then, as impossible as it sounded, Nora began to float.

  She found herself lying on the bed without knowing how she’d gotten there. When Caine’s lips closed around the rosy tip of her breast and tugged, Nora gasped; they moved on, scattering hot kisses over her stomach, the inside of her thigh, the back of her thigh, the back of her knee. His teeth nibbled at the ultrasensitive tendon that only he had ever discovered, creating a flash of heat that spiraled outward to her fingertips.

  But she wasn’t allowed to dwell on that riveting feeling. His mouth was everywhere, tasting, tempting its way along a seductive path from her tingling lips to her bare toes. Everywhere his lips touched, they left tormenting trails of heat. Her blood was molten, flowing hot and thick through her veins, then deeper still, to the bone.

  Caine was a tender, but ruthless lover—driving her toward delirium as he turned her in his arms, bending her to his will, tasting every fragrant bit of exposed flesh. And just when Nora didn’t think she could take any more, he drove her higher, to where the air grew thin and it became hard to breathe.

  Dazzled, dazed, desperate, she closed her eyes and clung to him as the years peeled away. And then she was tumbling over the rocky precipice, shuddering as climax after impossible, breath-stealing climax slammed through her.

  Caine watched Nora’s dazed eyes fly open. He heard her astonishment as she gasped his name. Strangely, the absolute trust she’d shown him had made him feel like a hero again—for the first time in a very long while.

  He held her until the wild, aching tremors passed.

  “Lord, I’ve missed this,” he murmured against her mouth. “I’ve missed you.”

  For what seemed like an eternity, Nora lay limp in his arms, her mind spinning, her heated skin drenched. How could she have forgotten that it was possible to feel so much?

  Sometime during the heady lovemaking, Caine’s clothes had vanished. But how could that be? When she couldn’t remember a single instant when his lips or his hands had not been warming her body.

  Outside the window, the large white moon rising in the sky made Caine’s dark skin gleam. Nora touched his chest. His flesh under her stroking fingers was soft and smooth. But the muscle beneath was hard and wire-taut. She pressed her lips against that warm moist flesh, drinking in the texture, the taste, his earthy male scent.

  She ran her hands over his body, delighting in the way his muscles rippled and clenched beneath her palm. She pressed her open mouth against his flat stomach and felt him shudder. She flicked her tongue over his pebbly dark nipple and heard him groan.

  The idea that she could cause such a primitive response was thrilling. Abandoning caution, she rose to her knees and ran her palms down his legs, her fingers exploring the corded muscles of his thighs, his calves. Testing, she touched her lips to the flesh her hands had warmed.

  How had the tables turned so devastatingly? Caine wondered dizzily. Just moments ago, he’d been the one in absolute control. He’d been the one creating havoc with Nora’s stunned senses.

  But now, with just the delicate glide of her hands, the feel of her mouth against his skin, the scrape of her teeth against the aching flesh at the inside of his thigh, she was driving him beyond reason. Her daring touch was like a flame; his flesh burned with it.

  Overcome with a heady feminine power, Nora laughed and trailed her tongue wetly down his chest. The throaty sound tolled in his head as his body throbbed. Frustration warred with passion. Caine wanted her to stop; he wanted her never to stop.

  He ached to take her now, quickly, before she succeeded in making him mad, but his power was gone. Somehow, when he wasn’t looking, Nora had stolen it; it had flowed from him into her and for the first time in his life, Caine was experiencing true helplessness.

  Moaning her name between short ragged breaths, he reached for her, but his touch was vague, almost dreamlike.

  “Not yet,” she whispered silkily.

  He knew what she was going to do; every atom in his body was poised for that incredible moment when she would take his swollen sex into her soft wet mouth.

  As if determined to torment him as he had tormented her, Nora drew the moment out. Her tongue slid hotly along his length, making him groan as he thrust his lean hips off the mattress in a mute plea for fulfillment.

  But still she made him wait. When her tongue encircled the plum-hued tip, Caine thought he was going to explode.

  “No more.” Need made his tone raw.

  He grabbed hold of Nora’s shoulders, turned her onto her back and levered himself over her. His eyes locked with hers. A promise, felt by both, sizzled between them.

  He gripped her hips to pull her close, but Nora was already rising to meet him, to draw him in.

  Caine slid into her, steel into silk. His hands linked with hers. Their fingers tightened.

  Outside the window the white moon rose higher. And so did they.

  * * *

  “That,” Caine said when he could talk again, “was definitely worth waiting for.”

  “Mmm.” Nora’s head was on his chest; she pressed a kiss against his cooling flesh.

  She was basking in a warm and satisfied glow and would have been more than happy to spend the rest of her days just lying in Caine’s arms.

  Even as common sense told her that that would be a remarkably impractical way to spend her life, the romantic side of her that this man had always been able to tap could think of nothing that would bring more pleasure. Caine ran a lazy finger down her spine. “Have I mentioned that you’re still the most incredibly beautiful woman I’ve ever known?”

  “Flatterer.” His touch created a new flare of arousal that was as sharp as it was sweet.

  “It’s true.” Smiling, he wound a thick strand of her hair around his hand. “And even now, after all we’ve shared, I still want you more than I’ve ever wanted any other woman.”

  “I want you, too,” she admitted with a soft sigh.

  He glanced down at her. “You don’t sound very happy about that.”


  “It’s just that nothing has changed.” She was trembling. Caine felt an ominous feeling of foreboding and ignored it.

  “Everything’s changed.” After brushing a kiss against the top of her head, he untangled himself from their embrace, left the bed and found his jeans.

  “I have something for you.”

  “You’ve already given me so much,” Nora protested, thinking of the generous check, not to mention all the work he’d been doing to establish her dream clinic. She sat up against the pillows.

  “That was business. This is strictly personal.”

  Nora froze when he handed her the familiar blue sapphire set in antique gold filigree. “It’s Maggie’s engagement ring.”

  “Got it on the first try. She wanted you to have it.”

  “Me?”

  Nora stared down at the ring, remembering that Devlin had bought his bride-to-be a sapphire, rather than a more traditional diamond, because it was the color of the sky she loved so well.

  She ran her finger over the intricate gold weave. “You’d think Devlin would want to keep it.”

  “He and Maggie decided that it didn’t make any sense to have it stashed away in some forgotten drawer.”

  “But—”

  “They figured, and I agreed, that you might like it. And since we didn’t exactly have a traditional wedding the first time around, I never got you a proper engagement ring.”

  “The first time?”

  The mattress sighed as Caine sat down on the edge of the bed beside her. “You know how I feel, Nora. I love you. And, unless every instinct I’ve got has gone on the blink, you love me, too.”

  She couldn’t lie any longer. Not to herself. Not to Caine. “I do.”

  “So the next logical thing to do is to get married.”

  “Caine—”

  “In fact, the cabin’s all ready for you to move in. I shoveled out the trash, washed the windows, changed the sheets and dusted. Even beneath the couch.” He was more than a little pleased with himself about that. “And the refrigerator’s filled with those healthy green vegetables you like.”