“You love him.”
“I do. We’re only two years apart. Mom and Dad couldn’t have children of their own so they adopted Mark and Brody. Later on, they wanted a bigger family and adopted me.
“Mom says that when they realized I didn’t have a playmate, they decided they’d better adopt another little girl. Since none were available, they had to wait. Then Jack came along. We were raised like twins. I’ve always felt we had a special bond.”
“After what you’ve told me about being adopted, I find I have to revise my thinking.”
“In what way?”
“I thought you’d come by your architectural talent through your father. Now that I know differently, it makes me wonder whether you inherited that particular gift from one of your birth parents.”
“You sound like my brother, but it doesn’t surprise me, not when genetic research is what your institute does.” She shook her head. “Of the four of us, Jack’s the only one who’s ever wanted to find his birth parents. It annoys him that I have no interest in mine.”
“Has he looked for them?”
“Yes. But so far he’s been unsuccessful. Personally, I think it’s better not to know. Mom and Dad are so loving and wonderful, I can’t imagine anyone else being my parents. We’ve had the best life any children could have been given.
“To be honest, I don’t want to know anything else. Something tells me that whatever I found out would be unpleasant, maybe even shocking. I have no desire to invite pain when my life is perfect the way it is.
“Jack, of course, has a completely different take on it. He wants to know who his ancestors were, and he talks a lot about the other biological brothers or sisters he might have.
“I’ve got all the family I want. But that’s my brother for you. As long as I’ve known him, he’s been the one to push the limits, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that he has questions about his origins.”
“Are your parents aware he’s searching?”
“Yes. They’ve tried to help him.”
“They sound like terrific people.”
“They are.” She stifled a yawn. “I can’t wait for you to meet each other.”
“I’m looking forward to that myself. You know what? You sound sleepy.” She felt his gaze on her face. “It’s been a long day. Why don’t you close your eyes for a little while?”
“Maybe just for a minute.”
When next Catherine became aware of her surroundings, David was pulling into one of the guest parking slots near her condo entrance. It was dark.
Embarrassed to have fallen asleep, she cried, “I can’t believe we’re home already! After driving in that traffic, you’re probably exhausted. If you’d rather look at the drawings another time, I’ll understand.”
“To be honest, I’ve been waiting for this moment all day. Much as I enjoyed watching the race, it was an excuse to be with you. Does that answer your question?”
She swallowed hard. “Yes.” She didn’t tell him she felt the same way.
She didn’t have to.
CHAPTER FIVE
DAVID HADN’T SEEN the inside of her condo yet. When he’d arrived at seven that morning, Catherine had been waiting for him in the lobby.
All day, her thoughts had been focused on the time when they’d finally be alone together in the privacy of her living room. She was so physically aware of him, her fingers shook as she pushed in her code to gain entrance to the elevator. The ride to the second floor was accomplished in a matter of seconds.
“I have to admit I’m fascinated to see how an architect surrounds herself within the walls of her own home.”
Unlocking the door, she smiled. “You’re going to be surprised. I design for a contemporary world, but I think I was a provincial girl in another life.”
She’d left a couple of lamps on.
“Incredible.”
At the stunned tone of his voice, a warm feeling of satisfaction stole through her body.
His appreciative gaze traveled over the inlaid wood flooring to the far end of the room, where tall windows with transoms rose to the beamed ceiling.
Slowly he moved past the cherry wood kitchen area to the chestnut dining table, touching the wood of one of the high-back Louis XV chairs with their rush inserts.
An old-world wrought-iron chandelier hung low. Beyond it, a massive eighteenth-century armoire stood against the stucco wall, its aged doors open to reveal a treasure of dishes in blue and yellow faience.
She watched him study the titles of books filling the ornate French étagères against another wall. After a moment, his attention switched to the flowered fabric on the carved wood couch; nearby stood a huge copper pot bursting with the same flowers.
“It feels like I just stepped inside one of those marvelous country villas tucked between fields of lavender and poppies somewhere in the south of France.”
“Hardly a villa. But it’s amazing what knocking out one wall can do.”
He turned to her, his expression solemn. “No. It’s much more than that. Your signature is everywhere. It illuminates everything you envision and touch, everything you wear. The way you smile.”
While she reached for the portfolio propped against the sideboard in the kitchen, she tried to catch her breath. “Let’s hope one of these drawings will appeal to you.”
As she laid them out on the rectangular table so he could see each treatment, he closed the distance between them. “My only worry is that I’ll want all of them. You might have to make the final choice for me.”
“Please don’t give me that responsibility. Sit down and study them while I get us something to drink. What would you like? Tea? Coffee? A brandy?”
“Nothing for me, thank you. I have everything I want. Sit next to me.”
Trying to suppress her excitement, she joined him. Once they were seated, he reached for the closest drawing.
To present him with a variety of possibilities, she’d started with a spacious, all-white, four-story building, which exuded a light, contemporary feel. The next sketch featured a more traditional structure of steel and glass.
He said nothing, but his eyes went over every detail. Her heart pounded when he reached for the third drawing. Her favorite.
It showed a complex of buildings placed in their natural pine setting, with the added landscaping she’d envisioned. The other treatments were enlargements of the individual buildings, which showed the tall, beveled-glass windows to their greatest advantage. Each building was connected to the overall theme, using inlays of light and dark native woods against cedar.
He was quiet so long, she wondered if he was disappointed and didn’t know how to tell her without hurting her feelings. Fearing the worst, she got up from the table and hurried into the kitchen to make a pot of tea.
“Remember,” she called over her shoulder as she filled the kettle, “those are just preliminary sketches. If you haven’t seen what you were hoping to find, I’ll start again.”
She was getting a box of tea bags from the cupboard when she heard a noise behind her.
“Don’t you know I love them all?” His hands slid to her shoulders, caressing them with growing insistence. She felt his lips against her cheek. “But that’s the least of my problems.”
“W-what do you mean?” Her body was trembling.
He turned her in his arms, forcing her to look at him. “Are you going to pretend you don’t know I’ve fallen in love with you?”
“David—”
“I don’t care if it’s too soon to tell you how I feel. When we met, something happened to me. Something profound. Earthshaking. In fact, during the last week, so much has gone on to transform my life, I’m still trying to comprehend it.
“Suffice it to say, I know the difference between fleeting attraction and this driving need to be with you every morning, every night and all the hours in between.”
His eyes kindled a hot blue. “I want to stay, be with you—kiss you. But if you don’t share my f
eelings, then tell me to leave and I’ll get out of your life for good.”
No—! You can’t do that—not when I feel exactly the same way you do.
It was the truth.
She knew instinctively that this was the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. The man she wanted to father her babies.
Eight years ago, she’d felt an attraction for a man who’d turned out to be an opportunist and worse. She’d been naive, barely out of her teens. It had taken a long time to get over his betrayal, but she’d put the experience behind her, where it belonged. Since then she’d been careful.
Maybe too careful.
Now she was a woman with a woman’s desires, and David Britton had blown into her life with the force of a tornado. In one meeting he’d turned all her preconceived notions upside down, uprooted her, carried her in new directions beyond her control.
If he hurt her, she would never get over it.
But if my fear of betrayal sends him away, I’ll never be happy again.
She stared at him. “You know I don’t want you to go.”
No sooner had she whispered her confession than he lowered his mouth. She offered hers freely, needing to express everything she hadn’t said in words.
“Catherine.” Her name came out a smothered groan as he began giving her kiss after breathtaking kiss.
She held nothing back.
Each kiss grew longer, deeper. She forgot who she was, where she was. Her only conscious thought was that she would die if this ecstasy came to an end.
“Tell me you love me.” His voice sounded ragged as his lips caressed her throat.
“I thought that’s what I was doing.”
“I need to hear the words.”
“What? That I’m so in love with you the ache never goes away?”
“Yes, those words,” he murmured against her cheek. “I’m warning you now, I plan to marry you, and I’m not a patient man. Don’t make me suffer too long.”
“David, it’s only been a week!”
“But I feel like I’ve known you all my life. It just took finding you.”
“I know.” She buried her face in his neck. “I feel the same way. It frightens me.”
“How can anything this wonderful frighten you?”
“Because it’s happened so fast and feels too perfect.”
“Isn’t this how real love is supposed to be? A rare collision in the cosmos between your universe and mine, joining us forever?”
Catherine would have said yes, but his lips were on hers again. She could deny him nothing. Slowly, inexorably, the heat of passion had her clinging to him.
“You know what?” he whispered in an unsteady voice. “I want you too much right now. I’m going to leave while I still can.”
Catherine groaned her protest.
“If you were a man, you’d understand. Go to bed. I’ll pick you up at noon tomorrow, and we’ll have a picnic out on the property.”
“I’ll fix it.”
“Maybe next time.” After an almost savage kiss, he made a decisive effort to put her away from him.
“Don’t walk me to the door. Otherwise I won’t be responsible for the consequences.”
She trembled with longing.
“Don’t look at me that way, either,” he whispered. “All I want you to do is bring the drawings tomorrow. I’d like to study them against the natural backdrop before I tell you which one I’ve selected.”
“You haven’t made up your mind yet?”
He smiled. “I know which one I want, and you do, too. It’s simply another excuse to get you all to myself for as long as possible. You didn’t have anything else planned for tomorrow, did you?”
“Only church, and that’ll be over by eleven-thirty.”
“Mind if I go with you?” He sounded as breathless as she felt.
“Mind?” she cried softly. “I wanted to ask you but didn’t dare.”
“What time do the services start?”
“At ten. It’s about a mile from my condo.”
“I’ll come by for you at quarter to ten. Afterward, we’ll go back home and change into something casual, all right? When we’ve finished our picnic, I thought we’d take a long drive.”
“I can hardly wait. I’ll be in the lobby.”
“Good night, Catherine.”
Feeling as if she’d been drugged, she locked the door after he’d gone, then prepared for bed. Her body was so on fire for him, she doubted she’d be able to close her eyes. But knowing that she’d see him in only a few hours provided a sense of contentment that finally calmed her, and she slept.
At nine-thirty the next morning, she was waiting for him in the lobby, already out of breath. To her joy, he arrived early, too. As soon as she saw his Mercedes, she emerged from the building with her portfolio and dashed toward him.
Smiling, he caught her in his arms. “Do I dare hope this means you’re excited to see me, or is the building on fire?”
She reciprocated with a full smile. “To be completely honest, I’m so happy you’re here, I can’t think about anything else.”
They kissed hungrily. When he finally lifted his head, she noticed a solemn expression in his eyes. “If it were all up to me, I’d head for Nevada and marry you before the day’s over.”
He stowed her portfolio in the trunk. “Let’s hope your neighbors haven’t called the police,” he said with a grin. “We’re making a public spectacle of ourselves, as my mother might put it.”
“Any laws against that?” They both laughed as they pulled out of the drive into traffic.
That light moment seemed to set the tone for the whole day, which turned out to be gloriously warm and inviting. After an enjoyable church service, they both changed into jeans and T-shirts for their picnic, stopping first at her place, then at his. He filled a cooler and lugged it to his car.
He’d prepared thick ham sandwiches and pasta salad. There were hard-boiled eggs, fresh fruit and soft drinks. She ate too much, then groaned when he made her walk an imaginary path designating the foundation line for one of the buildings of his new complex.
She practically fell into his arms at the end. “I don’t think I can do that again until this delicious meal digests.”
“I don’t want you to do it again. You were too far away from me.” He cupped her face in his hands and started kissing her. Some teenagers driving by on the main road saw them and honked.
He relinquished her mouth before she was ready to let him go. “Come on, Catherine,” he whispered. “Let’s take that drive so we can be alone.”
Together they gathered everything, including the drawings, and made their way to his car. For the rest of the day she marveled over the landscape as they wound their way through the Tillamook forest.
“Oh, David… Pull over to the side! Let’s get out of the car for a minute.” They’d crested a summit in the mountains, where they could look down a long straight, isolated road that went on for miles before disappearing into the lush vegetation. Both sides of the road were lined with row after row of trees—from the tiniest spring-green saplings to gigantic dark pines soaring into the blue canopy above. They towered to form an arch over the highway.
“It feels like we’ve just entered a cathedral,” he said.
“But so much more glorious than anything man-made,” she murmured, moved almost to tears by nature’s beauty and the reverence in his voice.
“Have you ever seen such a heavenly sight? Everything’s perfect. Untouched. Smell the air. It’s perfumed with a million Christmas trees!”
“Mmm.” He put his arm around her shoulders and drew her against him. “Look at the different shades of green. Did you ever imagine there were so many?”
“No.” She kissed his jaw. “I can count at least a dozen different species of pines all growing together. There must be dozens more we can’t see from the car.”
“Up on the mountain to your right, where the sun’s rays have penetrated, the grass below th
ose pines looks like green fire. Do you see it?”
“You’re right!” She gasped in awe. “It’s so beautiful, it seems unreal.” She sighed in pure satisfaction. “What a perfect day this has been.” She turned her head against his chest to look at him.
“I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life.”
He drew in a deep breath. “What I’m feeling right now can’t be expressed in words. All I can do is show you.”
Last night he’d lit a fire when he kissed her. Ever since then, she’d been trying to keep it contained. But the second his mouth closed over hers, the fire exploded, sending out scorching flames that burned hotter and brighter. She couldn’t get close enough to him.
“I’m in love with you, Catherine. I want you so badly I could carry you off beneath those trees and make love to you until long after the sun sets. When the air started to cool, I would hold you tight and keep you warm…until you begged me to make love to you again.”
With David, it wasn’t a case of begging him to do anything. She was the one who desired him to the last breath of her body. Her need for him was overpowering.
“You think I don’t want that, too?”
“I know you do,” he said softly. “But I’m also aware that you need more time. So I’m going to disentangle myself from your arms and get us out of here before I forget my good intentions.”
He opened the passenger door and she got inside, not fastening her seat belt yet. As he settled himself in the driver’s seat, he turned to her. She slid close to him and into the shelter of his right arm.
“From now on, you’re going to have to set the pace. Now that I’ve found you, I’ve lost all self-control. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yes.”
“I ask only one thing.”
“What’s that?” Her heart wouldn’t slow its erratic pounding.
“We have to see each other every day. I don’t care if it’s for five minutes.” He made a fist on the steering wheel. “That’s not true. Five minutes would never satisfy me.”
“I couldn’t stand that, either,” she admitted, clinging to him as if he were saying goodbye to her for the last time. “I love you so much I’m afraid I can’t focus on anything else.”
The Unknown Sister Page 7
