by Sharon Sala
He kicked back the covers and rolled out of bed, afraid that she was about to pull a repeat performance of the night before. The last thing they needed was to take a midnight dip in another snowdrift.
He was halfway down the stairs before the sounds that he’d heard became distinct. And when he could see that she was still asleep on the sofa, his panic abated. Moving quietly, he circled the sofa to kneel down beside her. In the glow from the fireplace, the tracks of her tears had become thin silver threads stringing down her cheeks. Her forehead was knit in a frown, and she kept fighting the covers under which she lay. He hated to wake her, but watching her torment was worse.
In a voice he would have used with Maddie, he whispered her name.
“Daisy. Daisy. Wake up. You’re having a bad dream.”
Her eyelids fluttered, then her nostrils flared as she took a deep breath. Her forehead smoothed. The frown she’d been wearing disappeared with the dream, and as she opened her eyes, she swallowed a sob.
There was momentary confusion on her face as she focused on where she was and not where she’d been.
“Roman?”
He wiped at her tears with the balls of his thumbs. “You were having a bad dream.”
Her lips were trembling as her gaze raked the contours of his face. Even in the dark, his strength shone through. The contours of his’ features were highlighted in the faint light from the fire. The familiarity of them gave her comfort. At last, something she knew. Something she recognized. Roman. Her Roman.
“Dear God,” she whispered, and slipped her arms around his neck. “I’m so tired of this. I’m so everlasting tired of this. Ah, Roman, what if I never remember?”
Her gesture was unexpected, but the symbolic meaning was not lost on him. It was trust. Pure and simple. She trusted him, but did he trust himself?
“You will. You will,” he said softly, and then pulled her arms from around his neck. “Easy,” he urged when she would have fussed. “I’m not leaving you.”
Instead, he sat down beside her and then pulled her into his lap before wrapping them both with her covers.
“Are you comfortable?” he asked.
Daisy shuddered on a sigh. Comfortable? The word was more like content.
“Yes,” she said softly, and settled her head against the strength of his shoulder as he tightened his grip. She was certain that whoever she was, she’d never felt this safe. If the world—and that bag full of money—would just go away, she could be happy for life.
“Try to go back to sleep,” he said.
“But you won’t be able to rest sitting up.”
He looked down at the crown of her head nestled beneath his chin. Considering the weight of the knot in his stomach, she felt surprisingly light in his arms. A slight grin broke the somberness of his face.
“I’ve been in a lot worse places.”
Daisy tried to relax, but there were too many extenuating factors. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t forget where she was—in Roman’s arms—or where she was lying, next to Roman’s heart.
The steady beat next to her ear matched her own pulse. She closed her eyes and tried to think of something else, only to become aware that one of his hands was cupping her bottom.
Afraid to move, and a bit afraid not to, she let her mind go blank. And then she felt the faint but unmistakable stirring of his breath upon her face and looked up. At that point, the inevitability of their circumstance took over.
Roman blinked, but not fast enough to hide what he’d been thinking. The impossible had happened. She’d seen through the wall behind which he lived, all the way to his heart.
“Don’t,” he warned her.
She pushed herself up until she was sitting in his lap, and facing him. There would be no more hiding.
“Don’t what, Roman? Don’t care? It’s too late for that. I already do.”
Her words hit him hard. And in that moment, he knew she was the stronger for having voiced the truth.
“And what happens tomorrow, Daisy? What happens after we make love? After you’re embedded in every part of me? How do I give you up?”
Daisy knew what he said could happen, but there was a surge of need within her that told her to seize the moment, that tomorrow was never a guarantee.
“Then don’t,” she said. “Don’t give me up. Ever!”
He took her by the shoulders and rolled, pinning her beneath him on the sofa as the covers slid off their bodies and onto the floor. His voice was a whisper against her cheek.
“This is dangerous, in more ways than one.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “But, Roman, you forget. I can’t remember living any other way.”
He groaned and then lowered his head. Their lips met in a frenzy of need that never slowed down. He took the shirt from her body; she pulled his over his head. Piece by piece, their clothing came off until they were lying naked in each other’s arms. He shoved a tousled lock of her hair away from her eye and then kissed the spot where it had been.
“Still hate my guts?”
Her eyes were alight with desire. “Clear to the bone,” she said softly.
He brushed his mouth across the crest of a breast, before moving on to the other one. When she gasped and arched to his touch, he stopped and pulled back.
“Friendly enemies?”
She nodded and encircled him with her hand. “You know what they say about fine lines between love and—”
He thrust against her hand and when she felt him growing, hardening, pushing toward a promise of ecstasy, she knew this was going to be right after all. Then tears blurred her vision, leaving him slightly out of focus.
“Oh, Roman.”
He thrust again, gritting his teeth against the need to hurry.
“What, baby?” he said softly.
“No regrets?”
A swift pain hit him right in the vicinity of his heart, but it was gone as swiftly as it had come. His head bent as he kissed an escaping tear.
“No regrets.”
She wrapped both arms around his neck and pulled him down until all of his body weight was resting on her.
“Wait! I’m too heavy for—”
She soothed his concern with a touch of her hand to his cheek.
And then so it began.
A log shifted on the fire, sending up a shower of sparks that crackled and popped. Outside, the wind played with the last fall of snow, lifting it up into the air and then letting it go. Like the tides, there was a steady rise and fall, from without, and within.
Roman moved them to the floor. Cushioned by the covers they’d tossed aside, they made love with a frightening passion. Whispers sifted into the silence. There was a quick gasp—a soft sigh. Touch followed touch; kiss followed kiss. Each step of the loving continually moving them toward a certainty they could no longer deny.
And finally, there was a fever in the blood that demanded release. Roman shifted, moving between her legs and then holding himself suspended above her. He looked down into her face—that beautiful, beautiful face—and knew a moment of pure peace. And yet the man he was gave her one last chance to pull back.
“Still sure?”
The need to be with him was making her crazy. It was all she could do to answer.
“Yes, oh yes.”
He slid inside.
For one brief, silent moment, neither breathed—neither moved. The suddenness of their joining was replaced by a familiarity that they’d done this together a thousand times before.
For Daisy, the world tilted. She grasped his forearms, needing to hold on to solid substance. Her body was shaking, her voice full of tears.
“Roman...oh, Roman.”
He pulled back, but only a little. Just enough to let her feel him once more, and as he did, her eyes closed and her lips parted with a sigh. He thrust again—slower, deeper. When she arched beneath him, his world suddenly focused on the feel of being inside her.
“Ah, baby,” he whispered, and th
e dance began.
Time lost all meaning. It could have been minutes. It could have been hours. They rode the heat, letting it build between them until it began to consume.
For Daisy, it came in a swift and blinding flash, taking her out of herself and then dropping her back into place without warning, leaving her weak and breathless and hopelessly in love.
But Roman was prepared, He’d felt it coming. That need to hurry on the edge of sweet pain. Each stroke bringing him closer and closer. And there was Daisy, beneath him, around him, begging, holding on to him because she’d already taken flight.
It was the heat of her body, and the tiny tremors within her that sent him over the edge. That and the fact he couldn’t bring himself to let her go alone.
Muscles corded in his arms, in his neck, in his back. It came over him in a wave, then spilling into her with a groan, shattering the last of the wall behind which he lived.
Their bodies were slick with sweat, their hearts hammering against their chests. But there was a knowing between them that hadn’t been there before. He looked into her eyes and thought, So, woman...you may not know your name, but I know you.
“Have mercy,” he whispered, and kissed the edge of her lips. Then he rolled onto his side and pulled the covers over them.
Daisy didn’t move, couldn’t move. She lay within the shelter of Roman’s arms, waiting for her heartbeat to settle back into a normal rhythm.
Just before they fell asleep, Roman thought he heard her whisper.
“I take no prisoners.”
He fell asleep with a smile on his face.
Chapter 7
It was just after dark when the phone rang in Davis Benton’s hotel room. He came out of a deep sleep within seconds of the sound, grabbing for the phone.
“Hello.”
“Mr. Benton. This is Lawrey, of search and rescue.”
“Yes, Mr. Lawrey. Any news?”
“I’m sorry, sir, but no. In fact, the snow is so deep that any further searching is futile.”
Davis’s hopes fell. “But—”
“Understand that we will resume the search as soon as the snow melts. I don’t know if you’re aware, but the snowfall was well over four feet. With the drifts, it’s often over six feet deep. She could be anywhere, and we’d be walking right past her...or on top of her. Do you understand?”
Davis groaned. Although the images were sickening, he understood all too well.
“Yes, and thank you for calling,” he said.
When the line went dead in his ear, he started to cry. This was hell. If only he could wake up to find it had all been a dream. He thought of Gordon. If Holly had loved him enough to marry him, then he deserved to know the decision search and rescue had made. The last thing he wanted to do was get dressed and go out, but it was something that had to be done.
Gordon Mallory was progressing. It was unfortunate the doctors couldn’t say the same for his brother, Billy. Billy Mallory’s condition hadn’t changed. He was stable but still in a coma. The head injury he’d sustained when the plane had crashed had been severe, and even though the doctors were doing everything possible, he had yet to wake up.
Gordon had made a public show of grief as he’d instructed the doctors not to put Billy on any sort of life support, claiming it would have been what Billy wanted. He didn’t know that for certain, but it was definitely what Gordon wanted.
His entire focus was on getting out of the hospital and finding his money. Thanks to Billy, Holly had all the money. In a way, Gordon looked upon this judgment as fair. After all, if Billy had minded his own business, none of this would have happened...so it stood to reason that if someone had to pay, even with a life, Billy was it.
Lost in his own world, Gordon was startled when the door to his room opened, but when he saw who it was, he adopted the proper attitude of grief.
“Mr. Benton! Any news?”
Davis tried for a smile. It never came.
“Some, but it’s not good. The search has been called off until after the snow melts.”
“Oh, no!” Gordon cried. “Don’t they know she could freeze to death?”
Davis’s shoulders slumped, and his voice started to shake. “Actually, they didn’t come out and say it in so many words, but I believe that’s already what they think.”
Gordon groaned and covered his face, but to hide his elation, not his grief. He had his own plans for finding the interfering bitch, and they didn’t include mixing with a search-and-rescue team. If he had to, he was going to walk the entire area over which they’d been flying, and by damn, he’d find his money if it took the rest of his life.
“I’m so sorry;” Davis said.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Gordon said.
“Come home with me to recuperate,” Davis offered. “It’s the least I can do.”
Gordon wanted to crow with delight. Although he had left a small nest egg in a Las Vegas bank, this was perfect. A free place to rest until he was back to full strength.
“That’s very generous of you, Mr. Benton, but I can’t leave my brother, Billy. He’s going to need around-the-clock care. I’ll have to stay here to—”
“We’ll move him to Las Vegas, too. There are plenty of care facilities out there, and if he’s able, he can stay at the estate. Now don’t argue. I won’t hear of you having to bear this on your own. In times like this, people need to stick together.”
Gordon gathered his sheet around him, pretending to smooth out the wrinkles.
“I don’t know how to thank you,” he said. And it was true. He didn’t know how to say thank-you. It was a skill he’d never learned.
Davis nodded. “I’m going back to the hotel now. If there’s anything you need, please call. Meanwhile...”
Gordon smiled. It was a pious bit of playacting that would have made his old daddy proud.
“Meanwhile,” Gordon echoed, “I’ll be saying prayers for us all.”
Davis left, assured that he’d done everything necessary to make things right. When he exited the hospital, it was almost dark. He flagged a cab, and the ride back to the hotel was one of the longest rides he could ever remember. He kept thinking that it wasn’t fair, that a parent should not outlive his or her children. It was too much pain for a person to bear.
Roman had been awake for some time when dawn came to the mountains. After making love by the fire, they’d moved upstairs to his bed. Daisy had crawled into it, and into his arms without reservation. The crazy part was, it hadn’t seemed strange to him, either. They hadn’t known each other a week, and yet they’d made love with a familiar passion. Now here they were, sharing a bed as if they’d done this every night of their lives.
Part of Roman’s restlessness was due to the woman in his arms, the other to a large dose of guilt. He kept thinking of what they’d done. Last night, making love to Daisy had seemed so right. Even more, it had felt right. She’d matched his emotions with a passion of her own that had surprised him. But in the light of day, there was a truth he couldn’t deny. Daisy was a beautiful, loving woman, but she might not be free to give back that love. That was what worried him. That was what hurt. He looked down at her, wondering if, when the time came, he would have the guts to give her up.
She lay spoon fashion within his arms, her back to his chest, her head pillowed upon his arm. He held her close, his hand resting just beneath the softness of her breasts. In repose, she looked so innocent, but what the hell was an innocent woman doing with that bag of money?
She sighed in her sleep and then rolled over, burying her face against his chest. It was a gesture that didn’t go unnoticed. He felt the burden of her trust and hoped when the time came he would have the strength to do the right thing.
The contents of the purse went flying, spilling everything that had been inside. Lipstick rolled off the edge of a step and fell to the pavement below. The faint shattering sound of the compact mirror breaking sent the woman into a panic.
Get
away, get away! I have to get away.
Her legs felt weak, her body devoid of breath. No matter how hard she tried to move, she seemed frozen to the spot.
He’ll find me here. I have to hide!
A shadow fell over her shoulder and onto the steps in front of her. Her mouth went dry. Someone grabbed her by the arm. Before she could scream, a hand clamped around her mouth while she was yanked up and backward. The last thing she saw was a patch of blue sky, and then everything went dark.
Daisy jerked and then gasped, trying to breathe for the woman in her dream. In the midst of her panic, someone caught her, holding her close and whispering words of comfort that set her heart back into a normal rhythm. She opened her eyes and then sighed as she remembered where she was, and who it was who was holding her.
“Roman.”
“It’s okay, baby,” he said softly, smoothing the tangles of her hair away from her face. “I’ve got you. You’re safe.”
She shuddered, then slid her arms around him, holding him close.
“Something spilled, I think.”
“What?”
“My purse...I think I dropped my purse.”
He frowned. In the grand scheme of the mess she was in, that made little sense, but he let her talk, knowing she needed to get it all said.
“Then what?”
“I tried to run, but my legs wouldn’t work.”
He knew that feeling. It was pure, unadulterated fear. Only someone defensively trained would have been able to bypass that very human reaction. Gentling her in the only way he knew how, he held her close, letting her tell the story at her own pace. She continued.
“They heard me, you know.”
“Who heard you, baby?”
Her mind went blank, and as hard as she tried, nothing else would come. She leaned her forehead against his chest in frustration.
“I don’t know. Oh, God, I don’t know.”
Damn. Hiding his own frustration, Roman kissed the side of her face.
