by Peggy Webb
It made another quick exit as he listened to Sandi’s uninhibited appreciation of the food.
“Mmm, wonderful,” she said of the chicken, then, “Oh, delicious,” regarding the potato salad. Or perhaps it was the pie. He was too deep in fantasies to know.
“Matt?”
“Yes?”
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Starving.”
She gave him a puzzled look. “You haven’t touched a thing.”
“I was enjoying the view first.” He gazed studiously out over the water. “I never get tired of it.”
“I can see why.”
Nearly caught you, didn’t she? his nasty-minded conscience said, but he busied himself scarfing down key lime pie and ignored it.
Suddenly Sandi leaned toward him, and she was in exactly the right place for kissing. If he wanted to.
“You have pie—” her finger touched the side of his mouth “—right there.”
“Kiss it off,” he said, and she did. He completely forgot his conscience and his faux courtship and his fantasizing.
This was real. So real he could no longer hold back the tide of passion that swept over him. With one arm he raked the food out of the way and with the other he lowered her to the cloth. She reached for his shirt and he reached for hers while the last ribbons of gold faded into a velvet-blue dusk that covered their naked bodies like a benediction.
He reached for an orange, bit out a plug and squeezed the juice over her sweet breasts. So much for his good intentions. Feasting, he never knew when she found the orange and anointed his fingers. Then one by one she savored them.
“You read the same book,” he said, and she said, “Yes,” then pulled his head back down to her breasts while she made sounds that pierced his rapidly thawing heart.
It had been so long since he’d had a woman. When she arched against him, he drove deep inside and released them both.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and she covered his lips with her fingertips.
“Don’t,” she whispered, then pulled him back to her and said, “Stay.”
Cushioned in her soft body, Matt slowly came back to awareness. She was stroking his hair, making those soft murmuring noises that sounded like humming birds in the hayloft of his grandfather’s barn. But he was no longer a child and he certainly wasn’t in a barn.
He untangled himself with the alacrity of a man suffering the all-too-common disease of if only—if only he hadn’t suggested a sail at sunset, if only he hadn’t packed oranges, if only he hadn’t read his mother’s book, if only he’d maintained control.
He jerked upright and scrambled for their clothes. “Cover yourself,” he said, then turned his back while she did.
“It’s okay,” she kept saying.
“It is not okay. It’s unforgivable.”
“You can turn around now.”
“Are you decent?”
“Yes.”
He wanted to die. He’d carelessly robbed her of her virginity, and still she gazed at him with a forgiving smile and a radiance that terrified him.
It would be just like her to believe she’d fallen in love. After all, she was an artist, and weren’t they known for their romanticism, their loose grasp of the facts, their lead-with-your-heart approach to life?
“God, why didn’t you tell me you were a virgin?”
“You never asked.”
He’d never expected to need to know. “You should have told me.” The best defense is a strong offense.
“There’s no need to growl.”
“I’m not growling.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Okay, okay. You’re right. Look, I’m sorry, Sandi. If only I had known…”
“Matt.” Sandi touched his arm and he jerked back as if he’d been shot. “It really is okay.”
“My God, how can you say that? I took your virginity.” And in a manner that embarrassed the hell out of him, but he didn’t say that. Didn’t even want to admit it to himself, let alone her. “How in the hell was I to know that a woman who had been engaged so many times was still a virgin?”
“Phoebe taught me to save myself for someone who would treasure me.”
Matt groaned, and she hastened to add, “Don’t worry about it.”
“How can you say that? I wasn’t even wearing protection. I assumed you…”
“I said, don’t worry. I plan to forget this little incident ever happened.”
Little incident, was it? “So do I.”
“You don’t have to shout.”
“I’m not shouting. I’m being firm. You’re the one riled.”
“I am not riled. I’m cold.” She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. “Stress always makes me cold.”
“I’m sorry I stressed you.”
“Apology accepted. Can we please go home now?”
“Gladly.”
He was so mad, he jerked the anchor and it slammed into his boat. It probably did several hundred dollars’ worth of damage. Good. Served him right for all the damage he’d done tonight.
He took the wheel while Sandi stood huddled at the bow with her back to him. Matt felt like the world’s biggest heel. Furthermore, he felt like a fraud.
“The game’s over,” he said.
“What do you mean?” She turned to face him, and darned if she didn’t have tears in her eyes. He wanted to hit something, and hit it hard.
“This foolish pretense stops rights here.”
“But your mother…”
“Mother will just have to get over it, that’s all.”
Sandi glared at him for a full three minutes, gathering steam, no doubt, because when she spoke there were razor blades and nails in her voice.
“We will not. We’ve already started it, and we’re not going to back out now.”
“The game takes two, and I’m not playing.”
“Why?”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
“Yes. You’re chicken.”
“You can’t tell me you want to go on after what happened here tonight.”
“If you don’t stop bellowing at me I’m going to throw something. And I warn you, my aim is good. I played girls’ softball in high school. Pitcher.”
He’d never seen a woman who could enrage him and inflame him at the same time. God, she looked so delicious standing there with her hands on her hips and her thoroughly kissed breasts pink in the moonlight, he almost lost control again.
“Button your blouse,” he said.
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“You tore off the buttons.”
So he had. They lay scattered about the deck like tiny pearls of regret.
“All right,” he said. “You win.”
“I do?”
“Yes, you do. I knew better than to argue with you in the first place.”
“Why?”
“There’s no way a man can win when he’s dealing with a steel magnolia.”
“Matt…” She sailed toward him, all pink and soft and glowing, and when she put her hand on his, he nearly came undone. “Thank you. I won’t disappoint your mother.”
He looked at her, really looked, and his hands tightened on the wheel.
“There are some pins down below,” he said. “Go fasten your blouse.”
So, what had happened last night? She couldn’t blame it on the moon. She’d had moonlight dates before. She couldn’t blame it on her desire for a child. She’d wanted a baby for years. Surely, it wasn’t love. If she loved him, she’d know, wouldn’t she?
Sex was not all it was cracked up to be. That’s what Sandi thought. And yet she woke up feeling like a different woman, richer somehow, softer and full of delicious secrets.
She brushed her teeth and studied herself in the mirror to see if she looked any different. She was a bit disappointed to discover there was nothing that would make Lucy say, “I see you’ve seduced my son.”
That’s what Sandi had done. Not th
at she’d meant to. Still, she’d encouraged him every step of the way. She hadn’t said no.
Suddenly the enormity of what she’d done sank in, and she sat on the edge of the cold porcelain tub. My lord, this had never happened with any of her fiancés, and she’d loved all three of them. Or so she had thought…. Until she was practically at the church door, and then the truth sank in. She’d been in love with the idea of love, not the men. What would she say when she saw Matt?
She jumped up to practice in front of the mirror.
“Hi, Matt. I enjoyed last night.”
That wouldn’t do. It sounded like an invitation.
“Oh, hello, Matt. Thanks for the sail.”
That was too cold, too nonchalant. She had to think of something that would put him at ease and let him know that nothing had changed.
Liar. Everything’s changed.
What if she were pregnant? Too late to worry about that now. What was done was done.
Oh, she wished she could talk to Lucy about what had happened, but that was out of the question. She wished she could talk to Phoebe, but that was impossible. And C.J. would be in class. She would just have to muddle through on her own.
Her heart hammered as she dressed and hurried to the kitchen. The smell of coffee stopped her in the hallway. Sandi closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then pasted a smile on her face and called a cheerful greeting to announce her arrival.
“Good morning, Matt.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
Dolly sat at the table dressed in befeathered splendor, watching TV. When Sandi walked in, she pressed the remote control to turn off an early-morning news report on the president’s visit to the Middle East.
“Oh…” Sandi tried to hide her disappointment and probably didn’t succeed. She was a terrible actress, always leading with her heart and always telling the truth, no matter what. “You’ve changed your hair.”
“Yes. I was a redhead for the stage role I was playing before Lucy became ill. I got tired of being a redhead and decided to go back to my original blond.”
“It’s really quite stunning.” Sandi meant what she said. “It makes you look about ten years younger.”
“Darling, I hope you stay here forever.”
“I do, too.”
“Good!”
“Oh, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. It’s just that this old house is so wonderful. Being here feels like having arms wrapped around me all the time.”
“I know. That’s why I come here every chance I get. I practically live here.” She poured Sandi a cup of coffee, studying her with a shrewdness that someone less observant might have missed. “Here, you look like you need it.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Anything you want to talk about?”
“Thank you, but I really can’t.”
Dolly turned her intense scrutiny on Sandi once more. Finally she said, “Always follow your heart.”
“That’s what Lucy said.”
“She’s right.” Dolly took a long sip of coffee, then cradling the cup in her hands, she got a faraway look in her eyes. “I’ve always wondered what my life would be like now if I’d listened to my heart instead of reason.”
Sandi was shocked. Here was a woman who had it all—a great career, loyal friends, an adoring public, a beautiful adopted daughter. What had she wanted that she didn’t have?
“Ms. Wilder…” She seemed not to have heard. “Dolly…” Sandi touched her hand. “Are you all right?”
The woman’s laughter was so convincing, Sandi chided herself for presuming that a woman of Dolly Wilder’s fame would need solace from someone she hardly knew.
“I’m great.” Dolly glanced at the clock on the wall. “If you want to catch Matt before he leaves, you’d better hurry.”
“Matt’s leaving?”
“He has a case in Jackson that comes to trial today.”
Sandi felt sick all the way to her toes. “Oh…where is he?”
“With Lucy.”
Matt was impatient to get on the road before Sandi woke up.
“Mother, I wish you’d change your mind and let me call Jolie and Elizabeth,” he said, referring to his sisters. “Or at least call Elizabeth.”
“Jolie’s goodness-knows-where down in Peru, and Elizabeth’s in the midst of her documentary in Wales. There’s no need to upset her right in the middle of it, and there’s certainly no need for her to rush home. I’m not planning to die anytime soon.”
“I know that, Mother. Still, I don’t like keeping your condition from them. They’ll have my hide when they find out.”
“No, they won’t. You take care of my business and let me take care of my daughters.”
Matt sighed. His mother had always been stubborn, but the heart attack had enhanced the irritating trait. He glanced anxiously at his watch.
“I have to be going. Follow Ben’s orders and don’t party in here after bedtime.”
Lucy looked aggrieved. “Would I do such a thing?”
“Yes.” Hearing footsteps in the hall, he grabbed his briefcase. “I’ll be back in two days. Three at most.”
“Matt, wait. Aren’t you going to say goodbye to Sandi?”
“Tell her for me.”
“But, Matt…”
He rushed out, leaving his mother still talking, which wasn’t like him at all. Nothing he’d done lately was like him. Last night, for instance…
“Matt…”
Sandi was standing at the end of the hallway in shorts and a top no bigger than his handkerchief, looking delicious and irresistible. Looking like the kind of woman who would turn a man into a complete fool.
He lifted his hand in salute, then fled. And just in the nick of time, too. By the time he got to his car he was so wracked by desire he was not fit for decent company.
Embarrassing, that’s what it was.
Why had he ever agreed to her little game in the first place? Deception never paid.
Watching Matt leave without so much as a goodbye, Sandi felt like a woman spurned.
She watched until he was out of sight, hoping he would change his mind and rush back at the last minute to say, “Sandi, I’ve thought of nothing but us since last night, and when I get back we’ll take up where we left off.” Or words to that effect.
He didn’t come back, of course. She entered Lucy’s bedroom in time to see Matt’s car disappearing down the driveway.
“Good morning, Sandi. Come, sit down and tell me all about last night.”
Good grief. How did Lucy know? Had Matt told her?
“Last night?”
“The sail. You and Matt did go sailing, didn’t you?”
“Oh, yes, we went sailing.”
Flooded with relief, Sandi sat down beside Matt’s mother and described the sunset. She didn’t leave out a single color.
Dolly and Kitty had gathered in Lucy’s room for a late-night emergency meeting. They all sat cross-legged on Lucy’s bed eating nachos with cheese dip.
“What are we going to do about Ben?” Lucy asked them.
“Tell us again,” Kitty said. “Exactly what did he say when he called?”
“He said Matt had left six messages and he didn’t like deceiving him and he couldn’t stay off fishing forever.”
“What’s so bad about that?” Dolly asked. “Judging by the looks of Sandi this morning, I’d say our plan has already worked. She’s in love.”
“I could have told you that,” Kitty said.
“My son’s in love?” Lucy was miffed that she hadn’t noticed, especially since she was the expert. “How do you know?”
“I put a little something extra in the key lime pie.”
“What?” Lucy and Dolly said together.
“Remember that aphrodisiac I put in Professor Timmons’s tea?”
Timmons had been the most hated professor at the university, stern and forbidding until the night of the spring fling when Kitty had slipped him a little love potion. He’d
chased the librarian till he caught her and after three days of scandal and debauchery, they ended up at the justice of the peace.
“He and Evelyn Larkin honeymooned in Tahiti,” Dolly said.
“Matt doesn’t like Tahiti,” Lucy said. “He’ll take Sandi somewhere more civilized.”
“What else did Ben say?” Dolly asked.
“None of your business,” Lucy said, though of course she knew she would eventually tell them. The women always shared their secrets. She just wanted to draw out the suspense a little longer.
“Kitty, maybe you ought to fix Ben’s tea the next time he comes,” Dolly said, and Lucy shouted, “Don’t you dare.”
Chapter Six
Driving home in the middle of the night was a cowardly thing to do, but Matt figured he would simply add that to his list of sins. Coward, liar, virgin spoiler.
Though it was two in the morning when he arrived and chance encounters were unlikely, he sneaked into his own house like a thief. When he got to the east wing he even took off his shoes in case Sandi was a light sleeper.
That thought led him down an erotic pathway that had him tossing and turning till dawn. When his alarm clock went off, he felt as if he’d been run over by a lumber rig and left on the road to die.
He hastened to the kitchen with the idea of grabbing his coffee and a muffin before anybody would be there. Feeling surly and out of sorts, he rounded the corner and who should he see except the one person in the world he wanted to avoid.
“Good morning.”
It was just his bad luck that Sandi Wentworth looked as delicious before sunrise as she did at sunset.
“You can stop playing Miss Hospitality. No one’s watching.”
Her smile vanished, and he felt like a cad. His heart whispered for him to say something nice to make amends, while reason screamed at him to keep her at arm’s length.
“I know,” she said. “I was just trying to be nice.”
“Don’t waste it on me.”
Sandi turned her back on him but not before he saw the hint of tears. Silence screamed around them while Matt poured his coffee and Sandi poured orange juice. When she turned around she was smiling.
“I’m planning to watch the sunrise in the rose garden. Would you like to join me?”
