“I want to love you all night long,” he whispered.
“All night, please,” she murmured back. The heat in his eyes sent desire burning through her.
With his mouth, he traced a line of hot, sweet kisses over her face, down her neck to the high arch of her collarbone.
There was only one way she could respond. Bringing her hands down slowly over his body, she pulled him to her, cupped his firm buttocks, pulling him closer still, causing him to gasp with pleasure as she undulated her hips against him.
Crushing her mouth under his, he cupped her breasts in the palms of his hands and she moaned softly, her knees feeling as if they were giving way beneath her in the wild swirl of desire. His hardness heated her belly, telling her exactly how much he wanted her, spoke promises of the pleasure they would share, and she laughed briefly, thrilled with the power she had to excite him. Her fingers traced the line of the towel hiding his male nakedness from her and sought to undo it.
Her voice was a deep sigh. “I want to see every inch of you.” The towel slid to the floor and now he was standing in front of her, hard, hot and smooth, in all his glory.
“You only want to see?”
“Touch. Lick.” Her knees were about to give way. “Do you think we could get to a bed? Quickly?”
“If that’s what you want,” said Jace, his eyes coveting her with lascivious pleasure. “But that’s the only thing we’ll do quickly. After that, things are going to go slowly.” He reached for her, his hands tracing the long line of her body. “Slowly, all night long.” The heat in his eyes astounded her. “Just the way I’ve imagined them all these nights.” His mouth nuzzled the skin under her ear. “It’s been hell knowing how close you were … so close, and so far away.”
“It has?”
“It has,” he said simply. “I ached all over.”
“All that lost time … ”
He picked her up as if she weighed no more than a pinch of the desert dust, carried her to the bed. “This has to come off,” he mumbled, his fingers clutching at the soft fabric of her gown.
“It does,” she agreed as she pulled the garment over her arms. She needed to feel his skin against hers, needed the rub of his chest against her breasts.
The silken light of the moon played over her soft breasts, invited his mouth to taste. Her waist was tiny, her stomach flat, smooth, just the way he’d imagined it. He could never tire of looking at her, he decided. Or of caressing her with his eyes, these long, pale limbs, the proud arch of her hips, the elegance of her neck.
Then he couldn’t look anymore. He had to touch. Explore every inch of her. Kiss her lovely warmth. Linger, draw flames. His tongue followed his burning touch, seared a hot trail, over her skin, over her belly, down to lap the sweet dew of her femininity, never stopping, always coaxing.
She shivered against him, twisting in desire, forgetting everything but how wonderful it felt to touch him, to feel his fingers as they slipped deep inside her. She exploded in shuddering waves and he moaned, unable to wait another minute. He’d wanted her too much for too long.
Lowering himself over her, she opened to him, arching high, meeting him, enfolding him as he went deeper and deeper, brought them together. She moaned with searing joy. Jace, inside her. Over her. Around her. Nothing mattered but this moment. This night. All night with Jace.
• • •
Bright white desert morning touched the lids of Jace’s eyes. Alice. The name sketched itself over the surface of his mind just the way it had for some time now. Only this time it was different. This night had been different. Alice had lain in his arms. Incredible. He turned in the bed, reached for her but her place was empty. Only the warm, dusky scent of her hovered in the air.
She had been here. Unless he’d gone and invented the whole thing in his own lust-filled mind. Impossible. You didn’t dream about making the kind of love they’d experienced. It had been real, all right. So where was she now? Vanished again? Perhaps regretting the night?
Then he noticed the heavenly odor of coffee and yeasty bread drifting through the house. That was a good sign. Pulling himself out of the warm tumble of the bed, Jace hauled on a pair of jeans, made his way down to the kitchen.
Alice, her back to him, was caught in the dancing blaze of light streaming through the windows and into the yellow kitchen. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders in a wild disorder. She was wearing the same thin, silken dressing gown she’d worn the night before and the hand on her hip delineated its definite and sexy arch. Jace watched her silently, his heart beating a light, staccato rhythm. Alice. His Alice. The thought left a soft, silvery trail in his mind. His Alice? That’s probably pretty wide off the mark, he chided himself, bracing himself against possible disappointment.
Yet she had been his. For one night of intense, heart-searing love. But Alice was still an unknown quantity to him. He couldn’t know what her reaction to him would be this morning. Could a woman who had shown so much passion withdraw again?
She felt his presence suddenly, although he’d made no sound, no movement. Turning, she found him there, still, in the doorway. Watching her. Waiting.
Shyness — that was the first expression crossing her face. Then he caught the faint, subtle bend of her body as it arched toward him, desiring him still. And saw the sweetness of her smile, caught her aura of a woman who’d spent the night loving passionately. He held his arms open, and she crossed the room with swift steps, folded herself softly against him.
“Good morning,” he murmured, his mouth against hers.
“Good morning.” Soft notes bespoke vulnerability.
“I was wondering if you’d run away.” He was sounding pretty vulnerable too, he knew.
She leaned back in his arms, raised her hand and traced the line of his lips. “I watched you sleep. I don’t know how you managed it.”
“Managed what? Sleeping?”
She nodded, smiled up at him. “I … I was … I mean, the situation was too … exciting for me to want to sleep.”
“We can go back to bed and try again,” he said bending down and giving her another kiss.
He saw the same shyness cross her face again followed by a faint blush. “We could,” she said softly.
“Why did you get up?”
“I … ” Her mouth unsuccessfully fought a grin for a few seconds before she dissolved into laughter. “I got hungry. And I thought that you would be hungry too, and so … ”
“I’m starving. And it smells heavenly, whatever it is.”
“Fresh rolls. And there are fresh coddled eggs with herbs, if you want.”
“Coddled eggs?”
“You’ll see.”
“Alice?” His tone was soft, but there was a serious note.
Her eyes questioned him, faintly wary now.
“Thank you.”
“Thank you?”
“For lurking in the corridor last night.”
“Oh.” She began to laugh again.
“You’ll do it again, won’t you? Every night. I want you beside me every night and every morning. I want that. Very much.”
He watched her, watched how her eyes dilated with pleasure, watched her mouth as it formed the words he wanted to hear. “Me too. I want that.”
His heart was full. He felt the glow of the sunlight as it sparkled through the room, danced just for the two of them. “Have I told you how beautiful you are?”
She pulled back slightly, her eyes denying his words. “You don’t have to say things like that.”
Jace shook his head. “I wish you wouldn’t tell me what I’m supposed to think.” Leaving her side, he walked over to the counter, reached for two cups and poured out the coffee, poured milk in one and handed it to her. “I do think you’re beautiful. And, by the way, absolute perfection doesn’t exist.”
“Of course it does. Look at you. You’re beautiful … simply perfect.”
“Me? Perfect?” He chuckled. “No way, Alice. Didn’t you notice the shape of my
legs? Don’t you dare try to catch a glimpse of my feet. And talk about proportions … Michelangelo would never have used me as a model!”
“Jace, don’t be silly.”
“I’m not being silly. You just think I’m perfect because you’re falling in love with me.”
“I’m … what?” Her coffee cup clacked against the wooden counter. “What did you just say?”
He looked back at her calmly. “That you’re falling in love with me.”
“Not too conceited, are you? Not too sure of yourself,” she spit out indignantly. “You are just too much. I’m falling in love with you? I can’t believe I’m hearing this!”
He leaned casually against the counter, perfectly pleased with himself. “Yup. You are and you’d better start believing it because I’m dying to hear you say those very words. I have the feeling that they’ll make me feel mighty good. Let me try them out on you.”
“Jace — ”
“Alice Treemont, I’m falling very much in love with you.”
She stared at him. “Are you making fun of me? Or is your idea of a joke?”
“Then it would be a joke in very bad taste.” Putting down his cup, he reached for her, pulled her into his arms again. “Do you think you could get used to hearing that?” He nuzzled the soft skin at the base of her neck.
“You can’t mean this.” Her voice had melted like liquid honey.
“I can. Do I have to say it again right now?”
“Yes, please,” she whispered.
“I love you, Alice Treemont.”
She curled against him. “Okay. You win. It feels good. It feels wonderful. And I’ll tell you what. I’m going to send the magic swinging right back in your direction. What do I have to lose? Jace Constant, I do love you.”
“No kidding.” He kissed her again, softly, lovingly, his mouth exploring the contour of hers. “My desert woman. As beautiful as a desert morning.”
• • •
Days flowed by in a haze of happiness and the magic held. But despite the intensity of their feelings, Alice knew the relationship was doomed to end. Eventually. Not that she wanted to think about that. Not yet anyway. Even if it was like waiting for the other shoe to drop.
This evening, as she was preparing dinner, Jace walked through the door, a bottle of wine in his hand. He kissed her, crossed the kitchen, opened a drawer and pulled out the corkscrew. But there was something wrong. She sensed it. Or perhaps she wasn’t totally convinced by Jace’s breezy manner.
“We celebrating something?” she asked lightly.
“Yup.” He pulled out two ancient crystal glasses from a cupboard and put them on the table. Poured out the golden liquid into them. Handed one to her. “You’re going to like this, Alice. The area around the Winterback Mine is going to become a conservation area and wildlife refuge after all.”
“Well, that’s wonderful news,” she said. Jace had mentioned the project several times over the last week, but she hadn’t known it was so imminent.
His eyes twinkled briefly. “A place where even snakes can be free of persecution. And there’s something even nicer. Dr. Laura Waterton, who’s in charge of the project, knows all about you. She reads your articles.”
“She does?” Alice blinked with a mixture of pleasure and surprise. “Funny. When you sit here in Blake’s Folly, writing about snakes, you feel so isolated. You wonder if there really is an audience out there.”
“Well, snake articles probably don’t hit the best seller list,” said Jace. “But neither do history books. I doubt if even a third of my friends have ever opened the ones I write. They only go for the best sellers, the investigations, the glamour stories.”
She looked at him curiously. “Doesn’t that bother you?”
“If I let it bother me, I’d have no friends at all.” He laughed shortly. “But getting back to the conservation area, Laura Waterton wanted me to ask you if you were interested in getting involved out there. As their herpetologist.”
“Really?” Recognition for her work, protection for snakes. And probably some money in her pocket.
“Just think it over, Alice. Nothing’s definite yet. We’re not even sure that the politicians will give in to all the demands, or that enough money will be allocated for the full education project. But, if it does, at least I won’t worry about you when I’m gone.”
“Ah.”
Here it was. Her pleasure vanished. Dread and anguish slid down the length of her spine like a finger of ice. This was the beginning of a good-bye scene. When would Jace be packing his bags? Tomorrow? Any day now? In a week?
Alice put her glass down carefully on the counter. She wished she could just let the subject ride, glory in the time they had left. But she couldn’t. She had to know, even if the answer was painful. She tried to keep her face as expressionless as possible. “And when were you planning on leaving?”
There was a flicker in his eyes and emotions like reserve, withdrawal, and discomfort crossed his face. Was he afraid she’d make a scene? Is that what was worrying him? Well, she had her pride. No way she’d let him know how bad this was going to be for her. She’d always known this would happen.
“I’m here for another ten days.” His voice was flat. “After that, I’m expected back for a series of lectures. And there’s all the publishing work to be taken care of at the university. I’ve been away too long as it is.”
Her mind fought to take in what her heart wanted to refuse. “Ten days?” she repeated faintly. She stared down at the tabletop. Why hadn’t he said anything before? The magic of the evening vanished, blown out like a candle, leaving only the cold dark room behind.
“Here today, gone tomorrow,” she said, tried to sound casual. Well, wasn’t that what a fling was all about? Just what had she been hoping for? Permanence? She didn’t know if she was angrier with herself or with Jace. Didn’t even know if it was anger she was feeling. Or frustration. Or loss.
“Alice?” said Jace softly.
She didn’t want to look up, didn’t want to meet his eyes in case he read the way she was really feeling. Ten days.
“Alice.”
She didn’t want to hear what he was going to say either. About what fun it had been. About how he hoped it had been as good for her as it had been for him. About how he’d never talked about permanence. About how she couldn’t expect him to stay with her forever.
She raised her hand in the air, the palm flat, as if to stop the words. Avoid complete disaster.
But he resisted her plea for silence. “Alice, listen to me.”
“No, Jace. Don’t bother.”
“Don’t bother what?”
“Telling me we can stay friends. That you’ve had a lovely time. That maybe you’ll come back for a visit one day, because it really was so interesting.”
“Is that what you want to hear?” His voice was hushed. Sounding dangerous. “Good-bye? Thanks for the fun? It’s been great but I’ve got things to do, places to go to. Time to get on with my life.”
She raised her eyes. Finally. Looked at him. His mouth had become one grim line; his face was white. “Okay.” She took a deep breath. “What did you really want to say?”
“I wanted to ask you if you’d come with me.”
Now she was sure she wasn’t taking things in correctly. “Come with you?”
“To Chicago.” She saw the hope in his face.
“Do you really mean that?”
“Of course I mean it. Will you come with me? Come and see my life?” He hesitated, as if doubting her answer. “I’d understand if you wanted to stay here, of course. I’d understand perfectly. You have new possibilities opening to you. Perhaps a paying job as a herpetologist out at the conservation area. I can’t blame you for wanting to stay. It’s just … ” He stopped, ran a hand through his hair in a distraught gesture. “I guess I just can’t see ending what we have. Not now.”
Neither could she. “But how could I go to Chicago? There are the dogs … ”
> “I know. Come for a while, at least. We’ll find someone in Blake’s Folly to take care of the dogs while you’re gone. Let’s just see how things work out between us. See if there’s a future.”
Work out? She stared at him, her mind whirling. How could they possibly have a future together? Their lives were so different; there was such a distance between Nevada and Chicago, and everyone knew long distance relationships couldn’t work. And how would she fit into his city life? Did she even want to? She’d already been there, done that. What if things went awfully wrong between them? What if all the magic suddenly disappeared? What if …
His eyes searched hers. He was waiting for her answer.
“Jace, what if what we feel is just something that happened because you’re so far from home. A bit disoriented out here in the desert. What if it doesn’t stand up to life in Chicago?” She was making herself more and more miserable with every word. “What if this has been nothing more than a holiday romance?”
He shook his head, denying the possibility. “That’s what we’ll find out. All I know is I love you. I can’t give you up. Not now.” He stopped, his mouth a fine line. “But perhaps you don’t feel the same way. Perhaps I’m not that important.”
“Oh Jace. You are.” She crossed over to him, threw her arms around him. “I love you so. I’m just afraid … ”
“Of what?”
He was right. What was there to fear? If they loved each other, they could make it work.
She pulled back and looked into his eyes. Saw the hope reflected there. “There is one major problem,” she teased.
He looked gruff. “What major problem?”
“Tanya. How’s Tanya going to like the arrangement?”
“Tanya?” Jace’s face changed. He looked slightly puzzled. “What does Tanya … ” He stopped.
She tried to look perfectly innocent. “Perhaps we should fix Tanya up with Brad.”
Chapter Twelve
The living room was huge. Jace’s whole apartment was huge. Airy, bright, luxurious. How had he once described it? “Impersonal. An apartment. Not a home.”
All About Charming Alice Page 14
