She wrapped him in her arms, and kissed his eyes, throat, and chest. Her tongue traced his lips and he parted them for her. Did he want her to make love to him? Her fingers skimmed his back and thighs, and his breathing quickened. She let the palm of her hand stroke lightly over his pectorals, and his groan told her she’d excited him and that he liked it. But when she reached for him, he grabbed her wrist, stopped her, and flipped her onto her back.
His lips savored every part of her face, roamed around her neck and the inside of her arms, getting responses where she hadn’t known it was possible, branding her, making her his own. He whispered tantalizing, suggestive words in her ears. “When I get inside you, I am going to show you who you are and who I am.”
His words sent sparks flying through her body, stirring up the hot coals of desire, singeing her nerve ends.
“Yes, yes,” she replied, eager for whatever he would give her. She tugged at his hand, but he wouldn’t be led, and slowly his lips brushed lightly over her breasts until she thought she would die if he didn’t take her nipple into his mouth. Her body began its demands, and she clasped his head in her hands and led him to her left breast.
“Tell me what you want, what you need.”
“I’ll go crazy if you don’t kiss me.”
While he suckled one, his right hand toyed with the other, and she though she’d incinerate when his left hand began a slow, teasing journey to the seat of her passion. She couldn’t restrain her cry when at last he touched her, and his magic fingers began their dance of love.
“Duncan, please. I can’t stand it.”
But he suckled with increased vigor while he worked his witchery at her pleasure seat. He took his lips from her breast and kissed her waist, her belly, moving his lips downward at a slow, tormenting pace, until he reached his goal and wrung from her the essence of her being. Screams of ecstasy tore from her throat, yet the squeezing and pumping would not end. He intensified it, commanding her to give all. And she gave until he stripped her of every emotion but her love for him. Exhausted, she fell back on the pillow.
“Do you still love me?”
She looked up to the man who loomed over her and could have truthfully answered, “until I die.” Instead she breathed his name softly, “Yes. Yes, I love you. If I believed it was so ephemeral, thoughts of the future would be less painful.”
“And are they…?”
She put two fingers on his mouth. “Shhhh…Something for you.” Her lips found his pectorals, and she teased until she felt his tremors. She let her hands skim lightly over his flat belly and his thighs and then she touched him and found him ready. She glanced up at him and saw desire and, yes, adoration shining in his eyes. She took him in her hand, caressed his length, and would have stroked him, but he shook his head and she guided him to her portal of love. He would not enter but stayed there teasing, stroking, and heating her blood. When she could no longer tolerate it, she raised her body, clasped his hips, and urged his entry. He filled her slowly, firing up the delicate nerves of her lover’s tunnel. When he began the dance, slowly, locked in her arms and legs, she caught his rhythm and swung her hips to his beat. Almost at once, heat flushed the bottom of her feet, skittered up her body, and concentrated at her feminine center. She couldn’t breathe.
“Give yourself to me, love. Come on. Fly with me.”
“Darling, it’s…it’s almost unbearable.”
He thrust higher and harder. “You are mine. Mine, Justine. Do you hear me?”
“Yes, yes. Yes, I’m yours.” The waves reeled faster, and the squeezing and clutching would be the death of her.
“Duncan.”
“I’m with you, love.”
He clasped her to him, wrung the last bit of passion from her, and let himself go as he erupted like a long dormant and violent volcano into the only woman he would ever want. Shaken by the force of what he felt for her, and acknowledging at last all that she was to him, he gathered her to him, closed his eyes, and looked at his troubled future.
He awakened later that morning to find her sleeping on her belly with one leg thrown across him and her head on his shoulder. She had turned his life around. He wanted to love her again, but he had done that time after time until four o’clock, and he didn’t want to make her sore nor, heaven forbid, to make her tired of him. What a woman! She fitted him the way his leather gloves fitted his fingers. He didn’t know where they were going, but he hoped they had the same destination. He expelled a deep breath. A smart man wouldn’t bet heavily on their getting together, not with her secrets and her insistence on keeping them to herself.
He kissed her until she opened her eyes. “It’s getting near to eight o’clock, honey, and I have to get back to Baltimore. I’ll be home tonight—unless something unexpected happens.”
She sat up, clutching the sheet to her breast, and looked at him. Rays of recognition floated over her countenance and she covered her face with both hands and, in the process, dropped the sheet.
“Don’t tell me you’re shy.” When she buried her face in his chest, he asked her, “What’s the problem? Did you discover something about yourself that you didn’t know?”
She moved away from him. “Did I ever! And a lot about you, too.”
He poked his tongue in the right side of his jaw. “You and me, both. Try not to engage in any guilt-producing foolishness while I’m gone. Okay?”
She nodded. “And take your own advice.”
He had to taste her before he left there, so he leaned over and brushed her lips. Immediately, her nipples became erect, and awareness slammed into him. “You feel like that?”
She lowered her lashes and grinned, flirting with him. “You may say I’m a quick study. You’ve taught me that I get the goodies as soon as you know I’m ready for them. If you have to leave, go on. I’ll be here when you get home.”
A quick kiss and he put his feet on the floor. It was a night that he would remember for the rest of his life. After dressing, he checked on Tonya, whom he found playing with her rubber alphabets and musical notes, and sat down to a breakfast of coffee, biscuits, jam, and scrambled eggs.
“I though you wasn’t coming home last night, Mr. B, and I didn’t leave you no supper”
“I ate in Baltimore, Mattie, and I got here late.”
She stood at the table holding a spatula in one hand and tugging on her canary-yellow wig with the other one. “Mr. B, me and my Moe found a house over on Columbia Road that we can afford, and I’m axin if I can borrow a little on my salary.”
“How much do you need?”
She hung her head. “A lot. We short of ten thousand for the down payment.”
“Tell you what. I’ll loan you half of that and you can have the other half as a house-warming present. How’s that?”
Her eyes widened, and she treated him to her best Bugs Bunny grin. “Lord, Mr. B, the Lord is shore gonna bless you this very day. You hear? And I shore do thank you.”
“Just let me know when you need it.”
Her grin spread wide. “Any day this week, sir. And I shore do thank you.”
He wrote her a check and, remembering that he had to handle Justine with care, started back up the stairs to tell her good-bye. She met him halfway with Tonya in her arms.
“When did you start wearing glasses?”
“Ages ago. Sometimes I wear contacts.”
He kissed them both and headed for Baltimore.
He parked his car and went to find Cap. If Grace’s information was accurate, he’d get the lead he’d been looking for. He entered the dingy little bar and grill shortly after eleven that morning. Cap sat at the bar with his back to the room, but that didn’t fool Duncan; the man could see the entire room in the mirror facing him.
Cap proved to be surly and threatening. “Why do you think you’re entitled to interfere with me when I’m having my beer? People have been put to sleep for less.”
Duncan was on alert. Someone had tipped off the man. A slap on his b
reast pocket turned on his recorder. “Sorry, man. I was told you might have some information, and that if you said it, it was good as gold. No offense meant.”
Cap put down his beer. “Good as gold, huh? Whatta you after?”
Duncan took an uneasy look at the tattered seat beside Cap, sat down, and began talking.
“All right,” Cap said, after a few swallows of his beer. “These owners are covered. Well, most of them are. Go after the managers. They are crooks, and they’ll squeal to save their hides.”
How far could he trust a man who’d change his demeanor for a few words of praise? An ego that needed stroking. He’d take the chance. “Ever hear of a man named Pickford?”
“Yeah. Get him, and I hope you nail the bastard. My sister died in one of his fire traps. Not a sprinkler in the place. Buddy Kilgore fronts for him. You can catch him down at CafeAhNay every evening at seven-thirty.”
Duncan stood. “Thanks, man. I’ll do my best to get justice for your sister.”
“All right. Keep a low profile.”
Duncan thanked him and left. He went first to his office in the Roundtree Building, called Justine, and told her he’d be late getting home, if at all. Seven-thirty found him at his regular booth in CafeAhNay.
“He’ll be in any minute,” Lottie told Duncan.
Kilgore arrived at his scheduled time, took a seat at a center table and, after turning on his recorder, Duncan joined him. An hour later, he had his story. He left the cafe and decided to make good use of the clear, crisp moonlit night by walking the streets in search of background material for his report. Long after midnight, he let himself into Wayne’s apartment.
The next morning, Lottie called him at his Maryland Journal office. “I just wanted to make sure you knew Buddy Kilgore plays the horses. Cap was in here after you left. He said he made some inquiries today, and that Buddy gambles away a lot of the rents he gets from Pickford’s buildings and tells Pickford he spends it on maintenance. He said Kilgore doctors his accounts.”
“Can’t Hugh Pickford see how those buildings are kept?”
“No, he lives in Florida. Be sure and check out your story before you put it in the paper.”
He spent the remainder of the day in the city government offices checking the information he’d gotten from Wilma, Cap, and Lottie. While he weighed his evidence during the next few days, the Baltimore County Attorney General indicted Hugh Pickford for the condition of his rental property, and brought more than a dozen charges. Duncan put his article aside, and went to the trial.
“I’m not going to think about where this thing between Duncan and me is headed,” Justine promised herself, while she tried to feed Tonya. Duncan had stayed in Baltimore the previous night, though he’d called twice. Each time, what he didn’t say blasted itself to her through the wires, like a ship’s horn in a heavy fog. Knowing that he loved her wasn’t much comfort as long as he couldn’t bring himself to say it. And she didn’t want him to say it, because she’d have to tell all. She looked closely at Tonya.
“Mattie, come here, please.”
Mattie stepped into the dining room with a purple bandanna tied around her head. “I couldn’t find the key to my closet this morning, and the only wig on my dresser was a blue one,” she explained, when she noticed Justine staring at her head. “I knew when I woke up that this wasn’t no blue day. What you want me for?”
“Tonya isn’t eating. She ate almost nothing for dinner. It isn’t like her, and she’s listless.”
“She don’t have no fever?”
Justine got a thermometer and took Tonya’s temperature. “No. I can’t imagine what’s wrong with her.”
Mattie offered Tonya orange juice, but she wouldn’t drink it. “Better call Mr. B. This child loves orange juice.”
“I can’t. he’s in court, so his cell phone wouldn’t be turned on. I’m taking her to the pediatrician.”
“But Mr. B said we wasn’t to take her out ’less he was here.”
“Then you come with me. I’m taking her to the doctor as soon as I get her dressed.”
Mattie seemed uncertain. “Well…I don’t know.” Her face lit up as though she had seen a heavenly vision. “I know what. My Moe will go with us. He don’t leave for work ’til twelve-thirty.”
“Then call him,” Justine threw over her shoulder as she carried Tonya upstairs.
Justine wasn’t prepared for Moe. No one who knew Mattie would have been. She thought she might be hallucinating when the six foot, four inch robust man walked into the foyer. Her gaze shifted to Mattie, who didn’t stand more than five feet tall in her low heel shoes.
“Glad to meet you, ma’am,” he said, when she greeted him. “My Mattie has your name on her lips with just about every other word. She says you’re a real classy lady.”
Justine stared at him. He was tastefully dressed and spoke perfect English. She told herself to say something. “I’m so glad to meet you at last, Moe, and I appreciate your helping us out.”
“Pleasure’s mine.”
Mattie beamed. “Ain’t he just somethin’? People is so surprised when I introduce them to my Moe. Well, let’s be going.”
The doctor examined Tonya and couldn’t find anything wrong, but wrote a prescription. “This will perk her up. It could be a virus. She’ll be her old self in no time.”
Justine thanked her and asked Moe if he would get her mail from the post office box. He did that, got Tonya’s prescription filled, and saw them safely home.
The phone rang as Justine entered the foyer. Duncan’s voice came over the answering machine, and she raced to the phone.
“Hello.”
“Justine. Where were you? I’ve been calling non stop for the last hour and a half. I was ready to go home”
She told him what had happened. “Tonya may have a virus.”
“I hope that’s all it is. I have to call Moe tonight and thank him. That was good thinking on Mattie’s part. I’ll phone you every hour, since you can’t call me while I’m in court.”
“Do you think that’s necessary? I’ll take good care of her, Duncan.”
“I know that, but I also have to know how she is. Don’t worry, though. She’ll be fine.”
Justine knew he was reassuring himself. Tonya was his heart. She gave the child a dose of medicine and put her to bed. Tonya’s smiles and happy hand clapping filled her heart with joy when she went in the room later to feed her.
“Panno, Juju. Pay panno.”
Justine hugged Tonya, dressed and fed her, and took her down to the basement.
“What do you want me to play?” she asked her.
“Pay Towpan.”
Justine couldn’t restrain the laughter that poured out of her, releasing her fear. “Chopin. SHO PAN, darling.”
“Tow pan, Juju.”
She played a sonata and couldn’t believe it when Tonya watched her hands intently and didn’t move or say a word. Duncan’s call interrupted what she was certain would have been an afternoon at the piano.
“That’s Daddy calling.” She picked up the receiver and held Tonya in her left arm. “Hello.”
“Is everything all right?”
“She is fine now. Tonya, say hello to Daddy.” She put the phone where the child could speak into it. “Daddy. Daddy. Daddy.”
“Thanks Justine. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to my child.”
They talked for a few minutes, and as soon as she hung up, the phone rang again. She answered it automatically without waiting to hear the caller over the answering machine.
“Hello.”
“Is Pops there?”
“You must have the wrong number.”
“No, ma’am, I don’t.” He described Duncan. “I need to talk to him real quick. My brother, my half-brother that is, fell off the stairs, and he’s hurt. Pops tells us that if anything happens to us or if we get into trouble, we have to call him. I need for my brother to go to a decent hospital.”
“He
can’t be reached for the next hour. I—”
“That’s too long, lady, he could die.”
She sat down with Tonya in her lap. “What’s your name?”
“Mitch, and my brother’s named Rags.”
“Tell me where you are and I’ll get an ambulance over there.”
“Capitol View, and I ain’t got no money for no ambulance.”
“All right, Mitch. Calm down. Give me your address. I’ll call the ambulance and pay in advance with my credit card, and I’ll send your brother to the George Washington Medical Center. What’s his full name?” He told her his brother’s name and address. “Wait for the ambulance. I’m putting him in semi-private. Okay?”
“Yes ma’am. What’s your name, ma’am?”
“Justine.”
“Thanks, Justine. I owe you, and I always pay.”
“You are welcome. Call me as soon as Rags is checked into the hospital.”
She called the hospital and the ambulance. Capitol View. Misery personified. The boy couldn’t be more than sixteen or seventeen. So that’s where Duncan went at night. A Good Samaritan. The more she learned about him the dearer he became.
Duncan knew Justine could take care of his child and his home, as well as he could, but he didn’t want her there alone. If she had to take Tonya to the hospital at night, she’d be a sitting duck for that stalker, and he had no idea what time that trial would recess. He called his sister.
“Banks.”
Would she never learn? “Leah, this is Duncan.” He told her about Tonya’s illness and of his concern for Justine’s well-being. “I can’t get away from here, and I’d feel better if you’d stay with them tonight.”
“Okay. Not to worry. I’ll get there by six-thirty. How’s it going?”
“It’s been a long time since I sat in court, and I’d forgotten how boring all these tedious questions can be. Other than that, fine.”
“Uh…Duncan, Wayne asked me to go fishing with him next weekend. Maybe you can take Justine to the Kennedy Center honors awards instead of me. Huh?”
“I can ask her. Are you certain you want to go fishing with Wayne?”
Fools Rush In Page 26
