“My housekeeper packed some ham and cheese and a nice bottle of wine,” he said. “Oh, and her famous oatmeal raisin cookies.”
“What, no sourdough bread?” she teased.
He reached deeper into the sack and pulled out a small boule. “Aha! Remind me to give that woman a raise.”
Lia chuckled and reached into her own bag, pulling out the two oranges. “And I brought these,” she said.
“In a different time and place I would have paid ten dollars apiece for those.”
They sat cross-legged on the blanket and dug into their meal. Lia was hungry and they fought good-naturedly over the last pieces of bread. After two glasses of wine, she lay down on the blanket, her head resting on her bag, her face tilted up toward the sun. Her eyes closed, she asked, “How did you ever find this wonderful place?”
Gus’s voice sounded soft and distant. “I’ve been exploring this area for a while now. My work keeps me in the city, but my heart is in these hills. That switch you mentioned? I feel it every time I cross the bay. Of all the places I’ve ever lived, this is where I belong.” He tapped Lia’s shoulder and pointed to a pile of stones at the far end of the clearing. “See that pile of rocks? That’s all that’s left of a retreat the Dominicans built here fifty years ago. Legend has it there was some hanky panky between one of the brothers and a local girl. Supposedly she bewitched him. They had a baby and eventually ran off together, not sure in what order. So some wise guy dubbed the place “Sinner’s Grove” and the name stuck. ’Course that kind of publicity didn’t sit well with the friars, so they put the place on the market. It’s changed hands several times since then, so when I stumbled upon it, I asked my broker to see if he could get it for me, and well, it worked out.”
A small alarm went off inside Lia’s head. She opened her eyes and turned to him. He was lying next to her, his own eyes closed. “I guess you can do just about anything with enough money,” she said tersely.
Gus’s eyes opened and he turned to her with a quizzical look. “I suppose that’s true,” he said carefully. “The seller was happy, anyway. With the proceeds he was able to move his wife and little girl back to live near her family in St. Louis.”
“Oh,” she said, feeling small for her remark. “Then I’m glad. For both of you.”
Gus got up and repacked his knapsack. “Come on, I’ve got something else to show you. How are your feet holding up?”
“My feet?”
“New boots. Always tough to break them in.”
Lia looked down and wiggled her toes. “Okay, I guess. I’ll survive.”
“Fine, then follow me.” Gus offered his hand to help her up and held on to it as he walked back into the grove and continued on through the trees. Lia had never held hands with a man before today; she found herself humming inside.
Satisfaction. It was the first word that came to mind as Gus felt Lia’s soft hand trustingly hold his. They started to descend the deer trail which soon became steep. At one point Lia stumbled and Gus quickly caught her, slipping his hand around her waist. He didn’t move it even when the path began to level out again. They passed a fork in the trail but kept going, and several minutes later they emerged onto a pristine stretch of sand, protected on two sides by towering rocks. In front of them the surf roiled, providing a perfect seascape in miniature.
“Oh I wish I could swim!” she exclaimed. She playfully slapped Gus on the chest. “Why didn’t you have me bring my sketch book?”
“Because we have to head back if we’re going to catch the last ferry,” he said, smiling. “I just wanted you to see it, is all. I hope you’ll come back many times and then you can draw as much as you like.”
“I would enjoy that very much,” she said.
Gus couldn’t help himself, he took Lia’s hand again on the hike back up to their picnic spot, and fortunately she didn’t resist. Maybe she liked it as much as he did. Once they reached the top he reluctantly let her go in order to gather his knapsack and saddle the horse. As before, he lifted her onto the horse’s back and swung up behind her. But this time he let her know how close he wanted to be by taking the reins in one hand and loosely embracing her waist with the other. He felt rather than heard her sigh and gently nudged her to lean back against his chest. The easy cadence of the horse must have relaxed her because she seemed to melt in his arms. God, he wanted this woman.
When they passed through Little Eden again, Lia sat up straighter, apparently feeling uneasy about having anyone see them so close together. Gus smiled. What a treat it was going to be to peel away her proper exterior…if she’d let him, of course.
After a moment she let out a whoosh of air. “What are you huffing about?” he asked.
“Nothing, only…you said you thought the town would grow,” she reminded him as they left the town behind. “Why?”
“Ah. Well, my gut tells me this entire area’s going to become the premier getaway place for San Franciscans. It’s back to that switch we talked about. We saw a difference today, but that’s just a taste of what it’s like in the summer. You wake up cold and foggy, and all you have to do is head across the bay and you’re in heaven. I think the land’s going to shoot up in value as people choose this place as their weekend or summer retreat. Did you notice the path that veered off to the left as we were headed back up from the cove?”
Lia nodded. “I did. Where does it lead?”
“To another estate that’s been there for quite some time. The point is, more are coming. I’d like to get ahead of the crowd, develop something that will give them the experience of this incredible country without destroying the land in the process.”
“Would you live here?” she asked.
“Eventually, yes. When you come to my house I’ll show you the preliminary plans I’ve had drawn up.” Gus lightly pressed his chin on Lia’s head. “I’m very excited about it, and I’d like to share it with you.”
Lia didn’t respond, and Gus took that as a good sign. She could have told him to go to hell, but she didn’t, right? They dropped the horse off at the blacksmith’s at Point Reyes Station and caught the last train of the day with ample time to spare. The sun was low in the sky; it was a real pretty part of the day. Gus noticed Lia looking longingly out the window and starting to reach for her sketchbook.
“We’re traveling too fast for you to catch any of it,” he said, anticipating her desire. “Sometime we’ll bring the car over on the ferry and explore places along the way that you might want to draw.”
“You would do that for me?” she asked.
“Amelia Ruth, you’ve got to know by now, I’d do just about anything for you…including buy you dinner.” He bought two sandwiches and lemonades from the food vendor walking down the aisle.
He’d made a joke out of it, but deep inside, he realized he meant every word.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
It was nearly dark by the time they boarded the ferry in Sausalito. Lia and Gus sat side by side and he put his arm around her. The gentle sway of the boat was like a lullaby and her eyes began to droop. Ever so gently, Gus pressed her head against his chest. The next thing she knew he was shaking her just as gently.
“Wake up, Lia. We’re back in the city.”
The ride home in his open car was cold, but Gus had bundled her up in two blankets this time, and put her almost-forgotten red hat back on her head. Still, she was wide awake by the time they arrived back at her bungalow. She didn’t want their time to end. Should she invite him in for coffee? Would he think her a loose woman if she did? He solved her dilemma by insisting that he come in and build up her fire. He tossed his coat on the table and knelt next to her small fireplace.
“Thank you for today,” she said quietly, standing next to him as he worked up a respectable blaze that would warm her through the night.
He rose to his full height and faced her, standing close. “Believe me, the pleasure was all mine.”
At that moment she realized how big he was compared to he
r, and yet how calm and deliberate his moves were, as if he thought she were made of china and might shatter. Somehow the thought bothered her. “I’m not quite sure what we are to each other, but…but, would you like to kiss me goodnight?”
Gus gave her a crooked smile. “Well, let’s see. Would you like me to kiss you goodnight?”
She raised her chin. “Well, I…”
“First the hat,” he said, ignoring her hesitation and moving her slowly backward. “It’s all about the hat, you know.” He pulled off her beanie and tossed the cap onto the table before taking both of his large hands and running them through her long, dark locks, spreading them about her shoulders. “Then it’s about your beautiful throat.” As if he had every right in the world, he calmly unbuttoned her jacket and removed it from her shoulders, tossing it on top of her cap. He bent his head to inhale her and nipped her just below her ear. “Then the lips,” he murmured before lowering his mouth to hers. Gently. Softly. After a moment he raised his head.
“I won’t break,” she whispered. She could hear the slightly petulant tone in her voice and wondered if he’d take offense.
She looked up to see a slow smile make its way across his face. He had backed her up to the wall. “Then you’d better hold on,” he said.
Resting one forearm on the wall beside her head and taking her waist in the other, he cocked his head and leaned in to capture her mouth. Not gently. Not softly, but powerfully, as a chieftain might claim his consort, his tongue brooking no disobedience from her. The intensity of his kiss declared passion barely leashed; it demanded an immediate response. Lia moaned and pushed her hands up the front of his shirt, half intending to push him away but changing course midstream and reaching up to twine her fingers around his neck. An explosion of feeling like nothing she had ever experienced engulfed her. She felt the hard planes of his body fit themselves to her soft curves and begin to move, giving her a taste of what he was capable of. One of his hands began its journey from her waist up to the plump underside of her breast. Her breath hitched and he took the kiss deeper, letting her know that he wanted more. So much more.
And much to her chagrin, she might have given it to him right then and there if the knock on her door hadn’t broken the spell so abruptly.
“Lia, where have you been, darling?” Sandy called as he opened the door and entered the living room. Fortunately the door blocked his immediate view of them.
Lia did push then, and Gus stepped away, running his hands through his wind-blown hair and telling her with his eyes that this was not over. “I…I was just saying my good byes to Mr. Wolff,” she said, smoothing her own hair and stepping out so that Sandy could see her.
Sandy looked from one to the other, and from his expression Lia could tell he knew exactly what was going on. Still, he was the soul of propriety. “Ah, Mr. August Wolff, is it? I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure.” He stuck out his hand and Gus shook it, nodding.
“Mr. de Kalb, I take it.”
Sandy smiled jovially. “One and the same. I just came to check on my…cousin…since I hadn’t talked to her all day.” Sandy, blast him, actually seemed to be enjoying the awkward moment his arrival had caused.
Gus looked at Lia for a moment before taking his coat from the table. “Well, it was a very productive day, Miss Starling. I look forward to showing you the space I have in mind for the mural. I’ll be in touch.” He nodded again at Sandy. “Good night, Mr. de Kalb.”
“Good night, sir.”
As soon as Gus left, Lia flopped on the couch, the adrenalin that had surged through her finally beginning to dissipate.
“Oh. My. God.” Sandy gushed, flopping down next to her. “If that isn’t the most exquisite hunk of man this side of the Rockies, I’ll eat my very expensive Bowler hat.”
Lia burst out laughing. How she loved her dear ‘cousin.’ “Well, you can’t have him,” she teased.
“Obviously, more’s the pity. Did you see the way he looked at you? Like you were the main course at his very own private banquet.”
Lia sighed, stretching her arms overhead. “Oh, it was the most wonderful day, Sandy. Gus—”
“‘Gus’, is it?”
Lia stuck her tongue out at him. “Yes, Gus took me out to a piece of land he owns across the bay near a town called Little Eden, and oh, it was magnificent. The ocean on one side and a majestic grove of redwoods on the other. He wants to develop the property as a place where people can come and experience the beauty of it.” She scrambled off the sofa to retrieve her sketchbook. “Look. These just scratch the surface. You must come out with me sometime and see for yourself.”
“Um, I have a feeling your Mr. Wolff might think three’s a crowd.”
“Oh no, this is business, really. He wants me to create a mural for his house here in town.”
“Business. Right. If you think that man has only business on his mind, darling, you are blind as a bat.”
Lia blushed. “Oh, Sandy, you know how you feel when you meet someone you sense a real connection with, and…and you’re attracted to them too? I never felt that with George. I’m almost thirty years old and I’ve never felt that with anybody…until now.”
Sandy gathered Lia into his arms and gave her a hug. “My darling girl, it’s about time.”
Lia smiled in his arms. “Yes it surely is.”
“But if he hurts you in any way…”
Lia pulled back to look at her friend. “Oh he will, Sandy. I feel it. Gus is so…well, you’ve seen him. And yet there is so much depth to him. He could have anybody he wanted. Truly.”
“And he would be damn lucky to have you.”
Lia touched Sandy’s cheek. “You are such a good, loyal friend. But I think my eyes are wide open here. Based on the women in his past, I know I won’t be in his sights for long.” She took a deep breath. “Which is why I’ve got to keep my wits about me as much as possible. I can’t let my feelings for him lead me down a dead-end road, as powerful as those feelings might turn out to be.”
Sandy looked at her with skepticism. “And just how are you going to do that?”
“I don’t know,” Lia said with a sigh. “But whatever happens, I don’t expect you to be my champion, much as I appreciate your willingness to be one. Promise me you’ll stay out of it?”
“All right,” he agreed, pursing his lips. He settled back against the sofa with his arm around her. “To tell you the truth, I don’t think I could do much damage anyway. Did you see the arms on that man? I mean, Roger’s are nicely shaped, but your Mr. Wolff’s? Like pile drivers…”
They both tittered, like schoolgirls comparing their handsome young swains.
A half hour later, Lia’s not-so-young swain was cursing a blue streak as he stood under the icy cold shower back in the master bedroom of his Nob Hill mansion. “Whoever said a cold shower cures a hard-on ought to be horsewhipped,” he muttered. “The hell with it.” He turned on the hot water spigot and heaved a sigh of relief as the marginally warmer spray sluiced water over his broad shoulders and muscled chest. He sniffed the bar of soap that Mrs. Coats had placed on the shelf in the shower stall. Some kind of piney scent. At least it didn’t smell flowery like Lia; he would have gone crazy if it had. He scrubbed his arms and legs vigorously and washed his hair for good measure. After drying off and wrapping a towel around his waist, he padded out into his private sitting room and poured himself a Jack Daniel’s neat.
Hell and damnation. He was headed for trouble and that trouble’s name was Lia Starling. He’d wanted her every minute they’d spent over in Marin, not to mention going there and coming back. And when she’d asked him to kiss her—asked him, for God’s sake—he thought he’d been given the keys to the city.
It wasn’t just her body, although his need for her was becoming harder to manage. He loved everything about her: talking to her, arguing with her, laughing with her, just being with her. Spending time with Lia showed him what an idiot he’d been so many years before. Why had he listened t
o his prick and not his head? He never should have married Mattie, who was a good woman at heart, just not the woman for him.
But he was paying the price, wasn’t he? Sure he was. Lia was all he needed, but he knew already that he couldn’t be the same for her; she was too good for that. Still, the temptation to take all he could was nearly overwhelming. It was like that time the family mule had kicked Gus hard and broke his leg. The doc said, “Don’t you walk on it for at least six weeks, son.” But would Gus listen? Hell no. He just couldn’t help himself, had to walk on it, even though it hurt like hell every time he did it, and took that much longer to heal. For a while he’d taken to drinking whiskey every night just to dull the pain.
Being with Lia was like that for him. Like a broken leg that wouldn’t mend fast enough. Like a shot of whiskey to dull the pain. Hadn’t he learned anything in the last twenty-plus years?
He finished his drink and flicked off his towel before getting into his large, empty bed. The sheets were cold and his imagination ran to what he and Lia could do together to warm them up. Unfortunately that only brought his cock back to life. Goddamn it. He turned down the lamp on his nightstand and lay there, his hands clasped behind his head. He would take control of the situation. He would. He’d keep their relationship on a professional level. He’d maintain a polite distance. She’d fulfill her commission and they’d part company. He’d move on and so would she. Hell, he was used to making things happen the way he needed them to. Putting the right plan in place had rarely failed him. He hoped to God this would be no different.
His dreams of Lia put the lie to his resolve.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Dear Miss Starling,
Unfortunately business is taking me out of town for several days, but I want you to get started on the projects we talked about. Please contact my housekeeper, Mrs. Coats, about taking a look around my home to see what walls could use some artwork. (I’ll mark the wall I’d like you to put the mural on.) Then you can start looking for some pieces for me to buy. If you need help, feel free to hire your friend Mr. de Kalb; I understand he’s a good artist too.
The Art of Love: Origins of Sinner's Grove Page 15
