Crimson and Clover (27 page)

Katie couldn’t repress a giggle. “Superman?”

“Oh, yes. Able to leap tall buildings and all of that.” He grinned and kissed the tip of her nose. “And I could tie you up while I have my way with you, but then you couldn’t touch me. And I do love it when you touch me.” A fire kindled in his eyes for a moment before they became serious again. “The truth of it is, I don’t want you too submissive.”

“
Too
submissive?”

One finger smoothed her eyebrows as his gaze touched every part of her face. “I do like holding you down, you know. Of course, sometimes it’s necessary, the way you thrash around. Don’t want to get a knee to my face.” He grinned at the blush that burned her cheeks. “And I think you like it, too. I think you like it when I keep you immobile while I drive you mad, doing whatever I want with my mouth and my hands. When I let you go, you tend to go a little wild on me. Katie, Katie … ” He brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. “Your face is likely to burst into flame if it gets any redder.”

Katie cleared her throat and tried to banish the heat she felt in her face. She knew she’d been unsuccessful when she felt her ears grow hot. “Well, yes; I do like it when you … do that.”

“I can tell,” he whispered. “But I don’t want you silent and helpless. I want your touch, your voice, your demands.”

“Demands?” Her brow furrowed. “What demands?”

He propped his head on his hand and smiled. “Oh, like, ‘More, Jay.’ And ‘Harder, Jay.’ And ‘don’t stop, Jay.’” He laughed under his breath at her look of astonishment. “You don’t even know you’re saying it, do you?”

For a moment Katie thought her face
had
burst into flame. She opened and closed her mouth a time or two, but couldn’t find anything to say.

Jay slid his fingers through her hair and kissed her forehead. “No, I love you just the way you are, and I don’t want to change anything about what we have together. Except … ”

At the abrupt change of his tone from tender to solemn, her eyes stuttered to his face. He wore a look of profound surprise, and she touched his cheek, curious. “Except what?”

He blinked and started to smile, a smile filled with such happiness that Katie’s heart skipped a beat. “Except that I want to marry you.”

If she had been speechless before, it was nothing compared to her lack of words at his pronouncement. It was as if she’d forgotten how to speak, every word she’d ever known erased from her mind, and she could only gape up at him with wide eyes.

His shoulders shook with a silent laugh. “Aren’t you going to say anything?” The question was phrased lightly, but Katie saw a flicker of uncertainty cross his face and forced her frozen synapses to fire so she could wipe that doubt from his mind.

“How about … ” She cleared her throat. “I’m going to marry the hell out of you, Jay Carey.” She grinned at his nonplussed expression. “Does that work? Or how about, ‘More, Jay. Harder, Jay. Don’t stop, Jay.’” She pushed him to his back and rolled on top of him. “Or maybe, Yes, Jay. Yes, yes, yes. I love you, Jay. How’s that?”

He cupped her face in his hands and pulled her down. “Don’t stop, Katie,” he whispered against her lips. “Don’t ever stop.”

Katie peered with fascination at the warm, sweet-smelling bundle Maureen had just placed in her arms. Lindsay Majors gazed up at her from his nest of blankets, looking as if he knew exactly who she was and what she was thinking. “Far out! He looks like he’s reading my mind.”

“So does she,” said Jay, smiling at his own bundle containing Lindsay’s twin sister Miranda.

The click and flash of a camera startled Katie. Nicky lowered the camera and grinned. “Both of you have the most extraordinary looks on your faces. Couldn’t resist.”

Katie wrinkled her nose at him and turned to Jay seated next to her on the sofa. “Let me see yours.”

Jay shifted Miranda with an ease and lack of nervousness Katie envied. He pushed the pink blanket back, revealing the interested gaze of the baby. “That’s your Auntie Kate.”

The term caused Katie to jump and clutch the baby she held tighter, bringing a squawk of protest from Lindsay. “Oh, man, I’m sorry. Did I scare you?” With alarm, she saw Lindsay’s face turning red as he began to huff and wriggle. An enraged cry informed all present that he was not happy with the current turn of events.

“Let me take him.” Jay settled Miranda in the crook of one arm and held the other out to Katie.

With the care of one handling an armed bomb, she handed Lindsay to him. She shook her head in amazement when the baby’s cries ceased as if someone had turned off a switch. “How’d you do that?”

Jay looked smug. “He knows I won’t put up with it. His sister’s gone to sleep, though.”

Katie held out her arms. “Let me have her. I seem to do better with them when they’re unconscious.”

Miranda’s tiny body rested with complete trust in her arms and Katie snuggled her close. She still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that the huge swell of Maureen’s belly had produced two living, breathing little individuals. Smiling, she bent her head and placed a soft kiss on Miranda’s forehead at the spot where soft, dark hair whorled up from a tiny cowlick.

“You are just perfect,” she breathed.

A giggle from Maureen made her look up in curiosity.

“Did you hear what you just said?” Maureen grinned. “You said ‘puh-fect.’ I think we’re finally starting to rub off on you.”

“She’s the wife of a British subject now.” Jay’s free arm hugged Katie’s shoulders. “It’s only right that she’s beginning to speak properly.”

Ignoring the tongue Katie stuck out at them, Maureen sighed. “I do wish you two would consider having another wedding so I could be there. I mean, really; getting married in Tupelo, Mississippi with some strangers pulled off the street for witnesses? I was counting on standing up with you, the way you did for us.”

“Hey, you don’t know the trouble I had convincing Jay we couldn’t get married at the Crossroads at midnight.” Katie cast a sideways glance at Jay, a soft smile of memory curving her lips.

“I still don’t know why we couldn’t.” Jay cocked an eyebrow at her. “That man at the catfish place said he was ordained to perform marriages.”

“Yeah, but I was afraid he wouldn’t be the only person — or thing — who’d show up to officiate.” Katie shuddered. “Y’all, it was spooky out there, especially with Jay standing in the middle of the road with his arms spread out like he was summoning something.”

Nicky snickered. “Nothing showed up, did it?”

“Nah,” Jay snorted. “I told you I was already a better guitar player than the devil. He just didn’t want me to show him up.”

A little sigh from Miranda directed Katie’s attention back to the bundle in her arms. “Your uncle Jay,” she informed the baby, “is a stubborn man. Beware of stubborn men because they’ll sweep you off your feet, take you to spooky places and make you think you like it.”

Maureen uttered a little moan of discomfort as she shifted position in her chair. Nicky glanced at her with concern. “Can I get you something, love?”

“No.” Maureen’s tone was curt and Katie repressed a sigh.

Though Maureen hadn’t gone into too much detail, Katie knew her friends had had a blazing row when Nicky returned from the States. The last trimester of the pregnancy had left Maureen irritable and bloated, her willowy figure all but obscured by a sudden weight gain and her mercurial temper exacerbated by hormone swings. When Nicky showed up looking healthy and fit, Maureen had snapped and thrown the rumors of his infidelity in his face. He had responded with typical male defiance, and even the birth of the twins hadn’t eased the strain between them.

Katie took note of Nicky’s lowering brow and the tightening of his mouth and decided retreat was in order.

“Maur, do you want the babies in the bassinette or in the crib?” She rose to her feet, careful not to jostle Miranda.

“The bassinette’s fine.” Maureen moved to get up and take Miranda, but Nicky got there first.

“Here, I’ll take her,” he murmured, and lifted the baby from Katie’s arms. Over his shoulder, Katie saw Maureen shoot him a black look as if he’d committed a major crime.

It was clear Jay had seen it, too; the speed from which he rose from the couch made it obvious he was anxious to leave before the fireworks began.

“Here, then.” He spoke to the top of the baby’s head. “I’ll just put you down with your sister and we’ll be off.”

While the two men tended to the babies, Katie knelt next to Maureen and took her hand. “Can I get you anything?”

Biting her lip, Maureen shook her head. “I’m fine.”

Katie glanced over at the bassinette. “He’s trying, Maur.”

“Mm. And they leave again in three weeks, you know.”

Silent, Katie squeezed her friend’s hand.

“Does it make a difference now you’re married?” Maureen’s voice was almost a whisper.

“Maybe.” Katie swallowed. “It’s … a new perspective, for sure.”

Maureen leaned forward and dropped her voice even lower. “I’ve told him that if things don’t change, then we’re through.”

Horror-stricken, Katie stared at her. “No,” she whispered.

“Yes.” Maureen firmed her trembling lips. “I can’t bear it, Katie. I
won’t
bear it.” She glanced over at Nicky and Jay and resumed a normal speaking voice. “So you got the information about placing the clothes in some of the stores in New York, then?”

Katie cleared her throat in an attempt to dislodge the lump that had formed there. “Yeah, I got it. So when do you want to get together with Steph and discuss it?”

“Next week will be fine, I think. And we can talk about Paris and New York, too.”

Katie grimaced. “Are you sure about that? I mean, you just had twins, and … ”

“I’m sure.” Maureen’s voice was resolute. “I want MKS to be a huge success and just because I have babies doesn’t mean I’m handicapped.”

“All right, then.” With a sigh, Katie got to her feet. As she gave Nicky a good-bye hug, she had to restrain herself from shaking him and telling him to get his head out of his ass before it was too late. Remembering the desolate look in Maureen’s eyes, though, she rather thought it already was.

• • •

Shadowed Knight’s third album,
Press This
, joined its predecessors by shooting straight to the top of the charts. Their European and American tours broke attendance records, and they should have been riding high. But the success they should have enjoyed during those whirlwind six months was taking its toll.

Maureen made good on her threat to Nicky by filing for divorce while the band was in the States, refusing any offers of reconciliation from her husband. She threw herself into her clothing line, and it grew with astonishing speed. Its success seemed to mollify her, and she and Stephanie spent long hours hard at work on their designs.

Though Katie was proud of what they’d accomplished, she grew restless. The business was taking up more time than she could have imagined and she started looking for a graceful way to get out. Her resolve was furthered by Jay’s stress. The band was back in the studio and things were not going well.

“This is going to be the worst record ever made if something doesn’t give.” Jay’s voice was muffled by the pillow in which his face was buried. He’d come home from the studio, headed directly for the bedroom, and had fallen face first onto the bed. “Nicky is going to drive me right round the bend.”

Katie crawled up next to him and ran her fingers through his hair. “He’s still not any better, is he?”

“Worse,” Jay muttered. “I know this divorce came out of nowhere, but … ”

“He knew,” Katie interrupted. She nodded as Jay looked up at her in surprise. “Maureen told him before you left for Copenhagen. She told him if things didn’t change, then she was going to divorce him.”

“What things?” Jay rolled over and bunched the pillow under his head. “Did she want him to stop touring? Is that it?”

“No.” Realizing they were about to venture into dangerous territory, Katie leaned against the headboard and appeared to find the wardrobe door of extreme interest.

“Then what?” Jay sounded frustrated. “If she didn’t want him to stay home and help take care of the children, what did she want?”

Katie cleared her throat. “It was the way he behaved on tour that was the problem. The, um … the groupies.”

An uncomfortable silence fell between them, and Katie felt her ears get hot. Heart pounding, she waited for Jay to speak.

Just when she thought he wasn’t going to, he ventured a quiet “Oh.”

Katie sighed. “She just couldn’t bear knowing he was … ” Though she wanted to see the effect her words had on Jay she still couldn’t look at him and kept her gaze on the cherry-stained wardrobe. “I told her once that it was just boredom, the, um, reason why y’all … do that. That it didn’t mean anything real.”

Jay drew in a sharp breath. “You told her that?”

“Yeah.” She found it necessary to clear her throat again. “Before we were married. Now I’m not so sure.”

“No?”

Heat washed up into her cheeks. “No.” Her anger, kept on a tight leash, was straining to break loose. She clenched her fists, trying to hold it back. “I guess maybe I assumed it would be different now. When we weren’t married it didn’t seem so … I mean, I thought I could … Well, I have a new perspective now is all.”

“Actually,” he said, his voice flat, “you were right.”

Katie’s start of surprise jiggled the bed. “About what?”

“You were right on two counts. It was boredom. Then. Now it
is
different.”

“What are you telling me, Jay?” Her voice started to shake. “Are you telling me you don’t have sex with groupies anymore?”

He exhaled through his nose. “When you say ‘have sex’ it makes it sound as if there’s some sort of feeling there, like I care about them. There isn’t, and I don’t.”

“Jesus!” Katie sat up and raked her hair back with both hands. “What do you want me to call it? Fucking? Like that makes it better? Is that what makes it
different
?” She was only aware that she was still running her hands through her hair when a fingernail gouged her scalp. “I don’t understand, Jay; I really don’t. Am I not enough for you? Am I lacking in some area? Is that why you feel the need to
fuck
other women the minute we’re apart?”