Goddess of Spring (38 page)

“Your mouth is like a silken trap that has captured me,” he moaned. He thought his knees might buckle.

She drew back and met his eyes. “Do you want to be free?”

He lifted her into his arms and held her tightly against his body. “Never,” he breathed into her hair. “Never, beloved.”

She led him to her bed. While she stroked him he explored her body. The chemise was so thin that it felt like she had been wrapped in mist. He found her nipple, teasing and suckling it through the transparent material. He remembered the touches that brought her pleasure, and he did not need her to guide his hand. She responded to him as if they had been lovers for centuries.

Suddenly she sat up and pulled the chemise from her body. When he moved to take her back into his arms, she stopped him.

“What is it, beloved?”

“I want you to do something for me.”

“Anything,” he said.

“I want you to make love to me with your eyes closed. Pretend you cannot see my body.” She peered into his face as if she were searching for an answer written there. “Can you make love to me without looking at me?”

He smiled and closed his eyes. Blind, he opened his arms to her and she fell into his embrace.

Surrounded by her scent and touch, Hades existed in a world of Persephone's sensations. Without seeing her, he had to pay more attention to her small sounds and follow the flow of her hips and the movement of her body. When her breathing quickened and his name sighed from her lips he did not need to see her flushed face to know he was bringing her pleasure. In his soul he felt her need and Hades responded with caress after caress. And then he filled her body and they rocked together in an ancient rhythm that needed no sight or sound—only feelings.

 

 

LATER she nestled against him, her head resting on his shoulder. He didn't know it yet, but he had helped her to make her decision, and now that she had made it, she felt at peace. Whatever happened next, she would survive it. Nothing could ever be as terrible as the black nothingness of Tartarus. With Hades' help, she had found her way free of that ultimate nightmare, and now she must be free of all the lies remaining in her life. She wasn't willing to hide the truth from him any longer. Demeter's anger be damned, she would tell him. He deserved to know everything. He loved her soul.

“Hades, I have to tell you something.”

The god smiled. “May I keep my eyes open?”

Lina laughed softly. “Yes.”

She sat up so that she was facing him, the silk sheet wrapped around her naked body. Hades grabbed a few pillows from the disheveled bed, and propped himself comfortably against the padded headboard. He raised his dark eyebrows questioningly.

“I didn't mean to go to Tartarus. It was an accident. I was too upset to realize where I was until it was too late.”

Hades frowned. Just the thought of how close she had been to losing her soul made his stomach tighten. “I know, beloved. You don't have to explain it to me. It was my fault. If I hadn't hurt you—”

“Sssh . . .” Lina leaned forward and pressed a finger against his lips. “Let me finish.”

The god looked uncomfortable, but he remained silent.

“Tartarus was,” she shivered, “horrible. It called to me. It knew things about me—every bad thing I've ever done, or even ever thought about doing. Every mistake I've made. It caused me to lose myself. I could feel it capturing my soul. There was nothing I could do.” She took his hand and laced her fingers with his. “Then I heard you. You called me back.
Me,
Hades. The real me—the soul inside the body.”

“I had to get you back. I love you,” he said.

“And I love you, too. But you need to know more than that. I am not who you think I am. I am not—”

“Enough, Persephone!”
Demeter's voice cut through Lina's words. “Your time here is finished. You must return.”

Appalled, Hades shot from Persephone's bed. Giving no thought to his nakedness, he faced the goddess who had materialized in the middle of his beloved's chamber.

“What do you mean by this intrusion, Demeter?” he challenged. “This is not your realm. You have no right to trespass here.”

“You dally with my daughter, Lord of the Underworld, and I have come to reclaim her. I am her mother. That is all the right I need.”

“You are not my mother.” Lina enunciated the words carefully so that there could be no mistaking what she was saying. She stood next to Hades, clutching the sheet to her breasts.

Demeter sighed. “Let us not play these childish games, Daughter. Your adventure has ended. It is time you return to your own reality.”

“I know I can't stay, but I won't leave without telling him the truth. He deserves to know. He loves
me.
”

“You are being a young fool,” Demeter said.

“As you know very well, I am not young. And let me tell you once and for all, I am not a fool, either.” She faced Hades and looked into his eyes. “I'm not really Persephone. My name is Carolina Francesca Santoro, but most people call me Lina. I am a forty-three-year-old mortal woman who owns a bakery in a place called Tulsa, Oklahoma. Demeter exchanged my soul with her daughter's.” She glanced at Demeter and her mouth twisted into a sardonic smile before she looked back at the god. “She said she would help me out with a problem I was having, and in exchange I needed to do a little job for her in the Underworld.”

The god's eyes widened.

“Remember when you overheard her reminding me how immortals love? She wasn't
reminding
me, she was explaining it to me because I'm a mortal. The whole thing was new to me.”

“You are not the Goddess of Spring?”

“No, I am definitely not the Goddess of Spring,” Lina said. She was so relieved to finally be telling the truth, that she didn't notice that Hades' face had gone expressionless.

“So it has all been a lie,” Hades said.

“I wanted to tell you, but I gave my word to Demeter that I would keep my real identity a secret.” Lina tried to touch his arm, but Hades flinched away from her.

“The things you said to me . . . what we did together. It was all pretense?”

“No!” Lina felt her stomach knot as she watched Hades withdraw into himself. She reached out to him, but again he moved away from her. “I meant everything I said, everything I did. It's just this body that is a lie. Everything else has been real. I love you; that is real.”

“How can love be based on a lie?” he said coldly.

“Please don't do this,” she pleaded with him, trying to reach the man inside the god. “Don't let us part like this. We can't be together. I have to return to my own world, but let's not make hurtful words what we remember when we're apart.”

“Do not beg for his love like a common mortal, Carolina,” Demeter's voice interrupted Lina. “There is enough goddess within you that you should have more pride.”

Lina spun to face her. “You caused this! He does love me; he just feels betrayed because of your insistence on maintaining a lie. I don't blame him—how could he feel any other way right now?”

Demeter raised on arched eyebrow. “You believe he loves you, Carolina Francesca Santoro? Then let us test your belief in this immortal's love.”

With a flick of her wrist, Demeter showered Lina in golden sparks. Lina felt her body tremble and she was suddenly horribly dizzy. She closed her eyes, fighting against nausea. Then there was an odd settling feeling, like she had just stepped back into a comfortable pair of jeans. Before she opened her eyes she knew what she would see.

Across the room, the full-length mirror—the mirror she had preened in just that morning—reflected a new image. Lina's body was her own again. Gone was the lean young body of the goddess. Lina's curves were fuller, and she was older and decidedly not perfect.

“You
are
a mortal.” The god sounded strangled.

Lina shifted her gaze from the mirror to Hades. He was staring at her, his face a mask of shock and disbelief.

“Yes, I am a mortal,” she said. Squaring her shoulders she dropped the sheet, exposing all of herself to him. “And I am also the woman who loves you.”

Hades averted his face, and refused to look at her. “How could you have lied all this time?”

“And what good would the truth have done?” Demeter broke in indignantly. “You would have shunned her as you do now.” Her tone turned sarcastic. “At least you finally possessed the body of a goddess, Lord of the Dead. The irony is that you have a mortal to thank for it. No true goddess would have you.”

Hades clenched his jaw. While Demeter had been speaking his face had become very pale. When his eyes met Lina's she saw only anger and rejection reflected in their darkness.

“Leave my realm,” he commanded in a voice that raised the hair on Lina's arms.

“Come, Carolina. Your time here is finished.” Demeter moved to Lina's side and covered her with her cloak. Without another word, the Palace of Hades faded from around them.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

THE chime over the front door of Pani Del Goddess jingled merrily, letting in another stream of customers as well as a rush of cold air.

“Burr,” Anton shivered dramatically. “Oh, poo! Winter is really coming. It's just so hard on my skin.”

“The weatherman is predicting an unusually snowy season. You'd better stock up on moisturizer and get some sensible shoes,” Dolores said, pointing down at Anton's feet.

“What's wrong with these?” Anton pouted, turning his feet this way and that so that the entire bakery could admire his glossy black eel-skin, pointed-toe, mock cowboy boots with their two and a half inch heels. “Lina,” he called from across the room. “Do you think I need new shoes?”

Lina looked up from the cappuccino machine. She wanted to say that she didn't care about his shoes or the weather, or . . . but Anton's expectant expression reminded her that she had to pretend. She had to keep pretending, no matter how she really felt.

“Honey, I think your boots are perfect. But just remember, my insurance doesn't cover falls outside the bakery.”

Laughter fluttered through Pani Del Goddess. The customers grinned and placed their orders. Everyone was happy. Business was booming. In the two weeks Lina had been back, she had been amazed at the changes Persephone had made during her six months. The Goddess of Spring had truly worked magic. Her advertisement campaign had been miraculous. New customers filled the shop day and night, most of them clamoring for anything on which they could spread the incredible new ambrosia cream cheese that was offered exclusively through Pani Del Goddess. Persephone's creation had definitely been a hit. And that wasn't all that the goddess had changed. Instead of going in the direction of catering, as Lina had been thinking they should, Persephone had steered Pani Del Goddess into a whole new realm of business ventures, via the Internet. She packaged a wide variety of their specialty bread, gubana, added a small tin of ambrosia cream cheese and shipped it all over the United States. For an outrageously high price. Their new Internet service was booming. Persephone had even hired an additional full-time employee who did nothing but service their Net orders.

It amazed Lina. It had taken a goddess from an ancient world to see the potential in something as modern as the Internet. The IRS debt had been repaid threefold. Just as Demeter had promised. All was well.

And Lina was so miserable she thought she was going to die.

No, she couldn't think about dying, or death, or spirits, or the Lord of the Dead . . .

The bell over the door jingled again.

“Hello, handsome,” Anton teased.

“Hey there, Anton. Nice boots.” A deeply masculine voice said.

Anton giggled happily.

Lina ground her teeth together and readied herself, glad she had the cappuccino machine between her and him. At least he wouldn't try to kiss her hello.

“Good evening, Lina.”

“Hi, Scott.” She sighed and looked up at the gorgeous young man. He was tall and muscular. His blond hair was neatly cut and his deep blue eyes gazed down at her with open adoration. He was wearing a perfectly tailored business suit, complete with red power tie. The suit did nothing to camouflage his amazing body. Actually, the long Italian lines accentuated the young man's incredible physique. Not for the first time, Lina thought he could have been a young Apollo—if the God of Light had come to Earth as an up-and-coming Tulsa attorney.

It wasn't hard to understand why Persephone had been attracted to him. That didn't surprise Lina. What she didn't understand was why he was so obviously smitten with her in return.

“I still have those front row tickets to Aida. I thought I'd come by and see if you'd changed your mind. I really don't want to go without you,” Scott said.

“Thank you, but no. I really can't.”

“Why, Lina? I don't understand. Just two weeks ago—”

“Not here. Not now!” Lina interrupted him, mortified that the bakery had gone silent and everyone was watching their little scene while they pretended not to be.

“Then where and when, Lina? You've been avoiding me for two weeks. I deserve an explanation.”

Knowing he was right didn't make her feel any less miserable, nor did it make her decision less certain. Scott was handsome and incredibly sexy. Add to that he even seemed to be an honestly nice guy. But she didn't feel anything for him. It would have been easier if she could care for him. Losing herself in his youthful infatuation had seemed, fleetingly, like a good idea. She'd even tried going out on a date with him—once. When he touched her, she felt nothing except the empty ache within her. Scott couldn't make her forget.