Nan Ryan (40 page)

He said, “Time I take you to magic waters, wash smug smile off pretty white face.”

Still laughing, Diane shook her head about, her long, tangled hair swishing around her face and shoulders. “Un —unless you—you plan to—to”—she could hardly speak for giggling—“to … wash my mouth … out with soap”—she drew a strangled breath, wiped at the tears in her eyes—“I don’t think—think you can make me stop laughing.”

“Show you I can,” he said, promptly tossing her over his shoulder, wrapping a long arm around her thighs, and heading for the bath with her screaming and struggling and kicking.

And laughing.

Star was right. Diane’s riotous laughter soon turned to long sighs of quiet contentment as he tenderly kissed her, their lips melded in a soft, liquid movement of unhurried exploration.

They sat in a huge square tub of gleaming black marble with silver fixtures which was filled to the brim with thick, rich suds and hot, steamy water. The giant tub rested along a high-ceilinged wall fashioned entirely of the same black Carrara marble. Directly across the plushly carpeted bath from the black marble tub was a wall of glass, just like the one in the bedroom. A third wall, adjacent to the tub, was solid mirror from floor to ceiling. The fourth was row upon row of black walnut drawers with silver handles, in the center of which was a door leading into a dressing room.

When he’d kissed her into silent submission and total relaxation, Star deftly turned Diane around to sit comfortably between his spread knees. He tied her heavy hair up off her neck with a white leather string, then positioned her so that her back rested against his chest, her head on his left shoulder.

All traces of laughter were gone.

But Diane was smiling foolishly, her eyes closed, as she sat there luxuriating in the steamy chin-deep suds with Star. Sighing softly, she opened her eyes. Through the wall of glass she watched as a chill north wind blew clouds across the Nevada moon. It was magical. Like a wonderful dream from which she never wanted to awaken. Such great fun to be gloriously naked and comfortably warm and at the same time feel as if she were outside in the elements.

“Star?” she said lazily.

His head resting against the tub’s padded headrest, Star murmured without opening his eyes, “Yes, sweetheart.”

“I like all this glass, but aren’t you afraid someone might see us?”

Star’s hooded eyes came open. His dark head came up off the tub’s rim. He lowered his lips to Diane’s slippery shoulder, kissed it, and said, “Sweetheart, this is private property. I own it. Everyone knows I own it. There’s not a man in the state of Nevada—white or Indian—who’d be foolish enough to ride onto this property unless he came up the front drive.” He turned his face in, brushed his open lips to the side of her neck. “Relax, my love. Our privacy is assured here.”

“Our privacy is assured here.” Diane softly repeated his statement, liking the sound of it, liking the thought of it. Liking the feel of Star’s warm mouth on her wet flesh.

It suddenly dawned on Diane that no one knew where they were.They were naked together in Star’s black marble tub at his remote mountain mansion in Nevada and nobody knew it. Nobody! They were safe and alone in their own little private world. How exciting! How grand it would be if they could remain here in sweet seclusion for eternity. Or for at least a few precious days before they contacted anyone.

“Star,” she murmured, her hand coming up to tangle in his silver-streaked black hair at his temple. “We do have total privacy here, don’t we?”

“Absolute. No one knows we’re here,” he said, echoing her thoughts. He slowly raised his head. “We’re all alone. Just you and me.”

Diane turned to look up at him. “Do you know what I’m thinking?” She let her head fall back against his wet shoulder.

“Yes,” he said, “but we can’t. Tomorrow we are taking the train to meet your family in—”

“Star, let’s don’t.” Interrupting, Diane raised a hand to his chest, trailed her fingers down its center. “Let’s stay here.”

She turned the rest of the way around to face him, shooting a long, slender leg across his body and bringing it down to sit astride him.

“Sweetheart, we can’t. We have to catch that train to San Francisco.”

“Why?” She slid her hands around his ribs. “Who’ll know the difference?”

Star drew a long breath and gently cupped her face in his hands. All his love in his eyes, he said softly, “Diane, I love you. I want to marry you.”

“I want the same thing, Star, but for now I just want to be alone here with you, without the world intruding.”

“God, honey, if I had my way, I’d keep you locked up here with me forever. But be sensible.” His thumb rubbed back and forth over her soft lips. “I’ll have a hard enough time getting your grandfather’s permission to marry you.”

“I don’t need the Colonel’s consent,” Diane quickly informed him.

“But I do.” said Star. “And you do, too, sweetheart. You love me, but if marrying me meant never seeing your grandparents again, you would never be happy as my wife. And I’d be unhappy because you were unhappy.” He sighed wearily, closed his eyes, opened them. “Jesus, Diane, don’t forget, I kidnapped you. I’m guilty of a very serious crime and one for which I’m sure your grandfather would like to see me hanged.”

“The Colonel is guilty of the same crime, darling,” Diane reminded him. “You were kidnapped. In chains, dragged down out of the mountains and thrown into a cage.”

“Ah, Diane, that was different. Besides, the old Colonel didn’t do it. He wasn’t—”

“My grandfather is responsible,” Diane stated emphatically. “It was the Colonel’s show, his employees who brought you in, his decision to hold you against your will.” She ran a hand up over Star’s slippery chest. “My grandfather did you a terrible wrong, but I love him, so I’ll forgive him.” She paused, looked into his navy eyes. “And you will forgive him, too, because you love me. Won’t you?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Well, he’ll forgive you for the same reason. He loves me.” She flashed Star a brilliant smile and added, “In time he’ll learn that you’re actually a kind and caring man. You’ll learn the same thing about him.” She leaned forward, kissed the hard, flat muscles of his chest.

“Maybe you’re right,” Star said when she raised her head.

“I am. I know I am.” Her lovely smile was disarming. “So can we please wait awhile before we go to San Francisco?”

Captivated by her smile, Star asked, “How long?”

“A week!”

He shook his head. “Three days at most.”

“Five,” she anxiously protested.

“Four. And that’s my final offer.”

Diane flung her arms around his neck. “Oh, thank you, Star, thank you.” She tipped her head back, closed her eyes, and murmured, “Four whole days! Four wonderful days alone here. Four fabulous days with no one on earth knowing where we are—a lovers’ holiday.”

The idea was as appealing to Star as it was to Diane. He wrapped a hand around the back of her neck, leaned forward, and kissed her. Diane’s lips immediately softened, opened. She felt his tongue probing. He drew her closer. She felt his heart beat against hers. She felt his lean frame shudder.

And soon she felt his body changing as his kisses, gentle at first, became more demanding. Her hands slid up to play along the back of his neck. His strong fingertips found the small of her back, pressed her closer. So close she could feel his growing erection pulsing and pressing against the ultra-sensitive flesh between her open legs.

Star reluctantly tore his heated lips from hers. He could tell that Diane was growing aroused, just as he was. He loved to watch her face, the suggestion of sensuality that was always there now heightened by her response to him. The lovely violet eyes had deepened to purple beneath the long, lowering lashes. The earthy, kissable mouth was glistening, the lips full and half parted. Her breathing had changed. It was shallow, short.

Diane
had
become aroused. So aroused she was already wondering if it was possible to make love seated in a tubful of sudsy water. She was also torn. Torn between the desire to close her eyes and keep them tightly closed as if to shut out the rest of the world forever and the desire to open them wide and enjoy these precious moments in this private paradise where the most exciting man she’d ever known was naked and throbbing against her.

In a gesture of sexual intimacy Diane dipped her hands under the water’s warm, soapy surface and timidly wrapped them around Star’s fully formed erection. Surprised but pleased, he reciprocated, his hands moving under the water, intimately caressing the insides of Diane’s pale thighs.

“Sweetheart,” he said, swallowing with difficulty, “do you know what you’re doing to me?”

“No. Yes. I mean, I’m not totally sure,” she admitted frankly. “But I’m curious. Do you mind?”

He shook his head and gritted his teeth when the fingers of her right hand slid slowly, searchingly up to toy with the velvet-smooth head of his throbbing tumescence. Appealingly curious, Diane explored and stroked and acquainted herself with his fascinating male body. She raised her eyes to his face and watched him. His hooded eyes were half closed, and his dark face flushed with heat as her fingertips gently examined the awesome hardness jerking involuntarily from her touch.

“Star, darling?”

“Hmm?” was all he could manage. A vein throbbed on his forehead, and his heart thundered in his chest.

“Is it possible—I can’t help wondering—to make love while we’re in the water?”

His voice flat but strained, Star said, “Jesus, baby, you have the answer right there in your hands.”

“Yes, I guess I do.” Then, almost shyly: “Star, will you please make love to me here in your marble tub?”

“If you insist,” was his low, clipped answer before he took her fully in his arms.

Diane learned it certainly was possible to make love in the water, and it was quite pleasurable as well. But not half so pleasurable as when, her body a part of his, Star rose to his feet and climbed out of the marble tub. Dripping water and soap suds, he fell to his knees on the plush beige carpet and carefully laid her on her back, following her down.

The lovemaking continued uninterrupted. This was a truly passionate love affair, and both knew that in the other they had finally met their match.

Her eyes opening and closing in erotic pleasure, Diane was rewarded with visual impressions to match the incredible physical sensations.

Outside the gleaming glass wall was a magical wilderness wonderland shimmering in the silvery moonlight. And in the mirrored wall a darkly handsome man making passionate, beautiful love to an eagerly receptive woman who looked remarkably like herself.

The experience was unbelievable.

She was watching the naked pair making uninhibited love in the wild outdoors. At the same time she was warm and comfortable and very much a participant in the intimate act.

In perfect symmetry the pair of lovers in the mirror and the couple making love outdoors moved together, sighed together, even climaxed at exactly the same moment as Star and Diane. But Diane never noticed.

Her purple eyes were tightly closed as she writhed in the deep, shattering throes of ecstasy.

Chapter 37

Golden days.

Silver nights.

Total perfection.

A brief magical interlude of absolute bliss stolen out of time and place.

Pagans in their own private paradise. Hot-blooded lovers surrendering to desire at any hour of the day or night. Innocent children playing and laughing together. Good friends holding hands and talking quietly at twilight. Close companions, comfortable in their silences, enjoying the peaceful solitude.

They were all these things, Diane and Star, in the following four lovely days, changing roles like a couple of chameleons.

On their very first morning in the mansion Diane awakened at dawn despite the fact that she’d slept for little more than an hour. She stretched lazily, sighed softly, and turned her head to look at the slumbering Star.

Her bare stomach did an immediate flip-flop. Her face pinkened at the vivid recollection of the previous night’s wildly ardent lovemaking. Blushing, she squeezed her eyes tightly shut while her full lips curved into an embarrassed smile.

Too happy and excited to attempt falling back to sleep, Diane again opened her eyes. She considered waking Star. She didn’t do it. This handsome, gentle man she dearly loved was tired. She’d let him rest. For a while at least.

Very slowly, very carefully Diane disengaged herself from Star’s long, imprisoning arms. An inch at a time she scooted over to the huge bed’s edge and cautiously sat up.

She rose silently and looked about for something to wear. She spotted—tossed over the back of a chair—the blue collarless pullover shirt that Star had worn on the train. Diane stole quietly across the room, picked up the shirt, and poked her head through the neck opening. She shoved her arms up into the sleeves and pulled the blue shirt down over her body to cover her nakedness. The long-tailed shirt concealed her bare breasts and bottom, but left her pale thighs and long legs uncovered.

A silver-framed door of glass with a gleaming silver knob at one end of the glass wall opened onto an outside balcony fashioned of cedar planks. Diane looked one last time at the sleeping Star, smiled, and slipped out onto the balcony. Barefoot, she crossed the broad cedar gallery to stand at the waist-high railing. Mindless of the early-morning chill, she gripped the smooth rail and stood taking in the marvelous view.