Nightsong (19 page)

“I’ll lock it, Mom.” A.J.
jumped flat-footed to the floor and raced to the door, breaking the suspended silence into fragments.

“What are you doing here?” Elleny held her ground and injected a cool distance into the words.

“I left something behind and had to come back for it.”

She looked away, looked back. “If it’s taken a month for you to miss it, it couldn’t be anything important.”

“Oh, I’ve missed it since the day I left, but I thought I could get along without it. I can be kind of pigheaded at times. Or at least that’s what I’ve been told.” He stepped to the end of the counter, stopped, acted as if he was about to reach for her, but didn’t. “I guess it must be true because it’s taken this long for me to learn I can’t live without you.”

Her gaze flew to his in search of confirmation; the pulse in her throat fluttered wildly. “Am I supposed to be flattered?” she asked.

“Flattered?” A wistful smile tugged at his mouth. “No, but I did hope you’d be forgiving. I was wrong, Elleny. Not about Mark, but in the way I tried to change you. Everything I discovered about him was in complete contrast to what I was discovering about you, and I couldn’t bear to think he had ever made you happy.”

The doorknob rattled with A.J.’s unsuccessful attempts to turn the lock, and Phillip’s eyes met Elleny’s. “Maybe this isn’t the best place for this discussion.”

She looked at A.J.’s blond head bent in concentration and thought her world was finally, miraculously beginning to come together. But it was a bit too soon to ease Phillip’s conscience. “I don’t believe he’s interested in anything we say at the moment. And besides.…” She lifted her shoulder in a dismissing shrug. “Mark was A.J.’s father.”

Phillip frowned, but Elleny couldn’t decide if it was due to her remark or a reluctance to continue the conversation.

“There’s a part of me that resents that fact, Elleny. Maybe I’ll never completely get over the jealousy I feel. But I’m making progress. At least now I recognize the emotion for what it really is. I’ve been jealous of the happiness you shared with another man. I wanted to be the
only
one in your life – past, present, and future – and that was selfish. My biggest mistake, though, was in not understanding you and in not accepting that love is a reflection more of the person who gives it than of the worthiness of the one who receives it.”

She didn’t know how to reply or what to say, but Phillip took away the necessity of doing either. He narrowed the distance between them and placed his hands on her shoulders. “I’m sorry, Elleny. What else can I say?”

“
I love you
might be nice.” Sliding her hands over the tweed lapel of his suit jacket, she allowed her heart to delight in his nearness and the possibilities. Oh, the glorious possibilities! She tilted her chin to look up at him. “Are you too pigheaded to admit that?”

“I love you, Elleny. I. Love. You.” He drew her to him with an urgency that robbed her of breath and spun enchanted circles around her thoughts. His lips came to hers, claiming her with a desire born of tenderness and fired by long-denied passion. And Elleny wanted to forget that there had ever been any other moment in her life worth remembering, but there was a reminder in the sudden absence of noise in the room. She pulled away from Phillip with the utmost reluctance, pressed a fingertip caress to his mouth. “I love you, too,” she whispered. “But I think my son has developed an interest in our ... conversation.”

Phillip looked over his shoulder into judgmental blue eyes that refused to accept a plea of innocent. “Hold my place,” he said to Elleny, before moving to stoop down and share A.J.’s point of view. “Can we talk, A.J.? Just the two of us. Man-to-man.”

The boy nodded, and Phillip wondered what to say next. Under the heading of talking to children, he knew his vocabulary was sadly lacking. Inspiration dawned with necessity, and he straightened, pulled a quarter from his pocket, and knelt again. “I have a little problem here, A.J., and I think you might be able to help. You see, I’m in love with your mother, and I’d like to marry her.” Realizing he had left room for disagreement, Phillip rephrased the statement. “I’m going to marry your mother, if she agrees. I think the three of us, you and your mother and I, will be very happy. In fact, I’m sure of it. But you see, I have to ask her first, and it would be nice if you’d pretend you weren’t listening. You could sit right over there.” He indicated the carpet squares on the floor. “You could look at a book for a minute or two. Do you think you could do that?”

“Are you gonna kiss?” A.J.’s little-boy grimace showed a lack of concern for the crucial points in the man-to-man conversation, and Phillip decided to give up on diplomacy and go for out-and-out bribery.

Leaning forward, he pressed a quarter into A.J.’s hand. “Now, what do you say?”

A.J. answered with a big grin. “I can’t read.”

“Tessa should be here in a minute,” Elleny said, stepping forward to Phillip’s intense relief. “Why don’t you step out on the sidewalk and watch for her?”

The idea seemed to appeal to him, and with the quarter clutched tightly in his hand, A.J. skipped to the door and stepped into the sunshine outside, miraculously shutting the door behind him. Phillip turned to Elleny, only to find his conscience weighted by an unfamiliar, but nagging, responsibility. “Will he be all right out there?”

Elleny laughed. “He’ll be fine – for about two minutes, which is as long as he’ll stay outside anyway.”

“We’d better make our plans fast, then.”

“What plans?”

“The plans for our wedding. Didn’t you just hear A.J. tell me I could marry you if I paid him a quarter?”

“I didn’t hear him say that.”

“Your son and I have an understanding. It’s somewhere between bribery and affection at the moment, but we’re making progress.” Phillip ended the teasing in the short stride it took to reach her. “Marry me, Elleny. Let me share your life. Let me share the happiness of being with you, of loving you, of loving your son.”

“I shouldn’t make this easy for you, Phillip.” She braced her palms against his chest to allow room for discussion. “After all, you didn’t call even once during the past month. You just sent that awful letter about the painting and how it had been returned.”

“I wanted you to know that I kept my promise and that there wouldn’t be a public announcement of Mark’s connection with the theft. There might be a few rumors in certain art circles, but nothing that will affect you or A.J.”

“Thank you, Phillip. That means a lot to me. Especially because Jesse doesn’t know anything at all about the van Warner. We’ve had some pretty emotional discussions these past few weeks, and I understand him so much better now. He feels guilty because he didn’t stop Mark in the beginning. Jesse believed that his paintings were the only ones Mark ever tampered with, and he thought if
he
didn’t paint anymore that Mark would be forced to stop.”

“So Jesse’s disability was invented as the reason he couldn’t continue working?”

“Oh, no. He’s been battling arthritis for years, but he could have been getting therapy all along. When he discovered that Mark was forging and even stealing his work, the disease became his ally. He took refuge in the handy excuse it provided and didn’t have to confront Mark or his own disillusionment.”

“What a waste. Jesse has such a tremendous talent.”

Elleny nodded in agreement. “I think he’s almost convinced that it’s too late now, but the doctor told him about a clinic that sounds wonderful. He’ll get the treatment he needs, plus a good dose of motivational therapy. At the moment he’s still being stubborn, but I think it’s mostly habit.”

“We’ll have to convince him.” Phillip tightened his arms around her and pulled her closer. “Maybe telling him about our wedding plans will turn the trick.”

“You’re very sure of yourself, Phillip. Especially considering I’m still angry with you.”

His hands cupped her face as if he didn’t believe her and she slid her hands to his shoulders as if she hadn’t quite convinced herself either.

“Let me make amends,” he murmured against her lips. “Let me –”

“Mom, Tessa’s here. Bye!” The door opened to allow A.J.’s announcement.

“A.J., wait!” Elleny pulled away from Phillip. “Come in and get your jacket.”

With a definitive stomp of his foot, A.J. gave in to authority and dashed across the store. He grabbed a bright orange coat from behind the counter and started to run back to the door, but paused in obvious afterthought. Taking Elleny’s hand, he tugged her down for a goodbye kiss, and then with a great deal of hesitation, he turned toward Phillip. They eyed each other in silence, and Elleny watched, a smile teasing her lips, a loving warmth coating her heart.

After a few seconds of indecision, A.J. gave Phillip’s leg an awkward hug. Then he raced outside to Tessa. A curious expression held center stage in Phillip’s dark eyes as he moved to close – and lock – the door before returning again to Elleny.

“He hugged me,” Phillip stated in a low voice full of disbelief.

“And you didn’t even have to offer him a quarter.” Elleny laughed her delight and curved a palm to the rough-soft skin of his cheek. “You’re getting quite a family for only twenty-five cents, you know.”

A smile, half wonder, half uncertainty, appeared slowly on his lips. “I’m sure that’s only the first installment.” He broke off, struck by the realization of what she’d said. “Does that mean you are going to marry me?”

“What else can I do? After all, A.J.
hugged
you and I just happen to love you.”

“Even though I can be pigheaded and stubborn?”

“But you have such a wonderful memory.” She stood on tiptoe to whisper suggestively close to his mouth. “You remembered to lock the door. That seems like a promising start to me.”

It seemed like a wonderful place to start, and Phillip wasn’t slow to follow the invitation with a kiss that began in innocence but melted swiftly to burning awareness. She was pliant in his arms, pressing against him with a desire he matched effortlessly.

By the time Elleny led him through the curtains into the work and storage area in back, he didn’t know how he had managed to control his need for her so long. There wasn’t time to think, though, as she began pulling at his jacket while her tongue created tantalizing sensations against his lips.

Passion controlled his trembling response, but tenderness guided his hands as, item by item, he undressed her. And when her beauty was naked before him, he cherished the blush that tinted her cheeks as much as he adored the perfect curve of creamy breasts and the silken slant of tiny waist into slender hips. His love for her welled like an eternal fountain, and he gathered her close to drink his fill. But Elleny resisted, and the seductress in her took command. Her boldness surprised and delighted him and became a caressing, breathtakingly sensual baring of his body to her.

Through an agony of exquisite longings, Elleny traced her fingertips over his muscular form, touching, kissing, learning about this man she loved so deeply. His hands in intimate exploration were a source of aching pleasure and hot spiraling need. Her breasts came to the dark covering of curls on his chest with the intention of teasing, but she soon found the sensations aroused by the contact too intense to bear. She wanted to savor this beginning, and yet she couldn’t wait to possess him, to be possessed by him.

In perfect accord they sank to the couch she had placed there long before for practical reasons. But now there was only
one
practicality that slipped through her mind and then was forgotten in the strength of her heart’s commitment. Whatever the future might hold for her, she would share it with Phillip. He was her future, and she drew him down to her in sweet acceptance.

She moved in harmony with him, building the passionate chords to sweeping heights of ecstasy, experiencing a total blending of thought and emotion, of movement and desire. Elleny had never known anything so beautiful, so intensely satisfying as the love she knew at that moment. Wild and demanding. Gentle and giving. The beginning of a lifetime of beautiful moments ... with Phillip. Always with Phillip.

When the fierce urgency of passion had yielded to a comfortable contentment, she lay sheltered in his arms. The couch was narrow and offered a lovely excuse for clinging to every muscular angle of his body. She loved the feel of him, loved the way he held her, loved ... him.

“We’ll have to move, you know.” His voice was a rough vibration beneath her cheek,

She sighed ever so softly. “I know, but right now I think I could stay like this forever.”

He chuckled and adjusted their positions so he could look into her eyes and press a quick, very necessary kiss to her parted lips. “I meant move, as in changing your place of residence. My business is in Boston. My house, too. It isn’t as big as the one you live in now, but I think we can be comfortable there. There’s room for Jesse, too, if he wants to come along. And there’s a school nearby for A.J.”

“You don’t have to convince me, Phillip. I’ve moved more times than I can count. I’m willing to go anywhere with you, although I would like to come back here for occasional visits. I love Cedar Springs, but I know I’ll love Boston, too. Funny, that’s one place I’ve never even seen. It will be a new experience for me.” She teased him with a smile. “Of course, even an old couch becomes a new experience with you.”

“What about A.J.? Will he mind moving?”

Elleny braced herself against his chest with a caressing hand. “A.J. will be fine. Security depends on the people you’re with, not on the place you’re in. Everything will be wonderful, Phillip, you’ll see.”

His dark eyes met hers to pledge a lifetime of love, a world of new discoveries to make together. “I’ve never thought of myself as a family man, but now I can’t see myself any other way.”

“Isn’t it amazing what you can get for a quarter?”

“Amazing,” he agreed, and pulled her down to his arms, warmed by the soft glow of love, enchanted by the possibilities before him.

No doubt about it, Phillip decided. He was getting the best of the bargain.