Sea Swept (34 page)

“That’s Ethan.” It was a quick and lively jig, one of their parents’ favorites. The piano joined in, made him smile. “And that’s Phillip.”

“What do you play?”

“A little guitar.”

“I’d like to hear.” In a gesture of peace, she held out
a hand. He took it, drawing her closer, taking her fingers to his lips.

“You’re the one I want, Anna. You’re the one I think of.”

For now, she thought, and let him slide her into his arms. Now was all that had to matter.

A
NNA WASN’T SURE how she felt about seeing Cam frown in concentration as he tuned up a battered old Gibson guitar. It was a piece of him she hadn’t counted on.

It surprised her, pleased her, to see how smoothly, how easily the three men had slid into a song. Strong voices, she mused, quick and clever fingers. Teamwork once again. And unbroken family ties.

Without a doubt there had been many evenings such as this in their lives. She could imagine the three of them, years younger, melding their tunes, with the two people who had given them the music, and the purpose, and the family, sitting in the room with them.

She took that image, and the music, upstairs with her when she finally went to bed. To Cam’s bed.

Reminding herself there was a child in the house, she locked the door—in case Cam came tiptoeing up from his makeshift bed on the sofa downstairs. And she told herself she wouldn’t unlock it if he came tapping. No matter how sexy he’d looked strumming that old guitar to life.

Most of the tunes had been old Irish ballads and pub songs that she’d been unfamiliar with. She found them sad
and heart-wrenching even when the tune beneath the words was lively. They mixed in some rock, and sneered at Seth when he suggested they play something from this century.

It had been sweet, Anna thought as she undressed. They would never think of it that way, and would likely be horrified that anyone else did. But sweet was how she’d seen it. Four males—four brothers—not of the blood but of the heart. It was easy to see how well they understood each other, and how they had come to just not accept the child but to include him.

When Seth commented that violins were for girls and wusses, Ethan merely smiled and went into a hot lick designed to capture Seth’s interest and imagination. And Ethan’s dry comment—
let’s see a wuss do that
—earned a shrug and a grin from Seth.

When Seth had fallen asleep, they’d just left him there, sprawled on the rug with the puppy’s head pillowed on his butt. Another belonging, in Anna’s mind.

She slipped into her nightshirt and picked up her hairbrush. This house was an easy place to feel belonging. Big, simple rooms, lived-in furniture, noisy plumbing. She caught a few female touches that hadn’t been there before. A gleam to the furniture, the odd vase of spring flowers. Compliments of the housekeeper, Anna imagined, which probably went largely unnoticed by the occupants.

If it were her house, she wouldn’t change much, she decided, dreaming again as she ran the brush through her hair. Maybe spruce up some of the colors, add a bit of dash here and there with thick throw pillows and splashier flowers. She would definitely want to expand the gardens. She’d been doing some reading on perennials—what worked best in sun, what thrived in shade. There was a nice spot where the trees began to take over from the yard. She thought lily of the valley, some hostas, and periwinkles would do well there and add some interest.

Wouldn’t it be lovely, she reflected, to while away a Saturday morning, digging in the earth, crowding pretty
bedding plants together, planning the flow of colors and textures and heights?

And to watch them grow and spread and bloom, year after year.

A movement outside the window caught her eye in the mirror. Her heart sprang into her throat as she saw the shadow move behind the dark glass. As the window crept up, she turned slowly, holding the brush like a weapon.

And Cam stepped over the sill. “Hi.” He had enjoyed watching her brush her hair, hated to see her stop. “Brought you something.”

He held out a clutch of wild violets, which she tried to eye suspiciously. “Just how did you get up here?”

“Climbed.” He stepped forward, she stepped back.

“Climbed what?”

“Up the side of the house mostly. Used to be able to shimmy up and down the gutter, but I weighed less then.” He came closer, she moved back.

“That was clever of you. What if you’d fallen?”

He’d climbed sheer rock faces in Montana, Mexico, and France, but he smiled winningly at her concern. “You’d have felt sorry for me?”

“I don’t think so.” Since he had maneuvered his way to arm’s length, she reached out and snatched the slightly crushed flowers. “Thanks for the violets. Good night.”

Interesting, he decided. Her voice and her expression were prim despite the fact that she was standing there in nothing more than a long white T-shirt. For some reason he found the plain and practical cotton ridiculously sexy. It appeared he was finally going to get the chance to seduce her.

“I couldn’t sleep.” He reached over, hit the light switch, and left only the small bedside lamp burning warm and gold.

“You didn’t try very long,” she said, flicking the switch back on again.

“Seemed like hours.” He lifted a hand to trace a finger lightly up her arm from wrist to elbow. Her skin was
dusky, golden against the pure white of the nightshirt. “All I could think about was you. Beautiful Anna,” he said softly, “with the Italian eyes.”

Her toes seemed to curl in response to that skimming finger, which moved now to trace her jawline. Her heart was fluttering. No, it was her stomach. No, it was everything. “Cam, there’s a young boy in the house.”

“Who’s dead asleep.” His fingers dipped to her throat, tested the rapid pulse beating there. “Snoring on the living room rug.”

“You should have carried him up to bed.”

“Why?”

“Because . . .” There had to be a good reason, but how was she supposed to think clearly when he was looking at her, those flint-gray eyes so focused, so intense on her face? “You planned this,” she said weakly.

“Not exactly. I thought I would have to talk you into going for a walk in the woods after the house quieted down. And then I would make love to you outside.” He took her hand, turned it palm up, and pressed his lips to the center. “In the starlight. But rain’s coming in.”

“Rain?” She glanced toward the window and saw the curtains billowing in the freshening wind. When she looked back he was closer, and his arms were around her, those broad-palmed, clever hands stroking up her back.

“And I want you in bed. My bed.” He tipped his head to nibble kisses along her jaw, then just under it where the skin was soft as water. “I want you, Anna. Day and night.”

“Tomorrow,” she began.

“Tonight. Tomorrow.” And the word “always” was on the edge of his mind when his mouth found hers.

She made a small sound that might have been distress when his tongue slipped through her parted lips to deepen the kiss. It went deeper, still deeper until she had no choice but to let herself sink. The pretty little flowers drifted to the floor as her fingers went limp.

He had kissed her like this only once before, with such
unspeakable tenderness that it stripped her soul bare. If she could have formed words, she would have babbled out her love for him. But her knees were jelly, her heart lost, and words were beyond her.

He barely touched her, just those hands light on her back while his mouth drank from hers—and destroyed her.

“It’s not a race this time.” He heard himself murmur the words but wasn’t sure if he spoke to himself or to her. All he knew was he wanted slow, painfully slow, endlessly slow, so that he could savor every moment, every move, every moan.

He reached out, dimmed the lights. “I want this spot,” he whispered and let his mouth journey along the fragile skin just under her jaw again. “And this one.” To the slender column of her throat, where her scent was warm and smoky.

When he stepped back and tugged his shirt over his head, she took a breath. She would get her feet back under her, she thought, and offer back some of what he was giving her. She reached for him, rose on her toes until their eyes and mouths lined up.

But he kissed her temples, her brow, her eyes when they fluttered closed. “I love looking at you,” he told her. He took the hem of her nightshirt in his fingers and lifted it, inch by inch. “All of you. Even when you’re not around, I have a picture of you in my head.”

When her nightshirt was pooled on the floor, he kept his eyes on her face, lifted her into his arms. Felt her tremble.

And he knew, in one breath-stealing flash, that he had never wanted another woman the way he wanted Anna. This time when he laid her on the bed, it was he who sank mindlessly into the kiss.

He didn’t have to order his hands to be gentle, to go slowly. He didn’t have to hold back an urge to plunder. Not when she sighed so softly under his touch, not when she moved so fluidly beneath his hands, not when she gave so completely before he could ask.

He explored her with a kind of wonder, as if it were the first time. The first woman, the first need. Somehow it was new, this longing to linger. To sip instead of gulp. To glide instead of race. When her hands roamed over him, his skin quivered and warmed.

Neither of them heard the first soft patters of rain or the low, poignant moan of the wind.

She rose to peak on one long, shimmering wave. Floated down again breathing out his name.

Pleasure was liquid, soft as morning dew, wide as a dark sea. She could feel it sliding through her, shifting, spreading, taking her up on another high, curving crest where only he existed.

She pressed her mouth to his throat, his shoulder, would have absorbed him into her skin if she’d known a way. No one had ever taken her away so completely. And when she framed his face, brought his mouth to hers and poured all she was into the kiss, she knew he was with her. Absolutely hers.

When he filled her, it was only one more link. She opened, took him, and gave. They moved together slowly, breath tangling, gazes locked. Moved together silkily, rhythms matched to draw out every ounce of pleasure.

It built, dizzying and dazzling so that her lips curved even as her eyes swam. “Kiss me,” she demanded on one last, trembling breath.

So their mouths met, clung, as that last sweeping wave swamped them.

He didn’t speak, didn’t dare, when her hands slid limply from his back to the bed. He felt as if he’d tumbled off a cliff and fallen hard on his heart. Now his heart was swollen, exposed. And it was hers.

If this was love, it scared the hell out of him.

But he couldn’t move, couldn’t let her go. She felt so good, so right beneath him. His body was weak, sated, and his mind close to empty. It was only his heart that trembled and pumped.

He would worry about it later.

Saying nothing, nothing at all, he shifted, drew her close, possessively close, to his side, and let the rain lull him to sleep.

A
NNA AWOKE with the sun shooting into her eyes and was stunned to find herself wrapped up in Cam. His arms had a good strong hold on her, and hers were snug around him. Their legs were tangled, with her right hooked over his hip like an anchor.

If her mind had been clear it might have occurred to her that while they both assumed their affair was casual, even sophisticated, in sleep they’d both known better.

She slid her leg down, hoping to unknot their limbs, but he only shifted and anchored hers more firmly.

“Cam.” She whispered it, feeling foolish and guilty, and when she received no response, wriggled and spoke more firmly. “Cameron, wake up.”

He grunted, snuggled closer, and muttered something into her hair.

She sighed and, deciding she had no choice, lifted the leg that was caught between his until her knee pressed firmly against his crotch. Then she gave it a quick nudge.

That got his eyes open.

“Whoa! What?”

“Wake up.”

“I’m awake.” And his just-open eyes were all but crossed. “Would you mind moving your . . .” When the pressure eased off, he let out the breath he’d been holding. “Thanks.”

“You’ve got to go.” She was back to whispering. “You shouldn’t have stayed in here all night.”

“Why not?” he whispered back. “It’s my bed.”

“You know what I’m talking about,” she hissed. “One of your brothers could get up any minute.”

He exerted himself to lift his head a couple of inches and peer at the clock on the opposite nightstand. “It’s after
seven. Ethan’s already up, has probably emptied his first crab pot. And why are we whispering?”

“Because you’re not supposed to be here.”

“I live here.” A sleepy smile moved over his face. “Damn, you’re pretty when you’re all rumpled and embarrassed. I guess I have to have you again.”

“Stop it.” She nearly giggled, until his hand snuck around to cup her breast. “Not now.”

“We’re here now, naked and everything. And you’re all soft and warm.” He nuzzled his way to her neck.

“Don’t you start.”

“Too late. I’m already into the first lap.”