1. That's What Friends Are For (12 page)

❧

Almost an hour passed before Penny decided that as enjoyable as the water was, there was only so much fun to be had soaking in a tub.

Why was she trying so hard not to think about what this night was supposed to have been? The sooner she came to grips with the reality of her life, and accepted it, the sooner she'd be able to put away her sorrow that the tapestry of dreams she'd woven over the past several months had come unraveled.

After drying herself, Penny remembered that her suitcase still waited to be unpacked. She wrapped the enormous towel around her and grinned. One advantage of being small was that it didn't take much to cover her. This particular towel hung below her knees.

Quietly opening the door she walked into the bedroom. Brad had rolled onto his side and his face had lost its grimness. He was well and truly asleep.

When Penny opened her suitcase she was forcibly reminded of her situation. Her bag was filled with the frothy lingerie and sleepwear she'd received from the numerous showers her friends had given for her. She remembered all the teasing and chuckles regarding the sheerness of the nightgowns and undergarments.

She suddenly yearned for one of her sturdy football jerseys that had kept her company for so many years. Too bad she hadn't had the foresight to pack at least one.

Eventually she found a peach satin gown that was more opaque than any of the others and took it back into the bathroom to put on. When she glanced into the mirror later she wondered why she had thought it would be less revealing.

The satin was cut on the bias and the gown was designed to look like an evening gown from the thirties. Thin straps widened to a well-cupped bodice. An insert of matching peach lace formed a diamond, with a point that nestled just below her breasts, widened at the waist, then made another point on her abdomen. When she moved, the satin slid over her body highlighting each curve and forming shadows at each indentation.

Glancing at her watch, Penny admitted to herself that she had stalled long enough. It was time to go to bed. Turning out the light in the bathroom, she entered the bedroom once again. Only one lamp was on and it was across the room from the bed. She hadn't wanted to wake Brad when she'd come in earlier to find something to sleep in.

She turned back the covers on one side of the bed, thankful of its extra width, then crossed the room and turned off the light. With the room darkened she was drawn to the lighter expanse of the glass door. She peered outside. The stars seemed so bright she felt she could almost reach up and touch one. Out at sea, she could spot an occasional flash of white where a wave had broken.

What a beautiful spot for a honeymoon.

She returned to the bed and carefully slid in. Oh, how wonderful to lie down at last, was her last conscious thought.

❧

Moonlight pouring through the wide, uncurtained expanse of glass aroused Brad several hours later. He sat up, disoriented. Looking around him he suddenly remembered where he was. Damn! He'd done it again—fallen asleep for too many hours. Thoughtfully he touched his head. At least the headache was gone, he decided.

Penny was curled beside him, although she was underneath the covers. Gingerly he slid off the bed and

Stood while continuing to gaze at her. She looked so peaceful and serene.

Brad felt as if his heart would explode with the feeling that swelled up inside of him. He had never loved another person as much, and in so many ways, as he loved Penny Blackwell. Penny Crawford, he reminded himself. She was now his wife. His wife!

How many years had he dreamed about someday being married to Penny—making love to her, acting with her, raising children with her... teasing and laughing and enjoying life with her. When had that dream died?

He knew to the minute. The day he'd opened the mail in his New York apartment and found the invitation to her wedding.

He'd felt betrayed. How dare she! He'd been angry and hurt and felt deceived by those he'd most trusted.

All the time he'd been in New York he'd written to her, but Penny was the world's worst correspondent. Even when his mother had written that she was dating a lawyer, he hadn't been terribly concerned. He was dating, as well. Wasn't that the idea? For them to be sure how they felt?

He had been sure. He'd always known, from the time Penny had fallen out of a swing when she was four years old and he'd cried because she cried. He'd felt her pain. She was as much a part of him as his heart or lungs.

How could she possibly not love him in the same way? How could she not know how important they were to each other? The distance had never mattered to him because she had always been in his heart. He could call her up in his mind at will.

He'd studied the invitation and begun to plot. He would go home and put a stop to the whole thing— make her admit that she couldn't possibly love anyone else—that the two of them belonged together.

However, things hadn't quite worked out that way for him. In the first place, he was under contract and couldn't just take off. But he'd started talking to anyone who would listen. He needed some time off. There was a family crisis, one that needed his presence.

Eventually the powers that be had considered the possibility. Then they had needed to prepare new story lines, and that took time, and more time. Only time was quickly running out for Brad.

He'd ended up with a week. One lousy week to try to convince her she was marrying the wrong man. He'd realized as soon as he saw her that his task was going to be tougher than he'd expected.

Penny had changed from the woman he knew so well. That was when he had finally given up hope. He realized he could never do anything that would hurt her, and breaking up an engagement a week before the wedding was inexcusable. He loved her enough to let her go, knowing that nothing in his life would ever be quite so wonderful or joyous or sparkling again. Losing Penny was like losing all the sparkle in champagne. Life would be flat without her.

Somehow he should have known that life would never betray him in such a cold, calculating way. He'd been given another chance to win.

Looking down at her now, he realized he still had a considerable way to go to win her. But what better setting, or more romantic place, could there be to woo the woman that was aheady his wife?

Brad walked into the bathroom and shut the door. Turning on the shower he adjusted the heat of the water, stripped down and stepped under the invigorating spray.

Did Penny really love him enough to want to continue their marriage? She had told him she loved him, but what did she actually feel? How did a person ever know what another was feeling? Each person had his own conception of what love was, what it felt like, and how he responded to it.

Somehow he had to prove to Penny, as well as to himself, that she loved him and that marrying Brad, instead of Gregory, was the best thing that could have happened to her.

Brad was convinced he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, not with all he had on his mind, and not with Penny lying so close beside him. He was unaware how quickly he fell asleep after he joined Penny in bed, this time under the covers.

❧

Penny's dream carried her along on a wave of pleasure that she had never before experienced. She was on the boat, out on the lake, and she could feel the warm sunshine and a soft breeze. Brad was there, fussing because she hadn't put on more suntan lotion and insisting she would burn without it.

He was such a nag. She handed him the lotion and suggested that he put it on himself if he didn't like the way she did it. He grinned at her and she could no longer be irritated with him.

Brad began to spread the cream along her back with long, exploring strokes. She loved his touch. He was so gentle and yet his hands were strong, his long fingers sensitive. She could feel the pads of his fingertips softly moving over her.

No man had ever touched her so intimately. Only Brad. She loved Brad, so it was all right. Whatever Brad wanted to do, it was all right. She loved him. She loved...

Penny's eyes flew open. She was no longer asleep. No longer dreaming, and yet—she was in Brad's arms.

Her head lay on his shoulder, his arm holding her close to his side. And with his other hand, he was touching and caressing her. And she was letting him.

Brad shifted, pulling her tighter against him, lifting her chin as he lowered his head to hers. She barely had time to notice that his eyes were closed before his lips touched hers and she forgot everything else.

She could feel the heavy vibration of his heart pounding against her. His lungs seemed to be laboring for air but he continued to kiss her without pausing for breath.

"Oh, Penny," he managed to say when he finally broke away. His breathing was so ragged she could scarcely hear him. "I want you so much," he murmured. "So much."

She didn't need his explanation to know what was happening. Somehow everything that was occurring seemed so natural and right.

Both of them were still more than half-asleep, uninhibitedly responding to their deep-seated, longstanding feelings for each other.

Vaguely Brad knew that he intended to make love to Penny. He loved her, they were married, and he knew of no better way to convince her that he wanted nothing more than to be her passionately loving husband.

Brad knew he could seduce her. From her reactions he realized she'd never been this aroused before. He knew she wouldn't stop him, if he took his time with her.

The question was, how was she going to feel afterward? There was so much that needed to be said between them. Even though they were legally married, the wedding had been a farce.

Did he really intend to use her sexual response to him to coax her into making a decision that would have lifelong ramifications for both of them?

Brad relaxed his hold on her and lay there, unmoving for a moment.

Penny felt swamped with all of the swirling, unfamiliar emotions she'd been experiencing since she'd awakened. Everything was happening so fast. Her lifelong friend had metamorphosed into a passionate, intriguing stranger whose very touch made her bones melt.

Before she could fully comprehend what was happening, Penny felt Brad move away from her. She watched with bewilderment as Brad tossed the covers back and, clad only in a pair of briefs, disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

W
hen the bathroom door opened sometime later Brad walked out and casually commented. "I'm sorry I took so long. I guess we'll have to flip a coin each morning to see who gets the use of the bathroom first."

This was the same Brad she'd always known, but Penny discovered she missed the passionate stranger who had shared her bed. She wondered what he would think if he knew how she felt. "That's all right," she said, following his example and entering the other room.

Brad quickly found some clean clothes and, dropping the towel he'd draped modestly around him, got dressed. She won't have any problem with the hot water, he thought wryly. I certainly didn't use much of it.

He was waiting for her when she came out, wrapped in a towel. "I'm sorry about what almost happened this morning," he said tersely. "I have no excuse for losing control like that. I hope you won't add this to the long list you seem to have kept over the years of my iniquities."

Brad stood by the opened door to their balcony, waiting for her reaction. She could think of nothing to say.

"We need to talk, Penny, the sooner the better. I've discovered I'm not nearly as noble as I thought I was."

After what she had just experienced with him. Penny wasn't at all sure she wanted his nobility. She'd made an astounding discovery since he'd disappeared into the bathroom earlier.

She very much wanted to make love to Brad Crawford. The thought shocked her right down to her toes. If that was what she was feeling for Brad, she'd had no business planning to marry Gregory Duncan.

Another revelation.

She was still reeling from these shocks when Brad greeted her with his apology in a no-nonsense tone of voice. Glancing down at her towel-draped body, she said, "I agree that we need to talk. I'd prefer to be dressed to do it, however."

Brad seemed to find her remark amusing. "I suppose I can understand that. Why don't you go ahead and get ready and I'll meet you downstairs for breakfast. Maybe later we can take a walk along the beach and enjoy some of the atmosphere around here."

"All right." Penny still felt bewildered by her responses to him earlier and her illuminating discovery regarding her feelings for Brad.

She wasted little time finding a sundress to put on, pleased that so much of what she had packed would be appropriate for a honeymoon in Acapulco.

Her honeymoon with Brad.

A conversation she'd had with her mother months ago suddenly flashed into her mind. She had told Helen that Gregory had proposed to her.

Helen had been working in the kitchen at the time so Penny had perched on the step stool nearby.

"Gregory wants to marry you!" Helen repeated in obvious surprise.

"That's what he said," Penny agreed.

"What did you tell him?"

Penny was quiet for a moment. "I told him that I needed time to consider it."

"I should think so!"

"However, I'm fairly sure that I want to marry him, Mom."

Helen turned around and faced her. "Are you, Penny?"

Penny met her mother's look and nodded. "Yes. Gregory offers the type of life I want. He's stable, successful and I know I can always depend on him."

"What about love?"

"That goes without saying, of course."

"Love should never go without being expressed, Penny. Don't mistake compatible and companionable with love. They're necessary to a good relationship, but love is what holds them together."

"I think we're well-suited."

Helen sighed. "I always thought you and Brad would end up together."

"Brad? You must be joking. That man wouldn't know the first thing about making a commitment. He'd run in the opposite direction."

The image of her mother's face dissolved and once again Penny realized where she was—on her honeymoon with Brad.

He'd had every opportunity to run—from the time he'd learned that Gregory wasn't going to marry her— to the day of the wedding and afterward. But he was here. Despite the disruption a sudden marriage would cause in his life and career, Brad Crawford had chosen to commit himself to her and face whatever consequences his actions created.

When Penny returned to the bathroom to put on her makeup she was arrested by the sight of the woman in the mirror. She glowed. There was no other word to describe the look of anticipation on her face. She was a woman in love, there was no denying that expression, the sparkle in her eyes, the slight flush to her cheeks.

Penny couldn't remember the last time she'd faced that woman in a mirror. Gone was the sedate school teacher, the level-headed, sensible woman Gregory Duncan had met and asked to marry. Instead she saw the young girl she'd known years ago, her dreams and fantasies shining like an aura around her.

"I had no idea you even existed," she whispered. Why had she brushed aside this vibrant person who had patiently waited to be recognized? Why had she felt the need to deny the spontaneity that seemed to bubble inside of her?

Here was the woman who had loved Brad Crawford single-mindedly, had followed his lead throughout her childhood, and had played opposite him in most of the plays produced during their high school and college years.

"Where have you been?'' she asked, amazed at the transformation.

From the moment she had awakened in Brad's arms to the feel of his touch and the taste of his lips, Penny felt like an entirely different person. She was reminded of one of her favorite stories as a child—the one about Sleeping Beauty, who was awakened by the prince with a kiss.

Her pulse accelerated at the thought that she could have married Gregory, convinced that she loved him, and never known the wonder of what Brad had already revealed to her. She had never been affected by Gregory in such a way. Penny had never known the difference... until now.

She laughed out loud, hurriedly finished applying her lipstick and flicked a comb through her hair. How could she explain what had happened to her when she didn't understand it herself? She cringed with embarrassment at the memory of all that she had accused Brad of the day before. He could have reacted so differently. Gregory would never have tolerated such an outburst from her. Subconsciously she had known that her innermost personality must be kept submerged in order to be acceptable to him.

With Brad, she'd always done and said exactly what she felt at the time. He was so much a part of her that she had never questioned that particular freedom. Nor had she fully appreciated it.

Now he waited for her downstairs, no doubt expecting another childish outburst. His list of iniquities? How about hers? To think that he loved her, despite all her faults. It was up to her to let him know that, for the first time, she fully realized how much he meant to her.