Harvest Moon (18 page)

She loved him, loved him so much that she wanted to cry from the joy and passion he aroused in her. She thrilled to the touch of his hands whenever they grazed her body, and to the taste and feel of his lips on her own. When she least expected it she craved his possession, wanting to take him into her body so that they ceased to exist as separate entities. Joined, they became one in the same manner that the child growing beneath her breasts symbolized the blending of their ancestors.

She slipped off the bed and walked into the bathroom. Instead of turning on the electric lights, she lit several scented candles and positioned them on the tables under the windows. The fragrance of lavender blended with the powerful scents of damp earth and blooming flowers coming in through the windows.

She emptied a capful of scented bath oil under the flow of warm running water, filling the tub with her favorite fragrance as she brushed her teeth. The tub was half-filled when she stripped off her clothes and eased her naked body into the relaxing waters.

“Very nice. Very nice indeed.”

Her head came up quickly, and she stared at Aaron standing
in the doorway smiling at her. He was naked, with the exception of a towel covering his loins.

A rush of heat swept over her face and settled in her chest. “What are you doing?”

He arched an eyebrow. “Getting an eyeful.”

Sinking down lower in the water, she tried escaping his penetrating stare. “Aaron!”

His smile widened as he walked into the space, his gaze never leaving her face. “I’ve come to share your bath.”

“Men don’t share women’s baths,” she protested, her voice lowering to a seductive octave.

“How would you know?”

Aaron’s hands went to his waist, and the towel fell to the brick floor. “I want your first bath experience to be a memorable one.”

Regina wanted to pull her gaze away from his naked form, but couldn’t. The rich darkness of his coloring was shadowed in the flickering candlelight. However, the definition and planes of his powerful upper body stood out in bold relief in the golden light.

She hadn’t realized she was holding her breath until he stepped into the oversize tub behind her and pulled her back until her spine was pressed against his chest. The oil-slicked water lapped over her thighs and up to her belly.

Closing her eyes, she smiled. “You’re going to smell like me,” she crooned, enjoying the warmth and hardness of Aaron’s body molded to her back.

“That’s okay,” he replied. There was a hint of laughter in his deep voice. His arms tightened around her waist and his hands moved up and cradled her moist breasts. “The smell of you lingered in my nostrils for weeks,” he continued quietly. “Even after I’d returned to Bahia it seemed as if I could still smell you. And there were times when I imagined I could taste you in my mouth. So many weeks had gone by, but everything about you
stayed with me. There was never a moment during the day or night that I didn’t think of you.”

Tears welled up behind her closed eyelids and slipped down her cheeks at his erotic confession. “I didn’t want to leave you, Aaron.”

His fingers tightened on her breasts, the thumbs moving up and down in a soft, sweeping motion over the erect nipples. “I know,
Princesa
. You did what you had to do.” She gasped aloud, and his fingers stilled. “Do they hurt, Baby?”

Breathing heavily through her parted lips, she nodded. “They’re very sensitive.”

Aaron’s hands went to her waist and he lifted her so that she faced him. Sitting up straighter, he settled her thighs until she straddled his. Long and short shadows flickered over her face, highlighting the sensuous smile curving her lush mouth.

Leaning closer, Regina pressed her breasts to his broad, hard chest and touched her lips to his. “I love you, Aaron Spencer,” she whispered reverently.

Aaron cradled her face between his palms, increasing the pressure of her mouth on his at the same time his ardor escalated. He lifted her with one arm, while his other hand eased his sex into her body.

Regina did not have time to stifle a gasp when she felt Aaron’s hardness filling every inch of her body without any pretense of foreplay. She stared up at him and detected an expression she couldn’t quite identify lurking beneath the surface of his rising desire.

There was something feral, almost savage, in his gaze that aroused and frightened her at the same time. Something foreign, unknown, indicated that this coming together would be different than any other they had shared.

She did not know whether it was the atmosphere created by the candles in the darkened space, the intimacy of their sharing a bath, his passionate confession, or the physical changes in her
body because of her pregnancy, but she knew she would recall the scene over and over for the rest of her life.

Curving her arms around his neck for support, Regina began moving over his aroused flesh. It began with a slow up and down motion, then increased to a frenzied rocking, and Aaron’s upward thrusting splashed water over the sides of the tub and onto the brick floor.

Without warning, he reversed their positions, supporting her body, and his lower body pumped with the velocity of a piston as he wordlessly communicated his masculine dominance.

“Marry me,” he gasped, his breath hot and heavy against her ear.

Sharking her head, she swallowed to relieve the dryness in her throat. “No, Aaron. I can’t.”

“Marry me,” he repeated.

“No!”

“Marry me,
Princesa
,” he intoned, the supplication becoming a litany which rang in her ear like a chant.

Passion, desire, and rage surged through Aaron, one emotion fusing with the other until he did not know who he was. Claiming Regina Spencer’s body wasn’t enough; her carrying his child still wasn’t enough. What he wanted was to claim her as his own, and that would not become possible until he made her his wife.

Without warning, he withdrew from her, rose to his feet, and stepped out of the bathtub. He reached for her, knowing he had startled her when she emitted a cry of surprise as he lifted her effortlessly and carried her across the bathroom and into the bedroom.

It had taken less than sixty seconds before he placed her on the bed where she had spent the afternoon, fastening his rapacious mouth to her sensitive breasts. Her keening cry fired his blood as his mouth journeyed down her body, tasting every inch of her silken flesh.

The primitiveness of the act awakened a primal hunger in
Regina as she writhed under the sensual assault, her husky voice begging him not to stop.

“I can’t stop, Baby,” he countered, moving up her wet, trembling limbs and joining their bodies.

Her fire spread to his, dissolving both in an inferno from which there was no escape. His tongue slipped into her mouth, keeping perfect rhythm with his hips as he drove into her over and over.

One hand moved over the curve of a breast and slid down her taut stomach and still lower. Arching his lower body, his finger found the tight nodule hidden in the downy hair at the apex of her thighs. The pad of his thumb massaged the engorged flesh, and she cried out shamelessly with the spasm of pleasure shaking her from head to toe.

Increasing the circular motion, Aaron bit back his own moans of pleasure, which threatened to drown him a maelstrom of ecstasy from which he did not want to escape.

Regina felt herself sinking further and further into the morass of immeasurable ecstasy as their bodies met in exquisite harmony with one another.

Her moans of erotic pleasure became unrestrained screams of ecstasy when she stiffened with the explosive rush of orgasmic fulfillment sweeping through her. The screams subsided to long, surrendering moans of physical satiation as she closed her eyes and registered the rush of Aaron’s release bathing her throbbing flesh.

Tears leaked from under her lids. Aaron Spencer possessed the power to assuage her physical need for him, but unknowingly he also had the power to tear her soul apart. She prayed he would not ask her to marry him again, because at that very moment she would have consented.

They lay together on the bed until their breathing resumed its normal rate. Then Aaron picked her up again and returned to the
bathroom. They were silent as they shared a shower, watching each other warily and knowing that the single passionate physical act had changed them—forever.

R
egina blotted the back of her neck with a linen handkerchief she had taken from an ample supply nestled in a drawer in one of the two massive armoires occupying the dressing room she shared with Aaron. The intense Brazilian summer forced her to work more slowly than planned. She had spent less than two hours in the late Alice Spencer da Costa’s garden, and had uncovered an herb garden containing petunias, moonflowers, daturas, brugmansias, four o’clocks, and nicotianas.

A large field of pungently perfumed, colorful lavender grew in wild abundance, reminding her of the scent of the candles she had lit in the bathroom the night she shared the unforgettable bath with Aaron. He had shared her bath and her bed that night, establishing a ritual which would determine their relationship for the duration of her stay in Bahia.

Slipping the handkerchief into the pocket of her loose-fitting cotton dress, she squinted up at the sun through the lenses of her sunglasses. It was directly overhead, indicating the noon hour.
She would take her
siesta
, then return to the garden once the sun passed over in a westerly direction.

She hadn’t taken more than a dozen steps when she saw Aaron striding toward her, holding a package in one hand. Vertical lines appeared between her eyes, and she went completely still. What was he doing home in the middle of the day? He was committed to working three days at the hospital in Salvador, and usually put in another three at the research institute.

Her pulse quickened as he quickly closed the distance between them. “What’s the matter, Aaron?”

His quick smile allayed her fear. “Nothing, Darling. I just came home to bring you a package that was delivered at the institute this morning. The return address on the label bears the ColeDiz logo.”

He handed her the package, and she stared at the familiar handwriting on the label. It was from Parris Cole. “I wonder what my mother sent me.” She had celebrated her twenty-seventh birthday in July, and even though it was late November it was still too early for a Christmas gift.

Curving an arm around her expanding waist, Aaron pulled her to his side. “Let’s go into the house. It’s not good for you to be out in the heat.”

He was right. She was at the end of her first trimester, and her body was beginning to show signs of her pregnancy. Her breasts were noticeably fuller, and she had discovered that many of her fitted garments were too tight in the waist. Aaron had driven her to Salvador, where she spent an afternoon shopping for clothes which artfully camouflaged her physical condition. Shopping for a new wardrobe served a twofold purpose. She and Aaron had received their first social invitation as a couple. They were invited to attend a surprise birthday party for Nicolas Benedetti’s American-born wife Saturday evening.

Aaron led Regina into his study, seating her on the comfortable chaise they shared whenever they watched television. She
did not know why, but this room was her favorite in the large house. Books filled the built-in shelves from floor-to-ceiling, Aaron’s desk was covered with papers stacked in neat piles, and a profusion of live plants was nestled in every corner and any available surface large enough to hold a clay pot.

It was into this room that Aaron usually retreated after dinner, entering notes in his computer or communicating electronically with researchers from all over the world. It was also into this room that he came to watch videos or movies with her, translating the dialogue whenever some of the Portuguese totally eluded her comprehension.

She had been in Bahia for three weeks and, despite Aaron’s urging she had not redecorated the house—not when she planned to leave in five months.

Her fingers were steady as she peeled the paper off the package to reveal an exquisite, black-lacquered box. As she turned a key in the lock, the top opened to reveal a collection of silver-framed photographs nestled between bubble wrap.

Her eyes brightened in amusement. “She sent me photographs from our last family reunion.” Picking up the one on top, she studied it closely, then handed it to Aaron. “This one shows my grandparents and their children. My dad is behind Grandpa, and my grandmother is standing between my uncles Joshua and David. The two women are my aunts.”

Aaron stared at the professionally shot photograph. “Everyone resembles your grandmother, except one of your uncles.”

She nodded. “That’s because he’s my grandfather’s son from an illicit affair with a young woman who was in his employ.”

He gave her a questioning look. “I suppose the Coles have their family secrets like everyone else.”

“They
are
like everyone else. Having money does not exempt them from having skeletons in their closets.” She kept her features deceptively composed as she removed the next photograph. “Here’s me with my mother, father, sister, and brother.”

Aaron took the photograph, staring intently at the two people who were responsible for creating the woman he had fallen hopelessly in love with. “I see where you get your beauty. Your mother is gorgeous.”

“She is,” Regina agreed. “But my sister Arianna looks more like her than I do.” She removed the next two photographs. “These are my aunts, their husbands, children, and grandchildren.”

Whistling softly, Aaron shook his head as he counted the number of people in the two photographs. “Your aunts are the prolific ones in the family.”

Regina removed the next photograph. “My uncle David is gaining quickly. He and his wife have four children, and I don’t think they’re finished. He complains he was cheated when his wife delivered twins.”

“You have twins in your family, too?”

She touched her slightly rounded belly. “Don’t even go there, Aaron Spencer. You know I’m carrying one child.” A recent ultrasound had verified a single birth, even though it was too early to detect the sex of the tiny baby.

“I was thinking about the next time,” he explained.

“There may not be a next time,” she murmured softly as she removed the last remaining photograph. “Here’s Uncle Josh, his wife Vanessa, and my cousins Emily and Michael.”

Aaron had felt a fist of fear squeeze his heart with her statement.
There may not be a next time
. Was she warning him in advance that they would never have another child—that when she left him she would never return?

His lean jaw tightened. “Have you thought of any names?”

“No,” she admitted.

He forced a smile he did not quite feel. “Do you think it’s too soon to start thinking about names?”

Regina shrugged a shoulder. “Not really. We can list a few for boys and a few for girls. Then we can wait and see what he or she looks like, then make a decision.”

“I don’t know about that,” he stated, shaking his head. “I don’t believe a child can actually resemble a name.”

“Sure they can. Look at my brother and sister.” She pointed to the photograph of her immediate family. “Tyler and Arianna fit their names perfectly.”

He nodded. “I like those names. Look,
Princesa
, why don’t we compromise? You select the name if it’s a boy, and I’ll select one for a girl.”

Arching a sweeping eyebrow, she gave him a skeptical look. “You won’t mind if I name our son?”

He shrugged his shoulder under a crisply laundered pale-blue shirt. “I trust you to come up with something befitting, where he won’t spend half his life punching people out because his mother decided to name him Percival.”

“Percival isn’t that bad,” she teased.

“Tell him that each time he’s suspended from school for fighting.”

Regina peered into the box and withdrew a sheet of paper. She smiled when she read what her mother had written:
A little something to remind you that we love and miss you. Mom
.

Moving closer to Aaron, she angled for a more comfortable position. “Whose decision was it to name you Aaron?”

There was a swollen silence before he answered. “It had been my mother’s choice.” He flashed a quick smile. “And you?”

“My mother.”

“Your father agreed with her decision?”

Closing her eyes, Regina drew in a deep breath. She had to tell Aaron. She had to tell him of the family secret so jealously guarded by the Coles, because the child she carried beneath her breasts claimed the blood of the Coles and the Spencers.

“My father wasn’t aware that he had fathered a child until I was nine years old.”

He went completely still, his gaze narrowing. “Why?”

“Because my mother was forced to leave him before she could
tell him that she was pregnant. She was threatened with death if she did not leave Florida, and my father.”

“But why?”

She opened her eyes and stared at the puzzlement on Aaron’s face. “Because a very powerful, very wealthy man did not want his son to marry my mother. He paid someone to blackmail her, while threatening her with death if she ever returned.”

A shadow of alarm touched Aaron’s features when he analyzed what she had revealed. “Was that man your grandfather?”

“Yes, it was. He had had an extramarital affair when he was a young man, which resulted in the birth of Joshua Kirkland. My grandmother forgave him for his indiscretion, but apparently my grandfather couldn’t forgive himself for turning his back on his own flesh and blood. So when my father began seeing my mother, Grandpa confused her with the kind of woman whom he had loved more than his own wife.”

“How were your parents reunited?”

“Daddy got his half brother to look for us.”

“Your grandfather finally accepted his illegitimate son?”

“That wasn’t until years later. Uncle Josh was a career officer in military intelligence, so he knew where to look for us. My parents were finally married, then Daddy went into politics. The people Grandpa hired to get rid of my mother tried a few more times to kill her, and failed. One of the men needed money to pay off loan sharks who were looking for him, which led to me being kidnapped. You know the rest of the story.”

She stared at Aaron staring back at her in stunned silence. “Now you know all of the Coles’ dirty little family secrets. And after many years of bitterness they’ve declared a truce. My grandfather has had a lot of time to repent for his sins because he’s been a semi-invalid for the past fourteen years. I still find it difficult to believe that he was once one of the most feared African-American businessmen in the world whenever I see him sitting in a wheelchair just staring into space.”

Aaron shook his head in disbelief. “Have you forgiven him?”

“Yes, I have. You have to forgive in order to be forgiven.”

He knew she was right. It had taken him twelve years to forgive Oscar for claiming the first woman he had fallen in love with. And Oscar had redeemed himself, because he had given him Regina in return.

His expression grew serious as he studied her intently. “You’re luckier than I am, because I was never given the opportunity to tell my father I was sorry for turning my back on him,” he said quietly.

“Tell him now,” Regina urged softly. “He’s listening, Aaron.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “You think so?”

“I know so. There are times when I feel his presence, or I imagine I hear his voice. I had a dream about him several weeks ago in which he told me that he was overjoyed that I was carrying his grandchild.”

Aaron wanted to laugh at her childish beliefs but did not, because he realized Regina had exhibited a maturity far beyond her years.

“My father forgave me before I forgave him.”

Her brow furrowed in a frown. “When?”

“When Oscar told you to contact me. When he left his money to the institute so I could continue my research. And when he brought us together.”

She shook her head. “Oscar had no way of knowing that we would end up together.”

“But he did,
Princesa
. My father and I were more alike than dissimilar. The woman who was Oscar’s second wife was engaged to me first.” He ignored Regina’s gasp. “She slept with me, then slept with my father. She told him she was pregnant to get him to marry her.”

Regina’s lids fluttered wildly. “But—she could’ve been carrying your child.”

“That was highly improbable. I never slept with Sharon or any other woman without using a contraceptive. You were the first woman who did not fall into that category.”

She blushed, nodding. “Was she actually pregnant?”

“No, and it did not take Dad long to realize that she had used him to further her acting career. But the damage had been done. I told myself that I didn’t have a father, and after a while I came to believe it. Now you know the Spencers’ dirty little family secret.”

And now I know why you want to marry me
, Regina countered silently. It had nothing to do with possession or ownership, but revenge. Oscar Spencer had married the woman Aaron loved above all others, and now he wanted to marry the woman Oscar had claimed as wife.

Her delicate jaw hardened with determination. “What we’ve shared today will stay between us. I don’t want our child’s life influenced by the heinous behavior of its decadent ancestors. It’s time we begin anew.”

“You’re right,” he agreed, leaning closer. His mouth covered hers, sealing their oath with a passionate kiss.

Regina surveyed her face in the mirror for the last time, her fingers smoothing back a gel-covered curl from her forehead. She walked out of the bathroom at the same time Aaron made his way through the connecting dressing room into their bedroom. He stopped short, his eyes widening appreciably when she stood in front of him.

Successfully concealing a smile, she watched him as he walked slowly around her while staring at her over his shoulder. His body language called to mind a matador challenging a motionless bull.

Tilting her chin, she smiled down the length of her nose at him. “Do I pass inspection, Senhor Spencer?”

Aaron found breathing difficult as he surveyed her tall,
ripening body in a sheer, gunmetal-gray sheath dress lined in black silk, with shimmering, floral beaded designs from neckline to hem. His gaze was fixed on an expanse of one pale-gray-covered leg from a thigh-grazing slit. The garment fit loosely at the waist, artfully disguising the slight swell of her belly. Her narrow feet were encased in a pair of gun-metal-gray, silk-covered, sling-strap heels with narrow ties encircling her slender ankles. The high heels put her within three inches of his own towering height.