Tread Softly (26 page)

"What's the
matter, big brother?" Gareth jibed, dancing close to them, a curvy
brunette dancing opposite him. "If you can't hack it,
I'll
dance
with Cady."

"The hell
you will," Rafe said, smiling at his brother and at once moving with his
wife to the music. "Are you sure it's all right, love?" His eyes
couldn't seem to stop roving over her body.

Cady
felt alive, light as air, and as beautiful as Cinderella because Rafe was
looking at her like that. If only he would just tell her he loved her, life
would be absolutely perfect.

The day after Christmas they flew to
Santo Tomas Island. Rafe left firm instructions that he was not to be disturbed
unless it was a state of national emergency.

Cady
stared at her slightly rounded belly protruding over the bikini bottom and
poked her tongue at the mirror image.
Rafe came into the room in the
briefest silky trunks. "My God, woman, you drive me wild with
desire."
Cady stared at him, open-mouthed, thinking he was mocking
her, when she became aware of the arousal he took no pains to hide.

He grinned at
her. "What's it going to be like when I'm ninety and I have to explain to
our great-grandchildren how their great-grandmother still arouses me? Aren't
you ashamed to have such power over me?"

"No."
She opened her arms to him as he lifted her. and carried her out to the beach.
"You're always carrying me," she muttered into his ear. "Are you
positive it's safe?"

"Yes. I can't
seem to keep my hands off you." Rafe gave her a rueful grin as he set her
on the blanket he had spread out on the white sand. His eyes held a wicked
gleam. "What say we swim nude, lady?"

Cady
looked around her at the empty beach and water. "We can't. Can we?"

"Sure we
can. There's no one around, wife of mine."

"You won't
think I'm awful to look at?" she ventured.

Rafe's mouth
dropped open. "Awful to look at? Lord, Cady, you're the most gorgeous
thing I've ever seen." He put his lips to her belly. "And I love this
best of all. Swim with me, Cady."

Cady couldn't
take her eyes off her naked husband as he led her into the water. The freedom
of swimming in the ocean without clothes and with Rafe was such an exhilarating
experience that she shouted out loud as he swam under her and surfaced next to
her. They frolicked like children.

When Rafe
carried her out of the water, he didn't stop at the blanket but kept going
right into the house, then to the bedroom. "You've had too much sun,"
he mumbled into her neck as he followed her down onto the bed. "Besides,
I have something to tell you." He leaned on his elbows over her body.
"I never would have said anything if you hadn't said you loved me, Cady.
You know you told me that when we first married, and it made me so happy. But I
was afraid to accept that you really did. After all, you were only eighteen
when I married you." He held her face between his two hands. "I loved
you so much before I left your bedroom, that first day we met, and I kept loving
you more and more after we were married. After a few years I had the feeling
that you were growing tired of me."

"Bruno
kept telling me stories about you... and Durra...and women." Cady felt as
though she were floating.

"I
know that now. I didn't then. I stayed away from you, hoping that you wouldn't
want to leave me if I gave you enough freedom. But I'll tell you, Cady, I
wanted you with me every second of every day. I love you so much that if I
start now and tell you for a thousand years, I'll still come up short."

"Me, too." Cady felt a tear roll down her cheek.
He had said the words, reaffirming their lifelong commitment to each other.

"You're all
I have ever wanted, all I'll ever want." Rafe lay down at her side,
cuddling her to him until the inevitable heat built between them. The gentle
explosion rocked them both, awing them with its scope.

Six months later Rafe Nesbitt Densmore
was born, thrilling Cady with his fluff of dark brown hair and his shoe-button
blue eyes.

After
the birth, Rafe pressed his face into her breast and whispered to her over and
over again, "I love you, Cady. I love you." The damp glitter of his
eyes told her that nothing could tear them apart.

She had tread
softly on Rafe's dreams, and he had made all hers come true.