True Bliss (30 page)

Bliss yanked her arm from his hand and spun away. She stumbled into a shaft of sunlight through thin drapes over a door.

"I can't live without you anymore, Bliss. I've done it for too long, now I have to have you."

She held the back of a chair and said, "And I want you," very low. "The girl I was would take you in her arms and convince herself that this time there won't be any heartaches. The woman I am knows better. There aren't any fairy tales."

"Bliss?" He stood behind her, so close he all but touched her. "Tell me you want me again."

She hung her head forward.

"Tell me."

"I don't know about anything anymore."

The touch of his fingertips at her bare waist made her jump. He rubbed her sides, her back under the short T-shirt, undid the fastening on her bra.

"No!" Bliss said. "Sebastian!"

"You want me to stop?"

Each breath she took was a pant. "We shouldn't do this. Not like this!"

"Why not now? How should we do it? When?" Around her ribs and beneath her bra he stroked, trailing fleeting caresses on the undersides of her breasts. He layered himself against her and kissed the back of her neck. "I can't help myself with you. I don't want to."

"The police might come back. They might want to ask more questions."

"Forget the police." He pinched her nipples gently, pulled. "Forget everything but this."

Bliss covered his hands. The need blossomed. His hips met hers. She was hot, so hot.

"Bliss," he whispered against her neck, "Just go with it. Go with me. Grab the chance. Don't let us be the losers again."

She didn't answer.

The sound of his zipper must be as clear to her as it was to him.

He pulled her skirt up to her waist.

"Sebastian!"

In one motion, he tipped her forward over the chair and shifted behind her until he nudged past her panties.

"Oh, God, Sebastian!"

He was inside her, holding her breasts, coming into her with a relentless rhythm he knew neither of them could have stopped if they'd tried.

"Oh, my . . . Here? Oh, Sebastian."

"Yes." He laughed, and gasped and his speed increased. "Yes, yes, yes, love. Now!"

Spasms broke over him, the spasms of her climax, and his own—the product of his climax, and hers. She shuddered, and whimpered. Sebastian cried out, and fell over her, still cradling her breasts, his penis still deep within her, his hard thighs parting hers.

"This isn't me," she murmured.

"But it is you," he gasped. "Oh, it is now, my love. And it's just the start of knowing who you are."

"No one should love in anger," she told him. "Like animals."

The humiliation he heard in her words turned his stomach. "You didn't like it?"

"I don't like myself for liking it."

He nuzzled her nape with his rough chin and laughed softly. "I love you. I love you. Got that. It's real simple. I love you and any way we choose to make love—as long as you love me, too—is okay."

"I love you," she said, and covered her face.

"I know you do," Sebastian told her. "We're going to sort out whatever's going on around us and then the education continues."

"Education."

"Learning just how many ways there are to say I love you, without the words."

Twenty

Bliss sidled into the bathroom, filled a glass with cold water and climbed onto the toilet seat. Standing on tiptoe, she could see into the shower, see Sebastian's plastered black hair, his upturned face, his spiky eyelashes squeezed together.

Very carefully, she rested the glass atop the sliding doors and leaned a little closer until she had a better view—of all of him.

Oh, my.

Soap streamed from his face and over the bunched muscles in his shoulders and chest. His braced thighs echoed the power in his torso. And in between ... In between, his skin was paler. Bliss leaned to her left. Bullets would bounce off those buns. She leaned to her right. Tensed belly. And there ought to be a fantastic name for a penis that even when wet and soapy, didn't manage to look vulnerable. Bliss studied . . . Mr. Happy. She'd heard that term somewhere. Yup, she'd think of it as Mr. Happy, one who was always alert and ready to go at a moment's notice.

Steam tickled her nose and she sneezed.

Enough peeking for now.

"Bliss?"

"What?" She started, looked into his green eyes, and gripped the glass.

Sebastian slicked back his hair and swiped at his face. "I'm shocked," he said, looking anything but shocked. Dangerously smug was closer. "Can't get enough of me, huh? Gotta creep up on me in the shower."

She clutched the glass. "There's nothing wrong with getting off on a good male body."

"Getting off?" He rested a shoulder against the tile. Moisture beaded on his skin. "This can't be my little Bliss, my little puritan. Not that you were a little puritan last night."

Last night would always be unforgettable. "Don't be condescending." She gave Mr. Happy a long look and held her tongue between her teeth. "Men have always enjoyed looking at women. It's a myth that women don't enjoy looking at men just as much."

He shifted a little.

"Am I embarrassing you, Sebastian?"

"Of course not."

Yes, she was. "I do believe I am. And look, Mr. Happy's coming to attention."

"Mr."—Sebastian glanced down, then back at Bliss— "You've gone to the dogs. I've created a monster." He'd reddened.

"I love it when you blush." She smiled at him and lifted the glass.

His eyes left hers slowly. "What's that? Oh, Bliss. Oh, no. Don't do it."

"It's good for you. Good for the heart. In Scandinavia they get out of saunas and roll in the snow."

"This isn't Scandinavia." He made a grab.

Bliss raised the glass out of his reach.

"I'm not telling you when," he said. "And I'm not telling you where. But if you dump that water on me, I'll get you."

She began to tip.

He wagged a finger. "It's warm water, isn't it? You're torturing me with . . . Aaah!"

Bliss hit the bathroom floor at the same moment as the shower door shot open.

"Help!" She made a dash across the bedroom, shrieking and giggling as she went. "Don't run with wet feet. It's dangerous."

"What did I do to deserve that abuse?"

"Nothing! I just feel wicked. I've become an abandoned woman. Your fault."

"My fault? That's it, Bliss. You're dead meat."

Choking on laughter, she wrenched open the bedroom door and rushed along the balcony to the stairs. Sebastian's feet pounded behind her—and his hand descended on her shoulder.

"I'm gonna get you."

"I just felt like playing." She tried to squirm away. "We never had a chance to play when we were kids."

"I know. And now it's my turn to catch up. I'm going to teach you all about torture."

"No," she shouted. "I'll scream!"

On the stairs she managed to slip his grasp—in time to leap down and collide with Polly and Fab.

"You're evil," Sebastian said. "Twisted."

He took the back of her neck in a large hand, and grew still.

Fab said, "Wow," in a reverent tone.

Polly said, "Oh, my."

Sebastian said, "Shit," and moved behind Bliss.

Bliss scrunched up her face, held in the laughter, and didn't say a word.

"Good morning." Fab's eyes were round. "I guess you're all right then, Bliss?"

"I'm fine."

"You don't need any help?" Polly said.

"No help at all."

"Nice day," Polly said, smiling, and breaking into a snappy, hummed version of "Hello Dolly."

"We heard you scream." Fab definitely wasn't looking at Bliss. "So we thought you might be having another Lennox— another thing."

Bliss gave Fab a wolfish grin. "Don't let us keep you from what you were doing."

The twins hesitated several seconds longer before turning away. In a full, husky, alto Polly sang, "You're looking swell, Dolly," before she disappeared into the kitchens behind Fab.

"Cute," Sebastian remarked. "Great voice."

"I'm sorry," Bliss muttered, feeling penitent. "I forgot they might be in."

"I'm not telling you exactly when or where," Sebastian responded. "Probably not here because this is a crazy place. I'm taking you away from here. Yes, siree. You are coming to live with me."

"I'm staying right here and running my business."

"You'll marry me, move into my house. Run this disaster from there if it'll make you happy—and we're going to make love in peace. Think of that. And run around naked if we feel like it."

"You're having a fantasy."

"Yes, ma'am. A fantasy about to come true. I saw the way you looked at Mr. Happy."

Bliss made sure the kitchen door was closed. "Don't say things like that out loud."

"Tough to say them any other way." He tweaked a nipple through her white cotton blouse and grinned when she slapped him away. "You'll want to stay close to Mr. Happy, and he's with me."

He made it so hard to be either serious, or logical. "We've got a lot to deal with, Sebastian. But this discussion will have to wait."

"Bliss! Bliss, where are you?" Venus Crow's fruited voice bellowed through the lower floor of the lodge.

Sebastian sprinted upstairs and Bliss followed, calling, "Down in a minute, Venus," as she went.

She didn't close the bedroom door behind her, but watched Sebastian from a distance instead. "You're a forgiving man."

"No, I'm not. I never forgive. I bear grudges deeply and forever."

When he'd said he couldn't face putting on his rumpled suit pants and dress shirt again, Bliss had found him a pair of tan shorts from the Lost and Found Box. He pulled them on, working them over thighs that needed much more room, and barely

managing to close the zipper. One of Bliss's oversized white T-shirts stretched across his shoulders until the seams strained. He stuck a finger into a hole over his navel and curled his lip.

"It's early," Bliss told him. "You'll have plenty of time to eat breakfast and get to the office."

"I'm going to make a few calls now, if that's okay. Then I think I might want to change before I show up at the office. Think that's a good idea?"

She spread her hands. "Well, I didn't mean you should go to the office like that."

Sebastian lifted the phone and dialed.

Bliss turned to leave, and turned back. She went to the bedside table where the phone rested and picked up the crystal bell.

Sebastian said, "William. Good morning. Sebastian here. If you need me, you can reach me at that number I gave you. If I'm not here, try my home. I'll be in later." He sat on the edge of the bed and rested an ankle on the opposite knee. "I have nothing to say to them. Have Zoya field those calls. And let my lawyers know I want them to stand by." He hesitated, then said, "Maryan isn't herself. Would you please talk with Zoya? Tell her to keep Maryan busy till I get there," and he hung up.

"What's wrong?"

"Your WOT friends need a reality check. And my sister's flipping out. Crises on every side."

"I'm sorry about Maryan. The WOT people aren't my friends."

"Prue O'Leary isn't your friend?"

Bliss rang the bell softly. "She used to be. She may be again if we can get past this."

"I'd better think about leaving," Sebastian said, getting up.

"The bell's gone."

He looked at her. "What d'you mean?"

"This isn't the bell. It's a different one."

For an instant his brow furrowed. "Are you sure?"

"Sure, I'm sure. I know the bell I keep beside the bed. My

aunt's favorite bell. This isn't it. The night before last when the others came to get me, they'd heard a bell ringing."

"So?"

"I heard a bell that night when I nearly killed you with my brush."

"Don't exaggerate."

"When the others talked about a bell I ran to make sure it was here and I thought it was. I think someone had already taken the Steuben to use in whatever twisted little stunt they're pulling to frighten me. I just didn't notice until now."

Sebastian rubbed the space between his brows. "If they think they're doing some ghostly number they've got it all wrong. It would have to be very solid fingers that pulled the switch. If the bells have been switched."

"I told you—"

"Okay, I believe you. But what's the point?"

"To prove they can get at me. To remind me I'm in danger whenever I'm with you."

"I wasn't here when the bell rang."

"No, but I'd been with you earlier, hadn't I? And they'd already warned me—in more ways than one."

Sebastian draped his arms around her shoulders. "You certainly had been with me. We'd better let the police know, Bliss. Just as a precaution."

"And tell them what?"

"That someone stole a Steuben bell. Then I want you to come where I can keep an eye on you at all times."

Bliss heard someone at the door downstairs. Footsteps hurried from the kitchen, followed by the murmur of voices, one female, the other low and male.

"Maybe Daddy's come to visit again," Sebastian said.

Bliss went to look over the balcony railing. A policeman stood with Venus Crow in the room below. Today Venus's diaphanous harem pants and veils were of gold-trimmed magenta.

"It's the police," Bliss said over her shoulder.

"Right on cue."

Sebastian ran down the stairs beside Bliss. The policeman was the same, middle-aged man who had called Sebastian away the day before.

Venus swayed and her coins clinked. "I've told him he'll have to have a search warrant." She pressed her palms together.

"We were just going to call the police," Sebastian said.

"Is that right, sir?" The officer appeared mildly interested. "Something you wanted to tell us, was there?"

"Theft," Sebastian said.

The policeman frowned "Theft?"

"A Steuben bell," Bliss told him. "It was my aunt's. I kept it beside the bed the way she did."

"I'm Officer Ballard," the man said, slipping out a notebook. He screwed up his weathered face and stared hard at Bliss's middle. "I'd like to have a look around, if you don't mind."