Winter Affair (13 page)

“Sweet,” he murmured. “So sweet.” He planted a row of kisses on her abdomen, pushing aside the waistband of her slacks to insert his tongue in her navel. Leda gasped, tossing her head on the pillow.

Reardon quickly removed her slacks, totally in charge now, his earlier nervousness forgotten. He pressed his cheek to her thigh, closing his eyes, and Leda watched him through her lashes, scarcely able to breathe. His skin was burning hot, the muscles in his upper arms and back rigid with tension. He got up, shedding the rest of his clothes. He returned to pull off her silken panties. He gazed at her naked body with such intense longing that Leda curled up on the bed, turning away from him, suddenly shy.

Reardon dropped next to her, enfolding her tenderly, stroking her until she relaxed.

“What is it?” he said quietly. “Am I scaring you? I don’t mean to, it’s just that you’re so beautiful and it’s been so long.”

“It has for me too,” Leda whispered, nestling into his strong body, comforted by his gentleness.

“What do you mean?” he asked, his tone muffled, uncomprehending.

“I only had one lover before you and that was years ago.” She closed her eyes and buried her face on his bare shoulder, inhaling the clean scent of his skin. “You’re not the only one who’s a little out of practice,” she mumbled.

“Leda. Baby, why didn’t you tell me?” he said, running his hands down the satiny curve of her back. When she didn’t answer, he went on quietly, “And I was worried that I wouldn’t measure up. We’re quite a pair, aren’t we?”

“I think we’re a wonderful pair,” Leda said quickly, turning her face up to his. He kissed her again, rolling her onto her back.

“Who was he?” Reardon demanded, his face tight with jealousy.

“Nobody, Kyle, nobody at all.”

“I’ll make you forget him,” he said fiercely, easing his weight on top of her.

“You already have,” Leda answered, her breath catching as she felt the full impact of his bare skin next to hers.

He twined his fingers with hers and stretched her arms out, pinning her to the bed and kissing her prone body everywhere he could reach. Leda was transfixed with pleasure, unable to make a sound until he let her go to move lower, encircling her waist with his big hands. Leda gasped, holding his head and gliding her nails along his scalp as he caressed her with his mouth. Her hands traveled to his shoulders, damp with perspiration, and she tugged urgently, her fingers sliding on the slick, polished surface of his flesh.

“What?” he said, his voice so low and husky Leda could barely hear it.

“Come up here,” she whispered.

He needed no further invitation. He moved up next to her and turned her to face him, as Leda clutched him tightly and twined her limbs around his. Reardon eased her under him, holding himself up on his hands, every atom of his body suspended, waiting. Leda looked into his eyes, and as he held her gaze he entered her, watching as her lashes fluttered closed in silent submission.

“I love you,” he said into her ear. This was the last thing Leda heard before she stopped listening to anything except the runaway pounding of their racing hearts.

* * * *

“Are you asleep?” Reardon murmured, pushing her damp hair back from her forehead.

“No way,” Leda replied. “I’m too happy to sleep.” She snuggled into the curve of his body and his arm tightened around her.

“Are you warm enough?” he asked. “It’s cooler here in the bedroom. Sometimes I just sack out on the couch in front of the fire.”

“I’m exactly the right temperature,” Leda answered contentedly, rubbing her cheek on his chest.

“Are you comfortable? There’s another pillow in the closet, I could get it for you.”

Leda giggled, propping herself up on one elbow and staring at him. “What are you doing, Mr. Reardon, taking inventory? I am absolutely wonderful, have never been better, and the only thing I ever wanted you to do for me you just did. Does that answer your questions?”

Reardon grinned. “And Jim Kendall told me you were a nice girl,” he said, shaking his head.

Leda traced the outline of a scar on his left breast. “Did he really say that?”

“He really did. I think there’s a little bit of matchmaker in Jim. He was trying, not too subtly, to convince me to go after you.”

“Which you never did,” Leda mourned. “I had to track you down with my plate of cookies and drag you into bed.”

Reardon’s expression became thoughtful. “That’s because you’re braver than I am, Leda.”

She made a face. “What!”

“No, I mean it. I was running away, afraid to face my feelings, leaving it all up to you.”

“Why?”

He shrugged, and she felt the ripple of muscle down his side as he moved. “I guess I had given up hope of anything good ever happening to me again.” He bent to kiss the top of her head. “But tonight you’ve made me feel like nothing is impossible.”

“Kyle?”

“Mmm?”

“How did you get this?” she asked, fingering the lump of pinkish tissue that she had touched earlier.

He looked down at her hand. “Oh, that. I got into a fight in prison and knocked over a filing cabinet. It toppled onto my chest and collapsed a lung. That’s the scar that was left after they inserted a breathing tube.”

He said this so matter-of-factly that Leda didn’t know how to respond.

“Did you fight much in prison?” she finally said, hoping her reaction to his explanation didn’t show in her voice.

“Not really,” he answered, rubbing his hand absentmindedly over her arm. “I was lucky, I guess, I didn’t have to. I’m big and I look—” He stopped, searching for a word.

“Formidable?” Leda suggested.

He glanced down at her. “Is that what you think?”

She sat up to kiss him and he lifted his head to meet her mouth with his. “Not anymore,” she said. “But I used to. That first day when I saw you in the cemetery, I thought you looked stern and not too friendly.”

“Oh,” he replied, clearly unhappy with her response.

“And very sexy,” she added in a whisper, nipping his shoulder lightly with her teeth.

“That’s better,” he said, and she laughed.

“Actually, I was left pretty much to myself,” he went on, and it was a moment before Leda realized he was talking about prison again. “I had the run of the cell block where I was because I was always in and out working on the wiring and the plumbing, stuff like that. The warden even got a set of keys made up for me. It did not, however, include the key to the front door.” His tone was heavy with bitter irony.

“Was it awful, Kyle?” Leda asked quietly.

“It wasn’t good,” he said with a shortness that indicated she shouldn’t pursue the subject any further. Leda switched tracks. Her curiosity about him was endless.

“Kyle, before you went away, was there someone, a girl? A special girl for you?”

He nodded, and she could see the motion of his profile clearly outlined against the moonlit window behind them. “Yeah. We were about to get engaged.” He made a dismissive gesture with the hand that rested along her flank. “She faded when I got convicted, like everybody else.”

“Did you love her very much?” Leda asked, almost choking on the words.

“I thought so,” he responded. He pulled her deeper into his arms and rocked her bodily, like a child. “Until I met you, saddle shoes,” he added gently, and Leda sighed, her happiness complete.

“And to think I almost spent this night drinking tea and watching television,” she said.

He chuckled. “What? Let me guess. One of those terrible specials where they assemble a group of celebrities who’ve never seen one another before and act like it?”

“No, no. They show those during the first week after Thanksgiving. Christmas on the Slopes, Christmas in Somaliland, A Sri Lanka Christmas. Then what are they showing on Christmas Eve?
Blondie Goes to College
.”

Reardon laughed with her and then said, “I guess the assumption is that you won’t be watching television on Christmas Eve.”

“Probably,” Leda said thoughtfully. “But ever since my father died it seems that is what I wind up doing.”

“No more,” he said huskily, hugging her tighter. “No more.”

“Do you promise?” Leda asked, dropping her head to his shoulder.

“I promise.”

Leda glanced out the window idly, and then sat up suddenly. “Kyle, look. It’s snowing again.”

The moon had disappeared behind a cover of clouds, and large, downy flakes were drifting earthward, visible in the light from the Masters’ garage. The church on the corner was lit up for the midnight service, and the worshipers filed in through the open doors, passing two giant evergreens that flanked the steps. These were decorated with rows of tiny lights twinkling like stars and, combined with the blaze inside the nave, seemed to bathe the arrivals in a welcoming glow.

“It looks like a Currier and Ives print,” Reardon murmured, staring past Leda’s head at the scene.

The clock in the tower chimed, and they listened together as it hit the twelfth and last note.

“It’s Christmas,” Leda said, and flung her arms around his neck. “The best Christmas I ever had.”

“Oh, Leda,” Reardon answered, a slight catch in his voice. “I hope you never change your mind about that.”

“I never will,” Leda whispered, raising her head to kiss him. He responded instantly, pulling her down to the bed.

Beyond the window the snow fell, silent witness to the lovers who, absorbed in each other, had forgotten it.

* * * *

Leda was flung brutally to the floor, shocking her awake. Stunned and groggy from sleep, she crawled backward, away from her attacker, throwing her arms up to protect her head.

Reardon jumped on top of her, pinning her to the dusty floorboards before he came fully awake and realized what he was doing. With an agonized cry he sprang back, picking her up and cradling her in his lap.

“Oh my God, Leda, are you all right? Did I hurt you?” He closed his eyes briefly, seeking control, and then opened them again, searching her face anxiously.

Leda peered up at him in the meager dawn light, trying to understand what had happened. “I think so,” she said unsteadily, rubbing the back of her head where it had hit the wooden floor. “Did you have a nightmare?”

He nodded, biting his lip. “I thought I was back in jail, and then waking up and finding someone next to me in bed...” He let it trail off, and Leda didn’t say anything more. She understood.

“I can’t believe I did that to you,” he said, touching her face gently. Then he straightened suddenly, letting her go and slamming one fist into the other in frustration. “Do you see now why I didn’t want you to get involved with me?” He pulled away from her entirely and stood up, reaching for his jeans and yanking them on. Leda scrambled after him, wrapping herself in the sheet from the bed and following him into the other room. He was sitting on the sofa with his head in his hands. When she touched his shoulder he jerked away as if burned.

“Kyle, you didn’t hurt me, I’m fine,” she said quietly, sitting next to him.

“You’re not fine, none of this is fine!” he responded savagely. “How can you say such a thing? This is so sordid, can’t you see that? Because of what happened to me, because of where I was and what went on there, I can never be what you want. Never!”

“You’re exactly what I want,” Leda answered firmly. “Do you think I’m going to walk out on you because of one little incident?”

“One little incident,” he repeated incredulously, staring at her. “Is that what you call it? I could have killed you, don’t you understand that?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Kyle. There’s not a mark on me. I’ve fallen before and I will again. You were hurt worse when you lost that battle with the Fiat’s fender this morning,” she said, touching the patch of gauze on his forehead, trying to joke him out of it.

“You didn’t fall, you were thrown,” he said grimly. He stood up and paced back and forth like a caged animal, then stopped and faced her. “What if it happens again?” he asked her.

“It won’t, darling,” Leda said, getting up and going to him. She sighed with relief when he didn’t pull away and accepted her embrace. “It’s just the newness of this,” she added soothingly, stroking his hair. “Once you get used to me being with you I’m sure you’ll adjust.”

“Aren’t you afraid now?” he asked, his voice close to breaking. “Leda, I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”

Leda pulled back and looked up into his face. His beautiful eyes were wet with unshed tears.

“You asked me that once before,” she answered, putting her finger against his lips. He kissed it. “I wasn’t then and I’m not now. I don’t know why, but nothing anyone said about you could alter what I felt in my heart. And what happened this morning doesn’t change anything either.” She rubbed her fingertip over his mouth and he closed his eyes. “I don’t expect you to be perfect, Kyle. No one is. I know you’ll have problems fitting back into daily life but I’ll help you with them. We’ll face them together, okay?”

“Okay,” he answered hoarsely, hugging her tightly. Then he released her and turned away, wiping the back of his arm across his eyes. “I’ll get you the blanket and start another fire,” he said briskly, obviously trying to disguise his pain by concentrating on mundane matters. Leda let him fuss over her, bundling into the blanket he brought from the bed and watching as he built a new fire.